Bible Study on Matthew 27, verses 57 to 66, he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre

 

Matthew 27:57 ¶  When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: 58  He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 59  And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60  And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. 61  And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre. 62  Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63  Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 64  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 first. 65  Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. 66  So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

 

Joseph of Arimathea plays an important part in Western European lore and legend. First, from the Bible, we have the prophecy of the Messiah being buried in a rich man’s tomb.

 

Isaiah 53:9a  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;

 

Then, there is mention made of this man in a non-biblical text, the apocryphal 5^th or 6^th century work called, since the Middle Ages, The Gospel of Nicodemus, but called at first The Acts of Pilate. In this it is recorded how angry the Jews were at Nicodemus, mentioned in John, at providing the burial place for Jesus.

 

Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned in the works of several early church fathers like Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Eusebius where they spread traditions that had formed around him. Much later in the Middle Ages writers created legends about Joseph being buried at Glastonbury Abbey, having brought the Holy Grail of King Arthur legend to Britain, and how his miraculous walking stick grew into the tree that still exists from cuttings and is called the Glastonbury Thorn.

 

A great stone is rolled in front of the opening to Christ’s burial place. Women who followed Jesus witnessed his burial, two named here although different commentators I read disagree on the identity of the other Mary. The Jews the next day come to Pilate and repeat what Jesus had said in the face of Scribes of the Pharisees;

 

Matthew 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

 

They are concerned about Jesus’ body being stolen but Pilate seems to be suggesting they use the temple watch to guard the tomb. They set a seal on the stone and placed their watch. A seal could have been something as simple as a piece of string or it could have been the governor’s seal of which it would be under pain of death to break. Later, apocryphal texts such as The Gospel of Peter, The Report of Pilate to the Emperor Claudius, and the aforementioned Gospel of Nicodemus suggest that there was either only Roman guards or a mixture of Roman and Temple guards at the tomb. There are, though, some things in the text that suggest a Roman guard rather than just a Temple watch, arguments which I am not going to go into here as they don’t really matter or change what is about to happen unless you’re making a movie.