“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You. “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.” (Matthew 12:38-40 NASB)
How this one has slipped past mankind for so long is beyond comprehension. Jesus said the only sign that He was the Messiah would be that He would be dead in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights. The scriptures say the women found the tomb empty at daybreak on Sunday morning. Friday evening to Sunday before just isn’t nearly enough time to fulfill that prophecy.
How many times have we heard that Jesus was or is our Passover? Not only is it true that Jesus was/is our Passover, but this is the fundamental clue to what happened during Passion week. There were two Sabbaths during Passion week: the First Day of Unleavened Bread and the weekly Sabbath. On the Hebrew calendar, the month Jesus was crucified is called Abib. Passover is on the 14th of Abib and the First Day of Unleavened Bread, which is a High Sabbath, is on the 15th of Abib.
So, if Jesus was crucified on the evening of Abib 14 (Wednesday in that particular year), as our Passover Lamb, then Abib 15 (Thursday) is a High Sabbath, then He is resurrected on Abib 17 (Saturday) near evening, the Gospels all start to reconcile and we have three days and three nights.
“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.” (John 19:31 NASB)
The day after Jesus was crucified was a High Sabbath, it was not the weekly Sabbath. A High Sabbath, or an annual Sabbath, is a foreign concept to almost all of Christianity but this is the reason that so many Christian churches eat unleavened bread for their communion service. The Sabbath that began at sundown when Jesus was killed was the First Day of Unleavened Bread.
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- Jesus died on a Wednesday afternoon and was placed in the tomb near sunset.
- Wednesday. Sunset Wednesday to sunset Thursday is day 1, and a High Sabbath.
- Sunset Thursday to sunset Friday is day 2, and the day the women gathered the spices.
- Sunset Friday to sunset Saturday is day 3.
- Sometime after sunset Saturday, Jesus is resurrected (Praise God Almighty!) and the women discover the empty tomb sometime before the sun comes up.
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3 days and 3 nights.
Since Jesus was crucified on Abib 14, we can figure out that He was resurrected three days later by simply adding 14 + 3 and coming up with 17 Abib! Using the calendar and losing the days of the week makes it very easy to comprehend!
The bottom line is that there is not enough time from Friday evening to Sunday morning for the only sign Jesus gave to be true. It’s yet another reason to mistrust the doctrines of mainstream Christianity: Either Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, was in the tomb somewhere near 72 hours, or the only sign He gave was not fulfilled.
In the past I was of the same belief i.e. Jesus died on Wednesday and rose on Saturday and was a full 72 hours in the grave. However, I’ve studied this issue further of late and am no longer so dogmatic. My present understanding is that those who promote this alternative view using Mt 12:38-40 as a proof text are in error for some of the following reasons, which prove in my opinion Christ statement wasn’t literal, but idiomatic:
1) All cross references to Mt 12:38-40 omit any reference to “three days and three nights” (e.g. Mt16:4; Mk 8:12; Lk 11:29-30)
2) All of Christ’s prophecies are clear that His resurrection would take place ON “the third day” itself (Mt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Mk 8:31; 9:31; 10:34; Lk 9:22; 13:32;18:33; Jn 2:18-22) NOT after the third day or after 72 hours, which would make it the fourth day.
3) All the gospel writers are clear that Christ’s resurrection took place ON “the first day of the week” (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2; 16:9; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1; Jn 20:19) which is associated with “the third day” (Lk 24:7, 19-21, 46)
4) Both apostles Peter and Paul later refer to Christ’s resurrection taking place ON “the third day” which was the same day He revealed Himself to His disciples i.e. Sunday (Acts 10:40; 1 Co 15:4)
5) There are 2 ways of counting: inclusive or exclusive. The modern Anglo-American mode is the latter whereas in other Western countries closer to the land of Israel (e.g. Greece, Italy) there has been a history of the former (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counting#Inclusive_counting) which is evident the Israelites and Judeans followed as well, and is proven in both the OT and NT. Note Esther as, but one example wherein she asks her people to fast for three days and yet ON the third day she enters the royal court to petition for her people’s lives (Est. 4:16-5:1). Even the count to Pentecost is reckoned inclusively i.e. the 50th day is Pentecost not the 51st day.
