Jesus was comparing himself to jonah

JESUS WAS COMPARING HIMSELF TO JONAH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Matthew 12:40 40Foras Jonahwas three days and
three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of
Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
JonahA Prophetic Sign Of Christ
Jonah1:17 with ch. Jonah 2:10; 3:3 (cf. Matthew 12:39-41)
G.T. Coster
I. IN BOTH WE SEE A MARKED JUDGMENT OF GOD. The storm, the
detection, the punishment, were all from God. Jonah was the sinner on board.
Christ, "without sin," "became sin for us." He suffered at the hands of wicked
men; yet "the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all," "He was wounded for
our transgression." The vastworld vesselwent plunging on to destruction, the
storm unappeasedwhile the sin was unpunished. On! -
"When lo! upon the reeling deck a wearystrangerstands,
And to the dark devoted crew stretches his suppliant hands;
From the face of God, from the face of God, from the face of God ye flee;
Tis the blast of the breath of his nostrils that shakes this stormy sea.

But take ye me and castme into the troubled deep,
And the wrath that is rousedagainstyou will be pacified, and sleep." Yes, he
is our Peace!"Forthe transgressionof my people was he stricken."
II. JONAH, IN HIS BURIAL, WAS A SIGN OF CHRIST. Very unlike was
the sea monsterbearing awaythe prophet to the rock tomb that received the
body of our Lord; yet in this they were alike, that they had been unused as
tombs before. Preparedwere both for the event that has made both eternally
memorable. "The Lord had prepared" the fish. Joseph, unwittingly acting out
the Divine purpose, had prepared the rock hewn tomb. He may have meant it
for himself. God meant it for his Son. This Isaiahhad foretold: "He made his
grave with the rich." The time of Jonah's and our Lord's burial agreed. So
our Lord's resurrectionon the third day was "according to the Scriptures" -
to his own word and his predictive type. Jonah, castinto the deep, seemed
done with. An end of him! So, to many, with Christ, when the loving Marys
and "those lords of high degree" bore him to the tomb. In his living tomb
Jonahmiraculously lived. And though Christ's body was dead, where was he?
Still living; "doing good;" preaching the glad tidings in the unseen world (1
Peter3:19).
III. JONAH'S RESURRECTIONWAS A SIGN OF CHRIST'S. God "spake
unto the fish," and it castthe living prophet to the shore. So "Godraised from
the dead" the Lord Jesus. Thus he reversedthe marked judgment that, in
suffering and death, had come upon his Son. He was now "highly exalted" as
Prince and Saviour. Moralresurrections attestChrist's. "Witnessesto
Christ's resurrection" are all saved men and women. They are "risenwith
Christ;" and by his Spirit rise.
IV. JONAH'S MISSION TO THE GENTILES WAS A TYPE OF CHRIST'S.
Jonahwas sent to the Ninevites. Christ arose to be a Saviour "to the uttermost
parts of the earth." To all nations. For every creature. His mission - by many
voices and ministers - is going on. Its continuance declares his. Its moral
victories - over ignorance, superstition, sin - attesthis royal and almighty
power. "All powerhath been given unto me." Jonah himself, raised from such
a grave, was the sign to the Ninevites. Christ is the Sign of Christianity. Often,

alas!spokenagainstand rejected. Happy those - only those - who acceptand
glory in him! - G.T.C.
Biblical Illustrator
Master, we would see a sign from Thee.
Matthew 12:38
Religious sign-seekers
C. Lankester, B. A.
I. THAT THE DEMAND FOR ADDITIONAL ADVANTAGES
GENERALLY COMES FROM THOSE ALREADYPOSSESSEDOF VERY
MANY. It was the scribes and Pharisees that made this request, not the
publicans.
II. GOD NEVER GIVES ADDITIONAL ADVANTAGES WHEN THOSE
POSSESSED ARE NOT USED. Christ refused this demand

(1)because it was merely an excuse for their rejectionof Him;
(2)because it was a reflectionon Him;
(3)because it bore no proof of earnestness;
(4)because God's pastdealings afforded all the proof requisite.
III. FAILURE TO USE ALL THE ADVANTAGES WE POSSESS CAN
ONLY ISSUE IN CONDEMNATION. The Ninevites would condemn the
Jews. The ministry of Jonahwas brief, wrathful, that of a sinful man. Christ's
ministry was longer, and that of the Holy Son of God. The Queenof Sheba
would condemn them.
1. She came to see and hear out of curiosity.
2. She came from afar.
3. She came uninvited.
4. She came on a mere report.
(C. Lankester, B. A.)
The doctrines of religion reasonable to be believed
S. Clarke, D. D.
I. That the doctrine of religionis IN ITSELF REASONABLE to be believed,
and sufficiently evidencedby the standing and universal signs or marks of
truth. The signof the prophet Jonas was sufficient to render that generation
of the Jews inexcusable in their unbelief. Religionis in its nature a trial of
men's hearts, and, therefore, inconsistentwith all compulsive motives. All
religion consists in the love of truth, and in the free choice and practice of
right, and in being influenced by rational and moral motives.
II. Here is a DESCRIPTION GIVEN OF WICKED MEN, in one part of their
characterthat they are apt continually to require more and more signs, and to
tempt God without reasonand without end. Wickedmen do not like to fight

againstGod openly; and therefore take pains to impose upon themselves some
slight objection againstHim.
III. There are just and GoodREASONS WHY GOD SHOULD NOT
GRATIFY THE UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS ofprejudiced and
corrupt minds — "There shallno sign be given," etc. Men must obey in order
to know.
(S. Clarke, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(40) As Jonas was three days and three nights.—To understand the words
rightly, we have to remember the prominence which our Lord gives to the
history of Jonah, and to the repentance of the men of Nineveh, in this and in
the parallelpassage ofLuke 11:29, and in answerto another demand for a
sign in Matthew 16:4. In the other passages“the sign of the prophet Jonas”
appears with a vague mysteriousness, unexplained. Not a few critics have
accordinglyinferred from this difference that the explanation given by St.
Matthew was an addition to the words actually spokenby our Lord, and that
“the sign of the prophet Jonas” wassufficiently fulfilled by His preaching
repentance to the wickedand adulterous generationas Jonahhad done to the
Ninevites. Against this view, however, it may be urged:—(1) That Jonah’s
work as a preacher was not a “sign” in any sense, andthat nothing in his
history had this character, exceptthe two narratives of the whale (Jonah1:17)
and the gourd (Jonah4:6-10). Any reference to the latter is, of course, out of
the question; and it remains therefore, in any case, thatwe must look to the
former as that to which our Lord alluded. (2) That the very difficulty
presentedby the prediction of “three days and three nights” as compared
with the six-and-thirty hours (two nights and one day) of the actual history of
the Resurrection, is againstthe probability of the verse having been inserted
as a prophecy after the event. (3) That if we believe that our Lord had a

distinct prevision of His resurrection, and foretold it, sometimes plainly and
sometimes in dark sayings—andof this the Gospels leave no room for doubt
(Matthew 16:21; Matthew 26:32; John 2:19)—then the history of Jonah
presentedan analogywhich it was natural that He should notice. It does not
necessarilyfollow that this use of the history as a prophetic symbol of the
Resurrectionrequires us to acceptit in the very letter of its details. It was
enough, for the purposes of the illustration, that it was familiar and generally
accepted. The purely chronologicaldifficulty is explained by the common
mode of speechamong the Jews, according to which, any part of a day, though
it were but a single hour, was for legalpurposes consideredas a whole. An
instance of this mode of speechis found in 1Samuel30:12-13, and it is possible
that in the history of Jonahitself the measurementof time is to be takenwith
the same laxity.
Some incidental facts are worth noticing: (1) that the word translated “whale”
may stand vaguely for any kind of sea-monster;(2) that “the heart of the
earth,” standing parallel as it does to “the heart of the seas,” the “belly of
hell”—i.e., Sheoland Hades—in Jonah2:2-3, means more than the rock-hewn
sepulchre, and implies the descentinto Hades, the world of the dead, which
was popularly believed to be far below the surface of the earth; (3) that the
parable has left its mark on Christian art, partly in the constantuse of Jonah
as a type of our Lord’s resurrection, and partly in that of the jaws of a great
whale-like monster as the symbol of Hades; (4) that the specialcharacterof
the psalm in Jonah 2, corresponding as it does so closely(Jonah2:6) with
Psalm16:10-11, may well be thought to have prompted our Lord’s reference
to it.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
12:38-45 ThoughChrist is always ready to hear and answerholy desires and
prayers, yet those who ask amiss, ask and have not. Signs were granted to
those who desired them to confirm their faith, as Abraham and Gideon; but
denied to those who demanded them to excuse their unbelief. The resurrection
of Christ from the dead by his own power, called here the sign of the prophet

