Quesnel observes, "Wonderful is the power of Christ's death, which gives courage to confess Him in His deepest hu- miliation, to those who, when He was doing miracles, came to Him only in secret."
Henry observes that Joseph and Nicodemus showed weak faith, but strong love. " A firm faith in Christ's resurrection would have saved them this cost and expense." But they showed their deep love to our Lord's person and teaching.
[And brought. ..myrrh... aloes. ..loeight.] The mixture here mentioned was probably in the shape of powder. The two in- gredients were strongly aromatic and antiseptic. The large quantity brought shows the wealth and the liberal mind of Nicodemus. It also shows his wise forethought, A dead body go torn and lacerated as that of our blessed Lord, would need an unusually large quantity of antiseptics or preservatives, to check the tendency to corruption which such a climate would cause, even at Easter. Considering also that everything must have been done with some haste, the large quantity of spices used was probably meant to compensate for the want of time to do the work slowly and carefully.
40. — [Then took. ..tody. ..wound. ..clothes... spices. 1 Here we are told the precise manner of the preparation of our Lord's body for burial. As always in that time and country; He was not put into a coffin. He was simply wrapped up in linen cloths, on which the preparation of myrrh and aloes had been laid. Thus the powder would be nest to our Lord's body, and interpose be- tween the linen and His skin. How the linen clothes were provided, we are told by St. Mark. Joseph " bought fine linen." (Mark xv. 4G.) Joseph, being a rich man, had no difliculty in supplying funds for this purpose.
The word " wound " means literally " bound."
The sentence before us supplies one more strong evidence of the reality of Christ's death. Joseph and Nicodemus could not possibly be deceived. When they touched and handled the body, and wrapped it in linen clothes, they must have felt con- vinced that the heart had ceased to beat, and that life was ex- tinct. There is no mistaking the feel of a dead body.
{As the manner... Jeios... bury.] This is one of those occasional comments or explanatory remarks, which St. John sometimes makes in his Gospel, supplying strong internal evidence that he wrote for all the Church of Christ in every land. Gentiles as well as Jews, and that he thought it wise to explain Jewish customs. The reference appears to be to the wrapping of the body in linen, rather than to the use of the spices. Lazarus at Bethany came out of the grave wrapped around with cloths.
The wise foresight of the Spirit of God appears strongly in the details here given of our Lord's burial. The quantity of spices used was so great, that it anticipates the objection that