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THE BURIAL. THE SEPULCHRE SEALED
Mat_27:57-66
(Mar_15:42-47; Luk_23:50-56.)
62Now the next day [But on the morrow, ô ͅ ῆ äὲ ἐðáýñéïí ], that followed the day of the preparation [ ðáñáóêåõÞ , Friday], the chief priests and Pharisees came together untoPilate, 63Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, Afterthree days I will rise again. 64Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error [deceit] shall [will] be worse than65the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have [Ye shall have] a watch: go your way, make it as sure [secure] as ye can [know how, ὡò ïἴäáôå ]. 66So they went, and made the sepulchre sure [secure], sealing the stone, and setting a watch [together with the watch, ìåôὰ ôῆò êïõóôùäßáò ].
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Mat_27:57. When the evening was come.—The first or early evening, the day’s decline; because the bodies must have been removed before the evening arrived, Deu_21:23; Josephus, De Bell. Judges 4, 5, 2.
There came a rich man.—1. De Wette: He came into the prætorium. 2. Meyer: He came first to the place of execution to go thence to the prætorium. 3. He came to the little company of female disciples upon Golgotha, and advanced into their midst, proclaiming himself as a disciple. “A disciple, but secretly for fear of the Jews,” says John. Luke: “A counsellor, a good man and a just. The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them; … who also waited for the kingdom of God.” Mark: “An honorable counsellor, who also waited for the kingdom of God.” Matthew gives the prominence to his wealth: “A rich man,” referring undoubtedly to Isa_53:9, according to the Septuagint translation, Êáὶ äþóù ôïýò ðïíçñïὺò ἀíôὶ ôῆò ôáöῆò áὐôïῦ , êáὶ ôïὺò ðëïõóßïõò ἀíôὶ ôïῦ èáíÜôïõ áὐôïῦ . The following translation is indeed free, but is agreeable to the context: They had appointed Him a grave with the despised; and among the honored ( òָùִׁéø , did He obtain it) in His death.—The first occasion of this step of Joseph was probably his fear that the Jews might remove the body in some disgraceful manner; for the circumstances related Joh_19:31-37 had preceded. Faith, however, shot a ray of hope, in all probability, through Joseph’s mind, and operated along with this feeling of veneration, and his desire openly to confess the name of Christ.
Of Arimathea.—“Commentators are divided between Rama in Benjamin (Jos_18:25) and Rama (Ramathaim) in Ephraim (1Sa_1:19, Samuel’s birthplace). For the latter, indeed, the form speaks decisively; but the addition of Luke, ðüëåùò ôῶí ’ Éïõäáßùí , according to 1Ma_11:34, does not harmonize.” De Wette. See “Ramah” in Winer [and other Bibl. Encyclop.].
Named Joseph.—One Joseph is appointed to take care of Jesus in His infancy, another to provide for His burial. Quite analogous, there was an Old Testament Joseph, who had the task of providing for the Jewish people in its infancy in Egypt; and to him corresponds the Josephus who has prepared the historic resting-place for the expired Israelitish nation in his books (Antiq., De Bello Jud., etc.). The name Joseph ( éåֹñֵó ) means, according to Gen_30:24 : “he adds” (Increaser); for another explanation, see Gesenius. He was âïõëåõôÞò , a member of the Sanhedrin, Luk_23:50; not (as Michaelis supposed) a councillor of the little country-town Ramathaim, nor (according to Grotius) a town councillor of Jerusalem. Lightfoot makes him to have been a priestly temple-councillor; but that is probably the same as a Sanhedrist. According to the ecclesiastical tradition, he is represented to have belonged to the seventy disciples, and to have been the first who preached the Gospel in England (the rich man, the guardian-saint of a rich people; just as the Magdalene, the repentant sinner, is the patron-saint of France). For other traditions, see Evangelium Nicodemi, p. 12, and Acta Sanct. Mart. 2:507. He was evidently, like Nicodemus, one of the secret disciples of Jesus, who came forth and publicly confessed their faith after the death of the Lord. Ìáèçôåý åéíôéíé , to be the disciple of some one. He was a follower of Jesus, and hence he had not consented to the murderous counsel of the Sanhedrin; and this holds good, of course, regarding Nicodemus.
