Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

There is a reference to this in Matthew 12:40. It appears Jesus was not in the tomb three nights. Most of Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon, “placed in the tomb before sundown Friday night, rested in the tomb on the Sabbath (Saturday) and was resurrected on Sunday morning before dawn.

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40

So how does it make 3 days & 3 nights?

Inkfingers · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
There is a reference to this in Matthew 12:40. It appears Jesus was not in the tomb three nights. Most of Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon, “placed in the tomb before sundown Friday night, rested in the tomb on the Sabbath (Saturday) and was resurrected on Sunday morning before dawn.

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40

So how does it make 3 days & 3 nights?

What do you think "the heart of the earth" means?

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

Inkfingers said:
What do you think "the heart of the earth" means?

Here it refers to the tomb

cloudyday2 · May 27, 2018

One factor might be that Jesus and his early followers were probably Essene-type Jews. The Essenes disagreed with other Jews on the dating of festivals and the calendar in general. There was a practice among non-Essenes to tinker with the calendar so that the Sabbath and certain festival days would not interfere with each other. The Community Rule of the Dead Sea Scrolls condemns this practice. In addition, the Essenes seem to have used a solar calendar whereas the other Jews used a lunisolar calendar.

I don't know if this website's information is reliable, but it came up in google:
Essene Calendar

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

cloudyday2 said:
One factor might be that Jesus and his early followers were probably Essene-type Jews. The Essenes disagreed with other Jews on the dating of festivals and the calendar in general. There was a practice among non-Essenes to tinker with the calendar so that the Sabbath and certain festival days would not interfere with each other. The Community Rule of the Dead Sea Scrolls condemns this practice. In addition, the Essenes seem to have used a solar calendar whereas the other Jews used a lunisolar calendar.

I don't know if this website's information is reliable, but it came up in google:
Essene Calendar

I am not sure how it solves the question asked !

~Anastasia~ · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
There is a reference to this in Matthew 12:40. It appears Jesus was not in the tomb three nights. Most of Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon, “placed in the tomb before sundown Friday night, rested in the tomb on the Sabbath (Saturday) and was resurrected on Sunday morning before dawn.

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40

So how does it make 3 days & 3 nights?

I know it is completely within the normal way of speaking from the time to say "three days" or "third day" if something happens

Before sunset on Friday (one day/first day)

Includes all of Saturday (two days second day)

And even a portion of the darkness on Saturday evening (three days/third day)

So something could theoretically last just over 24 hours if the timing were exact and still be "three days".

Likewise "three days" could be ... just after sunset Thursday (first day), all of Friday daytime (still first day), all of Saturday daytime (second day), Sunday all the way up to sunset (third day). So "third day" can also mean as much as just under 72 hours.

I don't honestly know how the idiom fits with "and nights" but night is a portion attached to each day - so I'm not sure (and don't know reliably how to find out) but it may or may not mean the same thing.

The other thing that is going to be very unpopular with some folks, but the fact is that the Gospels were written decades after the happening. They are all Truth, but when people get into dissecting exactly what words in what order might have been used to convey something - well, sometimes the way Matthew says it might be just slightly different than what Mark says, for example. Both are still true, but we need to remember this isn't a court transcript. Drawing theology from such tiny points can lead to error. The fact is that He would be a sign, like Jonah, and buried for "three days".

I'm not sure which is the case for this particular verse where "nights" is concerned.

cloudyday2 · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
I am not sure how it solves the question asked !

Well if I understand that website correctly, the Last Supper would have happened Tuesday evening. Jesus would have been interrogated all night Tuesday. Then the Crucifixion was Wednesday. This would leave Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for Jesus to be in the Tomb.

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

~Anastasia~ said:
Before sunset on Friday (one day/first day)

My question is specifically on the number of nights. See Friday night would be 1 night, Saturday night would be 2. Where is the third night?

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

cloudyday2 said:
Well if I understand that website correctly, the Last Supper would have happened Tuesday evening. Jesus would have been interrogated all night Tuesday. Then the Crucifixion was Wednesday. This would leave Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for Jesus to be in the Tomb.

