What day of the week was the crucifiction?

The day of

Well I know I have been wrong many times but , I believe it was on a Friday.
Think about it this way, my Lord was crucified on Friday [that is the first day], Saturday he was in the tomb [that is the second day], and on Sunday which is the third day He my Lord arose from the dead. I don't know how people figure that but the explanation I have given is simple.
Sorry if you don't agree:saint:

 

Mary Diana Lynn Harper,


re: "Sorry if you don't agree."

Luke 24:21 doesn’t seem to agree, either.

 

Mark uses two words (at 15:42) to describe the day of Jesus' death: paraskeue and prosabbaton - literally, "preparation" and "the day before the sabbath," respectively.

My understanding, based on the limited research I have done on this subject, is that these are two normal words for "Friday" used by Greek-speaking Jews.

 

Can we believe the Jews, the people of Israel that did not believe Jesus Christ. They do err on what they believed as a nation, and the "elect Jew" today certainly do not believe those that reject Jesus Christ.

 

Hi EdS. Friday is out as is Thursday. Wednesday is the only day to make everything fit.
I answered your question to me (and others) on page 3, laying out the 72 hours required.

Friday is ridicules and Thursday was impossible. The combining or "fusing" of Wed/Thur, and Sat/Sun is the only possible answer to His death and burial on the same day, and His arising on Sunday evening their time.

The case was submitted, but I see no argument to disprove. So Wednesday it is.

If you will submit your case showing your Thursday - Sunday argument, His Word will disprove.

 

I was at the library doing some other research last night, so I took the time to also look into this subject via the standard koine Greek lexicon, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian literature by Bauer, Danker, Arndt and Gingrich.

On paraskeue:

in our lit. only of a definite day, as the day of preparation for a festival; acc. to Israel's usage . . . it was Friday, on which day everything had to be prepared for the Sabbath, when no work was permited Mt. 27:62. . . . For Christians as well [paraskeue] served to designate the sixth day of the week . . . and so in Mod. Gk. For Christians it is a fast day, as the day of Jesus' death [Didache 8:1]. (emphases in original)
​

As BDAG points out, if you type the word "Friday" into Babelfish and translate it from English to Greek, what do you get? Paraskeue.

As a quick discursus, here's the passage from the Didache that BDAG references:

And let not your fastings be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and the fifth day of the week; but do ye keep your fast on the fourth and on the preparation [i.e. paraskeuen] (the sixth) day. (8:1-2)​

Should be self-explanatory: the writers of the Didache, an early Christian handbook describing the practices that obtained in the late 1st century, instructs Christians not to imitate the "hypocrites" (i.e. the Jewish unbelievers) by fasting on Tuesday and Thursday; rather, to be separate from them in part by fasting on two different days: Wednesday and Friday. The use of paraskeue to denote a day of the week, rather than a special day of preparation for a special feast day, is undebatable.

Again back to BDAG, on prosabbaton:

the day before the Sabbath, i.e. Friday, used to explain the word [paraskeue] Mk 15:42. (emphases in original)
​

In conclusion: the linguistic evidence is that Mark was using the normal words for Friday when talking about the day Jesus was crucified.

 

The only thing wrong with this is that the word "dawn" in greek means to begin to grow light, or the breaking in of daylight (strong's ; vines). Also it says Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb while it was "still dark" which wouldn't make sense if it was just beginning to turn dark Saturday evening. They arrived at the tomb while it was about to turn daylight on the first day of the week, not at the actual beginning of the 24 hour day. Does this make sense?

 

Does in my book! :thumbsup: 'Course, I am not one who argues for a Wednesday crucifixion, (which BTW, requires Jesus to break the Sabbath commandment of not traveling beyond a "Sabbath Day's journey", as He came to Jerusalem, but why be bothered by such trivial details?) :BangHead: or can't find Luke 24:21 in my Bible, where the Emmaus road disciples obviously had less than stellar math skills, by thinking the late afternoon of the first day of the week [(or around 96 hours or approximately four of those claimed 24 hour days ) for those including me, who are also somewhat math challenged- Get it everyone? I did! Four from eight leaves four!] was somehow three days since the late afternoon of the fourth day of the previous week, either! :tongue3:

Ed

 

EdSutton,

re: "or can't find Luke 24:21 in my Bible, where the Emmaus road disciples obviously had less than stellar math skills, by thinking the late afternoon of the first day of the week [(or around 96 hours or approximately four of those claimed 24 hour days ) for those including me, who are also somewhat math challenged- Get it everyone? I did! Four from eight leaves four!] was somehow three days since the late afternoon of the fourth day of the previous week, either! "

??????????? I wonder if you might reword that a bit differently. I’m not sure I’m getting your point.

 

Smoky,

re: "The only thing wrong with this is that the word "dawn" in greek means to begin to grow light, or the breaking in of daylight (strong's ; vines). "

Strong also has it as "draw on" as a peculiar Greek idiom.

