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Selected Verse: Matthew 27:66 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Mt 27:66 |
King James |
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone--which Mark (Mar 16:4) says was "very great."
and setting a watch--to guard it. What more could man do? But while they are trying to prevent the resurrection of the Prince of Life, God makes use of their precautions for His own ends. Their stone-covered, seal-secured sepulchre shall preserve the sleeping dust of the Son of God free from all indignities, in undisturbed, sublime repose; while their watch shall be His guard of honor until the angels shall come to take their place. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Sealing the stone - The sepulchre was made sure by affixing the large stone to the entrance in such a way that it could not be removed without detection. It was sealed. In what way this was done cannot now be certainly told. The cave in which Daniel was cast was fastened in the same manner, and sealed with the king's signet Dan 6:17, perhaps by fastening the stone in its place with cords, and bringing them together and uniting them with wax, and impressing on that the seal of the king. In this way, letters and books were anciently sealed. Possibly on the sepulchre of Jesus was impressed in this manner the seal of Pilate - the seal of office - making it doubly sure; or it may be that the stone was fitted into the tomb with clay or cement, and on that was impressed the seal of Pilate.
Setting a watch - That is, as large a number of soldiers as they judged necessary to secure the tomb.
We cannot but be struck with the wisdom of God in ordering the circumstances of the Saviour's burial in such a manner as to avoid the possibility of deception. Had all this been done by his "friends," it might have been said that they only pretended to secure the tomb, and only pretended that he was dead. But he was adjudged to be dead "by the Jews themselves;" Pilate was satisfied that that was the fact; they had their own way about his burial; he was buried alone; the place of his sepulchre was made sure, "expressly to prevent his being removed;" and they placed around him a guard, in their own judgment large enough to prevent his being taken away by force or strength. His very enemies, therefore, took every possible precaution to place his resurrection beyond the possibility of suspicion of fraud and imposture, and those precautions were the very means of furnishing the most striking proof that his death, burial, and resurrection were not impositions, but most affecting, awful, and yet cheering realities. |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Sealing the stone and setting a watch (σφραγίσαντες τὸν λίθον, μετὰ τῆς κουστωδίας)
Lit., having sealed the stone with the watch. Rev., Sealing the stone, the guard being with them. This is rather awkward, but the rendering rightly corrects the A. V. The idea is that they sealed the stone in the presence of the guard, and then left them to keep watch. It would be important that the guard should witness the sealing. The sealing was performed by stretching a cord across the stone and fastening it to the rock at either end by means of sealing clay. Or, if the stone at the door happened to be fastened with a cross beam, this latter was sealed to the rock. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
They went and secured the sepulchre, sealing the stone, and setting a guard - They set Pilate's signet, or the public seal of the sanhedrim upon a fastening which they had put on the stone. And all this uncommon caution was overruled by the providence of God, to give the strongest proofs of Christ's ensuing resurrection; since there could be no room for the least suspicion of deceit, when it should be found, that his body was raised out of a new tomb, where there was no other corpse, and this tomb hewn out of a rock, the mouth of which was secured by a great stone, under a seal, and a guard of soldiers. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch - Or rather, made the tomb secure by the guard, and by sealing the stone. I follow Kypke, in construing μετα της κουστωδιας, with ησφαλισαντο. The guard was to take care that the disciples should not steal him away; and the seal, which was probably the seal of the governor, was to prevent the guards from being corrupted so as to permit the theft. So every thing was done which human policy and prudence could, to prevent a resurrection, which these very precautions had the most direct tendency to authenticate and establish. How wonderful are the wisdom and goodness of God! - and how true is it, that there is neither might nor counsel against him!
1. The death of Christ was ordered, so as to be witnessed by thousands; and if his resurrection take place, it must be demonstrated; and it cannot take place without being incontestable, such are the precautions used here to prevent all imposture.
2. The more the circumstances of the death of Christ are examined, the more astonishing the whole will appear. The death is uncommon - the person uncommon - and the object uncommon; and the whole is grand, majestic, and awful. Nature itself is thrown into unusual action, and by means and causes wholly supernatural. In every part, the finger of God most evidently appears.
3. How glorious does Christ appear in his death! Were it not for his thirst, his exclamation on the cross, and the piercing of his side, we should have found it difficult to believe that such a person could ever have entered the empire of death; but the divinity and the manhood equally appear, and thus the certainty of the atonement is indubitably established.
4. But who can reflect on the state of the poor disciples, during the whole of the time in which our blessed Lord lay under the empire of death, without sharing their sorrows! When he expired on the cross their expectation was cut off; and when his body was laid in the grave their hopes were buried; and nothing but the resurrection of Christ from the dead could have given a resurrection to their hopes. It is true they had heard him say that he would rise again the third day; but in this it is evident their faith was very imperfect; and the uncertainty, perplexity, anxiety, and distress which they in consequence must have suffered, can neither be described nor imagined. Though we know the glorious result, yet who can help sympathizing with the pious father, the virgin mother, and the disconsolate disciples! |
4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
17 And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.