Mat_27:58. He went to Pilate—He ran the risk, says Mark. He was exposed to more danger from the Jews than from Pilate, because this act was a confession of his faith. “It was the Roman custom to allow the bodies to hang upon the cross till they wasted away, or were consumed by the birds of prey. Plaut. Mil. glor. ii. 4, 9; Horat. Epist. i. 16, 18. But should friends request the bodies to be taken for interment, the request could not be refused, Ulpian 48, 24, 1; Hug, De cadav. punit. in the Freiburger Leitschrift 5, p. 174.” Meyer.—That the body be delivered (to him). Meyer is in favor of retaining the second ôὸ óῶìá , the repetition having a certain solemnity.
Mat_27:59. He wrapped it in a clean linen cloth.—Bengel: Jam initia honoris. Not a shroud, nor a garment (Kuinoel); but winding sheets, linen clothes, Joh_19:40, in which the body was wrapped (Meyer). It was probably an entire piece at first, and was afterward divided for the purpose of rolling. This idea occurs to us from the object to be attained: the pieces of linen must be wrapped around the limbs in such a way as to enclose the spices, which had been powdered to be employed for embalming. The first, temporary anointing, and the intention of a second and more formal embalming, are both unnoticed by Matthew. But that the body was anointed, is self-evident; and the second formal anointing, which Mark and Luke declare to have been proposed by the women after the Sabbath, is not excluded by the merely temporary act. By the first anointing, they sought simply to preserve the body; by the second, they wished to fulfil the ceremonial requirements, for which no time remained upon Friday evening. Therefore, upon the first occasion, they made a profuse, but simple use of costly substances (myrrh and aloes); and the women would find no difficulty in buying before and after the Sabbath, upon the Friday evening before, and the Saturday evening after, from six o’clock, such quantities of these spices as appeared necessary to their womanly desires for the great burial: see Luke and Mark.
Mat_27:60. In his own now tomb.—“It was a great disgrace among the Jews if any one had not a burying-place of his own; and so it came to be considered an act of charity to bury neglected dead bodies. Josephus mentions as among the abominable deeds of the Zelots and Idumeans, that they left their dead unburied.” See Friedlieb, p. 169. The statement of John, that the tomb was in a garden near the place of the crucifixion, and was chosen on account of the necessary haste, is not contradictory of the statement that the grave was the property of Joseph. It must have been exactly the location of his newly-formed family-tomb that led him to propose his grave, and yield it up as an offering.
In the rock.—With the article. In that particular rocky district of Golgotha. The Jews placed their graves outside their towns. It was only kings and prophets (and priests, indeed, no less) who might be interred inside the walls. Commonly, these graves were excavations, or grottoes in gardens, or in spots planted with trees; sometimes natural caves; often, as in this case, expressly hewn out (a costly method), and sometimes built up. These tombs were sometimes very roomy, and provided with passages. The sepulchres were either made with steps downward, or placed horizontally; while the particular graves inside were hollowed out, either lengthwise or crosswise, in the Walls of the tomb. For more particular accounts, consult Winer (art. Gräber—Graves), and Schultz, Jerusalem, p. 97.. The new rock-tomb of Joseph, and the hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes (myrrh, a resin from the myrrh-tree of Arabia and Ethiopia; aloes, a precious, fragrant wood; the pound, the Attic litra, five and a half ounces less than our pound), which Nicodemus presented, are expressions of that sacrificing renunciation with which now these two disciples advanced into view, after that the death of Jesus had awakened them to life. Holy rivalry!
He rolled a great stone.—A natural method of closing the mouth of the tomb. “In the Talmud, such a piece of rock, employed to shut up a sepulchre, is called âֹּåֹìָì , roller.”
Mat_27:61. The other Mary.—She was mentioned in Mat_27:56, and is the mother of James and Joses, the wife of Alphæus; and Mark (Mar_15:47) accordingly says, Mary [the mother] of Joses, as the best and most codd. read. Codex A. reads there ἡ ’ ÉùóÞö Wieseler infers from this reading, without sufficient warrant, that she was the wife or daughter of Joseph of Arimathea.—Were there sitting.—It is only Matthew who states this glorious fact; according to Mark, “they beheld where He was laid.”
Mat_27:62. That followed the preparation.—The ðáñáóêåõÞ is the day of preparation for the Sabbath, Friday, on this occasion the first day of the feast; and hence the day which followed was the Sabbath, or Saturday, the second day of the Passover. Wieseler holds the expression was chosen, because the first day might have been called also óÜââáôïí Meyer says: “The name is explained by the fact, that ðáñáóêåõÞ was the solemn designation in use among the Christians to distinguish the Friday of the crucifixion.” It is extremely noteworthy, that the Jews hold a council and hurry to Pilate upon the Sabbath morning, and that too the great Sabbath of the feast. Kuinoel: “Lex mosaica inierdixerat operam manuariam, ut et judicii exercitium, non vero ire ad magisratum, ab eoque petere aliquid, prœsertim cum periculum in mora esset.”