Jonah, was the great proof of Christ's being the Messiah. As Jonahwas three
days and three nights in the whale, and then came out againalive, thus Christ
would be so long in the grave, and then rise again. The Ninevites would shame
the Jews fornot repenting; the queen of Sheba, for not believing in Christ.
And we have no such cares to hinder us, we come not to Christ upon such
uncertainties. This parable represents the case ofthe Jewishchurch and
nation. It is also applicable to all those who hear the word of God, and are in
part reformed, but not truly converted. The unclean spirit leaves for a time,
but when he returns, he finds Christ is not there to shut him out; the heart is
sweptby outward reformation, but garnished by preparation to comply with
evil suggestions, andthe man becomes a more decided enemy of the truth.
Every heart is the residence of unclean spirits, exceptthose which are temples
of the Holy Ghost, by faith in Christ.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For as Jonas was three days ... - See Jonah1:17
This event took place in the MediterraneanSea, somewhere betweenJoppa
and Tarshish, when he was fleeing from Nineveh. It is saidthat the "whale"
seldom passes into that sea, and that its throat is too small to admit a man. It
is probable, therefore, that a fish of the "shark kind" is intended. Sharks have
been known often to swallow a man entire. The fish in the book of Jonahis
describedmerely as a "greatfish," without specifying the kind. It is well
known that the Greek word translatedwhale, in the New Testament, does not
of necessitymean a whale, but may denote a large fish or sea-monsterofany
kind. - Robinson, Lexicon.
Three days and three nights - It will be seenin the accountof the resurrection
of Christ that he was in the grave but two nights and a part of three days. See
Matthew 18:6. This computation is, however, strictly in accordance withthe
Jewishmode of reckoning. If it had "not" been, the Jews wouldhave
understood it, and would have chargedour Saviour as being a false prophet,
for it was wellknown to them that he had spokenthis prophecy, Matthew
27:63. Such a charge, however, was nevermade; and it is plain, therefore, that
what was "meant" by the prediction was accomplished. It was a maxim, also,

among the Jews, in computing time, that a part of a day was to be receivedas
the whole. Many instances ofthis kind occurin both sacredand profane
history. See 2 Chronicles 10:5, 2 Chronicles 10:12; Genesis 42:17-18. Compare
Esther 4:16 with Esther 5:1.
In the heart of the earth - The Jews usedthe word "heart" to denote the
"interior" of a thing, or to speak of being in a thing. It means, here, to be in
the grave or sepulchre.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
40. For as Jonas was—"a signunto the Ninevites, so shall also the Sonof man
be to this generation" (Lu 11:30). For as Jonas was
three days and three nights in the whale's belly—(Jon 1:17).
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth—This was the secondpublic announcement of His resurrection three
days after His death. (For the first, see Joh2:19). Jonah's case was analogous
to this, as being a signal judgment of God; reversedin three days; and
followedby a glorious missionto the Gentiles. The expression"in the heart of
the earth," suggestedby the expressionof Jonah with respectto the sea (2:3,
in the Septuagint), means simply the grave, but this consideredas the most
emphatic expressionof real and total entombment. The period during which
He was to lie in the grave is here expressedin round numbers, according to
the Jewishwayof speaking, which was to regardany part of a day, however
small, included within a period of days, as a full day. (See 1Sa 30:12, 13;Es
4:16; 5:1; Mt 27:63, 64, &c.).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Ver. 39,40. An evil and adulterous generation;either calledadulterous for
that specific sin, which reigned amongstthem, and indeed their polygamy was
hardly better; or else because oftheir degeneracyfrom Abraham, whom they
so much gloriedin as their father, John 8:39,44.

Seekethaftera sign; not satisfiedwith my miracles which I do on earth, they
would have a sign from heaven. God was not difficult of confirming and
encouraging people’s faith by signs;he gave Gideon a sign upon his asking, he
gave Hezekiahand proffered Ahaz a sign without asking;but he had already
given the Phariseessigns enough, and sufficient to convince them, but they
would not believe, but out of curiosity would have a signof another kind, a
sign from heaven, as Mark expounds it, Matthew 8:11, such a sign as the devil
could not counterfeit.
There shall no sign be given to it; no sign of that nature, for we shall find that
after this Christ wrought many miracles. But they shall have a sign when I
shall be risen again from the dead, to their confusion and condemnation;
when I shall answerthe prophet Jonah’s type of me. He was castinto the sea,
and was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, in the heart of
the sea, Jonah1:17, and then the whale vomited (him) out upon the dry land,
Jonah2:10. So I shall be by them violently put to death and shall be in the
grave part of three days and three nights, and then I shall rise againfrom the
dead.
But here arisetha difficulty. Christ indeed dying the day before the Jewish
sabbath, and rising the morning after, might be said to be in the grave three
days, because he was there part of three days; but how can he be said to have
been there three nights? For he was only in the grave the night of the Jewish
sabbath, (for their sabbath began at the evening before), and the night
following, which were but two nights, either in whole or in part.
Answer: What we call day and night made up the Jewishnucyhmeron. It
appears by Genesis 1:5, that the evening and the morning made up a day.
Three days and three nights is with us but the same thing with three natural
days, and so it must be understood here. Christ was in the grave three natural

days, that is, part of three natural days; every one of which days contained a
day and a night, viz. twenty-four hours.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,.... Or "in
the belly of a greatfish", as is said, Jonah1:17 for that it was a whale, is not
there said, nor is it certainit was;nor from the smallness ofits swallow, is it
thought probable it should; nor does the word here used, necessarilyimply
one, but some large fish; nor are there whales in the PhoenicianSea:it might
be a kind of a sea dog, calledCarcharias, andsometimes Lamia, or Lamina,
from its vast swallow;in which whole men; even in coats ofmail, have been
found. However, be it what it will, Jonas was three days and three nights in
the belly of it; which agreeswith the accountin the above mentioned place,
and is the sign Christ speaks ofin the foregoing verse;and a very greatsign
and miracle it was, that being swalloweddownby such a fish, he should
remain in the belly of it three days and three nights, as one dead; for, without
a miracle, he could not have lived an hour; and on the third day, as one raised
from the dead, be castout of it upon the dry land; which was a very eminent
type of the death, burial, and resurrectionof Christ, as appears by what
follows. The Jews reckonup severalwonders or miracles in this case of
Jonah's;as that a fish was prepared to swallow him up, and he not drowned
in the sea;and that this was prepared for him from the creationof the world;
that he should be three days and three nights in the fish's belly, and be alive;
and that he should retain his senses and his understanding, so as to be able to
pray: they represent him also as if he was in the state of the dead (l), and that
the fish itself was dead, and was quickenedagain. According to Josephus,
after he had been carried 250 miles in the Hellespontof the Euxine Sea, he
was castashore (m).
So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth. That Christ means himself by the "sonof man", there is no reasonto
doubt; and his being laid in a tomb, dug out of a rock, is sufficient to answer
this phrase, "the heart of the earth", in distinction from the surface of it; but
some difficulty arises about the time of his continuing there, and the
prediction here made agreeable to the type: for it was on the sixth day of the

week, we commonly call "Friday", towards the close, onthe day of the
preparation for the sabbath, and when the sabbath drew on, that the body of
Christ was laid in the sepulchre; where it lay all the next day, which was the
sabbath of the Jews, andwhat we commonly call "Saturday";and early on
the first of the week, usually called"Sunday", or the Lord's day, he rose from
the dead; so that he was but one whole day, and part of two, in the grave. To
solve this difficulty, and setthe matter in a clearlight, let it be observed, that
the three days and three nights, mean three natural days, consisting ofday
and night, or twenty four hours, and are what the Greeks call"night days";
but the Jews have no other way of expressing them, but as here; and with
them it is a well known rule, and used on all occasions,as in the computation
of their feasts and times of mourning, in the observance ofthe passover,
circumcision, and divers purifications, that , "a part of a day is as the whole"
(n): and so, whatever was done before sun setting, or after, if but an hour, or
ever so small a time, before or after it, it was reckonedas the whole preceding,
or following day; and whether this was in the night part, or day part of the
night day, or natural day, it mattered not, it was accountedas the whole night
day: by this rule, the case here is easilyadjusted; Christ was laid in the grave
towards the close ofthe sixth day, a little before sun setting, and this being a
part of the night day preceding, is reckonedas the whole; he continued there
the whole night day following, being the seventh day; and rose againearly on
the first day, which being after sun setting, though it might be even before sun
rising, yet being a part of the night day following, is to be esteemedas the
whole; and thus the son of man was to be, and was three days and three nights
in the grave;and which was very easyto be understood by the Jews;and it is
a question whether Jonas was longerin the belly of the fish.
(l) R. David Kimchi & Jarchi, in Jonahi. 17. & ii. 1. Zohar in Exod. fol. 20. 3.
& 78. 3.((m) Antiq. 1. 9. c. 18. (n) T. Hieros. Pesach. fol. 31. 2. T. Bab. Moed.
Katon, fol. 16. 2. 17. 2. 19. 2. & 20. 2. Bechorot, fol. 20. 2. & 21. 1, Nidda, fol.
33. 1. Maimon. Hilch. Ebel, c. 7. sect. 1, 2, 3. Aben Ezra in Leviticus 12.3.
Geneva Study Bible
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.

EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Matthew 12:40. Τοῦ κήτους]the monster of the deep, Hom. Il. v. 148;Od. iv.
446;Buttmann, Lexil. II. p. 95. The allusion is to the well-knownstory in
Jonah2:1.
Jesus was deadonly a day and two nights. But, in accordancewith the
popular method of computation (1 Samuel30:12 f.; Matthew 27:63), the parts
of the first and third day are counted as whole days, as would be further
suggestedby the parallel that is drawn betweenthe fate of the antitype and
that of Jonah.[446]
The sign of Jonahhas nothing to do with the withered rod that budded,
Numbers 17 (in answerto Delitzsch); Jonahis the type.
[446]But the question as to what Jesus meant by ἔσται … ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς
γῆς, whether His lying in the grave (so the greaternumber of expositors), or
His abode in Hades (Tertullian, Irenaeus, Theophylact, Bellarmin,
Maldonatus, Olshausen, König, Lehre von Christi Höllenfahrt, Frankf. 1842,
p. 54;Kahnis, Dogmat. I. p. 508), is determined by καρδία τἥς γῆς, to which
expressionthe resting in the grave does not sufficiently correspond; for the
heart of the earth can only indicate its lowestdepths, just as καρδία τῆς
θαλάσσης means the depths of the sea in Jonah2:4, from which the biblical
expressionκαρδία in our present passageseemsto have been derived. Again,
the parallelin the κοιλία τοῦ κήτους is, in any case, bettersuited to the idea of
Hades than it is to that of a grave cut out of the rock on the surface of the
earth. If, on the other hand, Jesus Himself has very distinctly intimated that
His dying was to be regarded as a descending into Hades (Luke 23:43), then
ἔσται … ἐν τῇ καρδ. τ. γ. must be referred to His sojourn there. There is
nothing to warrant Güder (Erschein. Chr. unter d. Todten, p. 18) in disputing

