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Livius —
According to Josh McDowell, in his
book, Answers to Tough Questions,
the expression one day and
one night was an idiom
meaning a day, even if only a part
of a day was indicated. He gives
Old Testament examples:
In other words, for the Jews, day or
even day and night did
not have to mean literally a
24 hour period. Even in English
idioms, we speak of:
- a "day at the beach",
where it might actually be only
3-4 hours, or
- "I spent a day at the ballpark," or
- "I've been working day and
night, painting this room," etc.
We might even say, "I was working
on a paper and finished it on the
third day." I may have started
it Friday afternoon and finished
on Sunday morning.
Everyone knows it need not be literally
72 hours. So there is really no difficulty
here at all. The critic is assuming things that
are not necessary to assume.
It's simply a Jewish idiomatic expression.
Hope that helps.
In Him,
Dave Armstrong
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