But he was not buried before Friday evening. Its specifically speaking of being inside the earth which in this content would mean the tomb he was in

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

The7thColporteur said:
Yes, but you did not ask JEHOVAH Elohiym, even Jesus for understanding did you? How do you expect to understand His book, if you do not ask Him for understanding therein?

Why would I? I am not a blind follower

~Anastasia~ · May 27, 2018

I found this ...

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:40

In the whale's belly. The word signifies a great fish, and was not perhaps that which we commonly call a whale. In the prophet Jonas, it is called, a great fish.
Three days and three nights; not three whole days and three nights, but part of three natural days, from which, in common computation, the nights used not to be separated. We have an instance of this, Esther iv. 16, where the Jews were ordered to fast with her three days, and three nights: and yet (Chap. v, ver. 1) Esther, after part of three days, went to the king.
In the heart of the earth: by which is signified, Christ's descent into hell; as St. Paul says (Ephesians iv. 9.) that he descended into the inferior parts of the earth, and this cannot be understood of the grave only. (Witham)
Jesus Christ expired on the cross about the ninth hour, or 3 p.m. when the general and supernatural darkness that covered the earth, may be counted for the first night, and the light which again appeared, for the term of the first day. (Bible de Vence)
As Jonas was a sign to the Ninivites, so is Christ to the Jews; for as he by the prodigy of remaining so long in the fish's belly, and afterwards coming forth alive, gave such authority to his preaching, that the Ninivites were converted; so Christ, by his death and resurrection on the third day, shall show that he is the true Christ, and this generation shall acknowledge him for the Messias. (Menochius)

- George Leo Haydock

The7thColporteur · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
...Its specifically speaking of being inside the earth which in this content would mean the tomb he was in

No it isn't, as demonstrated:

See this one:

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

Other details:

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

~Anastasia~ · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
Jesus was buried Friday evening & that cannot include Friday(Saturday night)!

It speaks not of the body, but where Christ was. He descended into Hades and preached to the dead. From the time of giving up His spirit (3pm), He was there.

I think actually He might have been buried though, as they needed to get the body off the Cross and work finished before the next day began (at sunset) because it was a high holy day.

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

~Anastasia~ said:
I found this ...

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:40

In the whale's belly. The word signifies a great fish, and was not perhaps that which we commonly call a whale. In the prophet Jonas, it is called, a great fish.
Three days and three nights; not three whole days and three nights, but part of three natural days, from which, in common computation, the nights used not to be separated. We have an instance of this, Esther iv. 16, where the Jews were ordered to fast with her three days, and three nights: and yet (Chap. v, ver. 1) Esther, after part of three days, went to the king.
In the heart of the earth: by which is signified, Christ's descent into hell; as St. Paul says (Ephesians iv. 9.) that he descended into the inferior parts of the earth, and this cannot be understood of the grave only. (Witham)
Jesus Christ expired on the cross about the ninth hour, or 3 p.m. when the general and supernatural darkness that covered the earth, may be counted for the first night, and the light which again appeared, for the term of the first day. (Bible de Vence)
As Jonas was a sign to the Ninivites, so is Christ to the Jews; for as he by the prodigy of remaining so long in the fish's belly, and afterwards coming forth alive, gave such authority to his preaching, that the Ninivites were converted; so Christ, by his death and resurrection on the third day, shall show that he is the true Christ, and this generation shall acknowledge him for the Messias. (Menochius)

- George Leo Haydock

Sorry, I just reedited my previous comment. So my question is on 3 nights. 3 days is fine.
So Friday night is 1 night, Saturday night is 2 nights. He did not spend third night! So it's 2 nights only and not 3 nights!

The7thColporteur · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
Why would I?...

You do not follow the example of those men of God, gone before, when they prayed before reading the scriptures?

Nehemiah 8:6 KJB - And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

Nehemiah 8:8 KJB - So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

You are not blind? You are claiming to see?

John 9:39 KJB - And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

John 9:40 KJB - And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

John 9:41 KJB - Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

The7thColporteur said:
No it isn't, as demonstrated:

See this one:

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

Other details:

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

The first night is the Friday night not any other night

cloudyday2 · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
But he was not buried before Friday evening. Its specifically speaking of being inside the earth which in this content would mean the tomb he was in

Do the gospels say Friday? Maybe they do, but I'm not aware that they do.

