Three Days and Three Nights

[Davy]

The problem is that limiting the 3 days and nights to just the period of time that Jesus was in the tomb is based on interpretation of the phrase "in the heart of the earth," which has long been a matter of debate by historians. But when you look closely at many of the passages that speak of Jesus rising the third day, they include his being arrested and tried and condemned by the Jews (which was on Thursday night) and being handed over to the Romans (on Friday morning) and being crucified and suffering for 6 hours (from Friday 9:00 A.M. to Friday 3:00 P.M.), and then he was buried (Friday evening) and was in the tomb Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, and rose early Sunday morning, the third day after all these things occurred, which is what the disciples on the road to Emmaus said when Jesus asked what they were discussing and why they were sad: "Are you a stranger in Jerusalem, and have not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And [Jesus] said, What things? And they said, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him ... and today is the third day since these things were done."

Third day since "these things" were done. What things? Beginning with the chief priests and rulers condemning Jesus to death (on Thursday night) and then delivering him to the Romans to be crucified (on Friday). Clearly they are saying that the first day of the week was the third day since "these things" were done, not the third day since Jesus was buried.

So I don't think it's accurate to assume that the day Jesus rose was the third day after he died, but was the third day after his suffering began and that was on Thursday night.

Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night is 3 nights.

In Christ,
Pilgrimer

Concerning the 14th when Jesus and His Apostles ate the passover, per Exodus 12, the lamb was to be sacrificed at evening on the 14th Nisan.

Ex 12:6
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
KJV

That means the lamb was to be sacrificed at evening before sunset on the 14th Nisan, as the 14th was coming to an end.

They ate the passover that night, on the 15th Nisan (sunset began the 15th Nisan).

Ex 12:8
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
KJV

In that night God would passover the children of Israel that had smeared the blood on their door posts like He commanded. So the actual passover event was on the 15th at night, after the lamb had been sacrificed at evening on the 14th before sunset.

Ex 12:11-13
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
KJV

Jesus could not eat the passover on the 15th Nisan, because He was the replacement for the passover lamb that was to be sacrificed. He became our passover sacrificed for us like Apostle Paul said (1 Cor.5:7). Thus He held the supper on the 14th Nisan before He was delivered up at night on the 14th. And then the morning of the 14th He was crucified, and He died at evening on the 14th as per the OT requirement.

 

[Davy]

It says 'He rose on the 3rd day'....That would have to exclude a third night..

Absolutely not. Jesus said 3 days and 3 nights, and that's what He meant. The Hebrew reckoning for a day was very accurate, the night even having specific watch periods. The day began at sunset, but it wasn't daytime, it was night time first, from sunset to dawn. At dawn began the daylight part of that day. So likewise even with our caldendar today, a standard day begins at midnight, but it's not daylight, it's night.

So trying to omit the night part of the 24 hr. period of a date is ignorant, nor do we today do such a thing with our dates.

 

[rstrats]

Perhaps someone new looking in may know of examples.

 

[Pilgrimer]

But one verse says the spices were purchased after the sabbath (Mark 16:1) and the other says they were prepared before the sabbath (luke 23:56). Yes, both happened on a friday... But how can both be right?

I tend to agree with the KJV that interprets the aorist tense of "bought" as "had bought" meaning past tense. They had already purchased the necessary ingredients and prepared the ointment and desiccants to anoint Jesus' body and came to the tomb very early in the morning after the Sabbath before the shops were even open or allowing them time to make the preparations.

Luke clarifies that by also using the same verb tense (aorist indicative active) "bringing the spices which they had prepared," same verb tense as Mark, showing past action.

Although I will admit I dislike reducing things to parsing Greek and Hebrew verbs.lol

In Christ,
Pilgrimer

 

[Pilgrimer]

Whatever you prefer.....I tend to spend more time on the resurrected Jesus, than the one many still insist on keeping on that cross..2 1/2 days or 3 days...perhaps that really means something to some, which is fine, but to get others to agree with that, almost seems more important to some..

I realize not everyone is particularly interested in the historical details of the Scriptures, but New Testament history and archaeology has been a passion of mine for a very long time. It in no way lessens my appreciation for the supremacy of the resurrection itself, but rather for me serves to build up my faith to see the absolute inerrancy of the Scriptures and the historical proof of the work of God in the world.

And so I study every jot and tittle and thrill to discover deep and abiding truth in even the lowliest detail.

But that's me.

