Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.
Parallel Translations
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Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.
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When they were gone: beholde some of the kepers came into the cyte and shewed vnto the hie prestes all the thinges that were hapened.
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Nowe when they were gone, beholde, some of the watch came into the citie, and shewed vnto the hie Priestes all ye things that were done.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Matthew 28:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 27:65-66 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
- Matthew 28:4 For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (22 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The more the sun shineth, the more are the…
The more the sun shineth, the more are the wicked blinded.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 11 Now when they were going, behold, some of…
11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.
Ver. 11. Some of the watch came into the city] God would have the point of the resurrection well proven, for our better settlement, in so weighty a matter. The priests were unworthy to hear of it by an angel; they shall hear of it therefore by the profane soldiers, who came in to them much afraid, and thunder struck, as it were, and told them all. Now the confession of an adversary is held in law to be the most certain demonstration of the truth that can be.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain No other evangelist hath this passage, which was necessary…
No other evangelist hath this passage, which was necessary to be inserted by Matthew:
1. To satisfy readers how it could come to pass, that Matthew should know of the earthquake, or concussion of the air rather, and that an angel came and rolled away the stone; for all this was done, and Christ risen, before the women came: it came out by the watch, or by Pilate to whom the watch related it, or else by some of the priests and elders, who did not keep counsel so well as others.
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2. To show the horrible wickedness of these priests and elders, that would thus cover the blood they had spilt with a lie and subornation. Thus one sin requires more to defend it.
3. To let us see how simple people will show themselves in their malice. What a story here was! If they were asleep, how could they know that Christ’s disciples came by night and stole him away? Would no noise of rolling away the stone wake them? Malice will not allow men deliberation enough to show themselves wise. God infatuated these men, that succeeding ages might know they were suborned. Here we have also the ground of that fable with which the Jews presently filled all the world.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Observe here, 1. How the priests and elders endeavour…
Observe here, 1. How the priests and elders endeavour by a notorious lie to hinder the belief of our Lord’s resurrection, they soborne and bribe the soldiers to say that his corpse was stolen out of the grave: Lies have been an old refufge which the enemies of Christ have all along had course unto; lying is an ancient device of Satan.
But observe, 2. What an improbable and unlikely lie this was which they put into the soldiers’ mouths to vouch; Say, his disciples came and stole him away, while we slept. Frivolous excuse, carrying with it a most self-evident contradiction. If the soldiers were asleep, how could they discover the disciples stealing away the body? If awake, why did they not prevent their stealing it? Besides, how improbable was it that Christ’s few and fearful disciples should attempt to open the sepulchre guarded by soldiers; and as unlikely was it that the soldiers should be all asleep together, and so fast asleep too, that the great stone at the mouth of the sepuchre should be rolled away, and not one of the soldiers awakened with the noise. Infatuation is the certain consequence of desertion of God.
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Yet observe farther, That this incredible falsehood finds a fast and firm rooting in the belief of the Jews to this day.
Note thence, That it is a righteous thing with God to deliver up those to strong delusions, even to the believing of notorious lies, who will not yield their assent to divine truths upon the clearest evidence, and most convincing demonstration.
How strange is it, that such falsehood as this should find belief among the Jews to this day? But where truth is obstinately rejected, a lie, though ever so improbable, is received.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now when they were going,.... Or were gone from…
Now when they were going,.... Or were gone from the sepulchre: that is, the women, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, and their companions, when they were going, or gone, and before they could come to the disciples, to inform them of what they had seen and heard, and deliver the message both of the angel, and of Christ, unto them:
behold, some of the watch came unto the city: that is, "of Jerusalem". The word "behold" is left out in the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; but ought to be retained as expressive of what is wonderful, and worthy of observation and attention; that the very persons who were placed to prevent every thing, that might be the foundation of a report, that Christ was risen, should be the first persons that should relate it to the chief priests and elders, that employed them: not all the watch, for some still stayed behind, till they had orders to come away; but some of them, the principal of them, or who were deputed by the rest, came. The Persic version, rather commenting than translating, has these words:
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"moreover, the rulers and governors, who watched the sepulchre, coming to themselves, returned to the city with a pale and frightened countenance.''
And showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done; how that there had been a very great earthquake, and a very surprising appearance; one like a young man descended from the clouds, whose countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow, which filled them with astonishment and dread; that he rolled away the stone from the sepulchre, and then sat upon it; and that some women coming to the sepulchre, were shown by him where the body had been laid, but was now gone; and how, that after they had recovered themselves from the fright, they had themselves examined the sepulchre, and the body was certainly gone; and sure they were that the women did not carry it away, nor any other: all which they thought proper to relate to the chief priests; partly on their own account, to clear themselves from the charge of bribery and corruption, and sloth and negligence; and partly that the chief priests might consider what was proper to be done at such a juncture.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. Some of the watch] Or guards. Probably…
Verse 11. Some of the watch] Or guards. Probably the rest still remained at the tomb, waiting for orders to depart, and had sent these to intimate to their employers the things that had taken place.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Mat 28:11. Now when, or while they were going…
Mat 28:11. Now when, or while they were going — While these extraordinary things were transacting, and the women were going to tell the disciples what they had heard and seen: behold, some of the watch — Some of the guards, who had fled from the sepulchre in great consternation, beginning a little to recollect themselves as to the excuse they should make for its being broken open, and the body being gone, as it would soon be known that it was; came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all that was done — That is, gave them an account of the earthquake, the vision, the rolling away of the stone: and moreover assured them that Jesus was actually risen from the dead. And they doubtless urged, at the same time, how impossible it was for them to make any opposition in the presence of the angel, who shook the very earth with the terror of his appearance, and therefore might be easily supposed to take away all power of resistance from them. Thus these ignorant and stupid heathen became, in effect, the first preachers of Christ’s resurrection, and were witnesses of the truth of it to the most inveterate of his enemies. It is justly observed here, by Dr. Doddridge, that “such news, coming from such persons, must undoubtedly throw the priests into inexpressible confusion; but it is remarkable, that neither the soldiers nor the priests were converted, by what the one saw or the other heard. Perhaps the soldiers might think that Jesus was, like some of their fabulous heroes, the son of some deity, who brought him to life again; but instead of imagining themselves concerned in the purposes of his resurrection, they might perhaps abuse their knowledge of it, to confirm their belief of some superstitious tales of their own priests, which bore some little resemblance to it; as those of Alcestis, Hippolytus, Hercules, and many others did. See Valer. Max., lib. 1. cap. 8. § 12; and Plin., Nat. Hist., lib. 7. cap. 52.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain When they were going - Or when they had…
When they were going - Or when they had gone from the tomb.
Some of the watch - Some of the guard that had been set around the tomb to keep it safe. Probably the leaders or officers came to give a true account of what had happened.
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Showed unto the chief priests - To Annas and Caiaphas.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Some of the guards came into the city. It…
Some of the guards came into the city. It is probable they had retired a while to some place to consult what to say, and how to avoid being punished. The chief priests, after consulting upon the matter, ordered them to say, that when they were asleep, the disciples came and stole away Jesus’s body. This report was spread about everywhere. St. Augustine laughs at them for their blindness and folly, in bringing men in for witnesses of a fact, which they themselves own was done whilst they were asleep. (Witham) --- The poet, Sedulius, also is no less severe on these faithless guards: Mentita est vox vana sibi; tamen ista figuram
Res habet egregiam, Judæis constat ademptum,
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Quem nos devoto portamus pectore Christum.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain
SECOND SECTION
JUDAISM, AND ITS TALE; OR, THE IMPORTENT END OF THE OLD WORLD
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Mat_28:11-15
11Now when [as] they [the women] were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto [told]25 the chief priests all the things that were done. 12And when they [the high-priests] were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel,26 they gave large [much]27 money unto the soldiers, 13Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14And if this come to the governor’s ears,28 we will persuade him, and secure you [make you secure, free of care or danger, ὑμᾶι ἀμερίμνους ποιήσομεν]29 15So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day [i. e., the time of the composition of this Gospel].30
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat_28:11. As they were going.—The Evangelist does not seek to show that the soldiers arrived in the city before the women, but only that, contemporaneously, a second account reached the city,—that one message was borne to the friends, and another to the enemies.
