( Fra Beato Angelico , 1438-1440)
Three days and three nights - the prophecy of Jesus Christ described in Matthew :
 | Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said: Teacher! we would like to see a sign from you. But He answered and said unto them, A wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and a sign shall not be given to him, except the sign of the prophet Jonah ; for just as Jonah was in the womb of the whale for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights ( Matthew 12: 38-40 ) |  |
Events of three days and three nights
| Day | Night | |
|---|---|---|
| one (Friday Judean, Julian Thursday) | Crucifixion of Jesus Christ , position in the tomb . Mk. 15:42 "And as evening has already arrived - because it was Friday, that is, the day before Saturday, ..." | Gospel of Peter 7:27. “ Because of all this, we fasted and sat grieving and crying night and day until Saturday .” |
| 2 (Judean Friday, Julian Friday) | Gospel of Peter 7:27. “ Because of all this, we fasted and sat grieving and crying night and day until Saturday .” Matt. 27: 62-66 “ 62 The next day, which follows Friday, the high priests and Pharisees gathered at Pilate 63 and said: Sir! We remembered that the deceiver, while still alive, said: after three days I will be resurrected; 64 order therefore to guard the sepulcher until the third day, so that His disciples, coming in at night, do not steal Him and say to the people: He rose from the dead; and the last deception will be worse than the first. 65 Pilate said to them: You have a guard; go, guard, as you know. 66 They went and put a guard at the tomb , and put a seal on the stone. ” Gospel of Peter 8: 28-33. "8.28. The gathered scribes, and the Pharisees, and elders heard that the whole people grumble and beat themselves in the chest, saying: “If such great signs appeared at His death, you see how righteous He is.” 29. They were frightened and went to Pilate, asking him and saying: 30. “Give us soldiers so that we can guard His grave for three days, so that His disciples do not come and steal Him and the people decide that He rose from the dead and would not do us harm. " 31. Pilate gave them Petronius the centurion to guard the tomb. And with them the elders and scribes went to the tomb. 32. And, having rolled a large stone, together with the centurion and the soldiers they piled at the entrance to the tomb. 33. And, sealed with seven seals, they set up a tent and began to guard. ” | |
| 3 (Jewish week - Saturday, Julian hornet) | Gospel of Peter 9:34. " Early in the morning, when the Sabbath dawn began, a crowd came from Jerusalem and its surroundings to see the sealed tomb ." Lx 23:56 "... and on Saturday they remained alone according to the commandment." | Gospel of Peter 9: 35-11: 49. "35. And that very night, when the day of the Lord dawned, - the soldiers guarded two guards, a loud voice came from the sky. 36. And they saw how the heavens opened up, and two men descended from there, radiating radiance and approaching the tomb. 37. The same stone that was rolled to the door, falling off by itself, moved away, and the tomb opened, and both young men entered. 10.38. And when the soldiers saw this, they woke the centurion and elders, for they were there, guarding (the tomb). 39. And when they told what they saw, they again saw three people leaving the tomb, two supporting one, and the cross following them. 40. And the heads of two reached heaven, and the one who was led by the hand had a head higher than heaven. 41. And they heard a voice from heaven: “Have you proclaimed the dead?” 42. And there was an answer from the cross: “Yes.” 11.43. And they discussed with each other to go and inform Pilate. 44. And while they thought, the heavens opened again, and a certain man came down and went into the tomb. 45. Those who saw this together with the centurion hastened to Pilate, leaving the tomb, which they guarded, and announced everything that they saw in great confusion and excitement, saying: "Verily, the Son was God." 46. Answering, Pilate said: “I am pure from the blood of the Son of God; so you decided. " 47. Then everyone asked him to order the centurion and the soldiers not to tell anyone about what they saw. 48. For it is better, they said, for us to be guilty of the greatest sin before God, but not to fall into the hands of the Jewish people and not to be stoned. 49. And then Pilate ordered the centurion and the soldiers not to tell anything. ” |
| four (first day of the week of Judea, Julian week) | Matt. 28: 1 “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.” Mk. 16: 1-2 “1 After the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Jacob and Salome bought fragrances to go to anoint Him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, they come to the sepulcher, at sunrise, ... " |
Contradictions and their resolution
It is generally accepted that Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, and He rose early in the morning on the first day of the week of Judea, now Sunday. Between Friday and Sunday, two nights, that is, one night is not enough.
