The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 634

EXPOSlTION. sa.bbe.th, and Ohristian1 at first carrying c,n OHAPTER XXVIII. the same practice, as we see in Acts xx. 7; Vere. 1-10.-JeRU8 ri8e8 from tM dead, 1 Oor. xvi. 2. Later Christians named the and appear8 to tl1e holy women. (Mark xvi. days of the week in sequence from the Sun- 1-8; Luke xxiv. 1-12; John xx. 1-10.) da.y, which was the first day, Monday being the second day, feria secunda, a.n,l so on. It is to be noted thot there a.re greot o.nd Came Mary Ma.gdo.J-,ne and the other Mary important vario.tions in the fonr (or, with (see on eh. xxvii. 61) to see the s.ipulchra. St. Paul's, 1 Oor. xv., the five) accounts of Love cannot abandon its object, Ii ving or the events of the Resurrection, which ho.ve dead. There were probably other women with these two, or perhaps there were two given welcome occasion to the sceptic to separate bands of women wl,o in this early cast doubts upon the whole transaction. morning visited the sepulchre. Am<>ng The divergences in the narratives ore plainly these Mary Magdalene stands prominen.tly to be ascrihed to the facts that the writ<'rs forward, first in love and first in ea.re. She did not depend up~n one another, nor draw and the rest evidently knew nothing of tbe see.ling of the stone or the posting of the their accounts from one source ; that ench guards. St. Ma.tthew's expression, "to see gives only an incomplete history, intro- (8,wp~<Tcr.i, "to gaze upon," "contemplate") ducing those details with which he was the sepulchre," conveys only e. partial notice familinr, or which it suited his plan to re- of the object of their visit. They came not count. On all ma.in points the agreement is only to take a view of the tomb, but also to embalm the Lord's body, for which neces- perfect, and every difference could be easily sary preparations hod been me.de, the ap- reconciled, if we knew the whole of the cir- proach of the sabba.th on the evening of the oumstances and the exact sequence of each Crucifixion having cut short the arrange- word and act during this momentous period. ments. We know from St. Mark that they Attempts at harmonizing the various ac- were perplexed about the rl i.fficnlty of re- moving the atone, and St. Matthew may be counts have been made with more or less ]!lferring to e. prelimina.ry inspection ma.de success by writers from St. Augustine to in regard of this impediment. Our Gospel the present time; but as they vary in many omits mention of the intention of embalming particulars, and have no authoritative basis, the corpse, as the Resurrection rendered it dependence cannot be placed upon them. impracticable; and, indeed, the Lord's body ha.d already been anointed for his burial by The narrative in St. Matthew i1 brief and Mory of Bethany. imperfect, and we shall chiefly confine our Ver. 2.-And, behold. A wonderful sight remarks to the exposition of the actual text met their eyes. The following eveut took before UB, without importing much matter place before their arrival; they saw only from the other evangelists. tho result. No mortal eye beheld, a.nd no pen bas reoorde<l, the e.ctua.l issuing of the Ver. 1.-In the end of the sabbath; olJ,f Lord from the closed tomb. There wa..s e. rra{J{Jd.nw: late on the sabbath; Vulgale, great earthquake. St. Matthew does not vespere 8abbati. The expression is obscure. attempt to give the exact sequence of events. In the parallel passage of St. Mark we read, Probably the shock, ea.used by the sudden "When the sa.bba.th was past." We must advent and a.ction of the angel, befell as the ta.ke it that St. Ma.tthew is thinking of the women were a.pproaching the cemetery. sa.bba.th as extending, not from evening to Christ had risen before this occurrence, evening, but till the following morning. nothing being e. barrier to his spiritual "So that it is not the accurate Jewish divi- body. For the angel oi the Lord ... from sion of time, according to which the se.bhl\th the door. The na.rrator accounts for the ended at six on Sa.turde.y evening, but the phenomenon just mc·11tioned. The words, ordino.ry civil ideo of e. day, which extenrlcd " from the door," a.re omitted by the beat from sunrise to sunrise (or at lea.st adds the ma.nuscripts, the Vulga.te, and modern night to the preoeding doy) " (Lango). We editors, and seem to be o marginal interpo- have, then, now orrived at the commencement la.tio11. The angel rolled owa.y the stone of the first Christio.n Easter Day. As it which Joseph hod rolled up (eh. x.xvii. 60). began to dawn toward the first day of the not in order to afford passe.ge to the body of week; els µlav <Tcr.fJ{Ja:rwv: iii prima sabbati the Lord, who bad a.lrea.dy raised himself, (Vulge.te); literolly, unto one day of sabbath; but to give the women a.nd others e11tre.nce i.e. one day o.fter the sabba.th, the Jewa to the empty tomb, and to strike terror into reckoning their daye in sequence from the the hel\rt of the soldiers. In the case of  IHO THE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [011. xxvm. 1-20.