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
