When Did Jesus Die?

When Did Jesus Die?

Resolving Three Days and Three Nights

By Dr. James Hugg

(Note: Dr. James Hugg is one of the longest-serving members of Lamb & Lion Ministries’ Board of Trustees. He is an avid student of Scripture and follower of Yeshua. He earned his PhD in nuclear physics from Stanford University and has worked in the medical research field. He and his wife, Susan, have two grown children and live in Tyler, Texas.)

The Passion Week Traditions

The sacrificial death and bodily resurrection of Jesus comprise THE pivotal event in the history of the world. Many prophecies were fulfilled in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. But one important prophecy has been ignored for far too long: namely, the prophecy that Jesus would remain in the grave for “three days and three nights.”

I believe every prophecy about the first coming of Jesus has been fulfilled precisely. Therefore, we can be 100% confident that every prophecy about His second coming will be fulfilled precisely and completely. Jesus prophesied on multiple occasions that he would remain in the grave for three days and three nights, yet the traditional Passion Week (Holy Week) timeline claims that He spent only one day and two nights in the grave.

This article challenges the traditional Passion Week timeline. How did we get this traditional chronology, which is not explicit in the Bible? Around the years 381-384 AD, a wealthy and influential Gallic (Spanish-Roman) nun named Egeria (or Etheria) went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She traced the supposed journey of Jesus to the cross, pausing at key places (“stations”) for Bible readings, prayers, and hymns. She kept a detailed diary which has been a primary source for the modern Passion Week (aka, Holy Week) liturgies.

The modern liturgical Passion Week, based upon Egeria’s diary, is shown in this timeline.

The weekdays are shown, left to right in the top row with the day-night cycle in the second row. Note that each new day in modern practice starts at midnight. Day and night are approximately 12 hours each since Passover occurs near the vernal equinox when day and night are about equal. The third row shows in green the traditional events of the Passion Week liturgy, which Egeria established about 350 years after the events occurred. As you can see, according to this tradition, Jesus was in the tomb only one day (plus a few hours) and two nights.

The Burial Prophecy of Jesus

I count at least six recorded occasions when Jesus predicted that he would stay in the tomb for three days and three nights, and another three events when eyewitnesses repeated his prophecy. Some of these occasions are reported by more than one of the Synoptic gospel writers, so a total of 16 scripture references refer to Jesus’s claim that he would remain in the grave three days and three nights, just as the Hebrew prophet Jonah had remained in the belly of a huge fish for three days and three nights.

Following is a list of the nine recordings of the burial prophecy of Messiah, using the ESV. Where multiple writers recorded the same event, I have harmonized their texts.

1. Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken (John 2:19-22).
2. But he [Jesus] answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish and became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Jonah 2:1; Matthew 12:39-40; Luke 11:29-30).
3. “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah!” (Matthew 16:4, Mark 8:12) The sign of Jonah: “Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights” (Jonah 2:1).
4. And he [Jesus] began to teach them [his disciples] that, the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed, and after three days, rise again” (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22).
5. As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “Listen very carefully to what I’m going to say. The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men who will put him to death. But after he has been killed, three days later, he will be raised” (Matthew 17:22; Mark 9:31; Luke 9:44).
6. “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, where everything written through the prophets about the Son of Man will come true. He will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will sentence him to death and turn him over to the gentiles, who will jeer at him, ridicule and insult him, spit on him, flog him, and crucify him as a criminal. And after three days, he will be raised” (Matthew 20:18-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-33).
7. At last, however, two people came forward and said, “We heard this man say, ‘I am able to destroy God’s Temple with these hands, and in three days I will build another one, not made with hands.’ “ (Matthew 26:60-61; Mark 14:57-58).
8. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!” (Matthew 27:39-40; Mark 15:29).
9. The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that imposter said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure till the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first” (Matthew 27:62-64).

Traditional Passion-Week Timeline

The main problem I have with the traditional timeline for the burial of Messiah is that there was not enough time between Friday night and Sunday morning for the “three days and three nights” prophecy to be fulfilled. How do modern religious authorities justify this discrepancy between their tradition and the often-repeated explicit prophecy of Jesus that he would be buried for three days and three nights? The traditional explanation is: “Any part of a day is counted as a full day.” Thus, they count the partial day of Friday (about 5 pm until midnight) as a “day and a night.” All day Saturday is a second “day and night.” And they count the partial day of Sunday (midnight until just before 6 am) as a third “day and a night.”

Frankly, I can’t swallow that explanation. First, it violates the plain sense meaning of “three days and three nights.” Second, I know of no example in Jewish (Biblical) thought where part of a day is counted as a full day. And third, it is based on a lack of understanding and a mistranslation of the word “Sabbath,” as I will explain below.

Two Sabbaths

I have found that the New Testament makes more sense when read with a Jewish (Old Testament Jewish Scriptures) context in mind. Otherwise, we can easily miss subtle and often essential meanings in the characters’ language and actions. The question of when Jesus died is an excellent example of the necessity to consider the Jewish context.