Mat_27:63. After three days.—De Wette: “Jesus had never declared that openly and before strangers.” Still He had told it to the disciples, and not as secret teaching, but to be published. [Joh_2:19; Mat_12:40.] Probably Judas had given them the more exact statements.
Mat_27:65. Ye have a watch!—That is: Ye shall have a watch! Your petition is granted. Official, and perhaps discontented laconism. But it cannot moan, Ye have yourselves a watch (Grotius), of whom ye may make use, the temple-guards; for that view is opposed to Mat_28:14.
As ye understand.—Not, “as sure as you can;” or, “as appears to you best;” or, “if that is possible;” but, “as ye understand that,” according to your meaning of securing. He places the guard at their disposal; the employment of the men, the guardianship or guarantee for Christ’s continuance in death, which they wished him also to undertake, that he will leave to themselves; and they are to employ this force to attain the end they had in view, especially the insuring of the tomb as long as it may be necessary. In this instance, again, Pilate kept not his conscience pure, and preserved not his civil power unimpaired,—giving a guard because of a religious question.
Mat_27:66. Sealing the stone.—A string was stretched across the stone, and sealed to the rock at both ends with wax [upon which was stamped the official seal of Pilate].
The assertion of Meyer, that this sealing of the grave, which Matthew records, belongs to the unhistorical traditions, does not need here a lengthened refutation. But the following points furnish materials for an answer:—1. Jesus had certainly declared previously, that He would rise upon the third day. 2. The grave might be sealed, without the women coming to know it upon the Sabbath. 3. The Sanhedrists could not have taken the body of Jesus into custody, because Joseph had previously obtained it. Besides, it was their interest to affect carelessness regarding it. 4. The seduction of the guard to give a false testimony, and the silencing of the procurator, correspond in every point to the character of the world; besides, it is not said that the soldiers brought their false report to Pilate, rather the opposite. 5. It is quite natural that Matthew, according to the character of his Gospel, should be the writer to report this historic transaction, as he did the corresponding history of the resurrection, Mat_28:11-15. It is still less worth while to deal with the assumption of Stroth, that this is an interpolation. This statement simply proves, that the critic could not grasp the meaning of the passage. For the remainder, see Mat_28:11.
[Different opinions on the death of Christ: 1. It was His own voluntary act, by which He separated in the full vigor of life His spirit from His body, and placed it, as a deposit, in His Father’s keeping. 2. It was the act of God the Father, in answer to the prayer of the Saviour. 3. It was the natural consequence of His physical sufferings, and occurred so early (after six hours, instead of the usual twelve or more of sufferings on the cross), either on account of the extraordinary intensity of His agony of body and mind during the trial in Gethsemane and on Calvary, or by a sudden rupture of the heart. These views may be combined, by supposing that the Saviour hastened His death by a voluntary self-surrender which the Father accepted. The passage, Joh_10:17-18 should be carefully considered in this connection. The resurrection, too, is represented on the one hand, as Christ’s own act, to whom the Father has given to have life in Himself (Joh_2:19; Joh_5:26; Joh_10:17-18; Act_1:3; Rom_1:4), and, on the other hand, as the act of His Father (Act_2:24; Act_2:32; Rom_4:24; Rom_6:4, etc.). Consult on this subject, W. Stroud: The Physical Cause of Christ’s Death, Lond. 1847; Samuel J. Andrews: The Life of our Lord upon the Earth, New York, 1863, p. 550 ff.; the various Commentators on the Gospels, and Lange’s profound suggestions in the Doctrinal and Ethical Thoughts to Chap, Mat_28:1-10, nos. 7 and 8.—P. S.]
2. Along with the death of Jesus, the courage of the New Testament confessors begins to manifest itself. To this confessing band belong the sorrowing women who (according to Luke) follow the cross-laden Lord, the centurion beneath the cross, also the two hitherto-secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Under this head, also, must we notice the fact, that the two Maries continue sitting alone over against the Lord’s tomb, in that awing and affrighting spot.
