John 19:31

This passage concerning the piercing of Christ's side after his death is recorded only by this evangelist.

I. Observe the superstition of the Jews, which occasioned it (Joh 19:31): Because it was the preparation for the sabbath, and that sabbath day, because it fell in the passover-week, was a high day, that they might show a veneration for the sabbath, they would not have the dead bodies to remain on the crosses on the sabbath-day, but besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, which would be a certain, but cruel dispatch, and that then they might be buried out of sight. Note here, 1. The esteem they would be thought to have for the approaching sabbath, because it was one of the days of unleavened bread, and (some reckon) the day of the offering of the first-fruits. Every sabbath day is a holy day, and a good day, but this was a high day, megalē hēmera - a great day. Passover sabbaths are high days; sacrament-days, supper-days, communion-days are high days, and there ought to be more than ordinary preparation for them, that these may be high days indeed to us, as the days of heaven. 2. The reproach which they reckoned it would be to that day if the dead bodies should be left hanging on the crosses. Dead bodies were not to be left at any time (Deu 21:23); yet, in this case, the Jews would have left the Roman custom to take place, had it not been an extraordinary day; and, many strangers from all parts being then at Jerusalem, it would have been an offence to them; nor could they well bear the sight of Christ's crucified body, for, unless their consciences were quite seared, when the heat of their rage was a little over, they would upbraid them. 3. Their petition to Pilate, that their bodies, now as good as dead, might be dispatched; not by strangling or beheading them, which would have been a compassionate hastening of them out of their misery, like the coup de grace (as the French call it) to those that are broken upon the wheel, the stroke of mercy, but by the breaking of their legs, which would carry them off in the most exquisite pain. Note, (1.) The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. (2.) The pretended sanctity of hypocrites is abominable. These Jews would be thought to bear a great regard for the sabbath, and yet had not regard to justice and righteousness; they made no conscience of bringing an innocent and excellent person to the cross, and yet scrupled letting a dead body hang upon the cross.

II. The dispatching of the two thieves that were crucified with him, Joh 19:32. Pilate was still gratifying the Jews, and gave orders as they desired; and the soldiers came, hardened against all impressions of pity, and broke the legs of the two thieves, which, no doubt, extorted from them hideous outcries, and made them die according to the bloody disposition of Nero, so as to feel themselves die. One of these thieves was a penitent, and had received from Christ an assurance that he should shortly be with him in paradise, and yet died in the same pain and misery that the other thief did; for all things come alike to all. Many go to heaven that have bands in their death, and die in the bitterness of their soul. The extremity of dying agonies is no obstruction to the living comforts that wait for holy souls on the other side death. Christ died, and went to paradise, but appointed a guard to convey him thither. This is the order of going to heaven - Christ, the first-fruits and forerunner, afterwards those that are Christ's.

III. The trial that was made whether Christ was dead or no, and the putting of it out of doubt.

1. They supposed him to be dead, and therefore did not break his legs, Joh 19:33. Observe here, (1.) That Jesus died in less time than persons crucified ordinarily did. The structure of his body, perhaps, being extraordinarily fine and tender, was the sooner broken by pain; or, rather, it was to show that he laid down his life of himself, and could die when he pleased, though his hands were nailed. Though he yielded to death, yet he was not conquered. (2.) That his enemies were satisfied he was really dead. The Jews, who stood by to see the execution effectually done, would not have omitted this piece of cruelty, if they had not been sure he was got out of the reach of it. (3.) Whatever devices are in men's hearts, the counsel of the Lord shall stand. It was fully designed to break his legs, but, God's counsel being otherwise, see how it was prevented.

2. Because they would be sure he was dead they made such an experiment as would put it past dispute. One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, aiming at his heart, and forthwith came thereout blood and water, Joh 19:34.

(1.) The soldier hereby designed to decide the question whether he was dead or no, and by this honourable wound in his side to supersede the ignominious method of dispatch they took with the other two. Tradition says that this soldier's name was Longinus, and that, having some distemper in his eyes, he was immediately cured of it, by some drops of blood that flowed out of Christ's side falling on them: significant enough, if we had any good authority for the story.

(2.) But God had a further design herein, which was,

[1.] To give an evidence of the truth of his death, in order to the proof of his resurrection. If he was only in a trance or swoon, his resurrection was a sham; but, by this experiment, he was certainly dead, for this spear broke up the very fountains of life, and, according to all the law and course of nature, it was impossible a human body should survive such a wound as this in the vitals, and such an evacuation thence.

[2.] To give an illustration of the design of his death. There was much of mystery in it, and its being solemnly attested (Joh 19:35) intimates there was something miraculous in it, that the blood and water should come out distinct and separate from the same wound; at least it was very significant; this same apostle refers to it as a very considerable thing, Jo1 5:6, Jo1 5:8.

First, the opening of his side was significant. When we would protest our sincerity, we wish there were a window in our hearts, that the thoughts and intents of them might be visible to all. Through this window, opened in Christ's side, you may look into his heart, and see love flaming there, love strong as death; see our names written there. Some make it an allusion to the opening of Adam's side in innocency. When Christ, the second Adam, was fallen into a deep sleep upon the cross, then was his side opened, and out of it was his church taken, which he espoused to himself. See Eph 5:30, Eph 5:32. Our devout poet, Mr. George Herbert, in his poem called The Bag, very affectingly brings in our Saviour, when his side was pierced, thus speaking to his disciples: -

If ye have any thing to send, or write

(I have no bag, but here is room),

Unto my Father's hands and sight

(Believe me) it shall safely come.

That I shall mind what you impart,

Look, you may put it very near my heart;

Or, if hereafter any of my friends

Will use me in this kind, the door

Shall still be open; what he sends

I will present, and somewhat more,

Not to his hurt. Sighs will convey

Any thing to me. Hark, Despair, away.

Secondly, The blood and water that flowed out of it were significant. 1. They signified the two great benefits which all believers partake of through Christ - justification and sanctification; blood for remission, water for regeneration; blood for atonement, water for purification. Blood and water were used very much under the law. Guilt contracted must be expiated by blood; stains contracted must be done away by the water of purification. These two must always go together. You are sanctified, you are justified, Co1 6:11. Christ has joined them together, and we must not think to put them asunder. They both flowed from the pierced side of our Redeemer. To Christ crucified we owe both merit for our justification, and Spirit and grace for our sanctification; and we have as much need of the latter as of the former, Co1 1:30. 2. They signified the two great ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper, by which those benefits are represented, sealed, and applied, to believers; they both owe their institution and efficacy to Christ. It is not the water in the font that will be to us the washing of regeneration, but the water out of the side of Christ; not the blood of the grape that will pacify the conscience and refresh the soul, but the blood out of the side of Christ. Now was the rock smitten (Co1 10:4), now was the fountain opened (Zac 13:1), now were the wells of salvation digged, Isa 12:3. Here is the river, the streams whereof make glad the city of our God.

IV. The attestation of the truth of this by an eye-witness (Joh 19:35), the evangelist himself. Observe,

1. What a competent witness he was of the matters of fact. (1.) What he bore record of he saw; he had it not by hearsay, nor was it only his own conjecture, but he was an eyewitness of it; it is what we have seen and looked upon (Jo1 1:1; Pe2 1:16), and had perfect understanding of, Luk 1:3. (2.) What he saw he faithfully bore record of; as a faithful witness, he told not only the truth, but the whole truth; and did not only attest it by word of mouth, but left it upon record in writing, in perpetuam rei memoriam - for a perpetual memorial. (3.) His record is undoubtedly true; for he wrote not only from his own personal knowledge and observation, but from the dictates of the Spirit of truth, that leads into all truth. (4.) He had himself a full assurance of the truth of what he wrote, and did not persuade others to believe that which he did not believe himself: He knows that he saith true. (5.) He therefore witnessed these things, that we might believe; he did not record them merely for his own satisfaction or the private use of his friends, but made them public to the world; not to please the curious nor entertain the ingenious, but to draw men to believe the gospel in order to their eternal welfare.

2. What care he showed in this particular instance. That we may be well assured of the truth of Christ's death, he saw his heart's blood, his life's blood, let out; and also of the benefits that flow to us from his death, signified by the blood and water which came out of his side. Let this silence the fears of weak Christians, and encourage their hopes, iniquity shall not be their ruin, for there came both water and blood out of Christ's pierced side, both to justify and sanctify them; and if you ask, How can we be sure of this? You may be sure, for he that saw it bore record.

V. The accomplishment of the scripture in all this (Joh 19:36): That the scripture might be fulfilled, and so both the honour of the Old Testament preserved and the truth of the New Testament confirmed. Here are two instances of it together: -

1. The scripture was fulfilled in the preserving of his legs from being broken; therein that word was fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. (1.) There was a promise of this made indeed to all the righteous, but principally pointing at Jesus Christ the righteous (Psa 34:20): He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken. And David, in spirit, says, All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee? Psa 35:10. (2.) There was a type of this in the paschal lamb, which seems to be specially referred to here (Exo 12:46): Neither shall you break a bone thereof; and it is repeated (Num 9:12), You shall not break any bone of it; for which law the will of the law-maker is the reason, but the antitype must answer the type. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, Co1 5:7. He is the Lamb of God (Joh 1:29), and, as the true passover, his bones were kept unbroken. This commandment was given concerning his bones, when dead, as of Joseph's, Heb 11:22. (3.) There was a significancy in it; the strength of the body is in the bones. The Hebrew word for the bones signifies the strength, and therefore not a bone of Christ must be broken, to show that though he be crucified in weakness his strength to save is not at all broken. Sin breaks our bones, as it broke David's (Psa 51:8); but it did not break Christ's bones; he stood firm under the burden, mighty to save.

2. The scripture was fulfilled in the piercing of his side (Joh 19:37): They shall look on me whom they had pierced; so it is written, Zac 12:10. And there the same that pours out the Spirit of grace, and can be no less than the God of the holy prophets, says, They shall look upon me, which is here applied to Christ, They shall look upon him. (1.) It is here implied that the Messiah shall be pierced; and here it had a more full accomplishment than in the piercing of his hands and feet; he was pierced by the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, wounded in the house of his friends, as it follows, Zac 13:6. (2.) It is promised that when the Spirit is poured out they shall look on him and mourn. This was in part fulfilled when many of those that were his betrayers and murderers were pricked to the heart, and brought to believe in him; it will be further fulfilled, in mercy, when all Israel shall be saved; and, in wrath, when those who persisted in their infidelity shall see him whom they have pierced, and wail because of him, Rev 1:7. But it is applicable to us all. We have all been guilty of piercing the Lord Jesus, and are all concerned with suitable affections to look on him.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

BURIAL OF CHRIST. (Joh 19:31-42)

the preparation--sabbath eve.

that the bodies should not remain--over night, against the Mosaic law (Deu 21:22-23).

on the sabbath day, for that sabbath day was an high day--or "great" day--the first day of unleavened bread, and, as concurring with an ordinary sabbath, the most solemn season of the ecclesiastical year. Hence their peculiar jealousy lest the law should be infringed.

besought Pilate that their legs might be broken--to hasten their death, which was done in such cases with clubs.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(31) The account of the piercing of the side (Joh_19:31-37) is peculiar to St. John.

The preparation,. . . . an high day.—Comp. Excursus F: The Day of the Crucifixion of our Lord, p. 559. The Roman custom was to allow the bodies to remain on the cross. To the Jews this was defilement (Deu_21:22-23), against which they were the more anxious to take precaution because the approaching Sabbath was “an high day.”

That their legs might be broken.—The breaking of the legs by means of clubs was a Roman punishment, known by the name of crurifragium, which sometimes accompanied crucifixion, and appears also to have been used as a separate punishment. It is not otherwise clear that its purpose was, or that its effect would be, to cause death, but this is the impression we derive from the present context (Joh_19:33).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_19:31-37

The Jews therefore because it was the preparation

Profanity of fanaticism

They must make ready for keeping holy the Sabbath while their hands are red with the murder of the Son of God.

A stroke of that Jewish hypocrisy which strains at gnats and swallows camels similar to Joh_18:28. These men considered themselves strictly bound to observe every jot and tittle of an outward ordinance, but never scrupled to violate the most weighty precepts of the moral law. They made no conscience of murdering an innocent Person, and yet could not think of letting His dead body hang upon the cross upon the Sabbath day. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)

The dead Christ

I. THE SIGHTS JOHN BEHELD (Joh_19:32-35).

1. The breaking of the robbers legs. How and why this came to pass the Evangelist explains; also how and why the operation was omitted in the case of Christ.

