Bible Question: Whenever the three days and three nights of Matthew 12:40 is brought up in a “discussion” with 6th day crucifixion folks, they frequently argue that it is a Jewish idiom for counting any part of a day as a whole day. I wonder if anyone has documentation that shows that the phrase “x” days and “x”nights was ever used in the first century or before when it didn’t include at least parts of the “x” days and at least parts of the “x” nights? |
Bible Answer: There are only two occurences in the Bible that nights doesnt occur with days. Days always occurs before nights. The form is x days and x nights. You never have x days and y nights where x is not equal to y. In Deut 9 of the NASB you have x days and nights instead of x days and x nights. Check the BHS critical apparatus and the Qere to see if there is a justification for the discrepancy. X only has the value of 40, 3, or 7. You can put days and nights in the search to side to find the occurences. See if there is any reason to think this is more than an idiom. |