3. One of the striking ironies of God’s judgment may be observed in the circumstance, that the members of the Sanhedrin are forced to go upon the morning of the paschal Sabbath to the sepulchre of Jesus, for the purpose of sealing the stone, because the dead Christ allowed them no rest. In that anxiety we may see the effect of the words of Judas, and of the Lord’s prediction of His resurrection. Upon this morning of the feast, it was no formal meeting of council they held: the most decided enemies of Jesus consulted among themselves, and then dropped in singly, as if by accident, to make their request to Pilate: and thus there came to be a kind of priestly council in the governor’s palace, to which the Evangelist here alludes. It was alleged by these priests, that the disciples might come and steal away the corpse; and this lying assertion reveals to us, how well prepared they were for any emergency, even the worst But, beneath all this disguise, they were the prey of fear, and the real motive was terror. Influenced by a monstrous, superstitious belief in the power of the seal of Jewish authority, and of a Roman guard, they imagined themselves able to shut up in the grave the possibility of a resurrection by Jesus, the divine retribution, a result of that resurrection, and, above all, their own wicked fears. And so they desecrate the great Passover Sabbath by their restless occupation, seeking to secure the grave of Him whom they had accused and condemned for His miracles of love wrought on ordinary Sabbaths. The disembodied spirit of the Jewish law must wander around the grave of Jesus upon the most sacred Sabbath of the year. In that act we have the last expression of their abandonment to the Gentiles of salvation through a Messiah; and also the strongest expression of the folly they manifested in their unbelief. By means of a priestly seal, and a borrowed military guard, they desire to secure in a permanent tomb the spirit and life of Christ, the spirit of His past, present, and future, as if all were a mere deception.
4. But in the meantime the spirit of Christ’s life is laboring in the depths of the grave and the under world or Hades. The germ of humanity and salvation was bursting into new life in the earth, and also in the heart of the disciples; in the former, saved from death, in the latter, from apparent despair.
Starke:—As God watched over His Son, and revealed His care visibly, so will He guard and take care of Christ’s members (in death).—Canstein: Riches and a high position are undoubtedly accompanied with dangers; 1Co_1:26; yet God has his own among the noble and wealthy, 1Ki_18:12-13.—He who employs his wealth to God’s glory (upon Christ’s body, His Church, servants, members), has made a good investment—Bibl. Wirt.: In the most bitter persecutions, and greatest apostasy, there are many steadfast disciples who confess Christ and serve Him —Nova Bibl Tub.: Faith grows in trial; and he who acknowledged Christ but secretly daring His life, dared to solicit Him boldly after His death.—Osiander: Those often become cowardly and despairing, who were at first bold and fearless; and vice versa,—Cramer: God’s Spirit is mighty and wonderful, and can quickly make a heart where there is none.—God often draws out the hearts of the high to glorify Himself, and rejoice his people.—Osiander: We should bury our dead honorably, and testify in this way openly, that we believe in the resurrection of the dead.—Zeisius: The burial of Christ, the rest of our bodies.—The guard, and the sealing of the grave, must become testimonies to the resurrection.—Wilt thou do good to Christ, do it to His people.—We may still show love to Christ in the persons of His poor members.—True love loves still, after death.—True faith never lets Christ escape; if faith sees Him not with the eyes, still she keeps him, His cross and death, in her heart—Quesnel: Death cannot extinguish a friendship which God’s Spirit has instituted, and Christ’s blood has cemented.—The will’s extreme wickedness has united to itself extreme blindness of perception (in so far as they sought by a foolish proposal to remove the truth of the resurrection, while they only served to confirm it).—The wicked are like the restless sea, their evil conscience gives them no rest, Isa_57:20-21.—Zeisius: No human power prudence, or cunning, can hinder God’s work, Psa_25:3.—The issue was a condemnation of themselves, and a glorification of Christ.
Heubner:—By Joseph’s example we are taught to honor the dead, especially when we had known them.—The body, too, is to be honored: it is the garment of the soul.—Many hands were employed in burying Christ, and with what tenderness and love!—Christ’s rest in the grave, the type of the soul’s spiritual sabbath.—Tarry lovingly by the graves of your loved ones.—Whosoever loves Jesus, is lost in the contemplation of His death.—Teach thyself to bury thy life Jesus.—They wish to prevent His resurrection, and they must establish unwillingly its certainty; at the outset they proclaim the secret of the resurrection, and, permitting their knowledge of the true meaning of the “destruction of the temple” to appear, they punish themselves thus for a false accusation.—As often as a man strives against God, against the truth, he strives against himself, and prepares shame and difficulties for himself.—The more men seek to bury the memory of the truth, the more it appears.—In their slanders, men give the key to their discovery and detection.
