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]

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?

No where in the Bible does God specify that "the heart of the earth" is to be understood as "the ground" or "his grave". But, because Christ always spoke in parables, we have to let His words guide us to understand what he meant. And he does so by using Jonah as our way to understand what he means by the phrase, "heart of the earth".

Matthew 12:39–40 (KJV 1900)
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 (meaning, in like manner) shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So, Christ is equating the heart of the earth with the whale's belly. Now, all we have to do is to learn what the whale's belly represented.

Jonah 2:1–2 (KJV 1900)
Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, 2 And said,
I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me;
Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

So God is equating the whale's belly with the belly of hell. The word "belly" can also be understood as "womb". This is because Christ had to suffer in hell (meaning come under the wrath of God) in order to make payment for sins. And upon his resurrection, he became the first born (from a belly or womb) from the dead. This is where the belly (or womb) comes into the picture.

So, now we can go back to what Christ said and understand his parable much better:

Matthew 12:40 (KJV 1900)
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly (in the belly of hell); SO (in like manner) shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (in the belly of hell).

Now, the Bible intimately associates hell with being under the wrath of God, not with being in a spiritual realm that most people associate hell with. And Christ came under the wrath of God starting in the garden of Gethsemane, on Thursday evening.

Luke 22:41–44 (KJV 1900)
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Anytime we read about the cup of God, it's referring to the cup of his wrath. This is the cup Christ was praying to be removed from him, but was nonetheless submitting to the Father's will. Then the arrest followed, then the crucifixion, then his death and then his bodily resurrection. So, if we count the days, we see that three days and three nights fits perfectly when Christ was under the wrath of God (in the belly of hell/heart of the earth).

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

Friday morning: day 1
Saturday morning: day 2
Sunday morning: day 3

People have taken it upon themselves to force these 3 days and 3 nights to be full 24 hour periods, however, the Bible allows for both. And in the case of Christ being under the wrath of God for 3 days and 3 nights, we can see that it didn't need to be full 24 hr periods in order for it to be fulfilled the way it was spoken.

I hope this helps.

[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)