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JOHN XIX,

an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they 32 might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the 33 first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to 34 Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one

of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout 35 blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: 36 and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled,' A bone of him shall not be 37 broken. And again another Scripture saith,* They shall look on him whom they pierced.

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MARK XV. 42-47.

When the 42 even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 43

51

And now 54
when the even
was come, be-
cause it was
the preparation, 50
that is, the day
before the sab-
bath, Joseph
of Arimathea,
an honourable
counsellor,
which also wait-
ed for the king-
dom of God,
came, and went
in boldly unto
Pilate, and crav-
ed the body of
Jesus. And Pi-
late marvelled
if he were al-
ready dead: and 52
calling unto him
the centurion,
he asked him
whether he had
been any while
45 dead. And when
he knew it of
the centurion,
he gave the bo-
dy to Joseph.
And he bought

58 he went to Pi-
late, and begged
the body of Je-
sus. Then Pi- 44
late command-
ed the body to
be delivered.

59 And when Jo-
seph had taken
the body, he 46

1 Ex. 12. 46; Psa. 34. 20.

2 Zech. 12. 10. Comp. Psa. 22. 16, 17. 3 The sabbath drew on (σáßßaтov éréowoke, lit. the sabbath was dawning). The word enépooke, which properly belongs to the natural day, is here figuratively and poetically applied to the civil day, which among the Jews began at sunset. This interpretation is here the necessary one; see, when the even was come (vías revoμévns) of Matthew and Mark, and that day was the preparation (uépa йv паρаσкevń) of Luke himself.

It was according to custom among the Jews, that the bodies of persons publicly executed

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should be taken down and buried before sunset. Thus Joseph. B. J. 4. 5. 2. "So great care did the Jews take respecting sepulture, that even the bodies of those condemned to be crucified they took down and buried before sunset."

4 Pilate marvelled, &c. The tortures of crucifixion did not cause a speedy death. The narrative strikingly teaches us, that our Lord's death was hastened on by a mysterious cause, which was even the withdrawal of the Father's presence from him, when he laid on him the iniquities of us all, and made his soul an offering for sin (Isa. 53. 6, 10). See also 2 Cor. 5. 21.

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JOHN XIX.

weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden;

and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man 42 yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

MATT. XXVII.

61 And there was Mary 47 Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

62

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And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his 56 body was laid. And

they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.2

$158. THE WATCH AT THE SEPULCHRE.-Jerusalem.

Seventh Day of the Week, or Sabbath.

MATT. XXVII. 62-66.

Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief 63 priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise 64 again. Command 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 shall be worse than the 65 first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as 66 sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

1 Isa. 53. 9.

2 Ex. 20. 10.

3 On the expression After three days, see Note on § 49. 4 Matt. 20. 19.

PART IX.

OUR LORD'S RESURRECTION, HIS SUBSEQUENT APPEARANCES,

AND HIS ASCENSION.

TIME: Forty days.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

A FULL discussion upon this part of the gospel history, embracing a review of the main difficulties in the way of harmonizing the accounts of the four evangelists, was published by Dr. Robinson in the Bibliotheca Sacra, for Feb. 1845, p. 162, sq. To this the student is referred for a more complete examination of the subject.

It is no doubt true, that more of these apparent difficulties are found in this short portion of the Gospels than in almost all the rest. This has its cause in the circumstance that each writer here follows an eclectic method, and records only what appertained to his own particular purpose or experience. Thus many of the minor and connecting facts have not been preserved; and the data are therefore wanting to make out a full and complete harmony of all the accounts, without an occasional resort to something of hypothesis. Had we all the facts, we may well rest assured, that this part of the sacred history would at once prove to be as exact, as consistent, and as complete, as any and every other portion of the word of God.

The general results of the investigations upon which we are now entering, may be presented in the following summary view of the events and circumstances connected with our Lord's resurrection and ascension, in the order of their occurrence.

The resurrection took place at or before early dawn on the first day of the week; when there was an earthquake, and an angel descended and rolled away the stone from the sepulchre and sat upon it; so that the keepers became as dead men from terror. At early dawn, the same morning, the women who had attended on Jesus, namely, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, Salome, and others, went out with spices to the sepulchre in order further to embalm the Lord's body. They inquire among themselves, who should remove for them the stone which closed the sepulchre. On their arrival they find the stone already taken away. The Lord had risen. The women, knowing nothing of all that had taken place, were amazed; they enter the tomb, and find not the body of the Lord, and are greatly perplexed. At this time Mary Magdalene, impressed with the idea that the body had been stolen away, leaves the sepulchre and the other women, and runs to the city to tell Peter and John.