6) Finally, both the gospel writers, Luke and John, reveal which Sabbath it was after the Passover or crucifixion. In Lk 23:56 the women, after preparing spices late on Friday afternoon, along with Nicodemus, who brought a large supply for Christ’s burial too (Jn 19:38-42) they “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” The only Sabbath that this must be referencing is the weekly seventh-day Sabbath! Even the apostle John corroborates this describing that “[weekly] Sabbath day was an high day” (Jn 19:31). Surely if that day had been a regular week day John would’ve said “for that day was a high day.” But, he says, “for that sabbath was an high day.” Two Sabbaths fell on the one day! Both the weekly Sabbath day and the annual 15th Abib Sabbath day fell on the same day making it great!
These are just some of my reasons (and there’s plenty more!) why I no longer believe that Christ was a literal 72 hours in the grave. I believe He is the Messiah and rose on the third day. And whether this was Wednesday, Thursday or Friday as various Christians believe I know my salvation isn’t dependent on such trivia because my Redeemer lives!
God bless you and thank you for allowing me to contribute my view.
The “inclusive vs. exclusive” argument isn’t really applicable because of the word “and three nights”. When the phrase “three days and three nights” is used, then the nights have to be counted as well. You mentioned the counting for Pentecost being “inclusive”. Take a look:
Lev 23:16 ‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD.
There isn’t mention of the nights. This would be the indication that only days are counted which is why it appears to be “inclusive”.
I understand the references to “on the third day” but it is not accurate to say “all the Gospels say _____”. Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34, and Mat 27:63 say “after three days” He would rise.
You have put forth a pretty comprehensive representation of the Friday/Sunday justification. I can’t accept that so many things need to be explained away on “the only sign”. We know He died at 3PM.Sunset would have been about 7pm that time of year in Jerusalem. I suppose if the women didn’t take any time to grieve or eat or anything, it would have been possible for them to gather more than 100 pounds of stuff prior to sunset, but I doubt it. There are so many things that we assume happened between Friday 3pm and prior to the sun rising on Sunday that it simply isn’t feasible (gathering the spices, the bad guys sealing the tomb and posting a guard, people believing He was really dead, grieving, etc.). Sunrise on Sunday would have been about 6:20 AM that time of year. This math means that He wasn’t even in the grave 48 hours. That’s not three days and three nights by any reckoning.
The problem with accepting Friday/Sunday isn’t necessarily salvational, but it leads us away from the Hebrew nature of our Messiah. It obscures the importance of the prophecies around the Holy Days and allows people to believe that some dude named Jesus died on some random day and if you believe this, you are saved. Most believers have no idea the significance of Yeshua’s lineage, His being killed at twighlight on Abib 14, or understand His resurrection having to occur on the first of the weeks (first fruits), not simply on the first day of the week. There was so much prophecy being fulfilled that has been replaced by a pagan fertility bunny who births a chocolate egg.
Bye inclusive counting we have 3 days and 3 nights because the civil day begin at sunset.
The exclusive counting took place with the invention of the zero as a number. So we didn’t start to count with the exclusive counting before the 10’s century. (Except for years with the system of accession years).
Show me one time a counting with exclusive counting.
At John 11:9 Yeshua tells us there are 12 hours in a day. That same chapter outlines the death and resurrection of Lazarus and the story reckons time to count a day as 24 hours. The other place where one can see this reckoning of time would be in Genesis where an evening and a morning are one day.
You don’t understand what I said, and you don’t understand the inclusive counting.
In the inclusive counting, you include the first and the last civil day (24 hours).
So if it’s 5 pm and you want to speak of an event wich will occur at 7 pm (and sunset is at 6 pm), you will say this three expressions : in two days, the second days, in two days and two nights. But it just occur two hours after, and if you count with modern counting, you will say just 1 day and 1 night, but with the ancien counting you would say 2 days and 2 nights, because the convention of counting is not the same.
If it’s Monday 5 pm and you say with ancien-inclusive counting in three lunch, the event will occur between Tuesday 6 pm and Wednesday 6 pm.
Like I said, the modern-exclusive counting took place with the invention of the zero as a number in the 5’s century in India and was spread in the 10’s century by the Arabs.
So show me just one time a counting with modern-exclusive counting (Except for years because of the system of accession years).
You really dishonest, because you do not know answer you delete expressly comment. You can not tamper with things so that it matches your mind!
When I first saw the comment I thought it was a website glitch because I already showed two examples and you were still asking for one. Then I read it and did you the favor of removing an offensive personal attack from my website. I’ll leave this latest example up for all to see.