Mat_28:12. And had taken counsel.—This is the last session of the Sanhedrin, so exacting of reverence, which is recorded by Matthew, and its last decision. It is a very significant transaction, which gives us a perfect revelation, prospectively, of the post-Christian, unbelieving Judaism. Some have considered this very disgraceful decision of the council to be improbable. But, standing as they did upon the brink of moral destruction and condemnation, this improbability becomes the most awful reality. Still, we are not compelled by our text to believe that they held the meeting for the express purpose of bribing the guards: that was merely a result of their council, and of their deliberations. Probably the matter was handed over to a commission, to be examined into and disposed of; that is, the council left the matter in the hands of the high-priests, agreeing secretly with their designs.
Much money.—Increased bribes, as compared with the former bribery, that of Judas: 1. The bribery in this case was in consequence of a resolution of the Sanhedrin. 2. The bribery by means of large sums of money, contrasts strongly with the thirty pieces which Judas received. 3. The bribery of poor Gentiles, and these Roman soldiers, who were seduced into a breach of discipline and into lies, which might have cost their lives; and with this were connected self-humiliation and self-abandonment on the part of the Sanhedrin before these very Gentiles. 4. The formal resolution, which was aimed, though indirectly, at the corruption of the soldiers, was the culmination of that guilt to which they had subjected themselves in accepting the willing and volunteered treachery of Judas. The whole account expresses distinctly the extreme and painful embarrassment of the chief council. They imagined that by means of thirty pieces of silver they had freed themselves of Judas; but now they begin first to experience the far greater danger to which the crucified and buried Saviour exposed them.
Mat_28:13. Stole Him away while we slept.—In addition to all the judgments of impotency, embarrassment, and rejection, they are now subjected to the judgment of stupidity. The soldiers are to have been asleep, and yet to have seen thieves, and known that they were disciples! Grotius: τὸ αὐτοκατάκριτον. [This Satanic lie carries its condemnation on the face. If the soldiers were asleep, they could not discover the thieves, nor would they have proclaimed their military crime; if they, or even a few of them, were awake, they ought to have prevented the theft; it is very improbable that all the soldiers should have been asleep at once; it is equally improbable that a few timid disciples should attempt to steal their Master’s body from a grave closed by a stone, officially sealed and guarded by soldiers, nor could they do it without awakening the guard, if asleep. But all these improbabilities are by no means an argument against the truthfulness of the narrative: for, if men obstinately refuse to believe the truth, “God sends them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,” 2Th_2:11. With this agrees the old heathen adage: “Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad,”—which is constantly exemplified in history. Infatuation is a divine judgment, and the consequence of desertion by God. Among the Jews this lie finds credence to this day, as it did at the time of the composition of the Gospel of Matthew, and in the second and third centuries, according to the testimonies of Justin Martyr and Tertullian.—P. S.]
Mat_28:14. And if this come to the governor’s ears.—Coram procuratore. Meyer, following Erasmus, interprets this in a judicial sense: When an examination shall be held before Pilate.31 But in that case, the mediation would come too late, because Pilate, according to military discipline, must have inflicted the penalty, if such a criminal violation of duty had been openly acknowledged. Accordingly, most commentators interpret, When this rumor shall reach the governor, be repeated unto him. Then the danger became imminent; but, according to this assurance, it would have been already removed.—This was undoubtedly an excuse highly dangerous for the soldiers (see Act_12:19), and the high-priests could by no means be sure of the result, although they might be ready to give to the avaricious and corrupt Pilate a large bribe. The hierarchical spirit, which here reaches its climax, uses the Roman soldiers merely as tools to effect its own ends, as it had previously employed Judas; and was again fully prepared to let the despised instruments perish, when the work was finished.—We will persuade him, πείσομεν. An ironical euphemism, indicating the means of persuasion. This was the manner in which they will keep the soldiers free of care and danger.
Mat_28:15. This saying, ὁλόγος οὗτος.—This does not refer to the entire account (Grotius, Paulus), but to the lying statement (Mat_28:13), voluntarily adopted by these soldiers, that the body of Jesus had been stolen by His disciples (de Wette, Meyer). Upon the doubts regarding the narrative itself, which Stroth maintained to be an interpolation, consult de Wette and Meyer. Among the opponents of the truth of the passage, are Paulus, Strauss, Weisse, Meyer; among the supporters, Hug, Kuinoel, Hoffmann, Krabbe, Ebrard, etc. Olshausen adopts a modified view, that the Sanhedrin did not act in a formal manner, but that Caiaphas arranged the matter privately. The most plausible arguments which de Wette brings forward against the credibility of the narrative, were already disposed of in the Exegetical Notes on Mat_27:66 (p. 537). The objection that the Sanhedrin, in which “sat men like Gamaliel,” could not have so lost its sense of duty and dignity as to adopt so unworthy a resolution, rests entirely upon a subjective view of the worthiness of the council.32 We have already learned from the history of the crucifixion, that it was a Jewish custom to employ bad means to effect the ends of the hierarchy, and to deal with the despised Gentiles as mere tools, who were to be used and then treated with contempt. The existence of this saying among the Jews is acknowledged. See the quotations which Grotius gives out of Justin, from which we learn that the Pharisees spread the report among the people by appointed messengers; and also out of Tertullian. The Talmudic tract, Toledoth Jeschu.33 That the Evangelist has here communicated to us the prototype of the Talmud, and the Christ-hating Judaism, is a proof of his deep insight into the significance of the facts, and a testimony unto the consistent character of his Gospel.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Some of the watch.—The other guards appear to have been so overcome, so prostrated by the phenomena of the resurrection, as to have recognized the matter as settled, the attempt of the chief council as futile, and, without further delay, to have returned to their military station. Only a part so far overcomes the influence as to go and give a report, probably in hopes of having a reward promised to them, and ready to be bribed. Those mercenary soldiers are a type of all “trencher-soldiers,” who must supply the hierarchy with power to compensate for their want of spiritual might. The nobler soldier, like the independent state, will not allow it even to be supposed that he will yield himself up as a tool to the hierarchy.
2. The intensified heathenism of the disbelieving Judaism begins with disbelief regarding the resurrection of Jesus, and adopts at once a characteristic trait of heathenism, by forming a dark tradition. But the myth of the chief council is worse than the myths of heathenism. The latter, according to their bright side, point to Christ; but the lie of the Sanhedrin forms the dark contrast to the facts of light recorded in the Gospels. The myths of the heathen world are the seed of its culture;34 the lying myth of unbelieving Judaism is the fruit of its obduracy.
3. Matthew, with prophetic spirit, has preserved this fact, the unmistakable germ from which sprang the Talmud, along with which Judaism, that held in the Old Testament fast by the path of faith and repelled all the myths of the heathen world, now manifests itself in its unbelief as the most intensified heathenism; resorting to the most debased of all myths, and endeavoring to destroy the evangelical history by a false exegesis of the Old Testament, by false traditions concerning facts of Gospel history, and by a perversion of the Old Testament into a system of absolute legalism and formalism. Hence it is, that in the following section this type of the Talmud is succeeded by the type of the New Testament.
4. It is indubitable that our narrative is the history of the most extreme self-abasement of the chief council, but is not the less worthy of belief. This is the perfection of the judgment of self-abandonment, under which the council had flung itself. Upon the special points of this self-rejection, see the Exegetical Notes.
5. The hierarchical falsification of the history of the resurrection is the beginning of the hierarchical and antievangelical falsifications of history. The Ebionitic Apocrypha, the donatio Constantini, the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, etc.
