The Sign of Jonah: How Long Was Jesus In the Tomb?
There is a controversy in Christianity regarding the length of time Jesus was in the tomb. One side opts for a literal 3 days and 3 nights, the other opts for parts of 3 days and 2 nights to get His death and resurrection to line up with Good Friday and Easter. Today, we are going to take a look at some things we are told in the Bible that give us the exact day of the week when He died and also the almost exact timing of His resurrection. As a side note, this post represents a crash course (mostly for myself) in the Greek language, so bear with me since it will contain more of it than my other posts, but it's all relevant. I promise. I'm no expert in Greek, and the Greek in this post mostly represents quite a few hours of research, not an expertise in the Greek language, just so we're clear.
Jonah 1:17 NASB95 — And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
Hebrew consistently uses "day and night" together to refer to full 24-hour periods when stated explicitly like this. The phrase שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים וּשְׁלֹשָׁה לֵילוֹת ("three days and three nights") is a set phrase that refers to three full cycles of day and night. If it had just said "three days" (שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים) without "nights," it could potentially mean parts of three days, but adding "and three nights" eliminates that possibility. We can take this to mean that Jonah spent a literal three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish.
Some other examples where the phrase three days and three nights is used in the Old Testament clearly demonstrate the literalness of this phrase.
1 Samuel 30:12 – The Egyptian servant had not eaten for three days and three nights, meaning a full three days.
Esther 4:16-5:1 – Esther fasted for three days, night and day, before approaching the king, and the fast ended on the third day (implying full periods of fasting).
Even in Esther, when it says she went before the king on the third day, it doesn't say when her fast ended, but we can assume it was for the whole period that she originally said it would be. Fasts in the Bible almost always began at sunset since that started the new day, and then it would end 24 hours later at sunset, or however many days later the fast was supposed to end.
The pattern of night and day marking a full 24-hour period began with the creation of the Earth when God said evening and morning constituted a full day. In other words, a full day is referred to as the dark portion and the light portion, ending when the next dark portion begins.
Genesis 1:5 NASB95 — God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
God defines what a day is in this one verse, and we find the confirmation of this in other places in the Scriptures. I’ll just share a couple.
Exodus 27:21 NASB95 — "In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD; [it shall be] a perpetual statute throughout their generations for the sons of Israel.
Leviticus 23:32 NASB95 — "It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath."
A complete day runs from evening to evening in the Biblical reckoning of time, because the new day begins at sunset. There are places where ”a day” simply means the daylight portion, but a complete day is roughly 24-hours and encompasses the period between sunsets. Here are some more examples (A mostly complete list, though some of the redundancies have been skipped).
1 Kings 19:8 NASB95 — So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Job 2:13 NASB95 — Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.
Genesis 7:4 NASB95 — “For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.”
Genesis 7:12 NASB95 — The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
Deuteronomy 9:18 NASB95 — “I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger.
One other example, which is the only place I can find where this usage of night and day exists, is when Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights (twice). An incredible story in its own right, it highlights the usage of this pattern of night and day as full 24-hour periods.
"So he was there with the Yehovah forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water."
Any place this pattern of equal nights and days is used in the Old Testament, it always refers to a literal period of full days and nights.
Every time, no exception.
Okay, so now we know that the period Jonah was in the belly of the great fish was quite literal. There is no way to explain it otherwise, because that is what we are told about the time he spent in the belly of the fish, and the wording used is a literal period of time. Now, let's take a look at the New Testament to see what Jesus said about His own time in the grave.
Matthew 16:4 NASB95 — “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.
Luke 11:29-30 NASB95 — As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. “For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
No sign would be given except the sign of Jonah, and He repeats this three times in total. In the first place He says this, we find out exactly what the sign of Jonah is.
Matthew 12:39-40 NASB95 — But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The sign of three days and three nights is the one sign that He was going to give to that generation that He was truly the Son of God, and there are some interesting things to take note of in what He says there.
