All of the credit for the primary research has to be given to John Schmitt in Omaha, Nebraska for his in depth study of this subject and sharing it with me.  He has cleared up the misunderstanding of the third day in Luke 24:21 where Cleopas and Simon were on the road to Emmaus and Yahshua came and walked with them.  Cleopas then said “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel; and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.”

Mr. Schmitt meticulously created a slide chart called “Passion Week Revisited”.  John has a web site: www.outofbabylon.com where you can get additional teaching. This writing is a partial explanation of that chart, which I have scanned in at the end of this article.  We will leave it to be understood that there are a literal 3 days and 3 nights; that is not the issue.  The issue is: on what day was Yahshua crucified and why did he not just say that he would be “in the grave” or “tomb” in Matthew 12:40?  In John 11 "grave” (#3419) was used in the story of Lazarus.

G3419 μνημεῖον mne¯meion, mnay-mi'-on; From G3420; a remembrance, that is, cenotaph (place of interment): - grave, sepulchre, tomb.

G3420 μνήμη mne¯me¯, mnay'-may; From G3403; memory: - remembrance.

G3403 μιμνήσκω mimne¯sko¯;  mim-nace'-ko; A prolonged form of G3415 (from which some of the tenses are borrowed); to remind, that is, (middle voice) to recall to mind: - be mindful, remember.

As we can see from the following verses, the Greek words for “grave” or “tomb” were used in referring to Yahshua’s burial.  Acts 13:29 calls his burial place a sepulcher.

Mat 27:60-61  “And laid it in his own new tomb,³⁴¹⁹ which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher,³⁴¹⁹ and departed.  And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulcher.”

If Yahshua was in the GRAVE three days, what was he doing walking with these men on the 3^rd day?  He should still be in the grave shouldn’t he?  Well, we will learn from this study that Yahshua was not talking about being in the grave during the 3 days and 3 nights, but rather he was referring to his being in Jerusalem from the time that the guards took him bound to Jerusalem until he was presented to the Father as the Wave Sheaf the day after his resurrection.  He was the first of the first fruits of the harvest.  This entire study is based on proving with scripture, when Yahshua died and that Jerusalem is “the heart of the earth.”  Evidence is found in Ezekiel 5:5. 

Eze 5:5  “Thus saith Yahweh Elohim: This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst⁸⁴³² of the nations and countries⁷⁷⁶ that are round about her.”  After seeing the Hebrew definitions below we learn that the word “midst” is “middle”, and “countries” is “earth.”

H8432 תּוך  ta^vek, taw'-vek; From an unused root meaning to sever; a bisection, that is, (by implication) the centre: - among (-st), X between, half, X (there-, where-) in (-to), middle, mid [-night], midst (among), X out (of), X through, X with (-in).

H776 ארץ  'erets, eh'-rets; From an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land): -  X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X nations, way, + wilderness, world.

The Heart

H3820  לב  le^b, labe, A form of H3824; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything: -  + care for, comfortably, consent, X considered, courag [-eous], friend [-ly], ([broken-], [hard-], [merry-], [stiff-], [stout-], double) heart ([-ed]), X heed, X I, kindly, midst, mind (-ed), X regard ([-ed)], X themselves, X unawares, understanding, X well, willingly, wisdom.

The word “heart” can in no way refer to a grave when we read:  Rom 10:8-10  “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart²⁵⁸⁸ that is, the word of faith, which we preach;  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart²⁵⁸⁸ that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart²⁵⁸⁸ man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Mat 12:40: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart²⁵⁸⁸ of the earth.¹⁰⁹³”  The word “heart” by analogy means “middle” and “earth” means “countries.”

G2588 καρδία kardia, kar-dee'-ah; Prolonged from a primary κάρ kar (Latin cor,  “heart”); the heart, that is, (figuratively) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the middle: - (+ broken-) heart (-ed).

G1093 γῆ ge¯, ghay; Contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (including the occupants in each application): - country, earth (-ly), ground, land, world.

The Hebrew and Greek verses are interchangeable, or to put it another way, we are using scripture to explain scripture.  The following verses all begin with Yahshua going to JERUSALEM.  He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, but he did not stay there.  Six days before Passover he went to lodge with the father of Judas Iscariot.  He would go to Jerusalem each day, but at evening he would return to Simon’s house in Bethany,  just to the East of Jerusalem just under 2 miles away. 

