성경 주석서

Matthew 27:50 Πάλιν] refers to Matthew 27:46. What did Jesus cry in this instance? See John 19:30, from which Luke 23:46 diverges somewhat, containing, in fact, an explanatory addition to the account of the great closing scene, that is evidently borrowed from Psalm 31:6.

ἀφῆκε τὸ πνεῦμα] i.e. He died. See Herod, iv. 190; Eur. Hec. 571: ἀφῆκε πνεῦμα θανασίμῳ σφαγῇ; Kypke, I. p. 140; Genesis 35:18; Sir 38:23; Wis 16:14. There is no question here of a separating of the πνεῦμα from the ψυχή. See in answer to Ströbel, Delitzsch, Psych. p. 400 f. The theory of a merely apparent death (Bahrdt, Venturini Paulus) is so decidedly at variance with the predictions of Jesus Himself regarding His end, as well as with the whole testimony of the Gospel, is so utterly destructive of the fundamental idea of the resurrection, undermines so completely the whole groundwork of the redemption brought about by Christ, is so inconsistent with the accumulated testimony of centuries as furnished by the very existence of the church itself, which is based upon the facts of the death and the resurrection of Jesus, and requires such a remarkable series of other theories and assumptions of an extraordinary and supernatural character in order to explain duly authenticated facts regarding Christ’s appearance and actings after His resurrection,—that, with friends and foes alike testifying to the actual death of Jesus, we are bound at once to dismiss it as an utterly abortive attempt to get rid of the physiological mystery (but see on Luke, Remarks after Matthew 24:51) of the resurrection. It is true that though those modern critics (Strauss, Weisse, Ewald, Schweizer, Schenkel, Volkmar, Scholten, Keim) who deny the literal resurrection of Christ’s body, and who suggest various ways of accounting for His alleged reappearing again on several occasions, do not dispute the reality of His death, their view is nevertheless as much at variance with the whole of the New Testament evidence in favour of the resurrection as is the one just adverted to. Comp. Matthew 28:10, Rem., and Luke 24:51, Rem.

Matthew 27:51 f. Not an ordinary earthquake, but a supernatural phenomenon, as was that of the darkness in Matthew 27:45.

καὶ ἰδού] “Hie wendet sich’s und wird gar ein neues Wesen” [at this point the history enters upon a fresh stage, and something entirely new appears], Luther. The style of the narrative here is characterized by a simple solemnity, among other indications of which we have the frequent recurrence of καί.

τὸ καταπέτασμα] הַפָּרֹכֶת, the veil suspended before the holy of holies, Exodus 26:31; Leviticus 21:23; 1Ma 1:22; Sir 30:5; Hebrews 6:19; Hebrews 9:3; Hebrews 10:20. The rending in two (for εἰς δύο, comp. Lucian, Tox. 54; Lapith. 44), of which mention is also made by Mark and Luke, was not the effect of the convulsion in nature (which was a subsequent occurrence), but a divine σημεῖον, accompanying the moment of decease, for the purpose of indicating that in this atoning death of Jesus the old dispensation of sacrifices was being done away, and free access to the gracious presence of God at the same time restored. Comp. Hebrews 6:19 f., Matthew 9:6 ff., Matthew 10:19 f. To treat what is thus a matter of divine symbolism as though it were symbolical legend (Schleiermacher, Strauss, Scholten, Keim) is all the more unwarrantable that neither in Old Testament prophecy nor in the popular beliefs of the Jews do we find anything calculated to suggest the formation of any such legend. The influence of legend has operated rather in the way of transforming the rending of the veil into an incident of a more imposing and startling nature: “superliminare (the lintel) templi infinitae magnitudinis fractum esse atque divisum,” Evang. sec. Hebr. quoted by Jerome. See Hilgenfeld, N. T. extr. can. IV. p. 17. The idea underlying this legend was that of the destruction of the temple.

