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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Matthew 28:1 - 28:1
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Now late on the sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week (opse de sabbatōn, tēi epiphōskousēi eis mian sabbatōn). 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” (theorēsai ton taphon). They had seen the place of burial on Friday afternoon (Mar 15:47; Mat 27:61; Luk 23:55). They had rested on the sabbath after preparing spices and ointments for the body of Jesus (Luk 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 (Mar 16:1). Both Matthew here and Luke (Luk 23:54) use dawn (epiphōskō) 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 epiphōskō 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?