Three Days and Three Nights -- Matthew 12:40

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I’m in RCIA. I’ve always wondered about this. When was the third night?

Matthew 12:40 Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

As a Baptist, I know people say “Jesus said it; I believe it; that settles it”.

But what three days and three nights was Jesus in the heart of the earth? Good Friday was Friday. Jesus was prepared in haste before the Sabboth (before sundown). So we have Friday day (only a part of the day). And Friday Night. Saturday Day and Saturday Night. And Jesus is up at dawn on Sunday? When was the third night?
 
Well, as annotation to Matthew 12:40 in my Douay Rheims bible is the following:
40 “Three days”… Not complete days and nights; but part of three days, and three nights taken according to the way that the Hebrews counted their days and nights, viz., from evening to evening.
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Tantum ergo:
Well, as annotation to Matthew 12:40 in my Douay Rheims bible is the following:
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I understand that Jews (and Arabs also) count the end of the day at sunset. But still, where are there three nights? Friday night and Saturday night are two nights (in a Jewish sense, they were Saturday eve and Sunday eve). Did Thursday Night (the Garden of Gethsemane, various trials, persecutions and tortures) count?
 
Nope. Think of it this way:

“Three days and three nights” is simply Hebrew idiom. The phrase “one day and one night” meant a day, even when only a part of a day was indicated. We see this, e.g., in 1 Sam 30:12-13 (cf. Gen 42:17-18).

We know that Jesus was crucified on a Friday because Scripture tells us that the Sabbath (Saturday) as approaching (e.g., Mt 27:62, Mk 15:42, Lk 23:54, Jn 19:31 – the “day of preparation” is Friday, the day before the Sabbath: Saturday, and the Sabbath was considered to begin on sundown on Friday, as with Jews to this day).

We also know from the biblical data that the discovery of His Resurrection was on a Sunday (e.g., Mk 16:1-2-,9, Mt 28:1, Lk 24:1, Jn 20:1). And we know that “three days and three nights” (Mt 12:40) is synonymous in the Hebrew mind and the Bible with “after three days” ((Mk 8:31) and “on the third day” (Mt 16:21, 1 Cor 15:4). Most references to the Resurrection say that it happened on the third day. In John 2:19-22, Jesus said that He would be raised up in three days (not on the fourth day).

It would be like saying, “This is the third day I’ve been working on painting this room.” I could have started painting late Friday and made this remark on early Sunday. If I complete the task on Sunday, then the chronology would be just as Jesus’ Resurrection was. The only difference is the Hebrew idiom “three days and three nights” which was not intended in the hyper-literal sense as we might mistakenly interpret it today.
 
I admit, this might be a presumption, but I always regarded this as God’s mercy for his friends. Most followers of Jesus did not fair well during the crucifixion and they must have been in a great deal of suffering at the time. This always gave me hope for an early deliverence from all sorts of hardship that plagues us in this life. We cannot escape them, but God eases the struggle by either lightening the load or shortening the duration. This to me is an example how parents should be toward their children, always ready to help and ease whatever difficulty they may find themselves in. Just a thought.
 
tru_dvotion: I like what you said.

And it seems to be in harmony with Matthew 24:22 And if those days had not been shortened, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect they will be shortened.

And Satan had his way with Christ beginning on Thursday night so perhaps that counts as one night.

Besides that it is great that Easter is on Sunday and that we go to Mass on Sundays.
 
it is as tantum ergo said. three days and three nights is just a hebrew way of saying 3 days or a part of three days. it is a figure of speech. jonah was also only in the whale 3 days. he wasn’t spit out on the fourth day. if he had been, it would have been 4 days and not 3.
 
Hi ,

I cant add to the 3/3 but I like to think God’s mercy to Christ was shown by having Christ die early on the cross. I used to think that the Holy Spirit saved Him from the actual agony and He only had to go through the motions. I have been shown otherwise. Christ suffered as any ordinary man.

Christ be with you

Walk in love

edwinGhttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
 
edwinG said:
Hi ,

I cant add to the 3/3 but I like to think God’s mercy to Christ was shown by having Christ die early on the cross. I used to think that the Holy Spirit saved Him from the actual agony and He only had to go through the motions. I have been shown otherwise. Christ suffered as any ordinary man.
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edwin, I would think he would have suffered more.
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Do a search for the term “synecdoche”. it is how we can also reconcile Mark 9:2 and Luke 9:28.

John.
 
I’ve often wondered how Jesus could have gone to the Garden of Gesthemene after the Last Supper on Thursday evening, pray appropriately long, get tempted by and resist Satan, get betrayed and arrested, get dragged before the High Priest, get sent to Pilate for first interview, get sent to Herod, be returned to Pilate, be scourged and then have to drag the cross up to Calvary, all by Friday noon.

Would Pilate and Herod really have wanted to get dragged out of bed to deal with some “Jewish criminal?”

Could all this have been done in twelve hours, say?

There is a new theory going around these days which I don’t fully understand yet.

Basically it says that the Last Supper actually took place on Tuesday night, that there were two sabbaths that year, something to do with the Essenes, and being in Jerusalem, etc.

For two extensive links from “BibArch, The Premier Biblical Archeology Website”, see here:

bibarch.com/Perspectives/4.3.htm

bibarch.com/Perspectives/7.1B.htm

The final portion of the article won’t be printed until their January 2005 issue.

But it is really food for thought and doesn’t seem to contradict dogma, as I understand it.
 
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jmm08:
I’m in RCIA. I’ve always wondered about this. When was the third night?

Matthew 12:40 Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

As a Baptist, I know people say “Jesus said it; I believe it; that settles it”.

But what three days and three nights was Jesus in the heart of the earth? Good Friday was Friday. Jesus was prepared in haste before the Sabboth (before sundown). So we have Friday day (only a part of the day). And Friday Night. Saturday Day and Saturday Night. And Jesus is up at dawn on Sunday? When was the third night?
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Actually, if you look at all the quotes in Scripture that refer to Jesus’ resurrection, you’ll find that the term “the third day,” “in three days,” or “within three days” is used 20 times. Those quotes would be found at:

Mt. 16:21, 17:23, 20:19, 26:61, 27:40, 27:64
Mk. 9:31, 10:34, 14:58, 15:29
Lk. 9:22, 13:32, 18:33, 24:7, 24:21, 24:46
Jn. 2:19, 2:20
Acts 10:40
1 Cor. 15:4

Only once - in Matthew 12:40 - do you find the term, “three days and three nights.”

You have to take the whole narrative in context with the surrounding situation. As was stated by another poster, the term “three days and three nights” refers to any part of three consecutive days. It does not refer to a literal 72-hour period.

There are several quotes in the bible that justify this interpretation of “three days and three nights.” These include Lk. 13:32-33, Gen 42:17-18, Esther 4:16, Acts 27:18-19, Exodus 19:10-11.

Lastly, just by reading Mark’s account, it would seem apparent that Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday (day of Preparation), was in the tomb on Saturday (Sabbath), and rose on Sunday (the first day of the week.)
Mark 15:42 - 16:6 RSV:
And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus … and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb … and when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen …and entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here.
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In Manibus Dei,
  • muledog
 
Just a little note on Mark 15:42

“And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath”

In Greek, what is translated here as “day of preparation” is just one word, “paraskevi” which happens to be what Greeks call “Friday” 😃

John
 
Since Jesus is the “Light of the World”, perhaps those 3 days could also accurately be described as 3 nights? But even still, I think the most likely explanation is that that the scriptures refer to even a partial day as a whole day and night. St. Augustine states that this is the case and he states it rather matter-of-factly which makes me consider it the most likely.
 
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