Another factor that I and others often get confused about is the Last Supper. We tend to think of it as a Passover meal, but I don't think that works.

~Anastasia~ · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
Sorry, I just reedited my previous comment. So my question is on 3 nights. 3 days is fine.
So Friday night is 1 night, Saturday night is 2 nights. He did spend third night! So it's 2 nights only and not 3 nights!

A little more digging, and it seems to the people and idiom of the day it was not strange.

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:40

De Trin., iv. 6: For that the three days were not three full and entire days, Scripture witnesses; the first day is reckoned because the latter end of itcomes in; and the third day is likewise reckoned, because the first part of itis included; while the day between, that is the second day, appears in all its twenty-four hours, twelve of the night and twelve of the day. For the succeeding night up to the dawn when the Lord’s resurrection was made known, belongs to the third day. For as the first days of creation were, because of man's coming fall, computed from morning to night; so these days are because of man's restoration computed from night to morning.

- Augustine of Hippo
(Born in the 300s)

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:40

Christ says he will spend “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” He is referring to the end of Friday, all of Saturday and the beginning of Sunday [of the passion week], in keeping with the way people understood the beginning and ending of days. For we too commemorate the third day of those who have died, not when three days and three nights, completed in equal measure, have gone by. But we reckon as a single, complete day that day on which the person died, regardless of what hour the death occurred. We count as another day that on which we take our leave of the departed in hymns before the tombs. Following this same kind of sequence, then, the Lord announced that he would spend a full three days and nights under the earth. A clear indication of this is the fact that the women arrived at that very time, in order to fulfill those things that the law prescribed to be done for the dead upon the third day.

- Theodore the Stratelates

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:40

He calls them an evil generation as they were deceiving tempters, and adulterous, because they had abandoned God and followed after demons. He calls His Resurrection a sign as it is marvelous beyond belief. For having descended into the heart of the earth, the nethermost part, which is hades, He arose on the third day. The three days and three nights you must understand as spoken of in part and not in their entirety. For He died on Friday, which is one day. He was dead on Saturday — behold, the second day. And the night of Sunday held Him still dead. The three days and nights, then, are counted by parts, in just the same way as we often count them ourselves.

- Theophylact of Ochrid

Ken Rank · May 27, 2018

Godistruth1 said:
There is a reference to this in Matthew 12:40. It appears Jesus was not in the tomb three nights. Most of Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon, “placed in the tomb before sundown Friday night, rested in the tomb on the Sabbath (Saturday) and was resurrected on Sunday morning before dawn.

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40

So how does it make 3 days & 3 nights?

By starting at Thursday. In Hebraic thought, ANY PART of a day or night can count. So, let's just say he died at 3:00PM on a Thursday.

Thursday - Day 1
Thursday Night - Night 1 (Begin Unleavened Bread, High Sabbath)
Friday - Day 2
Friday Night - Night 2 (begin weekly Sabbath)
Saturday - Day 3
Saturday Night - Night 3 (end weekly Sabbath)

Sunday morning, at sunrise, the tomb was found "already empty" which means he rose during the night Saturday night. If it had been during the day, others would have seen the rolled away rock. This manner of counting explains how he had to be taken down before the Sabbath began (and we know he died on the 14th, which is Passover but is not a Sabbath) and it also stays consistent with this:

Mat 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

Godistruth1 · May 27, 2018

Ken Rank said:
By starting at Thursday. In Hebraic thought, ANY PART of a day or night can count. So, let's just say he died at 3:00PM on a Thursday.

Thursday - Day 1
Thursday Night - Night 1 (Begin Unleavened Bread, High Sabbath)
Friday - Day 2
Friday Night - Night 2 (begin weekly Sabbath)
Saturday - Day 3
Saturday Night - Night 3 (end weekly Sabbath)

Sunday morning, at sunrise, the tomb was found "already empty" which means he rose during the night Saturday night. If it had been during the day, others would have seen the rolled away rock. This manner of counting explains how he had to be taken down before the Sabbath began (and we know he died on the 14th, which is Passover but is not a Sabbath) and it also stays consistent with this:

Mat 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

I suppose Jesus did not break bread inside the tomb? If he did then there's no problem and question is solved!

Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

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