Question
What day of the week was Christ crucified on?
Answer
Although there is some discussion about this, most Bible students agree that He was crucified on a Friday. The discussion stems from the fact that He said in Matt. 12,
40“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.
If you count 3 days and 3 nights literally from Friday, then He could not have been crucified on Friday. However, the phrase “3 days and 3 nights” is a phrase that the Jews used in a way that was not literal. For example, Queen Esther told Mordecai
16“Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” 17So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him. Chapter 5 1Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.
She did not wait until after the 3rd day, but rather *on* the 3rd day she went and conducted her business. There are other examples of the phrase “3 days and 3 nights” being used this way in the Bible. It was not a literal saying.
By Michael Molloy
