31] By night or day – is there a contradiction?    

Finally consider Deuteronomy 16:1 which states: ... The Eternal thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

However Deuteronomy 16:3 states: ...for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste; that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt.

Which is it, the night or the day?

Is there a conflict between verse one (night) and verse three (day) of Deuteronomy 16?

Do the Scriptures contradict themselves?

 Hardly!

That night and day both refers to the same day. Scriptures tell us that day was the 15^th day of the first month, the First Day of Unleavened Bread (Numbers 33:3 and Exodus 12:17) that the children of Israel left Egypt.

According to Deuteronomy 16:3, it was the day when Israel came out of Egypt.

Exodus 12:17 and 13:3-4 also refers to the day, when the children of Israel came forth out of Egypt. Both verses mention that Israel came out of Egypt - therefore eat no leavened bread - for in this day (the 15^th), you came out.

Notice Exodus 23:15 and Exodus 34:18. These two verses reference the connection of the days of unleavened bread and the coming out of Egypt. Israel came out of Egypt on the first day of unleavened bread as we read in Numbers 33:3.

The children of Israel left Egypt, and in particular, the city of Rameses, on the first day of the seven-days in duration, Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is the 15^th day of the first month.

So then, day does apply.

The 15^th day of the first month contains 24 hours. During any 24-hour period there is first, a night period of time (12 hours) and then a day period of time (12 hours). The events that occurred during the night, midnight, and night/morning of that particular day occurred specifically on the 15^th day of the first month, just as the Scriptures state.

All the Passover/exodus/departure activity that occurred on the 15^th day of the first month, occurred during the night of the 15^th day of the first month.

The lamb was sacrificed on the 14th, beyn ha arbayim (as the 14^th was coming to an end) and just prior to the 15^th day. It was cooked, and as time naturally progressed, it was then eaten in that night, on the passing over night, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, which is the 15^th day of the first month, Abib. The lamb was eaten with unleavened bread. Unleavened bread is called the bread of affliction or the bread of haste, for in haste Israel departed from Egypt. Exodus 12:8, 17, 39 and Deuteronomy 16:2-3 confirms this fact.

Thou shall eat no leavened bread with it. (Deuteronomy 16:3).  

With what?

With the Passover lamb (Deuteronomy 16:2), which was sacrificed.

Deuteronomy 16:3 shows the association of eating the Passover meal on the First Day of Unleavened Bread, the 15^th day of the first month, the day on which Israel departed from Egypt. Once again, the Scriptures show that Israel departed Egypt on the 15^th day of the first month, not the 14th day of the first month.

So it was the night of the 15^th day of the first month that the children of Israel left Egypt.

There is no contradiction and the morning/night controversy is no controversy at all.

Those who propose a scenario that would have Israel linger in Egypt during the daylight hours of the 14^th day of the first month, while waiting for the night of the 15^th in order to depart Egypt, set themselves at odds with the Scriptures.

The “beginning of the 14^th Passover sacrifice” theorists contradict the truth and have set themselves in controversy with the Word of God.

The Scriptures show us that the children of Israel sacrificed the lamb toward the end of the 14th day, during the beyn ha arbayim sacrifice time. The Children of Israel under Moses ate the Passover Lamb on the night of the 15^th day of the first month. The Eternal passed over Egypt on the night of the 15^th, and Israel, being ready to depart, left in haste after they got word, Pharaoh has released us. They began to walk (without hanging around), sometime after midnight, during the morning/night, during the darkness of night. The children of Israel left on the 15^th day of the first month, and that day is to be celebrated as a feast day, a Holy Day, called the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it commemorates Israel coming out of Egypt (Exodus 12:14-17).

Knowing the truth, that the Passover meal was consumed on the night of the 15^th day of the first month, the first day of unleavened bread, we can understand that Jesus did not eat the Passover on the night He was betrayed.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, the night on which He introduced the New Covenant, the night of, the beginning of the 14^th day of the first month; Jesus ate a supper with His disciples. That supper is traditionally called His Last Supper or the Lord’s Supper. That supper was not the Passover Meal.