In Christ,
Pilgrimer

 

[Pilgrimer]

Jesus and His Apostles ate the passover on the 14th of Nisan, for Wednesday the 14th began at sunset. He was at that night delivered up and appeared before Pilate. Jesus was crucified on 14th of Nisan per the command to sacrifice the passover lamb at evening. Then at sunset began the 15th Nisan, the first day of the feast, which was a "high day" (holy convocation per Lev.23).

I think where you are having a problem is with the timing. The Bible doesn’t have a word for “afternoon.” The word “evening” in the Bible refers to what we call the afternoon, the period of time when the sun passes the meridian and begins to descend or “go down” in the sky.

Your chronology has the people in the Temple slaying their Passover lambs after sunset, during the night. According to Josephus as many as a quarter million lambs were slain at Passover, which means by the time all the sacrifices were completed and the lambs were roasted, the people would not be eating the feast until the wee hours of the morning.

The correct chronology is that the 14th Nisan began on Wednesday at sunset, and then the next afternoon, Thursday and still Nisan 14, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., the people slew the lambs, roasted them, and then after sunset which began Nisan 15 they ate the Passover lambs, on the first night of unleavened bread.

This was the night Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover, Thursday night, and later that night was arrested in Gethsemane.

Lev 23:7

7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

KJV

John 19:30-31

30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.

31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

KJV

John 19:42

42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

KJV

The Jews rushed to bury the body of our Lord Jesus, because sunset was coming on, and at sunset began that "high day", the 1st day of the feast that was to be "an holy convocation" per Lev.23:7, the 15th of Nisan, i.e., a high sabbath (not the regular weekly sabbath).

There is more to the festival laws than what you referenced. The festival sabbaths were not as strict as the weekly sabbath. In Exodus 12:16 the Lord stated: “And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.”

These festival sabbaths were “low” sabbaths, not in the sense of somehow being unholy, but rather less holy than the weekly sabbath. The reason is that the people were allowed to do the work that was necessary to prepare the feast to be eaten that day. The festival sabbath law was not as strict as the weekly sabbath law. The shops were allowed to be open for the multitude of pilgrims in the city who had to purchase everything each day to prepare and eat the feast.

However, when a feast day fell on the weekly Sabbath, the law for the weekly Sabbath prevailed and no work of any kind could be done for any reason, not even that work necessary to prepare the feast for that day. This is what is meant by the day after Jesus’ crucifixion being a “high” sabbath, it was a weekly sabbath when no work could be done at all, not even to make the preparations for the feast, so they had to be made the day before, on the Preparation, Friday.

There was no preparation day before a feast. The day before a feast was always called the “eve” of Passover, or whatever.

In Christ,
Pilgrimer

 

[Pilgrimer]

Jesus was crucified on 14th of Nisan per the command to sacrifice the passover lamb at evening. Then at sunset began the 15th Nisan, the first day of the feast, which was a "high day" (holy convocation per Lev.23).

Allow me to make one more observation. Be careful in trying to construct a passion week chronology based on Jesus' fulfillment of a particular sacrifice. His crucifixion and death fulfilled every single sacrifice and offering of the whole law, which were not only offered on Passover, but at every other feast day not to mention every Sabbath and even every morning and every evening of every day year in and year out. So to try to conform the time of his death to the time of a sacrifice his death fulfilled is obviously problematic, as he would have to die repeatedly morning and evening and multiple days of the year.

It wasn't necessary for Jesus to die at the hour the Passover lambs were slain in order to fulfill what they symbolized any more than it was necessary for him to die at the hour the atonement "Goat for Jehovah" was slain in order to make atonement for sin.

In Christ,
Pilgrimer

 

[FHII]

I tend to agree with the KJV that interprets the aorist tense of "bought" as "had bought" meaning past tense. They had already purchased the necessary ingredients and prepared the ointment and desiccants to anoint Jesus' body and came to the tomb very early in the morning after the Sabbath before the shops were even open or allowing them time to make the preparations.

Luke clarifies that by also using the same verb tense (aorist indicative active) "bringing the spices which they had prepared," same verb tense as Mark, showing past action.

Although I will admit I dislike reducing things to parsing Greek and Hebrew verbs.lol

In Christ,
Pilgrimer

Here is the text from Mark:

Mark 16:1-2 KJV
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. [2] And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

I must disagree with you. The wording and structure of the sentence (the verse) is an incomplete thought if "had bought" means before the Sabbath. It begs the question, what did they do next?

Because the entire sentence is past tense, it can read that they bought them after the Sabbath. That is a complete thought.