ὥσπερ γὰρ ἦν Ἰωνᾶς ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, οὕτως ἔσται ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας.
First, the phrase “just as” in Greek is “ὥσπερ” and it means in exactly the same way, or exactly the same. So, in exactly the same way as Jonah was in the belly of the fish, that's how Jesus is going to be in the grave. The other underlined phrase essentially repeats this statement, which is “οὕτως” and means in like manner or in this same way.
ὥσπερ ((cf. Tdf. Proleg., p. 110); from ὡς and the enclitic particle περ, which, "in its usual way, augments and brings out the force of ὡς Klotz ad Devar. 2:2, p. 768; see περ), adverb (from Homer down), just as, even as
οὕτω and οὕτως (formerly in printed editions οὕτω appeared before a consonant, οὕτως before a vowel; but (recent critical editors, following the best manuscripts ("Codex Sinaiticus has οὕτω but fourteen times in the N. T." Scrivener, Collation etc., p. liv.; cf. his Introduction etc., p. 561), have restored οὕτως; viz. Treg. uniformly, 205 times; Tdf. 203 times, 4 times οὕτω; Lachmann 196 times, 7 times οὕτω (all before a consonant); WH 196 times, 10 times οὕτω (all before a consonant); cf. Tdf. Proleg., p. 97; WHs Appendix, p. 146f); cf. Winers Grammar, § 5, 1 b.; B. 9; (Lob. Pathol. Elementa ii. 218ff); cf. Krüger, § 11, 12, 1; Kühner, § 72, 3 a.), adverb (from οὗτος) (fr. Homer down), the Sept. for כֵּן, in this manner, thus, so:
1. by virtue of its native demonstrative force it refers to what precedes; in the manner spoken of; in the way described; in the way it was done; in this manner; in such a manner; thus, so
So the one sign that Jesus gives about the amount of time He will be buried in the ground is said to be identical to the amount of time Jonah was in the belly of the great fish. Knowing this, we can solidly conclude that the amount of time Jesus was in the tomb was exactly three days and three nights.
Addendum:
Before we move on, let's look at one more apparent discrepancy in the gospel accounts. It is the question of whether it was after three days or on the third day, and the answer is pretty simple: yes! The answer is yes, it was both. Mark's account clearly states that Jesus said after three days He would rise from the dead, and in Matthew, the Pharisees thought that is what He said too.
Mark 9:31 – "For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, 'The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill Him, and when He has been killed, He will rise after three days.'"
Mark 10:34 – "And they will mock Him and spit on Him, and flog Him and kill Him, and after three days He will rise.
Matthew 27:63 – "Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, He said, ‘After three days I am rising.’”
The other three gospels just as clearly say that He was raised on the third day, so which is it? It can't be both, can it?
Matthew 16:21 – "...and be killed, and be raised on the third day."
Matthew 17:23 – "...and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day."
Matthew 20:19 – "...and they will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and flog and crucify, and on the third day He will be raised."
Luke 9:22 – "The Son of Man must suffer many things... and be killed and be raised on the third day."
Luke 18:33 – "And after they have flogged Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise."
Luke 24:7 – "...and be crucified, and on the third day rise again."
Luke 24:21 – "But we were hoping that He was the One who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened."
Luke 24:46 – "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day."
Acts 10:40 – "God raised Him on the third day and allowed Him to appear."
1 Corinthians 15:4 – "And that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."
I could stop here with every bit of information necessary to figure out the day of the week Jesus died already firmly in hand. With the sign of Jonah firmly established, it just becomes a matter of simple math to determine the day of His death. However, there are some more things of interest to examine, and while they don’t change the outcome, they are rather interesting, so we’ll examine them anyway.
