The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 422

ravour. That he might take away the body weight. Thie wns a vast qunntity. It rc- of Jesu1: and Pllate gave him leave, This is mincle the re•vler of •• tbo mynh rinJ aloes" snpposod by some, who are anxious to mnke of the royal Bridegroom 0t' lho CJ,urch (Pe. diffloulties where none exist, that (accord- xiv.); of the frankincense and myrrh l,rr,uglit h:Jg to Mark xv. 48) Pilate had alron.<ly given by the Wiao Men of the Eni;t; 0f tho !,, vish permission for the cruri/ragium, antl yet gift 0f Mary the sister of Lnzaru.< ; of the wae astonished that ho wa11 deacl al.ready. ontbure_t of houndless love whicl,, spite of The statement of Mnrk ia porfcctly con- nil the cruel perilCcution rmtl rejection to sistent with this and with the apO&<1111 of which the Lord wne exposed, at length was ver. 81. Joseph, when all tho transactions lavished upon him. The myrrh e.n,l aloes were over, sought for himself the privilege were pounded and mixed for tho purposes of o. friend to tnke the body and bury it. of resisting the decomposition of dcatl,. The Romnn law permitted this privilege to method was entirely to cover the o0ovicu friends ; 69 Luthnrdt says, "The Chris- with its pungent and purifying powder, an<l tian mC\rtyrs of Rome were often buried then to swathe the whole body with the in the catacombs." Not until death was grave-clothes thue enriched. obvious was it lawful to remove a body from Ver, 40.-They took therefora--i.e. Nico- the cross. The death hnd token place; the demus and Joseph-the body of Jesus, and Jews were prepared with Pilate's authori- bound it in linen clothes with the spices, a.s zation to remove tile co1·pse to the Ve.lley of is the manner of the Jews to bury. 'l'ho tile Son of Hinnom. Joseph comes with e. eynoptists specially mention a linen clvtl, permission to take the corpse for honourable (<1!vBwv), which they wound around it. It burial He oame therefore-by reason of the would seem probable, from what is after- permission-and took I the body (of Jesus). wards eaid, that John wished to disorimi- Ver. 39.-But there came e.lso Nioodemua no.te and affirm both processes (seo eh. xx. who at the first oa.me to him by night point- 7). The Jews' met.hod differed from the ing back (as the evangelist also does at oh. Egyptians' embalming process. The I.,tter vii. 50) to the memorable converse with our removed all the viscera; and, by long baking Lord. detailed in eh. iii. 1-20, when Jesus and other processes, reuderecl the remaining made clear to his visitor tho.t he would be shell of the corpse incorruptible nnd almost '' lifted up, even as the serpent we.a lifted up imperishable. The Jewa' process of s<;pul- in the wilderness." There is no proof that ture differed from the Roman cremation, ,.n,I thie "ruler of the Jews " and " master in is empha.sized. Importance was uttached to Ismol" bad been encouro.ged by the a.et of a. splendid funeral (Luke xvi. 22) ; anJ thi~ Joseph; but it might seem that these two costly interment waa not without its deep between them had arranged the costly cere- significance. ments. Thore is 11 world of suggestion lying Ver. 41.-Now there wa.s in the placo in this quietly mentioned fact. Doubtless where he wa.s cruoified, close at hand to the there wore many others of timid disposition, very crose, a. garden, and iu the ga.rdGn a. who ha.d received deeper convictions than new aapulchre, wherein a.s yet no man wa.s the narrative of the Passion seems to sug- la.id (on site, see ver.17, notes). John alone gest. Nicodemus had sa.id, "We know that tells us of the "garden;" e.nd he clearly saw thou a.rt a. Teacher sent from God." By the significance of the resemblance to tilo reason of their unacknowledged faith, the "garden" where Christ agonized unto death, way was prepared for the ma.rvellolll! con- and wa.s betrayed with a !rise, o.nd also versions of Pentecost and later days. Nico- to the garden where the first Adam fell demus ea.me to the oross, in o.11 probability from the high est.ate of p08se non peccare. aided by the loving cares of the women We a.re not told, however, by him that thi~ Qnd the disciple whom J eeus loved, bringing sepulchre wa.s Joseph's own (1\fattllew gives a. mixture • of myrrh, an odoriferoUB gUill, thie explanation), nor that it was cut out a.nd aloes, a. fragrant wood, prepared for the of a rock, nor the nature or quality of it. embalming process, about an hundred pounds Matthew, Luke, und John remo.rk that it was ,calvov, not simply v,ov, recently made, 1 Tischendorf (8th edit.) and Bile Re- but new in the sense of being as yet 11,11used, visers read, with N, ij,\Oov and ijpav ; bul thus preventing the possibility of any R.T., Tregolles, Alford, Westcott a.nd Hort, confusion, or a.ny subordinate miracle, such Godet, eto., abide by the T.Il. The reo.diug 11e hoppened at the grave of Elishu (2 Toil 'l1J<1oii rests on feeble a.uthority. The Kings xiii. 21), o.nd eo our Lord's sacred omission by R.T., Lo.chmann, and others rests body came into no contact with corruption. on N°, B, L, eto. Tisohendorf reads av-r6v. Thus from the hour of deo.th, in which • N• and B rea.d l},.ryµa., " a. roll," rather the love of God in Christ is seen at its most tha.n µ.i-yµ.a; but it is only placed by 'fi- d!\Zzling moral lustre, and the glorification sohcnclorf (8th edit.), Westoott und Hod, and of Christ in his Po.ss ion reacues its clima.."t, the Revisers in tho margin, dcl\th itself begins to put on new lllll'X·  436 THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO BT. JORN. [on. ux. 1----42.