The sentence is describing an event that happened after the sabbath. If they bought them before hand, what is it the sentence is telling us happened?

The Bible doesn't always use modern proper grammar. We know that. Even so, I do not see this verse as you do. Its incomplete... Its a sentance that starts but goes nowhere.

The spices were both bought and prepared on Friday. The day is the same; its the Sabbaths that are different. The spices were bought after the High Sabbath which occured on Thursday. They were prepared before the weekly Sabbath (Saturday).

All this perfectly aligns with 3 days and 3 nights (which I have given evidence was a full 72 hours).

I appreciate your efforts Pilgrimer but I disagree.

Let me move on... Can you give me a reasonable timeline as to when the soldiers guarded the tomb, or when the request was given?

 

[Truth]

Hi Raeneske,

You said:
"Jesus died on the preparation day, which is the day before the Sabbath. This would happen to be day #6. He was then moved to the grave on that day, before the Sabbath had come, because they did not want bodies on the cross during the Sabbath Day. That day counts as one day. The Next day was the Sabbath Day, and we see the women rested the Sabbath Day according to the commandment. That would be the Seventh Day, as Exodus 20:8-11 shares with us, which would be Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. This isn’t the day Jesus rises. This is the second day that he is buried. Then, we see the woman after the Sabbath had past bought spices that they may anoint the body. And very early the first day of the week, they went to the scepulcre. On this first day of the week, Jesus rises. That is the third day."

Yeshua did not die the day before the 7th day Sabbath, he died the day before the High Sabbath which was the first day of Unleavened Bread. The 1st and last day of U.B. are both High Sabbaths. The Passover lamb was slaughtered in the afternoon of the 14th, the first day of U.B was the 15th at evening and went until the 21st of Abib, also a High Sabbath day, and ended when evening came and was approaching the 22nd. Afternoon of the 14th was Passover, evening of the 15th would have been the start of U.B. which ended the following evening just before the 16th. Then the regular 7th day Sabbath started the evening of the 16th and continued until just before the evening of the 17th started, which was the Day Yeshua rose.

Our Savior was cut of in the middle of the week as the Scripture states- S_M_T_{W}_T _F_S--- W the middle of the week, placed in the tomb before sundown, Passover is kept between the evenings, sundown began the High Sabbath of U B< so nothing could be done until after sundown THUR, then the women went and purchased spices and prepared them, then had to rest on the weekly Sabbath, FRI to SAT sundown then went to the Tomb just after sundown to anoint His Body and He was already Risen. Wed night, Thur night, Fri night = 3 nights then Thur day, Fri day, Sat day,= 3 days He arose just before the end of the weekly Sabbath, Just as He was placed in the Tomb just before sundown on the preparation Day of Passover!!! The Lord of the Sabbath rose on the Sabbath. Thank You for being Right, we need to read and understand the Scriptures according to Hebrew Culture. May Yahova Bless You!

 

[FHII]

so nothing could be done until after sundown THUR, then the women went and purchased spices and prepared them, then had to rest on the weekly Sabbath,

Yes, exactly! This is what I have been focusing on recently. They purchased the spices after the High Sabbath and prepared them before the weekly Sabbath.

 

[rstrats]

As I said early, this particular topic is really directed to those who believe that the crucifixion took place on the 6th day of the week, and who think that the "heart of the earth" is referring to the tomb and who try to explain the lack of a 3rd night by saying that the Messiah was using common figure of speech/colloquial language.

 

[Davy]

Allow me to make one more observation. Be careful in trying to construct a passion week chronology based on Jesus' fulfillment of a particular sacrifice. His crucifixion and death fulfilled every single sacrifice and offering of the whole law, which were not only offered on Passover, but at every other feast day not to mention every Sabbath and even every morning and every evening of every day year in and year out. So to try to conform the time of his death to the time of a sacrifice his death fulfilled is obviously problematic, as he would have to die repeatedly morning and evening and multiple days of the year.

It wasn't necessary for Jesus to die at the hour the Passover lambs were slain in order to fulfill what they symbolized any more than it was necessary for him to die at the hour the atonement "Goat for Jehovah" was slain in order to make atonement for sin.

In Christ,
Pilgrimer

That observation (which of course is false), hardly compares with the falseness of omitting the 3rd night when Jesus said His body would be in the ground for 3 days and 3 nights. It's obvious that you will rob God's Holy Writ of the Truth just in order to keep your tradition.