Braune:—Who had believed that any one would have come now to the cross? But, behold, two rich men come, members of that Sanhedrin which had rejected Christ!—Their hearts forced them; they acted under the impulse of a new spirit.—The fear of man is overcome.—The new grave, in which no man had been laid; as He rode into Jerusalem upon an unused colt. And shall His Spirit make His abode in an old heart?—The friends who acknowledged the Lord when covered with shame, are the Christian types of those who believe in virtue when all the world ridicules it.—The guards have one object in common with the friends of Jesus, that the bodies be not changed, and that so the resurrection be all the more certain.—The disciples forget the words of Jesus regarding the resurrection, His enemies remember them (Reason: the sorrow of the one, the fear of the others).—They would prevent a deception, and they themselves practise a deception.—These liars and murderers fear the disciples are liars.—What is done in God’s strength and spoken in His Spirit, appears to view and stands fast.
Gerok:—The sacred evening—stillness upon Golgotha: 1. The quiet rest of the perfected Endurer. 2. The quiet repentance of the convulsed world. 3. The quiet labor of the loving friends. 4. The quiet peace of the holy grave.—Kuntze:—The burial of Jesus manifests to us,—1. The believer’s courage; 2. love’s power; 3. truth’s seal; 4. the mourners consolation.—Wolf:—Looks of comfort toward the grave of Christ.—Brandt:—The burial of Jesus Christ,—a work of, 1. Grateful acknowledgment; 2. holy love; 3. praiseworthy courage; 4. a work causing the deepest shame to many.
Footnotes:
Mat_27:57.—[Dr. Lange reads with Lachmann the passive form ἐìáèçôåí ́ èç , which is sustained by Codd. C., D., and Cod. Sinait., instead of the lect. rec.: ἐááèÞôåíóå (to be one’s disciple), which has the majority of uncial MSS., including the Alexandrian and the Vatican, in its favor. Lange regards the former as more significant and emphatic: Joseph was overpowered. Tischendorf and Alford adhere to the received text. As to the use, Tischendorf remarks in his large edition: Utriusque usus exempla in promptu sunt, nisi quod prius (the active form) apud antiquos ut Plutarchum invenitur, posterius (the passive) apud recentiores tantum. See Stephan. Thesaur. Meyer and Alford regard ἐìáèçôåí ́ èç as a correction after ìáèçôåõèåßò Mat_13:52.—P. S.]
Mat_27:58.—Codd. B., L., and Fritzsche omit ôὸóῶìá . [So also Cod. Sinait., but the great body of authorities are in favor of it. Do Wette and Alford explain the omission from regard to elegance, since ôὸóῶìá occurs thrice in Mat_27:58-59. Conant renders: that the body should be given up. Lange inserts in parenthesis ihm, to him: dass der Leichnam (ihm) ausgeliefert würde.—P. S.]
Mat_27:59.—[Or in the precise order of the Greek: And taking the body, Joseph wrapped it, etc., êáὶ ëáâὼí ôὸ óῶìá ὁ Ἰùó . ἐíåôýëéîåí , ê . ô . ë —P. S.]
Mat_27:60.—[The same word should be used in this verse, either sepulchre or tomb, for the Greek ìíçìåῖïí , especially as the second with the article refers to the first.—P. S.]
Mat_27:61.—[Better with Conant and others: And Mary M. was there, to bring out more plainly the demonstrative ἐêåῖ .—P. S.].
Mat_27:61.—The article ἡ is omitted in Codd. A. and D., but sustained by most witnesses.
Mat_27:62.—[ ÉÉáñáóêåíÞ , in the Jewish sense, is the day of making ready for the sabbath, or sabbath eve, i. e., Friday, Matthew 10; Mar_15:42; Luk_23:54; Joh_19:14; Joh_19:31; Joh_19:42; Joseph. Antiq. xvi. 6, 2 ( ἐí óὰââáóéí ἢ ôῇ ðñὸ ôáýôçò ðáñáóêåõῆ ), also called ðñïóÜââáôïí , Mar_15:42. Compare the German Sonnabend for Saturday. The day of the English Version should be put in italics, as in Joh_19:42, or omitted altogether. Here Tyndale and Cheke render the word: Good Friday, which is true enough, but goes beyond the term which is general. The Genevan Version adds: Preparation of the sabbath. The Rhemish N. T. retains the Greek after the Vulgate: Parasceve, which is unintelligible to the English reader. The best is to put Friday on the margin.—P. S.]
Mat_27:64.—The addition íõêôüò is poorly sustained. [It is cancelled by the critical editors, and may have been inserted from Mat_28:13, where it is genuine. Lange puts it in small type in parenthesis.—P. S.]
