The Three Days
I would like to examine the claim written in a book and taught in the highest Colleges and Seminaries. Here is their evidence:
Milestone 18: God Reveals the Tree which after Three Days Can Make Our Bitter Waters Sweet “Then Moses led Israel … and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah (bitter).
So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Then he cried out to the Lord and he pointed out to him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.” (Exod 15:22–25 NASB) The Creator God first brought forth the trees out of the earth on the third day. What wisdom he showed to create nature to teach us about grace! The trees become the emblems of our destiny (Matt 7:17): Adam’s tree becomes the tree of death (Gen 2:17); Christ’s tree becomes the tree of life (Rev 2:7).
The account of Israel at Marah’s waters of bitterness is full of the gospel. The people had been “baptized unto Moses” at the Red Sea according to Paul (1 Cor 10:2). “Baptism,” as we have discussed, is an emblem of death. After the deliverance at the Red Sea the people went through the wilderness and suffered a great thirst for three days (Exod 15:22). When they came to Marah, they found water, but it was bitter, and so they cried out against Moses.
Moses then cried out to God, and the Lord showed him a tree. When Moses threw the tree into the bitter waters, they were made sweet (Exod 15:25). So on the third day after Israel’s emblematic death they were delivered from their thirst by the Lord’s tree. Who is unable to foresee in Marah’s tree another tree where the Lord himself would know the bitterness of the cup of gall (Matt 27:34) and would cry out, “I thirst” (John 19:28)?
Yet after three days our Lord came forth from the earth to make all our bitter waters become sweet, for he is our Fountain of Living Waters, and his Tree of Death becomes our Tree of Life. Symbol: The Cross as the Tree of Suffering Bearing Glorious Fruit The trees in the Bible are often made symbols of Christ, particularly of the “Branch” which, when grafted into the cross, becomes the tree of cursing and yet on the third day comes forth from the earth as the tree of blessing.
Is it not evident that the Creator made the trees to teach us about the possibility of grace? The Savior himself taught that there were two kinds of tree: those bearing good fruit and those bearing evil fruit. By such an example he teaches us about the two destinies of life and death. And yet there are other symbols of salvation found in the nature of trees. What was the design of the Creator, for example, in bringing forth the myrrh tree from the earth?
The trunk of this tree, which is deeply wounded by the harvester’s knife, causes its resin to bleed beads which are called “tears” and trace the gashes made in its bark. Those resinous tears, when dried and gathered and crushed and mixed with oil, yield a magnificent fragrance to delight and refresh the heart of man. Similarly the maple tree pours forth abundant sweetness from its own piercing.
What fragrance and what sweetness come forth from the wounding of these trees! God brings forth the olive tree from the ground, the tree that when beaten yields its fruit (Deut 24:20). This fruit is then gathered up and crushed under the press to yield the precious oil that shares its light and warmth and becomes a balm to heal our wounds. Only the Redeemer-God could have conceived of a tree of healing to bring forth by such suffering so beautiful a light to the world!
In a great mystery of redemption God brings out of the earth the trees bearing bad fruit as well (Matt 7:17), all to teach us that the tree of blessing (Psa 1:3) is planted alongside the tree of cursing (Deut 21:23), just like he planted the tree of knowledge in the midst of Eden alongside the tree of life (Gen 2:9). All of this was to anticipate the tree he would one day plant on the hill called Golgotha.
This greatest of all trees was to become the tree of cursing for the Redeemer in order that it might become the tree of blessing for us. Jesus would partake of the tree of death (Gal 3:13) that we might partake of the tree of life (Rev 22:2). His tree of wounding was to bring forth a fragrant sacrifice full of sweetness and light once he, like the trees, had come forth from the earth on the third day.
Gage, W. A. (2011). Milestones to Emmaus: The Third Day Resurrection in the Old Testament (pp. 48–49). Warren A. Gage.
Warren Gage transitions in this section to “third day theophanies” — moments when God manifests in great power on the third day. He builds on previous milestones to argue that the third day is the climactic day when God acts decisively. Ultimately, this is fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection.
Response:
The Claim Being Examined
Gage asserts that the recurring “third day” pattern across the Tanakh (deliverance, decision, theophany) culminates in the resurrection of Jesus as the ultimate display of God’s power. In other words, this is the day God “comes in great power” to vindicate His Son. Furthermore, it is the day He offers life to the world.
This fits the larger Christian premise: “Jesus is on every page of the Hebrew Bible.”
