Three Days and Three
Nights
Matthew
12:40
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of
the whale, so will the Son of man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
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
“As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Summer
and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
Time was usually measured by one of three units.
The Jews measured by
1. Days, or Day - Night cycles, or by
2. Months or Moon cycles, or
3. Yearly, or seasonal cycles.
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
“When they came on the eighth day to
circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after
his father, but his mother said in reply, ‘No. He will be called John.’
” NAB
Luke
2:21
“When eight days were completed for his
circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the
angel before he was conceived in the womb.” NAB
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 were encamped opposite each
other for seven days. On the seventh day
battle was joined, and the Israelites struck down one hundred
thousand foot soldiers of Aram in one day.” NAB
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
“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast
on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for
three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you
do. Then I will go to the king,
Esther
5:1-6
“On the third day Esther put on
her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace,
opposite the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne
inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace; 2 and when the
king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, ...
Then Esther approached and touched the
top of the scepter. 3 And the king said to her, … And Esther said, “If
it please the king, let the king and Haman come
this day to a dinner that I have prepared for the king.” 5 Then
said the king, “Bring Haman quickly, that we may do as Esther desires.”
So the king and Haman came to the dinner that Esther had prepared. 6
And as they were drinking wine, the king
said …”
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
“But at daybreak on the first day of the
week they … went to the tomb … “Why do you seek the living one
among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised … the Son of Man
must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and
rise on the third day … Now that very
day two of them were going … ‘it is now the
third day since this took place’ …” NAB
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
(Matt
12:40)
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
Matthew
12:40 “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of
the whale, so will the Son of man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
BEFORE 72 hours
Matthew
16:21 “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he
must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed, and on
the third day be raised.”
Matthew
17:23 “ … and they will kill him, and he will be
raised on the third day.”
Matthew
20:18-19 “ … scourged and crucified, and he will be
raised on the third day.”
Luke
9:22 “ … saying, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be
rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
on the third day be raised.”
Luke
18:33 “ … they will scourge him and kill him, and
on the third day he will rise.”
Luke
24:7 “ that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, and be crucified, and on the
third day rise.”
Luke
24:46 “and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ
should suffer and on the third day rise
from the dead …’ ”
Acts
10:40 “ but God
raised him
on the third day …”
1
Corinthians 15:4 “ that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day in
accordance with the scriptures”
AFTER 72 hours
Matthew
27:63 “ and said, ‘Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while
he was still alive, “After three days I will
rise again.” ’ ”
Mark
8:31 “And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer
many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the
scribes, and be killed, and after three days
rise again.”
Mark
9:31 “for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son
of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him;
and when he is killed, after three days he
will rise.”
Mark
10:34 “ and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge
him, and kill him; and after three days he
will rise.”
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. |