Mat_27:65.—Codd. A., C., D. read äÝ after ἔöç ; it is probably an addition, and weakens the significant decision of Pilate.
Mat_27:65.—[So Syriac, Vulgate, Beza, Castalio, Scrivener, Conant, etc. Alford: “As ye know how, in the best manner ye call.” Ïἴäáôå is not quite equivalent to äýíáóèå , as ye can, or are able. The English Version in Mat_7:11 literally renders ïἴäáôå , know how. Lange renders: wie ihr’s versteht. See his Exeg. Note in loc.—P. S.]
Mat_27:66.—[The watch procured from Pilate aided them in securing the tomb and setting the stone. So Wetstein, Meyer, Scrivener, Conant, Lange. The preposition ìåôὰ signifies the means whereby they secured the tomb, as in Luk_17:15; Act_5:26; Act_13:17, and in Thucydides 8:73—P. S.]
[Not: Luke, as the Edinb. edition falsely reads. The English Version renders Mar_15:43 : “Joseph of Arimathes went in boldly unto Pilate” (Vulgate: audacter introcivil); but the Greek is more expressive: ôïëìÞóáòåἰóῆëèå Luther and Lange: er wagte es, etc.—P. S.]
[“Non pasces in cruce corvos.” The Jewish custom, as the contrary, was to take down the bodies of the crucified before sunset and to bury them, ἀíáóôáíñùìÝíïõò ðñὸäýíôïò ἡëßïõ êáèåëåῖí êáὶ èÜðôåéí Joseph. De Bello Jdg_4:5; Jdg_4:2. This shows the superior humanity of the Jewish compared with the boasted Græco-Roman civiliazation.—P. S.]
[It is not likely that the body of a crucified person could be laid in a new tomb, ἐí ᾧ ïὐäÝðù ïí ̓ äåὶò ἐôÝèç without the previous consent of the owner. Matthew alone relates that it was Joseph’s property, but all the Evangelists mention that it was a new tomb. Jerome in loc. says that the tomb was new to prevent the enemies from saying that some other person had arisen: “In novo ponitur monumento, ne post resurrectionem, cœteris corporibus remanentibus, resurrexisse alius fingeretur,” But not satisfied with this, he adds: “Potest autem et novum sepulchrum Mariœ virginalem uterum demonstrate.” Other fathers likewise draw a parallel between the new tomb from which Christ arose to everlasting life, and the Virgin’s womb from which He was born to earthly life. Similarily Wordsworth, following the doubtful patristic and scholastic notions of the miraculous birth through the closed womb: “Christ rose from the new tomb, without moving away the stone. He, who, as a man entered life through the closed gate of the Virgin’s womb, rose to immortality from the sealed sepulchre.”—P. S.]
[From the Gospel narratives concerning the sepulchre of Christ, we may infer with Alford a d others: (is that it was entirely new; (2) that it was near the spot of the crucifixion; (3) that it was not a natural cave, but an artificial excavation in the rock; (4) that it was not cut downward, after the manner of our graves, but horizontally, or nearly so, into the face of the rock. The last seems to be implied, though not necessarily, in ðñïóêíëßáò ëßèïí ìÝãáí ôῆ èí ́ ñᾳ ôïí ͂ ìíçìåßïí —P. S.]
[I regret to see that Meyer adheres to this view in the fifth edition of his Commentary on Matthew which has just appeared and reached me (Aug. 29, 1864). Otherwise the valuable commentaries of this accurate, honest, and conscientious scholar, which occupy now the first rank among philological or strictly grammatico-historical commentaries, present a steady progress of improvement in every successive edition since they were first begun thirty years age. The first volume, which appeared in 1832, contained the first three Gospels in one moderate volume and was considered almost rationalistic, the fifth edition of Matthew alone, published in 1864, forms a respectable volume of 623 pages, and is not only much more thorough in a scientific point of view, but also far more decidedly Christian in tone and spirit (compare the touching preface), and much nearer the standpoint of evangelical orthodoxy.—P. S.]
“Against the opponents of this history, see particularly the work of the late, little-known Counsellor Brauer in Karlsruhe: ‘Pauleidolon Chroneicon, oder Gedanken eines Südländers über europäische Religionschriften Aufklärungsschriften, etc., Christianstadt (i. e., Frankfurt a[illegible] Main, 1797);” Heubner.
[Not; in spite of all, as the Edinb. edition mistranstes unterdessen,—P. S.]