6. Christ’s resurrection, according to God’s counsel, officially announced to the civil authorities, and to the hierarchy; and hence the evangelical faith, as belief in the resurrection, is independent and free.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Heathen guards, the messengers whom God had ordained to announce the resurrection unto the chief council.—Despairing sinners (Judas, the guards), the usual preachers of repentance, sent unto the hypocritical, hierarchical powers.—The unbelief of the chief council is bold enough to impart its own obduracy to affrighted Gentile hearts.—Money and bribery, the A and Ω (the beginning and the end) of the salvation which remained with the council.—Bribery of every kind is the principal lever of all antichristian systems: 1. Bribery by money, 2. by honors.—The utter incertitude of the Sanhedrin is clearly manifested by their last decision.—The perfect overthrow which moral self-destruction caused to follow the supposed triumph of their faith.—The imagination of blinded spirits, as though they could debase the grandest facts of heaven into the meanest stories (scandala) of earth.—The fruitless lies, which are imagined capable of converting the most glorious facts into a deceptive myth.—The criticism passed in the dark Jewish lane, upon the facts of Gospel history which took place upon the broad, open highway of the world.—This is the course which all the enemies of Christian truth must pursue, because of the concealed self-contradictions: 1. They imagine the most absurd fables, to destroy the most glorious miracle; 2. they imagine the most senseless absurdity, to destroy what is full of meaning and clear to the soul; 3. they imagine what is mean, wicked, diabolical, to destroy what is sacred.—The latest criticism in the Jewish Talmud, and the Talmud in the latest works of criticism.—How the hierarchy has corrupted even the soldier’s honor.—Slander sneaks along in its impotent path, in pursuit of the Gospel rushing along its winged course: 1. Slander of Christ; 2. of the disciples; 3. of early Christendom; 4. of the Reformation, and so forth.—How Judaism and heathenism unite to oppose Christianity.—How the hierarchy leagues with the dissolute to battle against the faith.—The inhabitants of hell try to make themselves believe that heaven has been built up by the devices of hell.—God allowed the work of shame to run its wretched course, because the message of the resurrection was not intended to be extended in the form of worldly, but of heavenly certainty, by heavenly agencies.—Powerless as are such attempts, as concerns the Lord, they succeed in destroying many souls.—Thus has the Talmud, the production of the legalistic spirit of Judaism, placed itself between the poor Jew and his Christ, as a ruinous phantom. So too does the spirit of legalism endeavor to build up a wall of separation between the poor Christian and his Christ.—It is only the preaching of the Gospel which can overcome the enmity to the Gospel.—The more boldly the opposition advances, let the word ring out the clearer.
The Present Section considered in connection with the following Evangelical Narrative.—The twofold development of the Old Testament: 1. The false continuation of the Talmud. 2. The true continuation in the New Testament.—The great revolution in the life of Christ: 1. The apparent triumph of His foes becomes their most disgraceful defeat. 2. The apparent defeat of the Lord becomes His most glorious triumph.—The grand development of Christianity and its dark counter-picture: 1. The fleeing soldiers, the heroic women. 2. The great council, and its decision; Christ upon the mountain, and His sermon. 3. The empty expectations of Judaism, and the actual testimony afforded by the Church of Christ.—The perfect impotence of the opponents, and the omnipotence of Christ in heaven and upon earth.
Starke:—Nova Bibl. Tub.: As divine wisdom has decreed, unto even the bitterest foes and persecutors of Jesus must the truth be told by their own beloved confidantes.—The world takes money, and acts as she is taught, against her better knowledge and her conscience, 1Ti_6:10; 2Pe_2:13; 2Pe_2:15.—No compacts prevail against the Lord.—The devil seeks, where not by force and with boldness, still with lies and blasphemy, to oppose the kingdom and the life of Christ.—Money has great power, but thou and thy money shall perish together, Act_8:20.—Manifest lies require no refutation; they refute themselves.—Quesnel: What a misfortune, that a man will turn to lies to cover his sin, rather than unto repentance for forgiveness!—Zeisius: The lie, no matter how absurd, is believed rather than the truth, especially by the low and godless masses.—Murder and lies, the devil’s weapons, Joh_8:44.
Lisco:—Hate and wickedness incite Christ’s enemies to bribe the soldiers; low avarice makes them ready to free themselves from the crime, of a neglect of duty by availing themselves of a convenient lie.
Heubner:—Contrast between this account and the preceding: 1. There truth; here lies. 2. There the glorified Hero in His perfect purity; here the terrified priesthood, affrighted because of its crime. 3. There, among the disciples, overmastering joy; here anguishing terror. 4. There, willing, unpaid servants of truth; here bribed servants of falsehood.—Injustice brings a man to humiliation, shame, before the instruments of his sin: he resigns himself to them, must fear them, and they laugh him to scorn.—Such people have never a clean mouth. The state of things might have been learned by the Apostles from secret friends and adherents among the priests, from several persons, perchance from converted soldiers.
Braune:—As the friends heard from their own, so the foes from their own, the news of the resurrection.—What revelation will be made on the day of judgment35 of what money can effect!—Lies find admission, but they flee before the truth. Let no one, accordingly, be affrighted for what men can do; the Lord’s counsel stands fast.—But let no one imagine that he must take in hand to destroy the attempts of another; leave that to the Lord.
Footnotes:
[25]Mat_28:11.—[Comp. Critical Note No. 6 on Mat_28:8. Others prefer reported to.—P. S.]
[26]Mat_28:12.—[Or more literally: having assembled…and taken counsel, συναχθἔντες καὶ λαβόντες So Conant and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union.—P. S.]
[27]Mat_28:12.—[Wiclif, Scrivener, Conant. etc., render ἀργν́ρια ἱκανά, much money, instead of large money, which dates from Tyndale, Coverdale, Cranmer, etc. The Rhemish N. T. has: a large sum of money. De Wette, Lange, and Ewald reichlich Geld; Luther: Geld’s genug; van Ess and other German Versions: viel Geld.—P. S.]
[28]Mat_28:14—[Or: be borne witness of before the governor; an official or judicial hearing is intended; comp. for a similar use of ἐπί Act_24:19-20; Act_25:9; Act_25:12; Act_25:26; Act_26:2; 1Co_6:1; 1Ti_5:19; 1Ti_6:13. But compare the remarks of Dr. Lange in the Exeg. Notes. Lachmann and Tregelles read: ἐάν ἀκονσθῇ τον͂το ὑπὸ (instead of ἐπὶ) τον͂ ἡγεμόνος, if this shall be heard by the governor, following the Vatican Codex (B.), Codex Beza (D.), and the oldest Versions (Itale and Vulgata: si hoc auditum fuerit a prœside). But Meyer and Lange regard this as a mistaken explanation of ἐπί, which is sustained by the majority of authorities. Conant, in his Version, adopts the reading ν̔πό, but the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union, which otherwise follows his Version closely, has here: “before the governor.” Scrivener takes no notice of this verse.—P. S.]
[29]Mat_28:14—[Lange: sorgenfrei, free of care; Meyer: sorgenfrei im objectiven Sinne, i. e., frei von Gefahr und Plackereien; Tyndale 1.: make you safe; Coverdale: ye shall be safe; Tyndale 2., Cranmer, Genevan Bible, Scrivener: save you harmless; Bishops’ B., very improperly: make you careless; Conant and others: make you secure.—P. S.]
[30]Mat_28:15.—Lachmann and Tischendorf [not in his edition of 1859] add ἡμέρας (day) after τῆς σήμερον, which is supported by Codd. B., D., L., al. [Tischendorf, in the edition of 1859, says: ἡμέρα ubi a paucis tantum testibus prœbetur, potius illatum quam verum esse statuendum est,” but the fact that Matthew in two other passages (Mat_11:23; Mat_27:8) uses οήμερον without ἡμέρα makes the insertion in this case less probable than the omission. Meyer and Alford likewise defend it here.—P. S.]
[31][Erasmus: Si res apud illum judicem agatur. Se also Alford. Comp. my Critical Note No. 4 above.—P. S.]
[32][Comp. the sharp reply of Ebrard to this objection of Strauss: “What pious and conscientious men the Sanhedrists all at once become under the magic hands of Mr. Dr. Strauss! All the scattered Christians, these humble and quiet men, must, without any cause whatever, have devised and believed a palpable lie: but the murderers of Jesus were altogether too good to devise for the Roman soldiers a falsehood that had become for them a necessity!”—P. S.]
