Was Jesus in the tomb for 3 days and 3 nights? Then why does Scripture record his burial on Friday about 3 P.M. and his resurrection on Sunday morning around 6 A.M.? I did a careful read of the Bible and looked at several explanations. The one that made most sense to me was by one of my favorite expositors who has the following response.
Matthew 12:40 states: "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."
If the general tradition--that Christ was crucified on Friday of Holy Week, died at 3:00 P.M. (the "ninth hour" of the day) and then rose again from the dead on Sunday at dawn about 6:00 A.M.--is correct, how can it be said that Jesus was three days and three nights in the grave?
He was interred at about 6:00 P.M., according to Luke 23:54. ("And it was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was coming on.") This would mean that the period of interment was only from Friday night to Saturday night before the Resurrection on the dawn of Sunday; and it would also mean only one dawn-to-sunset day, namely Saturday, had passed. How do we get "three days and three nights" out of two nights and one day?
Must not the actual day of the crucifixion have been Thursday or even Wednesday?
It is true that a Friday Crucifixion will not yield three full twenty-four-hour days. However, neither will a Thursday afternoon Crucifixion, nor a Wednesday afternoon Crucifixion either. This results from the fact that Jesus dies at 3:00 P.M. and rose at about 6:00 A.M. The only way you can come out with three twenty-four hour days is if He rose at the same hour (three days later; of course) that He was crucified, namely 3:00 P.M. Actually, however, He rose "on the third day" (I Corinthians 15:4). Obviously if he rose on the third day. He could not have been buried for three entire nights and entire three days. That would have required His resurrection to be at the beginning of the fourth day.
What then is the meaning of the expression in Matthew 12:40: "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth"? (New American Standard Bible). This can only refer to three twenty-four hour days "in part" or in whole. That is to say, Jesus expired at 3:00 P.M. near the close of Friday (according to the Hebrew method of reckoning each day as beginning at sundown), which would be one day. Then Friday 6:00 P.M. to Saturday 6:00 P.M. would be the second day, and Saturday 6:00 P.M. to Sunday would constitute the third day--during which (that is, Sunday 6:00 A.M. or a little before) Christ arose. Christ rested in Hades where paradise or "Abraham's Bosom" still was, according to the indications Luke 16:22-26; compare Luke 23:42) for a portion of the three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The same would be true if the Gospel writers were reckoning according to the Roman method, from midnight to midnight.
Why then are three portions of day referred to in Matthew 12:40 as "three days and three nights"? The simple answer is that the only way "day" in the sense of dawn-to-dusk sunlight could be distinguished from the full twenty-four hour cycle sense of "day" was to speak of the latter as "a night and a day" (that is, an interval between 6:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. of the day following). In other words, Friday as a twenty-four-hour unit began on Thursday at 6:00 P. M. and lasted until Friday at 6:00 P.M. Correspondingly, Sunday began at 6:00 P.M. Saturday, according to Hebrew reckoning (but 12:00 P.M. Saturday according to Roman reckoning). According to ancient parlance, then, when you wished to refer to three separate twenty-four hour days, you said "Three days and three nights" --even though only a part of the first and third days might be involved.
When trying to understand scripture it helps us if we think in terms of time the same way the writers did when they recorded scripture.
Archer, G. L. (1982). Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. In A. L. Gleason, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (pp. 327-329). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House.
Matthew 12:40 states: "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."
If the general tradition--that Christ was crucified on Friday of Holy Week, died at 3:00 P.M. (the "ninth hour" of the day) and then rose again from the dead on Sunday at dawn about 6:00 A.M.--is correct, how can it be said that Jesus was three days and three nights in the grave?
He was interred at about 6:00 P.M., according to Luke 23:54. ("And it was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was coming on.") This would mean that the period of interment was only from Friday night to Saturday night before the Resurrection on the dawn of Sunday; and it would also mean only one dawn-to-sunset day, namely Saturday, had passed. How do we get "three days and three nights" out of two nights and one day?
Must not the actual day of the crucifixion have been Thursday or even Wednesday?
It is true that a Friday Crucifixion will not yield three full twenty-four-hour days. However, neither will a Thursday afternoon Crucifixion, nor a Wednesday afternoon Crucifixion either. This results from the fact that Jesus dies at 3:00 P.M. and rose at about 6:00 A.M. The only way you can come out with three twenty-four hour days is if He rose at the same hour (three days later; of course) that He was crucified, namely 3:00 P.M. Actually, however, He rose "on the third day" (I Corinthians 15:4). Obviously if he rose on the third day. He could not have been buried for three entire nights and entire three days. That would have required His resurrection to be at the beginning of the fourth day.
What then is the meaning of the expression in Matthew 12:40: "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth"? (New American Standard Bible). This can only refer to three twenty-four hour days "in part" or in whole. That is to say, Jesus expired at 3:00 P.M. near the close of Friday (according to the Hebrew method of reckoning each day as beginning at sundown), which would be one day. Then Friday 6:00 P.M. to Saturday 6:00 P.M. would be the second day, and Saturday 6:00 P.M. to Sunday would constitute the third day--during which (that is, Sunday 6:00 A.M. or a little before) Christ arose. Christ rested in Hades where paradise or "Abraham's Bosom" still was, according to the indications Luke 16:22-26; compare Luke 23:42) for a portion of the three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The same would be true if the Gospel writers were reckoning according to the Roman method, from midnight to midnight.
Why then are three portions of day referred to in Matthew 12:40 as "three days and three nights"? The simple answer is that the only way "day" in the sense of dawn-to-dusk sunlight could be distinguished from the full twenty-four hour cycle sense of "day" was to speak of the latter as "a night and a day" (that is, an interval between 6:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. of the day following). In other words, Friday as a twenty-four-hour unit began on Thursday at 6:00 P. M. and lasted until Friday at 6:00 P.M. Correspondingly, Sunday began at 6:00 P.M. Saturday, according to Hebrew reckoning (but 12:00 P.M. Saturday according to Roman reckoning). According to ancient parlance, then, when you wished to refer to three separate twenty-four hour days, you said "Three days and three nights" --even though only a part of the first and third days might be involved.
When trying to understand scripture it helps us if we think in terms of time the same way the writers did when they recorded scripture.
Archer, G. L. (1982). Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. In A. L. Gleason, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (pp. 327-329). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House.
