The timing of Jesus’ Last Supper, and His crucifixion & resurrection, shouldn’t cause confusion or division among Christians. But it has. Some have even said the only sign Jesus gave that He’s our Savior was…He’d be dead for three full days and three full nights, 72 hours! But does a 72–hour time period fit with other relevant scriptures? How long was Jesus dead?
The only New Testament (NT) passage which could lead to a 72–hour hypothesis is Mt.12:38-40. “Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, ‘We want to see a miraculous sign from You.’ But Jesus replied, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. But none shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.”
By “3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth”, did Matthew mean that the sign of Jonah and of Jesus’ resurrection was…Jesus would be in the tomb for a full 72 hours? (This topic won’t evaluate modern tales of men surviving inside a whale.)
Or perhaps we shouldn’t even address this issue. After all, Jesus said the sign, including “3 days and 3 nights”, was given to that evil adulterous generation religiously led by the scribes and Pharisees. The (idiomatic) “3 days and 3 nights” wasn’t given to the church! Christ’s church isn’t those “evil” leaders to whom He spoke! But since the issue has resulted in misunderstanding and a measure of division among some in the church, let’s proceed.
To begin, let’s see from scripture the inclusive manner by which the ancients counted days.
Acts 10 has the account of Peter’s journey from his house in Joppa to Cornelius’ house in Caesárea, approximately 40 miles distant. v.3 Cornelius saw an angel. “About 3pm he saw an angel in a vision.” To make the journey sequence plainer, I’ll hypothetically assign Sunday 3pm as when the vision occurred. Then Cornelius dispatched men to send for Peter. v.9 “About noon the next day the messengers were on their way, approaching the city.” They’re nearing Joppa at noon Monday. v.23 “Peter invited them in and gave them lodging. And the next day he arose and went away with them.” Peter lodged them Monday night, and Tuesday morning he left with them for Caesarea. v.24 “The following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them.” On Wednesday they came to Cornelius’ house.
Ac.10:25-29 Peter goes inside, explains why he agreed to accompany those gentiles, and asks Cornelius why he sent for him. Cornelius’ reply is key to our understanding the inclusive manner by which the ancients counted days! v.30 “Four days ago to this same hour, 3pm, I was praying in my house and a man stood before me in shining apparel!” Four days ago?! But from Sunday at 3pm until Wednesday at 3pm is 72 hours…that’s only three days ago according to how we count days. (Some translations such as Weymouth and the NIV changed v.30 to read “three days ago”, to help readers understand the actual number of elapsed days.) But to the ancients, there were parts of four days counted: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (or whatever four successive days they actually were)…even though the elapsed time was only 72 hours. Understanding this ancient scriptural manner of counting is essential!
British criminal courts count days in this manner…they include any part of one day as a whole day.
More examples of this inclusive counting: Wisdom of Solomon 7:1-2 “In my mother’s womb I was fashioned to be flesh in the time of 10 months.” Human pregnancy is a little more than 9 months. But according to the method of counting during Bible times, it was reckoned as 10 months.
Jn.20:26 “After eight days the disciples were again inside the house.” To aid reader understanding, several translations and margins render this verse “a week later”. Gill Exposition “After eight days. That is, the same day, a week later.” Matthew Poole Commentary “Eight days after the resurrection, counting the day Christ rose for one.” It’s inclusive counting.
This method of counting days is used today in Africa and parts of Asia. Wande Abímbola Thoughts on Yoruba, p.120 “Inclusive counting. For example today is Monday, if we do something today, and we will repeat it next Monday, the Yoruba will say, ‘We are going to repeat it eight days from today,’ not seven. We would count today, and we will also count next Monday as well.” Even in modern Africa, it’s still counted as 8 days, though only 7 days elapsed.
Another Bible incident where John counted days inclusively is Jn.11:17. “When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days.” We saw in Acts 10…the total elapsed time of “four days ago” was actually 72 hours, more like our three days. JFB Commentary Jn.11:17 “Four days…the first and last being incomplete.” Meyer’s NT Commentary “Two full days and parts of two other days (the first and the fourth).” To aid understanding, the Weymouth translation changed v.17 to read “three days”.
Jews customarily buried the dead on the day of death (Jn.19:41-42, Ac.5:5-6, 10). Notice a few verses later in Jn.11:39. “Jesus said, ‘Take the stone away’. But Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, ‘By this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” In that climate, women wouldn’t have opened the tomb of a corpse which had decayed for 72 hours (our three days)!