What follows is peculiar to Matthew. The rocks in question were those in the immediate neighbourhood, and so also with regard to τὰ μνημεῖα. The opening of the graves is in like manner to be regarded as divine symbolism, according to which the death of Jesus is to be understood as preparing the way for the future resurrection of believers to the eternal life of the Messianic kingdom (John 3:14 f., John 6:54). The thing thus signified by the divine sign—a sign sufficiently intelligible, and possessing all the characteristics of a genuine symbol (in opposition to Steinmeyer, p. 226)—was so moulded and amplified in the course of tradition that it became ultimately transformed into an historical incident: πολλὰ σώματα τῶν κεκοιμ. ἁγίων ἠγέρθη, κ.τ.λ. For a specimen of still further and more extravagant amplification of the material in question—material to which Ignatius likewise briefly alludes, ad Magnes. 9, and which he expressly mentions, ad Trall, interpol. 9—see Evang. Nicod. 17 ff. This legend respecting the rising of the Old Testament saints (ἁγίων) is based upon the assumption of the descensus Christi ad inferos, in the course of which Jesus was understood not only to have visitsd them, but also to have secured their resurrection (comp. Ev. Nicod.; Ignatius, ad Trall. l.c.). But it is quite arbitrary to assume that in those who are thus alleged to have risen from their graves we have mere “apparitions assuring us of the continued existence of the departed” (Michaelis, Paulus, Kuinoel, Hug, Krabbe, p. 505; Steudel, Glaubensl. p. 455; Bleek). Besides, the legend regarding the rising of the saints on this occasion is, in itself considered, no more incompatible with the idea of Christ being the ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμ. (1 Corinthians 15:20; Colossians 1:18) than the raising of Lazarus and certain others. See on 1 Corinthians 15:20. It is true that, according to Epiphanius, Origen, Ambrose, Luther, Calovius (comp. also Delitzsch, Psych, p. 414), the dead now in question came forth in spiritual bodies and ascended to heaven along with Christ; but with Jerome it is at the same time assumed, in opposition to the terms of our passage, that: “Non antea resurrexerunt, quam Dominus resurgeret, ut esset primogenitus resurrectionis ex mortuis;” comp. also Calvin, and Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 492. In the Acta Pilati as found in Thilo, p. 810, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, and Noah, are expressly mentioned as being among the number of those who rose from the dead. The names are given somewhat differently in the Evang. Nicod.

Matthew 27:53 Μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῦ] is to be taken in an active sense (Psalm 139:2; Plat. Tim. p. 70 C; comp. ἐξέγερσις, Polyb. ix. 15. 4; ἀνέγερσις, Plut. Mor. p. 156 B), yet not as though αὐτοῦ were a genitive of the subject (“postquam eos Jesus in vitam restituerat,” Fritzsche, which would be to make the addition of αὐτοῦ something like superfluous), but a genitive of the object, in which case it is unnecessary to say who it was that raised up Christ. The words are not to be connected with ἐξελθόντες (de Wette, following the majority of the earlier expositors), which would involve the absurd idea that those here referred to had been lying in their graves alive awaiting the coming of the third day; but, as Heinsius, with εἰσῆλθον. After life was restored they left their graves, but only after the resurrection of Jesus did they enter the holy city. Up till then they had kept themselves concealed. And this is by no means difficult to understand; for it was only after the resurrection of Jesus that their appearing could be of service in the way of bearing testimony in favour of Him in whose death the power of Hades was supposed to have been vanquished, and hence it was only then that their rising found its appropriate explanation.

ἁγίαν πόλιν] is in keeping with the solemnity of the entire narrative; comp. Matthew 4:5.

Matthew 27:54 Ὁ δὲ ἑκατόνταρχος] “Centurio supplicio praepositus,” Seneca, de ira, i. 16. He belonged to the σπεῖρα, Matthew 27:27.

οἱ μετʼ αὐτοῦ τηροῦντες τ. Ἰης.] is to be taken as one expression; see Matthew 27:35 f.

καὶ τὰ γινόμενα] καί, as in Matthew 26:59, and numerous instances besides, serves to conjoin the general with the particular: and what was taking place (generally, that is), viz. the various incidents accompanying the death of Jesus (Matthew 27:46 ff.). The present participle (see the critical remarks) is used with reference to things they have been witnessing up till the present moment; see Kühner, II. 1, pp. 117, 163.

ἐφοβήθησαν] they were seized with terror, under the impression that all that was happening was a manifestation of the wrath of the gods.

θεοῦ υἱός] in the mouth of heathens can only denote a son of God in the heathen sense of the words (hero, demi-god), the sense in which they certainly understood them to be used when they heard Jesus accused and mocked.

ἦν] during His life.

Matthew 27:55 f. Ἠκολούθησαν] Here, as in Matthew 27:60 and often elsewhere, we have the aorist in the relative clause instead of the usual pluperfect.

ἡ Μαγδαληνή] from Magdala (see on Matthew 15:39), comp. Luke 8:2; she is not identical with the Mary of John 12:1 ff., who again has been confounded with the sinner of Luke 7:36. Comp. on Matthew 26:6 ff. The מגדלינא is likewise mentioned in Rabbinical literature (Eisenmenger, entdeckt. Judenth. I. p. 277), though this must not be confounded with מגדלא, a plaiter of hair, which the Talmud alleges the mother of Jesus to have been (Lightfoot, p. 498).