2. The piercing of the Saviours side. Not a slight scratch, but a strong thrust of a soldiers lance, given to render assurance of Christs death doubly sure.

3. The streaming of blood and water from the wound--unusual, if not directly miraculous. As Christs body saw no corruption the change upon it which should culminate in a resurrection had begun. The water and the blood were an indication of the presence of that new life which was to issue in the transformation of what was earthly and corporeal into that which is heavenly and spiritual.

II. THE REFLECTIONS JOHN MADE (Joh_19:36-37; 1Jn_5:6).

1. That Christ was the true Paschal Lamb. He arrived at this conclusion by observing the coincidence between the not breaking of Christs legs and the ancient paschal ordinance (Exo_12:46). At the time perhaps it escaped his notice, but reflecting on it afterwards he saw in that seemingly accidental, but really providential, circumstance, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

2. That Israel would one day be converted to Christ. John remembered Zec_12:10. Since the first part of the prophecy was undeniably fulfilled, he knew the other would be, and he had not long to wait. Within two months many of Christs murderers were crying, What shall we do? Act_2:37). And the day will come when all shall cry it (Rom_11:25-26; 2Co_3:16).

3. That Christ crucified was an all-sufficient Saviour for men. This was suggested; if not then, afterwards, by streaming forth of blood and water, to cleanse and regenerate (1Jn_5:6). (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

A fragment of a wonderful history

I. THE IMMORALITY OF TECHNICAL SAINTHOOD. The Jews here were in a conventional and ceremonial sense great saints, and felt themselves such; albeit they were destitute of genuine morality, and in heart disregarded every precept of the decalogue. It has ever been so. There is a pietism which eats out the heart of humanity, and turns men into bigots and persecutors.

II. THE SERVILITY OF STATE HIRELINGS. The soldiers who crucified and pierced Christ had sold themselves to the state, and surrendered their whole individuality to their employers. The spirit of manhood was extinct; they had become machines to murder and kill. This is the curse of nations. In proportion to the servile spirit of a people is the strength of tyranny. Sycophancy paralyses patriotism. This is not unknown even in England.

III. THE CERTITUDE OF THE GREATEST FACT.

1. The greatest fact in history is the death of Christ. To it all past events pointed, and from it all future have their rise and take their date. It created moral influences which deepen every day.

2. The most competent witness of the fact was John. No one was

(1) More intellectually competent. No one was so much with Christ, and so intimately acquainted with Him.

(2) More morally competent. He was incorruptibly honest and incontrovertibly disinterested.

IV. THE PHILOSOPHY OF EVANGELICAL. PENITENCE (verse 37). He who looks with the eye of faith on the cross as the demonstration of human wickedness and the expression of Gods compassion for sinners, is in a way to have his heart broken with contrition for sin. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 19:31-37. That the bodies should not remain on the cross — It was customary among the Romans to let the bodies of persons who had been executed continue on the crosses, or stakes, till they were devoured by birds or beasts of prey. But the law of Moses expressly prohibited the Jews from suffering the bodies of those who were hanged to remain all night on the trees, Deu 21:22; for that reason, as well as because the sabbath was at hand, which would have been profaned by their remaining, especially as that sabbath was a day of peculiar solemnity, being the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, (from whence they reckoned the weeks to pentecost,) and also the day for presenting and offering the sheaf of new corn; therefore, the Jews besought Pilate that the legs of the three crucified persons might be broken, to hasten their death; and Pilate consented, and gave the order they desired. Then came the soldiers —

Who guarded the execution; and brake the legs of the first — Malefactor, or of him that hung nearest the place where they had been sitting; and then, passing by Jesus, who hung in the middle, they went and brake the legs of the other, who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, perceiving that he was dead already — They did not take the trouble of breaking his legs; but one of the soldiers — Had so much boldness and inhumanity that, with a spear, which he had in his hand, he pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water — Real blood and real water; the spear having pierced both the pericardium and heart, the water issuing from the former and the blood from the latter; a wound which must inevitably have killed him, had he been living when it was given, and which consequently put it out of all doubt that he was really dead, before he was taken down from the cross; a point of infinite importance to be ascertained. For the grand evidence of Christ’s mission is his resurrection, which implies the certainty of his death. On that account, crucifixion might have seemed, on a slight view, a less proper execution than some others, such as beheading, burning, and the like; but this wound, which pierced his heart, would effectually exclude all pretences of his having been taken down alive by his friends; and hence, false and malicious as his enemies were, we do not find that they ever had recourse to such an evasion. Accordingly, as it was of such importance to mankind to be ascertained of the truth of Christ’s death, the evangelist here, in speaking of it, attests this circumstance, which demonstrates it, as being a thing which he himself saw; saying, And he that saw it bare record, &c., and he knoweth — By the most certain testimony of his senses; that he saith true — And he makes this declaration that you, whoever you are, into whose hands this history may come, may believe — And may be confirmed in your adherence to that gospel which is established on the death and resurrection of Christ. Of the mystical meaning of the blood and water which issued out of the side of Christ, see the note on 1Jn 5:6. For these things were done — Or were permitted to be done, in the course of divine providence, however inconsiderable they may appear, that the scripture should be fulfilled — That is, Jesus’s legs were not broken, that the passage, (Exo 12:46,) Neither shall ye break a bone thereof, might be fulfilled. “These words were primarily spoken of the paschal lamb, whose bones were not to be broken, that it might be a fit representation of the Messiah, typified by this sacrifice; and who, though he was to suffer a violent death, was to have none of his bones broken, because he was to rise from the dead on the third day. Wherefore, as the scripture which speaks of the type has necessarily a reference to the antitype, the evangelist had good reason to interpret what is there said of the paschal lamb, as prophetical of this circumstance of our Lord’s death. And the rather, as by so doing he makes his readers sensible it was not owing to accident that the soldiers treated Christ’s body otherwise than they treated the bodies of those who were crucified with him. It happened by the direction of God, who had always determined that Christ should rise from the dead, and that his mission should be fully demonstrated by the evidence of miracles and prophecies united. John observes also, that Christ’s side was pierced with a spear, because another scripture (Zec 12:10) had said They shall look on him whom they have pierced;” that is, they who have occasioned his sufferings by their sins, (and who has not?) shall either look upon him in this world with penitential sorrow, or with terror when he cometh in the clouds of heaven, Rev 1:7.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 142.—THE TRANSACTIONS OF JESUS’S DEATH AND ENTOMBMENT, Joh_19:31-42.

31. Bodies should not remain—By the more barbarous Roman custom the bodies of the malefactors could remain upon the cross until disintegrated by corruption or devoured by birds. But by the Mosaic law (Deu_21:23) they must be removed and buried before nightfall. The Jewish rulers doubtless desired that the corpse of Jesus should be as soon as possible removed from public sight.

A high day—The Jewish Saturday-Sabbath after the crucifixion-Friday, being both the sabbath and a Passover day, was a great day.

Legs might be broken—The crucifragium or leg-breaking was a Roman custom in cases of crucifixion, performed upon the malefactor before he was taken from the cross. The fracture was inflicted with an iron mallet upon the instep or ankle. This would leave the weight of the body to be sustained by the hands and upper parts, and cause exquisite agony to the victim not already beyond the reach of pain.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES

Joh_19:31. The Jews therefore, etc.… for great was that Sabbath day.—There was a twofold sanctity about the coming day, for it was not only the day at the beginning of which in the evening the passover lamb was eaten—it was at the same time the weekly Sabbath, and therefore a day of peculiar sanctity, a high day. Hence the anxiety of the Jews to hasten the death of the crucified, and have the bodies removed before the first star appeared announcing the beginning of the evening of a new (Jewish) day.

Joh_19:31-37. The Jews … that their legs might be broken (crurifragium).—Probably this was done to hasten death, as Joh_19:33 seems to indicate here. Pierced.—To satisfy themselves that He was really dead. Blood and water.—There have been various explanations of this fact, physiological and other. None of them, however, are entirely satisfactory. The chief physiological explanation is that given by Dr. Stroud (Physical Cause of the Death of Christ), who argues with much learning that our Lord’s death was caused by rupture of the heart following on the intense agony He suffered, physical and spiritual. The result of this would be (he continues) to fill the surrounding tissues with blood, which would rapidly separate into its constituent parts, solid and fluid, which flowed out when the body was pierced by the soldier’s lance. Such explanations may be taken for what they are worth. Dr. Reynolds well says of this incident that we see in it “a token of the twofold power of Christ’s redemptive life and work:

(1) renovation, refreshment, rivers of living water issuing from the κοιλία of Christ, the first great rush of spiritual power which was to regenerate humanity; and

(2) the expression of that redemptive process which was effected in the positive shedding of His precious blood.” In all these events divinely ordered facts corresponded with divinely inspired type and prophecy (Exo_12:46; Zec_12:10). As the promised Messiah He fulfilled law and prophecy (Rev_1:7).

Joh_19:38. Secretly.—This is a fact given only by St. John.

Joh_19:39. Myrrh.—A fragrant gum. Aloes.—A scented wood which was much esteemed for embalming purposes. A mixture.—Some MSS. read a roll, but the authority is of no great weight. An hundred pound.—I.e. Roman pounds of about twelve ounces each (see Psalms 45; Mat_2:11).

Joh_19:40. In linen clothes (ὀθονίοις).—Probably long strips used for enswathing the body. There seems also to have been a larger cloth for covering the body, or wrapping it round. It is this that is mentioned by St. Matthew (Mat_27:59 : it was called σινδών), etc. As the manner … to bury.—They did not remove the viscera, as in the Egyptian custom of embalming. Cremation was the rule among the Romans.

Joh_19:41. A garden (see Joh_18:1).—As in a garden it was said to man, “In the day that thou eatest,” etc. (Gen_2:17), so in a garden Christ was, by His rising from the dead, to say to men, “In Me ye have eternal life.” A new sepulcher.—Jesus was in no way to come in contact with corruption (Psa_16:10). The sepulchre belonged to Joseph.

Joh_19:42. They laid.—But it was virtually the Jews delivering Him to death that made it necessary that He should also be laid in the grave. Consequently St. Paul was justified in saying (Act_13:29), “They (the Jews) that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers … laid Him in a sepulchre.” The Jews’ preparation.—I.e. the preparation for the great feast of the Jews (Joh_11:55). This incidentally confirms the idea that the day about to commence was that on which the passover was eaten.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joh_19:31-42

The rest of the Redeemer in the grave.—After the storm comes the calm; after sore labour, rest. And as at the beginning of material things the divine activity was followed by a period of rest, so the travail of the Saviour in working out man’s redemption was followed by the rest in Joseph’s tomb. When Jesus uttered the cry “It is finished,” His pain and travail ceased. And although His descent into the state of the dead may be regarded as the deepest depth of His humiliation, yet it may be also regarded as the beginning of His glory. It is not mentioned by the apostle as a part of that obedience for which Christ was highly exalted. For in that period when His physical frame was at rest it was in the Father’s care, who would not suffer His Holy One to see corruption. It was therefore for the Son of man’s material frame a calm repose, with the certainty of a glorious reawakening. Nature is practically inactive in the winter season, when the icing winds blow, when bitter sleet falls and feathery snow enwraps the landscape; but in all this there is the hope and even the promise of spring with its glad new life and opening verdure. So in Christ’s rest in the tomb there was the promise of a new glad season of hope for humanity. Just as spring breaks the bonds of winter, so Christ broke asunder the icy fetters of death’s prison-house, and brings to those who are spiritually crucified with Him the hope and promise of heaven’s eternal spring.

I. The preparation for the interment of the body of Jesus.—

1. The afternoon of the crucifixion began to wane toward evening, the lengthening shadows told that the Sabbath would soon begin. The executioners prepared to take the body of Jesus from the cross, to bury it most likely in a common grave with the two malefactors.

2. But that sacred body, which was not to see corruption, was to be otherwise cared for. The disciples had fled; not even John seems to have thought of the next step. But God had His instruments for this holy duty. Two secret disciples of the Saviour now step forth, men whom we should not have expected to do so, for they were members of the Sanhedrin.

