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Selected Verse: John 19:40 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Joh 19:40 |
King James |
Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. |
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] |
| Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury--the mixed and pulverized myrrh and aloes shaken into the folds, and the entire body, thus swathed, wrapt in an outer covering of "clean linen cloth" (Mat 27:59). Had the Lord's own friends had the least reason to think that the spark of life was still in Him, would they have done this? But even if one could conceive them mistaken, could anyone have lain thus enveloped for the period during which He was in the grave, and life still remained? Impossible. When, therefore, He walked forth from the tomb, we can say with the most absolute certainty, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept" (Co1 15:20). No wonder that the learned and the barbarians alike were prepared to die for the name of the Lord Jesus; for such evidence was to the unsophisticated resistless. (No mention is made of anointing in this operation. No doubt it was a hurried proceeding, for fear of interruption, and because it was close on the sabbath, the women seem to have set this as their proper task "as soon as the sabbath should be past" [Mar 16:1]. But as the Lord graciously held it as undesignedly anticipated by Mary at Bethany [Mar 14:8], so this was probably all the anointing, in the strict sense of it, which He received.) |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Linen cloths (ὀθονίοις)
Used only by John, if Luk 24:12 is rejected, as by some editors. The Synoptists all have σινδών, linen cloth. See on Mar 14:51. Matthew and Luke have ἐντύλιξεν, rolled or wrapped, and Mark ἐνείλησεν, wound, instead of John's ἔδησαν bound.
With the spices
Spread over the sheet or bandages in which the body was wrapped.
The manner of the Jews
As contrasted with that of the Egyptians, for instance, which is thus described by Herodotus: "They take first a crooked piece of iron, and with it draw out the brains through the nostrils, thus getting rid of a portion, while the skull is cleared of the rest by rinsing with drugs; next they make a cut along the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone, and take out the whole contents of the abdomen, which they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly with palm-wine, and again, frequently with an infusion of pounded aromatics. After this they fill the cavity with the purest bruised myrrh, with cassia, and every other sort of spicery except frankincense, and sew up the opening. Then the body is placed in natrum (subcarbonate of soda) for seventy days, and covered entirely over. After the expiration of that space of time, which must not be exceeded, the body is washed, and wrapped round, from head to foot, with bandages of fine linen cloth, smeared over with gum" (ii., 86). Or, possibly, a contrast may be implied with the Roman custom of burning the bodies of the dead. Tacitus says of the Jews: "The bodies of the deceased they choose rather to bury than burn, following in this the Egyptian custom; with whom also they agree in their attention to the dead" ("History," v., 5).
To bury (ἐνταφιάζειν)
Properly, to prepare for burial. See on Joh 12:7. Compare Septuagint, Gen 1:2, where the same word is used for embalming the body of Joseph. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Wound it in linen - See on Joh 11:44 (note). |
8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
51 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.