The Sabbath Even Resurrection: "The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective"

[Anna]

Dr. Pinchas Lapide is the author of "The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective" and he wrote the following (pp. 114-115):

Quote:
Matthew puts [the resurrection] at night, right after the end of the Sabbath, but Mark and Luke in the early Sunday morning.

The obscure formulation of Matthew, which is awkward in Greek (28:1) "now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week (or: of the Sabbath)," or according to the Elberfeld translation, "Late on the Sabbath in the dawn of the first day of the week..." seems to be based on an idiom current in Mishnah Hebrew: Bemotzaei-Shabbat or le-ehad be-Shabbat which means literally:

"At the end of the Sabbath in the light toward the first day...," but which, by means of a euphemism (light = night) intends to say nothing else but: "at the end of the Sabbath, in the night before Sunday."

Basic is the fact that the Sabbath since Genesis 1:5 begins on Friday evening and ends on the next evening just as each new day lasts "fom evening to evening" (lev. 23:32). Unfamiliarity with this Hebraism seems to have led to contradictory statements of time in the Gospels.

The dejection of the disciples since the crucifixion, speaks in any case in favor of a visit to the tomb as early as possible, i.e., at the beginning of the night which coincides with the end of the Sabbath as is testified by the retranslation into Hebrew of the passage which is so obscure in Greek.

[shemuel]

Anna, this word"PENTECOST" is not the name of Yahweh's feast. This word only means"fiftied or fifty. The name of the feast is "SHAVUOT" which literally means "weeks". This feast comes 50 days after the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. In the Hebrew text Acts2:1 reads "The festival of Shavu'ot arrived ,and the believers all gathered together in one place. The hebrew people also refer to this festival as"The feast of weeks". This word"PENTECOST" comes and was added by the Catholic Church and the Pope who used their authority to do as they choose. With the added word that the Catholic Church put in place of "Shavuot" it changes the full understanding of what is taking place in Yerashalayim on the day the holy spirit was given. Which would also shed light on Kefa's response in verse#15.These translation in the Greek are limiting our understanding. If we as a people can take the time to research the Greek, why not research the hebrew and aramaic text, the original,undilutted text.When i found the truth about the sabbath,i had the priviledge of speaking with a professor that taught at one of Dallas theology seminary. I ask him question about the day and time limit of the sabbath being from friday sunset til saturday sunset. He told me what i had found was true, so i then asked him do you teach your students about the sabbath? His answer to me was, no,so i asked why not. He said the question never comes up. His answer inpacted me greatly, which led me in to deeper study. Which helped me to understand doctrines and religions vs scripture. The lack of knowledge leaves us blind in our understanding. GRACE & PEACE TO YOU SHALOM

[Anna]

Thank you for your comments.

One amazing discovery I made was from the Catholic Bible the Douay Reims, they have a footnote on Mark 16:2. They state that the "SUN" that was risen was the 'SUN of Righteousness" our RISEN SAVIOR, not the astronomical SUN up in the sky.

The "Sun of Righteousness" is referred to in Malachi 4:2.

Note the commentary of the Douay Rheims Bible below :
Douay-Rheims Bible, Gospel According to Saint Mark Chapter 16

Christ's resurrection and ascension.

1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought sweet spices, that coming, they might anoint Jesus.

2 And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. 3 And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. 5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe: and they were astonished.

Footnote:

2 "The sun being now risen"... They set out before it was light, to go to the sepulchre; but the sun was risen when they arrived there. Or, figuratively, the *sun* here spoken of is the *sun of justice*, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was risen before their coming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

This corrected understanding will allow all the arrivals of the women to the tomb to be on the dark portion of this time period, which would align/harmonize them with Matthew. 28:1, which says
"On the evening of the SABBATH."

If you can get or access a hard copy of Tyndale's version either 1525 or 1535 has a marginal note on Mark 16:2 that says

"the sun was NOT risen"

Even the Latin versions of the NT, designates this time of the arrival of the women at the tomb, in Matt 28:1, as "vespers" which everyone who is familiar with the term knows that this is in the evening at sunset....

The Theologians translating the Bible, had to give Sunday some spiritual/historical significance from in order to pull off the switch from Sabbath Sanctity to Sunday Sanctity. They choose to make it look like the resurrection was on Sunday.

However, the Bible never gives the resurrection time as a reason to reject the Biblical Sabbath and substitute Sunday for our primary day of worship.

I have other evidences from other Scholars who have also become convinced that the resurrection was on Sabbath evening at sunset. After all, this is the time that the "FIRST FRUITS" was harvested, according to Leviticus 23:10. Messiah was the "FIRSTFRUITS" of them that slept. Therefore to fulfill type, he had to also be reaped, released from the earthen tomb, and yes he was.

You see the festivals of Leviticus are the BLUEPRINT which our creator gave us to outline His plan of Salvation for us.

Messiah was the Passover, he was sinless, symbolized by the unleavened bread, the feast which started the night he died, he was the "First Fruits" harvested on the morrow after the Sabbath and offered the next day, a Sunday to His father in Heaven.

Pentecost is the next FEAST.
We all know that the Holy Spirit was given at that time....

More later...

[shemuel]

If the messiah had to be off the cross before the sunset,which would begin the sabbath. And this sabbath that we speak of , is the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread. With the messiah being already dead before the sunset,then put in the tomb before sunset. This would give us proof we need to look at, okay Mark and Luke is speaks of early sunday morning, but lets keep in mind this is the time limit no one other than the soldiers guarding the tomb seen what happen at the tomb. In scripture the soldiers never gave witness to seeing the messiah come forth from the tomb. In Matt.28:2-4 give the account of what the soldiers seen in verses 11 through 15 give the account of the guards going to see the cheif priest and telling them what took place at the tomb. Mark 16: shows three vital things the first being the time of morning, this time being just after sunrise, the second being that the women had just started to the tomb, and the third thing in verse 3 the women are asking a question ( who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?). Verse 4-5 shows the stone situation being taken care of . Luke 24 coincides with Marks account, but lets look at something the messiah died berfore sunset, put in the tomb before sunset , and Matt 12;40 the messiah gives us a sign that just as Jonah was in the belly of a huge fish, three days, and three nights, so the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So from the time the messiah's body was laid in the tomb this is when you start counting the three days till his resurrection. He was laid in the tomb before sunset so this would make his resurrection three days later before sunset, not three days after sunset. But i agree that without studying the gospels and each ones account in entire context it can be looked at differently.