3. The one was Joseph, who had come originally from Arimathæa in the mountains of Ephraim, and had risen to honour and consideration in Jerusalem. Like Simeon, he “waited for the kingdom of God,” and had thought that Jesus was its king. He had not consented to the counsel and deed of the hypocritical leaders of his people. And now, when the great crime was past, he came to pay that homage which he had denied to Jesus whilst He was alive. Proceeding to the governor’s palace, he demanded the body of Jesus. From the Synoptic narrative we learn that Pilate was apparently still exercised in mind regarding the innocent One, whom he had so unjustly permitted to be led to death (Mar_15:44-45). Evidently Joseph’s request accorded with Pilate’s own feelings, and the wish that He who had been so unjustly condemned should be honoured in His death.

4. As Joseph drew near the garden he was aware of the presence of another Jewish ruler—his friend and fellow-counsellor, Nicodemus. He too had cast aside all servile fear, and had come laden with spices for embalming the sacred body of Him from whom he had learned so much of the deeper truth concerning the kingdom of God.

II. The place of interment and the manner of the burial.—

1. Near the place where the Lord was crucified was a garden enclosure belonging to Joseph, in which, in accordance with a prevalent custom of those times, he had prepared a sepulchre. In it no man had yet been laid. Toward this garden, after they had taken down Christ’s body from the cross, and wound it reverently in linen cloths with the aromatic spices, they conveyed it.

2. It was then borne reverently to the empty tomb, and laid there in the stillness of the gathering evening shadows. No execrating shouts now rend the air; no body of weeping disciples follow the Saviour’s body to the grave. Only those two honourable men perform their sacred duty in reverent silence, not unmoved, it may be, by hope in mysterious words of promise spoken by their now silent Master; whilst afar off a little knot of women beheld where the body was laid.

3. And now, as the first star on the brow of night announced that the Sabbath had come, the two friends departed from the tomb; whilst the women had already gone to prepare spices for embalming and to wait till the Sabbath was past ere they visited the grave.

4. How calm and peaceful and majestic it all is! No mournful dirges sound, no funeral torches flare. Yet it was a glorious burial. The tender love and sympathy of succeeding ages are represented in those disciples, till now not openly and constantly attached to Jesus. How far otherwise was all this from what those who hated Him anticipated. They imagined perhaps that even now His body had been flung into a common grave with the bodies of the two malefactors; whilst what occurred was really the prelude of His glory.

III. The resting of Jesus in Joseph’s tomb was a sweet repose.—

1. It was rest after conflict; and what a conflict in both body and soul! David the shepherdking once in his shepherd days had vanquished the savage beasts that threatened his flock. But this King of David’s line had vanquished a more cruel foe, though in the conflict His sweat had been like great drops of blood, and on the cross nameless fears had tortured His soul—His body was rent, His heart broken.

2. But now the agony and conflict were all past. The revenge of His foes and the blood-thirstiness of the unbelieving throng were stilled. The waves of the storm-tossed sea of human passion had ceased to rage. It is as when the last storms of winter begin to die away, and earth and air are filled with undefined yet real promises of the coming spring.

3. It is he who has laboured most faithfully and diligently during the day whose sleep at eventide is soundest, sweetest, and most refreshing. And it is he who has done his duty most unselfishly and in conformity with the divine will, during life’s working day, who sees with no dread the day of labour ending and the time of rest approaching.

4. And as our Redeemer was truly human as well as divine, we may think a somewhat analogous feeling occupied His breast. He had laboured. He had toiled in the midst of unbelief and contumely, and at last active and deadly opposition from those He had come to save. But now He had finished the work given Him to do on earth (Joh_17:4), and there was a pause of rest between the close of His work in His state of humiliation and the beginning of His work and reign in glory.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Joh_19:34. The pierced side.—It has been supposed that John laid so much stress upon this circumstance because he believed it might serve to refute certain erroneous spirits of his day who assigned to Christ an imaginary and not a real body. It is certainly possible that, in giving his account of the matter, he was partly induced by such a motive. But it is the miraculous nature of the event that chiefly excited his interest in it. In dead bodies the blood always coagulates, whilst from the wound above mentioned, on the contrary, it flowed clearly and abundantly, unmixed with the water which burst forth from the pierced pericardium of His heart, and ran down from the cross. It was as if the great High Priest intended to say, even in His death, “Behold, I shed My blood voluntarily, and offer it up in entire fulness for your sins.” But that which most deeply affected the soul of the beloved disciple was the divine symbol he perceived beneath the wondrous event. In the water and the blood he sees represented the most essential blessings of salvation for which the world is indebted to Christ. We know that in his first Epistle he points out the fact of His coming with water and blood, as well as with the Holy Spirit, as the most peculiar characteristic of the Redeemer of the world; and who does not perceive in these words that the wondrous event on Calvary must have been present to his mind?—F. W. Krummacher, “Suffering Saviour.”

Joh_19:39. Nicodemus at the cross and tomb of Jesus.—We come to a still later time. The fatal hour is passed; Jesus Christ has been crucified. The sorrowing disciples are scattered and discomfited. The women and the few faithful ones come with their last offering of love to the tomb; and among the faithful comes Nicodemus, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes a hundred pounds weight. It is an act of homage and devotion. It is the time when the ear has sprung up. We can easily believe that the full corn came up at the last; and we can accept the tradition that afterwards he avowed himself as a believer in Christ, and received baptism from Peter and John. The further tradition that his acknowledgment of our Lord led to his persecution and exile from office and reputation would almost naturally follow the former. But it is enough that we have seen again Christ’s power and influence over men. We have seen Him in patient converse with Nicodemus; and we have seen also that slowly the spirit of devotion grew, prompting Nicodemus to courageous remonstrance, and at last to an act of devotion at the tomb of the crucified Christ. It cost Nicodemus much to do those things. With his temperament, timid and cultivated, the effort to stand alone needed no small resolution, and evinced a courageous victory over self. To this the influence of Christ nerved him. Christ gave manhood to the courage of a nervous and timid man. Under His influence he is able to take his place with growing force and dignity. The man who sought Him by night is at last enabled to rebuke unrighteousness, and to join himself with the despised and lonely followers of Christ. Christ can give courage to the weak and fearful. This may seem a small thing; but nothing is small which enables a man to enter into the full possession of his manhood. In one way or another this defect of life clings to us—we do not possess our own lives. Passion, greed, ambition, may rob us of this heritage; but we are none the less deprived of it when we are the slaves of weakness and fear. To tame passion and to curb desire is a victory; but that also is a victorious power which can banish fear, and transform weakness into resolution and timidity into courage. For the fears which haunt timid souls are real and mighty powers. In their way they are not less powerful than covetousness and lust. They touch and wither up the lives of a vast number of men. Christ, if He is to be the Saviour of all men, must have a message of hope and redemption for the fearful. The story of Nicodemus assures us that He is the Saviour of the doubtful. To those that have no might He increaseth strength. His hand, His pierced hand, can grasp ours and encourage us against our weakness. Over natural timidity and social fears we can be made more than conquerors through Him who loved us.—Dr. W. Boyd Carpenter, in “Good Words,” December 1893.

Joh_19:42. The quiet sepulchre the abode of hope.—We leave them (Joseph and Nicodemus), and linger a few moments longer at the sepulchre, from whence a vital atmosphere proceeds, and the peace of God is breathed upon us. There He rests, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. How grateful is the feeling to us, after all the ignominy and suffering He has endured, to see Him at least once again honourably reposing, and that too upon a couch which love, fidelity, and tenderness have prepared for Him! Who does not perceive that, even in the circumstances of His interment, the overruling hand of God has interwoven for our consolation a gentle testimony that His only-begotten Son had well accomplished the great task which He was commissioned to perform? How clearly the taking down from the cross and the interment of the Redeemer before the setting in of night and the Sabbath shows the fulfilment of the ancient ordinance of Israel respecting those who were hanged on a tree! and how distinctly are we convinced to a demonstration that the curse is now removed from a sinful world, and that the eye of God again looks graciously and well-pleased down upon the earth! There He slumbers. Well for us that He was willing to pass through even this dark passage on our behalf! Nothing hindered Him from taking up His life again on the cross, and returning from thence immediately to His Father. But had He done so our bodies would have been left in the grave; and you know how much more we are wont to fear the grave than even death itself. There, where corruption reigns, it seems as if the curse of sin still hung over us, and as if no redemption had been accomplished. In order to dispel this terror, and to convince us, by means of His own precedent, that even with the interment of our bodies in the gloomy cell there is no longer anything to fear, but that a passage into life is opened for us out of this dark dungeon, He paternally took into consideration all our necessities, and suffered Himself to be laid in the grave before our eyes. He did not, indeed, see corruption, because He was only imputatively and not substantially a sinner. “Thou wilt not suffer Thine holy One to see corruption,” said David in Psa_16:10, impelled by the spirit of prophecy. Our flesh, on the contrary, which is poisoned by sin, must necessarily pass through the process of the germinating seed-corn, and be dissolved into its original element before its glorification. But the difference between our lot and that of our divine Head is not an essential one. The chief thing continues to be this, that we know that even our bodies are not lost in the grave, but that they rest in hope. This is confirmed and guaranteed to us by Christ. The way we have seen Him go we shall also take. That which His obedience merited for Him as the Son of man it merited and acquired for us because Christ yielded it in our stead.—F. W. Krummacher, “Suffering Saviour.”

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.

V

CHRIST THE GLORIFICATION OF DEATH, THE VERY LIFE IN DEATH. THE CORPSE OF JESUS, TO HIS FOES AN OBSCURE SIGN OF CALAMITY, TO HIS FRIENDS A MYSTERIOUS PASSOVER–SIGN (A SIGN THAT HE IS THE TRUE PASSOVER–LAMB AND THAT SOMETHING MIRACULOUS IS TRANSPIRING WITHIN HIM), TO HIS UNDECIDED DISCIPLES A DECISIVE, ANIMATING SIGN. THE HONORABLE BURIAL IN THE GARDEN AND IN THE NEW SEPULCHRE. THE FORETOKENS OF THE VICTORY OF CHRIST

Joh_19:31-42.

(Mat_27:57-66; Mar_15:42-47; Luk_23:50-56.)

31     The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation [it was preparation day, παρασκευή comp Joh_19:42], that the bodies should [might] not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day [sabbath], (for that sabbath day was a high day [for great was the day of that sabbath, ἦν γὰρ μεγάλη ή ήμέρα ἐκείου τοῦ σαββάτου],) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32Then came the soldiers [The soldiers therefore came], and brake [broke] the legs of the first, and of the other which [who] was crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake [broke] not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there [omit there, or34 read: there came] out blood and water.

35     And he that saw it bare record [he that hath seen it, hath born witness, ὁ ἑωρακὼς μεμαρτύρηκεν], and his record [witness] is true [ἀληθινή]19; and he knoweth that he saith [what is] true [ὰληθῆ], that ye [also, καὶ ὑμεῖς] might believe [may believe, πιστεύσητε]. 36For these things were done [came to pass], that the Scripture should [might] be fulfilled, ‘A bone of him shall not be broken.’ [Exo_12:46; Num_9:12; Psa_34:20.] 37And again another Scripture saith, ‘They shall look on him whom they pierced.’ [Zec_12:10.]

38     And after this [these things, ταῦτα] Joseph20 of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly [though in secret, or, concealing it, κεκπυμμένος δέ] for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus [took away his body].21 39And there came also Nicodemus, (which [who] at the first came to Jesus [to him, πρὸς αὺτόν] by night) and brought [bringing, φέρων] a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight [a hundred pounds, λίτρας weight]. 40Then took they [They took therefore] the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is [as is the custom of the Jews] to bury. 41Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre [tomb], wherein was never man yet laid [in which no one had ever been laid].22 42There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day [day]; for the sepulchre [tomb] was nigh at hand.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Joh_19:31. The Jews therefore.—The οὖν again characteristically indicates the next concern which troubled the Jews as Jews. The observance of the ceremonial law was their first thought after the work of the crucifixion was accomplished. Rupert: Magnifici honoratores Dei, cum in conscientia mala reposuissent sanguinem Justi.