The other women remain still in the tomb; and immediately two angels appear, who announce to them that Jesus is risen from the dead, and give them a charge in his name for the apostles. They go out quickly from the sepulchre, and proceed in haste to the city to make this known to the disciples. On the way Jesus meets them, permits them to embrace his feet, and renews the same charge to the apostles. The women relate these things to the disciples; but their words seem to them as idle tales, and they believe them not.

Meantime Peter and John had run to the sepulchre, and entering in had found it empty. But the orderly arrangement of the grave-clothes and of the napkin, convinced John that the body had not been removed either by violence or by friends; and the germ of a belief sprang up in his mind, that the Lord had risen. The two returned to the city. Mary Magdalene, who had again followed them to the sepulchre, remained standing and weeping before it; and looking in, she saw two angels sitting. Turning round she sees Jesus; who gives to her also a solemn charge for his disciples.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

The further sequence of events, consisting chiefly of our Lord's appearances, presents comparatively few difficulties. The various manifestations which the Saviour made of himself to his disciples and others, as recorded by the evangelists and Paul, may accordingly be arranged and enumerated as follows:

1. To the women returning from the sepulchre. Reported only by Matthew. See § 162.

2. To Mary Magdalene, at the sepulchre. By John and Mark. § 164.

3. To Peter, perhaps early in the afternoon. By Luke and Paul. § 166.

4. To the two disciples going to Emmaus, towards evening. By Luke and Mark, § 166. 5. To the apostles (except Thomas) assembled at evening. By Mark, Luke, John, and Paul. § 167.

N. B. These five appearances all took place at or near Jerusalem, upon the first day of the week, or the Lord's day, the same day on which the Lord arose. 6. To the apostles, Thomas being present, eight days afterwards at Jerusalem, i. e. again on the Lord's day. Only by John. § 168.

7. To seven of the apostles on the shore of the Lake of Tiberias. Only by John. § 169. 8. To the eleven apostles, and to five hundred other brethren, on a mountain in Galilee. By Matthew and Paul. § 170.

9. To James, probably at Jerusalem. Only by Paul. § 171.

10. To the eleven at Jerusalem, immediately before the ascension, By Luke in Acts, and by Paul. § 171.

Then follows the ascension. § 172.

$159. MORNING OF THE RESURRECTION.-Jerusalem.

First Day of the Week.

MARK XVI. 1.

1 AND when the sabbath was past,' Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and

anoint him.

MATT. XXVIII. 2-4.

2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, 3 and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment 4 white as snow and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

1 The women had rested on the seventh day, according to Luke 23. 56; and the sabbath being past, Mark relates (ver. 1) that they brought spices to anoint the body. This purchase would seem to have been made in the evening after the sabbath; since Mark proceeds in ver. 2 to narrate what they did early the next morning. In that case Luke (23. 56) speaks of the spices by way of anticipation.-Or we may, with Wieseler (Chron. Synopsis, p. 417), obviate every difficulty by supposing, that the preparation of the spices commenced indeed at the time given by Luke, but was not completed till after the sabbath, according to Mark.

The angel had descended and the earthquake had taken place, before the arrival of the women.

Our Lord therefore had arisen from the tomb at or before early dawn. See Note to § 160 in the Appendix.-Verses 2-4 of Matthew are here transposed into their natural order. As they stand in Matthew, the verbs must be read as in the pluperfect, "had been" and "had rolled away. See Note on § 145.

The body of our Lord was laid in the sepulchre before sunset on Friday; and he rose early on the morning of Sunday. He therefore rose on the third day; having lain in the tomb during one whole day, and a part of two others; in all not far from thirty-six hours. On the expressions, the third day and after three days, see Note on § 49.

¥160. VISIT OF THE WOMEN' TO THE SEPULCHRE. MARY MAGDALENE RETURNS.

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5

LUKE XXIV. 1-3.

1

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

LUKE XXIV.

2 And they found the

stone rolled away from 3 the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

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-and seeth the stone taken away from the 2 sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and

saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

§ 161. VISION OF ANGELS IN THE SEPULCHRE.-Jerusalem.

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of the sepulchre; in Mark and Luke, on the contrary, the conversation takes place in the sepulchre. But although Matthew does not speak of the women as entering the tomb, yet, in ver. 8, he describes them as coming out of it (efendora); so that of course his account too implies, that the interview took place within the tomb, as narrated by Mark and Luke.

In recording the charge sent by the angels to the apostles, Matthew and Mark dwell more upon Galilee, and Luke more upon the Lord's previous announcement of his resurrection.

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