Jesus resurrection: 3 days and 3 nights vs after 3 days vs on the 3rd day

[tonychanyt]

Jonah 1:

17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

The Hebrew "three days and three nights" does not mean 3 24-hour days. It was a figure of speech.

Gill:

and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights: that is, one whole natural day, consisting of twenty four hours, and part of two others.

Similarly, Pulpit:

Three days and three nights; i.e., according to Hebrew usage, parts of the days and nights; i.e. one whole day, and parts of the day before and after this.

Keil and Delitzsch:

The three days and three nights are not to be regarded as fully three times twenty hours, but are to be interpreted according to Hebrew usage, as signifying that Jonah was vomited up again on the third day after he had been swallowed

Benson:

“The Hebrew language,” says Lowth, “has no one word to express what we call a natural day; so that what the Greeks express by Νυχθημερον, they denote by a day and a night. Therefore the space of time consisting of one whole revolution of twenty-four hours, and a part of two others, is fitly expressed in that language by three days and three nights. Such a space of time our Lord lay in the grave;” (that is, one whole νυχθημερον, or natural day, and part of two others “and we may from thence conclude that Jonah, who was an eminent figure of him in this particular, was no longer in the fish’s belly.”

Jesus cited Jonah in Matthew 12:

40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

That was the only place in the NT where Jesus mentioned three days and three nights and it was in connection with Jonah.

Elsewhere in Mark, Jesus talked about "after three days", 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 is going to 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 on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.

Other listeners understood that as "in three days", Mark 14:

58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’”

More precisely, Jesus frequently talked about "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 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.” 46 And said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and *on the third day rise from the dead,

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.” And they were greatly distressed.

Matthew 20:

19 And deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

That's what the Jews understood, Matthew 27:

63 And said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”

In fact, on the day of resurrection, Jesus met two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24:

21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

That confirmed that Jesus rose on the 3rd day. There are other confirmations,
Acts 10:

40 But God raised him on the third day and made him to appear,

1 Corinthians 15:

4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

"3 days and 3 nights" was a figure of speech; in fact and precision, Jesus rose on the 3rd day after only 2 nights.

See also Three days and nights.

 

[sandman]

"3 days and 3 nights" was a figure of speech; in fact and precision, Jesus rose on the 3rd day after only 2 nights.

If that is true ….scripture would bear that out …. And we won’t have to attempt to correlate what religion has taught us…. (which has been wrong on so many accounts.)

It is easy enough to count the days and nights if we have a starting point….And God gave us one.



The Sign

Mat 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

40 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.

This account in Matthew ….. Jesus states ….that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. That was the sign to the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees to whom He was speaking. Why 3 days & nights. According to Jewish law, a person was not counted as “officially dead” until after three full days (72 hours)

Whenever the term day or night is used singularly in the Bible it can mean all or part of a day or evening (night). But the term night (evening) and day together always indicates a 24 hour period. In Gen 1:5, 8,13,19,&23 …. God sets the standard for a full day… of which Jesus was fully aware of as noted in John 11:9.

Some try to qualify Jesus’s statement of 3 days and 3 nights with their own twisting and reference to a biblical idiom … The problem is --- they are trying to qualify man’s tradition to fit their belief …but it doesn’t work that way. God sets the standard for truth …not man! ….. the only way to verify what man states…. is to check it with what God says. …and for me…. the Word is the final authority for Truth.

We can track the precise day that Jesus was crucified by counting forward or backward. Forward from John 12:1 or backward from the Passover (which is Nisan 14) or The feast of unleavened bread which was Nisan 15 ....at sunset of the 14th….. (as that is when the next day begins.)

Passover is the 14th but the Passover meal is eaten at the beginning of the 15th (evening). The feast of unleavened bread lasts for 7 days and the first day (Thursday 15th) and last day (Wednesday 21st) of the feast are high days …{that is not 4/20 with the devils lettuce } A high day is a special sabbath as dictated by God → Num 28:18 and Num 28:25 . A special sabbath is different from the weekly sabbath which falls on Saturday. A special sabbath would be like when Christmas (which is always celebrated on 12/25) fell on a Wednesday …it would a special sabbath …but does not negate the weekly sabbath on our Sunday. The special sabbath (high day) for the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (Thursday Nisan 15) is noted in John 19:31 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,) …



Days

6 days before the Passover.

John 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead.

We know from the Word that Passover was on the 14th of Nisan (formally called Abid)

Num 28:16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD.
17 And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.



Thursday Nisan 8 – Is six days before Passover.
John 12:1


Friday Nisan 9 - Jesus makes his first entry into Jerusalem (on an ass's colt.)

Mar 11:1-11 / Luk 19:29-44 / Jhn 12:12-19


Saturday Nisan 10 - weekly sabbath / second entry into Jerusalem (ass “and” a colt) /the Passover lamb is selected

Mat 21:1-17 /Mar 11:12-19 / Luk 19:45 & 46





Sunday Nisan 11 - first day of the week /Jesus taught in Temple confronted by Sadducees, Pharisees & Herodians.

Mat 21:18 - 26:5 / Mar 11:20 - 14:2 / Luk 20:1 - 22:2



Monday Nisan 12 – Dinner at Simon the Leper / Jesus sends Peter & John to secure a place for Passover
Mat 26:6-19 / Mar 14:3-16 / Luk 22:3-13


Tuesday Nisan 13 – Last supper (not Passover) / garden of Gethsemane / Jesus taken by solders possibly around 9 or 10 pm…. interrogated and tortured throughout the night and day of the 13th.

Mat 26:20 - 27:31a / Mar 14:17 - 15:20a / Luk 22:14 - 23:25 / Jhn 13:1-19a



Wednesday Nisan 14 – Interrogation and torture continued late into the evening of the 14 and crucified at 9am on the morning of the 14th (nearly 40 hours of interrogation and torture.)

Jesus gave His life up at 3 pm (our time). He was wrapped in a linen by Joseph of Arimathea and placed in the tomb provided by Joseph. Shortly afterwards (sometime before sunset) Nicodemus came with the myrrh and aloes and did the grave wrappings on Jesus.

Mat 27:31b-61 / Mar 15:20b-47 / Luk 23:26-55 / Jhn 19:16b-42



Thursday Nisan 15 - High day special sabbath. (Unleavened bread) No work to be done

Mat 27:62-66

Friday Nisan 16 women buy the spices to perform proper burial “unaware of Nicodemus’s prior actions”.

Mar 16:1 / Luk 23:56a


Saturday Nisan 17 weekly sabbath No work to be done God raises Jesus sometime before sunset 72 hours

Mat 28:1-4 / Luk 23:56b

Notation on Nisan 17:

Mat 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn “toward the first” of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

The word dawn is confusing…. the Greek word is epiphōskō used biblically of dusk. the women came to see = (theōreō) gaze upon, observe.

(epiphōskō is used in Luk 23:54 referring to dusk, not dawn)



Sunday Nisan 18 - Mary sees Jesus/ First wave offerings

Mat 28:5-15 / Mar 16:2-14 / Luk 24:1-45 / Jhn 20:1-24