That the bodies might not remain on the cross [ἵυα μὴ μείνη ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ τά σώματα].—On the Roman custom see the Commentary on Matthew. The Jewish ordinance in regard to the bodies of persons hanged on a tree Deu_21:22 f.; Josephus, De Bello Jud., IV. 5, 2—Because it was the Preparation day [ἐπεὶ παρασκενὴ ἧν]—I. e. because preparations must be made for keeping holy the Sabbath, on which day no bodies were allowed to remain hanging on the tree.—For great was the (feast-) day of that (Paschal) Sabbath [ἧν γὰρ μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνου τοῦ σαββάτου]—(Comp. Joh_7:37). Elucidating parenthesis. I. e. it was not a simple Sabbath of the current year, but its sanctity was increased by its falling in the Paschal season. This was true of the day in any case, whether, in accordance with the view of the disharmonists, the first paschal day was still to arrive and coincided with the Sabbath (Meyer and others), or whether, according to the view represented by us, the Sabbath in question fell upon the second Jewish passover-day. Meyer thinks that as the second passover-day it could have been called μεγάλη only because, in accordance with Lev_23:10, the feast of sheaves (Wieseler, Synopse, p. 344, p. 385) was celebrated on this day (16 Nisan). This reference, however, he asserts, John must have indicated. On the other hand, the first feast-day possessed, according to Lev_23:7-15, the character of a Sabbath also. But the case is simpler in its bearings. The Sabbath, being the principal holiday of the Jews, derived additional importance from every other festivity coincident with it, hence also from the second solemn passover-day. If, on the other hand, the passover-day had been the decisive motive, John would not have mentioned the Sabbath as a motive.

That their legs might be broken, etc. [ἵνα κατεαγῶσιν23 αὐτῶν τὰ σκέλη καὶ αρθῶσιν]—Said in a perfectly general way, whence it follows that they were hastening the removal and as yet possessed no certain knowledge as to the death of Jesus. The shattering of the legs with clubs, crucifragium [σκελοκοπία], was a customary form of accelerating death—a procedure as harsh and brutal as crucifixion itself (Lactantius, Instit. IV. 26; Lipsius, Ad Plaut. II. 4, 63). It also appears as an independent punishment, Sueton., Aug. 67 [Seneca, De Ira, iii. 32, etc.]. “The supervention of a coup de grace, by which (not by the crucifragium in itself) death was occasioned, cannot be proved, least of all from Joh_19:34 (contrary to Michaelis, Hug and others).” Thus Meyer [p. 633], while Tholuck, following Quintil., Declam. vi. 9, and other instances in Hug, declares in favor of the customariness of the death-stab in cases where death seemed to have already taken place, but where the soldier wished thoroughly to assure himself of the fact. In accordance with the presentation of our Gospel, the breaking of the legs must be conceived of as a deadly process. It is omitted, as the more difficult task, in cases where the stab of a lance is sufficient to complete the signs of death by means of an easy death-stroke.

Joh_19:32. The soldiers therefore came [ἧλθον οὖν οἱ στρατιῶται, κ. τ. λ.].—Two soldiers simultaneously break the legs of the thief on the right and the thief on the left. With Jesus they consider this superfluous—therefore, to make assurance doubly sure, they pierce Him with the lance. His death is thus doubly and trebly warranted: once by the cognition of the soldiers, then by the mortal spear-stroke, finally by His burial on the part of His friends. From Joh_20:27 Tholuck infers besides (less securely) that the wound was the breadth of a man’s hand.—The soldier stood with his right hand opposite the left side of the Crucified One.

Joh_19:34. Blood and water [καὶ ἐξῆλθεν εὐθὺς αἷμα καὶ ὔδωρ]—We must preface the explanations of this fact by the statement that the Evangelist looks upon it as one of great moment. See Joh_19:37. [“The strong asseverations of the Evangelist, show that he regarded the circumstance as very extraordinary, perhaps as supernatural. He writes of it like a person who hardly expected to be believed. Yet the effect he describes is exactly (?) that which we now know was most likely to result from preceding causes. Thus his accuracy of observation and the honesty and veracity of his testimony are most remarkably corroborated.” Webster and Wilkinson.—P. S.]

Different explanations:

1. The modern explanation of the fact as a NATURAL phenomenon. This interpretation is made the more difficult by the circumstance that the blood does not flow out of dead bodies, neither does it separate into blood and water [or placenta and serum] (as it does in a vessel after venesection).

First assumption: Death was produced by the spear-thrust, and the forth-flowing of the blood (or of a reddish lymph) must demonstrate Christ’s corporeality, in contradiction of the Docetæ (Hammond, Kuinoel, Olshausen). This view is combated by the presupposition of the disciple and the ancient Church that Jesus was dead, and by the separation of blood and water. [See also against this view, Stroud, on the Physical Cause of Christ s Death, p. 141 f. It is certain, however, that, had Christ not been already dead, the infliction of such a wound in the heart by the spear of a Roman soldier must have produced death; and this fact in any case sets aside the Gnostic docetic view according to which Christ suffered and died only in appearance, as well as the older rationalistic view that Christ recovered from the effects of the crucifixion, and that His resurrection was merely an awakening from a trance.—P. S.]

Second assumption: The flow of blood and water from the body of a dead person is physiologically explained:

a. By the presence of extravasations, or bloodblisters, in which the globules and serum have become separated one from the other (Ebrard).

b. By the serum in the pericardium (Gruner, De Jes. Christi morte vera non simulata, etc., Halle, 1805), to which yet other serous reservoirs on the side of the heart may be added (see Tholuck, p. 439). [The Gruners, two physicians, father and son, held that the blood issued from the heart, the water from the pericardium, i. e. the membrane which envelops the heart. So also Kipping (De cruce et cruciariis, pp. 187–195), Bishop Watson (Apology for the Bible), Barnes, Webster and Wilkinson, and Owen. To this theory it is objected that the quantity of liquid or reddish lymphatic humor in the pericardium is usually so minute as to be scarcely perceptible. “Haller states that a small quantity of water, not exceeding a few drachms, has frequently been found in the pericardium of executed persons; but, except under very peculiar and morbid, circumstances, the eminent anatomists John and Charles Bell deny the occurrence altogether.… Naturally the pericardium exhibits scarcely anything which deserves the name of liquid; but after some forms of violent death, more especially when attended with obstructed circulation, it may contain a little serum, either pure or mixed with blood.…For the statement of the Gruners, that after death accompanied with anxiety the pericardium is full of water, there is no evidence.” Stroud, 1 c. p. 138, 139.—P. S.]

2. The apprehension of the fact as a miracle (Origen and the ancient Church generally, Meyer, Luthardt). [Bengel: quod sanguis exiit, mirum; quod etiam aqua, magis mirum; quod utrumque statim, uno tempore, et tamen distincte, maxime mirum. So also Alford who, with Meyer, stops with the recognition of a miracle, without indulging in allegorizing.—P. S.]

3. Between the assumption of a miracle unassisted by any physiological instrumentality, and that of a natural phenomenon, there lies the assumption that we have to do with a primitive phenomenon, i. e. a unique appearance based upon the unique situation. Meyer [p. 635] says: “A natural explanation in a higher sense is assigned for this phenomenon by Lange (Leben Jesu, II. p. 1614 f.); he assumes it to be explicable by the process of transformation which, as he affirms, the body of Christ was undergoing. A spinose conception in which there is not only an absence of clearness” (a fact equally true of the transformation itself, but which, nevertheless, does not render that transformation spinose), “but also imperiling the essential and necessary point of the actual death of Jesus” (i. e., hazarding its being swallowed up in the resurrection), “and moreover representing the details of the assumed transformation as occurring in very sensuous and materialistic wise” (say, rather, in bodily and corporeal fashion). Meyer thinks he has warrant for citing against this view, 1Co_15:51-53. The following propositions may assist to an apprehension of the case: (1) After the death of Jesus, either corruption or transformation must have been preparing. (2) Corruption He did not see, hence it is transformation that was in course of preparation. (3) If this was preparing, the fact must of necessity make itself known by a sign transpiring in His wounded body,—a sign such as we are unacquainted with in other corpses. (4) That this sign is a unicum, concerning which we can find nothing in the history of extravasations, pericardia, etc. is a circumstance perfectly in order.

4. The mythical interpretation of Baur and others may be passed over (comp. Meyer [p. 637]).

5. [Symbolical and allegorical] interpretations of the phenomenon [which may be connected with either of the preceding ones, especially with No. 2.—P. S.]. With reference to 1Jn_5:6 : Symbol of the two sacraments of grace: Apollinaris, Ambrose (De Sacram. cp. I. aqua ut emundaret, sanguis ut redimeret, Augustine, the R. Catholic exegetes, Luther).24 Otherwise Baur: The death of Jesus symbolized as the source of spiritual life. Similarly Luthardt. The Evangelist has indeed said nothing of this meaning himself. He has laid stress upon the unexpectedness of the phenomenon, however.

[Other symbolical explanations: (1) Calvin: reference of the blood to expiation; of the water to regeneration. He, however, denies the miraculous character of the fact. Isaac Watts:

“My Saviour s pierced side

Poured out a double flood:

By water we are purified

And pardoned by the blood.”

Toplady:

“Let the water and the blood

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.”

(2) According to E. Swedenborg, blood signifies the proceeding Divine truth for the spiritual man, and water the Divine truth for the natural man. (Apocalypse Explained, No. 329).25—P. S.]

[Additional Remarks on the effusion of blood and water. This is properly a question for physicians to settle, but they differ as much as theologians. Comp. besides the dissertation of the Gruners already quoted, Thomas Bartholinus, De Latere Christi aperto, etc.; Hieronymus Bardus, Epist. ad Thom. Bartholinum, and the Reply of Bartholinus; William Stroud, M. D., The Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, 2d ed. with an Appendix by Sir James Y. Simpson, M. D. (London, 1871). The last work is probably the best and contains more curious information than any other. Dr. Stroud, as already mentioned on p. 587, traces the physical cause of the death of Christ to a sudden rupture of the heart, produced by intense agony of mind endured in behalf of sinners. He uses this verse as an argument for his theory. Rupture of the heart is followed by an effusion of blood (sometimes as much as a quart or much more) into the pericardium, where it quickly separates into its solid and liquid constituents, technically called crassamentum and serum, but in ordinary language blood and water. The soldier, in approaching the body of Christ and inflicting the wound for the purpose either to ascertain or to insure His death, would purposely aim at the heart, and, transfixing the lower part of the left side, would open the pericardium obliquely from below; that capsule being distended with crassamentum and serum, and consequently pressed against the side, its contents would, by force of gravity, be instantly and completely discharged through the wound, in a full stream, of clear watery liquid intermixed with clotted blood, exactly corresponding to the sacred narrative: “and immediately there came forth blood and water.” The difficulties of commentators have arisen mostly from the gratuitous assumption that the blood which flowed from the wound of Christ was liquid, and the water pure, and, to account for so marvellous an occurrence, recourse was had either to miraculous agency, or to other equally untenable suppositions. “Blood and water” simply denote the crassamentum and serum of blood which has separated into its constituents. See pp. 399 ff., and the instances adduced in illustration. Ewald (Geschichte Christus’, 3d ed. 1867, p. 584f.), without entering into the matter, likewise assumes that a sudden rupture of the heart (ein plötzlicher Herzbruch) was the immediate physical cause of the death of Christ, and explains from it the loud terrible cry of anguish on the cross.—P. S.]

Joh_19:35. And he that hath seen it hath borne witness [καὶ ὁ ἑωρακὼς μεμαρτύρηκεν].—According to Weisse, Schweizer, and others, a later reporter, distinguishing himself from John, here betrays himself. But it is the Evangelist who himself makes a distinction between an oral, evangelistic testimony, continued during many years, and his written iteration of the same at a later period—conscious that said testimony contains an extraordinary statement. He then distinguishes the substance of his testimony as essential truth (ἁληθινή), because the thing must so occur, as a fulfilment of the divine word, and the form of his testimony, ἀληθῆ. His testimony is, however, continually, and so in this instance also, designed to produce faith in Christ (see Joh_20:31), namely, the confirmation and consummation of his readers belief in the higher divine nature of Christ. Not, as some have supposed, that ye may believe in the death of Jesus as an event which really transpired (Beza and others); or in the true corporeality of Christ, in opposition to the Docetæ (Hammond, Paulus, and others). Meyer thinks that Gnosticism might have fastened even sooner upon the mysterious, enigmatical outflow (?).

Joh_19:36. A bone of Him shall not be broken [Ὀστοῦν οὐ συντριβήσεται αὐτοῦ].—The first fulfilment of Scripture was of a negative sort: it was the fulfilment of the typical provision that not a bone of the paschal lamb should be broken, Exo_12:46; Num_9:12. As the suffering Christ was the antitype of the paschal lamb (1Co_5:7), it was necessary that this typical trait also should be fulfilled in Him.

