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Jesus associated himself with the "sign of Jonah" on multiple occasions in response to Jewish leaders demanding that he prove his authority. Possible explanations of the sign are examined here with an emphasis on Jesus's statement that he would be "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt 12:40). A close reading of Jonah 2 reveals that Jesus was describing himself as one who must suffer, but that he was depending upon his Father to rescue him from his descent into death. Unlike traditional explanations which assume that the statement must be restricted to the specific period that Jesus was in the tomb, this approach suggests that Jesus's descent began in the Garden of Gethsemane before he died. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steinmann needed to show that the chronogenealogical formula throughout Genesis 5 and 11 ("When A had lived X years, he brought forth [ *] B") indicates not when B was born but rather when A performed the causing action that initiated the process that culminated in B's birth. His reply, however, does not even attempt to establish this bedrock premise; he continues to treat it as self-evident. My rejoinder demonstrates that Steinmann has not successfully defended the semantics of causation that underlies his unique case for chronological gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his article, Jeremy Sexton offers a critique of my observations about the possibility of gaps in the genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11. His critique notes several items in my presentation, but most notably, Sexton attempts to make an argument about the semantics of Hebrew causation in general and about the H (Hiphil) stem of verbs of the root דלי in particular. In this response, I demonstrate that Sexton's analysis is flawed and involves misunderstanding of my position and false conclusions about the meaning of H (Hiphil) stem of verbs of the root דלי. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]