 

Baptist in Richmond,

re: "Doesn't the Sabbath begin at sundown on Friday?"

As EdSutton replied, the seventh day Sabbath does indeed begin at sundown on Friday. Is there a particular point to your question?

 

LeBuick,

re: "Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening."

Does the evening of a 24 hour day come before the morning?

 

But we have Word of the Bible to guide us. The Word will not support the writing you put forth. I believe you speak to the 7th day Sabbath. There are other Sabbaths. Matthew 27:62, "Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate". This is the Word and who will dispute?

However we are to understand this Jewish "preparation day" is the annual "Passover"; always observed on the 14th day of their (Jew) month of Nisan, Leviticus 23:5. The day following after, Nisan 15 was always a High Holy Day. This has nothing to do with their weekly seventh day Sabbath.

As Matthew is His Word, is not Leviticus 23:5-7 also? "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."

I choose the Word over Didache.

 

Hello Smoky. Can we go a little further here? In breaking down Matthew 28:1 above, I believe we can see its meaning, as scripture must prove itself. We see "in the end of the Sabbath, Saturday at its close. As it closes immediately the "first day of the week" is beginning. It is the "dawn of a new day", and this New Day is Light. This New Man is Light - "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life", John 8:12.

I believe the Bible can defend itself. When studying the events of the women visits to the burial site we notice two visits are recorded. Matthew presents the women showing their visit at "sunset", the close of the Sabbath. Check Mark, Luke, and John, and we can see this is presenting the "sunrise", of the morning sunlight. I believe this fits perfectly with Genesis 1:3-5, "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." Matthew shows the evening, and Mark, Luke and John presents the morning, and their presentation explains this "first new day".

 

Yes but what do you make of this scripture?------John 20:1 (NASB-U)
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.

If the first day of the week was approaching at sunset when it was beginning under the Jewish calender, what sense would it make to say that it was "still dark". Darkness hadn't even come yet.

 

It was on the first day of the week. The first day began the previous evening by the way we reckon days. So, it was about 12 hours into the first day, still dark, before the sun was risen. That's the only sunrise on the first day.

 

Did Jesus break the Sabbath when He healed on that day? Did He justify His Apostle for picking corn on the Sabbath? Is our Lord to be restrained? That aside, distances are not measured from City limits to City limits, but from City Hall, or the Center of the City. Got any idea of where Jesus left from in Bethany? Jerusalem itself is less than 300 Acres.

Don't you say a Thursday. Then what date do you apply the Sabbath day by following the movement of Jesus beginning in the only itinerary given, that is beginning at John 12:1?

As to the conversation on Emmaus road, all we need to do is count backward from Sunday/Saturday, Friday, Thursday/Wednesday. Again it adds up to 72 hours. Did He not arise just as pointed out in 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." At the "end of the Sabbath" means Saturday is just ending, and the new day of Sunday is beginning. Their day began and ended at "sunset", just as it does today.

 

It is important to recognise that there are two Sabbaths in the Passover week, the regular Sabbath on Saturday, and the High Sabbath on Friday. High Sabbaths occur in line with the Jewish feasts.

 

Not necessarily, depending on the year, is this (Passover) at or near the end of the week. Hence, the High Sabbath, i.e., the first day of "Unleavened Bread" or 15 Nisan (Abib), could fall on another day of the week rather than Friday. It however, did fall on Friday, on the week that the Lord was crucified, IMO.

I have not done the math necessary, (and have no intention of doing that, for me, waste of time) but would off the top of my head see no reason that it could not fall on any of the seven days of the week, given that I believe the Jewish calender was a 360 day calender, hence not divisible by seven, equally. The only calenders that would cause the dates to become immovable as to day of the week would be a calender of 350, 357, or 364 days, none of which I've ever heard of, secular, religious, nationalistic, or any other wise. Doesn't mean such do not exist, just that I've never heard of such. Hence this "High Sabbath" that we'll say, for the sake of argument, would fall on a Friday in the year 2007 in the modified Gregorian Calender, (and I have no clue when it actually occurs), would fall on a Tuesday in 2008, and would fall on a Saturday in 2009.

The addition of the month of 2nd Abib, which occurred periodically to keep the calender somewhat correct, as to the solar calender might interfere, but sooner or later, it would seem that this "High Sabbath" would fall on the same day as the regular Sabbath, hence sometimes the two Sabbaths are actually one, with the "High Sabbath" merely overlaying the regular Sabbath. At least that is how it appears to me.

But I do understand and fully agree with the premise, here, as far as it goes.

Ed

 

EdSutton,

re: "...the first day of ‘Unleavened Bread’ or 15 Nisan..."

Matthew 26:17 and Mark 14:12 seem to indicate that the first day of Unleavened Bread is on the 14th.