Formal inconsistency with the prophecy was known for a long time, so Gregory of Nyssa gave the following interpretation: “If you want to know exactly the specific period of these days of suffering, because you’ll be among a considerable number, if you count the time from the ninth hour of Friday, at which the Lord delivered the spirit into the hands of the Father, - then a little hesitated, and maybe the word will explain it to you. What is the word? Look at the greatness of Divine power, and you will find out what you are asking here. Remember the saying of the Lord that He declares himself having a power over everything, as an autocratic power, and not by necessity natural, He tears the soul from the body. He says: “No one will take My soul, but Az I suppose you are about Myself: put the region of the imam and the region of the imam to receive (John 10:18). As soon as I am firmly aware of this, then the desired is being clarified. For the Ruling, with sovereign autocracy, does not expect coercion to suffer from betrayal, does not expect for that robber attack by the Jews, nor Pilatov’s lawless trial, that their anger should be the beginning and cause of the general salvation of people; but by His housekeeping, He himself prevents their approach by means of a sacred action by the indescribable and unprecedented people, He Himself is sacrificed and offered for us, being together the Priest and the Lamb of God, taking upon Himself the sin of the world. When is this? When he offered His venomous body for food, he clearly showed that the sacrifice of the Lamb had already been completed. For the sacrificial body would not be fit for poison if it were still animate. So, when the Lord taught the disciples a body for poisoning and blood for drinking, then the free power of the House-builder of the sacrament His body was inexpressibly and invisibly sacrificed, and the soul was in those places where it transferred the power of the House-builder along with the Divine power connected with it; she went around that country in the heart of the earth. So, counting the time from the hour when a sacrifice was made to God by the Great Bishop, who unperturbedly and invisibly priests Himself as a Lamb for common sin, he will not sin against the truth. For it was evening when this sacred and holy body was eaten up. This evening was followed by the night before Friday. Further - the day of Friday, cut by the opening night, is divided into one night and two days. For if God is a nightmare (Genesis 1: 5), and for three hours there was darkness throughout the Universe, then this darkness is night, a newly-divided day in the middle, delimited by itself two divisions of the day, one from dawn to the sixth hour, the other is from the ninth hour until the evening. Thus, before it was two days and two nights. Next - the night before the Sabbath and with it the Sabbath day - you have three nights. Finally, examine the time of resurrection, and you will find the truth of what was said. When did the resurrection follow? On the Sabbath evening, Matthew proclaims (Matthew 28: 1). So, here is the very hour of resurrection according to the voice of an angel. This is the limit of the Lord's abode in the heart of the earth. For when it was already a deep evening, which began that night, which was followed by the first of the days after the Sabbath, then an earthquake occurred; then the Angel shining with his clothes rolled off the tombstone. And the wives, who got up shortly before the morning, when daylight had already appeared, so that a certain radiance of the rising sun was also shown, announce the resurrection that has already taken place. They learned about the miracle, but the hour was not open to them. For the angel told them that the Lord had risen, and when he did not add in his word. But the great Matthew, one of all the evangelists, accurately designated the time, saying that the Sabbath was the hour of the resurrection. If so, then, according to our calculation, the deadline is met when we count from four in the evening to Saturday evening, inserting, as they say, the night that divided Friday into two days and one night. For it was proper for the Lord of His power over the age to do so that His deeds would not necessarily be consistent with the measures established for time, but that the measures of time should be divided in a new order according to the needs of things and that when the Divine power performs a good work in the shortest possible time, and measures time would be shortened. Thus, at least three days and as many nights passed because the mysterious and unspoken reason required this number, and the Divine power, in waiting for the usual intervals of days and nights, did not encounter any obstacles to the speed of action. For He who has power and lay down His soul about Himself and again perceived when he wanted, as the Creator of centuries, had the power in his affairs not to be subject to time, but to arrange time in accordance with deeds. ”
In Theophylact of Bulgaria : “The Lord has risen three days. But how are three days? At the eighth hour of the heel the Lord was crucified; from this hour to the tenth there was darkness: it (the time of darkness), count for the night. Then, from the ninth hour there was again light; count it in a day. Here - as if day (day and night). Further, the night of the heel and the day of Saturday are the second day. Then followed the night of the Sabbath and the morning of Sunday, which was signified by Matthew with the words - to the one who sang together from the Sabbaths; morning counts for the whole day; here is the third day. You can count three days in another way; on Friday the Lord betrayed the spirit - this is one day; sat on the sepulcher, another day; Sunday night has risen, but Sunday, on the other hand, counts as a special day. And now all three days. So usually they say about the departed: for example. if one died at ten in the afternoon, and the other in the first hour of that day; they usually say that they both died on the same day. I can show you another way how to count three days and three nights. Listen up! on Thursday evening the Lord performed the supper and said to the disciples: Take My body, eat. From this it is evident that, as having authority, He will lay down His soul of His own free will, and then He laid down Himself when He taught His disciples His body; because they don’t eat bodies without slaughtering. Consider: in the evening he taught his body: that night and the day of Friday until the eighth hour is a day; then from the eighth hour to the ninth, darkness, and from the ninth hour until evening, the light again; here is another night and day. Further, night again on the heel and the day of Saturday; here is the third day. After Saturday evening, the Lord has already risen. Thus, all three days are obtained, three days and three nights (Matthew 12, 40). ”
The contradiction can be resolved and easier. Saturdays were counted according to the position of the moon: new moon, first quarter, full moon, third quarter. Everyone can see for themselves that on Easter such a “week” lasts 8 days, not 7. Therefore, the Pharisees called this Saturday great, which lasted as long as 2 sunny days. There was no other way than the moon to count the weeks of the ancients. And only the successes of astronomy allowed equalizing the weeks.
