Neto wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:52 pm
In your reckoning, when did "Saturday" end? Are you using Western, or Jewish definitions for "day"? If one uses the Jewish reckoning, then anytime after sun-down on the Sabbath was the first day of the week. The other part of the puzzle is how do you define a day to start with? From what I've heard, the Jewish reckoning counts a part of a day as a day. The most exact they got was if a certain "watch of the night" was referred to, which is a period of hours, and it wasn't even a consistent period of time according to our 60 seconds & 60 minutes. The amount of daylight vs night in that area of the world varies by only about a half an hour, with roughly half light and half dark. In the part of the year when there was more dark than night, the 'night watches' were longer than those of the day time, and also longer than the watches of the night during the other part of the year.
Even if Christ died and was put in the tomb only shortly before sun down on Friday, he was there part of that day, all of the Sabbath (Jewish reckoning), and part of "the first day of the week" - Sunday.
Neto,
I understand that the Hebrew day ended at sundown.
John 19:(31) The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Passover is not a sabbath, but the 1st day of Unleavened Bread is this "high day" or yearly sabbath:
Leviticus 23:(5) In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.
(6) And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
(7) In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
John 19:(42) There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
So they buried Christ before sundown, what I would understand to be Wednesday just before 6:00 pm.
For 3 days and 3 nights, Christ would have to arise on Saturday, just before sundown.
Thursday would have been a yearly sabbath, and the followers of Christ rested on this day.
Luke 23:(52) This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
(53) And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
(54) And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
(55) And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.
(56) And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
Between the yearly Sabbath on Thursday and the weekly Sabbath on Saturday, the women had Friday to prepare the spices and ointments for burial. But the tomb was guarded by the soldiers, until the earthquake and angel in Matthew 28:
Matthew 28:(1) In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
(2) And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
(3) His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
(4) And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
(5) And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
(6) He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
I understand that as the 7th day, or Saturday sabbath ended, it did so at twilight, or 6:00 pm on Saturday. I understand that the word "dawn" in Matt 28:1 means "twilight".
The stone was rolled back not to let Christ out, but to let other people in to see the empty tomb. Christ had already left, even at this time.
The same account in Mark is different:
Mark 16:(1) And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
(2) And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
(3) And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
(4) And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
(5) And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
(6) And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
In this account, the angel has already rolled back the stone, and the two Marys seem to not be witnesses of the stone being taken away as in Matthew.
Perhaps Matthew 28:2-4 is inserted in the timeline of the Mary's visit to explain what happened previously.
This statement in Mark that Ned Flanders noted is interesting and throws a "kink" in Christ being risen on Saturday at sunset:
Mark 16:(9) Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
"Risen" or "anistemi" means "standing up". Does it mean that Christ "was risen" on the 1st day of the week, or that He was already "standing" on the 1st day of the week?
A Greek scholar can answer this, and he will also need to answer the logic of "3 days and 3 nights" as well.
One answer for both problems is that Christ arose on Saturday evening, just at sunset, just as it began to twilight to the "first day of the week", or the "first of Sabbaths".
Neto wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:52 pm
I personally think that the question of which day should be observed is a separate question, and I'm not convinced that we should not be continuing to worship on the Sabbath, as the Congregation of God was instructed from the beginning. However, that's perhaps too focused on the technical details, and we already do too much of that. As Josh has said in the past, How does anyone really know what day it is? How do you know that today is Friday, and that this evening, as dusk comes, that it will be the Sabbath? (I hope I'm not attributing these questions to the wrong person, so this is just to the best of my memory.)
I am with you on this one. Loving our brothers is more important than haggling over a day. Let God open our eyes to what He wants us to do.
Almost every civilization uses a 7 day week. I asked a friend of mine from Nepal (Hindu/Buddhist), and they use a 7 day calendar, with the 7th day (what we call Saturday) being the day of various celebrations:
https://nepalicalendar.rat32.com/
The Spanish Calendar is also interesting, as the days of the week are:
el lunes – Monday
el martes – Tuesday
el miércoles – Wednesday
el jueves – Thursday
el viernes – Friday
el sábado – Saturday
el domingo – Sunday
During the French Revolution, they tried a 10 day week, and it did not work. The 7 day week has been constant since the creation. If the 7 day week had changed, then there would be different sects of Jews celebrating the Sabbath on different days.