28:11 Some of the guards left the others at the tomb and reported the earthquake, the angel, and the empty tomb to the chief priests.
28:12-14 The action of these Sanhedrin members proves that their promise to believe in Jesus if He would come down from the cross was hypocritical (cf. 27:42; Luke 24:13-32). They continued to show more concern for their own reputations and what was expedient than for the truth.
Their devised story was a weak one that a critic might easily discredit. If the guards had been asleep, they could not have known of the theft. If one of them was awake, why did he not sound an alarm? It was also incredible that the disciples who had abandoned Jesus out of fear would have summoned enough courage to risk opening the guarded tomb. Moreover if the Sanhedrin had any evidence against the disciples, they surely would have prosecuted them, but they did not.
Molesting graves was sometimes punishable with death in the ancient Near East.1089Consequently Jesus' enemies resorted to bribery to shut the mouths of the soldiers, and later Pilate, if necessary. Guards who fell asleep on duty normally lost their lives if discovered (cf. Acts 12:19).
28:15 Matthew explained that this was the origin of the Jewish explanation of the empty tomb that persisted to the time of his writing, whenever that may have been.
"The reason for Matthew's diligence in approaching the resurrection in such an apologetic manner is evident since so much is dependent upon the resurrection of the Messiah. It authenticated His person. To the nation of Israel, His resurrection was the sign of the prophet Jonah (Matthew 12:38-39) attesting the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. The reason Matthew says nothing about the ascension is bound up in this point. If Jesus is the Messiah, then an account of the ascension is both unnecessary and self-evident to the Israelite. He would yet come in clouds of glory. What mattered to Matthew was that Jesus was Israel's Messiah and the resurrection proved that fact; therefore he goes no further. Second, the resurrection validated Christ's prophecies concerning His rising from the dead (Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19). Finally, the message of the King involving the character of the kingdom, the offer of the kingdom, and the offer's withdrawal are all involved in the resurrection, for the resurrection verifies the truthfulness of all that Christ ever spoke."1090
