I have heard the theory that the three days and three nights that Jesus said he would be in the grave are only parts of days and not the full 72 hours . The Passover, the first day of unleavened bread, the Friday preparation day and the weekly Sabbath are all celebrated from sunset to sunset. Time for the Passover full 24 hour day was from sunset Tuesday til sunset Wednesday. The Jewish people had to keep a full 24 hours else they would have broken the law and the same is true of the other days. From Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset was the first day of unleavened bread, the high day mentioned in John 19:31, Nisan 15, the day before or Nisan 14 was the preparation day for this high day. Jesus was on the cross on Nisan 14 but because the next day, that would begin at sunset, was the high day, the bodies had to be taken down. Now from sunset Thursday to sunset Friday was Nisan 16 the day of preparation for the weekly Sabbath. From Friday sunset to Saturday sunset was Nisan 17 the weekly Sabbath. There is no way the Jewish people would think of these days as parts of days; they had to be full 24 hour days because that is what God commanded. Jesus died a few hours before sunset on Wednesday Nisan 14. Joseph of Arimathea had to hurry to bury Jesus because at sunset the high day Sabbath began Nisan 15. The high would last from Sunset on Nisan 14 to sunset on Nisan 15, a full 24 hours. From sunset Nisan 15 to sunset Nisan 16 was the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath and when the women went and bought and prepared spices to anoint the body of Jesus. Then the women rested according to the 4th commandment from sunset Nisan 16 to sunset Nisan 17. Then very early after sunset, not sunrise , on Nisan 17 the women went to the tomb and Jesus had already risen . It is totally impossible to think in terms of parts of days during this last week of the life of Jesus as all Jews were bound by the law of Moses to keep all these days a full 24 hours. If you deny this then you deny the only sign Jesus gave that he was the messiah and son of God.
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