Verse 52
And the graves were opened - By the earthquake; and many bodies of saints which slept, i.e. were dead, sleep being a common expression for death in the Scriptures.
Verse 53
And came out of the graves after his resurrection - Not Before, as some have thought, for Christ was himself the First Fruits of them who slept, [1Cor 15:20]. The graves were opened at his death, by the earthquake, and the bodies came out at his resurrection.
And appeared unto many - Thus establishing the truth of our Lord's resurrection in particular, and of the resurrection of the body in general, by many witnesses. Quesnel's reflections on these passages may be very useful. "1. The veil being rent shows that his death is to put an end to the figurative worship, and to establish the true religion.
2. The earthquake, that this dispensation of the Gospel is to make known through the earth the judgments of God against sin and sinners.
3. The rocks being rent declare that the sacrifice of Christ is to make way for the grace of repentance.
4. The graves being opened, that it is to destroy the death of sin, and confer the life grace on sinners.
5. The rising of the bodies of the saints shows that this death of Christ is to merit, and his Gospel publish, the eternal happiness of body and soul for all that believe in his name."
It is difficult to account for the transaction mentioned [Mat 27:52], [Mat 27:53]. Some have thought that these two verses have been introduced into the text of Matthew from the gospel of the Nazarenes; others think that the simple meaning is this: - by the earthquake several bodies that had been buried were thrown up and exposed to view, and continued above ground till after Christ's resurrection, and were seen by many persons in the city. Why the graves should be opened on Friday, and the bodies not be raised to life till the following Sunday, is difficult to be conceived. The place is extremely obscure.
Verse 54
The centurion - The Roman officer who superintended the execution, called centurio, from centum, a hundred, because he had the command of one hundred men.
Truly this was the Son of God - An innocent, holy, and Divine person; and God thus shows his disapprobation of this bloody tragedy. It is not likely that this centurion had any knowledge of the expectation of the Jews relative to the Messiah, and did not use the words in this sense. A son of God, as the Romans used the term, would signify no more than a very eminent or Divine person; a hero.
Verse 55
Many women - To their everlasting honor, these women evidenced more courage, and affectionate attachment to their Lord and Master, than the disciples did, who had promised to die with him rather than forsake him.
Beholding afar off - At a distance - απο μακροθεν. Though this expression may be understood to refer, rather to the distance from which they came, (viz. from Galilee), than the distance they stood from the cross; yet, as all malefactors were crucified naked, perhaps this may account for the distance at which these modest women stood.
Verse 56
Mary Magdalene - She probably had her name from Magdala, a village or district in Lower Galilee. See [Mat 15:39]. Some think she was called Magdalene from מגדלא magdala, which signifies a plaiter of hair. See Lightfoot.
Mary the mother of James - She was mother of him called James the lesser, or junior, who was son of Alpheus or Cleopas - see [Mat 10:3]; [Mar 15:40]; [Joh 19:25]; and she was sister to the holy virgin. Thus it appears that there were four remarkable Marys mentioned in the Gospels.
1. Mary the Virgin, wife of Joseph.
2. Mary Salome, her sister, wife of Cleopas, [Joh 19:25].
3. Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Magdala; and,
4. Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, [Joh 11:1].
Though Baronius asserts, and Lightfoot is of the same opinion, that Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, was one and the same person. It is difficult to ascertain and distinguish these women where their names occur in the Gospels, so many being called by the name of Mary.
Joses - Several MSS. and versions read Joseph.
Verse 57
When the even - This must have been about three o'clock, or a little after; for our Lord having expired about three o'clock, [Mat 27:46], and the Jewish passover beginning about four, it was necessary that Joseph, who would not fail to eat the passover at the usual time, should have obtained and buried the body of Christ some time before four o'clock. But such was the general consternation, occasioned by the prodigies that took place on this most awful occasion, that we may safely conjecture that nothing was done in order, and perhaps the passover itself was not eaten at the usual hour, if at all, that day. See at the end of the preceding chapter.
A rich man - He was a counsellor of the great Sanhedrin, [Luk 23:50]; and, from the accounts given of him by the evangelists we learn that he was a man of the greatest respectability. He now acted a more honorable part than all the disciples of our Lord. He was of Arimathea, or Rama, in the tribe of Benjamin, [Mat 2:18], but lived ordinarily in Jerusalem, as being a member of the great council.
Verse 58
Begged the body - That he might bury it honorably otherwise, by the Jewish customs, he would have either been burned, or buried in the common place appointed for executed criminals.