But after Jesus was crucified, the women willingly went to Jesus’ tomb (in the spring)! Lk.24:1 “On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb bringing the spices they had prepared.” Ac.13:35-37 “The One whom God raised didn’t undergo decay.” Jesus’ corpse experienced no decay. Jesus wasn’t in the tomb anywhere near 72 hours! Let’s see approximately how long Jesus was in the tomb.
In Ac.10:30, Cornelius told Peter that he’d seen the angel “four days ago”. That elapsed time was 72 hours. Peter then witnessed about Jesus in v.39-40. “God raised Him from the dead on the 3rd day.” Paul said the same in 1Co.15:4. “He was buried and raised on the 3rd day according to the scriptures.” Jesus said of Himself in Mk.9:31, “They shall kill Him, and the 3rd day He shall rise again”. Several verses witness Jesus would be raised on the 3rd day or “after 3 days”, depending on your translation.
The scriptures also define what was meant by “the 3rd day” in elapsed time. In Lk.13:32, Jesus referred to “Today and tomorrow, and the 3rd day”. Luke shows Jesus Himself using inclusive timing! It’s the same method of counting the Lord used back in Ex.19:10-11. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Consecrate the people today and tomorrow, and be ready for the 3rd day. For on the 3rd day the Lord will come down on Mt. Sinai.” Gill Exposition “Not the third day of the month, but the third day from hence.” Traditionally, the days in that passage were Friday and Saturday, and be ready for Sunday (Pentecost)!
Le.19:6-7 is another example of this inclusive reckoning. “The sacrifice must be eaten on the same day you offer it, and the next day, but any left on the 3rd day shall be burned up.” This inclusive counting of days, as employed in the Bible, isn’t the method used here in the USA.
Matthew 12:40 is the sole witness who relates “3 days and 3 nights” directly to Jesus. However, Matthew is also one among others who applied “the 3rd day” timing to Jesus. Mt.16:21 “Jesus Christ began to show that He must be killed, and be raised up on the 3rd day.”
So it may seem that Mat.12:40 contradicts Matthew elsewhere, as well as contradicting the other writers who affirm “the 3rd day” timing. But it doesn’t, as we will see.
The sign of Jonah is also referred to in Lk.11:29-30. “An evil generation seeks for a sign. But no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall the Son of Man be to this generation.” Archaeological findings indicate the ancient Ninevites worshiped a fish god (Dagón?). The great fish that swallowed Jonah miraculously cast him up on the shore alive (Jnh.2:10). Jesus rose from the dead alive.
But Luke said nothing about “3 days and 3 nights”. If a 72-hour time frame was the only sign, Luke wouldn’t have ignored it in his (parallel) passage! No burial is even mentioned. And Mt.17:23, 20:19, Lk.9:22, 18:33, 24:7, 24:46 all say Jesus would rise “the 3rd day”!
The sign of Jonah was twofold: (1) The ‘resurrection’ miracle. The fish became a widespread symbol or secret sign of early Christianity. A fish is found drawn on the walls & tombs of early Christian burial catacombs underneath Rome. (2) A proclamation of judgment upon a people.
(1) Jonah was from the tribal area allotted to Zebulún in Galilee (2Ki.14:25 & Jsh.19:10, 13). Jesus was also from Galilee (Mt.4:15). Jonah arrived in Nineveh after a miraculous ‘resurrection’ from a fish, as a type. Jonah’s experience in Jonah 1–2 from the Old Greek version (became the LXX/Septúagint) was a type of Jesus’ descent down into Hades, and then His resurrection. Ac.2:31 “The resurrection of Christ, His soul wasn’t left in Hades [Strongs g86].” Jesus didn’t remain in the realm of the dead.
Jnh.1:3, 5, 15 LXX “Jonah went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshísh. Jonah went down into the hold of the ship. They cast out Jonah into the sea.” Jonah went down to Joppa, down into the ship, into the sea, and descended down into the belly of the fish, symbolic of Hades. Jnh.2:1-7 LXX “Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days and 3 nights. God heard me out of the belly of Hades [g86]. You cast me into the depths of the heart of the seas. The lowest deep surrounded me, my head went down; I went down into the earth.” Down…down…down…down!
