Dr. Paul Manuel—February, 2001
The New Testament provides several details of Jesus' final days that enable modern readers to reconstruct a relative chronology of that fateful period. He was crucified on the "Preparation Day," which refers to Friday, the day before the Sabbath, and each of the gospel writers uses this phrase.
A. Precision requires the resurrection to be after 72 hours, because Jesus is in the grave "three days and three nights."
[5] The Jewish method of reckoning accepts part of a 24-hour period for a whole day, as several rabbis attest.
Matt 27:62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,
Mark 15:42b it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
Luke 23:54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin....56b And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.John's use of this phrase has made some wonder if it referred to the day before the Passover.
John 19:14a Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour.... 31 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.... 42 Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.The "preparation" one must make, however, primarily concerns food, because of the prohibition against lighting a fire on the Sabbath,1 a restriction that does not apply to other holidays.2 Therefore, John probably means "the day of Preparation of Passover Week" (so NIV). He calls the next day "a high day" either because it is the one during the festival or because it is the occasion of the omer offering among the Pharisees.3 Lest there be any doubt as to the meaning of this phrase, the Jewish historian Josephus confirms that the preparation day is the sixth day.4
Antiquities 16.163 It has been decided...that the Jews...need not give bond (to appear in court) on the Sabbath or on the day of preparation for it after the ninth hour.Buried on Friday, before the Sabbath had begun, when did Jesus rise from the dead? The most common belief is that he rose early Sunday morning, but that does not seem to agree with his prediction of spending "three days and three nights" (72 hours?) in the grave. An examination of the different statements about the time of the resurrection, though, reveals considerable variation, forcing the reader to view them either as a host of contradictions or as simple approximations referring to parts of a three-day period.5 The passages in Matthew's gospel illustrate the problem as well as its likely solution.
I. Matthew uses different phrases in his gospel.
A. Precision requires the resurrection to be after 72 hours, because Jesus is in the grave "three days and three nights."
Matt 12:40 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.B. Precision requires the resurrection to be before 72 hours, because Jesus comes from the grave "on the third day."
(Matt 16:21 = Mark 8:3 1; Luke 9:22>24:7; Matt 17:23 = Mark 9:3 1; Luke 24:46; Acts 10:40; 1 Cor 15:4)
Matt 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Matt 17:23a and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day."C. Precision requires the resurrection to be by 72 hours, because Jesus comes from the grave "in three days."
(Matt 26:61 = Mark 14:58; Matt 27:40 = Mark 15:29; John 2:19-20)
Matt 26:61 ..."This man stated, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days."
Matt. 27:40 ..."You who [are going to] destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."
II. Matthew uses a different phrase from Mark (in a parallel passage).
- Precision requires the resurrection to be before 72 hours ("on the third day") in Matthew but after 72 hours ("after three days") in Mark.
Matt 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Mark 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
III. Matthew uses different phrases in the same context.
- Precision requires the resurrection to be both after 72 hours ("after three days") and by 48 hours ("until the third day").
Matt 27:63 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."How are we to understand such disparate statements about the time of Jesus' resurrection? These are all approximate references and, therefore, not contradictory. Their purpose is to direct attention to the third day, which is when Jesus rose from the dead. If there is any uncertainty which day of the week that momentous event occurred, Luke resolves the matter, for he identifies "the third day" with "the first day of the week" (i.e., Sunday).6
Luke 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.... 13a Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus.... 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.... 21b And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.... 46 and [Jesus] said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day."The chronological markers in the gospel accounts enable modern readers to establish the day of Jesus' crucifixion and the day of his resurrection. According to those markers, Jesus died on Friday, the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath, and he rose on the third day, which was Sunday, the first day of the week.
Bibliography
Hoehner, Harold W., 1977, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.Endnotes
[1] This precept (which only appears here) is part of a larger prohibition against work on the Sabbath. (All biblical references are from the NAS, unless specified otherwise.)Exod 35:2 For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy [day], a sabbath of complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day.[2] The law prohibits "any work" on the Sabbath but only "laborious work" (i.e., occupational) on other holidays.
Lev 23:3 For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.
Cf. Exod 16:23 ..."This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."
Lev 23:4 These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD'S Passover.... 7 'On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 8 But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.
[3] The difference between the synoptic gospels and John may reflect a difference between practices of (some?) Pharisees and Sadducees, with the former holding its seder on Nisan 14 (beginning Thursday evening) and the latter holding its seder on Nisan 15 (beginning Friday evening; probably in 33 B.C.E.; Hoehner 1977:86-90). Either way, the following Sabbath was "a high day," because it fell during the festival week. Its significance for Sadducees derived from its being the first day of the festival. Its significance for Pharisees derived from their offering the omer.Cf. Exod 12:16 On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and [another] holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.