[33][This book gives an expansion of this lie of the Jews.—P S.]
[34][In German: Der Same ihrer Kultur, which the Edinb. edition turns into “the germ of its worship,” as if Lange had written: ihres Kultus.—P. S.]
[35][The Edinb. edition mistranslates “every day we see,” etc.; mistaking the German: jener Tag (remember: Dies inœ, dies illa) for jeder Tag.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Now when they were going--while the women were on…
Now when they were going--while the women were on their way to deliver to His brethren the message of their risen Lord.
some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done--Simple, unsophisticated soldiers! How could ye imagine that such a tale as ye had to tell would not at once commend itself to your scared employers? Had they doubted this for a moment, would they have ventured to go near them, knowing it was death to a Roman soldier to be proved asleep when on guard? and of course that was the only other explanation of the case.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE WATCH REPORT, AND ARE BRIBED TO FALSEHOOD, Mat_28:11-15.
THE WATCH REPORT, AND ARE BRIBED TO FALSEHOOD, Mat_28:11-15.
11. The watch — We suppose the quaternion or guard of four soldiers. While the women departed to inform the disciples, they departed to inform the Jews of the disappearance of the body. They bear no report to Pilate, for fear of punishment. They resort for aid and safety to those in whose behalf they have been serving. Chief priests — Annas and Caiaphas. All the things that were done — How great must have been the consternation of these men to find that after all the matter was not to die with the crucifixion; and that “the last error,” which they had feared as “worse than the first,” had truly taken place.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11–15. The Roman Guards are bribed. This important testimony…
11–15. The Roman Guards are bribed. This important testimony is given by St Matthew only
12. large money] Literally, many pieces of silver, a largesse.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) Some of the watch.—This incident, like that of…
(11) Some of the watch.—This incident, like that of the appointment of the guard, is reported by St. Matthew only. As writing primarily for the Jews of Palestine, it was natural that he should take special notice of the rumour which hindered many of them from accepting the fact of the Resurrection, and trace it to its corrupt source. The object of the soldiers was, of course, to escape the penalty which they were likely to incur for seeming negligence, but their statement to the priests was at first a truthful one. They told “all the things that were done”—the earthquake, the opened and emptied sepulchre, perhaps also of the form in bright raiment that had filled them with speechless terror.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 11-15. The Roman soldiers bribed by the Jewish…
Vers. 11-15. The Roman soldiers bribed by the Jewish rulers to give a false account of the Resurrection. (Peculiar to St. Matthew)
When (while) they were going. Into the city, in order to find the disciples and to deliver to them their Lord"s message. This account takes up the narrative of Mat_27:63-66 and ver. 4 of this chapter. As soon as they recovered from their swoon and had assured themselves that the tomb was empty, the soldiers hurried in affright to the Jewish rulers, under whose orders they had temporarily been placed, and told them all the things that were done. They could speak of the earthquake, of the appearing of the angel, of the removal of the stone, of the absence of the body which they were appointed to watch. Their task was done; the corpse was gone, they knew not how taken; they could not be expected to contend with supernatural visitants, or to guard against supernatural occurrences. St. Matthew seems to have introduced this incident in order to account for the prevalence of the lying rumour which he proceeds to mention, and which had been widely disseminated among his countrymen.
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Vers. 11-15. The watch and the chief priests.
I THE REPORT OF THE WATCHERS.
1. Their flight. They were all aghast with terror; they knew not well what had happened. The earthquake had terrified them at first; then there came a vision dazzling like the lightning. From that moment they were as dead men; they knew nothing more. When they recovered from that deathlike swoon the angel had vanished; all was still and quiet. Perhaps they examined the sepulchre. The stone was rolled away; the tomb was open; it was empty. What could they do? They had been posted there to guard it; they were in danger of death. Some fled away in terror; some, bolder than the others, or deeming perhaps that to tell the truth was the safest course, came into the city.
2. Their account. If they were, as it seems most probable, Roman soldiers, they were responsible to the governor; but they felt sure that he would disbelieve their story, and punish them for neglect of duty. It seemed safer to go to the chief priests, who were the persons most interested in the safety of the tomb, who might advise them what to do under the circumstances. They told them all the things that were done; they told them the facts of the case; the earthquake, the vision which they had seen, their own prostration, the empty tomb; they left the chief priests to draw their own conclusions.
II THE ACTION OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS.
1. The council. A meeting of the Sanhedrin was hastily called. The chief priests were Sadducees; they believed that there was no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit. Now they must have been in a difficulty. The great darkness of Friday, the earthquake, the rent veil, had appalled many hearts. The very thing had happened which they had anxiously tried to prevent; the sacred body had disappeared, and the soldiers brought strange stories of awful apparitions, of earthquakes and lightning, and the supernatural removal of the great stone from the door of the sepulchre. But men can always discover reasons for disbelieving truths which they wish to repudiate; they can always invent difficulties, discrepancies, explanations. The chief priests probably affected to believe that the guards, worn out by long watching, had been so bewildered by the earthquake as to see in the lightning flashes the fancied form of an angel. The Pharisees in the council did not share in the Sadducean heresies; but they had joined with the chief priests in the application to Pilate for a guard. (Mat_27:62) They were, equally with the Sadducees, hostile to the Lord, equally interested in preventing the people from believing his resurrection. Doubtless those few counsellors, such as Joseph and Nicodemus, who had taken no part in compassing the Saviour"s death, were not summoned to the meeting. To the rest the Resurrection involved awful consequences. It threw them into such an abyss of tremendous guilt and terrible condemnation, that we are not surprised if men who were evidently selfish, cruel, hypocritical, obstinately refused to admit the evidence of its truth. So, in the face of all testimony, in spite of the fact that the holy body was gone, and the certain knowledge that foe would not, and friend could not, have borne it away, they deceived themselves, or forced themselves into a disbelief of the Lord"s resurrection.
2. Their decision. They pretended that what they had feared had really taken place. They made an arrangement with the soldiers; they were to say that while they slept his disciples came by night and stole him away. It was a dangerous thing for the soldiers; they might be punished with death for sleeping at their post, as Herod afterwards treated the keepers of the prison from which St. Peter was released by the angel. So the chief priests undertook to secure them; they promised to persuade the governor if he should hear of the matter. They meant probably to bribe him; and so they would set the soldiers free from anxiety. It was a wicked falsehood, an awful sin; for they were fighting against God; but the only alternative was an open acknowledgment of the truth, and that would have brought upon them a tremendous disgrace. It would have been a confession of guilt a confession that they had been in the wrong throughout, that they had been selfish, hollow, hypocritical, and that the Prophet of Galilee whom they so utterly hated, whom they had murdered, was indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God. They could not bring themselves to this. They were the rulers of the people, the chiefs of the hierarchy; they could not humble themselves. They chose the alternative of falsehood. Thus it is that sin leads on to sin. One sin forces a man (or seems to force him) to commit another; each wilful sin strengthens the grasp of Satan upon his soul, and brings him nearer to that awful state when repentance becomes impossible. Let us beware, and take heed to ourselves.
3. The conduct of the soldiers. They did as they were taught. Interest and fear combined to make them the willing tools of the chief priests. The priests bribed them largely, and the soldiers were absolutely in their power. If the priests accused them of neglect of duty, they must have been condemned; their only chance of escape seemed to coincide with their interest; so they took the.money offered them, and repeated the falsehood which the chief priests put into their mouths.
