Three days /three nights and the Pharisees

[rstrats]

When responding to the Pharisees, why do you suppose the Messiah made the specific point that He would be in the "heart of the earth" for 3 days and 3 nights?

[JehovahsWitness]

WHY DID JESUS PREDICT HE WOULD BE IN THE GROUND THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS?

It seems that Jesus was using days and nights idiomatically not literally. This doesnt have to be a proven or a common usage as Jesus was well known for coming up with unique or rarely used illustrations and metaphor but it would be based on common time counting in that culture.

MATTHEW 12:40 NWT

For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights"

The Jewish tradition was to count an entire day (24/hours period - including the night) as one unit, by being in the tomb parts of three consecutive days he was indeed dead three days "and nights". The scripture are clear that Jesus was resurrected on "the third day" (Acts 10:39, 40) which is not possible if one is to literally include three night periods. Note the following observations...

"A short time in the morning of the seventh day counted as the seventh day; circumcision takes place on the eighth day, even though, of the first day only a few minutes remained after the birth of the child, these being counted as one day." -- The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.4, pg.474,

In Jewish communal life part of a day is at times reckoned as one day; e.g., the day of the funeral, even when the latter takes place late in the afternoon, is counted as the first of the seven days of mourning idem

Jesus was refering to "a day" (ie 24 hour period) idiomatically (see above) accordjng to the Jewish custom of counting the entire day (ie from sunset to the following sunset) : Even if the event happened right of at the start of said day.



JW

[rstrats]

WHY DID JESUS PREDICT HE WOULD BE IN THE GROUND THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS?


JW

Yes, that is the question of this topic. Why 3 days and 3 nights? Why not 2 days and 2 nights? Was there something meaningful about the former?

[JehovahsWitness]

I dont know...often the bible repeats 3 times for emphasis, so maybe "three" was to prove emphatically that he was dead...

[Eddie Ramos]

[rstrats]

[quote="Eddie Ramos"

I hope this helps.
[/quote]

Thanks, but unfortunately it doesn't.

BTW, why do you say that afternoon is night time?

[rstrats]

Thursday afternoon: night 1
Friday afternoon: night 2
Saturday afternoon: night 3

Why do you consider "afternoon" to be night-time?

[boatsnguitars]

I dont know...often the bible repeats 3 times for emphasis, so maybe "three" was to prove emphatically that he was dead...

Why wasn't his death idiomatic? He could have been sleeping in a cave for 3 days and nights - "dead to the world".

[JehovahsWitness]

I dont know...often the bible repeats 3 times for emphasis, so maybe "three" was to prove emphatically that he was dead...

Why wasn't his death idiomatic? He could have been sleeping in a cave for 3 days and nights - "dead to the world".

All we have is the biblical narrative which presents Jesus death as very literal.


JW

[onewithhim]

Jesus did not make any reference to "hell" as where he would be. That is, a burning hell that most people think of when hearing the name "hell." The word "hell" simply means the grave, and wherever we see that name we must think of the meaning as "the grave." Jonah referred to his being in the fish's belly as being in his grave. Jesus likened his death to being in Jonah's situation of being in his grave, which Jonah thought he would be. Jesus plainly was in his grave for three days, actually dead.

And the dead know nothing. "...the dead do not know anything..." (Ecclesiastes 9:5, NASB)