For 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. Matthew 12.40

Sometimes Scripture doesn't seem to make sense and it's often because the author is trying to paint a picture, give us a discovery, for understanding and retention of what they are teaching; but sometimes the confusion is our error in understanding or tradition.

When I count the days from Friday evening to Sunday morning we only have one day and two nights, technically. If we want to get non-technical, there's only three days and two nights. Either way you want to look at it, it's not three days and three nights.

When we see a problem like this it means we need to look closer at the text and find out the gold the author is giving or the error we've installed into the text.

History tells us that the Jew's followed an evening and morning cycle for a day. In other words, sundown started the day. That's so unlike today, we start the day at either midnight or in the morning at sun up but they did not do that. In Genesis chapter one, they were told that evening and morning were a day. This is because the mindset of the Hebrew is that day begins with rest and not work.

This understanding of the Jewish day is important when looking at the Bible. The language of days in the Bible revolve around "evening and morning". What this means is, if you see "early on the [blank] day" that is around sundown. If you see "early in the morning of [blank] day" that is around sunrise.

There was another problem I was having with our traditional following of the death of Messiah Y'shua; what is "That Sabbath"?

Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day),
John 19.31

There were limited amounts of resources for the Biblical scholars to record on. We've got computers and internet but they only had lamb's skin for scrolls. They utilized their words carefully and they only included what needed to be included. John made sure to note "for that Sabbath was a high day". The problem I had was, "If Sabbath falls every Friday (our day) evening, then what was so different about this Sabbath that John would take the space to say, 'For THAT Sabbath was a High Day?'"

For understanding on this we need to look at the Hebrew holidays and understand their context.

There are more Sabbaths than the seventh day Sabbath that the churches talk about. There are Sabbaths that revolve around High Holy Days and one such Sabbath is Passover. The Passover is called a "High Sabbath"; which means John was trying to make a point clear, Messiah Y'shua did not die before the weekly Sabbath, it was before the High Sabbath of Passover.

The problem I have with the church still following the belief of Y'shua dying before the weekly Sabbath is that we are no longer in a time of a lack of information. We don't read off of scrolls. We have internet and computers. Even the secular site Wikipedia has written on the High Sabbath mentioned by John being Passover.

If your brain is spinning right now let's catch up on what we have so far.

The church follows a tradition of three days and two nights but the Bible specifically says three days and three nights. The church follows a belief that our Messiah died on a Friday and was buried before the seventh day Sabbath but the Bible we follow says He died before a different Sabbath than the seventh day, a High Sabbath.

Let's see what else we have.

And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23:54-56

Which Sabbath did the followers of Messiah Y'shua rest; the weekly Sabbath or High Sabbath?

Let's go back to the language of a day (evening and morning).
Let's review the Hebrew wording; which is different from ours today.

The language of days in the Bible revolve around "evening and morning". What this means is, if you see "early on the [blank] day" that is around sundown. If you see "early in the morning of [blank] day" that is around sunrise.

Now, let's look at some text.

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. Mark 16:9

So, Y'shua was risen "early the first day of the week". What time of day is this? Around sunset on our Saturday evening.

Let's recap again because gears are turning. The church follows a three day two night tradition and the Bible says three days and three nights. The church follows a before the seventh day Sabbath tradition and the Bible says it was not the seventh day. The church follows a rising of Messiah Y'shua on Sunday morning but the Bible says it was evening.

I see lots of problems here so let's start tying some things together.

In talking about the women coming to put spices on the body, what does the text say?

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. Luke 24:1

So, remember our Hebrew verbiage, "early in the morning" means… around sunrise. So, the women showed early in the morning on Sunday morning but our Messiah rose from the dead on Saturday evening, "early the first day". This would be the reason why, even though they showed up while it was still dark (John 20:1), Y'shua was already gone.

And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it...
...And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, Matthew 28:2, 5-6

Does this mean our Messiah was only in the ground two days and two nights? No, we must removed our preconceived notions about when He died and remember He had to be buried before the HIGH Sabbath; not the weekly Sabbath.

Let's continue.

Earlier I asked a question if the woman rested the High Sabbath or weekly Sabbath. I believe that answer is Yes. Let's first understand that people in that day were not like most Americans today… they did not keep a surplus of things around the house; especially spices for burial. They also could not perform the work of preparing the spices on Sabbath. The spices would have to be purchased and prepared but Y'shua was buried before nightfall to the High Sabbath. They could not purchase or prepare the next day (High Sabbath of rest), therefore there must be a day to purchase spices and prepare them. That does not work with the traditional Friday night to Sunday morning narrative.

Let's look at a little science. Now we're really gonna geek out.

According to the seventy-week prophesy of Daniel 9, Messiah Y'shua would have died on the preparation day of Passover in the year 31 AD.

Hebrew month’s are a perfect 30 day cycle and began at the first sliver of the crescent moon. The passover feast was on the 14th day of the month, which was preparation day, and Passover is the 15th day of the month.

Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight
Exodus 12:6

When I checked NASA, and went back to 31AD, I found the end of the full moon was on Tuesday. This means 15 days from the crescent would have been on Wednesday.

So, when we put all this evidence together we find a pattern like this:
Messiah Y'shua died on the 14th of the Hebrew month Nisan.
The 15th was a High Day, Passover day of rest (Exodus 12:16) which means Y'shua died on Wednesday and was buried before nightfall because that day, according to the lunar cycle, started on Wednesday evening, the 15th of Nisan, 31AD.
The women, and disciples rested the High Sabbath (Passover day) which was Wednesday evening to Thursday evening.
The women would have purchased and prepared the spices on Friday, preparation day for the weekly Sabbath.
The women and disciples would have rested from Friday evening to Saturday evening, the weekly Sabbath.
Y'shua rose from the dead on Saturday evening (early on the first day).
The women came to the tomb on Sunday morning and He was already gone.

Let's count those days
Y'shua died on Wednesday and had to be buried before the High Sabbath.
Wednesday evening and Thursday
Thursday evening and Friday
Friday evening and Saturday
Y'shua rose from the dead after sundown, "early the first day"

Three days and three nights and we see how we miss so much truth by following church traditions rather than Biblical narratives.

If you're wondering if I ever talked to my Rabbi about this finding, I did. I asked him when Messiah Y'shua died and my Rabbi said, "Wednesday of course" in a tone that signaled I should have known this because everyone knows this.

A conclusion we need to take from this is that the Bible is never contradictory; only our beliefs. If we think the Bible is contradicting something within the text we need to check our beliefs as they are the ones in error.

So, the question arrises, why would John make sure to note this? Remember, they did not have the resources to waste their words but he felt this was important.

John was the only one to record this time of the death of Messiah Y'shua and it's because he wrote his Gospel so that "you may believe that Y'shua was the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31)

John wanted everyone to know who Messiah Y'shua is and that He is the sacrificial Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb by which you may be saved from your sins and have life eternally. John wanted to be specific on what day Y'shua died, Passover, because if He did not die on Passover then He is not our Passover Lamb that saves us from our sins; thus all this is in vain.

You may be interested in Easter in the Bible as a continuation of this subject.