4. The acceptance of the story. It was commonly reported among the Jews. But it is a manifest falsehood; it is encompassed with all manner of improbabilities. The soldiers, if they had slept, could not have known what had happened. The disciples, terror-stricken as they were, could not have dared to attempt to break open the tomb. They did not wish to remove the sacred body; it had been laid in an honoured grave. Their only wish was to render the last offices of love and reverence. If they had removed it, what would have been the value of a dead body to them? Could a dead body have kindled that zeal, that intense enthusiasm, which urged them to forsake home and all earthly comforts for the love of Christ? Would they have embraced a life of hardship and constant danger, with the almost certain prospect of violent death, for the sake of preaching a lie? It is impossible that zealous, self-denying men like the apostles, could have been impostors; it is impossible that men who wrote what they wrote simple, artless records, full of indications of truthfulness, full also of little differences which show that there could have been no concert, no collusion; or letters of Christian counsel beautiful in their transparent simplicity, full of high, holy, heavenly teaching, such as the world had never heard before it is simply inconceivable that such men should have invented a lie, should have suffered, should have died, for what they knew to be false. But perhaps no one maintains this incredible hypothesis now. Then could they have been deceived by others? Who could have deceived them? Whose interest was it? Who could have wished to deceive them? Could they have deceived themselves as to the Lord"s resurrection? Did they so treasure in their hearts their Master"s promise? Did they so constantly expect to see him again? Did they look for his reappearing so eagerly that they imagined that they saw his form and heard his words? Did they in honest enthusiasm unconsciously create supposed appearances of the Lord out of the lightning"s flash, or the uncertain moonlight, or the thousand causes which have from time to time deceived honest men? But the Scripture narratives, artless and truthful as they are, completely exclude this hypothesis. The disciples had forgotten the Lord"s promise, or had wholly lost faith in it; they regarded him as dead, as lost to them. Two of them had laid him in the tomb, and had closed it with a great stone. The women were preparing to anoint the body. None of them had any expectation of seeing the Lord again. Even the empty tomb, strange as it may seem to us, did not at once suggest the Resurrection. St. John, indeed, believed when he went into the sepulchre; in the sepulchre itself, in the home of death, he saw by faith the victory over death. But it seems doubtful whether St. Peter even then realized the truth of the Lord"s resurrection. And certainly the absence of the body brought sorrow, not joy, to Mary Magdalene. She stood at the sepulchre weeping, and that because, as she said, she knew not where the body of the Lord was laid; her one wish was to recover those loved remains, and, it seems, to remove them to a grave where they might lie in peace. (Joh_20:6-15) Thank God, the central fact of Christianity rests on the surest historical evidence.
The great Christian Church has not risen out of a dream, a vision. The greatest moral and spiritual revolution which the world has ever seen was not the work of a few honest but unintelligent and easily misled enthusiasts. Nothing but the truth of the resurrection of the Lord can account for the immense and sudden change from the deepest despondency to the most wonderful zeal and joy and courage and endurance. Nothing but the presence of the risen, living Lord can account for that strong conviction, that dauntless energy, that sustained persevering labour, which overcame all the superstitions of heathenism, all the inertness of religious scepticism, all the mighty power of Rome, and went on conquering and to conquer till the victorious eagles bowed before the mightier cross, and kings and emperors bent the knee in worship of the Crucified.
LESSONS.
1. Guilt conceals itself by falsehood. Hate sin, love the truth.
2. To offer bribes or to receive them is alike evil. Covetousness is idolatry.
3. The fact of the Lord"s resurrection is incontrovertible. Let us cling to it as the ground of all our hopes; let us seek to realize its spiritual power.
Vers. 11-17. The commotion.
The earthquake which accompanied the resurrection of Christ had its counterpart in the moral commotion which this event occasioned. Thus
I THE WATCH WERE MOVED.
1. They were alarmed for their lives.
(1) By "the things that were come to pass." They had felt the shock of a "great earthquake." The stoutest heart will shake in the presence of a force that moves the foundations of the earth. To this terror was added the appearance of the angel whose form shone like lightning, while his raiment glittered as the snow. The effect was paralyzing. "For fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as dead men" Who can abide amidst the wonderful visions and tremendous elemental uproar of that great day of the Lord, when in the glory of his majesty he shall arise to shake terribly the earth?
(2) By the fear of military discipline. They were responsible with their lives for the safe custody of the body of Jesus, and the security of the sealed stone. But the stone has been rolled away and the sepulchre is vacant. What are they to do? The ways of God are perplexing to the sinner.
(3) The soldiers tremble for their lives when they should have trembled for their sins. The death of the sinful is of all deaths the most terrible. Unhappily, this is too seldom and too partially seen.
2. They acted with the wisdom of the world.
(1) We have no proof that they deserted their post. Some of them went into the city to report to the elders the things that had come to pass. This probably they did by order of their captain, while the rest waited to receive their official discharge. The steady discipline of the Roman soldier has its lessons for the Christian soldier.
(2) They entered into the wicked plot of the elders. Covetousness conquered the Roman soldier. What a mass of evidence did he consent to set aside for a bribe! The mercenary tongue will sell the truth for money. Fear may have wrought with their covetousness. They might doubt whether the governor would believe the truth, or whether the rulers might not set up another plot against their fidelity. They elected to take the money and trust to the promise of the rulers to secure them against the terror of the military discipline.
(3) What a glorious opportunity did the soldiers miss of becoming honourable witnesses for Christ! But God made them his witnesses in spite of their unworthiness. He can make men efficient preachers of his gospel without giving to them a particle of the preacher"s honour or reward.
II THE ELDERS WERE MOVED.
1. The hypocrite is alarmed for his credit.
(1) The murderer would appear a saint. To free themselves of the guilt of the murder of Christ, the rulers had accused him of being a "deceiver". (see Mat_27:63) But his resurrection from the dead is a triumphant refutation of that wicked defence.
(2) What will the elders do now that blood guiltiness is brought home to them? Will they, even at the eleventh hour, confess their hypocrisy and sue for mercy for their aggravated sin? Or will they at the peril of their damnation defend their credit and persist in their hypocrisy? How solemn are the resolutions of the will!
(3) They elect to persist in their impenitence. What a melancholy example of the power of unbelief! It often pleads want of evidence. Here is an instance of determined unbelief against admitted evidence. An evil, churlish heart will repel the clearest evidence. Note: The waywardness of unbelief prevents the Saviour from rising in our hearts.
2. But he vainly seeks to preserve it.
(1) His efforts may be desperately impudent. The elders deliberately resolved to oppose a lie to the living Truth. They give "large money" to the soldiers to encourage them to publish the lie. How deeply did they sin in thus casting a stumbling block in the way of the soldiers! They teach them to lie speciously. "By night," etc. But the war is toilsome which falsehood has to wage with truth. "If," etc. (ver. 14). Note: The "large money" is the sequel of the small money paid to Iscariot. Iniquity begets iniquity, and the descents are with an aggravating speed. (see Psa_69:27) If the wicked give "large money" to promote a lie, the good should not give small money grudgingly to propagate the saving truth.
(2) His confusion will be all the more signal.
(a) The disciples were not likely to attempt the stealing of the body. For had they thought Christ a deceiver, they would not have run any risk for him. Had they believed him the Messiah, they could have had no occasion or inducement. The pilgrimage of the women was one of devotion, to weep over the dead, and pour some fresh ointment over One whom they desired to preserve, but dreamt not of being able to restore. They were perplexed as to who should roll away the stone, being ignorant both of its being sealed and of the watch being set over it. They were not likely to be in any plot for the stealing of his body to trump up a story of his resurrection.
(b) The soldiers were not likely to have allowed the removal of the body. A watch of sixty armed men could not have been overpowered by a few terrified disciples. The whole watch could not have been asleep, and asleep so soundly as not to be awakened by the rolling away of a stone so large that a company of women despaired of moving it, and by the entrance into the sepulchre of a number of men, and their subsequent exit from it bearing the body. This is all the less likely to have occurred when it is remembered that, according to Roman military law, it was instant death that a guard should be found off their watch. And they were asleep, how did they know what happened?
(c) The elders pain fully felt the clumsiness of their story, else why did they not search the lodgings of the disciples for the body said to have been stolen by them? Were they likely to have been careful for the safety of the Roman soldiers unless they had some reason for it? Do not the words of Gamaliel (see Act_5:38, Act_5:39) assume that the resurrection might be true? Could this argument have been pleaded in the council had the senators continued to maintain their story?
III THE DISCIPLES WERE MOVED.
