Thanks Dan for your response ( http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2007/danc426.htm  ) to my recent posting ( http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2007/pineman425.htm ).
 
If the prophesy was only in relation to how long Jesus was in His tomb then the 72 hours does not have to have any relevance to how long He was dead.  Actually I did give thought to the possibility that Jesus rose from the dead at 3 PM but stayed in His tomb praying for another 3 hours or so before exiting His tomb when it was evening or night.  Under the "tomb" logic Jesus could have been dead for only 27 hours and He spent the other 48 hours praying before exiting.  He would still be in His tomb for 72 hours.
 
Pineman