Jnh.2:11 LXX “Then the fish cast up Jonah on dry land.” The belly of the great fish in the deep is analogous to Hades/Sheól, the abode of the dead, in “the earth” (Jnh.2:2, 6 LXX). Hades is portrayed as “down”. cf. Lk.10:15 “You Capernaúm will go down to Hades.”
Matthew mentions Jonah three times. Mt.12:40 is one. Another is Mt.16:4. Then in Mt.16:17-19, Jesus said, “Blessed are you Simon bar-Jonáh. You are Peter a small rock; and upon this Rock I will build My church. And the gates of Hades won’t prevail against it.”
Simon Peter was also from Galilee, as was Jesus and Jonah. Peter was the first apostle to the gentiles (Acts 10), as Jonah was the first recorded Israelite prophet to gentiles. Jesus refers to the Galilean Peter being sent forth as the “son of Jonah” (bar-Jonah in Aramaic). The “gates of Hades” cannot prevent Hades from being plundered! Jesus conquered Hades! In Mt.27:52, we read of saints resurrected. Jnh.2:10-11 LXX is a type.
(2) In the Bible, a “generation” can relate to approximately 40 years (e.g. He.3:9-10). Jnh.3:3-4 Jonah was 3 days in Nineveh prophesying God’s judgment would come upon that city after 40 days. They repented. Jesus was 3 years ministering in the Holy Land. Judea didn’t repent. Judgment came upon that evil generation approximately 40 years later in 70 AD, and the temple was destroyed.
Again, the sign of Jonah was twofold: resurrection and judgment.
I know of no Old Testament messianic prophecy which clearly numbered Jesus’ days in the tomb.
What was the “3 days and 3 nights” idiom? The rabbinic view was, “A complete or incomplete day”. Jewish Encyclopedia, v.4, p. 475 “In Jewish communal life part of a day is at times reckoned as one day; e.g., the day of the funeral, even when it takes place late in the afternoon, is counted as the 1st of the 7 days of mourning; a short time in the morning of the 7th day is counted as the 7th day; circumcision takes place on the 8th day, even though on the 1st day only a few minutes remained after the birth of the child, these being counted as one day.” The boy was circumcised when he was more like 7 days old.
Jerusalem Talmud Shabbath ix.3 “A day and night are as portions of time and the portion as the whole of it.” JFB Commentary Mt.12:40 “The period He was to lie in the grave is here expressed in round numbers, according to the Jewish way of speaking, which was to regard any part of a day, however small, included within a period of days, as a full day. (ref 1Sm.30:12, 13; Est 4:16; 5:1; Mt 27:63, 64.)” 3 days and 3 nights wasn’t literally 72 hours. Again, 72 hours was inclusively “4 days ago” in Acts 10.
1Sm.30:11-13 “He hadn’t eaten food or drank water for 3 days and 3 nights; becoming ill 3 days ago.” Gill Exposition “One whole day and part of two days.” It’s not the 4 days ago of Ac.10:30 (72 hours).
Est.4:16–5:1 “Fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for 3 days, night or day….And on the 3rd day Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the king’s house.” Cambridge Commentary “It may not have really meant more than two nights and the intervening day, a part of the 24-hour day reckoned as a whole one.” Est.5:4-6 Esther’s banquet (at which she ate) was on that 3rd day. She didn’t fast for 72 hours!
How else might the “3 days and 3 nights” idiom in Mt.12:40 be interpreted? Again, in regards to Jesus, that specific time period is witnessed by only this one verse.
Mt.12:40 “The Son of Man shall be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart [g2588 cardía] of the earth [g1093].” Though most interpret this as Jesus being in the tomb, the Greek term for “tomb” or “grave” isn’t in Mt.12:40! Again Jnh.2:3-4 LXX “You cast me into the depths of the heart [g2588] of the seas.” In the LXX, we see the expression “heart of the sea” in Ps.45:2, Pr.23:34, Ezk.27:25. Also Ezk.28:8 “You shall die the death of the slain in the heart [g2588] of the sea.” And the “belly of Hades”, the place of the dead in the “earth” (g1093), is referred to at least metaphorically in Jnh.2:3-7 LXX.