this reference by pointing to such passagesas Exodus 15:8; 2 Samuel 18:14.
We should mistake the plastic nature of the style in such passagesas those, if
we did not take ‫כֵל‬ as referring to the inmost depth.
REMARK.
Luke (Matthew 11:30)gives no explanation of the sign of Jonah(Matthew
5:40), as is also the case with regard to Matthew 16:4 (where, indeed,
according to Holtzmann, we have only a duplicate of the present narrative).
Modern critics (Paulus, Eckermann, Schleiermacher, Dav. Schulz, Strauss,
Neander, Krabbe, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Ammon, Bleek,
Weizsäcker, Schenkel)have maintained that what Jesus meant by the sign of
Jonahwas not His resurrection at all, but His preaching and His whole
manifestation, so that Matthew 12:40 is supposedto be an “awkward
interpolation,” belonging to a later period (Keim), an interpolation in which it
is allegedthat an erroneous interpretation is put into Jesus’mouth. But (1) if
in Matthew 12:41 it is only the preaching of Jonah that is mentioned, it is
worthy of notice that what is said regarding the sign is entirely brought to a
close in Matthew 12:40, whereupon, by way of threatening the hearers and
putting them to shame, Matthew 12:41 proceeds to state, not what the
Ninevites did in consequence ofthe sign, but what they did in consequence of
the preaching of Jonah; and therefore (2) it is by no means presupposedin
Matthew 12:41 that the Ninevites had been made aware of the prophet’s fate.
(3) Of course, according to the historical sense ofthe narrative, this fate
consistedin the prophet’s being punished, and then pardoned again; but
according to its typical reference, it at the same time constituteda σημεῖον,
deriving its significance for after times from its antitype as realized in Christ’s
resurrection;that it had been a sign for the Ninevites, is nowhere said. (4) If
Jesus is ranked above Jonah in respectof His personor preaching, not in
respectof the sign, this, according to what has been said under observation1,
in no wayaffects the interpretation of the sign. (5) The resurrectionof Jesus
was a sign not merely for believers, but also for unbelievers, who either

acceptedHim as the RisenOne, or became only the more confirmed in their
hostility toward him. (6) Matthew 12:40 savours entirely of the mode and
manner in which Jesus elsewhere alludes to His resurrection. Of course, in
any case, he is found to predict it only in an obscure sortof way(see on
Matthew 14:21), not plainly and in so many words; and accordinglywe do not
find it more directly intimated in Matthew 12:40, which certainly it would
have been if it had been an interpretation of the sign put into the Lord’s
mouth ex eventu. The expressionis a remarkable parallel to John 2:21, where
John’s explanation of it as referring to the resurrectionhas been erroneously
rejected. It follows from all this that, so far as the subject-matter is concerned,
the versionof Luke 11:30 is not to be regarded as differing from that of
Matthew, but only as less complete, though evidently proceeding on the
understanding that the interpretation of the Jonah-signis to be taken for
granted (Matthew 16:4).
Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 12:40 gives an entirely different turn to the reference. he verse
cannot be challengedon critical grounds. If it is an interpolation, it must have
become an acceptedpart of the text before the date of our earliestcopies. If it
be genuine, then Jesus points to His resurrection as the appropriate signfor
an unbelieving generation, saying in effect:you will continue to disbelieve in
spite of all I cansay or do, and at last you will put me to death. But I will rise
again, a sign for your confusion if not for your conversion. Foropposite views
on this interpretation of the signof Jonah, vide Meyerad loc. and Holtzmann
in H.C.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
40. Jonahis a sign(1) as affording a type of the Resurrection, (2) as a
preacherof righteousness to a people who neededrepentance as this
generationneeds it.
the whale’s belly] The Greek word translated “whale” means “a sea monster.”
The O. T. rendering is more accurate “the fish’s belly” (Jonah 2:1), “a great

fish” (Jonah 1:17). It is scarcelyneedful to note that there are no whales in the
Mediterranean.
Bengel's Gnomen
Matthew 12:40. Ἰωνὰς, Jonas)Jonas did not then die, but yet it was as much
believed that he would not return from the fish, as it was that Jesus wouldnot
return from the heart of the earth; yet both of them did return.—ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ
τοῦ κήτους, in the belly of the whale)We ought not to doubt that Jonah was in
the belly of the whale, on account of the narrow throat of some animals of that
kind. Forthere are various sorts of whales, and in these days, the bodies of
men are found in their stomachs;and even if such were not the case, we must
suppose that fish especiallymade for the occasion;see Jonah2:1.—ἔσται,
shall be) A sign for the future, as in John 2:19; John 6:62; John 6:39.—γῆς, of
the earth) From thence shall they have a sign, and not one from heaven before
that, although they soughtit thence; cf. Luke 11:16. No signs, exceptsuch as
were exhibited from the earth, and performed for the good of men, were
suitable to the Messiah’s state ofhumiliation. They did not know that the sign
of that time was suitable to that time; see ch. Matthew 16:3. Afterwards signs
were shown, and shall be shown from heaven: see Acts 2:19; Matthew
24:30.—τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, three days and three nights) No one
doubts that Jesus was in the heart of the earth three days.—He remained
there howeveronly two nights, as far as night signifies the darkness
interposed betweenday and day (cf. Mark 14:30); and yet the calculationof
three days, and the same number of nights, holds goodif you do not interpret
it with astronomicalexactness, but resolve it by synecdoche. Forthree days
and three nights are the periphrasis of a single idea, and have the force of a
single word and term, if such existed, by which the remaining of Jesus in the
sepulchre is expressed, as if you should say a-space-of-three-days-and-nights
(triduinoctium), or three-nights-and-days (tria noctidua). Three days might
have been simply expressed, but this is the idiom of the sacredstyle, that in
indicating continuous time the intervening nights are added; see ch. Matthew
4:2; Genesis 7:4;1 Samuel 30:12-13;Job2:13. And then it sounds better to
say[581]three days and three nights, than three days and two nights, although
the Lord was buried on the actualday of the preparation, not on the night
preceding and joined to it, and the space of twenty-four hours is regarded

simply as a natural day without the change of darkness and light; and in fact
the first night-and-day, used synecdochically,[582]was from about the tenth
hour of the Friday up to the night exclusively;[583]the secondand fullest,
from the beginning of that night up to the end of the Sabbath and beginning of
the following night; the third, strictly speaking, from the beginning of the
following night up to the resurrectionof the Lord, and the rising of the sun on
Sunday morning. Two nights, therefore, were certainly joined with two days;
nor does one night takenfrom one day, i.e. the first, affectthe truth of the
language, whichdenominates the thing in question from its superior part
(locutionis a potiori[584]rem denominantis). In fine, there were not two
nights and days, nor four; therefore there were three. The Hebrew mode of
expressionis agreeable to this; concerning which, see Lightfoot and Wolfe on
this passage, andMichaelis on Joshua 2:16. Although what I have here said
may satisfya reader who is not unreasonable, I would also further observe,
that the synecdoche does not belong so much to the three-days-and-three-
nights as to the actualremaining in the heart of the earth. Scripture indeed
frequently defines a certain time, and expresses notthe whole matter which
commensuratelyand exactly occupiedthat time, but a part of the matter
longerin duration than the other parts; as, for example, the four hundred and
thirty years of the sojourning in Egypt, Exodus 12:40; and thus passim the
whole book of Judges. In this passage, therefore, the remaining in the heart of
the earth, i.e. in the sepulchre, is expressed, but at the same time the whole
period of the Passionis implied, certainly from the agonyin Gethsemane,
when Jesus fell on the earth which He was the next day to enter, and from the
capture by which the Jews commencedtheir undertaking to destroy that
Temple (as Erasmus thinks, Annot. F. 134). Nay, the glorious beginning of the
three days on Thursday is clearly intimated, in John 13:31 [comp. Harmon.
Evang. p. 310, 366], as dating from the time when the Jews bargainedfor the
Saviour, who was to be committed to the earth. The remaining in the earth,
takenin a wider signification, includes all these things; see Psalm71:20. For
the Sonof Man was a sign to that generation, not only in His sepulchre, but
most especiallyin His passion;see John 8:28. In this manner, the three days
and three nights are exactly completedfrom the dawn of Thursday to the
dawn of Sunday. The time of the death of the two witnesses is exactlydefined,
Revelation11, to be three and a half days; therefore we ought to considerthat

the three days and three nights of our Lord’s remaining in the middle of the
earth have been also exactly defined. The middle, or heart, of the earth should
not be preciselysought for; but these phrases are opposedto the earth itself,
on the surface of which Christ dwelt for more than thirty years.
[581]In the original, “concinnius dicitur,” i.e. it sounds more systematic, it
sounds more uniform, to say.—(I. B.)
[582]See Appendix on the figure Synecdoche.—(I. B.)
[583]The night not being included.—ED.
[584]“A potiori” implies that the whole twenty-four-hour-day (the first of the
three in question) is denominated, not only from a part, but also from the
superior part, viz. the part which had the daylight, and which is regardedas
superior to the part during which darkness prevailed, viz. the night preceding
Friday, and attachedto it, according to the Jewishmode of counting.—ED.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 40. - Matthew only. For as Jonas (Jonah, RevisedVersion) was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly. Verbally from the LXX. of Jonah
1:17 (2:1). So shall the Sonof man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth. Since, so far as the balance of evidence goes (cf., however, Bishop
Westcott, 'Introduction,' p. 344, edit. 1872), the Crucifixion was on Friday and
the ResurrectiononSunday, the actual time betweenthem was only one clear
day and two parts of days (which might fairly be called three days) and two
whole nights. The reckoning, therefore, here is, strictly speaking, inaccurate.
The words are perhaps a mere adaptation of the phrase in Jonah, and are
here used only to roughly mark the time of our Lord's stay in the grave.
Observe, however, that the addition of" nights" tends to emphasize the reality

