“Very early on the first day of the week [Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome] came to the memorial tomb, when the sun had risen. . . .

The reason the women went to the tomb was to grease Jesus’ body with spices. They bought some of these spices immediately after the sabbath. (Mark 16:1; compare Luke 23:56.) Which sabbath could this have been? If Nisan 14 had extended through Wednesday afternoon, this would make Thursday, Nisan 15, the first day of the Festival of Unfermented Cakes and hence also a sabbath day. (Lev. 23:5-7) The next sabbath would have been the weekly sabbath, starting on Friday evening and running to Saturday evening, since the Jewish days began at sundown.

It does not seem reasonable that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome would have purchased spices immediately after Nisan 15 (Thursday evening, according to such reckoning) and then waited until early on the morning of Nisan 18 (Sunday) to go to Jesus’ tomb. That would have been more than three and a half full days since the death of Jesus. Any greasing with spices would have been of very little value for the corpse then. (See John 11:39.) It would also appear strange indeed for the women to allow Nisan 16 (a day that would not have been a sabbath) to pass by without doing anything and then to rush to the tomb as early as possible on Sunday morning, Nisan 18.a