"Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, 'Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.' But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was THREE DAYS and THREE NIGHTS in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.'" (Matthew 12:38-40, NKJV).
Now that it’s three days and nights since Good Friday, it’s the day of Jesus’ resurrection! I’m a little confused why I’m at work today since it’s a federal holiday, but . . .
What?
Easter was yesterday?
Uh, Jesus died on Friday afternoon, so rising three days and nights later would be Monday, right? I mean, there’s no way you get three days from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. That’s a day and a half; even rounding up only gives you two days. And even if you count Friday and Sunday as “days”, it’s certainly not three nights as it says in Matthew.
If the description of the central event of Christianity makes no sense, how can I count on any of it making any sense?
What?
Most of it doesn’t make any sense? Alrighty then.
3 comments:
Far be it for me to defend the bible as an accurate document, but I do have a father who has studied both the Greek and Hebrew languages... Anyway, in Hebrew tradition, a day begins at sunset, and the Hebrew word that is used there literally translates not to "day" in English, but to "day or a portion of a day", which is too wordy so they just called it a day. So... Friday afternoon to sunset Friday is one "day", then to sunset Saturday is the second "day", then to Sunset on Sunday is the third "day".
Much of the passage makes sense in the tradition of the language and people it was written in, but not in our language or culture.
There are much bigger errors and problems to tackle here than ones that can be explained away as cultural differences in understanding what the word "day" means.
Fair enough. Thanks for the clarification.
One thing, though, Jesus doesn't stay in the tomb until sunset on Sunday, he arises at dawn, doesn't he? Or is that where "part of a day" kicks in?
Either way, I agree, there are quite a few other errors and problems.
The problem with Dave’s explanation is, the New Testament was written in Greek, not in Hebrew. The authors were probably god-fearers, Greeks who admired Judaism but weren’t willing to go all the way and convert to Judaism. They definitely were not Jews, and reading through the NT makes it clear that while they had some knowledge of Judaism they didn’t fully grok it.
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