Verse 59
Wrapped it in a clean linen cloth - The Jews, as well as the Egyptians, added spices to keep the body from putrefaction, and the linen was wrapped about every part to keep the aromatics in contact with the flesh. From [Joh 19:39], [Joh 19:40], we learn that a mixture of myrrh and aloes of one hundred pounds' weight had been applied to the body of Jesus when he was buried. And that a second embalmment was intended, we learn from [Luk 23:56]; [Luk 24:1], as the hurry to get the body interred before the Sabbath did not permit them to complete, the embalming in the first instance. See an account of the mode of embalming among the Egyptians, in the note on [Gen 50:2], [Gen 50:26] (note).
Verse 60
Laid it in his own new tomb - To all human appearance the body of Christ must have had the same burial-place with those of the two robbers, as he was numbered with the transgressors, and suffered with them; for then he was a sacrifice, bearing the sin of the world in his own body on the tree; but now the sacrifice is offered, the atonement made and accepted, he is no longer to be enrolled with the transgressors, and, according to a prophecy delivered nearly seven hundred years before that time, he is to have the burying-place of a rich man. See [Isa 53:9], [Isa 53:10]. Had our Lord been buried in the common burial-ground of the malefactors, his resurrection could not have been so distinctly remarked, as the chief priests would never have thought of sealing the stone there, or setting a watch; but now that the body is got into the hands of a friend, they judge it necessary to make use of these precautions, in order, as they said, to prevent imposture; and from this very circumstance the resurrection of Christ had its fullest evidence, and was put beyond the power of successful contradiction. What a number of objections would not human prudence have made to Joseph's conduct, had he consulted it on this occasion! It would have represented to him that, "this was to expose himself, to bring himself into trouble, to render himself suspected, to put himself out of all capacity of doing good, to ruin himself irrecoverably; and now it could do no good to his teacher - he is now dead, and needs no longer any office of kindness from men." There is, sometimes in our whole life, but one opportunity in which God designs signally to employ us; and, through our general backwardness to every good work, we are for reserving ourselves to other opportunities, in which God neither requires nor will accept our services.
Rolled a great stone to the door - Some are of opinion that this tomb was cut down into the rock, perpendicularly from the surface; and that the great stone spoken of here covered over the entrance to it. The stone, no doubt, was intended to secure the place as much as possible.
Verse 61
Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary - The mother of James and Joses, [Mat 27:56]. The mother of our Lord had probably, by this time, been taken home to the house of John. See [Joh 19:26], [Joh 19:27].
Sitting over against the sepulchre - These holy women, filled with that love to their Lord which death cannot destroy, cleaved to him in life, and in death were not divided. They came to the grave to see the end, and overwhelmed with sorrow and anguish, sat down to mourn.
Verse 62
The next day - This was the seventh, or Saturday, and might be what we should term the evening of the sixth, or Friday, because the Jews always ended their day when the sun set, and then began the next.
That followed the day of the preparation - That is, of the Sabbath. The victuals, etc., which were to be used on the Sabbath by the Jews, were always prepared the preceding evening before the sun set. It is of this preparation that the evangelist speaks here; and it is the same which is mentioned by Mark, [Mar 15:42]; by Luke, [Luk 23:54]; and by John, [Joh 19:31]. But there was another preparation which happened in the same day: viz. The preparation of the passover; this began about twelve o'clock, and continued till four, the time in which they ate the paschal lamb. See [Joh 19:14].
Verse 63
Sir, we remember, etc. - While these wicked men are fulfilling their own vicious counsels, they are subserving the great cause of Christianity. Every thing depended on the resurrection of Christ; if it did not appear that he rose from the dead, then the whole system was false, and no atonement was made. It was necessary therefore that the chief priests, etc., should make use of every precaution to prevent an imposture, that the resurrection of Christ might have the fullest evidence to support it. See on [Mat 27:60] (note).
The word Κυριε is here very properly translated sir, which, in many other places, is as improperly translated Lord. When a Roman is the speaker, or the person addressed, Κυριε should always be translated sir; when strangers address our Lord, the word is a title of civil respect, and should, in general, be translated in the same way.
After three days I will rise again - This they probably took from his saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up. If so, they destroyed, by their own words, the false accusation they brought against him to put him to death; then they perverted the meaning, now they declare it. Thus the wise are taken in their own craftiness. Neither the devil nor his servants ever speak truth, but when they expect to accomplish some bad purpose by it.