Mar 11:11 “And Yahshua entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.”  Other related scriptures for his visit in Bethany are Matthew 21:17; Mark 14:3; John 11:18 and 12:1.  Please read.

Mat 16:21  “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”

Mat 20:18-19  “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem: and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.”

Mar 9:31  “For he taught his disciples, and said:  The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after, that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.”

Mar 10:32-34  “And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.”

Luke 9:22  “Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.”

Luke 13:32-33  “And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.  Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.”

Luke 18:31-33  “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.  For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.”

Luke 24:7  “Saying, the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

Luke 24:18-21  “And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?  And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.  But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.”

The verses that you just read tell us all of the things that Yahshua had to suffer while in the hands of the people of Jerusalem.  All the things written by the prophets concerning the Son of man were fulfilled and were counted as DAY ONE of the three.

Yahshua came to Jerusalem for the Passover.  After supper Yahshua spoke to them for a while and they left.  John 18:1-3  “When Yahshua had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.  And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Yahshua ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.  Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.”  This place is called Gethsemane in Mathew 26:36 and the Mount of Olives in Luke 22:39.  It is located near Jerusalem.

Judas betrayed him with a kiss to the chief priests officers and he is bound and taken to Jerusalem.  He was tortured and condemned and then delivered to the Gentile nations to be mocked and spit on.  By early morning he was nailed to the stake to die, and was buried in a grave before sunset.

The slide charts at the end show 3 different alternatives possible for the Passover day.  I will refer to each of them as “Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.”  It would be a good idea to scroll down and print these pictures for reference.  There is also a copy of the back of the slide panel or insert showing the key scriptures.

According to tradition, Yahshua rode into Jerusalem on the donkey to be hailed by the people as King of the Jews on Palm Sunday.  This would be the 10^th of Abib.  They then claim that the crucifixion was on Friday.  Looking at the “Friday” chart you see that Palm Sunday moves to the left of “lamb picking day” thus making it the 9th.  Exodus 12:3-6 gives Yahweh’s instructions on picking the lamb out on the 10^th of Abib and it is to “be kept up until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel were to kill it in the evening.”  Yahshua was set apart as our Passover Lamb to be “sacrificed for us” (I Cor. 5:7).  HE DID NOT DIE ON FRIDAY!   Nor is there such a thing as a ‘silent Wednesday.’  This would also cause Yahshua to MISS being the Wave Sheaf offering early on Sunday morning.  The important key factor of the Wave Sheaf will be discussed later.   Half of tradition is right because he did enter Jerusalem on Sunday to be hailed as KING.

From the time that I began to learn about the Bible, I was taught and believed that Yahshua died on a Wednesday, because everyone was saying that he had to be in the “GRAVE” for the 3 days and 3 nights, but when looking at the “Wednesday” chart we see a major problem.  We know that Yahshua broke none of the Laws and was blameless in all before the Father, even when he arrived in Jerusalem on lamb picking day.  As we read the story in Matthew 21, the scribes and Pharisees found no reason to accuse him or the people of law breaking as they broke off palm branches to lay before him.  He most certainly would have been accused of breaking a Sabbath command found in Deuteronomy 5:14.  “The seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh your Elohim.  In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, … manservant, … maidservant, … ox, nor your ASS, any of your cattle, nor the stranger within your gates; that your servants may rest as well as you.”  He could not have ridden this animal into Jerusalem on the 7^th day Sabbath.  HE DID NOT DIE ON WEDNESDAY!

This next verse is widely misunderstood by Christianity as meaning that it occurred on a Sunday, which is “the first day of the week.”  It is this mistranslated version of a story told by the Apostles that has caused this tradition, but all we have to do is look up these words in the Greek to realize that there are well-established scriptural meanings for the two words in question.  After researching them out we will realize that “first” and “week” are not appropriate words to use in the text for a generation who does not understand the Holy Days and Sabbaths.

Mat 28:1  “In the end of the sabbath,⁴⁵²¹  as it began to dawn toward the first³³⁹¹ day of the week ⁴⁵²¹, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.” 

Did the translators really think that they were correct with their selection of words when they were translating into English?  Did they have any idea that WE would have another understanding?  After all, II Timothy 3:16 says:  “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:..”   Or were they giving their own private interpretation referred to in II Peter 1:19?  You decide.