The number “three and a half” (years) is the equivalent of 42 months, and 1,260 days (Revelation 11:2–3). Each of these parallel numbers represents a limited period of time determined by God, a season in which particular events happen in the new dispensation that advance his kingdom. In this instance, however, the reference is not to 3.5 years but to 3.5 days. The point is that the Lord shortens this season so that the period of their silence is shorter than the season of their prophesying. Though it may appear from time to time in the course of church history that the witness of the church is altogether silenced, it shall never ultimately be so; her silence will always be brief.
9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,