kenrockthefirst Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 In Mt. 12:40, Jesus states, "Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights." How do we account for the "three nights?" Jesus was entombed on Friday and Saturday nights, and rose on Sunday morning. Where does the third night come from? Or is His statement even to be understood literally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dismas Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 [quote name='kenrockthefirst' post='1403540' date='Oct 16 2007, 10:18 AM']In Mt. 12:40, Jesus states, "Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights." How do we account for the "three nights?" Jesus was entombed on Friday and Saturday nights, and rose on Sunday morning. Where does the third night come from? Or is His statement even to be understood literally?[/quote] If I remember correctly, "three days and three nights" is an expression during that time of three consecutive days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 puts on my ridiculous literalist hat... the Passion of the Christ showed Christ as being imprisoned in a basement below the earth... first night: thursday night. friday night: sepulchre. saturday night: sepulchre. first day, part of Friday. second day, all of Saturday. third day, tiny part of Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodChild Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Are you being serious or not? I can't tell however ... that doesn't really satisfy the three days and three nights time period that occurred with Jonah. I mean - being in the basement is being under the earth? Furthermore, that was in the Passion - nowhere in the Bible (unless I'm wrong but I can't remember anything about a basement in any Gospel?) This prophecy is one that comes up alot especially amongst those who 'question' christianity - like atheists, muslims, etc - surely there's a better explanation than that (i hope) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin86 Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 What is a "day"? What is a "night"? What makes you think every single human society has had the same concept of them throughout all of history? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenrockthefirst Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 [quote name='GodChild' post='1407783' date='Oct 23 2007, 07:33 AM']Are you being serious or not? I can't tell however ... that doesn't really satisfy the three days and three nights time period that occurred with Jonah. I mean - being in the basement is being under the earth? Furthermore, that was in the Passion - nowhere in the Bible (unless I'm wrong but I can't remember anything about a basement in any Gospel?) This prophecy is one that comes up alot especially amongst those who 'question' christianity - like atheists, muslims, etc - surely there's a better explanation than that (i hope)[/quote] Right. I don't necessarily have a problem with it. As I indicated in my original post, we shouldn't necessarily interpret this literally, e.g. "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up," but I'd be interested in seeing a good explanation. [quote name='Justin86' post='1407786' date='Oct 23 2007, 07:45 AM']What is a "day"? What is a "night"? What makes you think every single human society has had the same concept of them throughout all of history?[/quote] As far as I know, in the context we're talking about, "day" meant sunrise to sunset, and "night" sunset to sunrise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 like I said, I had my ridiculous literalist hat on. that's an answer a ridiculous literalist might offer, that he was deep in some dungeon/basement under the earth on Thursday night. the real answer is that the analogy to Jonah is analogy and typology. do you seriously think the evangelists and apostles were so dumb as to put in some random contradiction into their gospels that way? this is just the semitic way of understanding scriptural foreshadowing, Christian exegesis is always digging for typologies just like the one Jesus used here (to the sketpic who is actually doubting based on this, I would say "just like the one Matthew used here", same difference, either Jesus came up with the typology and predicted His own death or Matthew came up with the typology and put it in the scripture at that point to make the point that Jesus knew beforehand that he would die) To posit this as a contradiction, one must take on the untenable position that Matthew was a bumbling idiot. Who would write such a blatant contradiction? No one. If you understand Matthew's mind, though, which is really just the semitic mind of any Jew in that period interpretting the scriptures, this made perfect logical sense to him. Jonah spent "three nights and three days" in the Whale, Jesus was like Jonah, this was His "three nights and three days" Matthew could count, he knew there wasn't literally a third night, but this is how one would speak of typology in the scriptures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodChild Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 [quote name='Justin86' post='1407786' date='Oct 23 2007, 11:45 PM']What is a "day"? What is a "night"? What makes you think every single human society has had the same concept of them throughout all of history?[/quote] I understand a 'day' to be sunrise to sunset and 'night' sunset to sunrise - obviously. If other cultures had different understandings of day and night you would do ppl a favour by telling us what they are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodChild Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 [quote name='Aloysius' post='1407853' date='Oct 24 2007, 03:15 AM']like I said, I had my ridiculous literalist hat on. that's an answer a ridiculous literalist might offer, that he was deep in some dungeon/basement under the earth on Thursday night. the real answer is that the analogy to Jonah is analogy and typology. do you seriously think the evangelists and apostles were so dumb as to put in some random contradiction into their gospels that way? this is just the semitic way of understanding scriptural foreshadowing, Christian exegesis is always digging for typologies just like the one Jesus used here (to the sketpic who is actually doubting based on this, I would say "just like the one Matthew used here", same difference, either Jesus came up with the typology and predicted His own death or Matthew came up with the typology and put it in the scripture at that point to make the point that Jesus knew beforehand that he would die) To posit this as a contradiction, one must take on the untenable position that Matthew was a bumbling idiot. Who would write such a blatant contradiction? No one. If you understand Matthew's mind, though, which is really just the semitic mind of any Jew in that period interpretting the scriptures, this made perfect logical sense to him. Jonah spent "three nights and three days" in the Whale, Jesus was like Jonah, this was His "three nights and three days" Matthew could count, he knew there wasn't literally a third night, but this is how one would speak of typology in the scriptures.[/quote] I think I understand ... this scriptural 'prediction' is not literal but draws on Jonah's experience of being swallowed into the belly of the whale (Jesus entering the belly of hell/death???) and then after three days being spat back out (Jesus and the resurrection???) Thanks for that Aloysius ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodChild Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 (edited) double post. sorry Edited October 24, 2007 by GodChild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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