Calculating the 40 Days After Easter in the New Testament
The New Testament does not explicitly mention "40 days after Easter" as a specific period for calculation. Instead, the period of forty days is significant in biblical chronology and prophecy, often representing a period of testing, judgment, or preparation [1, 11].
The most prominent forty-day period immediately following the resurrection of Jesus is the time he spent with his disciples before his ascension. Acts 1:3 states that Jesus "presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many infallible proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God." This period culminates in the Ascension, which is traditionally observed on the 40th day after Easter Sunday.
The calculation of this period is straightforward: Easter Sunday marks the first day, and counting forty days forward leads to the day of the Ascension. This period precedes Pentecost, which is celebrated fifty days after Easter [3, 4]. The Feast of Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks or Harvest Feast, was a Jewish festival observed on the fiftieth day after the Passover Sabbath [3, 7]. It marked the end of the harvest season, with the first fruits brought to the temple [9].
The number forty appears frequently throughout the Bible, often symbolizing a significant duration. For example:
- The Flood: The rains of the flood lasted forty days [11].
- Israel's Wilderness Wanderings: The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years, a day for each year they explored the land [1, 8].
- Moses, Elijah, and Jesus: Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all fasted for forty days [11].
- Ezekiel's Prophecy: Ezekiel prophesied a period of punishment for Judah lasting forty years [8]. Similarly, Egypt was prophesied to be desolate for forty years [11].
While the New Testament does not detail specific calculations for the "40 days after Easter" beyond the direct statement in Acts, the Jewish calendar provides context for understanding such periods. The Jewish year included various fasts and feasts, with the Passover and Pentecost being particularly relevant to the New Testament narrative [3, 4, 6]. The counting of fifty days from Passover to Pentecost was a well-established practice [7]. The "year-day" theory, where a day in prophecy represents a year, is also seen in interpretations of periods like the seventy weeks in Daniel, which represent 490 years [2].
The concept of a "week" (Hebrew: shavu'a) could also refer to a period of seven years, indicating a flexible understanding of time units in some contexts [10]. However, for the period between Easter and the Ascension, the forty days are understood literally as forty solar days. The Jewish calendar itself was primarily solar, though it incorporated lunar elements for determining months [5].
Sources
- Numbers “Numbers 14:34 (LEB) — According to the number of the days that you explored the land, forty days, ⌞a day for each year⌟, you will bear your sins forty years, and you will know my opposition.’”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Seventy weeks — A prophetic period mentioned in Dan. 9:24, and usually interpreted on the "year-day" theory, i.e., reckoning each day for a year. This period will thus represent 490 years. This is regarded as the period which would elapse till the time of the coming of the Messiah, dating "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem" i.e., from the close of the Captivity.”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Pentecost — that is, the fiftieth day (from a Greek word meaning fiftieth), or Harvest Feast, or Feast of Weeks, may be regarded as a supplement to the Passover. It lasted for but one day. From the sixteenth of Nisan seven weeks were reckoned inclusively, and the next or fiftieth day was the day of Pentecost, which fell on the sixth of Sivan (about the end of May). (Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Leviticus 23:15,22; Numbers 28) See Jewish calendar at the end of this volume. The Pentecost was the Jewish harvest-home, and the people were especially exhorted to rejoice before Jeho”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Pentecost — I.e., "fiftieth", found only in the New Testament (Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1 Cor. 16:8). The festival so named is first spoken of in Ex. 23:16 as "the feast of harvest," and again in Ex. 34:22 as "the day of the firstfruits" (Num. 28:26). From the sixteenth of the month of Nisan (the second day of the Passover), seven complete weeks, i.e., forty-nine days, were to be reckoned, and this feast was held on the fiftieth day. The manner in which it was to be kept is described in Lev. 23:15-19; Num. 28:27-29. Besides the sacrifices prescribed for the occasion, every o”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Year — the highest ordinary division of time. Two years were known to, and apparently used by, the Hebrews. + A year of 360 days appears to have been in use in Noah's time. + The year used by the Hebrews from the time of the exodus may: be said to have been then instituted, since a current month, Abib, on the 14th day of which the first Passover was kept, was then made the first month of the year. The essential characteristics of this year can be clearly determined, though we cannot fix those of any single year. It was essentially solar for the offering of productions”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called "the fast" (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old Testament is in Zech. 7:1-7; 8:19, from which it appears that during their captivity the Jews observed four annual fasts. (1.) The fast of the fourth month, kept on the seventeenth day of Tammuz, the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; to commemorate also the incident recorded Ex. 32:19. (Comp. Jer. 52:6, 7.) (2.) The fast of the fifth month, ke”
- Leviticus (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Leviticus 23:16: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath,.... Or weeks, forty nine days being counted, the following was the fiftieth day, or Pentecost: shall ye number fifty days; from whence this feast had the name of Pentecost, Act 2:1; all in Israel were obliged to number those days, except women and servants (t): the manner of doing it was this (u); on the night of the second (day of the passover), after the evening prayer, they began to number; but if anyone forgot to number at the beginning of the night, he went and numbered all the night; for the commandment is fo”
- Ezekiel (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ezekiel 4:5: three hundred and ninety days--The three hundred ninety years of punishment appointed for Israel, and forty for Judah, cannot refer to the siege of Jerusalem. That siege is referred to in Eze 4:1-3, and in a sense restricted to the literal siege, but comprehending the whole train of punishment to be inflicted for their sin; therefore we read here merely of its sore pressure, not of its result. The sum of three hundred ninety and forty years is four hundred thirty, a period famous in the history of the covenant-people, being that of their sojourn in Egy”
- John (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on John 4:35: There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? - In Palestine, the harvest did not begin till after the passover, which was fixed on the 14th of the month Nisan, which answers to our March, and sometimes extends into April. The barley harvest was the first; after that the wheat; and both were finished by Pentecost. For, in the feast of Pentecost, the first fruits of all the harvest were carried to the temple, and waved before the Lord. See Lev 23:11. The four months, of which our Lord speaks here, must be computed, according to M. Toynard, from Shebat, which was ”
- Sefaria (Jewish (Rationalist)) “Abraham Ibn Ezra on Numbers 4:3: FROM THIRTY YEARS OLD AND UPWARD. Close to four weeks. 2 The Hebrew word for week is shavu’a. Shavu’a is related to the word sheva (seven). Hence I.E. believes that shavu’a can also refer to seven years. Thus “four weeks” would equal 28 years. According to I.E. there is a mystical significance to the number seven. See I.E. on Gen. 8:5 (Vol. 1, p. 114, n. 16) and the notes thereto. Also see The Secret of the Torah , a translation and annotation of Ibn Ezra’s Yesod Morah by H. Norman Strickman (Jason Aaronson, NJ, 1995, p. 125).”
- Ezekiel (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ezekiel 29:11: forty years--answering to the forty years in which the Israelites, their former bondsmen, wandered in "the wilderness" (compare Note, see on Eze 29:5). JEROME remarks the number forty is one often connected with affliction and judgment. The rains of the flood in forty days brought destruction on the world. Moses, Elias, and the Saviour fasted forty days. The interval between Egypt's overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar and the deliverance by Cyrus, was about forty years. The ideal forty years' wilderness state of social and political degradation, rather than ”