Gen 1:5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Evening + morning = 1 day.
Further, yesterday was Passover on the Jewish calendar. The Bible calendar date for Passover is Nisan 14. Yesterday was Friday, Nisan 14. That means tomorrow will be Sunday, Nisan 16. 16 – 14 = 2. There is absolutely no way to get three days and three nights out of two WHOLE days. Yeshua died at the end of Nisan 14 and was resurrected at the beginning of Nisan 16. Stretching that out as far as human rationale permits, we’re talking about 36 hours in the tomb representing 72? No way.
You can delete the preview comment if you want and this comment, to tell you the truth, it was just to talk to you, I thought you have to delete after reading. I posted a comentaire April 1, I looked April 2 if you had responded, and on April 3 but then not only you did not answer but my comment was deleted. Have you really not read this comment? Is it really a technical problem?
Look guy, I put the comment back. I think there’s a reading comprehension problem going on here. You keep asking me to show you “one time”, I show it, then you say “show me one time.” When the Bible refers to “days and night” it is referring to a 24 hour cycle. This is in Genesis 1. It is also how long Jonah was in the whale and nobody ever challenged that being 72 hours until Yeshua’s death then all of a sudden, Jonah wasn’t in the whale for 72 hours.
You are also ignoring a thing we call math. 14 + 3 = 17. 14 + 2 ≠ 17. The entire argument with the construct of “exclusive vs inclusive” is ludicrous and unnecessary. You must stop accusing me of ignorance because I know what you and the others are TRYING to say, it is simply irrelevant. I am not going to take your premise and go down a trail that only ends in unnecessary confusion. There is absolutely no way Yeshua could have been resurrected on 16 Nisan and have that be three days. His death and resurrection were based on annual dates, not days of the week. People keep posting that I somehow do not know how Hebrews think and subsequently put their own ignorance of Hebrew time reckoning on full display. Now, if you are not going to address the math problem, please stop posting. It is not even remotely harder than 14 + 3.
Thank you and sorry …
You did not give me an example of exclusive counting, your story of 24 hours (or hours’ counting) has nothing to do with an exclusive counting.
The bible also doesn’t say how many hours Jonah was in the whale. It’s you you say.
Lev 7:15-18 :
15 Now as for the flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings, it shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave any of it over until morning. 16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what is left of it may be eaten; 17 but what is left over from the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. 18 So if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings should ever be eaten on the third day, he who offers it will not be accepted, and it will not be reckoned to his benefit. It shall be an offensive thing, and the person who eats of it will bear his own iniquity.
According to this text, if a sacrifice (freewill) is made on Friday at 3 hours, the day when we no longer have the right to eat (the third day) is Sunday. And from this text, the moment when we no longer have the right to eat a sacrifice is morning.
Similarly if you picked up manna on Friday at 3 hours, when is the time when you can no longer eat it? Sunday morning.
What is the meaning of the manna or a sacrifice according to the Bible? The life of Jesus offered to us. And more exactly his body given up for us. This is highly symbolic.
You say His resurrection having to Occur on the first weeks of the (first fruits), it is true, but the bible in symbolism goes further. All civilizations place the resurrection at dawn in the morning, because it is logical and symbolic, and the Bible too. The day represents life, and the night death, so the symbolic moment when to resurrect is at the end of death (night), just before the new life – resurrection (day). The Bible says that Jesus is the morning star, the exact moment when he must resurrect is the morning star at dawn before sunrise. It was he (the morning star) which is the bearer of the light of day, our guide. He is the first born among many brother …
I understand that this ancient way of counting can be strange and disorienting, but with the old convention, mathematically it’s been 3 days and 3 nights, not 2 days and 2 nights.
“All civilizations place blah, blah blah” But the Bible says…
Joh 20:1 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.
Joh 20:2 So she *ran and *came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and *said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
… the tomb was empty before the sun came up.
And evening and a morning is not 24 hours? That’s bizarre. When Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, how long was this?
When it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, how long was this?
When Job sat down for seven days and seven nights, how long was this?
When Yeshua fasted forty days and forty nights, how long was this?
