Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 9/30/2006

Question
Thank you for responding and so quickly at that.  I do understand that the Jews start their day from sundown.

John 11:9-10  .....
"Jesus answered, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day ?  If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of the world.  But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.'".

In the first part of John above - if Jesus is saying that there are 12 hours in the day - would He not be saying then that there are 12 hours to the night ?  

In Matt: 12:40 Jesus says to some Scribes and Pharisees .....
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."  

If a day and night is 24 hours and Jesus said He would be in the heart of the earth for "three days and three nights" - would this not have to then be 72 hours ? nothing less - nothing more.  Could Jesus still have died and be buried on a Friday ?          

Thank You .....
Mary Ellen

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Followup To

Question -
I recently scanned thru Alexander Hislop's book "The Two Babylons" for info on origins of certain practices and read how many of today's holidays/practices are of pagan origin.  The day of Christ's birth is @Dec 25 and according to Hislop's book and other info I came across states that Dec.25 is a pagan practice traced back to Babylon.  I believe totally in God's Word and now I have this question about celebrating His birthday.  No where in His Word does He tell us to celebrate His birthday.  True - it says the shepherds were out in the fields but would they be there out in the cold of winter?  The question isn't as to when He was born because the Bible is not specific on this ..... the question is that since the celebrating of Christmas can be traced back to the pagan practices of Babylon - which became incorporated into Christian practices -
should true believers in Christ go to church on that day to honor and worship His Holy birth when the Lord never said one word to his Apostles about honoring His birth day ? Would one be guilty of paying homage to Jesus on a pagan originated holiday since we really do not know His exact day of birth ?  Same with Good Friday services - He did not die on Friday because it's impossible to be in the grave for three days and three nights and then resurrect on Sunday. Yet the churches have Good Friday services. Jesus never instructed His Apostles to observe this day - His death on Calvary.  He gave two ordinances : Believers Baptism and Remembrance of His Last Supper (Memorial).  Is one honoring or dishonoring the Lord with celebrating services on pagan originated days - days of observance not commanded by Jesus Himself ?

Answer -
Blessings and thank you for your questions.

1.  Should believers celebrate holidays not mentioned in Scripture?   I heard a conference speaker once say, "God is a party God.  He loves to celebrate when it comes to His people."  Over the years, I have thought a lot about this statement and I now agree with him.  God gave Israel several feasts and holidays to observe.  If you study these holidays you will see that there is a lot of drinking and feasting that goes on.  Jesus first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding feast.  The NT says several times that when a sinner gets saved, there is a party in heaven.  Also, Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like the woman who found her coin or the man who found treasure in a feild.  If you remember the story of the prodical son, the father had a party when his son returned.  Of course, the older son, who is like the Pharasees of today, did not like it.  God does not intend for us to live a boring life, in fact Jesus said that with Him we should have an abundant life.

Now having said that, I believe that ANY feast, festival, or holiday that focuses on GOD or our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST is a good thing.  Any festival, holiday or feast that celebrates who God is WONDERFUL.  Now Christmas has become commercialized, but that should not take away from the fact that we are celebrating God becoming flesh, emmanuel.

2.  Would the shepherds have been out in the cold of winter?  Absolutely.  Shepherds had to led their flocks to pastures and fresh water, no matter what the weather or season.

3.  PAGAN-Christian holidays.  It is very true that the church chose Pagan holidays and turned them into Christian holidays.  The thought of the time was that:  these new Christians celebrated many holidays during the year for their Pagan worship.  THe leadership of the church realized that even if the pagans became Christians, the draw of celebration of these holidays would lead these pagans back into their former lifestyles.  By turning these holidays into Christian holidays, the focus of the celebrations (that were going to take place anyway) would be turned from pagan things to Christian things.  NO ONE today thinks about Pagan things on these now TRADITIONAL holidays.  

