聖書注解書

Matthew 27:53. μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῦ, after the raising (active) of Jesus (by God), i.e., after Christ’s own resurrection: not after the raising (of them) by Him, as if αὐτοῦ were genitive subjective. So Fritzsche, who, however, brackets the phrase as a doubtful reading. ἔγερσιν occurs here only in N. T.

Matthew 27:54. ἑκατόνταρχος = κεντυρίων in Mk., the officer in charge of the detachment entrusted with the execution, not hitherto mentioned.—οἱ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, etc.: the whole military party make pious reflections in Mt.; in Mk., with more probability, the centurion only.—καὶ τὰ γινόμενα, and (generally) the things happening, the earthquake included. For a similar use of καὶ vide Matthew 26:59.—υἱὸς θεοῦ: Lk. substitutes for this “a just man”. In the centurion’s mouth the words would mean more than that and less than the sense they bear for a Christian = a hero, an extraordinary man. Yet Lk.’s rendering is to the point, because the Roman soldier is conceived as seeing in the events the anger of the gods at the treatment of an innocent man.

Matthew 27:55. γυναῖκες, women, bolder than men, love casting out fear. Lk. associates with them others called οἱ γνωστοὶ αὐτῷ, His acquaintance, which might include the disciples. Though they fled panic-stricken they may have rallied and returned to see the end, either along with the women or mixed in the crowd, and so have become qualified afterwards for witnessing to what happened. It is no argument against this that no mention is made of them in the narratives. It is no part of the plan of the evangelists to indicate the sources of their information. The women are not mentioned for this purpose, but because they have a part to play in the sequel. If they had been introduced as witnesses it would not have been made so clear that they stood “afar off” (ἀπὸ μακρόθεν). In like manner that Peter followed his Master to the judgment hall is told, not that he may be available as a witness, but because there is a story of denial to relate about him.—πολλαὶ, many, a tribute to the impression made on feminine hearts by the Galilean ministry; for it was from Galilee they came, as the following clause states (αἵτινες, etc., defining them as women who knew Him well, loved Him warmly, and served Him devotedly).

Matthew 27:56. ἐν αἷς: three out of the many named, with a reference to the sequel, or as the best known. Mary of Magdala (first mention in Mt.), Mary, the mother of a well-known pair of brothers, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Salome in Mk.).

Matthew 27:57-66. Burial (Mark 15:42-47, Luke 23:50-56). ἦλθεν, etc., there came (to the place of crucifixion, the centre of interest in the preceding narrative) a man (unknown to readers), rich (this fact put in the forefront by Mt.—εὐσχήμων βουλευτής in Mk. On εὐσχήμων Phrynichus remarks that the vulgar take it as = rich, or in good social position, while the ancients took it as applying to the noble or symmetrical. Mt. may be following vulgar usage, but also with an eye to Isaiah 53:9 : “with the rich in His death”); from Arimathaea (Ramathaim Zophim, 1 Samuel 1:1); the name Joseph, and the relation to Jesus that of a disciple (ἐμαθήτευσε, which, if the correct reading, is an instance of the use of this verb in a neuter sense. Cf. Matthew 13:52, Matthew 28:19, Acts 14:21).

Matthew 27:58. προσελθὼν: from the cross Joseph returns, and approaches Pilate to beg the body of Jesus for burial. In the case of the crucified such a request was necessary, but was generally granted (“Eorum in quos animadvertitur corpora non aliter sepeliuntur quam si fuerit petitum et permissum”. Ulpian. de Cadav. punit. in Justinian, Corpus Jur. Civ. xlviii. 24, 1). The general practice was to leave the bodies to waste. The privilege of burial was sometimes granted for money. There is nothing to show that Pilate condescended to such meanness, at least in the present instance, though Theophy. suggests that he did.—ἐκέλευσεν ἀποδοθῆναι, he ordered it to be delivered.

Matthew 27:59. ἐνετύλιξεν (little used, found in Aristophanes), wrapped.—σινδόνι καθαρᾷ, in clean, i.e., never before used linen.—σινδών is of uncertain derivation and varying sense, being applied to cloths of diverse material, but here generally understood as meaning linen cloth, wrapped in strips round the body as in the case of mummies in Egypt, the body being first washed (Acts 9:37). As to this way of preparing dead bodies for burial we have no details in O. T. (Benzinger, p. 163).

Matthew 27:60. ἐν τῷ καινῷ αὐτοῦ μνημείῳ, in his own new tomb, recently prepared for himself. This not brought out in parallels.—ἐλατόμησεν (λᾶς τέμνω): the aorist for the pluperfect, as in Matthew 27:55; he had hewn out of the rock = ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ, the article pointing to the custom of making sepulchres in rock.—λίθον μέγαν: the usual mode of shutting the door of the tomb; the Jews called the stone golal, the roller.—ἀπῆλθεν: the entombment over, Joseph went away; but the Dead One was not left alone.