Lev 23:11 He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.[4] The Mishnah confirms the reason for this distinction.
m Betza 5:2 The sole difference between the festival and the Sabbath is in the preparation of food alone.The term appears once in early Christian literature (mid 2nd c.), without any explicit connection to a festival, although it is before "the great Sabbath" (perhaps an allusion to John's "high day" 19:3 1).
Mart Polyc 7 His pursuers...went forth at supper-time on the day of the preparation with their usual weapons, as if going out against a robber.... 8 ...they set him upon an ass, and conducted him into the city, the day being that of the great Sabbath.Some might appeal to the Jews' participation in the burning of Polycarp as proof that this is not the weekly Sabbath, on which God prohibits lighting a fire.
Mart Polyc 13 ...the multitudes immediately gathering together wood and fagots...the Jews especially, according to custom, eagerly assisting them in it.The earlier condemnation of Polycarp by these Jews, however, does not present them as observant.
Mart Polyc 12 ...the whole multitude both of the heathen and Jews...cried out...in a loud voice, "This is... the overthrower of our gods, he who has been teaching many not to sacrifice, or to worship the gods."If they can accept pagan deities, the prohibition against lighting a fire on the Sabbath would be of little concern to them. Despite a specific time for his death, the date is uncertain and provides no further clarification of the day. (The month of Xanthicus begins on March 25, but the seventh day before the Kalends of May is April 25.)
Mart Poiyc 21 Now, the blessed Polycarp suffered martyrdom on the second day of the month Xanthicus just begun, the seventh day before the Kalends of May, on the great Sabbath, at the eighth hour.Eusebius (c. 324) quotes section 8 from this document but without explanation, although he does make "great Sabbath" anarthrous.
Ecci Hist IV.15.15 ...they put him upon an ass and brought him to the city, it being a great Sabbath.By itself, Polycarp's mention of "the day of the preparation" adds little light to the discussion. In later Christian references, though, "the great Sabbath" is the Saturday before Easter.
Chrysostum, First Letter to Innocent, Bishop of Rome (404) 3 ...a dense troop of soldiers, on the great Sabbath itself, as the day was hastening towards eventide, having broken into the Churches violently drove out all the clergy who were with us, and surrounded the sanctuary with arms.
Canons of the Council of Trullo (692) 89 The faithful spending the days of the Salutatory Passion in fasting...until the midnight of the great Sabbath: since the divine Evangelists, Matthew and Luke, have shown us how late at night it was [that the resurrection took place], the one by using the words "Now after the Sabbath" Matt 28:1, and the other by the words "early dawn" Luke 24:1.If that is how Polycarp viewed "the great Sabbath," then his "day of the preparation" would have been (Good) Friday.
[5] The Jewish method of reckoning accepts part of a 24-hour period for a whole day, as several rabbis attest.
- R. Eliezar b. Azariah (early 2 nd c. AD) said, "a day and a night constitute a full day, and part of a day counts as a whole day" (j Shab 12a, 15, 17).
- R. Abba (early 3rd c. AD) also held that "part of the day is as the whole of it" (b Pes 4a).
- R. Mattena (3rd c. AD) as well considered "part of a day equivalent to a whole day."
- Joseph, as prime minister of Egypt, imprisoned his brothers "for three days" (Gen 42:17) and released them "on the third day" (v. 18).
- King Rehoboam instructed Jeroboam and his followers to return "in three days" (2 Chr 10:5). They returned "on the third day as the king had directed" (v. 12).
- Esther instructed Mordecai to fast "for three days, night and day" before her unannounced audience with the king. "On the third day", she appeared before Xerxes.
On Christian Doctrine (397) iii.35.50 This figure of speech, which puts the part for the whole, explains.., the great question about the resurrection of Christ. For unless to the latter part of the day on which He suffered we join the previous night, and count it as a whole day, and to the latter part of the night in which He arose we join the Lord's day and He would be in the heart of the earth.
The Harmony of the Gospels (399) iii.24.66 For the space of three days, which elapsed between the Lord's death and resurrection, cannot be correctly understood except in the light of that form of expression according to which the part is dealt with as the whole. For He said Himself, "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." Now, in whichever way we reckon the times, whether from the point when He yielded up the ghost, or from the date of his burial, the sum does not come out clearly, unless we take the intermediate day, that is to say, the Sabbath, as a complete day—in other words, a full day along with its night,—and, on the other hand, understand those days between which that one intervenes—that is to say, the day of the preparation and the first day of the week, which we designate the Lord's day—to be dealt with on the principle of the part standing for the whole.[6] Later manuscripts of Mark make this connection even more explicit.
Mark 16:9a When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week....
No comments:
Post a Comment
Relevant and civil comments are welcome. Whether there will be any response depends on whether Dr. Manuel notices them and has the time and inclination to respond or, if not, whether I feel competent to do so.
Jim Skaggs