Christianity has done alot of this over the years.  For example, the tree was worshiped and honored by many pagan religions espically the druids.  Christians took the tree and made it symbolize the birth of Christ, everlasting life and ultimately the cross.  People today do not think "Pagan Thoughts" when they see a Christmas tree.  Instead they think of happy thoughts, they think about the Birth of Jesus, and the light of the world.  Obviously, non-Christians don't, but Christian holidays are really for Christians are they not?  Most of the old hymns that have been loved for hundreds of years, are actually old BAR tunes that were converted into Christian songs.  Today, no one sings "A Mighty Fortress is
Our God," "Come, thou Almighty King," and "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" and thinks bar tune.  Yet all of these songs are accepted as Christian songs.

3.  Date of Jesus' Birth:  we will never know the exact day of Jesus' birth because it was not offically recorded.  We do know the approximate year and the time of the year but we will never know the exact date.  I don't have a problem that the church chose a date to celebrate his birth.

4.  Good Friday - you are absolutely wrong about the fact that Jesus did not die on Friday.  He did.  First of all you are thinking like a Gentile not a Jew.  Jews believe that a day begins with SUNDOWN not Sun up as we do.  So Jesus was buried on Friday before sundown (Day 1).  He was in the ground all of Saturday (day 2).  Sunday began with Sundown on Saturday (so he was in the ground half of a day on Sunday) and he arose early in the morning (daylight) on Sunday (day 3).  Jesus never said He would be buried 3 days and 3 nights, He said he would be in the ground 3 days.

So why celebrate Good Friday?  Because it reminds us of the suffering that Christ went through and again anytime we get together to worship, honor, celebrate or remember what Christ did for us is a good thing not a bad one.  

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your further question.

1.  My explanation.  You still are missing the Jewishness of time and the gospel.  Three days and three ngints does not necessairly inidicate three 24 hour periods.  TO Jews, a part of day was considered a "whole" day (see Esther 4:16, 5:1).  For instance, if you had 1 hour from a Tuesday, 24 hours of a Wednesday, and 1 hour in a Thursday, then you would have 3 days and 3 nights in Jewish thinking.

There is also a common Jewish saying that goes, "A day and a night make an onah, and a part of an onah is as the whole." English has all kinds of sayings.



2.  Matthew Henry explains it this way:  Now this sign of the prophet Jonas he further explains here; (v. 40) As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, and then came out again safe and well, thus Christ shall be so long in the grave, and then shall rise again. [1.] The grave was to Christ as the belly of the fish was to Jonah; thither he was thrown, as a Ransom for lives ready to be lost in a storm; there he lay, as in the belly of hell (Jonah 2:2), and seemed to be cast out of God’s sight. [2.] He continued in the grave just as long as Jonah continued in the fish’s belly, three days and three nights; not three whole days and nights: it is probable, Jonah did not lie so long in the whale’s belly, but part of three natural days (nychtheµmerai, the Greeks called them); he was buried in the afternoon of the sixth day of the week, and rose again in the morning of the first day; it is a manner of speech very usual; see 1 Ki. 20:29; Esth. 4:16; 5:1; Lu. 2:21. So long Jonah was a prisoner for his own sins, so long Christ was a Prisoner for ours. [3.] As Jonah in the whale’s belly comforted himself with an assurance that yet he should look again toward God’s holy temple (Jonah 2:4), so Christ when he lay in the grave, is expressly said to rest in hope, as one assured he should not see corruption, Acts 2:26, 27. [4.] As Jonah on the third day was discharged from his prison, and came to the land of the living again, from the congregation of the dead (for dead things are said to be formed from under the waters, Job 26:5), so Christ on the third day should return to life, and rise out of his grave to send abroad the gospel to the Gentiles.
Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Mt 12:38). Peabody: Hendrickson.