Joh_19:37. Whom they pierced [Ὄψονται δἰς ο͂ν ἐξεκέντησαν].—(Zec_12:10.) The εἰς ὅν by attraction in the place of εἰς ἐκεῖνον δν. Second, positive fulfilment of a Scriptural passage by the spear-thrust. The passage freely cited after the original text which the Septuagint has weakened (“Whom they have insulted”). Properly: They shall look up to Me אֵלַי Whom they have pierced. The reading אֵלַיו found in many manuscripts is probably an exegetical correction, as it seemed obvious that Jehovah cannot be pierced; hence likewise the figurative conception of the Septuagint. The passage in question is one of the exceedingly pregnant Messianic passages of the second half of Zechariah. The Messiah here appears in the light of the self-manifesting Jehovah Himself. The piercers are the Jews, standing, however, as representatives of the whole human race. “They have pierced Me,” i. e. they have consummated their enmity against My highest manifestation and approach. “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced,” i. e. their eyes shall be opened in regard to their conduct and they shall perceive whom they have outraged,—they shall regret it, or it shall become a matter of regret to them. This prophecy has had a general fulfilment in the turning of the believing world to the Crucified One. It shall, however, be fulfilled in the most universal sense, in regard to the whole world, at the Last Judgment (Rev_1:7). The beginning of this consternation of the world upon discovering that it has thrust at God, whilst it supposed itself to be piercing a criminal, in dealing the Messiah the heart-thrust, is significantly seen by the Evangelist in the fact that we have been considering. The spear-thrust was the final heart-blow and death-blow which, after many blows and stabs, the whole race of man inflicted upon the Messiah; it was therefore the concentrated symbol of His crucifixion in general. Hence, there immediately appeared a sign, such as is not met with in other corpses;—a sign in which the higher nature of Christ, the incipient manifestation of His glory, announced itself. That which is related concerning murdered persons, namely, that their wounds bleed afresh when the murderers approach their bodies, did actually happen here in the highest sense. That the phenomenon made one of the many signs that perplexed and dismayed the people at Golgotha, may be securely assumed from the prominent mention which this occurrence and its effect receive at the hands of John. This involves the complete overthrow of the natural [rationalistic] explanation. An ordinary appearance could not thus have operated. See Joh_8:28; Joh_12:32; Acts 2.

Joh_19:38. Joseph of Arimathea.—Comp. Mat_27:57. After the Jews had induced Pilate to have the bodies taken down, Joseph presented his request and arrived at precisely the right moment to take the corpse which had been accorded him, down from the cross. So Meyer rightly, in opposition to De Wette who finds a difficulty here, as likewise in opposition to Lücke, who apprehends the ἄρῃ and ἧρεν as relating to the carrying away of the body which the soldiers, had taken down. With this interpretation Meyer asserts that he has settled a difference which would otherwise exist, making this statement “unauthorized” by the side of Luk_23:53; Mar_15:46.

About a hundred pounds weight [ὡς λίτρας έκατόν].—See Comm. on Matthew, at the parallel passage. [A proof of the greatness of their love produced by the death of Christ.—P. S.]

Joh_19:40. As is the manner of the Jews [καθὼς ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐνταφιάζειν].—Contrast: The custom of the Egyptians, who took out the brain and bowels, or at least steeped the body for seventy days in natron. See Winer, “Embalming,” Meyer. The Egyptian anointing was designed for the preservation of the bodies as mummies: the Jewish anointing formed a consecrated and beautiful transition of the corpse from death to corruption. On the fact that there is nothing surprising in the superabundance of one hundred pounds of aloes and myrrh for the anointing, see Tholuck.

Joh_19:41. In the place [ἐν τῷ τόπῳ], i.e. in the district. According to Mat_27:60, it was Joseph’s garden. Comp. Luk_23:53; Joh_19:30; Mar_11:2.

Joh_19:42. On account of the preparation-day [διὰ τὴν παρασκευὴν τῶν Ἰουδ.].—An intimation that if haste had not been urgent, they would have given Jesus more honorable burial in another place. Thus the very haste of the preparation-day was providential. Jesus should be interred in a new grave, in a manner the most extraordinary. The circumstance must serve at the same time to manifest Joseph s great alacrity in sacrifice.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The Johannean relation. John omits the trait of their rolling a great stone in front of the door of the sepulchre; he does not mention that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James seated themselves over against the sepulchre;that the Jews, with the co-operation of Pilate, sealed the sepulchre on the Sabbath and set a military watch upon it (Matt.); that Pilate, before presenting Joseph with the body of Jesus, inquired of the centurion whether Jesus were dead (Mark); the approach of a greater number of acquaintances to view the death of Jesus; the inspection of the sepulchre by the women, and their Friday evening preparation of ointments for the formal interment of Jesus which they appointed to take place after the Sabbath (Luke).

On the other hand, he brings out the fact that Jesus was glorified in His death as the true Paschal Lamb, glorified no less by another mysterious fulfilment of Scripture, and specially glorified by the open emergence of His hitherto secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and the princely sepulture which they, in pious rivalry of love, have prepared for the Lord.

2. Great was the day of that Sabbath. A stroke of that Jewish hypocrisy which strains out gnats and swallows camels, similar to Joh_18:28. In removing the bodies, however, in accordance with the instinct of an evil conscience, they are peculiarly interested in having the body of Jesus conveyed “out of sight and mind” of the people; in causing, along with the odious Man, the very name of Him, as also their work upon Him, to be hurried, with all possible expedition, beneath the sod. But here, as in the composition of the superscription, contingencies occur, which cross, modify and enfeeble their plots. They can not hinder Jesus, upon His descent from the cross, from being significantly distinguished from the thieves and honorably sepulchred.

3. Paschal Lamb. Ye shall break not a bone of Him. On the uncertainty of typology in regard to the meaning of this provision, see Tholuck, p. 430. We assume that the provision originally belonged to the expression of the most hurried preparation of the Paschal Lamb, as at the instant of flight or departure. Then at the same time it was expressive of the utterly undivided participation of the house-congregation or domestic church in fellowship and sacrament (Tholuck, p. 430). This type was fulfilled in Christ. The hurried removal from the cross—an expression of the Sufferer s speedy transportation to glory—prevented the breaking of the legs, and henceforth the whole undivided Christ should be the spiritual and vital food of the Church of His salvation.

4. Joh_19:34; Joh_19:37. Blood and water. See the Exeg. Notes, and Leben Jesu, p. 1611.

5. The association of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus: a sign showing how the complete development of malice and unrighteousness impels all nobler natures into the camp of Christ; and how the darkest hours of the kingdom of God are invariably the natal hour of a new discipleship. That glory of the Jewish world, to which they cleaved, being turned to shame in their eyes, they are become free from their earthly goods and know not how better to spend them than in the service of the love of Christ. One offers the abundance of his precious spices, which constituted an important household treasure among the Orientals; the other offers his garden and his family-vault to be the resting-place of an excommunicate, outlawed, crucified Man: both sacrifice their safety, position, authority, their old associations and, greatest sacrifice of all, their old Jewish hierarchal pride, and their old Messianic hope and entire view of the world. To them all things are involved in midnight gloom; but the innocence and righteousness of Christ they see, shining as the broad day in the midst of this darkness.—Moral loathing and abhorrence of the mask of hypocritical godlessness are able to burst the strongest bonds of deference to human opinions, and to generate the highest sacrificial courage.

6. The pious observance op the Sabbath on the part of Jesus’ friends, on the occasion of their burial of Him, a testimony against those who, with the charge of Sabbath-breaking, introduced His persecution unto death.

7. The repose of Jesus at once a slumber of death and a mystery of transformation unto resurrection.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See the Doct. Notes and the Synoptists.

From the moment of Jesus’ death, all things take a turn.—The glorification of Jesus begins with the glorification of His holy corpse: 1. Through special divine protection (break no bone); 2. through special heavenly signs (blood and water); 3. through special human reverence and care (the interment).—God watcheth over His own in death as in life.—How, in the funeral of the Just One, the victory of His life-battle is reflected.—The desire of the Jews to remove the, bodies from Golgotha: The expression of (1) a legal, slavish zeal; (2) an hypocritical sanctimoniousness; (3) a bad conscience.—The last heart-thrust which Christ received from the world: 1. A collective expression of all that the world has done to Him; 2. a pursuing of His life into the jaws of death (a violation of His corpse); 3. and yet a “mercy-stroke,” inasmuch as it is to secure His corpse from mutilation; 4. above all, a testimony of God to His death and unique nature (His transition to a new life).—The two great fulfilments connected with the one spear-thrust of an unsuspecting soldier: 1. The fulfilment of all the types of the Law in one feature (Joh_19:36). 2. The fulfilment of all the words of the Prophets in one single prophetic word.—Jesus, the unbroken Paschal Lamb for believing Israel, is at the same time the pierced Divine Image for unbelieving Israel.—The revealing of the Crucified One, the repentance of the world.—Nothing but the sight of Christ’s breaking heart could melt the heart of sin.—The death of Jesus the life of the world: 1. His falling asleep, her awaking (as His eyes close, hers open); 2. the end of His heart-grief, the commencement of hers; 3. His corpse, her quickening.—The stately sepulture of the Lord, or the princely disciples of the Crucified One.—The thank-offerings which immediately glorify the redemptive and expiatory offering of Christ.—The operation of the cross of Christ: 1. Comprehension of the cross; 2. courage for the cross; 8. sacrifices to the cross; 4. witnesses to the cross.—The great calm after the great storm: 1. The quiet Sufferer. 2. The quiet grave. 3. The quiet Sabbath. 4. The quiet mystery of life (or becoming). 5. The quiet presentiment. 6. The quiet turning of all things.

Starke: Osiander: See how hypocrites act! fierce sticklers are they for external matters and ordinances, but in the weightiest matters, those that concern the soul and salvation, they care not for the fear of God. Mat_23:23.—Quesnel: In vain doth the sinner seek to bury the remembrance of his sins—sin shall ever rise up against him, Jer_17:1; Gen_42:21.—O how many think only how to conceal their sins, but not to be penitent for them! Job_31:33-34. A foot-soldier, and not a horseman, as painters are wont to depict the man who pierced Jesus.—Canstein: Let us look in faith, love and gratitude unto Him whom we ourselves have pierced, in order that we may rejoice when He is seen of us with our bodily eyes, Heb_12:2.—Quesnel: Jesus will come to judgment in the same flesh in which He was crucified, that He may confound His foes, Joh_5:27; Act_17:31.—Zeisius: Thus God is able to raise up quickly unto His people, though they be, with Christ, forsaken of all men, persons who interest themselves for them with the greatest care and diligence, such as they would never have thought on. In sorest need, therefore, take heart, Jer_38:7 ff.—The love of an upright, friend remains constant even in death.——Hedinger: Excellent compensation of weakness through strength! Abraham’s faith was great, the thief’s was great, the centurion’s was great. The first saw Christ in the life, the second in dying, the last in death, amid many miracles. But there is nothing to surpass Joseph and Nicodemus—they believe on Him in the grave. O power of God in the faithful! O strength in the weak, we praise thee! 2Co_12:9.—Godly, wise and brave undertakings of a true Christian, though apparently never so bold and perilous, are furthered to a good end through the help of the Almighty.—Like to like,—one lover of Jesus joineth company with another. Mark this, O man, and do thou likewise, Sir_13:20-21.—Bibl. Tub.: O that yet other fearful Nicodemuses might at the cross and in the sepulchre of Jesus crucify and bury their fear of man; then would amendment be of rapid growth in all ranks, Psa_27:1; 1Pe_3:13.—Though not many rich and noble are called, there still are some who willingly lay out their possessions in the service of Jesus, Luk_7:5.—Zeisius: O how well do the rich do when they spend their riches on Christ, His glory and His needy members! that they do good and grow rich in good works, 1Ti_6:18-19.—Osiander: We must not carelessly cast away the bodies of Christians; such a course is contrary to love and the hope of resurrection; but we must honorably commit them to the earth.—Gardens are pictures of death and resurrection—graves do suit them well: it is therefore not unfit that church-yards should have trees planted along their sides, and that they should be made to resemble gardens—Osiander: Christ hath hallowed our graves and made sleeping-rooms of them, in which the bodies rest until they are awakened again unto everlasting life, Rom_6:4.

