Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Matthew: Chapter 28].
[Table of Contents]
[Previous] [Next]
28:1 {Now late on the sabbath as it began to dawn toward the
first day of the week} (\opse de sabbat•n, t•i epiph•skous•i eis
mian sabbat•n\). This careful chronological statement according
to Jewish days clearly means that before the sabbath was over,
that is before six P.M., this visit by the women was made "to see
the sepulchre" (\theor•sai ton taphon\). They had seen the place
of burial on Friday afternoon (Mr 15:47; Mt 27:61; Lu 23:55).
They had rested on the sabbath after preparing spices and
ointments for the body of Jesus (Lu 23:56), a sabbath of
unutterable sorrow and woe. They will buy other spices after
sundown when the new day has dawned and the sabbath is over (Mr
16:1). Both Matthew here and Luke (Lu 23:54) use dawn
(\epiph•sk•\) for the dawning of the twenty-four hour-day at
sunset, not of the dawning of the twelve-hour day at sunrise. The
Aramaic used the verb for dawn in both senses. The so-called
Gospel of Peter has \epiph•sk•\ in the same sense as Matthew and
Luke as does a late papyrus. Apparently the Jewish sense of
"dawn" is here expressed by this Greek verb. Allen thinks that
Matthew misunderstands Mark at this point, but clearly Mark is
speaking of sunrise and Matthew of sunset. Why allow only one
visit for the anxious women?
28:2 {There was a great earthquake} (\seismos egeneto megas\).
Clearly not the earthquake of 27:51. The precise time of this
earthquake is not given. It was before sunrise on the first day
of the week when the women made the next visit. Matthew alone
relates the coming of the angel of the Lord who rolled away the
stone and was sitting upon it (\apekulise ton lithon kai ekath•to
epan• autou\). If one is querulous about these supernatural
phenomena, he should reflect that the Resurrection of Jesus is
one of the great supernatural events of all time. Cornelius …
Lapide dares to say: "The earth, which trembled with sorrow at
the Death of Christ as it were leaped for joy at His
Resurrection." The Angel of the Lord announced the Incarnation of
the Son of God and also His Resurrection from the grave. There
are apparent inconsistencies in the various narratives of the
Resurrection and the appearances of the Risen Christ. We do not
know enough of the details to be able to reconcile them. But the
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/MT28.RWP.html (1 of 6) [28/08/2004 09:03:32 a.m.]
Word Pictures in the New Testament
(Matthew: Chapter 28)