Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 27:58
He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
58. Pilate commanded the body to be delivered ] after having ascertained from the centurion that Jesus was dead. Usually those who suffered crucifixion lingered for days upon the cross. By Roman law the corpse of a crucified person was not buried except by express permission of the Emperor. A concession was made in favour of the Jews, whose law did not suffer a man to hang all night upon a tree. Deu 21:23. (See Jahn, Bib. Ant., 296.) “The readiness of Pilate to grant Joseph’s request is quite in accordance with his anxiety to release Jesus and his displeasure against the Jews. If Joseph had not made this request, the body of Jesus would have been placed in one of the common burying-places appointed by the Council” (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad loc.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He went to Pilate – Because no one had a right to remove the body but by authority of the magistrate. Jesus was condemned to be crucified, usually a long and most bitter death, and in common cases it would have been unlawful to have removed the body so soon.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 58. Begged the body] That he might bury it honourably otherwise, by the Jewish customs, he would have either been burned, or buried in the common place appointed for executed criminals.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He went to Pilate,…. To his house where he lived, and went in, as Mark says, Mr 15:43, boldly; not being ashamed of Christ crucified, or afraid to own him, and show his respect to him as dead, though he knew he should incur the displeasure, reproach, and persecution of the Jews:
and begged the body of Jesus; which could not be taken down and interred, without the leave of the Roman governor; and which was generally granted to the friends of the deceased, when asked; otherwise they were buried in places l appointed for such persons;
[See comments on Mt 27:33]. And this would have been the case of Christ, had not Joseph craved his body; and which he did, to prevent its being abused by the Jews, and interred in such an ignominious manner:
then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered; to Joseph, after he had understood by the centurion that Jesus was dead, which he at first could not tell how to believe, and marvelled at it,
Mr 15:44. Joseph might the more easily obtain his request, as he was a person of character and riches; and because Pilate himself had a good opinion of Jesus, and of his innocence, as well as his wife was much in his favour: so that Joseph had no difficulty to obtain the body of Christ; but as soon as he asked, he had the favour granted, and orders were given to the centurion and his soldiers, to deliver it to him.
l See Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 5, 6. Maimon. Hilch. Sanhedrin, c. 14. sect. 9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(58) He went to Pilate.Assuming the death of our Lord to have been soon after the ninth hour (3 P.M.), Joseph would seem to have hastened at once to the Prtorium, and asked Pilates permission to inter the body. St. Mark records Pilates wonder that death should have come so soon (Mar. 15:44). In his compliance with the petition we trace, as before, a lingering reverence and admiration. As far as he can, he will help the friends and not the foes of the righteous Sufferer.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
58. Pilate commanded the body to be delivered It was customary to allow the bodies of deceased criminals to be disposed of by friends, though sometimes wicked rulers exacted money from the friends for the privilege.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘This man went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded it to be given up.’
The bodies of criminals, apart from those guilty of high treason, were the property of the state, but would usually be made available to any relatives who requested them. Otherwise the bodies would normally be left to hang on the cross as a warning, or would be ‘thrown to the vultures’. In Palestine, however, things would be different because the peculiarities of the Jews were catered for. In Jewish eyes it was necessary for the bodies of the three to be taken down from their crosses before nightfall and disposed of in order to prevent bringing a curse on the land (Deu 21:23 was seen as applying to crucifixion). We are not told what happened to the bodies of the insurrectionists, but they may have been given to relatives, buried in a public plot or tossed onto the burning rubbish heaps outside Jerusalem. Jewish Law forbade convicted criminals being buried in a family tomb. Here, however, it is rather a prestigious councillor who asks for the body. He would be known to Pilate, and probably respected by him. He would explain his purpose to him, and possibly points out that as a Galilean Jesus was far from home. Pilate was seemingly content with the idea and gave orders that the body be put at Joseph’s disposal. Thus the One Who was born to a Joseph (Mat 1:25), was finally handed over to a Joseph after His death. The idea is that God was still watching over Him from the cradle to the grave.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 27:58. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus St. Mark says, Mar 15:43 that he went in boldly, and craved the body. And it was certainly a courageous act for that rich and noble senator thus publicly to own his friendship for Jesus in the midst of his greatest infamy; and a person of such sagacity could not but know, that if a resurrection should happen, nothing would have been more natural than that he should be brought into question as a confederate in the pretended fraud of conveying him away. But the regard he had for his Master overcame all other considerations; he therefore requested leave to take down his body, because, if no friend had obtained it, it would have been ignominiously cast out with those of the common malefactors. See a more distinct account of this event in Joh 19:38; Joh 19:42.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 27:58 According to Roman usage, the bodies of criminals were left hanging upon the cross, where they were allowed to decompose and be devoured by birds of prey. Plaut. mil. glor . ii. 4. 9; Horace, Ep . i. 16. 48. However, should the relatives in any case ask the body for the purpose of burying, there was nothing to forbid their request being complied with. Ulpian, xlviii. 24. 1, de cadav. punit. ; Hug in the Freyb. Zeitschr . 5, p. 174 ff.
.] therefore from the place of execution to the praetorium.