of our Lord's staythere. It was a matter of days and nights; he spent both
kinds of earthly time "in the heart of the earth" (cf. Matthew 4:2, note). It will
be noticed that the inaccuracyof the wording would, if modern Western
habits were alone to be considered, make it most unlikely that the phrase is a
later addition; but in view of the early Christian and Jewishmethod of
illustrating events by passagesofScripture which do not apply in all respects,
the improbability is not so greatas would at first sight appear. However, upon
our presentinformation, we must saythat the phrase was spokenby our Lord
himself, and that although the exacttime of his stayin the grave was well
known to the early believers, they continued to repeat the saying in the form
in which the Lord left it. In the heart of the earth. The form of the expression
is derived from Jonah2:3 (4), "in the heart of the seas" (cf. Exodus 15:8), and
would therefore appearto mean some deeper place than the rock-hewn
sepulchre. Hence many commentators, beginning with Irenaeus ('Adv. Haer.,'
V. 31.)and Tertullian ('De Anima,' Iv.), understand it as directly denoting the
place of departed spirits. Ephesians 4:9 ("the lowerparts of the earth"), on
the contrary, probably refers to the earth as such in contrastto heaven.
Vincent's Word Studies
The whale (τοῦ κήτους)
A generalterm for a sea-monster.
STUDYLIGHTRESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
Three days and three nights - Our Lord rose from the grave on the day but
one after his crucifixion: so that, in the computation in this verse, the part of
the day on which he was crucified, and the part of that on which he rose
again, are severallyestimatedas an entire day; and this, no doubt, exactly

correspondedto the time in which Jonahwas in the belly of the fish. Our Lord
says, As Jonahwas, so shall the Son of man be, etc. Evening and morning, or
night and day, is the Hebrew phrase for a natural day, which the Greeks
termed νυχθημερον, nuchthemeron . The very same quantity of time which is
here termed three days and three nights, and which, in reality, was only one
whole day, a part of two others, and two whole nights, is termed three days
and three nights, in the book of Esther: Go; neither eat nor drink Three Days,
Night or Day, and so I will go in unto the king: Esther 4:16. Afterwards it
follows, Esther5:1. On the Third Day, Esther stoodin the inner court of the
king's house. Many examples might be produced, from both the sacredand
profane writers, in vindication of the propriety of the expressionin the text.
For farther satisfaction, the reader, if he please, may consult Whitby and
Wakefield, and take the following from Lightfoot.
"I. The Jewishwriters extend that memorable station of the unmoving sun, at
Joshua's prayer, to six and thirty hours; for so Kimchi upon that place:
'According to more exactinterpretation, the sun and moon stoodstill for six
and thirty hours: for when the fight was on the eve of the Sabbath, Joshua
fearedlest the Israelites might break the Sabbath; therefore he spread abroad
his hands, that the sun might stand still on the sixth day, according to the
measure of the day of the Sabbath, and the moon according to the measure of
the night of the Sabbath, and of the going out of the Sabbath, which amounts
to six and thirty hours.'
"II. If you number the hours that pass from our Savior's giving up the ghost
upon the cross to his resurrection, you shall find almost the same number of
hours; and yet that space is calledby him three days and three nights,
whereas two nights only came between, and one complete day. Nevertheless,
while he speaksthese words, he is not without the consentboth of the Jewish
schools and their computation. Weighwell that which is disputed in the tract
Scabbath, concerning the separationof a woman for three days; where many
things are discussedby the Gemarists, concerning the computation of this

space ofthree days. Among other things these words occur: R. Ismaelsaith,
Sometimes it contains four ‫תונוא‬ onoth, sometimes five, sometimes six. But
how much is the space ofan ‫הנוא‬ onah ? R. Jochanansaith, Either a day or a
night. And so also the JerusalemTalmud: 'R. Akiba fixed a Day for an onah,
and a Night for an onah .' But the tradition is, that R. Eliazarben Azariah
said, A day and a night make an onah : and a Part of an onah is as the Whole.
And a little after, R. Ismael computed a part of the onah for the whole." Thus,
then, three days and three nights, according to this Jewishmethod of
reckoning, included any part of the first day; the whole of the following night;
the next day and its night; and any part of the succeeding orthird day.
In the whale's belly - That a fish of the shark kind, and not a whale, is here
meant, Bocharthas abundantly proved, vol. iii. col. 742, etc., edit. Leyd. 1692.
It is well known that the throat of a whale is capable of admitting little more
than the arm of an ordinary man; but many of the shark speciescanswallow
a man whole, and men have been found whole in the stomachs of several.
Every natural history abounds with facts of this kind. Besides,the shark is a
native of the MediterraneanSea, in which Jonah was sailing when swallowed
by what the Hebrew terms ‫כודג‬ ‫גד‬ dag gadol, a greatfish; but every body
knows that whales are no produce of the MediterraneanSea, thought some
have been by accidentfound there, as in most other parts of the maritime
world: but, let them be found where they may, there is none of them capable
of swallowing a man. Instead of either whale or shark, some have translated
;erutan siht fo gnihtemos ro ,evoc gnihsif a yb ,71:1 hanoJ ,lodag gad ‫דג‬ ‫גדוכ‬
but this is merely to get rid of the miracle: for, according to some, the whole of
Divine revelationis a forgery - or it is a system of metaphor or allegory, that
has no miraculous interferences in it. But, independently of all this, the
criticism is contemptible. Others say, that the greatfish means a vesselso
called, into which Jonah went, and into the hold of which he was thrown,
where he continued three days and three nights. In short, it must be any thing
but a realmiracle, the existence of which the wise men, so called, of the
present day, cannot admit. Perhaps these very men are not aware that they
have scarcelyany belief even in the existence ofGod himself!

Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/matthew-
12.html. 1832.
return to 'Jump List'
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
For as Jonahwas three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall
the Sonof man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The use of "whale" in this verse is in error; the Greek word is "sea-monster,"
as a glance at the EnglishRevisedVersion (1885)margin will show; not that
there is any essentialdifference, for the Bible states that "Godprepared" a
greatfish (Jonah 1:17). In the book of Jonahis related also how God
"prepared" a gourd (Jonah 4:6), a worm (Jonah 4:7), and a sultry eastwind
(Jonah 4:8)! Why it should be consideredfor God a more difficult matter to
prepare a greatfish than any of those other "preparations" is surely a
mystery!
Regarding the truth of the Jonah narrative, it appears absolutelyincredible
that Christ, one of the Godhead, would have made a mere folk tale the
principal prophecy and sign of his resurrectionfrom the dead. We here
registera protest againstthose expositors who are so wise above their Saviour
in casting a reflectionof doubt upon this astounding incident from the Old
Testament. From Jesus'reference to it here, it appears that the experience of
Jonahwas an authentic event which God "prepared" to be a prophecy of a
still greaterone, the resurrection of Christ.
The question of "three days and three nights," as signifying the time of our
Lord's remaining in the tomb, is one of the most widely discussedissues in the

New Testament. An overwhelming number of scholars hold the conviction
that the expressionis a Hebrew idiom referring to any part of three days and
nights which included an entire day, the two nights on either side of it, and
portions of the other two days. The present custom of accepting a month to be
28,30, or31 days is held to be similar to the Hebrew custom of so loosely
determining "three days and three nights." The traditional view that Christ
was crucified on Friday and raisedon Sunday draws its principal support
from Matthew's word that Christ should be raised "the third day" (Matthew
16:21). This view asserts that if he was crucified on Thursday, and raised on
Sunday, then he would have been raised on the fourth day.
In spite of the fact that a goodcase canbe made out for the above explanation,
some very respectedstudents of God's word take another view. Torreysaid,
"There is absolutelynothing in favor of Friday crucifixion, but everything in
Scripture is perfectly harmonized by Wednesdaycrucifixion."[12]Torrey's
argument is the following: (1) Christ was crucified the day before the sabbath
(Mark 15:42). (2) This does not necessarilymean the day before the ordinary
sabbath, because the Jews always honoredthe day before the Passover(15th
of Nisan) as a special"high" sabbath, no matter what day of the week it fell
upon (Exodus 12:6; Leviticus 23:7; Numbers 28:16-18). (3) The truly
important question is, therefore, whether"day before the sabbath" refers to
an ordinary Saturday, or the special"high" sabbath relatedto the Passover,
and occurring on any day of the week, depending where the 15th of Nisanfell.
(4) John's gospelplainly says it was "the preparation of the Passover" (John
19:14), and that it was "anhigh day" (John 19:31). These Scriptures plainly
show that the ordinary sabbath was not meant. (5) Thus, Christ was crucified
on the day before the "high day," or first day of Passover. Since the Passover
(15th of Nisan) in the year 30 A.D. fell on Thursday, the "day before" would
make it Wednesdayon which Christ was crucified. (6) Scriptures supporting
this view are: Christ said he would rise "after three days" (Mark 8:31).
"After three days" he would rise again(Mark 9:31; 10:34). "This is now the
third day since these things were done" (Luke 24:31). Whateverone thinks of
Torrey's argument, it must be admitted that it is supported by more
Scriptures than the traditional view.

