In verse 9, it is stated that the people and kindred and tongues and nations, such as were represented in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, should see the dead bodies of the two witnesses. The word see indicated that the people would come to know the testimony of the witnesses, and would not allow them to be put in the grave--that is, the cause of the two witnesses survived. 5. The three and one-half days here were one-half of the symbolic seven, a shortened period of calamity, corresponding to the Lord’ s description of these tribulations in Matthew 24:22 and Mark 13:20 : “ And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’ s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days” - - t he cause only shortly defeated. A comparison of this application of the phrase three and one-half days is found also in the message that Jesus sent to Herod, recorded in Luke 13:31-33 : “ The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” This was an effort of the Pharisees to scare Jesus; he was lingering too long in Galilee to please his adversaries; and he was adding followers and new adherents to his teaching, as his reputation increased. The province of Galilee was a safe retreat from the dangers that would surround Jesus in Jerusalem, and the Pharisees knowingly attempted to reverse the Lord’ s favorable surroundings. It was an alleged Herodian threat, which if true, and Jesus had yielded to the intimidation, it would have involved him in an ignoble flight from the scene of his ministry; and if not true, it was the strategy of the Pharisees under friendly mien and confidential guise to divert his course from Galilee into the more perilous regions of Jerusalem. The pretension was that despite their differences the Pharisees were concerned with the Lord’ s safety; but there was no evidence that Herod Antipas had any designs of killing Jesus, as ascribed by these Pharisees. He had already enough blood on his hands by the execution of John in which he had been entangled and entrapped unawares (Matthew 14:2); and thinking that Jesus was John raised to life (Luke 9:7-9), he would not have been so foolish as to kill him again; beside this, is the fact that Herod did not want to kill Jesus, as shown by his sending him back to Pilate rather than to sentence Jesus in his own court. (Luke 23:6-11) The Herodian report was a Pharisaical invention, a fiction of their own to rid Galilee of Jesus, rather than a collusion with or an actual threat from Herod. And in the spirit of irony, not at all alien to his teaching, Jesus fell in with the report, knowing that the fox, whom he called that fox, was none other than the Pharisees themselves. The Lord answered the Pharisees: Behold, I cast out devils, and do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. It would be equivalent to convicting the Lord of cowardice to construe his statement to mean that he would tarry in Galilee two days more and on the third day he would quit! The proper analysis of the passage is: As in the past, so in the present (today); I shall continue without interruption (tomorrow); and in the future also (third day), I shall pursue this course until my ministry shall have reached completion in the finished work (perfected). There had been a predetermined time for the Lord’ s earthly ministry; instead of fleeing he would accomplish his work this day and tomorrow, and when the third or last day came, he should then have been perfected-his ministry fulfilled and his work finished. In the meanwhile there would be no abrupt or premature ending of his course by threats to intimidate or attempts to scare. Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following. The great Master had just stated that his divine ministry would continue to completion l now he refers to the day following as a day of walking, or the day of finished work. Henceforth, to the day of his passion, his resurrection and his ascension, until the purpose of his incarnation shall have been fully performed and accomplished, and his vicarious work crowned by his return to heaven from whence he came --until then, he would walk and work unlet and unharmed in Galilee, “ for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” His destination was Jerusalem, the evil murderess of the prophets and the deadly enemy of the kingdom of Christ--and Jerusalem would crucify him. The Lord’ s words to the Pharisees, paraphrased, were these: My danger is not Galilee, nor Herod, but Jerusalem; your seat and headquarters, where you reign; and when the day of my death shall come, you the Jews, not Herod the king, will be the author of the murderous deed. On another occasion (John 11:9) when the disciples warned Jesus that the Jews had plotted to stone him, Jesus answered: “ Are there not twelve hours in the day?” Here again a figurative expression was employed to indicate a fixed and appointed time for the ministry of Christ to be accomplished. In the same figure of speech employed by Jesus on the two occasions mentioned, John represents the two witnesses as having been dead in the street the three and one-half days. Here it denoted that fixed and appointed time for the people to see their testimony, as a result of martyrdom, during the period of suffering. But the fixed time was designated as three and one-half days because that figure is one-half the seven days period--as the number seven represented the full time; and one-half of seven, the three and one-half days, represented the shortening of the period of tribulation through which they were passing. This application of the time figure blends into a complete harmony with the Lord’ s own predictive narrations of the tribulation period, as though woven by one hand into one apocalyptic garment: “ For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’ s sake those days shall be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21-22) The three and one-half days of the two witnesses were the pictorial fulfillment of the Lord’ s own prophetic descriptions. The pronouncement of verse 9 that they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations . . . shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves indicated that the defeat of their cause was of short duration--it would survive death, as life returning before decomposition. All of the combined powers of persecution could not prevent the survival of the testimony of the two witnesses. But--they that dwell on earth rejoiced--the enemies of the cause showed great jubilation over the death and public exposure of the witnesses, rejoicing in the victory they thought was gained-but their celebrations were premature. In their exchanges of praise and self-congratulation they would send gifts one to another with mutual admiration in the part each of them played in the prosecution of the cause of the two witnesses gloating in victory because the two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. The earth signified the place of the powers, the sphere of authority. They were tormented by the presence and testimony of the two witnesses as the gospel torments the disobedient. (Acts 7:54); and as the effect of truth on evil spirits (1 John 4:18; Matthew 8:29; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28).