ἡ τοῦ Ἰακώβου, κ.τ.λ.] the wife of Alphaeus. See on Matthew 13:55; John 19:25. The mother of Joses is not a different Mary from the mother of James (Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 401), otherwise we should have had καὶ ἡ τοῦ Ἰωσῆ μήτηρ. See also Mark 15:47, Remark.

ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδ.] Salome. Comp. on Matthew 20:20. In John 19:25 she is designated: ἡ ἀδελφὴ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ. The mother of Jesus, whose presence on this occasion is attested by John, is not mentioned by the Synoptists, though at the same time they do not exclude her (in opposition to Schenkel, Keim), especially as Matthew and Mark make no express reference to any but the women who ministered to the Lord. For this reason alone we feel bound to reject the hypothesis of Chrysostom and Theophylact, revived by Fritzsche, but refuted so long ago by Euthymius Zigabenus,—the hypothesis, namely, that it is the mother of Jesus who is meant by Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωσῆ μήτηρ (Matthew 13:55). So also Hesychius of Jerusalem in Cramer’s Catena, p. 256.

Matthew 27:57. Ὀψίας δὲ γενομ.] the so-called first or early evening, just before the close of the Jewish day. Deuteronomy 21:22 f.; Joseph. Bell. iv. 5. 2. See also Lightfoot, p. 499.

ἀπὸ Ἀριμαθ.] belongs to ἄνθρωπος πλούσιος. Comp. μάγοι ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, Matthew 2:1. The other evangelists describe him as a member of the Sanhedrim; an additional reason for supposing him to have resided in Jerusalem.

ἦλθεν] namely, to the place of execution, as the context shows, and not to the praetorium (de Wette, Bleek), to which latter Matthew 27:58 represents him as going only after his return from the scene of the crucifixion. Arimathia, רָמָתַיִם with the article, 1 Samuel 1:1, the birthplace of Samuel (see Eusebius, Onom., and Jerome, Ep. 86, ad Eustoch. epitaph. Paul. p. 673), and consequently identical with Rama (see on Matthew 2:18); LXX.: Ἀρμαθαίμ.

καὶ αὐτός] et ipse, like those women and their sons, Matthew 27:56.

μαθητεύειν τινι] to be a disciple of any one; see Kypke, II. p. 141 f. Comp. on Matthew 13:52. He was a secret follower of Jesus, John 19:38.

Matthew 27:58 According to Roman usage, the bodies of criminals were left hanging upon the cross, where they were allowed to decompose and be devoured by birds of prey. Plaut. mil. glor. ii. 4. 9; Horace, Ep. i. 16. 48. However, should the relatives in any case ask the body for the purpose of burying, there was nothing to forbid their request being complied with. Ulpian, xlviii. 24. 1, de cadav. punit.; Hug in the Freyb. Zeitschr. 5, p. 174 ff.

προσελθ.] therefore from the place of execution to the praetorium.

ἀποδοθῆναι τὸ σῶμα] τὸ σῶμα is due not merely to the simple style of the narrative, but in its threefold repetition expresses with involuntary emphasis the author’s own painful sympathy. ἀποδοθ. has the force of reddi (Vulg.), the thing asked being regarded as the petitioner’s own peculiar property. Comp. Matthew 22:21.

Matthew 27:59 “Jam initia honoris,” Bengel.

σινδόνι καθαρᾷ] with pure (unstained linen) linen, the dative of instrument. Keeping in view the ordinary practice on such occasions, it must not be supposed that the reference here is to a dress (Kuinoel, Fritzsche), but (comp. Herod, ii. 86) to strips or bands (John 19:40), in which the body was swathed after being washed. Comp. Wetstein. Matthew makes no mention of spices (John 19:40), but neither does he exclude their use, for he may have meant us to understand that, in conformity with the usual practice, they would be put in, as matter of course, when the body was wrapped up (in opposition to Strauss, de Wette, Keim). Mark 16:1 and Luke 23:56 represent the putting in of the spices as something intended to be done after the burial. This, however, is in no way inconsistent with the statement of John, for there is no reason why the women may not have supplemented with a subsequent and more careful dressing of the body (ἀλείψωσιν, Mark 16:1) what had been done imperfectly, because somewhat hurriedly, by Joseph and (see John 19:39) Nicodemus.