Matthew 28

Matthew 28:1

The night after the sabbath, toward the next morning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, having with them spices to embalm his body, Luke xxiv. 1, came to see—

[a] end] If ὀψὲ signify a distinct part of time, and that strictly the evening, then it must note that evening as the first part of the first day of the week, at which time these women began their journey, bought their spices, went out of the city, stayed all night in the suburbs, and very early, ὄρθρον βαθίος, Luke xxiv. 1, and σκοτίας ἔτι οὖσης, while it was yet dark, John xx. 1, came to the sepulchre, and so that will reconcile and connect the ὀψὲ σαββάτων to the ἐπιφωσκούση &c. But ὀψὲ may be also taken in a wider sense; see note [d] ch. xiv.

Matthew 28:2

And when they came, they found there had been a great concussion, probably of the air, a kind of thunder, with which the angels are wont to appear, but withal about the earth, at the removal of the gravestone: for the angel— they that guarded the sepulchre did shake—

Matthew 28:6

He is not here in the grave, but, according to guard: go, secure it as you know, κουστωδίας, ὑπάγει, ἀσφαλίσασε

ὡς οἴδατε. with a guard, μετά τῆς κουστωδίας. 1 And the evening after the sabbath.

shaking, concussion, σειπμός: see note [i] on chap. xxvii. 51. 2 appearance, ἡ ἰδία. 3 The

word αὐτοῦ, of him, is not in the King’s MS.

Matthew 28:7

Go quickly, and according to what I have told you do ye tell the disciples; viz., that he hath performed his promise in rising from the dead, and now will perform that other of going into Galilee, ch. xxvi. 32, the appointed place of meeting; thither if ye go ye shall be sure to meet him; God hath sent his angel from heaven to tell you this.

Matthew 28:8

And being affrighted with the appearance of the angels, but extremely joyed with the news of Christ’s resurrection, they made all haste to carry his disciples word of this.

b fell down and caught him by the feet, c disciples and kinsmen,

12, 13. And those chief priests calling the rest of the sanhedrim together, by decree of council appointed that a good sum of money should be given to the soldiers, sufficient to bribe them all to say, that his disciples—

d the procurator Pilate’s hearing, (see ch. xxvii. 14,) we will persuade him that it was so, and keep you from punishment for guarding the tomb no better.

Matthew 28:19

[b] all nations] What is meant sometimes by the word ἴθνη, nations, hath been said, (see note [e] ch. xxiv.) to wit, the tribes and families of the Jews, the regions and cities of Palestine; and though it do not so here, exclusively to the other nations of the world, yet neither doth it signify the nations of the heathen world, in opposition or exclusively to the Jews, as elsewhere it frequently doth; but primarily and in the first place, the several parts of Judæa, and the Jews, where-soever they are in their dispersions abroad, and then secondarily the Gentiles mingled with the Jews, and finally the whole Gentile world, when, upon the Jews rejecting the gospel, the apostles depart from them and go to the Gentiles. That this is the meaning of the place, I shall use two arguments to make most probable. First, because in other places, when the commission of preaching and gathering disciples is given to the apostles, it is with a command to go first to the Jews, and not at all to the Gentiles. So in their first commission, out of which the very Samaritans were excluded, Matt. x. 5: Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And in their second commission, Acts i. 8, although the Samaritans are taken in, and the utmost parts of the earth, yet, ch. iii. and ch. xiii. 46, it is still πρῶτον ὑμῖν, first to the Jews, that they must preach. And accordingly we find that the apostles, till the Jews reject them, and are ready to stone them, do not leave them off to go to the Gentiles. But then, Acts xiii. 46, they foretell them what they are to do: Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you (which refers, I suppose, to the precept of Christ, that made it necessary): but seeing ye have it put from you, &c. lo, we turn to the Gentiles. And when, ver. 47, they urge the Lord’s commandment for so doing, it is not this parting precept of Christ, but one out of the prophet Isaiah, ch. xlix. 6, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, &c. And the same I conceive before intimated, vv. 40, 41: Beware lest that come upon you (Jews) which is spoken of in the prophet; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work which you shall in no wise believe, &c.; that is, upon the Jews’ despising and holding out

Matthew 28:57

[k] Arimathæa] Arimathæa is the place where Samuel was born and brought up, called by the Hebrews Ramathaim Sophim, in Greek Ἀρμαθαίμ.