Malachi151

There was a post previously about the scriptural significance of Jesus being buried for three days, which said that this was based on some old laws or ideas about the spirit of a person being able to return in under two days and ti wasn't considered a true death. I have searched the forums every way I know how and I can't find this.

Does anyone have information on this?

Thanks

John Kesler

See Richard Carrier's article, Jewish Law, the Burial of Jesus, and the Third Day and scroll down to the heading "On the Third Day."

Amaleq13

I think you'll find what you are looking for in this article by Richard Carrier:

Jewish Law, the Burial of Jesus, and the Third Day

Specifically, in the section "On the Third Day" toward the end where you will find:

Bar Kappara taught: Until three days [after death] the soul keeps on returning to the grave, thinking that it will go back [into the body]; but when it sees that the facial features have become disfigured, it departs and abandons it [the body]. (Genesis [C:7 (994)])

Notsri

Richard Carrier's article "Jewish Law, the Burial of Jesus, and the Third Day," may contain what you're looking for:

Finally, several passages in the Midrash Rabbah, which tie into the Mishnah, suggest a third-day motif could have been latent throughout a Jewish understanding of the dead. These laws are especially relevant to the passion narrative of Jesus, possibly inspiring the very idea that he was raised "on the third day." The key passage is as follows, based on Job 14:22:

Bar Kappara taught: Until three days [after death] the soul keeps on returning to the grave, thinking that it will go back [into the body]; but when it sees that the facial features have become disfigured, it departs and abandons it [the body]. (Genesis [C:7 (994)])

This is corroborated by the repeated principle that the identity of a corpse could only legally be established by the corpse's "countenance" within three days, after which it became too disfigured for identification by that means. The law stated that "You cannot testify to [the identity of a corpse] save by the facial features together with the nose, even if there are marks of identification in his body and garments: again, you can testify only within three days [of death]."[22] And in the Midrash, these two ideas were clearly linked:

For three days [after death] the soul hovers over the body, intending to re-enter it, but as soon as it sees its appearance change, it departs, as it is written (Job 14:22), "When his flesh that is on him is distorted, his soul will mourn over him." Bar Kappara said: The full force of mourning lasts for three days. Why? Because [for that length of time] the shape of the face is recognizable, even as we have learnt in the Mishnah: Evidence [to prove a man's death] is admissible only in respect of the full face, with the nose, and only [by one who has seen the corpse] within three days [after death]. (Leviticus [XVIII:1 (225-226)])

The idea that the soul rests three days in the grave before departing is also casually assumed in the Midrash Rabbah on Ruth [III:3 (43-44)] and Ecclesiastes [I:34 (41-42)]. Confirming this belief is a passage in the Semahot, which says:

One may go out to the cemetery for three days to inspect the dead for a sign of life, without fear that this smacks of heathen practice. For it happened that a man was inspected after three days, and he went on to live twenty-five years; still another went on to have five children and died later. (8.1)

Thus, it was considered possible for a soul to reunite with its body within three days, but no more, for sometime on the third day the soul realized the body was rotting, and then departed.[23] Thus, a resurrection on the third day reverses the expectations of the Jews: to physicalists, instead of departing, the soul of Jesus reunites with his body and rises; to spiritualists, instead of departing, the soul of Jesus is exalted by God, raised to his right side, thence to appear in visions to the faithful. Either way, a resurrection before the third day might not be a true resurrection, but a mere revival, or the ghost of a not-yet-departed soul, but a resurrection on the third day is true evidence that death was in either sense defeated. This "third day" tradition in Jewish law may in fact be very ancient, possibly lying behind the prophecy of Hosea, "He will revive us after two days, He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before him" (6.2), and no doubt had something to do with Paul's conviction that Jesus "was raised on the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:4).

(It should probably be mentioned that the relevance and utility of Richard's sources to his investigation above is actually rather dubious. Most of the texts he's cited [e.g. the various Rabboth midrashim: Genesis, Leviticus, Ruth, etc.] were written and/or compiled much much later than the literature of the NT. It is difficult if not impossible to link to century I with certainty any of the traditions he's referenced.)

ETA: I see that Amaleq13 and John Kesler have beat me to the punch.

gstafleu

As a side note, the Hebrew calendar is heavily moon-based. The new moon is sometimes seen as lasting three days, i.e. during three days the moon is invisible, the "real" new moon falling on the middle day. In other words, the moon dies and is reborn after three days.

Gerard Stafleu

aa5874

So, Lazarus was really dead, then, only Jesus could bring him back to life.. John 11:17, 'Then when Jesus came, he found he had lain in the grave four days already.

Malachi151

Thanks guys.

As a side note, I wonder why it is that "Jesus predicts" he will rise after three days, but he "really" is only dead for about 1 and a half days?

What is the significance of this in the story?

Obviously Mark sets the precedent here, and the others follow, butit seems quite strange.

All in all he seems to have "been dead" for only about 30 to 38 hours, from 3:00 pm Friday to some time before dawn on Sunday.

I believe of course that the story is complete fiction, which makes me wonder what the author of Mark was doing here?

Dean Anderson

You have to remember that this happened over the Easter holidays - so he was on double time.

Gorit Maqueda

Mmmm... I have always thought That J was said to be resurrected on the third day. Given that in those days they counted inclusively, the first day was Friday, the second Saturday, and the third Sunday. Never heard of doubling time...

Amaleq13

For as Jonas 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 heart of the earth. (Mt 12:40, emphasis mine)