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NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part V

Verse 40: Jonah was in the stomach of a big sea creature for three days and three nights. In the same way, the Son of Man will be in the grave three days and three nights.

By the time Jesus came to earth, this story about Jonah was already an accepted part of Jewish history. One of their most celebrated historians, who lived during the time of Jesus, records: “It is reported that Jonah was swallowed down by a whale, and that when he had been there three days, and as many nights, he was vomited out alive upon the Euxine Sea,¹ and without any injuries to his body; and there, in his prayer to God, he obtained pardon for his sins, and went over to the city Nineveh, where he stood so as to be heard, and preached, that in a very little time they would lose the dominion of Asia. And when he had proclaimed this, he returned home. I have given this account about him as I found it written in our books.”² Therefore, those listening to Jesus knew exactly who He was referring to and what happened to him.

It is also worthwhile to note that in Jonah’s story it is said, “Adonai prepared a huge fish³ to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.”⁴ Here we see it says that “ADONAI prepared” a sea creature for this purpose. Therefore, Jonah was not swallowed by chance. Likewise, what would happen to Jesus was not by chance. His death and resurrection were planned by the same God before the beginning of the world.

One venerated Jewish commentator had this to say about Jonah: “The God of Blessing assigned the fish this task for a specific time. At the exact time that Jonah was thrown into the sea, the fish was assigned to be in the right spot to swallow him. And this fish is not naturally in this sea. And this was one of the miracles.”⁵ Rabbi Kimchi likens this special preparation to the specific food that king Nebuchadnezzar assigned to Daniel and the other selected youths of Judah.⁶ To put it another way, it was all planned. So if the Jews were willing to accept the story about Jonah, why shouldn’t they then be willing to accept the story that Christ was telling them. After all, if it took three days of Jonah being in the belly of the whale to get the citizens of Nineveh converted, then surely these Jews should have converted after our Lord came out of His three-day rest in the tomb.

Even though Jews counted any part of a day as representing a full day, still there are critics among the Jewish leaders that Jesus likened His stay in the tomb to that of Jonah in the whale’s belly. They say: “It is impossible for Jesus to have been in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights since He was crucified on Friday evening and arose early Sunday morning, and even if they should argue that part of the day is considered a whole day, there would still be only three days and two nights.”⁷ However, these critics are taking their timetable from the accepted Christian record rather than looking at their own.

This is the proverbial case of pointing out the splinter in someone’s eye when you have a beam in your own. Here’s what we know: In ancient Israel, including the first century A.D., preparations for the Passover feast took place on “Preparation Day.” In the middle of the afternoon, at what is often referred to as “twilight” on that day, the Passover lamb was sacrificed at the temple in Jerusalem. After sunset, when Preparation Day had ended and the Feast of Unleavened Bread had begun, the lamb and other specific foods for the Passover feast were eaten.

Now, Jesus was crucified and died on Preparation Day. Traditionally, this has been thought to have been on a Friday. However, it can be demonstrated that Jesus’ crucifixion and death occurred not on a Friday (the sixth day of the week), as has been traditionally accepted, but rather on the previous day, Thursday (the fifth day of the week). The week during which the following occurred in the month of Aviv (also called Nisan) of that year:

1. Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey (on Palm Sunday, Aviv 10), as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9;

2. He was crucified four days later (on Thursday, Aviv 14); and

3. He was resurrected from the dead on the third day after that (on Sunday, Aviv 17).

The first two points are a fulfillment of Scripture where the first Passover lambs were to be taken in on the tenth day of the first month (Aviv or Nisan) and slaughtered four days later, on the fourteenth day of that month.⁸ The third point is a fulfillment of Jesus’ own prophecy here in this verse. In addition, the scripture does not say He rose “after” three days, but “on” the third day.⁹

Some people may find this disconcerting, especially since the crucifixion of Christ has been celebrated on Friday since 325 AD when the council of Nicaea decided that was the day. So as we can see, even back then it was a question being deliberated. But the main factor is that He died on the cross and He rose from the tomb. Whether the Jewish calendar is to be trusted or the decisions of a council is not the point. But as scholars, we should always keep our minds open to possibilities before we pronounce them as absolutes. In fact, some Bible scholars think Jesus was crucified on Wednesday.¹⁰

Verse 41: On judgment day, you people who live now will be compared with the people of Nineveh, and they will be witnesses who show how guilty you are. Why do I say this? Because when Jonah preached to those people, they changed their way of living. And you are listening to someone greater than Jonah, but you refuse to change your ways!

