Bible passage: Numbers 9:12
Prophet: Moses
Written: As early as 1400 BC
In the book of Numbers, which describes Biblical events during the time of Moses about 3,400 years ago, Moses gives rules involving the celebration of Passover, including one that none of the bones of the Passover lamb are to be broken:
12 They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations. (Numbers 9:12, NIV)
Moses is giving these instructions to the Israelites in the first month of the second year after the they have left Egypt and have entered into the Desert of Sinai.
The command about not breaking any of the bones of the Passover lamb is the same that Moses gave in Exodus 12:46, on the eve of the first Passover. At that time, the Israelites were still in Egypt and were required to use the blood of the Passover lambs to mark the doorways of their dwellings to protect them from God's wrath.
In the New Testament, which describes events about 1,500 years after the time of Moses, the writer of the epistle, 1 Corinthians, likens Jesus to the Passover lamb:
7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7, NIV)
And John, an Apostle of Jesus, gives a description of the crucifixion in his Gospel, in John 19, in which he says that none of the bones of Jesus were broken during the crucifixion:
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," 37 and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced." (John 19:31-37, NIV)