Warning: devout souls will not be troubled by this question; for, if it had been
necessaryto know the day of the week, the Lord would have revealedit.
Furthermore, to resolve this question finally and dogmatically, it would be
positively necessaryto know the exactyear of our Lord's passion; and THAT
is not certainly known. Not even the exactyear of his birth can be determined.
It can never be known what day of the week was the 15th of Nisan until the
overriding question of WHAT YEAR is fixed. This, of course, is the weakness
of Torrey's position. He takes the year 30 A.D. as the base of his calculations.
The heart of the earth is a figurative expressionfor the grave which is also
called"the lower parts of the earth" (Psalms 63:9; Ephesians 4:9).
ENDNOTE:
[12] R. A. Torrey, Difficulties in the Bible (Westwood, New Jersey:Fleming H.
RevellCompany, 1907), p. 109.
Copyright Statement
James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Bibliography
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "Coffman
Commentaries on the Old and New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/matthew-12.html. Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,.... Or "in
the belly of a greatfish", as is said, Jonah1:17 for that it was a whale, is not
there said, nor is it certainit was;nor from the smallness ofits swallow, is it
thought probable it should; nor does the word here used, necessarilyimply
one, but some large fish; nor are there whales in the PhoenicianSea:it might

be a kind of a sea dog, calledCarcharias, andsometimes Lamia, or Lamina,
from its vast swallow;in which whole men; even in coats ofmail, have been
found. However, be it what it will, Jonas was three days and three nights in
the belly of it; which agreeswith the accountin the above mentioned place,
and is the sign Christ speaks ofin the foregoing verse;and a very greatsign
and miracle it was, that being swalloweddownby such a fish, he should
remain in the belly of it three days and three nights, as one dead; for, without
a miracle, he could not have lived an hour; and on the third day, as one raised
from the dead, be castout of it upon the dry land; which was a very eminent
type of the death, burial, and resurrectionof Christ, as appears by what
follows. The Jews reckonup severalwonders or miracles in this case of
Jonah's;as that a fish was prepared to swallow him up, and he not drowned
in the sea;and that this was prepared for him from the creationof the world;
that he should be three days and three nights in the fish's belly, and be alive;
and that he should retain his senses and his understanding, so as to be able to
pray: they represent him also as if he was in the state of the deadF12, and that
the fish itself was dead, and was quickenedagain. According to Josephus,
after he had been carried 250 miles in the Hellespontof the Euxine Sea, he
was castashoreF13.
earth. That Christ means himself by the "sonof man", there is no reasonto
doubt; and his being laid in a tomb, dug out of a rock, is sufficient to answer
this phrase, "the heart of the earth", in distinction from the surface of it; but
some difficulty arises about the time of his continuing there, and the
prediction here made agreeable to the type: for it was on the sixth day of the
week, we commonly call "Friday", towards the close, onthe day of the
preparation for the sabbath, and when the sabbath drew on, that the body of
Christ was laid in the sepulchre; where it lay all the next day, which was the
sabbath of the Jews, andwhat we commonly call "Saturday";and early on
the first of the week, usually called"Sunday", or the Lord's day, he rose from
the dead; so that he was but one whole day, and part of two, in the grave. To
solve this difficulty, and setthe matter in a clearlight, let it be observed, that
the three days and three nights, mean three natural days, consisting ofday
and night, or twenty four hours, and are what the Greeks callνυχθημερα,

"night days";but the Jews have no other way of expressing them, but as here;
and with them it is a well known rule, and used on all occasions, as in the
computation of their feasts and times of mourning, in the observance ofthe
passover, circumcision, and divers purifications, that ‫תצקמ‬ ‫םויה‬ ‫,וכולל‬ "a part
of a day is as the whole"F14:and so, whateverwas done before sun setting, or
after, if but an hour, or ever so small a time, before or after it, it was reckoned
as the whole preceding, or following day; and whether this was in the night
part, or day part of the night day, or natural day, it mattered not, it was
accountedas the whole night day: by this rule, the case here is easilyadjusted;
Christ was laid in the grave towards the close ofthe sixth day, a little before
sun setting, and this being a part of the night day preceding, is reckonedas the
whole; he continued there the whole night day following, being the seventh
day; and rose againearly on the first day, which being after sun setting,
though it might be evenbefore sun rising, yet being a part of the night day
following, is to be esteemedas the whole;and thus the sonof man was to be,
and was three days and three nights in the grave;and which was very easyto
be understood by the Jews;and it is a question whether Jonas was longerin
the belly of the fish.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "The New JohnGill Exposition
of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/matthew-12.html. 1999.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For as Jonas was — “a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be
to this generation” (Luke 11:30). Foras Jonas was
three days and three nights in the whale‘s belly — (Jonah1:17).
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth
— This was the secondpublic announcement of His resurrectionthree days
after His death. (For the first, see John2:19). Jonah‘s case was analogous to
this, as being a signaljudgment of God; reversedin three days; and followed
by a glorious mission to the Gentiles. The expression“in the heart of the
earth,” suggestedby the expressionof Jonahwith respectto the sea (Jonah
2:3 in the Septuagint), means simply the grave, but this consideredas the most
emphatic expressionof real and total entombment. The period during which
He was to lie in the grave is here expressedin round numbers, according to
the Jewishwayof speaking, which was to regardany part of a day, however
small, included within a period of days, as a full day. (See 1 Samuel 30:12, 1
Samuel 30:13;Esther 4:16; Esther 5:1; Matthew 27:63, Matthew 27:64, etc.).
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scannedby Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-BrownCommentary is in the
public domain and may be freely used and distributed.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on
Matthew 12:40". "CommentaryCritical and Explanatory on the Whole
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/matthew-12.html.
1871-8.

John Lightfoot's Commentary on the Gospels
40. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall
[The Son of man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.]
1. The Jewishwriters extend that memorable station of the unmoving sun at
Joshua's prayer to six-and-thirty hours; for so Kimchi upon that place:
"According to more exact interpretation, the sun and moon stoodstill for six-
and-thirty hours: for when the fight was on the eve of the sabbath, Joshua
fearedlest the Israelites might break the sabbath: therefore he spread abroad
his hands, that the sun might stand still on the sixth day, according to the
measure of the day of the sabbath, and the moon, according to the measure of
the night of the sabbath, and of the going-outof the sabbath; which amounts
to six-and-thirty hours."
II. If you number the hours that passedfrom our Saviour's giving up the
ghostupon the cross to his resurrection, you shall find almost the same
number of hours; and yet that space is called by him "three days and three
nights," when as two nights only came between, and only one complete day.
Nevertheless,while he speaks these words, he is not without the consentboth
of the Jewishschools, and their computation. Weighwell that which is
disputed in the tract Schabbath, concerning the uncleanness ofa woman for
three days; where many things are discussedby the Gemarists concerning the
computation of this space of three days. Among other things these words
occur;"R. Ismaelsaith, Sometimes it contains four Onoth sometimes five,
sometimes six. But how much is the space of an Onah? R. Jochanansaith
either a day or a night." And so also the JerusalemTalmud; "R. Akiba fixed a
day for an Onah, and a night for an Onah: but the tradition is, that R. Eliezar
Ben Azariah said, A day and a night make an Onah, and a part of an Onah is
as the whole." And a little after, R. Ismaelcomputeth a part of the Onah for
the whole.
It is not easyto translate the word Onah into goodLatin: for to some it is the
same with the half of a natural day; to some it is all one with a whole natural
day. According to the first sense we may observe, from the words of R. Ismael,

that sometimes four Onoth, or halves of a natural day, may be accountedfor
three days: and that they also are so numbered that one part or the other of
those halves may be accountedfor a whole. Compare the latter sense with the
words of our Saviour, which are now before us: "A day and a night (saith the
tradition) make an Onah, and a part of an Onah is as the whole." Therefore
Christ may truly be said to have been in his grave three Onoth, or three
natural days (when yet the greatestpart of the first day was wanting, and the
night altogether, and the greatestpart by far of the third day also), the
consentof the schools anddialect of the nation agreeing thereunto. For, "the
leastpart of the Onah concluded the whole." So that according to this idiom,
that diminutive part of the third day upon which Christ arose may be
computed for the whole day, and the night following it.
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Lightfoot, John. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "JohnLightfoot
Commentary on the Gospels".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jlc/matthew-12.html. 1675.
People's New Testament
As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the greatfish. See
Jonah1:17. The greatfish was probably not a whale, the Greek is "sea
monster," but a white shark, which abounds abounds in the Mediterranean,
and is said to swallow a horse whole. The miracle was the preservationof the
life of Jonahduring his living burial. This was a type of the burial and
resurrectionof Christ.

So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights. Jesus says (Matthew
16:21)that he will "be raisedagain the third day." Hence, in Jewishusage
{the third day} must mean the same as {three days and three nights}. It was
and is customary with the Orientals to make any part of the day stand for the
whole twenty-four hours. Compare Matthew 16:21, Mark 8:31, 2 Chronicles
10:5 and 2 Chronicles 10:12, Esther4:16, Genesis 7:4, Genesis 7:12, Exodus
24:18, Exodus 34:28. A traveler in the Eastwrites:"At length the {tenth}
morning arrived--the {tenth} morning because, though we performed
nominally ten days quarantine, yet it was, really, only eight days. We landed
at nine o'clock in the evening of the first day, and were liberated at six o'clock
in the morning of the tenth day, but it was held to be ten days according to the
custom of the East." Christwas buried Friday evening, lay in the grave
Saturday, and rose Sunday, parts of three days, rose "on the third day," and
was in the grave the space of time meant in easternusage by three days and
three nights.
In the heart of the earth. In the sepulcher.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Original work done by Ernie Stefanik. First published online in 1996 atThe
RestorationMovementPages.
Bibliography
Johnson, BartonW. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "People's New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pnt/matthew-
12.html. 1891.

Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
The whale (του κητους — tou kētous). Sea-monster,huge fish. In Jonah2:1
the lxx has κητει μεγαλωι — kēteimegalōi “Three days and three nights” may
simply mean three days in popular speech. Jesus rose “onthe third day”
(Matthew 16:21), not “on the fourth day.” It is just a fuller form for “after
three days” (Mark 8:31; Mark 10:34).
Copyright Statement
The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern BaptistSunday SchoolBoard)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "Robertson's Word
Pictures of the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/matthew-12.html.
Broadman Press 1932,33.Renewal1960.
Vincent's Word Studies
The whale ( τοῦ κήτους )
A generalterm for a sea-monster.
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.
Bibliography
Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentaryon Matthew 12:40". "Vincent's Word
Studies in the New Testament".

https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/matthew-12.html. Charles
Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
Three days and three nights — It was customary with the easternnations to
reckonany part of a natural day of twenty-four hours, for the whole day.
Accordingly they used to say a thing was done after three or seven days, if it
was done on the third or seventh day, from that which was lastmentioned.
Instances of this may be seen, 1 Kings 20:29;and in many other places. And as
the Hebrews had no word to express a natural day, they used night and day,
or day and night for it. So that to saya thing happened after three days and
three nights, was with them the very same, as to say, it happened after three
days, or on the third day. See Esther 4:16; 5:1; Genesis 7:4,12;Exodus 24:18;
34:28. Jonah2:1.
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is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "JohnWesley's
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/matthew-12.html. 1765.
The Fourfold Gospel
for as Jonahwas three days and three nights in the belly of the whale1;so
shall the Sonof man be three days and three nights2 in the heart of the earth3.