Now, when Leviticus says for us to have a holy convocation of the first day and on the seventh day, this is inclusive counting as you say. As we are observing the Feast of Unleavened bread right now, the first day was the 15th and the last day would be the 21st of Abib. But when the Bible says “days AND nights” it you have to count the actual nights, too. An evening and a morning is a complete day. A day and a night is a complete day. 24 hours. Your example from Leviticus only calls out days, it does not say “days and nights”. You must apply apples to apples.
Furthermore, since you can’t bring yourself to even address my problem with the math from a calendar issue (as all remembrances are observed based on calendars except Shavuot), you have to address the issue of the women collecting the spices for anointing Yeshua’s body. Do you know how much stuff they had to collect? Do you know how they could have accomplished this on the Sabbath? What about the setting of the watch on His tomb. If he was going to be resurrected 28 hours after passing, when exactly was this accomplished?
Dawn begins before sunrise, and the moment of the morning star begins before dawn, at the beginning of dawn, so when it’s still dark.
Modern way, when you say 3 days and 3 nights, he spends an average of 60 hours. It’s very uncommon that it happens 72 hours, it would require that the event begins at sunrise (or sunset) and ends at sunrise (or sunset) . In case of Jonas, you has no idea, so on average it happened 60 hours and not 72 hours.
If you place Jesus’ death on Wednesday at 3 pm and the resurrection on Saturday evening just after sunset, then you say:
The first day: Thursday – the third day: Saturday
In one day: Thursday – In three days: Saturday
First night: the night of Wednesday to Thursday – Last Day: Saturday (3 nights and 3 days)
There are two meanings of ‘in the heart of the earth’: one that begins at death and the second begins at the funeral. You you use the second.
By doing this you use the exclusive counting. But in the Bible in the old and the new testament, you would never see that the first day is the day after the event, so too for the expression in x days. You always see the opposite.
Luke 24:13-21
13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem.
14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place
15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them.
16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.
17 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.
According to this text, Sunday in the day is the third day after the chief priests and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified Jesus. But from the way you expect, it is the fourth day and not the third.
According to the biblical way to count and after this text, the crucifixion and the time when the rulers delivered him to be condemned to death must be Friday, there are no other alternatives.
Women have had the time to buy and prepare the spices since his death until sunset and after sunset on Saturday evening, that’s enough.
(Jesus is resurrected 38 hours after, not 28.)
38 hours is not 3 days and three nights. He said that would be the only sign. You ignored all the examples I showed you about days and nights, even including Genesis. You also did not answer the quantity of items the women had to procure. It’s not just some cinnamon, it’s over a hundred pounds of stuff.
John completely deflates the Sunday morning/daylight argument. He was resurrected on the first day of the week, but by Hebrew reckoning – NOT Roman reckoning.
Now, if you are not going to show this site the respect of answering questions and acknowledging that when the Bible says “days and nights” it really means it, please stop posting here.
When you say that when the Bible refers to “days and night” it is referring to a 24 hour cycle (Gen), it’s true. But when you say days, it is also referring to a 24 hour cycle (or 12 hours for natural day). And when we say 3 days, 99% of cases, we do not have 72 hours.
Mathematically, with a modern convention, three days and three nights is between 48h and 72h with an average of 60h. And with an old convention, three days and three nights is between 24h and 72h with an average of 48h. So 38h works.
I already explained the old convention of inclusive counting, so what do you not understand? Mathematically if you take this convention, it works, even if today we have not at all the same convention.
Now in all passages of the Bible with the notation x days and x nights, including those you quoted me, there is unfortunately no details on the time of day of departure and on the time of day of end, so we unfortunately can not use these verses for a definition of how this works. So today everything will be imaginative, people will look at how this language is used today to define meaning. But I think it is a stretch to think that the ways of speaking, thinking … are absolutely the same as today.
Makes an experience during the three days, count with inclusive manner, and test use that a hundred times, in the expression in x days, the xth day, and x day after. Leave aside the expression x days and x nights.
You’ll see that you’re not the center and the moment you speak is not the center, the moment where things are supposed to start is before you, you are forced to turn around in time and watch a beginning which precedes you, always take a beginning that precedes you. Take for example the following example: it is 4pm and say ‘in two days’ to say tomorrow. You see that you’re not technically puts you in the beginning but you are forced to take something before you. Do this for 3 days and while you’re there, reasons like that for a month, and you will see that finally the expression x days and x nights with the convention that I gave you is not so strange, because you will work completely differently.
You must to know that in ancient languages and Hebrew, there is no time present past future, but just a present with modes. So here too we reason completely differently.
