The Events Surrounding the Crucifixion Page 2

Introduction
Was the "Last Supper" the Passover Meal?
The Day of the Crucifixion
The Year of the Crucifixion

The Events Surrounding the Crucifixion (Page 2)

The Day of the Crucifixion

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have all been put forward as the day of the crucifixion. As many have come before and have written vast essays on the subject, this study will try to be concise in that only the relevant Scripture passages will be examined with the occasional reference to a published work.
The passage of Scripture that has probably caused the most controversy is to be found in Mt. 12:40:

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mt. 12:40

The problem is with the 'three days and three nights'. It is said that to be able to get three days and three nights from the crucifixion until Sunday morning, the day of the crucifixion would have to have been on the Wednesday or Thursday (depending on how one would view the other events of the crucifixion).
The first step in trying to solve the riddle is to understand the term 'three days and three nights'. There are those who hold that it is to be taken literally as in 72 hours and others that say that it is a Hebrew idiom (figure of speech).
In all such arguments the Bible is the greatest commentator: If it is indeed a Hebrew idiom then it should be found elsewhere, and explained as such, in the Bible:

11 They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink.
12 They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.
13 David said to him, To whom belong you? and whence are you? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick.
1 Shmu'el / 1 Samuel 30:11-13

It will be noticed that he had neither eaten nor drunk for three days and three nights, but in verse 13 he said "my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick." If it had been a literal period of 72 hours then he would have told them that he was left behind four days ago. There are similar passages that deal with the usage of time spans in the Bible that would help us to grasp the Jewish understanding on these matters, but to conserve space these will not be gone into here.
Suffice to say that Yeshua was using a Hebrew idiom to express His changed attitude to the request of the Jewish leadership for a sign:

38 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you."
39 But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Mt. 12:38-40

This was actually the only sign from now on that He would give the Jews, the sign of resurrection, and it would happen on three occasions - the resurrection of Lazarus, His own resurrection and the resurrection of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation.
There are many passages in the New Testament that teach that Yeshua was to, and did indeed, rise from the dead on the third day; not, if one holds to a literal 72 hours, on the fourth day.

From that time, Yeshua began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
Mt. 16:21

20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
21 But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
Lk. 24:20-21

He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
Lk. 24:46

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which also I received: that Messiah died for our sins according to the scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,
1 Cor 15:3-4

There is no doubt that, according to the Scriptures Yeshua was indeed raised from the dead on the third day. Since the third day, it must follow, and the interpretation of Mt. 12:40 must fit in with the overwhelming evidence of the rest of Scripture, that the three days and three nights are to be taken as an idiom covering a period of three days and not literally as in 72 hours.This then brings us to the only possible conclusion that Yeshua was crucified Friday and rose on the third day (three days later) Sunday.
The three days and three nights, as has been shown, are to be taken as being three days according to the Jewish reckoning which counts any part as a whole ("if a day had been once entered on, even for a few minutes, the whole twenty four hours were reckoned to the person who had entered on the day." - David Baron - 'Types, Psalms, and Prophecies' p. 363).

They are then as follows:
                Day One: Friday- as Yeshua was laid in the tomb before the actual Sabbath had begun.
                Day Two: Saturday- technically from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.
                Day Three: Sunday- from sundown on Saturday until early Sunday morning (exactly when, we are not told, only that He was risen before the women arrived).

There is perhaps one more issue that should be looked at and that is the actions of the women in the account:

1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.
2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
Mk. 16:1-2

55 The women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid.
56 They returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.
Lk. 23:55-24:1

It would appear from the two passages that there is a bit of a contradiction in the order of the actions: That according to Mark the women bought the spices when 'the Sabbath was past'; and according to Luke it would appear that the women [bought] and prepared the spices then rested on the Sabbath. Of course there is no contradiction as (a) it is possible to read 'And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.' as kind of like an after thought to confirm that these were devout women and that they would not break the Sabbath even though in the midst of their grief; and (b) it is also possible that the women had some, but not enough, spices at home and then returned to purchase more when the Sabbath had ended (sundown Saturday evening); remember that according to the Gospel of John the amount of spices was about a hundred pounds - quite a lot to have hanging around at home!
According to the Law it was legal to acquire the necessaries in order to fulfill the command to bury the dead on the same day:
'...the Jerusalem Talmud (Ber. 5, b) expressly declares it lawful on Sabbaths and feast-days to bring a coffin, graveclothes, and even mourning flutes --in short, to attend to the offices for the dead--just as on ordinary days.' Quoted from 'The Temple Its Ministry And Services' - by Alfred Edersheim Appendix, p. 315.

Another issue that some might raise is the typology of Yeshua being crucified at the same time as the lambs. In answer it might be pointed out that Yeshua was crucified at the third hour (Mk. 15:25), which is 9 am., whereas most scholars agree that the sacrifice of the lambs only began at 12 noon. It might be argued that Yeshua did not die until 3 in the afternoon, at which time the lambs were also dying, but the point remains that the actual crucifixion took place early in the morning three hours before the first lambs were sacrificed.
With regards to typology, the question must be asked: "Since the death of Yeshua is representative of the freedom from slavery in Egypt, i.e.. that He has set us free from the bondage of slavery to sin; when was it that the Israelites were set free? Was it the moment they sacrificed the lambs; or was it when that they put the blood on their door posts; or was it when they walked out of the land of Egypt?"
Since, in one sense, all is true, God wants us to be obedient in every part, then the answer has to get a little bit precise: Technically the Israelites were not set free from the land of bondage until they were safely over the border. We too are not saved until we apply the blood to our lives and give Him our all - crossing from death to life (1 Jn. 3:10).
So although the typology could be stretched to accommodate the crucifixion and the sacrifice of the lambs taking place on the same day, it would have to place the crucifixion of Yeshua on the 14th. of Nissan, and therefore teach that Yeshua did not eat the Passover meal with His disciples on the 14th. of Nissan in accordance with the Law. If indeed Yeshua ate the Passover (it has already been shown that the meal in question was the actual Passover meal) on the 13th., contrary to the Law, then He was a Law breaker and not fit to be the Lamb of God - the Perfect Atoning Sacrifice.
So we can see then that although there would appear to be obstacles to a straight forward understanding of the events that surround the crucifixion, there are in actual fact really none at all.

The Year of the Crucifixion

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The Events Surrounding the Crucifixion (Page 2)

The Day of the Crucifixion