The heart of the matter
Ironically, we make greater progress toward resolving the difficulties
when we shift our focus from chronology to topology. Therefore, rather
than ask about the meaning of “three days and three nights” we will
instead ask about “the heart of the earth.”
We begin with a relatively simple question, Are there precedents in
biblical literature for the Matthean term “heart of the earth” (καρδία
τῆς γῆς)? Even though the phrase does not occur elsewhere in biblical
literature, we may still have the occurrence of analogous, and perhaps
even synonymous terms. The first of these we shall consider is the
phrase “middle of the earth.”