I am not an expert but 100 pound (40 to 50 liters) is what I had in mind. They just need to buy two or three jars and a dozen spices, and mix it. It’s not as complicated as you say, or so long, they are three or more, and technically they have 6-7 hours to do it. 1-2 hours on Friday before sunset, and 4 to 6 hours on Saturday after sunset before going to bed.
I do not know what you mean when you say: “John completely deflates the Sunday morning/daylight argument. He was resurrected on the first day of the week, but by Hebrew reckoning – NOT Roman reckoning”. It is true that John uses a Roman reckoning in John 19:14, but me I didn’t, and I don’t see in what John completely deflates the Sunday morning/daylight argument.
Make me the chronology of Actes 21:17 – 24:11 (12 days).
When the term “days and nights” is used in the Bible it is a specific thing. You told me I could not provided one evidence of this phrase meaning 24 hours and I provided several. Genesis is the premier example. Yeshua’s fasting for 40 days and 40 nights as well as the flood as well as Moses being on Mt. Sinai have NEVER been questioned as being exactly what they say. Neither has the Jonah in the whale story.
Modern theologians have had to adjust the year for Yeshua’s death because the Friday/Sunday thing is not acceptable. It is not acceptable for man to say the only sign Messiah gave has to be interpreted. Even children cannot accept that Friday to Sunday is three days and three nights. And who on earth can imagine the disciples losing all their faith inside of 36 hours??? Seriously???
I showed you with math that it is impossible to get to the number three when using the calendar dates instead of the days of the week. I would like for you to tell me what other annual observance is observed using the day it fell on in the week. Yeshua was not born in the winter, but the same Christians who will fight to the death to keep Christ in a holiday he was never in are adamant that He was born on what day? The fourth Thursday in December? Hardly. They want Him to be born on December 25th. This is an annual remembrance that is recorded properly – on a calendar. (However, if His birthday was recorded, it would not have been on the Gregorian calendar but on the Hebrew).
This brings me to the crux of the matter. Friday to Sunday is only important if one wants to erase the Hebrew from the Messiah. His death was SPECIFICALLY on Abib 14 of the Hebrew calendar. It has to be on that date to fulfill prophecy, at the very hour the lambs were being slain at the temple. When we use the calendar date and add three (doesn’t matter days or nights, just add three somethings), we come up with the number 17. This makes perfect sense because Abib 15 is the High Sabbath mentioned in John. That would have been a Thursday. Everybody rests that day in accordance with the commandment. On Friday, the women gather the spices because they could not obtain such things on the High Sabbath nor on the weekly Sabbath. On Friday is when the guard is posted. Then Yeshua is resurrected after the Sabbath but prior to sun-up on the first day. This is also to fulfill a prophecy about Himself because He had to be resurrected on the day the first fruits were offered. Then, exactly 40 days and nights later, He ascends. Then EXACTLY 10 days later, 50 days after His resurrection, the disciples are assembled to observe Pentecost (Shavuot) according to the commandment, and they receive the Holy Spirit. All of this came off EXACTLY as prophecied through Leviticus 23 – Yahweh’s Holy Day cycle. There is no need for any interpretation and this is why when He was resurrected, He explained all things about Himself starting from Moses. Because He fulfilled Torah.
Lastly, in the first century (and in ancient times), they did not believe people were actually dead until they had been dead for, you guessed it, three days. This is the purpose of the Lazarus resurrection story. Lazarus was in the tomb four days so there would be no doubt Yeshua resurrected him.
So much effort is put into these strange doctrines in order for mankind to have a Messiah without Torah. The scripture, even the ONLY sign Messiah gave concerning Himself, has to be some contrived modern convention. However, if we simply apply the plain Torah that farmers, ranchers, and fishermen could understand and live out, then everything falls into place.
This is the end of the debate, by the way. I need to pay attention to serving the brethren as we close our observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. If you require someone else to post the same information, please join any Messianic or Hebrew Root group on Facebook and ask them to explain three days and three nights. Here’s another link with the same information. http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/was-jesus-in-the-grave-for-three-days-and-nights.html May Yahweh bless you and keep you.
Amen, Amen, Amen!!!
Have wondered, if Jesus was resurrected Saturday evening and then ascended to the Father Sunday morning, what did He do in those hours after His resurrection?
