Luke 24:21
But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
But we trusted,.... "In him", as the Ethiopic version adds:
that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel; they thought, hoped, and believed, that he was the Messiah, spoken of under the character of the Redeemer of Israel; and they had been in expectation of redemption by him, though only of a temporal kind, from the Roman yoke and bondage; but now they could not tell what to think of it, since he was dead; indeed they were not altogether without hope, since there was a report of his being raised from the dead; but what credit was to be given to that, they could not say: but certain it is, that he was the true Messiah, and promised Redeemer; and who was to redeem, and has redeemed the whole Israel of God; even all the elect of God, whether among Jews or Gentiles, from the servitude and damning power of sin, from the slavery of Satan, and the bondage of the law, and from every enemy; and that by his precious blood, his sufferings and death, the very things which were the occasion of these disciples' doubts about him, as the Redeemer: so the Jews say {u},
"that upon the death of the Messiah, the son of Joseph, all Israel shall flee to the deserts, and such as are of a doubtful heart shall turn to the nations of the world and say, "is this the redemption we have waited for", for the Messiah is slain?''
and besides all this, today is the third day, since these things were done; which is either mentioned, as an aggravation of the ignorance of the stranger, that these things should be done so lately, as within three days, and yet he should be ignorant of them, or not remember them, and need to be informed about them; or as a further reason of their doubting, that it was now the third day since the death of Jesus, and there was nothing certain of his resurrection, only the report of the women, which they could not depend upon; or else as a reason of their trusting, that he was the person that should redeem Israel; since this was the third day from his crucifixion; the day on which he said he should rise from the dead, and of which there was a report spread, not to be disproved, that he was that day actually risen: this day is greatly observed by the Jews {w}: they take notice that the Scriptures speak of several remarkable third days; and besides Genesis 22:4 is cited a passage which refers to the resurrection of Christ on the third day; and they speak
"of the third day of the tribes, Genesis 42:18 of the third day of the spies, Joshua 2:16 of the third day of the giving of the law, Exodus 19:16 of the third day of Jonas, Jonah 1:17 (which was a type of the resurrection of the Messiah,
Matthew 12:40) of the third day of those that came up out of the captivity, Ezra 8:15 of the third day of the resurrection of the dead, Hosea 6:2 and of the third day of Esther, Esther 5:1.''
{u} Abkath Rocel, l. 1. par. 1. sign. 7. p. 53.
{w} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 56. fol. 49. 3.