For as Jonahwas three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. The
Greek word "ketos", here translated"whale", is "sea monster". It is calledin
Jonah"a greatfish" (Jonah 1:17). Becauseofthe supposed smallness ofthe
whale's throat, many think that it was the white shark, which is still plentiful
in the Mediterranean, and which sometimes measures sixty feetin length, and
is large enough to swallow a man whole. But it is now a well-establishedfact
that whales canswallow a man, and there are many instances ofsuch
swallowingson record.
So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights. Jesus was one full day,
two full nights, and parts of two other days in the grave. But, as the Jews
reckoneda part of a day as a whole day when it occurredat the beginning or
end of a series, he was correctlyspokenof as being three days in the grave.
The Jews had three phrase, viz.: "on the third day", "afterthree days", and
"three days and three nights," which all meant the same thing; that is, three
days, two of which might be fractionaldays. With them three full days and
nights would be counted as four days unless the count beganat sundown, the
exactbeginning of a day (Acts 10:1-30). Forinstances of Jewishcomputation
of days, see Genesis 42:17,18;1 Kings 12:5,12;Esther 4:16; Esther5:1
Matthew 27:63,64.
In the heart of the earth. This expressiondoes not mean its center. The Jews
used the word "heart" to denote the interior of anything (Ezekiel28:2). The
phrase is here used as one which would emphatically indicate the actual burial
of Christ.

Copyright Statement
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website. These files
were made available by Mr. Ernie Stefanik. First published online in 1996 at
The RestorationMovementPages.
Bibliography
J. W. McGarveyand Philip Y. Pendleton. "Commentaryon Matthew 12:40".
"The Fourfold Gospel".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tfg/matthew-12.html.
Standard Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1914.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall
Ver. 40. For as Jonas was three days, &c.] In the history of Jonah, Christ
found the mystery of his death, burial, and resurrection;teaching us thereby
to searchthe Scriptures-to searchthem to the bottom; as those that dig for
gold content not themselves with the first or secondore that offers itself, but
searchon till they have all. This we should the rather do, because we need
neither climb up to heavenwith these Pharisees nor descendinto the deep
with Jonah, since "the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thine
heart," &c., Romans 10:7-8.
So shall the Son of man be three days, &c.] Taking a part for the whole. So
Esther lastedthree days and three nights, Ezra 4:16, and yet on the third day
she went to the king, Ezra 5:1. So, then, the fastlasted not three whole days
and nights, but two nights, one full day, and two pieces ofdays.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/matthew-
12.html. 1865-1868.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Matthew 12:40. For as Jonas was three days and three nights— See the note
on Jonah 1:17. Instead of the whale's, we should read the fish's belly. It is no
where in the Old Testamentsaid that it was a whale, and κητος signifies any
large fish in general. See Mintert on the word. The heart of the earth is a
Hebraism for the earth. See what Ezekielsays of the city of Tyre, which was
situated on the seashore, ch. Matthew 27:4, Matthew 28:2. Our Saviour, in the
expressionhere used, alludes to Jonah 2:2. The miraculous preservationof
Jonahfor three days in the belly of a fish, was to the Ninevites a certain proof
of his mission from God, being credibly attestedto them, either by the
mariners, who threw him overboard at a greatdistance from land; or by some
other persons, who happening to see the fish vomit him alive upon the shore
might inquire his history of him; and who, in the course oftheir business, met
him afterwards at Nineveh, where they confirmed his preaching by relating
what they had seen. In like manner Christ's resurrectionfrom the dead, after
having been three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, being
credibly attestedto the Jews, shouldclearly demonstrate that he came from
God.

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Bibliography
Coke, Thomas. "Commentaryon Matthew 12:40". Thomas Coke
Commentary on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/matthew-12.html. 1801-
1803.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
40.]If it be necessaryto make goodthe three days and nights during which
our Lord was in the heart of the earth, it must be done by having recourse to
the Jewishmethod of computing time. In the JerusalemTalmud (cited by
Lightfoot) it is said “that a day and night togethermake up a ‫ֹוה‬‫נ‬ָ‫ה‬ (a
νυχθήμερον), and that any part of such a period is counted as the whole.” See
Genesis 40:13;Genesis 40:20;1 Samuel 30:12-13;2 Chronicles 10:5; 2
Chronicles 10:12;Hosea 6:2.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Alford, Henry. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". Greek TestamentCritical
ExegeticalCommentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hac/matthew-12.html. 1863-
1878.

Heinrich Meyer's Critical and ExegeticalCommentaryon the New Testament
Matthew 12:40. τοῦ κήτους]the monster of the deep, Hom. Il. v. 148;Od. iv.
446;Buttmann, Lexil. II. p. 95. The allusion is to the well-knownstory in
Jonah2:1.
Jesus was deadonly a day and two nights. But, in accordancewith the
popular method of computation (1 Samuel30:12 f.; Matthew 27:63), the parts
of the first and third day are counted as whole days, as would be further
suggestedby the parallel that is drawn betweenthe fate of the antitype and
that of Jonah.(446)
The sign of Jonahhas nothing to do with the withered rod that budded,
Numbers 17 (in answerto Delitzsch); Jonahis the type.
REMARK.
Luke (Matthew 11:30)gives no explanation of the sign of Jonah(Matthew
5:40), as is also the case withregard to Matthew 16:4 (where, indeed,
according to Holtzmann, we have only a duplicate of the present narrative).
Modern critics (Paulus, Eckermann, Schleiermacher, Dav. Schulz, Strauss,
Neander, Krabbe, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Ammon, Bleek,
Weizsäcker, Schenkel)have maintained that what Jesus meant by the sign of
Jonahwas not His resurrection at all, but His preaching and His whole
manifestation, so that Matthew 12:40 is supposedto be an “awkward
interpolation,” belonging to a later period (Keim), an interpolation in which it
is allegedthat an erroneous interpretation is put into Jesus’mouth. But (1) if
in Matthew 12:41 it is only the preaching of Jonah that is mentioned, it is
worthy of notice that what is said regarding the sign is entirely brought to a
close in Matthew 12:40, whereupon, by way of threatening the hearers and
putting them to shame, Matthew 12:41 proceeds to state, not what the
Ninevites did in consequence ofthe sign, but what they did in consequence of
the preaching of Jonah; and therefore (2) it is by no means presupposedin
Matthew 12:41 that the Ninevites had been made aware of the prophet’s fate.
(3) Of course, according to the historical sense ofthe narrative, this fate
consistedin the prophet’s being punished, and then pardoned again; but
according to its typical reference, it at the same time constituteda σημεῖον,

deriving its significance for after times from its antitype as realized in Christ’s
resurrection;that it had been a sign for the Ninevites, is nowhere said. (4) If
Jesus is ranked above Jonah in respectof His personor preaching, not in
respectof the sign, this, according to what has been said under observation1,
in no wayaffects the interpretation of the sign. (5) The resurrectionof Jesus
was a sign not merely for believers, but also for unbelievers, who either
acceptedHim as the RisenOne, or became only the more confirmed in their
hostility toward him. (6) Matthew 12:40 savours entirely of the mode and
manner in which Jesus elsewhere alludes to His resurrection. Of course, in
any case, he is found to predict it only in an obscure sortof way(see on
Matthew 14:21), not plainly and in so many words; and accordinglywe do not
find it more directly intimated in Matthew 12:40, which certainly it would
have been if it had been an interpretation of the sign put into the Lord’s
mouth ex eventu. The expressionis a remarkable parallel to John 2:21, where
John’s explanation of it as referring to the resurrectionhas been erroneously
rejected. It follows from all this that, so far as the subject-matter is concerned,
the versionof Luke 11:30 is not to be regarded as differing from that of
Matthew, but only as less complete, though evidently proceeding on the
understanding that the interpretation of the Jonah-signis to be taken for
granted (Matthew 16:4).
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Bibliography
Meyer, Heinrich. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". Heinrich Meyer's
Critical and ExegeticalCommentary on the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hmc/matthew-12.html. 1832.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament

Matthew 12:40. ἰωνὰς, Jonas)Jonas did not then die, but yet it was as much
believed that he would not return from the fish, as it was that Jesus wouldnot
return from the heart of the earth; yet both of them did return.— ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ
τοῦ κήτους, in the belly of the whale)We ought not to doubt that Jonah was in
the belly of the whale, on accountof the narrow throat of some animals of that
kind. Forthere are various sorts of whales, and in these days, the bodies of
men are found in their stomachs;and even if such were not the case, we must
suppose that fish especiallymade for the occasion;see Jonah2:1.— ἔσται,
shall be) A sign for the future, as in John 2:19; John 6:62; John 6:39.— γῆς, of
the earth) From thence shall they have a sign, and not one from heaven before
that, although they soughtit thence; cf. Luke 11:16. No signs, exceptsuch as
were exhibited from the earth, and performed for the good of men, were
suitable to the Messiah’s state ofhumiliation. They did not know that the sign
of that time was suitable to that time; see ch. Matthew 16:3. Afterwards signs
were shown, and shall be shown from heaven: see Acts 2:19; Matthew
24:30.— τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, three days and three nights) No one
doubts that Jesus was in the heart of the earth three days.—He remained
there howeveronly two nights, as far as night signifies the darkness
interposed betweenday and day (cf. Mark 14:30); and yet the calculationof
three days, and the same number of nights, holds goodif you do not interpret
it with astronomicalexactness, but resolve it by synecdoche. Forthree days
and three nights are the periphrasis of a single idea, and have the force of a
single word and term, if such existed, by which the remaining of Jesus in the
sepulchre is expressed, as if you should say a-space-of-three-days-and-nights
(triduinoctium), or three-nights-and-days (tria noctidua). Three days might
have been simply expressed, but this is the idiom of the sacredstyle, that in
indicating continuous time the intervening nights are added; see ch. Matthew
4:2; Genesis 7:4;1 Samuel 30:12-13;Job2:13. And then it sounds better to
say(581)three days and three nights, than three days and two nights, although
the Lord was buried on the actualday of the preparation, not on the night
preceding and joined to it, and the space of twenty-four hours is regarded
simply as a natural day without the change of darkness and light; and in fact
the first night-and-day, used synecdochically,(582)was from about the tenth
hour of the Friday up to the night exclusively;(583)the secondand fullest,
from the beginning of that night up to the end of the Sabbath and beginning of