Thanks for the comment. He was resurrected Saturday evening or thereabouts for sure. But He did not ascend to the Father until 40 days later. during those 40 days, He went about teaching the apostles and appearing to many people. The details are in Luke 24.
I approved your post. If you read the article, the real calendar is indeed the one to apply to the prophecy and reality of Yeshua’s death and resurrection. He was crucified on Abib 14 and resurrected by His Father on Abib 17. I clicked the links you provided and they are just the home pages of a couple of believer’s sites. Could you post a link to the specific information you want people to see or maybe even just type a message here as to what you are saying?
there are four witnesses to bring to bear on this topic
the first three are where there are differences in interpretation, but the final witness can not be misinterpreted at all
the first witness is of course, the testimony of Jesus, that he would be in the heart of the earth, for three days and three nights. Mt 12.40 the question that needs to be answered … is this part days … or full days… there in is the difference of interpretation
but just remember that this was the sign given by Jesus, that he was the messiah.
another witness we can bring forth is that of the women and the spices
mk 16.1 the women bought the spices after the sabbath
lk 23.56 the women prepare the spices then rest on the sabbath …. as per the commandment
if there is only one sabbath involved then this would present a bit of a problem. mark indicates the women bought the spices after the sabbath, yet luke says they prepared the spices before the sabbath. how can you prepare something before you have bought it
the solution to this is something that is not strange if you are a hebrew. it is that there were two sabbaths.
the sabbath referred to in mark, is the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, that is always after the passover
the passover falls on the 14th. the first day of the unleavened bread always falls on the 15th.
the sabbath in luke however, is the 7th day sabbath. this is very clear because it is stated to be ….. as per the commandments. this is of course a reference to the 4th commandment
there is another witness that concerns this matter, and involves time. the prophesy of daniel 9
this is applied by many as applying to messiah. the 70 7s are a reference to the 7 year sabbatical cycle. based on the biblical interpretation that a day in prophesy equals a year in time, this is interpreted as being a total period of 490 years
70 lots of 7 year cycles of the land also equates to be 490 years.
messiah is said to be cut off in the middle of the 70th 7
there is a known 7 year cycle of the second temple era. in 1866, Benedict Zuckermann produced a table of sabbatical years based on that 7 year cycle of the second temple, and sets it out in cycles of 49 years, which are linked to the jubilee cycle. it is of interest to note that the historical interpretation of daniel 9 by the protestants, that apply this prophesy to the ministry of messiah, that the decree of ezra 7, in 457bc, falls at the end of one of these 49 year cycles. counting forwards 69 lots of 7 years, you come to 27ad, which then begins the final set of 7 years of daniel 9s 70 7s, and half way through this final set of 7, brings you to 31ad
the prophesy of daniel 9, as interpreted historically by the protestants, therefore puts the death of jesus in the spring of 31ad
in the english translations of the bible, these 70 7s, are sometimes described as being weeks. so if messiah cut off in the middle of the week, and if this is applied to the literal 7 day week, then this would indicate that messiah would be put to death on a wednesday.
but there is one final witness that needs to be taken into account, and that is the actual calendar for 31ad
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/index.html?year=31&country=34 is a link that will give you a visual display of the calendar for 31ad with the addition of the actual phases of the moon.
there are two methods that can be used to determine the start of the new year. there is using the first full moon after the spring equinox. the second is using the first new moon after the spring equinox. another factor that needs to be taken into account, is to determine if you use the dark moon conjunction, or do you use the first cresent
in applying all of this to the actual calendar of 31 ad you get the following
using the first full moon past the equinox as the passover moon will put you in march
using the dark moon conjunction will put the 14th of the first month to be on monday mar 26
using the first cresent will put the 14th of the first month to be on tuesday mar 27
using the first cresent of the first new moon past the equinox will put you in april
using the dark moon conjunction will put the 14th of the first month to be on tuesday apr 24
using the first cresent will put the 14th of the first month to be on wednesday apr 25
there is one option out of the above four scenarios that actually aligns with the testimony of the other three witnesses. put all four pieces of evidence together and it paints the same picture.
jesus died in the middle of the week, there were two sabbaths in between his death and his resurrection, and the women purchased and then prepared the spices on the work day that fell between these two sabbaths.
if there is one thing that should become obvious from looking at the calendar for 31ad …. and that is that neither in march nor in april, does the 14th of the first month fall on a friday …. no matter which method you use to determine the start of the month.