 

[Davy]

I think where you are having a problem is with the timing. The Bible doesn’t have a word for “afternoon.” The word “evening” in the Bible refers to what we call the afternoon, the period of time when the sun passes the meridian and begins to descend or “go down” in the sky.

That's hilarious!

John 19:30-31
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
KJV

Don't even need the word evening to know that was meant just prior to sunset being when Jesus died and they rushed to get His body buried because at sunset the high day sabbath would begin.

Ex 12:6-8
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
KJV

"evening" = 'ereb - from OT:6150, dusk.


Who doesn't know that by evening is meant the time before night?

 

[Truth]

Yes, exactly! This is what I have been focusing on recently. They purchased the spices after the High Sabbath and prepared them before the weekly Sabbath.

WOW I am beating the same stick into the Ground, just went to the OP and started to read, you kinda know when you step in it, after you step in it. All Glory to the Most High, and the Lord Yashua!

 

[FHII]

WOW I am beating the same stick into the Ground, just went to the OP and started to read, you kinda know when you step in it, after you step in it. All Glory to the Most High, and the Lord Yashua!

Its tough to buck tradition. And the Easter trdition is held by Catholics and Protestants alike. That makes it hard. But the Bible aays it ain't so. The Bible says Jesus died Wednesday and rose Saturday.

Tou have to compromise the words of the Bible to say otherwise.

 

[rstrats]

FHll,
re: "...Jesus died Wednesday and rose Saturday."

Since you're not a believer in a 6th day of the week crucifixion, you probably won't know of any examples.

 

[FHII]

FHll,
re: "...Jesus died Wednesday and rose Saturday."

Since you're not a believer in a 6th day of the week crucifixion, you probably won't know of any examples.

Haven't really been following that aspect of this thread, so I don't know what examples you are looking for.

 

[Truth]

Its tough to buck tradition. And the Easter trdition is held by Catholics and Protestants alike. That makes it hard. But the Bible aays it ain't so. The Bible says Jesus died Wednesday and rose Saturday.

Tou have to compromise the words of the Bible to say otherwise.

It is a Pleasure to find some one who is trying to rightly divide the Word of Truth according to the Scripture, and also taking into consideration of the Culture at the Time it was Written. Yes Compromise is and has been the downfall of the Faith that was First delivered to the Apostles. I thank God and Savior for soul's like You!! It can be pretty harsh out here with many who belong to a specific denomination's that have their own understanding and will refuse to listen to anything other aspect of the word. Again Thank You!!!!!

 

[rstrats]

FHll,
re: "...I don't know what examples you are looking for."

This topic is concerned with one issue and only one issue.

1. The Messiah said that three nights would be involved with His time in the "heart of the earth".

2. There are some who believe that the crucifixion took place on the 6th day of the week with the resurrection taking place on the 1st day of the week.

3. Of those, there are some who believe that the "heart of the earth" is referring to the tomb.

4. However, those two beliefs allow for only 2 nights to be involved.

5. To account for the discrepancy, some of the above say that the Messiah was using common figure of speech/colloquial language of the time, i.e., that it is was common to forecast or say that a day or a night would be involved with an event when no part of the day or no part of the night could occur.

6. In order for someone to legitimately say that it was common, they would have to know of more that 1 example to make that assertion.

7. For the purpose of this topic, I am merely asking for some of the examples being used to support an assertion of commonality.

 

[Davy]

FHll,
re: "...I don't know what examples you are looking for."

This topic is concerned with one issue and only one issue.

1. The Messiah said that three nights would be involved with His time in the "heart of the earth".

2. There are some who believe that the crucifixion took place on the 6th day of the week with the resurrection taking place on the 1st day of the week.

3. Of those, there are some who believe that the "heart of the earth" is referring to the tomb.

4. However, those two beliefs allow for only 2 nights to be involved.

5. To account for the discrepancy, some of the above say that the Messiah was using common figure of speech/colloquial language of the time, i.e., that it is was common to forecast or say that a day or a night would be involved with an event when no part of the day or no part of the night could occur.

6. In order for someone to legitimately say that it was common, they would have to know of more that 1 example to make that assertion.

7. For the purpose of this topic, I am merely asking for some of the examples being used to support an assertion of commonality.

No such "assertion of commonality" exists, because when Jesus said His body would be in the ground 3 days and 3 nights, that's exactly what He meant, 3 days and 3 nights, which equals a 72 hour period. That also literally means He had to have risen sometime after the 72nd hour and not before.