Preparation
Preparation (Παρασκευή) in Mr 15:42; Lu 23:54; Joh 19:42, and Mt 27:62, is doubtless the day or evening before the commencement of the Sabbath, with which, at that time, according to the Synoptical Gospels, coincided the first day of the Passover. (But Schneckenburger [Beitrage Zür Einleit. ins N.T. p. 1 sq.] supposes the "preparation" in Matthew to mean the feast-day of the Easter period, and which was viewed as a preparatory festival to the Passover.) This day was devoted to preparation for the holyday -especially preparing food for the Sabbath. Mark explains the word by "the day before the Sabbath" (προσάββατον; comp. Judith 8:6; Josephus, Ant. 16:6, 2). The Jewish expression for it is ערובתא (see Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 1660). So, too, the Peshito renders in the places quoted above. Every feast, like the Sabbath, had a preparation-day before it, which is often mentioned by the Talmudists (Deyling, Observ. 1, 162; with this may be compared παρασκευὴ τοῦ πάσχα, Joh 19:14; Preparation for Easter, the 14th of Nisan; comp. Bleek, Beiträge zur Evangelienkritik, p. 114 sq.). See Passover.