Lisco: Joh_19:38. Publicly and boldly doth the hitherto timorous love to Jesus now come forward; it leapeth over all considerations and scruples and toucheth the dead body of Jesus without any dread of becoming defiled after the law, through contact with a corpse, and that the corpse of a reputed malefactor.

Braune: The fear of man is overcome; so openly they act. Delay is at an end; they make haste. They are not ashamed before all witnesses to make common cause with the Galilean women.—Joseph had had it hewn out for himself and Jesus entereth it before him; thus Jesus consecrateth the graves of His people, to the end that they may dread them the less.

Gossner: The stab was given by one soldier only, and here it says: They have pierced Him. How is this? the soldier was but the instrument; they, sinners, all of them, from the first to the last, did guide the soldier’s hand and the crime is imputed to them.—Love now breaketh through all fear of man, and where there was most to fear, fear vanisheth, so that he dreadlessly espouseth the cause of Him who was killed on the cross and rejected by the whole world,—espouseth it, say, at a time when, to all appearance, there was nothing to hope for from Him whom, living, he was either ashamed or afraid openly to confess.—This of itself was a beautiful fruit of the death of Jesus, that His secret disciples were made open ones, the weak, strong.—The love of the Slain Lamb driveth out all fear.—Christ liked and deserved a new grave, because He was a Dead Man without an equal; for all the children of Adam die from guilt, He guiltlessly.

[Craven: From Augustine: Joh_19:34. That blood was shed for the remission of sins, that water tempers the cup of salvation.—O death, by which the dead are quickened; what can be purer than that blood, what more salutary than that wound!

Joh_19:38. In performing this last office to our Lord, he showed a bold indifference to the Jews, though he had avoided our Lord’s company when alive, for fear of incurring their hatred.—Chrysostom: Joh_19:31. The Jews who strained at [out] a gnat and swallowed a camel, after their audacious wickedness, reason scrupulously about the day.

Joh_19:34. When thou approachest the awful cup, approach as if thou wert about to drink out of Christ’s side.—From Theophylact: Joh_19:34. To please the Jews, they pierce Christ, thus insulting even His lifeless body. But the insult issues in a miracle; for a miracle it is that blood should flow from a dead body.

Joh_19:40. Even now, in a certain sense, Christ is put to death by the avaricious, in the person of the poor man suffering famine. Be therefore a Joseph, and cover Christ’s nakedness.—From Herbert: Joh_19:34. Pierced His side;

If ye have anything to send or write,

(I have no bag, but here is room)

Unto My Father’s hand and sight

(Believe Me) it shall safely come.

That shall mind, what you impart;

Look, you may put it very near My heart.

Or if hereafter any of My friends

Will use me in this kind, the door

Shall still be open; what he sends

I will present, and somewhat more,

Not to his hurt. Sighs will convey

Anything to Me. Hark, despair, away.

[From Burkitt: Joh_19:31. Hence note the cursed hypocrisy of these Jews; they look upon themselves as strictly bound to observe an outward ceremony, but their consciences never scruple to violate the most weighty precepts of the moral law.

Joh_19:34. No cruelty was omitted towards Christ, either dead or alive, which might testify the great desert of our sin, nor was there any needful evidence wanting, which might make clear the truth of His death.

Joh_19:38-42. Grace doth not always make a public and open show where it is; but as there is much secret treasure unseen in the bowels of the earth, so is there much grace in the hearts of some saints, which the world takes little notice of.—We read of none of the apostles at Christ’s funeral; fear had put them to flight; but Joseph and Nicodemus appeared boldly: If God strengthen the weak, and leave the strong to the prevalency of their own fears, the weak shall be as David, and the strong as tow.

Joh_19:41. A sepulchre in a garden, to expiate Adam’s sin committed in a garden.

Joh_19:42. Of what use our Lord’s burial is to us His followers: It shows us the amazing depth of His humiliation, from what and to what His love brought Him, even from the bosom of His Father to the bosom of the grave, It may also comfort us against the fears of death; the grave could not long keep Christ, it shall not always keep us; it was a loathsome prison before, it is a perfumed bed now; he whose head is in heaven, need not fear to put his feet into the grave. Awake and sing, thou that dwellest in the dust, for the enmity of the grave is slain by Christ.

[From M. Henry: Joh_19:31. Passover Sabbaths are high days; sacrament-days, supper-days, communion-days, are high days, and there ought to be more than ordinary preparation for them, that these may be high days indeed to us, as the days of heaven.—The pretended sanctity of hypocrites is abominable; they made no conscience of bringing an innocent and excellent person to the cross, and yet scrupled letting a dead body hang upon the cross.

Joh_19:32. One of these thieves was a penitent, and had received from Christ an assurance that he should shortly be with Him in paradise, and yet died in the same pain and misery that the other thief did: the extremity of dying agonies is no obstruction to the living comforts that wait for holy souls on the other side of death.

Joh_19:33. Whatever devices are in men’s hearts, the counsel of the Lord shall stand:—It was fully designed to break His legs, but, God’s counsel being otherwise, see how it was prevented.

Joh_19:34. Through this window, opened in Christ’s side, you may look into His heart, and see love flaming there, love strong as death; see our own names written there.—When Christ, the second Adam, was fallen into a deep sleep upon the cross, then was His side opened, and out of it was His Church taken, which He espoused to Himself.—The blood and water that flowed out of it were significant: 1. Of the two great benefits which all believers partake of through Christ—justification and sanctification; blood for remission, water, for regeneration; blood for atonement, water for purification; 2. Of the two great ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.—Now was the rock smitten (1Co_10:4), now was the fountain opened (Zec_13:1), now were the wells of salvation digged, Isa_12:3. Here is the river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God.

Joh_19:36. Christ our passover is sacrificed for us, 1Co_5:7. He is the Lamb of God (Joh_1:29), and, as the true Passover, His bones were kept unbroken.

Joh_19:38-42. Come and see a burial that conquered the grave, and buried it; a burial that beautified the grave, and softened it for all believers!

Joh_19:38. It was Joseph’s honor that he was a disciple of Christ, his weakness that he was so secretly.—Some who in lesser trials have been timorous, yet in greater have been very courageous.—The impotent malice of those that can but censure, and revile, and clamor, is sometimes more formidable even to wise and good men than one would think.—When God has work to do, He can find out such as are proper to do it, and spirit them for it.

Joh_19:39-40. Since God designed honor for His body, they would put honor upon it.

Joh_19:40; Joh_19:42. In conformity to this example, we ought to have regard to the dead bodies of Christians. The resurrection of the saints will be in virtue of Christ’s resurrection, and therefore in burying them we should have an eye to Christ’s burial.

Joh_19:41. In a garden Christ began His passion, and from a garden He would rise, and begin His exaltation.—He was buried in a new sepulchre: this was so ordered, 1. For honor; He that was born from a virgin-womb, must rise from a virgin-tomb; 2. For the confirming of the truth of His resurrection.

Joh_19:42. What is to be done on the evening before the Sabbath, should be so contrived that it may neither intrench upon Sabbath-time, nor indispose us for Sabbath-work.

[From Scott: Joh_19:31-42. Comparing the sacred oracles with the events which occur in the Church and in the world, our faith will be increased even by the most discouraging transaction.—From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): “If the Jews that stood by said truly of Him at Lazarus’ grave, Behold how He loved him! when He shed a few tears out of His eyes; much more truly may we say, Behold how He loved us! seeing Him shed both blood and water in great plenty out of His heart.” (Bishop Andrewes.)

Joh_19:38-42. Surely, this entire history has consecrated expensive funerals, and given a solemn sanction to care bestowed on burial-places, forever!

[From Krummacher: Joh_19:34. In the water and the blood are represented the most essential blessings of salvation: the water has a remote reference to baptism, but it chiefly symbolizes the moral purifying power of the word of Christ; the blood points out the ransom paid for our guilt, as well as the atoning sacrifice.—The blood flowed separately from the water; justification must not be mingled with, much less exchanged for, personal amendment.

Joh_19:38-39. Marvellous things occur in the vicinity of the cross. Two individuals, belonging to the first ranks in society, who, when Jesus still walked abroad in the majesty of His supernatural acts did not venture to make known their favorable impression respecting Him,—now, that the termination of His course seems to have stamped Him as a pitiable enthusiast, honor Him as their King before all the people. The germ of faith which, all at once, manifests itself so gloriously and so fully developed, had long lain in their hearts; from out of the thunder-cloud that brooded over Calvary, abundant grace has proceeded.—Christ crucified must be the object of our affections; therefore detach Him from the accursed tree, and deposit Him in your hearts, as your only consolation in life and death.

Joh_19:42. There they laid Jesus; The curse is removed from a sinful world, Deu_21:22-23.—Christ by His burial has consecrated and shed light upon the darkness of our graves.—From Jacobus: Joh_19:34-35. Our faith weeps, yet triumphs, as it sees the death-blow fall upon our Substitute, for in this we see our release.]

[Wordsworth, on Joh_19:41 : “Christ changes the valley of the shadow of death into a garden. Christ’s human body was laid in a natural garden. His human soul was in a spiritual garden (Luk_23:43), and by His death and burial He has prepared a garden for the souls and bodies of all who depart hence in the Lord; and He will make them to be like the dew of herbs (Isa_26:19), and to rise up and blossom in a glorious spring time. He provides Paradise, or a garden, for the departed soul (Luk_23:43), and He makes the grave itself to be a garden of Paradise; from which at the great Day the bodies of the faithful, which have been sown in hope, will rise in vernal beauty, and be united for ever in unfading glory to their souls.”—P. S.]

Footnotes:

[19]Joh_19:35—[Cod. Sin. reads ἀληθής, but against most authorities.—P. S.]

[20]Joh_19:38.—Ὁ Ἰωσὴφ ἀπὸ Ἀριμαθαίας. In support of the article A.J. Δ.; for the omission of the second ὁ before ἀπό A. B. D., etc. [Tischend., Alf., Westcott and Hort omit both articles, and read simply, with א and B: Ἰωσὴφ ἀπὸ Ἀριμαθαίας—P. S.]

[21]Joh_19:38.—[I read with א.3a B. L. X., etc., Lachm., Treg., Alf., Westc. and Hort, ἦλθεν οὗν καὶ ἧρεν τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ. The text. rec. (with Vulg.) has τοῦ Ἰησοῦ instead of αὐτοῦ. Tischendorf ed. 8, follows the reading of א.*: ἧλθον οὖν καὶ ή̔ρον αἠτόν: “they came therefore and took him away.”—P. S.]

[22]Joh_19:41.—[A. D. Orig., Tischend., Tregelles and Alf., read ἐτέθη), was laid; but א. B. Cyr., Westcott read: ἦν τεθειμένος, had been laid; comp. Luk_23:53—P. S.]

[23][The aor. with augm. syllab. from κατάγνυμι, see Buttmann, II. 97, Winer, p. 68 (§ 12).—P. S.]

[24][So also Wordsworth (after the fathers). As Eve was taken from the side of sleeping Adam, so the church and the sacraments of the eucharist (blood) and baptism (water) emanated from the pierced side of the crucified Christ.—P. S.]

[25][There is a Swedenborgian Commentary on the Gospel of John by Rev. J. Clowes, 3d ed. London, 1853. It has only recently come into my hands, but presents very little that might have been worth quoting in this work. It consists almost entirely of extracts from Swedenborg’s writings, bearing or the “spiritual” sense of the spiritual Gospel.—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.

THE INTERMENT

Mat 27:57-61; Mar 15:42-47; Luk 23:50-56; Joh 19:31-42. “Then the Jews, in order that the bodies may not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, since it was the preparation (for the day of that Sabbath was great), asked Pilate that they may break their legs, and take them down. Then the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and the other one who had been crucified along with him.” It seems that the soldiers had a veneration for Jesus, as they passed Him by after breaking the legs of the one, going on to the third, and returning to Him, as He was in the middle. “And having come to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers pierced His side with his spear, and blood and water immediately came out.” Roman law was terribly rigid, taking the life of a soldier for apparently trivial delinquency in duty. Hence the soldier felt it important to be sure that He was dead before he consented to intermit the verification of the order given to break their legs. Consequently he plunged the spear into His heart, thus making sure that He was dead. The Bible is a wonderful book, never relaxing its ipse dixit. If you are going up to heaven to live with Jesus, you must walk in His footprints by way of Gethsemane, the judgment-hall, and Calvary. This wicked world will plunge the spear of ridicule, contempt, and persecution into your side. Jesus died so dead that He did not feel this awful cruelty. Lord, help us to do likewise! Let me die so dead

“That no desire shall rise To pass for good or great or wise, In any but my Savior’s eyes.”