the following night; the third, strictly speaking, from the beginning of the
following night up to the resurrectionof the Lord, and the rising of the sun on
Sunday morning. Two nights, therefore, were certainly joined with two days;
nor does one night takenfrom one day, i.e. the first, affectthe truth of the
language, whichdenominates the thing in question from its superior part
(locutionis a potiori(584) rem denominantis). In fine, there were not two
nights and days, nor four; therefore there were three. The Hebrew mode of
expressionis agreeable to this; concerning which, see Lightfoot and Wolfe on
this passage, andMichaelis on Joshua 2:16. Although what I have here said
may satisfya reader who is not unreasonable, I would also further observe,
that the synecdoche does not belong so much to the three-days-and-three-
nights as to the actualremaining in the heart of the earth. Scripture indeed
frequently defines a certain time, and expresses notthe whole matter which
commensuratelyand exactly occupiedthat time, but a part of the matter
longerin duration than the other parts; as, for example, the four hundred and
thirty years of the sojourning in Egypt, Exodus 12:40; and thus passim the
whole book of Judges. In this passage, therefore, the remaining in the heart of
the earth, i.e. in the sepulchre, is expressed, but at the same time the whole
period of the Passionis implied, certainly from the agonyin Gethsemane,
when Jesus fell on the earth which He was the next day to enter, and from the
capture by which the Jews commencedtheir undertaking to destroy that
Temple (as Erasmus thinks, Annot. F. 134). Nay, the glorious beginning of the
three days on Thursday is clearly intimated, in John 13:31 [comp. Harmon.
Evang. p. 310, 366], as dating from the time when the Jews bargainedfor the
Saviour, who was to be committed to the earth. The remaining in the earth,
takenin a wider signification, includes all these things; see Psalms 71:20. For
the Sonof Man was a sign to that generation, not only in His sepulchre, but
most especiallyin His passion;see John 8:28. In this manner, the three days
and three nights are exactly completedfrom the dawn of Thursday to the
dawn of Sunday. The time of the death of the two witnesses is exactlydefined,
Revelation11, to be three and a half days; therefore we ought to considerthat
the three days and three nights of our Lord’s remaining in the middle of the
earth have been also exactly defined. The middle, or heart, of the earth should
not be preciselysought for; but these phrases are opposedto the earth itself,
on the surface of which Christ dwelt for more than thirty years.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bengel, JohannAlbrecht. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". Johann
Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/matthew-12.html. 1897.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
Ver. 39,40. An evil and adulterous generation;either calledadulterous for
that specific sin, which reigned amongstthem, and indeed their polygamy was
hardly better; or else because oftheir degeneracyfrom Abraham, whom they
so much gloriedin as their father, John 8:39,44.
Seekethaftera sign; not satisfiedwith my miracles which I do on earth, they
would have a sign from heaven. God was not difficult of confirming and
encouraging people’s faith by signs;he gave Gideon a sign upon his asking, he
gave Hezekiahand proffered Ahaz a sign without asking;but he had already
given the Phariseessigns enough, and sufficient to convince them, but they
would not believe, but out of curiosity would have a signof another kind, a
sign from heaven, as Mark expounds it, Matthew 8:11, such a sign as the devil
could not counterfeit.
There shall no sign be given to it; no sign of that nature, for we shall find that
after this Christ wrought many miracles. But they shall have a sign when I
shall be risen again from the dead, to their confusion and condemnation;
when I shall answerthe prophet Jonah’s type of me. He was castinto the sea,
and was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, in the heart of
the sea, Jonah1:17, and then the whale vomited (him) out upon the dry land,
Jonah2:10. So I shall be by them violently put to death and shall be in the

grave part of three days and three nights, and then I shall rise againfrom the
dead.
But here arisetha difficulty. Christ indeed dying the day before the Jewish
sabbath, and rising the morning after, might be said to be in the grave three
days, because he was there part of three days; but how can he be said to have
been there three nights? For he was only in the grave the night of the Jewish
sabbath, (for their sabbath began at the evening before), and the night
following, which were but two nights, either in whole or in part.
Answer: What we call day and night made up the Jewishnucyhmeron. It
appears by Genesis 1:5, that the evening and the morning made up a day.
Three days and three nights is with us but the same thing with three natural
days, and so it must be understood here. Christ was in the grave three natural
days, that is, part of three natural days; every one of which days contained a
day and a night, viz. twenty-four hours.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon Matthew 12:40". Matthew Poole's English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/matthew-12.html. 1685.
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
In the whale’s belly; in which he was a type of Christ’s burial.
Three days and three nights; that is, parts of three days and nights. The burial
of Christ took place on Friday. That was reckoned, according to Jewish
custom, as one day. Saturday, through the whole of which Christ was in the

tomb, calledthe heart of the earth, was anotherday; and the Christian
Sabbath, on the morning of which he rose from the dead, was the third day;
or according to their mode of speaking, three days and three nights.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Edwards, Justin. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "FamilyBible New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fam/matthew-
12.html. American TractSociety. 1851.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
40. Jonahis a sign[1] as affording a type of the Resurrection, [2] as a
preacherof righteousness to a people who neededrepentance as this
generationneeds it.
ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους. The A.V. introduces a needless difficulty by
translating κήτους, ‘whale.’κῆτος (probably from a root meaning ‘cleft,’ so
‘hollow,’ &c., perhaps connectedwith squatus, ‘a shark’) means a ‘sea
monster:’ δελφῖνάς τε κύνας τε καὶ εἴποτε μεῖζονἕληται κῆτος. Od. XII. 97.
The O.T. rendering is more accurate, ‘the fish’s belly’ (Jonah2:1), ‘a great
fish,’ (Jonah1:17). It is scarcelyneedful to note that there are no whales in the
Mediterranean.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
"Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools
and Colleges".https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/matthew-
12.html. 1896.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
40. Three days — His resurrection, connectedwith the diurnal revolution,
would be an astronomicalsign.
Our Saviour was not in the tomb three days and three entire nights, according
to our modes of calculation. He expired on Friday afternoon and rose on
Sunday morning. He was therefore entombed but the nights of Friday and
Saturday. But the Jews reckonedthe entire twenty-four hours in an unbroken
piece, as a night-and-day. They counted the odd fragment of a day, in
computation, as an entire night-and-day. Our Lord therefore was dead during
three night-and-days.
The sign of the prophet Jonah was full of warning to the Jews. Jerusalemwas
the modern Nineveh; a living parallel to Jonah, greaterthan Jonahhimself,
was predicting its destruction; and the three night-and-days suggestedthat
without repentance Jerusalemmight meet the destruction that Nineveh, by
repentance, escaped. Jonahprophesieda destruction in forty days; Jerusalem
was destroyedafter forty years. Whale — Rather, sea monster. But Dr.
Thomsonhas the following remarks on this subject:
“The Bible says that the Lord had prepared a greatfish to swallow up the
prophet; but in Matthew it is calleda whale by our Saviour. Now, if I am
correctlyinformed, there are no whales in the Mediterranean. How do you
explain this?
“Simply by the fact that the multiplication of ships in this sea, afterthe time of
Jonah, frightened them out of it, as other causes have driven all lions out of
Palestine, where they were once numerous. It is well knownthat some of the
best fishing stations, even in the greatoceans, have beenabandoned by the

whales because ofthe multitude of whalers that visited them. This sea would
of course be forsaken. If you could stock it thoroughly with these monsters to-
day, there would be none left a year hence. But up to the time of Jonah
navigation was in its infancy, ships were few and small, and they kept mostly
along the shores, leaving the interior undisturbed. Whales may therefore have
been common in the Mediterranean.
And there are instances onrecord of the appearance ofhuge marine creatures
in this sea in ancient days. Some of these may have been whales. The Hebrew
word dâg, it is true, means simply any greatfish; but nothing is gained by
resorting to sucha solutionof the difficulty. Our Lord calls it a whale, and I
am contentedwith his translation; and whale it was, not a shark or lamia, as
some critics maintain. In a word, the whole affair was miraculous, and as
such, is takenout of the categoryof difficulties.”
Heart of the earth — As our Lord was not buried in the ground, but enclosed
in a tomb of rock, some have understood by the phrase, heart of the earth, the
place of departed spirits, to which our Lord at his death descended. But surely
the rock is a part of the earth, as truly as the soil. The bosomof a rock is very
expressivelystyled the heart of the earth.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "Whedon's Commentary
on the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/matthew-
12.html. 1874-1909.
PeterPett's Commentary on the Bible

“Foras Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the large fish, so
will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
His first signis typical of Scripture, it is something that will happen in the
future (compare Exodus 3:12; Isaiah7:14). The future will prove the present
(Deuteronomy 18:21-22). It does, however, require faith. In it He describes
two things that were incongruous. The first was that Jonah spent three days
and three nights in the insides of a large fish (citing Jonah 1:17 to Jonah2:1),
figuratively in the very depths of the grave (Jonah 2:2; Jonah2:6). Here was a
sign indeed, a sign of what happened to the disobedient. But it was also a sign
of how God could deliver, even from the grave, and it cannot be doubted that
this sign as recountedto the Ninevites played a greatpart in their response,
along possibly with the unearthly pallor that had resulted from his sojourn in
the fish and contactwith its juices. Jonah had been to them a very signfrom
God. The secondincongruous thing was that ‘the Son of Man’ would similarly
spend three days and three nights in the body of the earth, prior to His
coming to the throne of God. He too would be in the very depths of the grave.
And when He arose He too would be altered(compare Matthew 17:2; Acts
7:55-56). So Jonah was a sign to his own generationand a foreshadowing of
the greaterWho was coming. But the secondwas incongruous because in
Daniel 7:13-14, insteadof going into the grave, the Son of Man was to come in
the clouds of Heaven from earth to the throne of God. The Son of Man was
not supposedto be buried. He was supposedto ascendin triumph. And
therein lay the sign. What was deemedimpossible would happen, and when it
did happen let them take note. The One Who was to take the throne of
Heaven would first of all be lockedin the body of the earth for three days and
three nights, before, like Jonah had, He came forth in triumph. The
presumption behind this was that after three days and three nights He would
somehow rise again, as Jonah had. Thus Jesus death, burial and resurrection
would be the promised sign. And it would convince many. It even convinced
Paul. See 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.
‘Three days and three nights.’ To the Jews part of a day could be described as
‘a day and a night’ equally to a full day because theydid not reckon
scientifically. They saw the part as encapsulatedwithin the whole. For
example, in c 100 AD a well known Rabbi stated, “a day and a night make an