So, let's take a look at the accounts of His death and resurrection to see if this math is born out in the narrative. We'll also see if we can pinpoint the exact day of His death and His resurrection using the information given to us in the gospel accounts. First, let's establish the day of the month His death occurred. We know the day He died was Passover; that much is without dispute in most people's minds, but what day is the Passover?
Leviticus 23:5 NASB95 — ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD’S Passover.
Regardless of how you define the phrase “between the evenings,” the sacrifice ends up on the 14th day of the first month, which is the Passover. The sacrifice is the Passover, and we can look at a few places to establish this.
Exodus 12:21 NASB95 — Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb.
(Lamb is added by the translators for clarity)
Deuteronomy 16:2 NASB95 — “You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to establish His name.
2 Chronicles 35:11 NASB95 — They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while the priests sprinkled the blood received from their hand, the Levites skinned them.
You'll notice the word “lamb” is italicized in Exodus and Chronicles, which means that it is not there in the Hebrew. Rather, it calls the slaughter of the lamb the Passover. We find this principle born out in the New Testament as well concerning Jesus.
1 Corinthians 5:7 NASB95 — Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
Jesus is the Passover, the one the whole ceremony with the lamb was pointing to all along. The Passover is clearly on the 14th day of the month, though it is not the purpose of this article to establish whether the original one in Egypt was at the beginning of the 14th or in the afternoon of the 14th. The point is, that by the time of Jesus's crucifixion, the majority of lambs were being sacrificed on the afternoon of the 14th day of the first month, also known as Nisan. Thus, we can pinpoint the exact day of the month on which Jesus died, that is, the 14th of Nisan. Another clue to this is the fact that the 15th of Nisan is a High Sabbath, according to Leviticus 23, and Jesus died on the preparation day before this Sabbath, once again giving us a firm fact for the day of His death.
Leviticus 23:6-7 NASB95 'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
7 'On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.
John 19:31 NASB95 Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.
With these facts established, we are now ready to look at the accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion. We have a bit of a challenge with this because the Jews referred to the whole feast and sometimes even the days surrounding it as “The Passover” or “The Feast of the Passover.” This does nothing to clarify matters for us, and a lot of confusion has sprung out of these terms. However, there are a few things we can examine to nail down just what exactly the writers of the gospels are referring to. Keep the things in mind that we have already covered because they will be relevant.
John 13:1 NASB95 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
John 18:28 NASB95 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
John 19:14 NASB95 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!"
John 19:31 NASB95 Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.
From John’s account, we clearly see that by the time Jesus was crucified, the Passover of the Pharisees was still in the future. They had not partaken of it yet, and the following day was a High Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread. Now, let’s go back in time to the other three accounts where we find a supposed contradiction.
Luke 22:7, 11, 13-14 NASB95 Then came the [first] day of the Unleaveneds [Bread] on which the Passover [lamb] (was required) had to be sacrificed. ...
11 "And you shall say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"' ...
13 And they left and found [everything] just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.
14 When the hour had come, He reclined [at the table,] and the apostles with Him.
First, the phrase “the first day of Unleavened bread” does not exist here in the Greek.
It just doesn't.
The phrase is more accurately the “day (or time) of Unleaveneds,” and that is how I will translate it throughout the rest of the document more or less. It refers to the general time period around the festival and encompasses both Passover and the Days of Unleavened bread. The word for day can mean day used here can mean the daylight portion or simply a period of time.
The word translated as “came” here can also mean approach, which is the easiest explanation for what Luke is saying here. The verb ἦλθεν is an Aorist Active Indicative form of the verb ἔρχομαι, which means "to come" or "to arrive."
ἔρχομαι érchomai, er'-khom-ahee; middle voice of a primary verb (used only in the present and imperfect tenses, the others being supplied by a kindred (middle voice) ἐλεύθομαι eleúthomai el-yoo'-thom-ahee, or (active) ἔλθω élthō el'-tho, which do not otherwise occur); to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively):—accompany, appear, bring, come, enter, fall out, go, grow, × light, × next, pass, resort, be set.
