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Three Days and Three Nights Matthew
12:40 We will show below that ancient calendars did not count the days according to our modern English standards and that the part counted as a whole. THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS Of course the prophecy in Mat 12:40 is true prophecy and Christ spent “three days and three nights” in the grave. However, the problem is when we assume the writers of the Bible expressed themselves with the same phraseology as we do today. We need to understand their language and the idioms they used. Remember, this was two thousand years ago in a very different culture. This was long before the discovery of electricity and the invention of Timex watches. Both Concepts as well as Language develop with time and experience. Things are described in cycles. Genesis
8:22 Time was usually measured by one of three units.
The Jews measured by The phrase “three days and three nights” is another way of saying three days. Different units of time were distinguished by the cycles that they measured. Day / night measured the rotation of the earth on its axis, and summer / winter measured the revolution of the earth around the sun. Their culture measured the passage of time by these cyclical occurrences and their calendar reflected that. (The pagan cultures that surrounded them saw time as only cyclical, that is, without beginning or end.) “Day and night” was one idea to describe this specific unit of time, not two distinct time periods added together. The Greeks even had a word that literally meant a “night-day,” “nuchthemeros,” Strong’s number 3574.
COUNTING THREE DAYS The appeal to Genesis chapter one to define “day” as meaning specifically 12 hours of daylight or a 24 hour period does not work. The Hebrew word that is translated as “day” is Strong’s number 3117. That same Hebrew word is also used in Genesis 4:3 where it is translated as “of time.” Here the Hebrew word refers to a time period longer than 12 hours therefore it does have such a restricted definition. When days were counted even a portion of a day was
counted as one. So a reference to three days for example does not
necessarily mean 72 hours. Jesus does refer to there being twelve
hours of daylight in a full day in Jn. 11:9, but this only reveals that
they knew how long a full day was. It does not reveal the common way of
counting days. Even a partial day is counted as one day when adding
them together. This type of counting is preserved in the following
Scriptural passages. Example 1 The Jews would circumcise and name their children on the eighth day. ( See Gen. 17:12) Luke
1:59-60 Luke
2:21 Eight days are considered “completed” during any moment into the eight day. They did not wait until eight days were completely over and until the beginning of the ninth day to circumcise and name the child.
Example 2 1 Kings
20:29 They did not encamp “opposite” each other for a
full seven days or else they would not have engaged in battle until the
eight day. Example 3 Esther
4:16 Esther
5:1-6 Esther prepared for “three days, night and day,” by fasting BEFORE going to the king. Yet, on the third day, not the fourth, she goes to him. And she even has a banquet with him on that day. Conclusion : Therefore, when Jesus died on Friday and was buried just before Saturday, which began at the sunset on Friday, and when He rested in the grave on Saturday, and then He rose on Sunday, He is said to have rose on the third day, counting each of those days as one of the three. Luke 24 tells us that Sunday is the third day, the day of His Resurrection. Luke 24:
1, 5- 7, 13, 21 Therefore, the first day of the week is the third day which is the day that He rose. Trying to interpret these passages, outside of the context of the ancient Jewish culture in which they were written, in an overly literal way presents another problem. We will examine three possible interpretations or scenarios of when Jesus rose from the grave. 1. Exactly 72 hours after being placed in the grave - the end of the third day and the beginning of the fourth day. 2. Before 72 hours completed, “on the third day” 3. After 72 hours completed “after three days”
EXACTLY 72 hours BEFORE 72 hours (Matt 16:21, 17:23, & 20:18-19, Luke 9:22, 18:33, 24:7, 24:46, Acts 10:40, 1 Corinthians 15:4) AFTER 72 hours (Matt 27:63, Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34)
EXACTLY 72 hours
BEFORE 72 hours
AFTER 72 hours
In conclusion, expressions such as ‘three days and three nights,’ ‘on the third day’ and ‘after three days,’ can be used interchangeably. The phrase ‘three days and three nights’ does not mean 72 hours, rather it means 3 days where any part of day is counted as a day. |
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The ancient Romans used a different calendar system then we do in
contemporary English. They did not number each of the days of the month
in sequential order, 1-30, as we do. They used an “inclusive” method of
counting days where both the reference day and the target day are
included in the count. The indications of “before” or “after” are only
meant to indicate the direction. They are not mean to exclude the
reference day from being included in the count. See Wiki
Calends.
They would usually count back from one of the following reference days: Part Counted as Whole Day Any part of a day is counted as a complete day. |
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