1. 'Hyo'paffav, they [7iacT] bought) On the day before the Sab bath they prepared the sweet spices, Luke xxiii. 56, xxiv. 1. Therefore it must have been then also that they had bought them : for on the day following the Sabbath they could not have bought them so early in the morning. Accordingly, either &uvytvof**96u T°Z ffufSpoirou must, by Hyperbaton [the transposition of words contrary to the natural order. — See Append.], be joined with they come [spxpvrai], ver. 2 ; or else the sense is, the Sabbath having been kept in the interim, viz. between the pre paration and the first day of the week. — apu/Aara, sweet spices ; — aXel-^uffiv, they might anoint) There is a Synecdoche [see Ap pend.] in both words.1 They were wishing to sprinkle the body with the sweet spices, and to anoint it with ointments, or else to mix together the sweet spices and ointments.
2. A/ac Kput, very early in the morning. — avarzlXavros rov ^X/ou, the sun having arisen) The one [the first] clause applies to Mary Magdalene, John xx. 1 ; the other clause to the rest of the women.
3. 'EX, from) Therefore the sepulchre had been very securely guarded. The women, however, were not aware that it had been also sealed [Matt, xxvii. 66].
4. Yap, for) The particle intimates both the reason why the women were in anxiety [ver. 3], and the reason why they per ceived that the stone must have been rolled away with an un usually great power.
5. Nfavfaxov, a young man) A style of appearance appropriate to angels. For the most part, they appeared in the form of a man, and that a youthful human form in this case [Matt. xxviii. 2]. — sv ro/s de%ioi$, on the right side) The minister [at tendant angel] is thus ready at hand to his Lord, fitly minister ing to Him.
1 The dpuftetra, sweet spices, including also ointments : the aLhityuatv, anoint, including also the mixing together of sweet spices and ointments.— ED. and TRANSL.