You would think that by now the Pharisees and scribes would finally come around; that they would see the truth and be ready to learn more. But Jesus knew better. So their request that He back up His words with action only got them more condemnation as being spiritually blind and deaf. He was not sent from God to be a court jester for their amusement and entertainment. He had already shown them enough to convince anyone that Jesus was the Messiah. Another miracle was not going to change their minds. They would just go away bragging about how they got the prophet from Galilee to do their bidding. But whether they liked it or not, there were going to witness a miracle of God’s own making.

It is important to note that if the story of Jonah was nothing more than a fairytale or a borrowed myth from some other culture, then our Lord would not have used it as part of His teaching. If this story were thought to be bogus or unreliable, then the Jews would not have included in their earliest written version of verbal traditions.¹¹ So Jesus was speaking of something they all held to be respectable and truthful. Also, in Jewish writings, we find that many commentators believe that this fish was not a normal part of the species in that area.¹² That God had created this creature just for this occasion because no one was ever swallowed after this incident and survived to tell about it. So it is not just a happenstance that Joseph of Arimathea had purchased a tomb exactly where it needed to be for our Lord to lay before His heavenly Father called Him back from death.

But the key factor is the 3 days, where Jonah was out of sight and communication with anyone, only to suddenly appear alive and well. This, says Jesus, is the same manner in which the Son of man will be hidden in the heart of the earth for three days, and will then suddenly appear alive and well. But here’s the difference. After Jonah’s deliverance from death, he went to Nineveh and the people repented. But on this occasion, someone of greater stature than Jonah was speaking to them but they refuse to listen and change. So, on Judgment Day God will point to the people of Nineveh and then to the Jews and ask, “If they could believe a simple prophet, why couldn’t you believe my Son?”

This type of comparative judgment was not new to the Jewish mind. Their own Rabbi’s taught: “The poor, the rich, the sensual [egotistical] come before the [heavenly] court — They say to the poor: Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah? If he says: I was poor and worried about my sustenance, they would say to him: Were you poorer than Hillel? To the rich man, they said: Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah? If he said: I was rich and occupied with my possessions, they would say to him: Were you perchance richer than Rabbi Eleazar? To the egotistical person, they would say: Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah? If he said: I was beautiful and upset by sensual passion, they would say to him: Were you perchance more handsome than Joseph?”¹³

The Rabbis shared that although Hillel was revered as a giant among the Rabbis, yet he worked each day of his life just to get enough money to go to the synagogue to hear the Word of God expounded on. And Rabbi Eleazar ben Harsom inherited 1000 cities and 1000 ships, yet each day he would take a sack of flour and carry it on his shoulder from city to city and province to province to study the Torah. And Joseph, who was so handsome that the wife of Potiphar endeavored to seduce him, yet refused to submit because of his faith in God. So they conclude: “Thus the example of Hillel condemns the poor, the example of Rabbi Eleazar ben Harsom condemns the rich, and Joseph the virtuous condemns the egotistical.”¹⁴

Therefore, Jesus comparing the people of Nineveh’s response to Jonah’s message with the response of the Jews of His day to His message was certainly permissible. But Jesus was not through, He has another comparison.

Verse 42: On the judgment day, you people who live now will also be compared with the queen of the South, and she will be a witness who shows how guilty you are. I say this because she traveled from far, far away to listen to Solomon’s wise teaching.¹⁵ And I tell you that someone greater than Solomon is right here, but you won’t listen!

Some more insight into the last judgment. Earlier Jesus said that people’s own words will be called as evidence either for or against them. Next, witnesses will be called to provide testimony in cases before the Judge. He had already mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon as witnesses against the doubters in Capernaum. Now He has brought up the people of Nineveh and adds the Queen of Sheba, a pagan who came to Jerusalem because she had heard so much about King Solomon and became a believer.