] is due not merely to the simple style of the narrative, but in its threefold repetition expresses with involuntary emphasis the author’s own painful sympathy. . has the force of reddi (Vulg.), the thing asked being regarded as the petitioner’s own peculiar property. Comp. Mat 22:21 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
Ver. 58. He went to Pilate ] It was time for him now or never to show himself, and to wax bold, Mar 15:43 . The Spaniards, they say, abhor dangers, never adventuring upon hard enterprises, but aiming to proceed securely. “Christ’s disciples must speak and do boldly in the Lord,” Act 14:3 , whatever come of it. Audendo Graeci pervenere Troiam. Alexander never attempted anything, but he conceived it might be done, and he did it. Historians ascribe most of his success to his courage; and tell us, that having a soldier of his own name in his army whom he knew to be a coward, he commanded him either to change his name, or show his valour. So saith Christ to all his Josephs and Nicodemuses, Either play the men, or pretend not to me.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
58. ] The repetition of is remarkable, and indicates a common origin, in this verse, with Mark, who after expresses on account of the expression of Pilate’s surprise, and the change of subject between.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 27:58 . : from the cross Joseph returns, and approaches Pilate to beg the body of Jesus for burial. In the case of the crucified such a request was necessary, but was generally granted (“Eorum in quos animadvertitur corpora non aliter sepeliuntur quam si fuerit petitum et permissum”. Ulpian. de Cadav. punit. in Justinian, Corpus Jur. Civ. xlviii. 24, 1). The general practice was to leave the bodies to waste. The privilege of burial was sometimes granted for money. There is nothing to show that Pilate condescended to such meanness, at least in the present instance, though Theophy. suggests that he did. , he ordered it to be delivered.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
He = This [man]. The Lord was thus buried by two secret disciples. See Joh 19:38, Joh 19:39. Compare Mar 15:42, Mar 15:43. Luk 23:50-53.
delivered = given up. Compare Mat 18:25-34.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
58.] The repetition of is remarkable, and indicates a common origin, in this verse, with Mark, who after expresses on account of the expression of Pilates surprise, and the change of subject between.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 27:58. , begged) Then the power of the Prtor was great over the bodies of those who had been executed; cf. in Mar 15:45, , he gave as a gift. Buxtorf in his Lexic. Talm. fol. xix. 62, says, For this cause, perchance, did Joseph of Arimathea beg that the body of Christ might be given to him, lest it should be committed to the public sepulchre of criminais.- , the body) All the Evangelists use this word for our Lords frame when dead, since it would not have been becoming to designate it by the expression corpse (cadaver). Such is the Divine propriety of style, which has indeed been abandoned by human commentators.-, to be restored[1216]) The Jews had alienated it; Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrim, as it were in the public name received it from the Gentiles, and together with Nicodemus restored it to the Jews; cf. the conclusion of Joh 19:40.
[1216] Engl. Vers. To be delivered.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mar 15:44-46, Luk 23:52, Luk 23:53
Reciprocal: Isa 26:19 – my dead Mat 14:12 – took Mar 15:45 – he gave Luk 23:50 – there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:58
Joseph knew he would have to make special provisions and obtain a legal permit in order to take charge of the Lord’s body. As an explanation of that subject I shall quote again a part of the statement from Smith’s Bible Dictionary. “In most cases the body was suffered to rot on the cross by the action of sun and rain, or be devoured by birds and beasts. Sepulture [burial] was generally therefore forbidden.” The statement that Pilate commanded the body to be delivered shows that a considerable amount of “red tape” was necessary in procuring the body of one who had been crucified.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
[Begged the body of Jesus.] It was not lawful to suffer a man to hang all night upon a tree, Deu 21:23; nay, nor to lie all night unburied: “Whosoever suffers a dead body to lie all night unburied violates a negative precept. But they that were put to death by the council were not to be buried in the sepulchres of their fathers; but two burying-places were appointed by the council, one for those that were slain by the sword and strangled, the other for those that were stoned [who also were hanged] and burnt.” There, according to the custom, Jesus should have been buried, had not Joseph, with a pious boldness, begged of Pilate that he might be more honourably interred: which the fathers of the council, out of spite to him, would hardly have permitted, if they had been asked; and yet they did not use to deny the honour of a funeral to those whom they had put to death, if the meanness of the common burial would have been a disgrace to their family. As to the dead person himself, they thought it would be better for him to be treated dishonourably after death, and to be neither lamented nor buried; for this vilifying of him they fancied amounted to some atonement for him; as we have seen before. And yet, to avoid the disgrace of his family, they used, at the request of it, to allow the honour of a funeral.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 27:58. This man went to Pilate. To the palace. He went in boldly (Mar 15:43). Although it was the Jewish custom to bury the bodies of the crucified before sunset, Pilates consent was necessary. On Pilates surprise, see Mar 15:44.
Then Pilate commanded. The ready consent may have been owing to the station and character of Joseph.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Joseph was bold enough to ask Pilate for Jesus’ body. The fact that Pilate allowed Joseph to bury Jesus’ body shows that the governor did not think Jesus was guilty of treason. Joseph prepared the body of Jesus for burial with the help of Nicodemus (Joh 19:39) and perhaps other friends and or servants.
Matthew did not mention how these men wrapped Jesus’ body for burial but simply stated that the cloth (Gr. sindon) they used was expensive. This reflected their respect for Jesus.
Joseph’s new tomb, a sign of his wealth, was probably near the present Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This area had been a stone quarry centuries earlier out of whose walls the Jews had cut tombs. [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 584.] Joseph had prepared this tomb for himself, but now he put Jesus in his place. This was an extravagant act of devotion (cf. Mat 26:6-13). It was impossible for Jesus to escape from a tomb hewn out of solid massive rock (Gr. petra, cf. Mat 16:18) even if He had been alive when placed in it. Matthew built a strong case for the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, as he did for the virgin birth of Jesus.
"Tombs were of various kinds. Many were sealed with some sort of boulder wedged into place to discourage wild animals and grave robbers. But an expensive tomb consisted of an antechamber hewn out of the rock face, with a low passage (cf. ’bent over,’ Joh 20:5; Joh 20:11) leading into the burial chamber that was sealed with a cut, disk-shaped stone that rolled in a slot cut into the rock. The slot was on an incline, making the grave easy to seal but difficult to open: several men might be needed to roll the stone back up the incline." [Note: Ibid.]