Bibelkommentare

Matthew 27:61. ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖ, etc., but, in contrast to Joseph, there was there Mary, the woman of Magdala, also the other Mary, sitting in front of the tomb.—τάφου here, as in Matthew 23:27; Matthew 23:29, used of a place of burial, not of the act of burial. The word is peculiar to Mt. in the N. T.

Matthew 27:62-66. Precautions against theft of the body; peculiar to Mt., and among the less certain elements of the Passion history, owing its origin and presence in this Gospel apparently to the exigencies of the primitive Christian apologetic against Jewish unbelief, which, as we gather from Matthew 27:64, must have sought to invalidate the faith in the resurrection of Jesus by the hypothesis of theft accounting for an empty grave. The transactions here recorded effectually dispose of that hypothesis by making theft impossible. Is the story true, or must we, with Meyer, relegate it to the category of unhistorical legend? Meyer founds largely on the impossibility of Christ predicting so distinctly as is here implied, even to His own disciples, His resurrection. That means that the priests and Pharisees could have had no such solicitude as is ascribed to them. All turns on that. If they had such fears, so originating, it would be quite natural to take precautions against a trick. I think it quite possible that even independently of the saying in chap. Matthew 12:40, given as spoken to Pharisees, it had somehow reached their ears that Jesus had predicted His Passion, and in speaking of it was wont to connect with it the idea of rising again, and it was natural that at such a time they should not despise such reports.

Matthew 27:62. τῇ ἐπαύριον, the next day, i.e., the Jewish Sabbath, curiously described as the day (ἥτις) μετὰ τὴν παρασκευήν, the more important day defined by reference to the less important, suggesting that Mt. has his eye on Mk.’s narrative (Mark 15:42). So Weiss-Meyer.

Matthew 27:63. ἐκεῖνος: contemptuous reference, as to one not worthy to be named, and far off, a thing of the past removed for ever by death.—ὁ πλάνος: a wanderer in the first place, then derivatively, from the character of many wanderers, in N. T. a deceiver.—ἐγείρομαι, present for future, expressing strong confidence.

Matthew 27:64. ἕως τ.τρίτης ἡμέρας: the definite specification of time here and in Matthew 27:63 may have been imported into the story in the course of the tradition.—ἡ ἐσχάτη πλάνη, the last delusion = faith in the resurrection, belief in the Messiahship of Jesus being the first.—χείρων, worse, not so much in character as in consequences, more serious.

Matthew 27:65. ἔχετε: probably imperative, not indicative = have your watch, the ready assent of a man who thinks there is not likely to be much need for it, but has no objections to gratify their wish in a small matter. So most recent interpreters—Meyer, Weiss, Holtz., Weizsäcker, Morison, Spk., Com., Alford. The Vulgate takes it as indicative = habetis, which Schanz follows. This rendering implies that Pilate wished them to be content with what they had already, either their own temple watch or soldiers already put at their disposal. Carr (Camb. N. T.) doubts the correctness of the modern interpretation on the ground that no clear example of the use of ἔχειν in the sense of “to take” occurs in either classical or Hellenistic Greek.—κουστωδίαν, a guard, a Latinism, a natural word for the Roman Pilate to use.—ὑπάγετε ἀσφαλίσασθε, the three verbs: ἔχ. ὑπάγ. ἀσφαλ., following each other without connecting particles form an asyndeton “indicating impatience on the part of Pilate” (Camb. N. T.).—ὡς οἴδατε, as ye know how.

Matthew 27:66. ἠσφαλίσαντο is to be taken with the last clause—μετὰ τῆς κουστωδίας, which points to the main means of securing the tomb against plunder. The participial clause—σφραγίσαντες τὸν λίθον—is a parenthesis pointing to an additional precaution, sealing the stone, with a thread over it and sealed to the tomb at either end. The worthy men did their best to prevent theft, and—the resurrection!

CHAPTER 28.

THE RESURRECTION AND THE GREAT COMMISSION.

Matthew 28:1-10. The open grave (Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-11).

Matthew 28:1. ὀψὲ.… σαββάτων, a curious and puzzling note of time, inconsistent with itself if translated “late on Sabbath, towards daybreak on the first day of the week,” and on the assumption that the day is supposed to begin and end at sunset. That would give, as the time at which the events to be narrated happened, the afternoon of one day and the early morning of the next. Of course the two clauses are meant to coincide in meaning, and a way out of the difficulty must be sought. One is to take ὀψὲ as = post, after the Sabbath, or late in comparison with the Sabbath, σαββάτων in clause I being in effect a genitive of comparison. So Euthy. and Grotius, who take σαββ. as = the whole passover week, De Wette, Weizsäcker, etc. Another is to take ὀψὲ as = not later than, but late on, and to assume that the day is conceived to begin and end with sunrise according to the civil mode of reckoning. So Kypke, Meyer, Weiss, Morison. Authorities are divided as to Greek usage, Meyer and Weiss, e.g., contending that ὀψὲ always means lateness of the period specified, and still current. Holtzmann, H. C., remarks that only from the second clause do we learn that by the first is not meant the evening of the Sabbath, but the end of the night following, conceived as still belonging to the Sabbath.—τῇ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ, supply ἡμέρᾳ or ὥρᾳ.—εἰς μίαν. σ., towards day one of the week (Sabbath in first clause).—ἦλθε, came, singular though more than one concerned, as in Matthew 27:56; Matthew 27:61. Mary of Magdala, evidently the heroine among the women.—θεωρῆσαι τ. τ., to see the sepulchre; no word of anointing, that being excluded by the story of the watch.