Aorist: This tense typically refers to a past action that is viewed as a simple event without specifying its duration or completion. It focuses on the action as a whole rather than ongoing or repeated action. In this case, it suggests that the time for the Unleaveneds “drew near” as a completed event—it's approaching or has arrived without a focus on how long it took.
Active: The verb is in the active voice, meaning the subject (the time of the Unleaveneds) is the one performing the action. In other words, the time itself is coming nearer.
Indicative: This is the mood that indicates a statement of fact. The action is presented as a real event in the narrative (the time for the Unleaveneds is truly coming closer).
3rd Person Singular: This means the subject of the verb is singular and in the third person, referring to something other than the speaker or listener. In this case, the subject is "the time of the Unleaveneds."
So, ἦλθεν translates as "came" or "approached eminently," indicating that the time for the Unleaveneds is approaching as a real event in the narrative, and it's specifically referring to the approach of the day they sacrifice the lambs. We’ll find that this explanation fits quite well with the other two writers of the gospels as well.
Mark 14:12, 14, 17-18 NASB95 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover [lamb] was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?" ...
14 and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"' ...
17 When it was evening He came with the twelve.
18 As they were reclining [at the table] and eating, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me--one who is eating with Me."
Matthew 26:17-20 NASB95 Now on the first [day] of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"
18 And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is near; I [am to] keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."'"
19 The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.
20 Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining [at the table] with the twelve disciples.
Well, which is it? Did they do all this on the first day of unleavened bread (on which, according to John, Jesus was already dead and buried), or did they do it the day before?
Based on John’s account, they could not have done this on the literal first day of unleavened bread, so there must be another explanation. Well, there is. The Greek phrase τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν ἀζύμων is often translated as “on the first day of Unleaveneds”, but a closer look suggests it could mean “near the beginning of Unleaveneds.”
The word "day" isn't in the Greek. If it meant "on the first day," we'd expect ἡμέρα ("day") to be there—but it isn’t. Neither is the Greek word for bread, for that matter. Rather, the word Unleaveneds, which is indeed plural, refers to the span of time that included the Passover and the Days of Unleavened bread. Luke 22:1 NASB95 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching.
The Greek word πρώτῃ doesn’t always mean "first." It can also mean "beginning" or "before. (unlikely, but a possibility)" So, instead of referring to a specific day, it could refer to the general beginning period (the most likely possibility) of the Unleaveneds.
The dative case (τῇ) can mean more than "on." In Greek, the dative can indicate a broad timeframe, not just a single day. It can mean "at," "near," or "toward."
Context matters. Passover lambs were sacrificed on the 14th of Nisan (Exodus 12:6). If this passage meant "on the first day of Unleavened Bread," it would be the 15th—too late. But if it means “near the beginning of Unleaveneds,” it fits perfectly.
So, the best translation could be: “Near the beginning of the Unleaveneds, the disciples asked Jesus where to prepare the Passover.”
ἦλθεν (ēlthen), which is the verb form in Mark 14:12, is in the Aorist Active Indicative. This tense is used for actions that are viewed as completed or whole in the past or as a general event, without focusing on when the action exactly occurred in time. In this case, it can also imply an event that is about to happen in the near future or is drawing near.
So, when the aorist is used to describe the Passover sacrifice in Mark 14:12, it isn't focusing on the exact moment of the sacrifice. Instead, it focuses on the approaching time when it will take place, indicating that it is a future event. The action of sacrificing the Passover lamb is not happening right now but will happen shortly, and the disciples are preparing for that future action.
In terms of linguistic and cultural timing, it works like this:
The disciples are asking Yeshua where they should prepare for the Passover meal.
The (main) Passover sacrifice has not yet happened, but it is approaching.
The action of sacrificing the Passover lamb will occur on the 14th of Nisan, at a specific time in the afternoon.