The first clue to resolving the problem of the traditional crucifixion timeline is a little-known subtlety in Bible translation. Matthew 28:1 is traditionally translated, “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” Curiously, the Greek word translated as the singular Sabbath is plural here.¹ The verse should be translated as “Now after the Sabbaths…,” but most translators have adhered to tradition. A few translators have faithfully rendered the plural “Sabbaths” in this verse: Young’s Literal Translation, Green’s Literal Translation, Alfred Marshall’s Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, and Ferrar Fenton’s Translation.

There must have been two Sabbaths during the Passion Week in which Jesus was executed. This is where the Jewish context is essential. There are two different kinds of Sabbath described in Leviticus 23:

• The weekly seventh-day Sabbath begins on Friday at sunset and ends on Saturday at sunset.
• There are seven additional High Sabbaths associated with the annual festivals: the first and last days of Passover, Pentecost, Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the first and last days of Tabernacles. These high Sabbaths usually do not coincide with the weekly Sabbath.

The second clue is that the High Sabbath marking the first day of Pesach was identified in this verse: “Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away”span> (John 19:31). The reason that the Jews wanted to hasten the death of the three convicted felons was that an executed body had to be removed from the cross and buried before sundown to avoid ritually polluting the land (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

The third clue reveals that the High Sabbath of Passover was separated by one day from the weekly Sabbath. “When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him” (Mark 16:1). I believe the Sabbath mentioned here was the High Sabbath beginning Passover. The women could buy and prepare spices on this intermediate day of Passover. “Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56).

I believe the weekly Sabbath is mentioned here. So, after the first Sabbath (the High Sabbath, which was the first day of Passover) ended (Thursday sundown), three women followers bought and prepared burial spices on the intermediate day of Passover (during daylight on Friday). The women rested again during the weekly Sabbath that began Friday at sundown and ended Saturday at sunset. Early on the first day of the week (Sunday), while it was still dark, the women took the burial spices to the tomb of Jesus, which was now empty.

Proposed Timeline

As before, the top row shows our modern weekdays that start at midnight; however, the High Sabbath (between Wednesday and Friday) and the weekly Sabbath would have started at sundown and concluded at the next sundown.

The third row shows in green the events of the proposed timeline. After sharing a last supper (Passover seder) with his disciples on Tuesday night, Jesus was arrested after Midnight (Wednesday morning). He was tried during the night and early morning. Then on Wednesday he was crucified, died, and was buried during the daylight hours of Wednesday (Preparation Day). He remained in the borrowed tomb for three days and three nights. He was resurrected sometime during the night (when the Roman soldiers could be accused of sleeping on the job of guarding the tomb). Just after sunrise on Sunday, there was a violent earthquake, and the stone sealing the tomb was rolled away. The women who brought traditional burial spices to anoint his corpse discovered the empty tomb.

This proposed timeline agrees with the multiple prophecies that Jesus would fulfill the sign of Jonah by being resurrected after three days and three nights in the grave.

In which year could this proposed Passion-week timeline have taken place? We cannot be 100% certain because of difficulties extrapolating the Hebrew lunar/solar calendar back two millennia. Some calendar programs account for a slight lengthening of the lunar month as the moon has lost a bit of orbital energy due to the drag of the ocean tides. This correction can lead to a discrepancy of a day in 2000 years in the date of the new moon observation that establishes the timing of Passover.

Some calendar programs calculate that 31 AD had 14 Nisan on the 4th day (Wednesday) of the week, while others, such as the one I used, calculate that 30 AD matched the pattern.² There could also be a day discrepancy from our astronomical calculations because the new moon had to be observed by two reliable witnesses and reported to the Sanhedrin (Council of Elders). A cloudy sky could have delayed the new moon observation by a day.

The Significance

Does it matter when Jesus died? In one sense, it pales in significance to the amazing fact that Jesus took on the body of a Jewish man, lived a sinless life, became an itinerant rabbi, offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and defeated death to live forever as our Lord and Savior, graciously offering everyone forgiveness of sins and adoption as joint heirs in his eternal kingdom.

It also matters little WHEN we celebrate His Resurrection Day. However, I strongly recommend great care in choosing HOW we celebrate his resurrection, remaining mindful of the negative influence pagan traditions (rabbits, eggs, parades) can have on our children and nonbelievers.

But in another sense, it matters a great deal when Jesus died. I repeat important messages for my children as often as necessary. I think God does that for his children, too. The fact that the “three days and three nights” burial prophecy was repeated so many times indicates that it is essential.

I expect God to keep his promises 100%. “God is not a man, that he should lie … Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19). This is the same standard of perfection that God set for his authentic prophets: “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak…shall die” (Deuteronomy 18:20).

The bottom line for me is this: if even one of the prophecies of Messiah’s first coming had not been fulfilled, I could not have faith that all the second coming prophecies will be fulfilled. If God had lied to us about anything (creation, history, prophecies, spiritual principles, etc.), how could we completely trust him with our eternal souls?

So, it is crucial to me that I understand how Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights before being resurrected. I do not want to deserve Jesus’s condemnation of religious hypocrites when he accused, “thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down” (Mark 7:13).

References

1. E.W. Bullinger, DD, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament, p. 655, 1978, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI.

2. https://kaluach3.software.informer.com/3.2/#google_vignette.