66

you have already a watch," namely, the guard that attended at the crucifixion. But

this guard could not have been continued over the grave, without further orders; and after the dead bodies were taken down, were probably withdrawn. The permission of Pilate was to guard the grave to the utmost of their power, and for this they had a sufficient force.

66. The seal, perhaps, according to the usages of the east, was impressed in clay :-this, however, is not important. The sealing would be probably binding a band or ligature round the wooden part of the door of the sepulchre, and the stone lying before it, whilst the ligature itself would be sealed upon the stone; or we may suppose a double door to the grave with two holes, and bound at either end—the ligature running through them, and then twisted round the great stone lying before it; it is obvious the impression may be so made, as to render it impossible for the stone to be taken away, without breaking the seal. It need only be twisted round the post of the door, to produce the same effect. With regard to the sealing of the sepulchre, (in doing which, the active party must have been unclean,) an inconsistent objection has been raised: "How could the chief

T

priest conduct himself so indecorously before the people, as actually to touch a grave?" Certainly a priest of that rank would not have sealed the grave with his own hands, for he was not permitted to make himself unclean with any dead body, except in the case of his nearest relative, (Leviticus xxi. 1, 4.) and he who touched a grave was unclean; but where is it mentioned that the high priest put his finger upon it? They were not only priests, who requested the seal, but Pharisees, probably members of the Sanhedrim, and they could become unclean without any sin, for to be levitically unclean was no sin. I do not, however, conceive a person of the high rank, as a member of the Sanhedrim, to have actually laid his hands upon it; some officer of justice may fairly be supposed to have pressed the seal, whatever it was, upon the tomb. Whether he became unclean, as the stone was outside of the grave, I know not; he who touched the grave himself, and drew the cord, which was to be sealed, through the door of the grave, became unclean, those who stood by, and ordered it, remained clean. Is this the objection of ignorance or illnature? A learned man, especially a theologian, would scarcely have made it.

"And setting a watch."] There are three illustrations of this passage.

1. That the guard was not sufficient, and they therefore appointed an additional watch, fearful lest the soldiers should be bribed, and the dead body stolen away.

2. In the presence of the guard.

3. They went together with the guard, and sealed the grave.

None of these illustrations are to be rejected, but I prefer the first. Other objections have been made to the truth of this narrative, but there is one which does appear to me extraordinary. "The women go early on Sunday morning to the grave, without fearing any interruption from the soldiers, and in fact as if they knew nothing of any soldiers being there. The circumstance of a guard is, therefore, an inconsistent and obvious invention of Matthew." It is probable the women knew nothing of the soldiers; they were only applied for after sunset, when the sabbath had already commenced, and consequently could only have been posted at the sepulchre, after darkness had set in, and when the women had already returned to the city. Four sentries, or the relief of a small guard, placed in a garden outside of the

city, would have created little sensation in Jerusalem, which, at the time of Easter, may have, perhaps, contained a million of inhabitants. It is not to be wondered at, that the women, during the whole of the sabbath, should know nothing about it. In a small town or village, such a circumstance would be remarked, but whoever has lived in a large town, as in London, for instance, will easily understand the force of my observation.

IV. THE WOMEN BUY SPICES TO EMBALM THE BODY OF CHRIST.

MARK XVI. 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."

"And when the Sabbath was past."] As long as the Sabbath lasts Jews dare not sell or buy; they waited therefore, of necessity for its termination, before they bought the spices, that is, according to the custom of the Jews, until

the stars in heaven were visible on Saturday evening. A rich Jew may obtain what he wants on the Sabbath day, but it must be in the shape of a gift, which he bargains and pays for the succeeding day; he must be known, however, to be a rich man, which could have hardly been the case with these women. A translation has been proposed of "a Sabbath intervening between the two days," in order to obviate a supposed inconsistency with Luke xxiii. 56, but which, as we shall see afterwards, is really of no importance whatever. This latter translation is clearly contrary to the customs of the Jews, who did not dare to buy on the Sabbath day, and it is inconceivable, why the women should have wished to buy on the Sabbath day, when in the evening after sunset, namely, from the first appearance of the stars, from half past six, or three quarters before seven, they had sufficient time to buy what spices they liked.

Salome, as we may perceive by comparing Mark xv. 40, with Matthew xxvii. 56, is the mother of Zebedee's children, that is, the mother of John and of the elder James. We must here guard against an error, which has deceived many readers. The generality of the