The entire constituency of salvation came out of the Savior’s side in the blood and the water. The blood redeems and sanctifies; the water regenerates, nourishes, and purifies. Hence you have the true works of grace represented by the water and the blood.

“Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure:

Save from wrath, and make me pure.”

O what a pity the millions run after the priests, who at best are nothing but saved sinners, forgetting that they need nothing but the blood and water flowing out of the Savior’s side! Then fly for a sale retreat in His clefted side.

“And the one having seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he speaks the truth, in order that you may believe.” You see from this that John was an eye-witness of all he wrote in his Gospel. The same is true of Matthew; while Mark is believed to have served Peter as an amanuensis, receiving his narrative from the senior apostle; Luke being the amanuensis of Paul. Hence the literary culture manifested in the latter, and the straight, solid, flinty truth in the former.

Luk 23:54. “And it was the preparation day, and the Sabbath drawing nigh.” Vv. 50-52: “Behold, a man by name Joseph, being a senator, a good and righteous man, who was not consenting unto their counsel and deed, from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who also himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; he, having come to Pilate, begged the body of Jesus.”

Mar 15:44-46 : “And Pilate was astonished if He was already dead, and calling a centurion, asked him if He were dead a long time. And learning from the centurion, he delivered the body to Joseph. And purchasing linen, and taking Him down, he wrapped Him in the linen, and placed Him in a sepulcher which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone to the door of the sepulcher.” Mat 27:59-60 : “And Joseph taking the body, wrapped it in clean linen, and placed it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. and rolling a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, departed.” Luk 23:53 : “And taking it [the body] down , he wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a hewn sepulcher, where no one had ever been laid.” Joh 19:38-42 : “After these things, Joseph from Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, and having been concealed on account of the fear of the Jews, requested Pilate that he may take the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted him. Then he came, and took the body of Jesus. And Nieodemus also, the one having in the first place come to Jesus by night [John 3], came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about one hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and wrapped it in the linen, along with the aromatics, as it is customary to the Jews to embalm. And in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher in which no one was yet deposited. Then they placed Jesus there on account of the preparation of the Jews, because the sepulcher was nigh.” Luk 23:55-56 : “And the women following along, who had come with Him from Galilee, saw the sepulcher, and where His body, was placed; and turning away, they prepared aromatics and myrrh; and they kept the Sabbath according to the commandment.”

a. Such was the punctilious rigor with which the Jews kept the Sabbath that they postponed the completion of His embalmment till the day of sacred rest had passed away; however, in order to expedite the embalmment as much as possible, they procured the materials on Friday evening, so that, all things being ready, they may proceed at the early dawn of the incoming week, and perfect the work begun on the preceding Friday by Nicodemus and Joseph.

b. I passed through the city of Ramlah, in the Plain of Sharon, on the road from Jerusalem to Joppa. Though, like other cities in that land, it went into utter desolation, in the last few years it has been colonized by Jews, who have made it very prosperous, like all of their colonies in that land. It now contains eleven thousand inhabitants, and is growing rapidly. This is said to be the ancient home of Nicodemus and Joseph, by whose kindness our Savior received a royal interment. John says they were secret disciples of Jesus on account of the fear of the Jews. This is an instance in which we see the power of death signally revealed, as these two great and good men never publicly confessed Him during His life, but when they saw Him die, covered with shame and popular contempt, calumniated as a malefactor (and not only executed in the most disgraceful method, such as hanging in this country, but, in order to augment His ignominy, actually crucifying Him between two robbers, thus proclaiming to the world His identity with the worst criminals), they became more courageous than ever before, coming out boldly, and Joseph furnished a valuable new sepulcher, hewn out of the great, precipitous rock at the base of Mount Calvary, and Nicodemus brought one hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, both very costly, and especially the former, which was not native in Palestine, but transported from Arabia Felix; and the latter, though indigenous, was rare and costly. Thus these two wealthy theologians actually favored Him with a royal interment. This courageous public intervention on the part of these men, who were so prominent in the Theocracy, really warrants the conclusion that their faith had received a wonderful impetus during those memorable hours when the powers of darkness dominated earth and hell, and heaven veiled her face in sable night rather than behold the awful tragedy. If the trend of things at that time had continued, both of these men would have been executed as accomplices in the treason, heresy, and imposture with which Jesus was charged.

c. Down at the base of the skull-shaped summit on which our Lord was crucified, as here specified, there is a garden, and in it there is a sepulcher hewn out in the perpendicular rock, really constituting a part of Mount Calvary; and in that sepulcher there are three tombs, cut out in the solid stone. As it is said that the tomb in which they deposited the body of Jesus was new, no one ever having been laid in it, therefore we conclude that the one of these three which looks newest was the identical tomb in which the body of our Lord was laid. As this is the only sepulcher in that garden, we conclude that it is the identical one honored by containing the crucified body of our Lord.

d. The fine linen with which He was wrapped was made in Egypt, and used by kings for underwear, the Tyrian purple constituting their external robes. Thus we see our Lord received a royal burial in every respect. O how contrastive with His humble and lowly life, having no temporal estate, no money, no living, no home, not as much as a place to lay His head, thus vividly symbolizing the glorious victory won by His expiatory death, and at the same time adumbrating His brilliant royalty in His second coming!

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Section 2. (Joh 19:31-42.)

The Witness of Salvation.

In the second section we have immediate witness to the salvation wrought; not the witness of men, as in the centurion in the other Gospels, but that of the divine word, that is, God’s own testimony. This is what best suits John, as should be evident; the witness of the Spirit also being given in a special way: the Spirit, the water, and the blood unite together to declare that God hath given us eternal life: and this life is in His Son."

1. First, we have the testimony of His perfect righteousness: He is the One fulfilling absolutely the Psalmist’s words as to the righteous (Psa 34:20), that Jehovah "keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken." The shield thrown over Him is made more manifest by the commandment given as to those crucified here, that their legs should be broken, and they should be taken away. This is carried out as to the two malefactors; but with the Lord, His work accomplished, men have no more power over Him; there must be now no marring of even the outward form that has enshrined the symmetry of the spirit within. But this connects also with the paschal ordinance concerning the lamb, that "they shall not break a bone of it." Here the rough, untutored hands of lawless men religiously respect the legal ordinance, and declare the Christ they know not the Fulfiller of this redemption type. It is a testimony to His Person, as the next to come before us is a testimony to His work. It is the unblemished lamb that can alone be offered, and therefore the order is perfect here as elsewhere.

2. That which is bidden is not done; while that which is not bidden is done: for all is under higher government than man’s. The word of God rules everywhere among and by means of those ignorant and those hostile. The thrust of the soldier’s spear certifies the death so necessary to us against all docetism, while the act of hatred brings forth the answer of divine love, -the certification of redemption wrought. Out of Christ, as the riven Rock, flow the streams of spiritual healing; not water alone, as the apostle comments for us, but water and blood. The miraculous nature of the flow is clear from the way that it is insisted on, -the positive truth of it reiterated, the observation of the beloved disciple certified to us in his epistle afterwards as the witness of the Spirit of God. We want, therefore, no naturalistic explanations of a divine work on our behalf, "that ye might believe." Cleansing as well as expiation for men requires the death of Christ. The fulness of spiritual meaning we must seek where the apostle develops it, in his first epistle.

Israel are yet to look upon Him whom they have pierced, as the evangelist reminds us; and then a fountain will be opened to them for sin and for uncleanness. When they find the rift in the Rock, they will find the stream that flows from it: for them as for us, out of the heart of Christ.

3. No wonder that His body is wrapped in the spices now. Soon to rise, as He is, yet His death abides ever in the remembrance of His own in sweet and sacred significance. Blessed it is to see the timid becoming bold under its influence. Nicodemus is here with his hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, to rival Joseph in his testimony of honor and affection for Him who has transformed death by His subjection to it. Only John mentions the great amount of spices, and that it is a garden in which is sown this seed of immortal life. While He is in the tomb, the Jews have their "preparation day," and a mockery of sabbath-rest. Of the reality of rest that has been wrought out for them, they are ignorant altogether.

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19:31-33 The Jewish authorities, eager to complete the crucifixion before Sabbath began at dusk, asked Pilate to break the legs of the men. Breaking the legs with a mallet was common: It promoted asphyxiation and hemorrhaging, because the victim could no longer push up to breathe.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 19:31. Ἐν τῷ Σαββάτῳ, on the Sabbath) This special reason includes that general reason, of which Deu 21:23 speaks: The criminal’s “body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him on that day (for he that is hanged is accursed of God), that thy land be not defiled.”—γὰρ, for) This assigns the reason why the Preparation (παρασκευή) urged them to make haste.—μεγάλη, a great) inasmuch as the Sabbath and the Feast met together on the same day: add, that the Rest of the Lord in the sepulchre was an accessory circumstance of its greatness [though this was not perceived by the Jews].—ἐκείνου) This is a more appropriate reading than ἐκείνη;[393] for the word σαββάτῳ precedes, and ἐκείνου is to be referred to it.—κατεαγῶσιν, might be broken) Thomas Magister denies that the augment has place here, and reads κατεάγωσιν, like τετύφωσιν [the Middle Perf. Subjunctive], from κατἑχαγα, viz. in the verb καταγῆναι. But even ἀνεῳχθῆναι is used in Luk 3:21, the ε remaining beyond the Indicative even in the case of the Aorist.[394] The breaking of the legs was formerly effected by means of a club, as in our days by the wheel.—ἈΡΘῶΣΙΝ, might be taken away) viz. the bodies.

[393] Nevertheless the margin of Ed. 2 prefers ἐκείνη; whilst the Germ. Version follows the decision of the Gnomon.—Again, the Harm. Ev., pp. 579, 580, gives the preference to ἐκείνη, subjoining moreover this, “John has throughout such readers in his mind as are not Jews, but need instruction on Jewish subjects: ch. Joh 2:13, Joh 4:9, Joh 5:1, Joh 6:4, Joh 7:2, Joh 11:55, Joh 19:40; Joh 19:42. It is for this reason that he generally marks the ‘greatness’ of the Sabbath as surpassing all other festivals whatever (Deu 23:3) [This, though given both in Ern. Bengel’s Ed. of the Gnomon, and in the Germ. Harmony, seems to me a mistake for Lev 23:3.—E. and T.]: although that day of the Sabbath had in it something peculiar, because it both entered among the days of unleavened bread, and was the first of the seven Sabbaths which divided the Passover from Pentecost, and, on account of the ‘handful’ or ‘sheaf of the first fruits’ to be waved before the Lord on the following day (Lev 23:10), was observed with more than common reverence.”—E. B.

[394] So κατεαγῶσιν here is the 2d Aor. Subjunctive, not the Perfect Subj.—E. and T.

Ἐκείνη is the reading of Vulg. c and the Elzevir Rec. Text. But the weight of authorities is for ἐκείνου, ABLab.—E. ana T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_19:31. Οὖν] Therefore, since Jesus was already dead. Their object was already attained; so now the Sabbath also should still have its rights. Magnifici honoratores Dei, cum in conscientia mala reposuissent sanguinem justi, Ruperti.

ἵνα μὴ μείνῃ, κ.τ.λ.] Contrary to the Roman custom, of leaving the corpse to putrefy on the cross (comp. on Mat_27:58), on the part of the Jews, the injunction has to be applied respecting the removal of the hanged person, Deu_21:22-23 (comp. Joseph. Bell. iv. 5. 2), especially in the present case where with sunset the Sabbath began, and this a great Sabbath, and therewith a wish was expressed to see the crucified ones removed and interred in the interval before the beginning of the holy day.