Perhaps Jonah did die during the 36 hours or so he was in the belly of the great fish…and miraculously then was resurrected by God. Pulpit Commentary Jnh.1:17 “3 days and 3 nights; according to Hebrew usage, parts of the days and nights; i.e. one whole day, and parts of the day before and after this. Jonah was released on the 3rd day.” And Jesus was dead for approximately 36 hours.
Here’s two alternate takes on the possible meaning of Mt.12:40:
#1 Mt.12:40 the Greek term for earth (g1093) can also mean land or the (Holy) Land, depending on the context. Conjecturally, what if “heart of the earth” referred to a land area, someplace other than Jesus’ tomb? Ezk.5:5 “Says the Lord, ‘Jerusalem, I have placed her in the center of the nations.” Ezk.38:12 LXX refers to Jerusalem. “People dwelling in the navel [center] of the earth [land g1093].” Jerusalem or the Holy Land was central. 1Eno.26:1 is thought to mean Jerusalem. “I went to the middle of the earth.” Jerusalem in this sense, as the point nearest the Deity (YHVH), was the “heart of the earth”.
In Mt.12:38-42, a theme is judgment of that generation in Jerusalem/Judea. Jesus’ ministry in the Land was 3 years or so. Nu.14:34 & Ezk.4:6 reflect the ‘day for a year’ principle. Some may view “3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth/Land” as Jesus’ 3–year ministry (begun Lk.3:23) in the Holy Land. Not as His time in the tomb. Again, the Greek term for “tomb” doesn’t appear in Mt.12:40. Although alternative interpretations of Mt.12:40 have been put forth, perhaps this one is more tentative.
#2 Interpreting “3 days and 3 nights” as literally “3 daylight and 3 dark” periods (unequal), based upon the time from Jesus’ cross to His resurrection. The breakdown is (Jewish days began at sunset):
Daylight #1 = Abíb 15 Friday 9am–12pm the crucifixion process started (Mk.15:25, Jn.19:14-15).
Dark #1 = Friday 12pm–3pm (Mk.15:33-37). No solar eclipse when moon is full. He dies after 3pm.
Daylight #2 = Friday 3pm–6pm. Daylight returned at 3pm. Jesus is put in the tomb (Mk.15:46-47).
Dark #2 = Abib 16 Friday 6pm–Saturday 6am. (Lk.23:54-56) The righteous women rest on the sabbath.
Daylight #3 = Saturday 6am–6pm. Sabbath ends at 6pm, but the women won’t visit the tomb at night.
Dark #3 = Abib 17 Saturday 6pm–Sunday 6am (Jn.20:1, Lk.24:1). They visit. HE IS RISEN! (Mk.16:6)
The timing of this view at least fits. Of interest is Philo On the Life of Moses 1:21:123, regarding the Ex.10:22 plague of darkness on Egypt. “It resembled one very long night, equal in length to 3 days and nights.”
Incidentally, no gospel writer reckons counting to begin from the hour the tomb guards were stationed.
Conclusion: Jesus was dead for 36 hours or a little longer…from 3–4pm Friday until approximately 4am Sunday. Bible verses in both the Old and New Testaments clearly define the time period meant by “the 3rd day”. Those Jews used inclusive timing (unlike us in the USA). And there are scriptural ‘witnesses’ who apply “the 3rd day” timing to the period from Jesus’ crucifixion to His resurrection.
Let’s see one last example of “the 3rd day”, in Lk.24. v.1 “On the first day of the week the women went to the tomb.” They went early Sunday morning. v.20-22 “The chief priests…crucified Him. Indeed it is the 3rd day since these things happened. Women went to the tomb early this morning.” Here is inclusive timing, which Luke recorded Jesus Himself using in Lk.13:32. “Today, tomorrow, and the 3rd day.” He was crucified on Friday and raised on Sunday…the 3rd day. (Again, a parallel is Ex.19:10-11.)
The expression “3 days and 3 nights” was given to that wicked generation. It’s not for us in the church. The Mt.12:40 “3 days and 3 nights” was an idiom known by the Jewish people, but as such didn’t contradict the inclusive reckoning of “the 3rd day” in their culture and mindset. It didn’t contradict Matthew’s own “3rd day” usage in Mt.16:21. Whether other or additional interpretations of “3 days and 3 nights” in Mt.12:40 are also valid, is speculation.
(Two related topics are “Jesus’ Last Supper Timing” and “Jesus’ Death – the Physical Cause”.)
Bible Topic Exposition 