Normally the Romans let the bodies of crucified criminals rot on their crosses without burial. If family members wanted to bury a crucified loved one, they had to apply for permission to do so. The Romans usually granted these requests with the exception of criminals who had committed high treason. The Jews, however, did not want dead corpses to remain unburied overnight (Deut. 21:22-23).
27:57 Evening would have been late afternoon. The next day, a Sabbath, began at sundown, which would have occurred about 6:00 p.m. at this time of year in Palestine.1077
The location of Joseph's home is uncertain. It may have been Ramathaim, about 15 miles east of Joppa. Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin who had not consented to Jesus' death (Luke 23:51). Matthew only mentioned that he was a rich disciple of Jesus (cf. Isa. 53:9-12). In the Greek text the word translated "rich"is in the emphatic position in the sentence. Matthew apparently wanted to stress the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9: "His grave was assigned to be with wicked men, yet with a rich man in His death."Evidently Joseph was a follower from a distance since John wrote that he was a secret disciple for fear of the Jews (John 19:38). Matthew noted that even a member of the body that condemned Jesus believed on Him, another testimony that He was indeed the Messiah.
27:58-60 Joseph was bold enough to ask Pilate for Jesus' body. The fact that Pilate allowed Joseph to bury Jesus' body shows that the governor did not think Jesus was guilty of treason. Joseph prepared the body of Jesus for burial with the help of Nicodemus (John 19:39) and perhaps other friends and or servants.
Matthew did not mention how these men wraped Jesus' body for burial but simply stated that the cloth (Gr. sindon) that they used was expensive. This reflected their respect for Jesus.
Joseph's new tomb, a sign of his wealth, was probably near the present Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This area had been a stone quarry centuries earlier out of whose walls the Jews had cut tombs.1078Joseph had prepared this tomb for himself, but now he put Jesus in his place. It was impossible for Jesus to escape from a tomb hewn out of solid massive rock (Gr. petra, cf. 16:18) even if He had been alive when placed in it. Matthew built a strong case for the reality of Jesus' resurrection, as he did for the virgin birth of Jesus.
"Tombs were of various kinds. Many were sealed with some sort of boulder wedged into place to discourage wild animals and grave robbers. But an expensive tomb consisted of an antechamber hewn out of the rock face, with a low passage (cf. bent over,' John 20:5, 11) leading into the burial chamber that was sealed with a cut, disk-shaped stone that rolled in a slot cut into the rock. The slot was on an incline, making the grave easy to seal but difficult to open: several men might be needed to roll the stone back up the incline."1079
27:61 The Romans did not permit friends to mourn the deaths of criminals they executed. These women then witnessed Jesus' burial along with Joseph and Nicodemus (cf. 1 Cor. 15:4). Matthew's notation of what they saw prepares for 28:1.
Matthew's Gospel is the only one that includes this pericope. It is a witness to the falsehood of the chief priests and elders' claim that someone stole Jesus' body (28:11-15).
27:62 The day to which Matthew referred was the Sabbath. He probably referred to it as he did to avoid the confusion that often arises when describing the Sabbaths associated with feasts. The Sanhedrin members could confer with Pilate if they did not have to travel more than a Sabbath day's journey and if they did not have to enter his residence (cf. John 18:28). However they could hardly do everything else they did without violating the Sabbath, something they hypocritically had charged Jesus with doing.
27:63-64 Jesus was in the tomb only about 36 hours, but because these hours included parts of three days the Jews viewed the period as three days long (cf. 12:40). The fact that Jesus' prediction of His resurrection had reached the ears of these men reflects badly on the disciples' lack of faith. They should have understood and believed that Jesus would arise since knowledge of His prediction of this event was so widespread. These Sanhedrin members did not believe Jesus would rise. They wanted to guard against any plot that His disciples might concoct alleging that He arose. The Jews needed Pilate's approval for any military action.
Jesus' first "deception"from their viewpoint was His messiahship, and His last (second) was His claim that He would rise from the dead. The chief priests and Pharisees wanted to protect the people from deception. Matthew viewed their action as self-deception designed to deceive others. They had formerly accused Jesus of being a deceiver (26:4).
27:65-66 Pilate refused to assign his own troops to guard Jesus' tomb, but he allowed the Jewish leaders to use their own temple guards for this purpose (cf. 28:11). Pilate's reply was probably cynical. These men had feared Jesus when He was alive, and now they feared His disciples after He was dead. Pilate did not think the chance that Jesus' disciples would steal His body was very great. The chief priests and Pharisees secured the tomb by posting their guards at the site and by putting an official wax seal on the stone door (cf. Ps. 2:4).
This pericope stresses the corruptness of Israel's rulers and their willful rejection of Jesus.1080It also shows that Jesus was definitely dead.
"The incongruous, ironical result is that the opponents took Jesus' words about rising from the dead more seriously than did the disciples."1081