Applying the Method from Adam, the Blueprint of Creation, and the Tree of Life
We begin where the Torah itself demands — with Rabbi David Fohrman’s questions from A Book Like No Other (Eden Part 1 & 2):
- Why two special trees when God only forbids one?
- Why command Adam to eat from all the trees (including the Tree of Life), then suddenly guard the Tree of Life?
- Why does Eve identify the wrong tree as forbidden?
These anomalies show the blueprint was never broken. The path to the Tree of Life (Torah itself — Proverbs 3:18) was never lost. Humanity was created fundamentally good (99% good). Repair is always possible through teshuvah.
How did we get from these Garden questions to the claim that every “third day” event points to Jesus’ resurrection?
Dr. Robert Carter’s Four Questions Applied to the Claim
1. How did the claim arise? The claim arises by selecting numerical coincidences (“third day”) across unrelated narratives (Joseph, Exodus, Hosea, etc.). Scholars then read them through the lens of Luke 24 and 1 Corinthians 15. This assumes a unified “third day doctrine” that the original Hebrew text does not present.
2. What does the full picture actually show? In the Tanakh, “third day” is a common Hebrew idiom for a short period of time. It signifies travel, waiting, battle preparation, or decisive action. It is not a unified resurrection code. The theophanies (God appearing in power) on or around the third day are moments of judgment, deliverance, or covenant confirmation for Israel. However, these are not hidden predictions of a dying-and-rising individual Messiah.
3. Was there enough time and continuity for this interpretation? The typological reading developed centuries after the events, primarily in the New Testament and early Church Fathers. The Jewish people, who preserved the Hebrew text for over 3,300 years, never read these passages as pointing to a divine Son dying for original sin. Moreover, they never saw the Messiah rising on the third day.
4. Does the reading match the original blueprint? No. The Torah teaches that humanity was created in the image of Hashem according to a precise design. Nathaniel Jeanson’s work on population genetics and lineage tracing (Answers in Genesis) shows distinct family lines preserved from Noah’s sons — consistent with the Torah’s blueprint. Additionally, the Jewish people exhibit both textual and genetic continuity (as evidenced by the Kohanim marker and Abrahamic DNA). The Christian claim requires rewriting the problem (from choice/covenant to inherited total depravity). It also requires rewriting the solution (from returning to the Tree of Life to a one-time blood sacrifice).
The Parallel with Islam (Jay Smith Method)
Dr. Jay Smith’s rigorous analysis shows that Islam was created around a man (Muhammad), a book (the Quran), and a land (Mecca/Medina) that do not align with the earliest historical and archaeological evidence. Christianity followed a similar pattern: it took the Hebrew blueprint and created a new narrative with a man (Jesus), a new covenant document, and a spiritual “land” (the Church replacing Israel). In the end, both systems ultimately position themselves as the fulfillment or replacement of the original Torah blueprint.
The Original Blueprint
Adam was created in the image of Hashem according to a precise design that traces throughout the Torah. The Hebrew language and structure function as both code and chemistry. Israel and the Land of Israel are not inventions — they are part of that original design. Every other religious system that claims to supersede the Torah is, at root, humanity attempting to be God.
The world is one giant family. Our assignment is to fix our family through the Torah and the Ten Commandments. As Rabbi David Fohrman shows in his Shavuot series Chosen, the Ten Sayings are fundamentally about repairing family brokenness. For example, see especially his teaching on Genesis 27 — Isaac, Rebecca, Esau, and Jacob.
Verdict on Milestone 18
The “third day theophanies” in the Tanakh are moments when God acts powerfully in history for Israel — judgment, deliverance, covenant confirmation. Gage turns them into hidden predictions of Jesus’ resurrection. However, the raw Hebrew text and the preserved blueprint do not support this reading.
The original blueprint stands. The Tree of Life was never lost. The path of teshuvah and tzedakah u’mishpat remains open.
The silence when asked for clear, plain-text receipts from the Tanakh continues to speak.
Key Takeaways
- Warren Gage claims the ‘third day’ pattern in the Tanakh culminates in Jesus’ resurrection as a display of God’s power.
- Dr. Robert Carter questions the assumptions of this claim, highlighting that ‘third day’ acts as a Hebrew idiom rather than a unified resurrection code.
- The Jewish interpretation preserves continuity with the original text, absent of predictions for a dying-and-rising Messiah.
- Dr. Jay Smith compares Christianity and Islam, suggesting both create new narratives from original texts and blueprints.
- The ‘third day theophanies’ serve specific historical purposes but do not support Gage’s reading or the New Testament interpretation.
Hazan Gavriel ben David