Jon Gary Williams
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Article 36 - How Long Was Jesus In The Tomb?

How Long was Jesus in The Tomb?

     It is generally understood that, in our way of saying it, Jesus was buried on Friday and was raised on Sunday morning.

    However, some have argued that the phrase, "three days and three nights" (Matthew 12:40) is to be taken literally, and that Jesus was in the tomb for exactly seventy-two hours. Hence He could not have been buried on Friday and raised on Sunday; instead He must have been buried on Thursday.

     Is the phrase, "three days and three nights," to be understood literally, that is, covering an actual seventy-two hour period? The answer is no - for the following reasons.

     The phrase "three days and three nights" is actually a Jewish idiom, a figurative expression of speech. Such a phrase is also a variant of synecdoche, when a definite number is put for an indefinite number. For example, when Paul used the phrase, "ten thousand words" (I Corinthians 14:19), this was simply his way of saying, "many words."
     That "three days and three nights" is not to be taken literally is shown in that this same period of time is described in other passages with different phrases.  

     In Matthew 16:21 we read, "the third day"; in Mark 8:31 we read, "after three days." The Pharisees told Pilate, "Command, therefore, that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day . . . " (Matthew 27:64).  

     Hence, the phrases, "the third day," "after three days," "until the third day," all refer to the same time frame. They are simply different ways of expressing the same thought and are synonymous to the phrase, "three days and three nights" of Matthew 12:40. 

     Also, in the Old Testament we find examples of these same or similar figures of speech. Note the following. 

     1. Joseph put his brethren in prison for three days, yet he released them on the third

day (Genesis 42:17,18). 

     2. Rehoboam told the people to depart for three days, yet they came back on the

third day (I Kings 12:5,12).

     3. When Esther was to go before the king she told the Jews to fast for three days,

night and day, yet she went in on the third day (Esther 4:16; 5:1). 

     Also, evidence that the phrase "three days and three nights" does not put Jesus' death on Thursday, is shown in that the burial of Jesus took place the day before the Sabbath, or on Friday. ". . . the day before the Sabbath" (Mark 15:42) ". . . the Sabbath drew on" (Luke 23:54). 

                                                               Conclusion

     Jesus was buried on Friday, the day before the Sabbath, and rose early on Sunday, the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). Hence, that Jesus was in the tomb a part of three days is in complete harmony with the idiom, "three days and three nights."