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Mat_26:17. Τῇ δὲ πρώτῃ τῶν ἀζύμ .] on the first day of the unleavened bread, i.e. on the first day of the feast, the day on which the unleavened bread ( äîöåú ) is eaten. The day referred to is the 14th of Nisan (Thursday, according to the synoptic evangelists), which, following the loose popular mode of reckoning, to which Josephus (Antt. ii. 15. 1) also conforms when he represents the feast as extending over eight days, was counted as one of the feast days, although the Passover did not begin till the evening of that day, Num_28:16; Exo_12:18 (Otto, Spicil. p. 70).
ποῦ ] in what house.
σοι ] “Jesus est ut paterfamilias inter discipulorum familiam,” Bengel.
τὸ πάσχα ] the Passover lamb, to be eaten on the evening of the 14th of Nisan. See on Joh_18:28. This lamb was slain (not by the priests) in the fore-court of the temple in the afternoon before sunset ( áÌÅéå äÅòÇøÀáÈéÄí , see Hupfeld, de primitiva festor. ap. Hebr. ratione, I. p. 12).
It may seem strange that, at a season when the presence of such multitudes of strangers in the city was certain to create a scarcity of accommodation (Joseph. Bell. ii. 1. 3, vi. 9. 3; Antt. xvii. 9. 3), Jesus should have put off His arrangements for celebrating the feast till now. This, however, may be accounted for by the fact that He must have had certain friends in the town, such as the one referred to in Mat_26:18, whose houses were so much at His disposal at all times that it was unnecessary to make any earlier preparation.
REMARK.
According to John’s account, the last meal of which Jesus partook was not that of the Passover; while His death is represented as having taken place on the day before the feast, the day which Matthew here calls the πρώτη τῶν ἀζύμων . On this great and irreconcilable discrepancy, which even the most recent exhaustive inquiry, viz. that of Wieseler (Beitr. p. 230 ff.), has failed to dispose of, see on Joh_18:28.