3.  Matthew Poole's answer: Matthew 12:40
Verse 39, 40. “An evil and adulterous generation;” either called adulterous for that specific sin, which reigned amongst them, and indeed their polygamy was hardly better; or else because of their degeneracy from Abraham, whom they so much gloried in as their father, John 8:39, 44.
“Seeketh after a sign;” not satisfied with my miracles which I do on earth, they would have a sign from heaven. God was not difficult of confirming and encouraging people’s faith by signs; he gave Gideon a sign upon his asking, he gave Hezekiah and proffered Ahaz a sign without asking; but he had already given the Pharisees signs enough, and sufficient to convince them, but they would not believe, but out of curiosity would have a sign of another kind, “a sign from heaven,” as Mark expounds it, Mt 8:11, such a sign as the devil could not counterfeit.
“There shall no sign be given to it”; no sign of that nature, for we shall find that after this Christ wrought many miracles. But they shall have a sign when I shall be risen again from the dead, to their confusion and condemnation; when I shall answer the prophet Jonah’s type of me. He was cast into the sea, and was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, in the heart of the sea, Jon 1:17, and then the whale “vomited (him) out upon the dry land,” Jon 2:10.
So I shall be by them violently put to death and shall be in the grave part of three days and three nights, and then I shall rise again from the dead.
But here ariseth a difficulty. Christ indeed dying the day before the Jewish sabbath, and rising the morning after, might be said to be in the grave three days, because he was there part of three days; but how can he be said to have been there three nights? For he was only in the grave the night of the Jewish sabbath, (for their sabbath began at the evening before), and the night following, which were but two nights, either in whole or in part.
“Answer:” What we call day and night made up the Jewish νυχψημερον.
It appears by Ge 1:5, that “the evening and the morning” made up “a day.” Three days and three nights is with us but the same thing with three natural days, and so it must be understood here.
Christ was in the grave three natural days, that is, part of three natural days; every one of which days contained a day and a night, viz. twenty-four hours.

Matthew Poole. (.). Matthew Poole's Commentary on the New Testament (electronic ed.) (Mt 12:39)


4.  From the Threasury of Scripture Knowledge: 40. For as. ƒ92B. Gnome; or, Quotation B786. Where the original sense is modified in the quotation or reference. In this reference to Jon 1:17, the words are used with a new and different application. For other instances of this figure see Jn 3:14, 15. 19:36. Ep 5:31, 32. Jonas. Jon ▶1:17. 2:1. Lk 11:30. +*24:27. three days. ƒ108H12, 1 S +30:12. so shall. Mt 16:21. 17:23. 27:40, 63, 64. Mk 8:31. Jn 2:19. Son of man. Mt 8:20. three days and three nights. This is an idiom which, like the shorter expression, “three days,” can refer to any part of three days. Had Christ been in the tomb for a full three days, or 72 hours, it could not be said of him that he arose on the third day, but the fourth, contrary to the repeated statements of Scripture (Mt 16:21. 17:23. 20:19. Lk 24:7, 21, 46. 1 Co +*15:4). It is clear that the expression “after three days” was not understood by the Jews to be a reference to a fourth day, as is clear from Mt ✓27:63, 64. Compare Mt 16:21 w Mk 8:31. Mk 10:34 w Lk 9:22. The chronology provided in Luke 23:50—24:3 is unanswerable: there is only the time from late Friday afternoon when “the sabbath drew on” (Mt 27:62. Lk 23:54), “the day before the sabbath” (Mk 15:42) when Jesus was buried (Lk 23:54), the sabbath on which the women rested (Lk 23:56), and early Sunday morning when the women went to the tomb (Lk 24:1). The two disciples on the road to Emmaus state specifically “and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done” (Lk 24:21). Thus “three days and three nights” is an idiom (ƒ108H12, Figure of Speech Idiom, 1 S +30:12n), perfectly understood as such by the Jews of that day (Mt ✓27:63, 64. Jn 2:19), the figure of speech ƒ171T8, Synecdoche of the Part, where a part of a day is taken for a whole day, Jsh 5:11n. 1 S *30:12n. 1 K 16:8n. Est 4:16 w 5:1. in the heart. ƒ144A7, Ex +15:8. Dt 4:11mg. Ps +*16:10. *63:9. Is 14:9. Jon *2:1-6. Lk *16:23. 23:43. Jn ✓2:19-23. Ep *4:9. Re *6:9, 10.
Smith, J. H. (1992; Published in electronic form, 1996). The new treasury of scripture knowledge  : The most complete listing of cross references available anywhere- every verse, every theme, every important word (1057). Nashville TN: Thomas Nelson.