208 ÉTIENNE NODET other passages, the “third day” is related to the termination of var- ious kinds of difficulties and trials. It is clearly a Biblical expres- sion 6. Incidentally, the theme of Isaac as a figure of Christ is not prominent in the NT (only Gal 3,16), even though another midrash interprets a tiny difficulty in the MT by saying that Isaac’s sacri- fice was a true one, for Abraham’s knife touched his neck and resulted in the loss of a drop of blood (Yalkut Shim’oni, I :101). Now, it is useful to draw a distinction between the Biblical meanings of the “three days” or the “third day”, which are not linked to any calendar, and some other items that are. Besides the Friday of the crucifixion, we have a remarkable event in Acts 20,7-12 : the night-long vigil at Troas, with the breaking of the bread on the first day of the week and the healing of young Eu- tychus (“the lucky one”). The calendar used is lunar, since this day begins on Saturday evening — unlike the Creation week. The event takes place sometime after the days of Unleavened Bread and Paul has been in Troas for several days (v. 6). So he is not in a hurry, and the breaking of the bread is unrelated to Passover. In fact, the main point of the story is the resurrection — or healing — of Eu- tychus (“Lucky”), the rite within a vigil being only circumstantial. So it was just a customary, weekly feature (see v. 1). An unexpected detail is given: in the Troas house, there were many lamps (lampadev v. 8), which recalls a well-known Jewish ¥ custom. Latin satirists (Seneca, Persius Flaccus) railed against the Jews for their idleness and their smoking lamps on the Sabbath 7. They cannot have meant the lighting of lamps on Friday evening, since the Romans counted the day from midnight, and in any case, the Jews could only light lamps before the Sabbath began (see Exod 35,3; m.Shab 2 :7) and were not able to trim them later 8. A R.D. AUS, The Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus, and the Death, 6 Burial and Translation of Moses in Judaic Tradition (New York 2008) 230-252, adds a series of Jewish sources mentioning a “third day”. See M. STERN, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism (Jerusalem 7 1974-1984) I, 432-437, with references and discussions, and II:110 for the con- fusion of Sabbath and Atonement Day. The Jewish custom of lighting lamps on Friday evening (before sunset) 8 contains two major anomalies: firstly, it is a duty (hbwj), not a precept (hw[m), and it lacks an associated blessing (b.Shab 23b) ; secondly, it is carried out by a woman, contrary to the usual principle that women are dispensed from ob- ligations linked to a fixed time (m.Shab 2 :6).