The Messiah said that He would be three days and three nights in the "heart of the earth".
Mat 12:40 For just 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. (ESV)
There are some who think that the crucifixion took place on the 6th day of the week with the resurrection taking place on the 1st day of the week.
Some? All, I would think.
Mar 15:42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is,
the day before the Sabbath,
Mar 15:43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. (ESV)
However, a 6th day of the week crucifixion/1st day of the week resurrection allows for only 2 nights to be involved.
To account for the lack of a 3rd night, there may be some of those mentioned above who try to explain the lack of a 3rd night by saying that the Messiah was using common figure of speech/colloquial language.
Yes, that is most likely the case. A Hebraism in which one part of a day is counted as the whole day. From Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible, regarding Matt. 12:40:
"And so also the Jerusalem Talmud: ‘R. Akiba fixed a Day for an onah, and a Night for an onah.’ But the tradition is, that R. Eliazar ben Azariah said,
A day and a night make an onah: and a Part of an onah is as the Whole. And a little after, R. Ismael computed a part of the onah for the whole.” Thus, then, three days and three nights, according to this Jewish method of reckoning, included any part of the first day; the whole of the following night; the next day and its night; and any part of the succeeding or third day."
Other commentaries say the same.
I'm simply curious if anyone who may fall in the above group of believers might provide examples to support the belief of commonality; i.e., instances where a daytime or a night time was forecast or said to be involved with an event when no part of a daytime or no part of a night time could have occurred. That is the only issue with which this queston is concerned.
2Ch 10:5 And he said unto them, Come again unto me
after three days. And the people departed.
...
2Ch 10:12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam
on the third day,
as the king bade, saying, Come again to me
on the third day. (KJV)
Est 4:16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink
for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”
Est 4:17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
Est 5:1
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. (ESV)
Similarly:
Mat 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
on the third day be raised. (ESV)
Mat 17:23 and they will kill him, and he will be
raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed. (ESV)
Mat 20:19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be
raised on the third day.” (ESV)
Mat 26:61 and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to
rebuild it in three days.’” (ESV)
Mat 27:63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘
After three days I will rise.’ Mat 27:64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure
until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” (ESV)
Mar 8:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and
after three days rise again. (ESV)
Luk 24:21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this,
it is now the third day since these things happened. (ESV)
Act 10:40 but God
raised him on the third day and made him to appear, (ESV)
1Co 15:4 that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, (ESV)
All the above supports the understanding that in that culture, a part of a day was counted as a whole day. The change of language between "on the third day" and "after three days," especially by the same writer, makes little sense otherwise. The disciples and writers of Scripture clearly had no issue with it, so we shouldn't either.
