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According to The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 2, at the time of Ye-
shua the "day" -- from sunrise to sunset -- was divided into 12 equal parts called "hours." These
were based upon the position of the sun. The "hours" varied in length depending on the time of the
year. Passover falls somewhere between mid-March and Mid-April on our Gregorian calendar of
today -- making an "hour" in the year Yeshua died slightly longer than our 60 minute hour.

Going now to John 19:39-42 we find that

there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mix-
ture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Je-
sus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices; as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

It was the custom to prepare the corpse for burial (after cleansing) with various types of
aromatic spices. In the case of Yeshua's burial, 100 pounds of spices were used -- not an unusual
amount for an important person. The grave clothes were made up of a number of long strips of
linen sewed together without any knots. Beginning at the feet, the body was wrapped with the
strips of linen up to the armpits. The arms were then folded down and the wrapping continued up
to the neck -- then down to the feet again. A separate napkin was wrapped around the head.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (vol. 1, pp. 556-557) notes that frag-
ments of a fragrant wood were pounded into a dust known as aloes, which was mixed with a
gummy substance known as myrrh. This mixture of spices was spread between the strips of linen
as the body was wrapped. The entire encasement would weigh around 120 pounds. The gummy
resin would adhere the linen so closely to the body that the grave clothes could not easily be re-
moved. The New Testament says that when John looked into the tomb "he believed." What did
John see that made him so quickly affirm his belief? He saw the grave clothes in the EXACT
SAME POSITION where he had seen them last, wrapped around the body of Yeshua. But now they
were completely empty -- perhaps a little caved in like an empty cocoon from which a butterfly
has emerged.

Mark 15:46 relates that Joseph of Arimathea "bought fine linen," and Nicodemus seems to
have obtained and prepared 100 pounds of spices and ointments on very short notice. It would
clearly seem that the women could have done the same thing. The women waited until after the
body was cleansed, wrapped, and laid in the tomb, before returning to the city to buy and to pre-
pare their spices and ointments. Counting the time it took for Joseph to obtain permission from Pi-
late to remove the body, the women probably had about an hour to "prepare" the sweet spices --
leaving no time to return to the tomb with their preparations before sunset. So they waited until the
Sabbath/Passover day was past.

Plenty of Time?

In Mark 15:47-16:4 it says that "Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James beheld
where he was laid. And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early
in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. No-
tice that the King James Version says "had bought." Most versions simply read, "bought."

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