Three Days and Three Nights? Friday To Sunday Doesn't Add Up?

Carol wrote:

I think this study is fascinating.  However, I would like to point out that Jesus was not in hell for 3 days and 3 nights.  He died on Friday afternoon and rose on Sunday morning at sunrise when the priest was collecting the firstfruits of the harvest.  Three days, maybe, but only two nights!
Cheers,
Carol

Dear Carol,
God Bless you, and thank you for writing.  

THE "THREE DAYS" AND "THREE NIGHTS"

OF
MATT. 12:40

The fact that "three days" is used by the Hebrew idiom for any part of three days and three nights is not disputed because that was the common way of reckoning, just as it was when used for years. Three or any number of years was used inclusively for any part of those years, as may be seen in the reckoning of the reigns of any of the kings of Israel or Judah.

But, when the number of "nights" is stated as well as the number of "days," then the expression ceases to be an idiom and becomes a literal statement of fact.

Moreover, as the Hebrew day began at sunset, the day was reckoned from one sunset to another, the "twelve hours in the day" (John 11:9) being reckoned from sunrise and the twelve hours of the night from sunset. An evening-morning was thus used for a whole day of twenty-four hours, as in the first chapter of Genesis. Hence, the expression "a night and a day" in 2 Cor. 11:25 denotes a complete day (Greek nuchthemeron).

When Esther says (Est. 4:16), "fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days," she defines her meaning as being three complete days because she adds (being a Jewess) "night or day."  And when it is written that the fast ended on "the third day" (Est. 5:1), "the third day" must have succeeded and included the third night.

In like manner, the sacred record states that the young man (in 1 Sam. 30:12) "had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights."  Hence, when the young man explains the reason, he says, "because three days agone I fell sick". He means, therefore, three complete days and nights because, being an Egyptian (1 Sam. 30:11, 1 Sam. 30:13), he naturally reckoned his day as beginning at sunrise according to the Egyptian manner (see Encycl. Brit., 11th (Cambridge) ed., vol. xi. p. 77). His "three days agone" refers to the beginning of his sickness and includes the whole period, stating the reason for his having gone without food during the whole period.

Hence, when it says that "Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17), it means exactly what it says, and this can be the only meaning of the expression in Matt. 12:40; Matt. 16:4.

It will be seen from the above that we have neither power nor authority to alter or shift any day or date or change the order or position of any events recorded in The Holy Writ.

Each day is marked by a return to Bethany during the last week (up to the Preparation Day), and each day is filled with recorded events.

It follows, therefore, that the Lord was crucified on our Wednesday, was buried on that day before sunset, and remained "three days and three nights" in the tomb, as foretold by Him in Matt. 12:40; rising from the dead on "the third day," "the first day of the week."

The fixed days and dates, at either end, hold the whole period as in a vice and place the whole subject on a sure foundation.

All God's Blessings,
The Believers