BeeEs3 wrote:

>> Sean McHugh <> wrote:

>>

>>> Fine Graeme. You say that the statement is nonsense. Looks like we

>>> have a credibility gap. Let’s look at it:

>>

>>> Jesus said that just as Jonah had been in the belly of the whale for

>>> three days and three nights, the Son of Man would be interred for

>>> three days and three nights (Mat 12:40). Jesus was put in the grave

>>> on the evening of the day before the Sabbath (Mark 15:42-47). On the

>>> morning after the Sabbath, before dawn, the tomb was found to be

>>> empty (Mat 28:1-5; John 20:1). Now according to my calculations

>>> that’s less than two days and probably closer to one and a half.

>>> Don’t bother trying invoke part days because, apart from still being

>>> insufficient, the specification was also for three nights. There was

>>> NO part of any third night.

>

> Hi Sean So nice to see you. May I offer some bits of info that may be

> helpful in reconciling the apparent contradiction you are facing?

>

> First of all, no where in the scriptures does it say that Christ died

> on a Friday, contrary to popular belief. I would guess it was the Roman

> Catholic Church that originated “Good Friday”. It should have been

> “Good Wednesday”, but we’ll pass on this for the moment.

Hi Ben,

As no weekday name is documented in the gospels – for Jesus’ death – I don’t feel the absence of the word ‘Friday’ is significant. Incidentally, I did not use the word ‘Friday’ either.

> Second, on that week that was, there were several holidays (Sabbaths)

> that composed the Jewish Passover. If one will search the scriptures

> they will be found quite easily. You will notice expressions like ” the

> first day of the feast”, “the first day of unleaven bread”, which

> denotes that there were more than one day to these. Third, the

> Passover, itself consists of 4 days. See Exodus 12:1-14. Thus there is

> a full week of Sabbaths, including the normal Saturday. Finally, Jesus

> not only implied His 3 days and nights in the grave, in Math. 12:40,

> when He likened Himself to Jonah, but stated it emphatically and

> clearly in Luke 9:22.

Thank you for that Lukan reference. I do prefer the Mat 12:40 as it is more temporally specific. It says that Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights. I think we agree, that if one applies what is normally considered to be the Sabbath – the seventh day of the week – with Jesus going into the grave on the evening of the day before the Sabbath (Mark 15:42-47) and coming out early on the morning after its completion (Mat 28:1-5; John 20:1), he would have only been in the tomb for between one and a half to two days.

Now I notice that you would have me to consider it axiomatic, that all holidays were Sabbaths. That has never been my understanding and I see no basis for this assumption. It might be true that all Sabbaths were holidays, but that is an entirely different statement. You then seem to be saying that the Passover represented four Sabbaths and that with some extra ones, there was a week of perhaps seven Sabbaths over the period of Jesus’ death.

May I now list all the problems that I have with your proposal:

1. The common understanding of ‘the Sabbath’, is that it is the day that falls on the last day of the week, symbolizing God’s day of rest after six days of creation.

2. ‘Sabbath’ in his “Dictionary of the Bible”, John L.McKenzie, S.J. defines ‘Sabbath’ as the seventh day of the week in the Israelite and Jewish calendar. The next definition, in alphabetical order, he provides is for ‘Sabbatical Year’. This is based on the seventh year. Again, a definite periodicity seems to be implicit.

3. The only relevant reference you provided was Ex 12:1-14 which not only does not define ‘Sabbath’, it doesn’t even mention it.

4. That the Sabbath represented a single day is clearly demonstrated in John 19:31:

: Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies : left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath : was a day of great solemnity. [NRSV]

Here ‘day’ (hemera) is explicit. This represents the Sabbath over which Jesus was interred.

5. Your week of Sabbaths would have an even greater discrepancy with Jesus’ prediction that he would be in the grave for three days and three nights. This problem exists even if one assumes the lesser but still very conjectural, four Sabbaths. If Jesus was interred before this hypothetical span and only resurrected after its completion, he would have needed to be in the grave for over four days with five nights.

6. Your proposal, that Jesus was interred on Wednesday, has problems with John 19:14, where it says that it was the preparation of the Passover. As you maintain four days for the Passover and maintain that these four days were Sabbaths, Jesus would have had to have been interred on Tuesday, at the very latest.

If it possible to present a model that hopes to show compatibility with all the gospel data, yet show Jesus as being in the grave for three days and three nights, one should be able to make a timetable with the following format: _________________________________________________________________

Monday Preparation (of batter) non Sabbath

Tuesday Day of the level Pancakes Sabbath

Wednesday 1st day of Leftovers Sabbath

Thursday 2nd day of Leftovers Sabbath

Thursday 3rd . . .

etc . . . . . . .

Sunday Day of Recovery non Sabbath

__________________________________________________________________

The obvious substitutions are for the purpose of avoiding drawing the inference of a proposal. In the proper table, it would be necessary to provide another column showing proposals for when Jesus was interred and when he was resurrected. This could include suggested approximate times. Of course this model would also need to be dependant on establishing that there were multiple consecutive days that were all Sabbaths.

> There are those who are better versed in the Jewish Feasts, and books

> as well, who could supply more info in this area, but suffice to say

> that from the first day of the feast of Unleaven bread; through the

> days of Preparation; and the High Holy Sabbath, the day that they

> ceremoniously killed the Passover Lamb, is quite a few days, and these

> are then followed by the regular Sabbath. See John 19:31.

>

> Shall Christ be found a Liar???

I think that if making incorrect predictions makes one a liar, then we are all liars.

Sean McHugh