‘onah (twenty four hour day), and the portion of an ‘onah is reckonedas an
‘onah”. Thus in Jewishterminology Friday to Sunday would be ‘three days
and three nights’. Some, however, do considerthat Jesus died on a
Wednesday, seeing it as being on the day of preparation of the Passover
sabbath rather than that of preparation of the weeklysabbath. This, however,
would not tie in with the women seeking to anoint Jesus’body on the first day
of the week, forhad Jesus beencrucified on the Wednesdaythey would have
sought to anoint him when the festalSabbath was over on the Friday. They
would not have waited another two days until the body had putrefied.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Pett, Peter. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "PeterPett's Commentaryon
the Bible ". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pet/matthew-
12.html. 2013.
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Matthew 12:40. In the belly of the whale, or ‘great fish.’ (Comp. Jonah1:17,
chap. 2) Probably a white shark, which reaches animmense size in the
Mediterranean. Our Lord vouches for the main fact.
So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights. In round numbers
according to the Jewishmode of reckoning time.
In the heart of the earth. Either in ‘hades’ or in the ‘grave.’ The first sense
accords betterwith the case ofJonah, although nothing can be inferred from

this respecting the locality of the ‘place of departed spirits.’ Christ’s sepulchre
was not strictly in the heart of the earth. ‘The sign of Jonah’may be tracedat
some length; the following words of our Lord suggest, thatas Jonahemerged
to preach repentance to the Gentiles, so He rose to send the gospelto all
nations.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Schaff, Philip. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "Schaff's Popular
Commentary on the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/scn/matthew-12.html. 1879-
90.
The Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 12:40 gives an entirely different turn to the reference. he verse
cannot be challengedon critical grounds. If it is an interpolation, it must have
become an acceptedpart of the text before the date of our earliestcopies. If it
be genuine, then Jesus points to His resurrection as the appropriate signfor
an unbelieving generation, saying in effect:you will continue to disbelieve in
spite of all I cansay or do, and at last you will put me to death. But I will rise
again, a sign for your confusion if not for your conversion. Foropposite views
on this interpretation of the signof Jonah, vide Meyerad loc. and Holtzmann
in H.C.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Nicol, W. Robertson, M.A., L.L.D. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". The
Expositor's Greek Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/egt/matthew-12.html. 1897-
1910.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
===============================
[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
In ventre Ceti, Greek:tou ketous. By Cete, is signified, any very large fish,
and so it is said in the prophet Jonas to have been, piscem grandem.
====================
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Haydock, George Leo. "Commentaryon Matthew 12:40". "George
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hcc/matthew-12.html. 1859.
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

as = just as. The Lord was dead, therefore Jonahmust have been. Nothing is
said about his being "preservedalive". That "sign" would have had no
relation to what is here signified. See notes on Jonah.
three nights. Apart from these words, "three days" might mean any portion
of a day. But "three nights" forbids this interpretation. See App-144andApp-
156. Quotedfrom Jonah 1:17.
the whale"s. Greek. ketos. Occonly here. There is nothing about "a whale"
either in the Hebrew of Jonah (Matthew 1:17) or in the Greek here. The
"greatfish" was specially"prepared" by its Creator. See Jonah1:17.
the heart of the earth = in the earth: i.e. the sepulchre, or tomb, Matthew
27:60. Mark 15:46. Luke 23:53. John 19:40. Acts 13:29. It is the Figure of
speechPleonasm(a Hebraism), App-6, = the midst, or "in". See Exodus 15:8.
Psalms 46:2. 2 Samuel 18:14. Deuteronomy 4:11. In any case it is not "the
centre", any more than the heart is in the centre of the body, instead of near
the top. We are to conclude that the Lord establishes "the literal validity of
the history of Jonah", inasmuch as He spoke "not His own words but only
words of the Father" (see John 7:16; John 8:28, John 8:46, John 8:47; John
12:49;John 14:10, John 14:24;John 17:8); so that the assertions ofmodern
critics are perilously nearblasphemy againstGod Himself
earth. Greek. ge. App-129.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bullinger, Ethelbert William. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "E.W.
Bullinger's Companion bible Notes".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/matthew-12.html. 1909-
1922.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
For as Jonas was - "a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be
to this generation" (Luke 11:30). Foras Jonas was "three days and three
nights in the whale's belly" (Jonah1:17),
earth. This was the secondpublic announcement of His resurrectionthree
days after His death. (For the first, see John2:19.) Jonah's case was analogous
to this, as being a signal judgment of God; reversedin three days; and
followedby a glorious missionto the Gentiles. The expression"in the heart of
the earth," suggestedby the expressionof Jonah with respectto the sea
(Jonah 2:3, in Septuagint), means simply the grave, but this consideredas the
most emphatic expressionof real and total entombment. The period during
which He was to lie in the grave is here expressedin round numbers,
according to the Jewishway of speaking, whichwas to regard any part of a
day, howeversmall, included within a period of days, as a full day. (See 1
Samuel 30:12-13;Esther 4:16; Esther5:1; Matthew 27:63-64;etc.)
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on
Matthew 12:40". "CommentaryCritical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
- Unabridged". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfu/matthew-
12.html. 1871-8.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(40) As Jonas was three days and three nights.—To understand the words
rightly, we have to remember the prominence which our Lord gives to the
history of Jonah, and to the repentance of the men of Nineveh, in this and in
the parallelpassage ofLuke 11:29, and in answerto another demand for a
sign in Matthew 16:4. In the other passages“the sign of the prophet Jonas”
appears with a vague mysteriousness, unexplained. Not a few critics have
accordinglyinferred from this difference that the explanation given by St.
Matthew was an addition to the words actually spokenby our Lord, and that
“the sign of the prophet Jonas” wassufficiently fulfilled by His preaching
repentance to the wickedand adulterous generationas Jonahhad done to the
Ninevites. Against this view, however, it may be urged:—(1) That Jonah’s
work as a preacher was not a “sign” in any sense, andthat nothing in his
history had this character, exceptthe two narratives of the whale (Jonah1:17)
and the gourd (Jonah4:6-10). Any reference to the latter is, of course, out of
the question; and it remains therefore, in any case, thatwe must look to the
former as that to which our Lord alluded. (2) That the very difficulty
presentedby the prediction of “three days and three nights” as compared
with the six-and-thirty hours (two nights and one day) of the actual history of
the Resurrection, is againstthe probability of the verse having been inserted
as a prophecy after the event. (3) That if we believe that our Lord had a
distinct prevision of His resurrection, and foretold it, sometimes plainly and
sometimes in dark sayings—andof this the Gospels leave no room for doubt
(Matthew 16:21; Matthew 26:32; John 2:19)—then the history of Jonah
presentedan analogywhich it was natural that He should notice. It does not
necessarilyfollow that this use of the history as a prophetic symbol of the
Resurrectionrequires us to acceptit in the very letter of its details. It was
enough, for the purposes of the illustration, that it was familiar and generally
accepted. The purely chronologicaldifficulty is explained by the common
mode of speechamong the Jews, according to which, any part of a day, though
it were but a single hour, was for legalpurposes consideredas a whole. An
instance of this mode of speechis found in 1 Samuel 30:12-13, andit is
possible that in the history of Jonahitself the measurementof time is to be
takenwith the same laxity.

Some incidental facts are worth noticing: (1) that the word translated “whale”
may stand vaguely for any kind of sea-monster;(2) that “the heart of the
earth,” standing parallel as it does to “the heart of the seas,” the “belly of
hell”—i.e., Sheoland Hades—in Jonah2:2-3, means more than the rock-hewn
sepulchre, and implies the descentinto Hades, the world of the dead, which
was popularly believed to be far below the surface of the earth; (3) that the
parable has left its mark on Christian art, partly in the constantuse of Jonah
as a type of our Lord’s resurrection, and partly in that of the jaws of a great
whale-like monster as the symbol of Hades; (4) that the specialcharacterof
the psalm in Jonah 2, corresponding as it does so closely(Jonah2:6) with
Psalms 16:10-11, maywell be thought to have prompted our Lord’s reference
to it.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "Ellicott's
Commentary for English Readers".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ebc/matthew-12.html. 1905.
Treasuryof Scripture Knowledge
as
Jonah1:17

so
16:21;17:23; 27:40,63,64;John 2:19
in the heart
Psalms 63:9; Jonah2:2-6
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Torrey, R. A. "Commentary on Matthew 12:40". "The Treasuryof Scripture
Knowledge". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tsk/matthew-
12.html.
The Bible Study New Testament
In the same way that Jonah. See Jonah1:17. (Note there is no "whale" there.
It was a "big fish," possibly a white shark which is reported to be able to
swallow a horse whole. God prepared it specially.)The miracle was that
Jonah's life was protected during the time spent in the big fish. This is
symbolic of the time Jesus would spend in the grave and then be raised from
death. Three days and three nights. This is a Jewishexpression. Jesus saidin
Matthew 16:21, that he would be raised to life "on the third day." Mark
records this as "afterthree days" (Mark 8:31). In Jewishusage, "three days
and three nights," "on the third day," and "after three days," all mean the
same period of time. (See 2 Chronicles 10:5; 2 Chronicles 10:12;Esther 4:16;
Esther 5:1.) Christ was buried Friday evening, was in the grave Saturday, and
raisedfrom death very early Sunday morning.

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