The "Three Days" and "Three Nights" of
Matthew 12:40. This Is Appendix
144 From The Companion Bible.
The fact that "three days" is used
by 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 of years. Three or any number of years was used inclusively of
any part of those years, as may be seen in the reckoning of the reigns of
any of the kings of Israel and 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 Corinthians
11:25 denotes a complete
day (Greek nuchthemeron).
When Esther says (Esther 4: 16) "fast ye
for me, and neither eat nor drink three days", she defines her
meaning as being three complete days, becuase she adds (being a Jewess)
"night or day". And when it is written that the fast ended
on "the third day" (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 Samuel
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 (verses 11, 13) he naturally
reckoned his day as beginning at sunrise according to the Egyptian manner
(see Encycl. Brit., 11th (Cambridge) ed., vol xi, page 77).
His "three days agone" refers to the beginning of his
sickness, and includes the whole period, giving the reason for his having
gone without food during the whole period stated.
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 is says, and that this can be the only meaning of the expression in
Matthew 12:40; 16:4. Luke
11:30, is shown in Appendix 156.
In the expression, "the heart of the
earth" (Matthew 12: 40), the meaning is
the same as "the heart of the sea", "heart"
being put by the Figure of Speech, Metonymy (of the
Subject), Appendix
6, for "the midst", and is frequently so translated. See
Psalm 46:2. Jeremiah
51:1. Ezekiel
27:4, 25, 26,
27;
28:2. It is used of
ships when sailing "in the heart of the seas", that is to
say, in, or on the sea. See Ezekiel 27:25, 26; 28:8; also of people
dwelling in the heart of the seas, that is to say, on islands (Ezekiel
28:2). Jonah uses the
Hebrew beten (= womb) in the same way (2:2).
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