Matthew 27:60

New tomb (καινῷ) See on Matthew 26:29. Not newly hewn, but fresh, undefiled by anybody. A great stone Though in the Jews' sepulchres in general there were doors hung on hinges, the grooves and perforations for which may still be seen. Joseph's tomb may have been differently constructed, or else was in an unfinished state.

60 . laid it in his own new tomb ] “His own” peculiar to St Matthew. St John mentions that the tomb was “in a garden in the place where he was crucified” ( John 19:41 ). It was probably hewn out of the face of the rock near the ground ( John 20:11 ), and the body of Jesus would lie horizontally in it. rolled a great stone ] assisted by Nicodemus. This stone was technically called golal .

Matthew 27:60 . ἐν τῷ καινῷ αὐτοῦ μνημείῳ , in his own new tomb, recently prepared for himself. This not brought out in parallels.— ἐλατόμησεν ( λᾶς τέμνω ): the aorist for the pluperfect, as in Matthew 27:55 ; he had hewn out of the rock = ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ , the article pointing to the custom of making sepulchres in rock.— λίθον μέγαν : the usual mode of shutting the door of the tomb; the Jews called the stone golal , the roller.— ἀπῆλθεν : the entombment over, Joseph went away; but the Dead One was not left alone.

56. Among which was Mary Magdalene—(See on [1380]Lu 8:2). and Mary the mother of James and Joses—the wife of Cleophas, or rather Clopas, and sister of the Virgin (Joh 19:25). See on [1381]Mt 13:55,56. and the mother of Zebedee's children—that is, Salome: compare Mr 15:40. All this about the women is mentioned for the sake of what is afterwards to be related of their purchasing spices to anoint their Lord's body. The Taking Down from the Cross and the Burial (Mt 27:57-60). For the exposition of this portion, see on [1382]Joh 19:38-42. The Women Mark the Sacred Spot that They Might Recognize It on Coming Thither to Anoint the Body (Mt 27:61).

(60) Laid it in his own new tomb. —The garden, or orchard, was therefore the property of Joseph (see Note on Matthew 27:33 ). All the first three Gospels dwell on the fact of its not being, as so many graves were, a natural cavern, but cut, and, as St. Luke’s word implies. to some extent, smoothed and polished. Like almost all Eastern graves, it was an opening made in the vertical face of the rock. Neither of the two localities which have been identified with the sepulchre (see Note as above) presents this feature, and, so far as this is not an argument against the identity of either with the actual tombs, we must assume that the rock has been so cut and shaped in the course of centuries as to lose its original form. St. John ( John 19:39 ) notes the singularly interesting fact that Nicodemus shared with him in these reverential offices. The hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes which he brought must have been bought beforehand, and may have been stored up from the time when he knew that the leading members of the Council had resolved upon the death of Jesus. St. Luke and St. John give the reason for the speed with which the entombment was hurried on. It was now near sunset.

The Sabbath was on the point of beginning, and there was no alternative but that of leaving the body on the cross for another twenty-four hours, and this, though common enough as a Roman practice (which commonly, indeed, left the corpse for birds of prey to feed on), would have shocked Jewish feeling, especially at the Paschal season, as a violation of their law ( Deuteronomy 21:23 ).

Matthew 27:60 . Καινῷ , new ) Which had not been polluted by any corruption; and also lest any of the ancient saints should be said to have risen instead of Him, or to have given Him the power of rising.— αὐτοῦ , his own ) Jesus Christ, the leader and guide of life, was placed in the tomb of another.[1218]— τῇ θύρᾳ , the door ) The sepulchre was not a narrow trench, but a crypt.— ἀπῆλθεν , he departed ) Not hoping those things which soon were to come to pass. [1218] Implying that the tomb was something alien and strange for Him, the Lord of Life, to be associated with. Therefore He had no tomb of His own .—ED.

Matthew 27:60 Ὃ ἐλατόμησεν ] Aorist, as in Matthew 27:55 . The other evangelists say nothing about the grave having belonged to Joseph ; John 19:42 rather gives us to understand that, owing to the necessary despatch, it was made choice of from its being close at hand. We thus see that Matthew’s account is unsupported by the earlier testimony of Mark on the one hand, and the later testimony of Luke and John on the other. This, however, only goes to confirm the view that in Matthew we have a later amplification of the tradition which was expunged again by Luke and John, for this latter at least would scarcely have left unnoticed the devotion evinced by Joseph in thus giving up his own tomb, and yet it is John who distinctly alleges a different reason altogether for the choice of the grave. The ordinary supposition, that Matthew’s account is intended to supplement those of the other evangelists, fails to meet the exigencies of the case, especially in regard to John, on whom so tender a feature in connection with the burial would doubtless have made too deep an impression to admit of his passing it over in silence.

As a new grave was calculated to do honour to Jesus (comp. on John as above), the circumstance that this one had not been previously used may have gone far to determine the choice, so that there is no ground for supposing that what is said with reference to this has been added without historical warrant (Strauss, Scholten). ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ ] The article is to be understood as indicating a rocky place just at hand . τῇ θύρᾳ ] Comp. Hom. Od . ix. 243: πέτρην ἐπέθηκε θύρῃσιν . In Rabbinical phraseology the stone used for this purpose is called גּוֹלָל , a roller. See Paulus, exeget. Handb. III. p. 819. Such a mode of stopping up graves is met with even in the present day (Strauss, Sinai u. Golgatha, p. 205).

In his own new tomb - John says John 19:41 that this was in a garden that was "in" or "near" the place where he was crucified. This tomb Joseph had prepared for himself, as was not uncommon among the Jews. Compare the notes at Isaiah 22:16 . In this tomb Luke and John inform us that no man had been laid. This was so ordered, in the providence of God, doubtless, that there might be no suspicion about his identity when he rose; that it might not be alleged that another person had risen, or that he was raised by touching the bones of some prophet, as happened to the corpse that touched the bones of Elisha, 2 Kings 13:21 . Farther, by being buried here an important prophecy was remarkably fulfilled Isaiah 53:9 ; "He made his grave - with the rich in his death." The fulfillment of this is the more remarkable, because during his life he associated with the poor and was himself poor. See the notes at Isaiah 53:9 . "Which he had hewn out in the rock." This was a common way of constructing tombs in Judea. See the notes at Matthew 8:28 . Being cut out of a rock, there was no way by which the disciples could have access to it but by the entrance, at which the guard was placed, and consequently it was impossible for them to steal him away. The sepulchre, thus secure, was rendered more so by rolling a great stone at its entrance; all possible precautions thus being used, in the providence of God, against imposition and deceit.