Unconventional Interpretation
In the apocryphal Gospel of Peter there is a line in which it says: “ 7.27. Because of all this, we fasted and sat grieving and crying night and day until Saturday . ” [1] From this line it follows that between the day of the crucifixion and the Sabbath there was another night and another day, that is, the day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was the fifth day of the week of Judea - the Friday of Judea ( Mark 15:42 , Luke 23:54 , John 19:31 , John 19:42 ), followed by the sixth day of the week of Judea - the Jewish Shepherd ( Matthew 27:62 ), after which was the seventh day of the week of Judea - the Sabbath Luke. 23:56 , Matt. 28: 1 , Mk. 16: 1-2 , after which was the first day of the week of Judea ( Matt. 28: 1 , Mark 16: 1 , 16: 9 , Luke 24: 1 , John 20: 1 ) - the day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ . These are the three days and three nights that Jesus Christ prophesied.
There is a shift of one day between the Jewish days of the week and the Julian days of the week. Therefore, the first day of the Judean week corresponds to the seventh day of the Julian week (now Sunday), and the fifth day of the Judean week - Friday of Judean corresponds to Julian Thursday.
There is another unconventional interpretation:
The Bible does not specifically indicate on which day of the week Jesus was crucified. There is an opinion that this happened on Wednesday. In the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 12:40 ), Jesus says: "For as Jonah was in the womb of the whale 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." Proponents of the crucifixion said Wednesday there were two Saturdays that week. After the first (the one that arrived on the evening of the crucifixion - Mark 15:42 ; Luke 23: 52-54 ), the women acquired incense - note that they made their purchase after Saturday (Mark 16: 1). According to this point of view, this Saturday was Easter (see Leviticus 16: 29-31; 23: 24-32, 39, where the holy days, which optionally fell on the seventh day of the week - Saturday, are called Saturdays). The second Saturday of that week was a regular, "weekly" Saturday. Note that in Luke 23:56, women who bought aromas after the first Saturday returned and prepared them, and then “remained on the Sabbath”. This shows that they could not get incense after the Sabbath, or prepare them before the Sabbath — unless there were two Saturdays at that time. From the perspective of the two Saturdays, if Christ was crucified on Thursday, then Easter was to begin on Thursday after sunset and end on Friday evening - at the beginning of a regular Saturday. Buying incense after the first Saturday (Easter) would then mean that they bought them during the second Saturday and violated the commandment. Thus, this point of view notes that the only explanation that does not refute reports of women and incense, as well as supporting a literal understanding of the text in Matthew 12:40, is that Christ was crucified on Wednesday. Saturday, the holy day (Easter), came on Thursday, after which on Friday the women bought incense, returned and prepared them that very day, rested on a regular Saturday, and on Sunday morning brought these incense to the tomb. Jesus was buried near sunset on Wednesday, which, according to the Jewish calendar, was considered the beginning of Thursday. Using this calculation method, we have night on Thursday (night 1), day on Thursday (day 1), night on Friday (night 2), day on Friday (day 2), night on Saturday (night 3) and day on Saturday (day 3). It is not known for certain when Christ was resurrected, but we know that this happened before sunrise on Sunday (in John 20: 1 it is said that Mary Magdalene came “to the tomb early, when it was still dark”, and the stone was already rolled away from the sepulcher, then she found Peter and informed him that “they had taken the Lord out of the sepulcher”), so He could rise again even immediately after sunset on Saturday evening, which, according to the Jewish calculus, was considered the beginning of the first day of the week. A possible problem with this point of view is that the disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus did this “on the same day” as His resurrection (Luke 24:13). The disciples, who did not recognize Him, reported the crucifixion (24:20) and said that “it is already the third day now, as it happened” (24:21). From Wednesday to Sunday - four days. A possible explanation is that they could have reported from the funeral of Christ on Wednesday evening, when Jewish Thursday began, and from Thursday to Sunday, therefore, it turns out three days. Some people say that the word “Friday” is indicated in the Gospels, but if we read the Greek original, we will see that the word παρασκευή is used there, which means “cooking,” so Wednesday could be this day.
See also
- Burial of Christ
- Resurrection of jesus christ
Notes
- ↑ Gospel of Peter (Translation and commentary by I.S. Sventsitskaya) (Unavailable link) . Date of treatment March 30, 2009. Archived April 22, 2009.