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Was Jesus Crucified on Thursday or Friday?
There are some discussions that usually come up around Easter time about when Jesus really died. Was it Friday as tradition tells us? Or was it Thursday? Some have even postulated that Jesus died on Wednesday. In general, these theories have stemmed from Jesus' statement that He would be dead for "three days and three nights."
"For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40)
"And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." (Mark 8:31)
"and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.'" (Matthew 27:63)
The question at hand is what did Jesus and others mean when they said "three days and three nights"? Were they talking about 72 hours? In our very western way of thinking this is an easy question to answer, but from a first century Jewish perspective the answer may be different. The purpose of this document is to explore from a biblical perspective and try to uncover the correct day that Jesus died.
Time of Death
According to scripture, Jesus died at about 3pm. So while the day may not be perfectly clear, the time is fairly clear.
"Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah." And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him." And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit." (Matthew 27:45-50)
"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And when some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah." And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down." And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last." (Mark 15:34-37)
So the bible tells us that Jesus died sometime around the 9th hour of the day (9 hours after the sun had risen). The ninth hour would be about our 3pm in the afternoon. At that point there was a rush to get him buried because the Sabbath was pending. The question that needs to be answered was which Sabbath.
This is a question because there were several Sabbaths honored by the Jews. The seventh day Sabbath stated in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-10) is only one type of Sabbath. For example the first and last days of The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15 and Nisan 21) are both Sabbaths (Lev 23:5-8). Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) are also both Sabbaths. These types of Sabbaths are related to the day of the month, NOT the day of the week. In other words, ALL Sabbaths besides the Seventh day Sabbath are unrelated to days of the week. The Seventh day Sabbath, of course, always lands on Saturday.
With this in mind, which Sabbath day were the Jews concerned about? Which one was pending as they were burying Jesus?
"And behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. And it was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed after, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment (this would be a seventh day Sabbath). But on the first day of the week (Sunday), at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared." (Luke 23:50-24:1) parenthesis added.
The phrase "preparation day", is a significant one. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:
"The word occurs with technical significance ("the Preparation") in the gospel narratives of the crucifixion, translating the Greek [paraskeue] (Mt 27:62; Mk 15:42; Lk 23:54; Jn 19:14, 31, 42). It is used as a technical term indicating the day of the preparation for the (seventh day) Sabbath, that is, the evening of Friday. This is its use in Josephus, Ant, XVI, vi, 2, and presumably in the Synoptics. Later its use seems to have been extended to denote regularly the 6th day (Friday) of each week. So in the Didache, viii and the Martyrdom of Polycarp, vii."
To summarize the passage above in Luke, the women went to the grave to view the body of Jesus on the preparation day (Friday evening before 6pm) and then rested according to the 4th Commandment, on the Saturday Sabbath. When the Saturday Sabbath had past, the women returned to the tomb at sunrise, and that day was the first day of the week (Sunday). Clearly then, Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon, the preparation day for the Saturday Sabbath. Additional support can be added from the gospel of John.
"The Jews therefore, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." (John 19:31)
This seems to indicate that there was something different about that Sabbath. Literally, this says it was a great Sabbath, one of unique importance. It wasn't just another Saturday. The logical conclusion is that the Feast of Unleavened Bread fell on the Sabbath this year. It would NOT be logical to call Passover or the Feast alone a "high" Sabbath, because these events can never coincide with one another. They can only coincide with the seventh day Sabbath.
So what's the problem? The most challenging issue for our western minds is that we cannot get three days and three nights (Matt 12:40) from Friday to Sunday. Friday and Saturday nights are two nights, and Saturday is one day. This is only one day and two nights. What about the other two days and one night? It seems that Friday could not possibly be the day Jesus died.
As mentioned before, however, this is only a challenge because of our western thinking, which leads us to conclude that this time frame is 72 hours. In order to demonstrate the use of this idiom in Jewish culture examine the following passages.
"From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." (Matthew 16:21)
"'And they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.' And they were deeply grieved." (Matthew 17:23)
"And will deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up." (Matthew 20:19)
"For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, 'The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise the third day.'" (Mark 9:31)
"And they will mock Him and spit upon Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again." (Mark 10:34)
"The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." (Luke 9:22)
"And after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again." (Luke 18:33)
"You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And they also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day, and granted that He should become visible." (Acts 10:38-40)
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
As you can see, this term "the third day" was used quite frequently. It is important to know what it means and when it was. The day known as the third day is very clear. On the road to Emmaus the discussion tells us that, as foretold, the day Jesus rose, and the first day of the week was the third day (Luke 24:1,21). If Sunday is the third day, then Saturday is the second day, and Friday must be the first day of burial. With that in mind, how do we explain "three days and three nights?"
The simple answer is that this was an idiom of Jewish culture, which was used interchangeably with "the third day." If it meant anything different, then all of the passages above are false! They must mean the same thing or the bible contradicts itself. For example, if we believe that Thursday was the first day of burial (in order to reconcile that Sunday makes three full days), then Sunday is the fourth day. Some other examples of this language are also found in the Old Testament.
"So he put them all together in prison for three days. Now Joseph said to them on the third day, 'Do this and live, for I fear God'" (Genesis 42:17-18)
"Then he said to them, 'Depart for three days, then return to me.' So the people departed... Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed, saying, 'Return to me on the third day.'" (1 Kings 12:5,12)
"And he said to them, 'Return to me again in three days.' So the people departed... So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed, saying, 'Return to me on the third day.' (2 Chronicles 10:5,12)
You can see by these examples that "three days" and "the third day" mean exactly the same thing and are used interchangeably. They do not indicate three 24-hour days, or 72 hours. They simply mean three different days, even in part. In light of this, it seems clear that the gospel writers used the same sort of idiom. This combined with the evidence we have already seen draws us to conclude that Jesus must have died on Friday.
Summary of Events
Jesus was crucified on Friday and died at 3 p.m. He rose from the dead somewhere between Saturday after sunset and sunrise on Sunday morning.
The Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread can be a little confusing to understand, but if we can grasp the meaning they lend even greater evidence to the Friday crucifixion. What we refer to as Passover is observed one day per year on Nisan 14 (Exodus 12:2,6, Numbers 9:3-5). On that day, a lamb was to be slain in the twilight, or latter part of the day. As the Jewish day ended at 6pm (or about sunset), this corresponds perfectly to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
The Jewish historian Josephus confirms that the Passover lambs were slain from the ninth hour to the eleventh hour, that being from 3pm to 5pm ( Wars of the Jews, Book VI, Chapter IX, Section 3). Therefore, the two events, the time for the killing of the Passover lamb and the death of Jesus, coincided precisely on that Friday afternoon the 14th of Nisan, the Lord's Passover, at 3pm. Jesus died in the late hours of Nisan 14, when it was time for the Passover Lamb to be slain.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is often confused with this as it began on Nisan 15 and lasted until Nisan 21 (Leviticus 23:5). The source of confusion, however, is that unleavened bread was to be eaten from Nisan 14 until Nisan 21 (Exodus 12:18).
Some further evidence of the commonly accepted chronology can be seen in the principle of type in the Old Testament. The sequence of days to be observed for Passover was set down in scripture as the "type" or foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus. It was symbolic of what was to come when the crucifixion of the Lamb of God actually took place, which is the "antitype". So the type and antitype must match precisely: