Question:

Please explain Matthew 12:40. In a small book by Dr. R. A. Torrey, speaking of Matthew 12:40, he says: “The first day of the Passover week was always a Sabbath—no matter what day it came on; that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday (the preparation of the Passover Sabbath, which came that year on a Thursday), and just as the first day of the week drew on, at sunset Saturday, Jesus arose.” I am not satisfied, and would like to be clear as to it.

Answer:

The day of the week on which our Lord was crucified has been made to be Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, by different writers. Luke 24:21 should seem to settle it definitely that the crucifixion could not have been on either Wednesday or Thursday. The two disciples on their way to Emmaus say, “Today is the third day since these things were done.” Had the crucifixion been on Wednesday, that Sunday would have been the fifth day; and if on Thursday, it would have been the fourth day. This compels us, then, to adopt Friday as the day of the week on which our Lord was crucified.But Matthew 12:40, at first sight, seems to be as definite a statement as Luke 24:21: “So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” But it must be remembered that “a day and a night” is a Hebraism. It is a figure of speech called synecdoche, by which a part is taken as a whole. Examples are found in Jewish writings. In the Jerusalem Talmud there is an explanation of this figure of speech. “A day and a night together make up a night-day,” and “any part of such a period is counted as the whole.” Another instance of such a use of this figure of speech will be found in 1 Samuel 30:12: “For he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.” According to the Hebrew way of counting, the “three days agone” (v. 13) would make that day on which David’s men found the Egyptian the third day of his sickness. We cannot, then, use Matthew 12:40 as conflicting with Luke 24:21.