Easter thoughts: Galatta special
Easter is all about the glory of Jesus Christ, who conquered death by resurrecting from his grave on the third day after crucifixion. Be it a movie buff, religious guy or an atheist, Easter evokes a basic logical question in every thinking mind: If Jesus died on Friday afternoon and rose again on Sunday morning, how does it fulfill Prophet Jonah's prophecy that the Christ would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth? Friday afternoon to Sunday morning is two nights and about one and a half days, right?
Wait a minute before you get carried away by the question, because we have an answer! The "three days and three nights" period, being used in the Bible, cannot be taken literally, since it is strictly in accordance with the Jewish mode of reckoning. The expression "one day and one night" is an idiom used often by the Jews for a day.
According to the Jewish reckoning of time, which is found in the Jewish Talmud and the Babylonian Jerusalem Talmud (the commentaries of the Jews), a part of a day (be it evening, morning, night or day) was considered to be a complete natural day. In other words, it was a maxim among the Jews in computing time that a part of a day was to be received or computed as the whole.
Any minute before six o'clock (6 PM) on Friday evening was considered one day. From Friday night at six o'clock (6 PM) to Saturday at six o'clock (6 AM) was another day. From Saturday night to Sunday was a third day.
Bible clearly says that Jesus was crucified on Friday, buried on Friday afternoon or evening before the Sabbath (Saturday), and then rose from the dead the first day of the week (Sunday). Thus, Jesus was in the grave part of Friday (commencing from Friday afternoon, which is considered a full day), through all of Saturday (the second day), and from Saturday at sunset to part of Sunday (the third day).
The Old Testament and the New Testament have several references for how Jewish counted their days and it's practically impossible to cite all those references here. So, we recommend a detailed reading on this topic, if interested. Have nice time on this glorious Easter day and wishing you a HAPPY EASTER.