1. What is sorrow go the wicked is often joy to the good.
(1) While the soldiers went to the elders with the news of the Resurrection, to fill their faces with shame, the women went to the disciples with the same news, to fill their hearts with gladness. They were commissioned to gather the disciples to a particular mountain in Galilee, there to meet their risen Lord. The "names" in Jerusalem were "a hundred and twenty;" in Galilee the number was greater. This was probably the occasion upon which the Lord appeared to "above five hundred brethren". (see 1Co_15:6) Matthew passes by at least five different appearances of our Lord, and proceeds to speak of one which seems, from its previous appointment, to have been an occasion of peculiar solemnity and importance. His object evidently was to refute the tale respecting the stealing of the body.
(2) The fact of the Resurrection is eminently joyful, as it settles forever the Messiahship of Jesus, and with it the absolute truth of his teaching and the trustworthiness of his glorious promises.
2. Holy joy is deepened with the assurance of faith.
(1) When the disciples saw Jesus they worshipped him. Here was a recognition of his Divinity. (cf. Mat_18:26 Act_10:28 Rev_5:6:19:10) By accepting their worship Jesus acknowledged himself to be God. Christian worship is the adoration of Christ as "the true God and Eternal Life". (see 1Jn_5:20, 1Jn_5:21) To worship in truth is to serve in love.
(2) "Some doubted" They doubted that we may believe. For the disciples were the reverse of credulous men. They doubted transiently, viz. while Jesus was yet at a distance; but when he "came to them, and spake unto them," they doubted no more. (cf. ver. 18; Luk_24:37 Joh_20:24) Doubts may transiently trouble the sincere worshipper, but in due time Jesus will come nearer and blessedly manifest himself. (see Joh_16:21) The wickedly obstinate will not believe, though they see. J.A.M. (see Joh_9:41)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole…
Mat_28:11-15
Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away.
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The chief priests story
I. Let us begin with an exact understanding of the whole story at once.
II. Coolly and dispassionately it becomes us to weigh the tale, therefore, on its merits.
1. In the very outset the antecedent improbability of particulars crushes it. How came a trained watch all to sleep?
2. The immediate followers of Jesus had no motive to steal the body of their Lord.
3. They had no concerted plan to do any such thing.
4. The Jews never told this tale in any judicial audience or court, so that it could be subject to cross-examination. Stealing was a capital crime, yet none of the disciples were ever arrested.
5. There was awful risk to the soldiers if this story was true. Death was the penalty of a Roman sentinel asleep at his post.
6. The inherent impossibility of the act itself.
7. Then what could have been done with the body after the disciples had got it in possession? The resurrection of Jesus is more than a fact; it is a doctrine; and takes all the other Christian doctrines in its train. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
An arrant Jewish fable
For indeed this text is a mere romaney, as arrant a Jewish fable as ever was told; a conspiracy so full of rotten fictions that nothing is true in it all, but that it is a conspiracy, that it is a fiction.
I. Then we must bolt out the confederates.
II. The way of confederacy is by putting a forged tale in the soldiers mouths.
III. The plot is collaterally against the disciples for being breakers-up of graves and robbers of the dead.
IV. The main intended contrivance was to discredit the true doctrine of our Saviours resurrection.
V. Handle the improbability of all, of what contradictions the plot consists, never to be pieced together. (Bishop Hacket.)
The Roman soldiers and the Jewish rulers
Show the falsehood and improbability of the report, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept.
I. It is very unlikely that a guard of Roman soldiers should sleep upon duty.
II. The absurdity of this report is manifest from itself, for men cannot say what is done when they are asleep.
III. If the guard of soldiers had fallen asleep as they were watching at the sepulchre, they must have awaked if any attempt had been made to steal the body.
IV. The remaining of the burial clothes affords proof that the body was not removed by friends or other men. Whoever came upon such a design would have been in a hurry, and would have executed their design with all possible expedition, whereas here are marks of leisure and composure.
V. It is not conceivable that the stealing away, or the clandestine removal, of the body of Jesus could answer any purpose whatever; therefore it was not thought of nor attempted by any.
VI. There does not appear anywhere in this history any intimation of the disciples expecting the resurrection of Jesus; therefore they did not contrive any account of His being risen, nor had they beforehand any thought of it till they had more than sufficient evidence of that event.
VII. This saying of the guard must have been false, forasmuch as no punishment was inflicted on any for taking away the body.
VIII. It remains, therefore, that the testimony of the disciples of Jesus concerning the resurrection is true and credible. (N. Lardner.)
Human unscrupulousness
Some of the particulars of the negotiation between the chief priests and elders on the one hand, with the guards on the other hand, shall be the subject of our meditation.
I. Looking at the heads of the Church and the heads of the people, it might be concluded that from such a source nothing could flow that was not consistent with religion and honour. Wherever a lack of principle and high-toned feeling might be found, it would assuredly not be found in the reverend fathers who were the ornaments of that Church which dated back to the days of the patriarchs and prophets. The elders, too. These were the princes of the people and the heads of family associations. Their rank, their education, their hereditary civil privileges and consequent authority, their judicial relations to the people-all these circumstances were of a kind to justify the expectation that their words and their deeds would be not only wise and constitutional, but also free from all injustice, narrowness, meanness, low cunning, corruption, and heartlesshess. Where among the Jewish laity were pure principles, lofty aims, commanding virtue, strict integrity, general greatness of character to be looked for if net in these the aristocracy of the nation?
II. These distinguished men took steps, which legally were allowed, to gain one greatly-desired object of their lives, namely, the death of Christ. How much nefariousness was employed by them in arranging and completing their murderous scheme so as to bring it within constitutional limits it is not our design at present to inquire. All the help that was possible by law they secured. The governor by courtesy gave them permission to use a guard of soldiers to further their plans. The captive Lord, doubly captive for a time, rose from the dead. The military watchers told the things which had come to pass to the sacred and noble men under whose brief authority they acted. Supposing these had doubted the truth of the affirmations made by the soldiers, what, in that case, was the course suggested by their doubts? It was clearly that of inquiry-patient, careful, fair inquiry. Try the temper of the man. Ask him if it be true, as some say it is, that not many days since he sat down to meat with unwashen hands? What an active volcano of sacerdotal indignation I Did you think there were beneath that dignified and quiet exterior such force and fire as this half-implied imputation against his ceremonial goodness has stirred into activity? Is it not a mystery that this saintly-mannered man should be one of those who, having taken counsel, advised that large money should be given to the soldiers to declare deliberately a thing to be true which both he and they knew to be entirely false! Yet he did all this, and did it without an apparent hesitancy or even the smallest sign of compunction or self-reproach. Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we slept.
III. Then as to the agents paid to commit the sin. There was, it must be allowed, a very great conventional and accidental disparity between the parties. These soldiers were, most probably, of the lowest order. They were uneducated. The military life had not helped to improve in them either mind, heart, or manners. Add to these things the facts that they were nationally Gentiles and religiously pagan. Were they, however, on these accounts to be used as mere matter-tools to be handled without a thought about their consciences or their moral responsibilities? Might they be used as landlords sometimes use tenantry? or as manufacturers use their hands? or as some among the upper classes use their dependent tradespeople and menials? Was it right to treat them as having neither part nor lot in the interests of truth and goodness? The Jews had been taught that God was mindful of man. The high priests and elders in Jerusalem knew no man had a right to sell the truth, whatever his condition in life, his nationality, or his degree of knowledge. It is not to be much wondered at that the soldiers took the money and did as they were taught. Was not the cause of condemnation unspeakably greater in the bribers than in the bribed? We are verging upon days which will be trying days to the followers of Christ. They will be intensely exciting days, and, as such, likely to throw mind and conscience off the even balance. Can it by any casuistry be shown that to use station, money, learning, or other power at command, for the purpose of inducing a man to do or to say what is contrary to his belief is an act of righteousness, and that it will help to exalt a nation? Let us show that we are prepared to encourage political conviction, and even to aid those around us to become fully persuaded in their own minds that we honour men not because they think as we think, but because they fairly and at some cost of time, effort, feeling, try to learn what is true, and have the disposition and the will to do what they believe to be right. Such a spirit and such a bearing on our part will help to make the nation righteous, will also aid in healthfully drawing class nearer to class, and will greatly assist in counteracting and in hastening the expulsion of the diabolical spirit, which in every age, under varying conditions, has made its appearance-the spirit which bargains that for so much money there shall be so much lying. (T. Lloyd.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 11. Behold, some of the watch came into the…
11. Behold, some of the watch came into the city. The time when these men went into the city is noted. It was while the women were on their way to tell the disciples. It is also stated that “some of the watch” only went to the priests. How numerous the watch was we are not informed. As the watch had been set by the priests themselves (Matt. 27:65, 66), it made its report to them instead of to Pilate.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Mat_28:13. Say ye, etc.—In addition to all the judgments…
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat_28:13. Say ye, etc.—In addition to all the judgments of impotency, embarrassment, and rejection, they are now subjected to the judgment of stupidity (Lange). Let the critic say what better expedient they could have thought of, before he assigns its poverty as a reason for discrediting the story. That St. Matthew, and he alone, records it, is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that, his being the first written Gospel, and, moreover, the Gospel for the Jew, it behoved him to deal with a saying “commonly reported among the Jews until this day”; while its being recorded by him was a sufficient reason why no further notice should be taken of it, when there was so much of greater importance to tell (Gibson).
