John 11:17. Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
The three days after death were called “days of weeping,” which were followed by four “days of lamentation,” thus making up the seven “days of mourning.” See note on Genesis 27:41 (#47). According to the rabbinical notion the spirit wanders about the sepulcher for three days seeking an opportunity to return into the body; but when the aspect of the body changes it hovers no more, but leaves the body to itself. The friends of the deceased were in the habit of visiting the sepulcher for three days after death and burial, (see note on Acts 5:6, 826) probably because they supposed they would thus be nearer to the departed soul. When the fourth day came and decomposition took place, and the soul, as they supposed, went away from the sepulcher, they beat their breast and made loud lamentations. This explains the allusion to the “four days” in this text and in verse 39. To say that one had been in the grave four days was equivalent to saying that bodily corruption had begun.