The disciples' preparation is for this future ritual act of slaughtering the lamb.
In Mark 14:12, the aorist tense (ἦλθεν) combined with "the first day of unleavened bread" indicates that the disciples are preparing for the future act of the Passover sacrifice, which is fast approaching.
Now, near the beginning of the Unleaveneds, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"
Near the beginning of the Unleaveneds, when the Passover [lamb] would be sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?"
Okay, now that we have that cleared up, we can move on to the actual crucifixion of Jesus, which we now know happened on the 14th day of the first month at or shortly before the time they would have been sacrificing the Passover lambs (Though some accounts have them sacrificing the lambs from the 13th in the afternoon clear to the afternoon of the 14th, it was supposed to be done at the time of the evening sacrifice on the 14th), roughly from noon to 3 PM.
Matthew 27:45-46 NASB95 Now from the sixth-hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
Now, there’s something we need to realize about Jesus' crucifixion. The only one who expected it to happen was Jesus.
Really!
Everyone else was surprised at His crucifixion and death, shocked beyond words, because they expected Him to set up His kingdom right then and there and liberate them from the Romans! Obviously, His liberation went far beyond the Roman oppression, but that’s what they expected of Him.
We’re going to go back to the gospel of John to lay out the timing of a few important events, but the thing to keep in mind is that He died on the day right before the High Holyday, or the First Day of Unleavened bread.
John 19:25-27 NASB95 Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the [wife] of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"
27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own [household.]
The disciple mentioned here is John, the author of this gospel. He didn’t like to write in the first person for whatever reason, so we end up with him referring to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. That’s a side note, but the main point is that the women and the disciple John were standing close enough to talk to Jesus. John is the only one with this perspective; the other authors just mention that they were standing at a distance. Likely, they moved back when the soldiers brought something for Him to drink.
Mat 27:55-56 NASB95 Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him.
56 Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Mark 15:40-41 NASB95 There were also [some] women looking on from a distance, among whom [were] Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.
41 When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and [there were] many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.
Luke 23:49 NASB95 And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.
The women who would later be the first ones to see Jesus resurrected were standing around the cross, close enough at one point to be able to hear Jesus’s last words, and they stayed right there with Him until the end. The relevance will become clear in a minute.
John 19:31 NASB95 Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.
So, once again, we see that the day Jesus died was a preparation day for a High Sabbath, and the Jews didn’t want Him to be on the cross past sunset since that would be a violation of the law. Now, it’s evening, almost sunset by the time they get Jesus off the cross, and the Sabbath is swiftly approaching, so they need to do whatever they have to do to get Jesus in the ground before the Sabbath begins. We see this haste in the next verses of John.
John 19:38-42 NASB95 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret [one] for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body.
39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds [weight.]
40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
42 Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Matthew 27:57-61 NASB95 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given [to him.]
59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.
Mark 15:42-43, 46-47 NASB95 When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
43 Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. ...
46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the [mother] of Joses were looking on [to see] where He was laid.
Luke 23:50-54 NASB95 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man
51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), [a man] from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;
52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.
54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
From Matthew, we find out that the tomb they laid Jesus in was Joseph's own tomb that he’d had carved for himself, and John tells us that they chose this tomb because of its proximity to the crucifixion site. Everything about this burial was hasty, and they used about a hundred pounds of spices that another rich man provided for the task, but without preparing them the way they would need to be prepared for a proper embalming. The reason for the haste was the coming Sabbath and the fact that they planned to return after the Sabbath was done to finish the job.
It was temporary!
Notice something else that’s of interest: the women never left Jesus from the time He was on the cross until the time He was placed in the tomb right as the Sabbath was about to begin.
Matthew 27:62-66 NASB95 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,
63 and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I [am to] rise again.'
64 "Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first."
65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go, make it [as] secure as you know how."
66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.