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Mat_28:14. If this come to the governor’s ears.—See R.V. marg. “If this come before the governor”—i.e., not in the way of mere report, but for judicial investigation (Brown). Persuade.—The word meant more than it would have been quite polite to have expressed (Morison). “They say that gifts persuade even gods” (Euripides, Medea, 964). Secure you.—Rid you of care (R.V.). The only other place where the word occurs in the New Testament is 1Co_7:32.
Mat_28:15. This saying is commonly reported, etc.—See R.V. “Until this day”—to the date of the publication of this Gospel. Justin Martyr, who flourished about A.D. 170, says in his “Dialogue with Trypho the Jew,” that the Jews dispersed the story by means of special messengers sent to every country (Brown).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_28:11-15
Unwilling witnesses.—In the earlier verses of this chapter we have a brief account of the first effects of the resurrection of Christ on His friends. The present verses describe the same in regard to His foes. They show us how dire was the consequent perplexity, and how utterly desperate the ultimate decisions of those who had been chiefly instrumental in effecting His death.
I. Dire perplexity.—We find this, on the one hand, on the part of the guard. When the angel had gone, and the catastrophe was over, and they at last had recovered, they would dare to look round. We know what they would see—the seal broken, the stone removed, the sepulchre open, its Inmate gone! What were they to do? Some, it would appear, were too perplexed to do anything but stand still. Others among them—a portion only—went their way to the priests (Mat_28:11). Probably they thought that these would certainly hear something of what had occurred, and that it would be best, on the whole, for the story of it to be told by themselves. In any case, what they had to say would reflect much on themselves. In any case, it would seem to those who heard it very hard of belief. It was hard to say, therefore, whether telling it in person would be of any avail.
Yet, what else could be done? The point is one which divides them in an irreconcilable way. Evidently, as a body, they were at their wits’ end as to what ought to be done. We find similar perplexity, on the other hand, on the part of the priests. It is very observable that they never seem to have thought for a moment of asking for the punishment of the guard. It seems evident, therefore, that they did not doubt their story so far as it went. We may well believe, indeed, that there was something in the still terrified looks of these men, and in the very tone and manner of their speech in telling their story, which vouched irresistibly, so far, for its truth. And we can well understand, also, how that story, if believed in, would shut out the idea above named. Even Roman soldiers could not be expected to fight against supernatural force. On that side, therefore, and in that way, there was clearly nothing to be done. Could anything be done, in any way, on the other side of the case? Could anything be done in the direction of explaining away the undoubted facts of the case? To answer this question—early in the day as it was, and many as had been their recent assemblings—they call another one yet (Mat_28:12); an assembly of their whole body, so the words (Mat_28:11-12) seem to imply; an assembly also (see Mat_28:12-13) having the soldiers still within call. Any advice from any one opposed to Jesus would be welcome to them in that emergency. What a picture, again, of a set of men at their very wits’ end!
II. Desperate decisions.—What these many counsellors finally resolve on is of a twofold description. The soldiers are never to repeat again the story told by them that day. They are to say, instead, that the disciples of Jesus had come by night and stolen Him away while they slept (Mat_28:13). How desperate a plan this was felt to be, on the one hand, may be seen from what we are told of the conduct of all the parties concerned. The conduct of the “soldiers.” Unless “large money” is given to them they will not consent to adopt it. Better, even, to be reported to the governor for not discharging their trust. The conduct of the authorities, in willingly consenting, with all their notorious covetousness (Mat_23:14, etc.), to hand over the “large” amount demanded of them, and in being ready, also, to spend more still (so some consider to be implied in their language in Mat_28:14) if required. Anything was better to them, than that what they had heard should be heard by others as well. Equally desperate will the plan appear when looked at in itself. See what it assumed, on the one hand, about the disciples of Jesus. First, that they were the kind of men to think of so daring a deed, and that in spite of the precautions taken to prevent such an attempt (Mat_27:63-66). Next, that they were more faithful to the body of Jesus than they had been to Himself. Lastly, that such courage as was possessed by them had been increased by His death! Assumptions all, which none who knew them would find easy to believe. See, also, what this plan assumed on the part of the guard. First, that such sentinels as they were—amongst the best in the world—should have been asleep at their posts! And, next, that they should know, being so, what was done during their sleep! The whole explanation, in short, is more difficult far than what it sought to explain. In itself, there is no difficulty in believing that these men had been overpowered by a greater power than their own. There is every difficulty in believing that they had allowed a far inferior and greatly discouraged power to bring about the very thing which they had undertaken to prevent; and so, to do that of which the priests had thought previously that, in such circumstances, it could never be done. To go and say now of this that it had been done was to declare themselves equally foolish and false. And yet to say this was all—be it observed lastly—that could be said then on that side. Years afterwards (end of Mat_28:15) those who denied the resurrection of Jesus had found nothing better to say. They could only explain, even then, what was undoubtedly true by what was impossible to believe!
1. How striking a proof, therefore, we have here, in the first place, of the truth of Christ’s resurrection! It is the testimony of enemies. Of enemies driven to bay. Of enemies doing their worst. We account for what the soldiers have seen, for the empty sepulchre, for the absent body of Jesus, by saying that He has risen again. All that His cotemporary enemies can offer to us instead of this is that which, on the face of it, is self-contradictory. At least, therefore, they leave the field clear for our view of the subject. Better, in such circumstances, to consider the miraculous than to accept the absurd. This is saying the least.
2. How cogent a proof we have, in the next place. Cogent, because it does not stand by itself, but follows up that already furnished us in the earlier part of this chapter. Difficult to dispute in itself, it is still more difficult to dispose of with that other evidence by its side. Cogent, also, because the evidence it is thus combined with is of so widely different a description. That other was negative. This is positive. That was from friends. This, from enemies. The first, through those afraid to believe. This, by those who longed to dispute. The two, therefore, are as independent of each other as they could very well be. The two in combination, therefore, are about as strong as they could very well be. It would be a miracle, indeed, if two such sets of opponents had invented the same myth!
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat_28:11-15. The resurrection of Christ; an argument drawn from the explanation of enemies.—There are three impossibilities developed in this narrative, which go a great way to show the impossibility of denying the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
I. It was impossible for these enemies to deny that Christ had, by some means or other, left the grave.
II. It was impossible for them to give any other explanation than that which they now invented.—Their grand object was to deny that He rose Himself from the dead; and how could they explain His absence from the grave in any other way than they did?
III. It was impossible for this, the only explanation they could give, to be credited.—D. Thomas, D.D.
Mat_28:12. Bearing down the truth.—
1. Christ’s malicious enemies are of the devil’s nature; they will never cease to oppose Him, though they know Him to be the Son of God.
2. The madness of malicious adversaries of the gospel and the slavery of Satan’s captives are wonderful, as here is seen; for after they are assembled, they resolve to corrupt the witnesses against the light of their conscience.