According to one legend, the kings of Abyssinia trace their descent back to a certain Menelik, the reputed son of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. Well-known African traveler Hugues le Roux, a French writer and journalist, whose pen name was Robert Charles Henri Le Roux (1860–1925), wrote about the French colonies and about travel, and claims to have discovered in an Abyssinian manuscript in the Ge’ez dialect containing the earliest version of the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, which had been known previously only known through popular verbal tradition.¹⁶ The ruler of Abyssinia in 1905, at the time of his victory over the forces of Italy, actually declared himself to be a descendant of the Judean lion. A study of the legend of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba having a son as it exists in the tradition of Axum, a place of pilgrimage to the west of Adua, was published in 1904.¹⁷

According to Jewish genealogy, Sheba was the son of Raamah, who was the son of Cush, the son of Ham, the son of Noah. Raamah and his son Sheba became successful entrepreneurs, and the prophet Ezekiel tells the people of Tyre: “The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you. They traded all the best spices and every kind of precious stone and gold for your goods.”¹⁸ This queen is known by different names among the various Jewish Chroniclers.¹⁹ One Targumist says this country was also known as Zemargad, and so she was the Queen of Zemargad. In one Jewish document, we read: “Lilith, the Queen of Zemargad, launched an attack and seized [the sons of Job] and killed the young men.”²⁰

However, in another writing, we find: “Lilith, the Queen of Zemargad, has the form of a beautiful woman from the head to the navel, and from the navel down she is flaming fire. Her only intention is to arouse wars and all kinds of destruction. It was she who seized and killed the sons of Job. When God brings about the destruction of Rome and turns it into a ruin for all eternity, He will send Lilith there, and let her dwell in that ruin, for she is the ruination of the world, as it is said, ‘And Lilith shall repose there.²¹”²²

According to others, her name was Maqueda.²³ And yet others named her Balkis.²⁴ And a very reputable Jewish chronologist tells us: “The Queen of Sheba came to Solomon in his 15th year of reign her name was Aqaula. She crossed the Red Sea with great trouble and traveled far to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. She brought great riches and gave Solomon 20,000 weights of gold, nice perfume, balsam, persimmon fruit, and other gifts.”²⁵

And finally, the Jewish historian Josephus tells us that Herodotus said that in Egypt: “There a queen reigned, he calls her by her name Nicaule …. As for myself, I have discovered from our own books, that after Pharaoh, the father-in-law of Solomon, no other king of Egypt did any longer use that name; and that it was after that time when the forenamed queen of Egypt and Ethiopia came to Solomon.”²⁶

We must remember that in those days the basic form of communication was either verbal or the exchange of documents such as letters, decrees, and manuscripts copied and passed on. But in any case, we are not talking about an individual that was a mere footnote in history. She had great fame and was highly regarded. So for her to take the time, effort and expense to go visit Solomon, King of Israel, certainly forecasts well for Solomon’s reputation. Also, there was no reason for her to go unless there was some connection between the two other than reputation. So, for Jesus to point to Himself and say that someone greater than Solomon was standing before them, it should have clearly gotten the point across to these doubters. This should not have come as a surprise to them.

After all, their traditional teachings said that: “The king who will arise from David’s descendants will be a greater master of knowledge than Solomon and a great prophet, close to the level of Moses, our teacher. Therefore, he will teach the entire nation and instruct them in the path of God.”²⁷ Yet they rejected this man of wisdom and miracles. So once again, at the judgment seat God will ask these Jews, if the pagan people of Nineveh and the pagan Queen of Sheba could believe a simple prophet and an earthly king, then why could you not believe my Son the Prophet and King of kings who is greater than Jonah or Solomon? So often we have witnessed the idea of the last judgment portrayed as a mass production process with a cold-hardhearted, unsympathetic Judge passing out pre-stamped, autographed sentences in an emotionless monotone. Christ’s words provide a different picture, as does the vision of John.²⁸