The Pharisees sneak in to see Pilate either on the Sabbath (in violation of their own law) or right after sunset, and they ask him to set a guard on the tomb because they are afraid the disciples of Jesus will sneak in and steal His body so they can claim He has risen from the dead. It’s likely they do so after sunset. Three days is important because, after three days, you are declared to be legally dead in that culture. Before that time, there was a chance you were just in a coma and might pull out of it without actually having been dead.
John 11:1, 4, 6, 11, 14, 17, 44 NASB95 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ...
4 But when Jesus heard [this,] He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." ...
6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days [longer] in the place where He was. ...
11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep." ...
14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, ...
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. ...
44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
It’s thought that Jesus waited as long as He did to allow the legal bounds of death to pass by so that there would be no question He resurrected Lazarus from the dead. Just an interesting side note. Now, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.
Luke 23:55-56 NASB95 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid.
56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Mark 16:1 NASB95 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.
Here, we have two seemingly conflicting narratives, but again, there is nothing conflicting about them if you understand the timing of events. They bought spices once the Sabbath was past, and then they rested on the Sabbath according to the command. Well, they couldn’t have purchased the spices the day Jesus was crucified; they were by Him the whole time! He was put in the tomb shortly before the Sabbath began, so they wouldn’t have had time after they left the tomb either. Shopping was hardly the convenience it is now with everything in one place; no, it would have taken a lot longer, plus the travel time alone would have carried them well into the Sabbath. Well, maybe they bought the spices after sundown, once the Sabbath was past, in time to prepare them for getting to the tomb early Sunday morning. Again, shopping was not like it is now, and it is extremely unlikely that the shops would open after the Sabbath because it was dark! Technically possible, but unlikely.
Something to keep in mind is that this was one of the three pilgrimage festivals commanded by God, so the whole Jerusalem area would have been packed.
Deuteronomy 16:16 NASB95 "Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.
Now, if we consider that the Sabbath they went out shopping after is the High Holyday and the Sabbath they rested on was the weekly Sabbath, this gives us a pretty good indicator of the day of the week Jesus was crucified. The 14th of Nisan (Passover) can only fall on a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, or Monday according to the Hebrew Calendar, and in order for the sequence of events to align that year, it’s pretty easy to see that it was a Wednesday. We’ll see this even more clearly in a minute.
Now, if they were shopping for the ingredients to make this embalming material on a Friday, why didn’t they just go straight to the tomb on Friday to complete the embalming process? Why wait until Sunday?
Two reasons.
The crowds were so big that shopping for all the ingredients took way longer than normal, and with travel time, preparing the materials, etc., they were lucky to finish before sunset.
The guards who had been set on the tomb were not allowed to break the seal for at least three days after Jesus had first been placed in it. This would make the women's job impossible before those three days were up. All they could do was purchase the spices and prepare for the third day. However, as we’ll see, they got there as quickly as they could after the third day to finish the process, and they didn’t expect anyone to be there.
The three days are really quite important because, if we think about it, what are the chances that the Pharisees would take any chances with that period of time by only having the guards there for a portion of three days?
Another thing to consider is that if they were setting the guards in the traditional Friday to Sunday narrative, and it is most likely that they did not approach Pilot about it until after the Sabbath, then they would have been setting the guards after sunset on Saturday. However, in the Wednesday to Saturday evening scenario, the guards would have been preparing to finish their watch at sunset and Jesus would have risen shortly before that, making the guards some of the most important witnesses of His resurrection, the only humans to be present when it happened.
So, the pattern we have thus far has Jesus being put into the tomb at the start of the High Holyday (Wednesday), everyone resting on the Sabbath (Thursday. Everyone, except possibly the Pharisees.), the women purchasing and preparing the spices on Friday, then they rested on the weekly Sabbath. We have now arrived at the pivotal moment, that of Jesus’s resurrection.
Luke 24:1 NASB95 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
Mark 16:2-4 NASB95 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. (Or was rising. From the other accounts, we know that it was still dark, but it indicates it was quite likely the period of darkness just before it gets fully light.)