3. Money is a great blot in the world. The priests and elders think it may overbalance the most precious truth, and are confident for gain to make the soldiers tell a lie against the resurrection of the known Messiah.
4. The more men be engaged in a sin, they are the more forward to go on in it, and will spare no cost to gain their point. These priests and elders gave but thirty pieces of silver to have Christ crucified, but here they gave large money to keep down the report of His resurrection.—David Dickson.
Mat_28:12-15. Judicial blindness.—This last appearance of the rulers in the Gospel is full of tragic significance, and is especially important to Matthew, whose narrative deals especially with Jesus as the King and Messiah of Israel. This is the end of centuries of prophecy and patience! This is what all God’s culture of His vineyard has come to! The husbandmen cast the heir out of the vineyard, and slew him. There was a deeper depth than even that. They would not be persuaded when He rose again from the dead.
They entrenched themselves in a lie, which only showed that they had a glimmering of the truth and hated it. And the lie was willingly swallowed by the mass of the nation, who thereby showed that they were of the same stuff as they who made it. A conspiracy or falsehood, which knew itself to be such, was the last form of that august council of Israel. It is an awful lesson of the penalties of unfaithfulness to the light possessed, an awful instance of “judicial blindness.” So sets the sun of Israel. And therefore our Gospel turns away from the apostate nation, which has rejected its King, to tell, in its last words, of His assumption of universal dominion, and of the passage of the glad news from Israel to the world.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mat_28:13-15. Bribing the soldiers.—
1. Calumnies and lies devised by Christ’s adversaries are the special engine which they use against the gospel. When all other devices do fail, they make service to Satan by this means.
2. They who are entered in service of ungodly masters can hardly win out; still new and worse employment is furnished unto them.
3. The wicked care not what shame they do put upon themselves, and one upon another, to gain their point.
4. Such as do tempt unto sin, labour to make the sinner secure from worldly inconveniences, but cannot secure him against God’s justice. The priests here do undertake to secure the soldiers at the governor’s hands, but no further.
5. A profane person will make sale of conscience and tongue, and all for money.
6. Such as can be content to be silent, and to keep up truth for any earthly gain, will yield also to speak contrary to known truth for gain.
7. Such as do not apprehend any wrath from God for sin, do seek no guard against it, but do think it sufficient to be secure at men’s hands.
8. He that taketh the bait of sin, will also swallow the hook; for so soon as these men took the money they did as they were taught.
9. Where truth is rejected, a lie will be received, were it never so incredible.—David Dickson.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain Mat 28:11-15. “And they going, behold, certain ones of…
REPORT OF THE WATCH
Mat 28:11-15. “And they going, behold, certain ones of the watch, having come into the city, announced to the high priests all the things which have taken place. And they being assembled with the elders, and taking counsel, gave much money to the soldiers, saying, Tell it that His disciples, having come by night, stole Him away, we being asleep.
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And if this may be heard by the governor, we will persuade him, and make you safe. And they, taking the money, did as they were taught. And this report was current among the Jews even unto this day.” Matthew wrote his Gospel there in Judea fifteen years after the crucifixion of the Savior. He wrote it for the Christian Jews. We see from his testimony that even at the time of his writing — fifteen years having rolled away since the wonderful events of Calvary, Olivet, and Pentecost — this report, was current among the Jews, the leading men of the fallen Church having made its circulation a specialty, doing their utmost, even to the last, to bury the very name of Jesus in the oblivion of shame and crime, and vindicate their own rejection of His Messiahship and cruel treatment of His person at every hazard.
You see how the high priests and ruling elders — i. e., the men in authority, standing at the head of the Church condescended to bribe the soldiers to propagate what they knew to be positively false. Doubtless they had to bribe Pilate also, thus pouring out the Lord’s money, which the people had contributed to the temple treasury, to hire poor heathens to tell lies for them. You may think there is nothing of this kind in the fallen Churches of the present day; but you are entirely mistaken. Many years ago, when I was a youth, prosecuting my education, vigorous efforts were repeatedly made by Church leaders to buy me with filthy lucre. I am so glad I did not sell. You all see the transparent sophistry in any attempt possible for infidelity to use the report of the soldiers to the detriment of Christianity; for it is not probable that any of them slept, as they well knew it was a penalty of death for a Roman soldier to sleep on guard. If some of them did give way to a napping spell, it is not at all probable that the whole number, at least sixteen, slept so soundly, all at the same time, that the stalwart, mechanical effort necessary to remove the stone would not have awakened them before they could get away with the body. Hence you see, like all the dogmata of infidelity, founded on falsehood, any argument deducible from the above report would break down of its own weight.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXXVI. Report to…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXXVI. Report to the Jewish Rulers].
CXXXVI. SOME OF THE GUARDS REPORT TO THE JEWISH RULERS. aMATT. XXVIII. 11-15.
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a11 Now while they were going [while Joanna and the group of women with her were on their way to tell the apostles that they had seen Jesus], behold, some of the guard [not all] came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. [Esteeming it folly to guard an empty tomb, the soldiers went to their barracks, while their officers returned to those who had placed them on guard to report what had happened. They rightly judged that the plain truth was their best defense. They could not be expected to contend against earthquakes and angels. Their report implies that they saw Jesus leave the tomb, and after the angel opened it. Mat_27:64), lends credibility to this statement.] [747]
* NOTE.--We fail to see any such implication. In our opinion Jesus had already departed from the tomb when the angel came. The tomb was not opened to let the Lord out, but to let the disciples in, that they might see as soon as possible one of the chief evidences of his resurrection ( Joh_20:8, Mat_28:6). Jesus did not need that one open doors for him ( Joh_20:19, Joh_20:26), but the disciples had such a need ( Mar_16:3). But it seems to us contrary to Scripture precedent that these unbelieving soldiers should see the risen Christ, for he did not appear to the unbelieving so far as the record shows, and the implication is that the same principle which made Jesus refuse the testimony of demons made him also decline to let unbelievers become witnesses to his resurrection ( Act_10:40, Act_10:41).--P. Y. P.
[FFG 746-747]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The report of the watch:
The report of the watch:
v. 11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.
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v. 12. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
v. 13. saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept.
v. 14. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
v. 15. So they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
While all this was taking place, and while the women were hurrying to the city with their joyful news, the soldiers of the watch gradually awakened from their stupor into which they had been thrown. The damage had evidently been done, and they must make the best of it, for there was no denying the facts. A few of them were delegated to make the report of the morning’s happenings to the chief priests, who were responsible for their presence at the grave. The matter was serious enough to demand a meeting of the Sanhedrin, in order to consider ways and means to prevent damage to themselves and their cause. It was finally resolved to bribe the soldiers, to give them a considerable sum of money. They were not at all careful about the amount, they gave with a free hand; for the lie which they taught the soldiers to repeat was surely the essence of stupidity. They were to spread the report that the disciples of Christ came by night, while they were sleeping, and stole the body. The soldiers are to have been asleep, and yet to have seen the thieves, and known that they were disciples! Of far greater importance to the soldiers was the promise which the members of the Council were forced to give, namely, that they would guarantee to straighten out the matter in case the governor should ever find out about it; they would vouch for their safety. For a Roman soldier to be found asleep at his post was anything but an easy matter for him. So the ridiculous report went out among the Jews and became a common rumor among them, taxing their credulity, to be sure, but saving their face, as they fondly hoped.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This begins the account of the reaction of the Jewish religious leaders when they heard of Jesus' resurrection.
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Now
This word is used here to mark a break in the main story line. Here Matthew starts to tell a new part of the story.
the women
Here this refers to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary.
behold
This marks the beginning of another event in the larger story. It may involve different people than the previous events. Your language may have a way of doing this.
discussed the matter with them
"decided on a plan among themselves." The priests and elders decided to give the money to the soldiers.
Say to others, 'Jesus' disciples came ... while we were sleeping.'
If your language does not allow quotations within quotations you may translate this as a single quote. AT: "Tell others that Jesus' disciples came ... while you were sleeping" (See: Quotations and Quote Margins and Direct and Indirect Quotations)
translationWords
chief priests
priest
elder
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.