Three Days and Three Nights

It has been said, that because our Lord died on Friday at the ninth hour, was buried that day, and rose again from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week, that, therefore, it is not true to say He was “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” as our Lord declared that the Son of man would be (Matt. 12:40). But let it be observed, that according to the Jewish mode of calculating time, there is no inaccuracy in this statement. In our day man has changed the scriptural order of almost everything possible, and instead of speaking of an evening and morning being a day, modern Gentiles say that a day consists of a morning and evening, and so calculate accordingly. And if the Jews reckoned any part of a day, as part of a night and a day (for the evening and the morning in Gen. 1 made a day), the alleged inaccuracy wholly disappears.
For Friday, up to six o’clock, would be spoken of as one night and day, Friday evening and Saturday morning another night and day, and thus the difficulty is removed.