3 They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" (They weren’t expecting the guards to still be there since three days had passed over the Sabbath.)
4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.
Matthew 28:1-2 NASB95 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.
2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
John 20:1 NASB95 Now on the first [day] of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone [already] taken away from the tomb.
The women arrive at the tomb as soon as it is light enough for them to see their way, but it is still dark out. The phrasing used suggests that this was the period of time in the morning when the sky changes from pitch black to just a touch of gray, so it was very early in the morning. We aren’t told exactly when Jesus rose from the dead, but He’d already been risen for a bit by the time the women got there. There are some fun things in the Greek to accompany the word used for week, but we won't get into that right now.
Luke 24:17-21 NASB95 And He said to them, "What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?" And they stood still, looking sad.
18 One [of them,] named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, "Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?"
19 And He said to them, "What things?" And they said to Him, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people,
20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him.
21 "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.
A literal translation will render this as the third day being passed or completed since the events happened, which lines up with what actually did happen.
Mark 16:9 NASB95 Now, after He had risen, early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.
There’s a long Greek explanation to go along with this, but the short answer is that this is not a descriptor of the time of His rising; rather, “early on the first day of the week” is modifying the main verb “appeared.” The topic of the sentence is His appearance, not His resurrection. The misunderstanding here is simply a matter of punctuation which does not exist in Greek.
ἀναστάς (anastas): This is an aorist active participle of ἀνίστημι (anistēmi), meaning "having risen." The aorist tense emphasizes a completed action, marking Yeshua’s resurrection as something that occurred prior to His appearance. The participle sets the stage for what follows—the appearance to Mary Magdalene.
νωρίς (nōrīs): This adverb means "early." It directly modifies the verb ἐφάνη (ephanē), meaning "He appeared." So, "early" refers to the timing of the appearance, emphasizing that it occurred in the early hours of the first day of the week, likely before most people were awake.
τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἑβδομάδος (tēi prōtēi hēmérai tēs hebdomados): This phrase translates to "on the first of the weeks." It uses the dative case to mark the specific time of His appearance, aligning it with Sunday (and the wave sheaf day) in our calendar.
Thus, we get: Now, after having risen, [He] early on the first [day] of the weeks first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.
We can get the same answer simply by moving the comma to after the word risen, and the Greek supports such a move. There's no contradiction in our narrative thus far, so now we can establish a timeline of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Let’s look back at what I said about the timing of His resurrection.
“We aren’t told exactly when Jesus rose from the dead, but He’d already been risen for a bit by the time the women got there.”
While this is mostly true, we aren’t told the moment of His resurrection; we are given the sign of Jonah, and we are told when He was buried. Recalling our exploration of the sign of Jonah, Jesus was supposed to be in the tomb for three full days and nights, or a period of 72 hours, give or take a few minutes. From right about sunset on Wednesday to right about Sunset on Saturday is exactly that period of time, and we’ll count it out here in a minute.
He is crucified on the afternoon of the 14th, that is, Passover.
He is buried around sunset on Wednesday.
Everyone rests on the High Sabbath, which is also Thursday.
The women purchase and prepare spices on Friday.
Everyone rests on the weekly Sabbath.
Jesus is resurrected roughly around sunset.
The women come to the tomb sometime before sunrise on Sunday morning.
Well, there you have it. The sign of Jonah was given so that we would know Jesus was who He said He was, and in order for the sign to be fulfilled, it must be done literally. Otherwise, it’s pointless as a sign. Friday to Sunday is only part of three days and parts of two nights, which does not fulfill the qualifications to be the sign of Jonah, no matter how you slice it. Remember, when nights are mentioned in conjunction with days in the Bible, it is always a literal full 24-hour period of time. Either the sign of Jonah was a sign or it wasn't. Simple as that. This also creates a problem for Easter and the bunny hatching from an egg.
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