παρασκευή] Because it was the day of preparation, namely, τοῦ σαββάτου, for the Sabbath. This reference of παρασκ. necessarily follows from ἐν τῷ σαββάτῳ. But the parenthesis ἦν γὰρ μεγάλη, κ.τ.λ. indicates why they wished not to have the Sabbath, especially on that occasion, desecrated by the bodies remaining on the cross; because great, i.e. pre-eminently holy (comp. Joh_7:37; Isa_1:13), was the day of that Sabbath, because, that is, it was (not merely generally a Sabbath in the Passover feast time, but) at the same time the first day of Passover, the 15th Nisan. It was thus a Sabbath with twofold authority, since the first feast-day also had the character of a Sabbath (Lev_23:7-15). With a Quartodeciman usage of speech (Hilgenfeld) the designation of the Sabbath in the present passage has nothing to do. See Steitz in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol. 1861, p. 113 ff. As the second feast-day, however, which is the day that results from the attempts at harmonizing (see on Joh_18:28), it could only be termed μεγάλη, for the reason that on this day, i.e. the 16th Nisan, the feast of Sheaves took place, Lev_23:10 ff. (see especially Wieseler, p. 385 f., 344). But how could John have presupposed, in his readers, without any indication, a reference to this? These could explain to themselves the μεγαλότης of that Sabbath only from Joh_19:14, from the fact, namely, that the παρασκευὴ τοῦ σαββάτου of which John speaks was at the same time, according to Joh_19:14, παρασκευὴ τοῦ πάσχα.

ἵνα κατεαγῶσιν κ.τ.λ.] For two were, indeed, still living, and also with respect to Jesus they had at least no certainty that He was actually dead. On the apparent contradiction with Mar_15:44, see on Joh_19:38. The crushing of the legs with clubs (crucifragium, σκελοκοπία) was to accelerate death (as John also manifestly views it, comp. Joh_19:33), and that in a barbarous manner, in order to take nothing from the severity of the punishment. See Lactantius, Instit. div. iv. 26; Lipsius, de cruce, ii. 14. It also appears as a punishment by itself, Suetonius, Aug. 67; Seneca, de ira, iii. 32; and see generally Wetstein, also Lipsius, ad Plaut. Asin. ii. 4. 68. The addition of a finishing blow, by which (therefore not by the crucifragium in itself) death was brought about, cannot be shown, least of all, from Joh_19:34, against Michaelis, Sender, Kuinoel, Hug. On the aorist form with syllabic augment from κατάγνυμι, see Winer, p. 68 [E. T. p. 85].

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 19:31-37 . The piercing of Jesus’ side .

Joh 19:31 . “The Jews, therefore, since it was the preparation,” i.e. , Friday, the day before the Sabbath, “and as the day of that Sabbath was great,” being not only an ordinary Sabbath but the Passover, “that the bodies might not hang on the cross on the Sabbath” and so defile it, “they asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be removed”. The law of Deu 21:23 was that the body of a criminal should “not remain all night upon the tree”. This law seems not to have been in view; but rather the fear of polluting their great feast. The Roman custom was to leave the body to birds and beasts of prey. To secure speedy death the crurifragium , breaking of the legs with a heavy mallet or bar, was sometimes resorted to: as without such means the crucified might in some cases linger for thirty-six hours. Neander ( Life of Christ , p. 473) has an interesting note on crurifragium ; and cf. the Gospel according to Peter on σκελοκοπία , with the note by the Author of Supernat. Religion .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

Vv. 31-42.

1. If the Sabbath referred to in Joh 19:31 was the 15th of Nisan, we have a very simple and satisfactory explanation of the expression that it was “a great day.” In that case it was a weekly Sabbath, as being Saturday, and also the feast Sabbath. This verse, therefore, points towards the conclusion that the day of Jesus’ death was the 14th. The supposition that this Sabbath was the day of the sheaf-offering is far less probable. If the Sabbath mentioned was the 15th, the readers in Ephesus and its neighborhood, for whom John wrote, might be able to understand from the narrative itself and from the indications that all took place in connection with the Passover, how this day should be a Sabbath of a special character and special solemnity. But such a familiarity with the Jewish arrangements as to make them readily understand that the day of the sheaf-offering was referred to could hardly be supposed by him, so that he could allude to it without any more definite designation.

2. The reference in the words he that has seen it (Joh 19:35) is to what is mentioned in Joh 19:33-34, and not merely to Joh 19:34 b. This is indicated by the fact that the two quotations from the Old Testament point to Joh 19:33-34 a. The statement of Joh 19:34 b can scarcely be regarded, therefore, as the one of sole prominence in connection with this scene.

3. With reference to the 35th verse as pointing to the author of the Gospel, see, in addition to Godet’s note, the remarks in Vol. I., pp. 502, 503. A further consideration may be presented here, as connected with Joh 19:36-37. These verses are so related to Joh 19:35 that they seem clearly to show that the witness referred to was confirmed in his belief by means of this fulfilment of prophecy. The allusion to this point corresponds, on the one hand, with what the author says elsewhere respecting the disciple whom Jesus loved—that is, himself—and, on the other, there is an additional improbability (in the line of that which is mentioned in Vol. I.) that he would bring forward the conviction of a person wholly unknown to the readers, and also unnamed, that a certain prophecy was true, as a matter of emphasis and importance.

The proof that the witness here is the author is found in every indication of the passage:—(a) in the valuelessness of the testimony as coming from an unknown person; (b) in the statement that his testimony is ἀληθινή (that which corresponds to the true idea of testimony); (c) in the emphatic assertion, “he knows that he says what is true;” (d) in the declaration that he bears the testimony to the end that you (the readers) may believe; (e) in the matter of the quotation from the prophetic writings. How impossible that a witness, necessarily insignificant because utterly unknown to any one who read the book, should be thus introduced.

4. The action of Nicodemus, as recorded in Joh 19:39, is certainly indicative of love and devotion to Jesus. It is worthy of notice that the evangelist does not say of Nicodemus, as he does of Joseph of Arimathea, that he was “a disciple, but secretly for fear of the Jews.” This fact, when brought into connection with the position which he is represented as taking in the meeting of the Sanhedrim in ch. Joh 7:50-51, is worthy of consideration in forming our estimate of the character of Nicodemus.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The body of Christ which was dead for a season (because it so pleased him) is wounded, but the least bone of it is not broken: and such is the state of his mystical body.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 31. It was the preparation] Every Sabbath had a preparation which began at the ninth hour (that is, three o'clock) the preceding evening. Josephus, Ant. b. xvi. c. 6, s. 2, recites an edict of the Emperor Augustus in favour of the Jews, which orders, "that no one shall be obliged to give bail or surety on the Sabbath day, nor on the preparation before it, after the ninth hour." The time fixed here was undoubtedly in conformity to the Jewish custom, as they began their preparation at three o'clock on the Friday evening.

That the bodies should not remain] For the law, De 21:22-23, ordered that the bodies of criminals should not hang all night; and they did not wish to have the Sabbath profaned by either taking them down on that day, or letting them hang to disturb the joy of that holy time. Probably their consciences began to sting them for what they had done, and they wished to remove the victim of their malice out of their sight.

For that Sabbath day was a high day]

1. Because it was the Sabbath.

2. Because it was the day on which all the people presented themselves in the temple according to the command, Ex 23:17.

3. Because that was the day on which the sheaf of the first fruits was offered, according to the command, Le 23:10-11. So that upon this day there happened to be three solemnities in one. - Lightfoot. It might be properly called a high day, because the passover fell on that Sabbath.

Their legs might be broken] Lactantius says. l. iv. c. 26, that it was a common custom to break the legs or other bones of criminals upon the cross; and this appears to have been a kind of coup de grace, the sooner to put them out of pain.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. For it was the preparation. This narrative also tends to the edification of our faith; first, because it shows that what had been foretold in the Scriptures is fulfilled in the person of Christ; and, secondly, because it contains a mystery of no ordinary value. The Evangelist says, that the Jews besought that the bodies might be taken down from the crosses. This had undoubtedly been enjoined by the Law of God; but the Jews, as is usually the case with hypocrites, direct their whole attention to small matters, and yet pass by the greatest crimes without any hesitation; for, in order to a strict observance of their Sabbath, they are careful to avoid outward pollution; and yet they do not consider how shocking a crime it is to take away the life of an innocent man. Thus we saw a little before, that

they did not enter into the governor’s hall, that they might not be defiled, (John 18:28,)

while the whole country was polluted by their wickedness. Yet, by their agency, the Lord carries into effect what was of the greatest importance for our salvation, that, by a wonderful arrangement, the body of Christ remains uninjured, and blood and water low out of his side.

And it was the great day of that Sabbath Another reading more generally approved is, and that Sabbath-day was great; but the reading which I have adopted is supported by many manuscripts that are ancient and of great authority. Let the reader choose for himself. If we read ἐκείνου in the genitive case, (ἐκείνου τοῦ σαββάτου of that Sabbath) the word Sabbath must be understood to denote the week; as if the Evangelist had said, that the festival of that week was very solemn, on account of the Passover. Note, the Evangelist speaks of the following day, which began at sunset. But, if we choose rather to read ἐκείνη, in the nominative case, ἦν γὰρ μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη τοῦ σαββάτου, and That was the great day of the Sabbath, the meaning will be nearly the same in substance; only there would be this difference in the words, that the Passover, which was to take place on the following day, would render that Sabbath more solemn.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

31–42. The petition of the Jews and the petition of Joseph

31. As in Joh_18:28, the Jews shew themselves to be among those ‘who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.’ In the midst of deliberate judicial murder they are scrupulous about ceremonial observances.

The Jews therefore] The ‘therefore,’ as in Joh_19:23, probably does not refer to what immediately precedes: it looks back to Joh_19:20-21. The Jews still continue their relentless hostility. They do not know whether any one of the three sufferers is dead or not; their request shews that; so that ‘therefore’ cannot mean in consequence of Jesus’ death. In order to save the Sabbath, and perhaps also to inflict still further suffering, they ask Pilate for this terrible addition to the punishment of crucifixion. Certainly the lesson ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice,’ of which Christ had twice reminded them, and once in connexion with the Sabbath (Mat_12:7; Mat_9:13), had taken no hold on them.

the preparation] The eve of the Sabbath; and the Sabbath on this occasion coincided with the 15th Nisan, the first day of the Passover. This first day ranked as a Sabbath (Exo_12:16; Lev_23:7); so that the day was doubly holy.

that … high day] Literally, the day of that Sabbath was great (comp. Joh_7:37).

legs might be broken] The crurifragium, like crucifixion, was a punishment commonly reserved for slaves. The two were sometimes combined, as here. Lactantius (iv. xxvi) says, ‘His executioners did not think it necessary to break His bones, as was their prevailing custom;’ which seems to imply that to Jewish crucifixions this horror was commonly added, perhaps to hasten death. For even without a Sabbath to make matters more urgent, corpses ought to be removed before night-fall (Deu_21:23); whereas the Roman custom was to leave them to putrefy on the cross, like our obsolete custom of hanging in chains.

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.

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation,.... That is, either of the passover, as in Joh 19:14 which was the Chagigah or grand festival in which they offered their peace offerings and slew their oxen, and feasted together in great mirth and jollity; or of the sabbath, the evening of it, or day before it, as in Mar 15:42

that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day; which was now drawing near: according to the Jewish law, Deu 21:22 the body of one that was hanged on a tree was not to remain all night, but to be taken down that day and buried; though this was not always observed; see Sa2 21:9. What was the usage of the Jews at this time is not certain; according to the Roman laws, such bodies hung until they were putrefied, or eaten by birds of prey; wherefore that their land might not be defiled, and especially their sabbath, by their remaining on the cross, they desire to have them taken down:

for that sabbath day was an high day; it was not only a sabbath, and a sabbath in the passover week, but it was the day in which all the people appeared and presented themselves before the Lord in the temple, and the sheaf of the first fruits was offered up; all which solemnities meeting together made it a very celebrated day: it is in the original text, "it was the great day of the sabbath"; which is the language of the Talmudists, and who say (d),

"is called the great sabbath", on account of the miracle or sign of the passover;''

and in the Jewish Liturgy (e) there is a collect for the "great sabbath": hence the Jews pretending a great concern lest that day should be polluted, though they made no conscience of shedding innocent blood,

besought Pilate that their legs might be broken; which was the manner of the Jews (f), partly to hasten death, since, according to their law, the body was to betaken down before night; and partly that it might be a clear point that the person was rightly executed; for this was not the Roman custom, with whom breaking of the legs, or rather thighs, was a distinct punishment, and was done by laying a man's legs or thighs upon an anvil, and striking them with an hammer (g); which could not be the case here; this seems to have been done by striking the legs of those that were crucified, which were fastened to the cross, with a bar of iron, or some such instrument. Nonnus suggests that their legs were cut off with a saw or sword; but the former seems more reasonable:

and that they might be taken away; which it seems the Jews had not power to do, but must be done by the Roman soldiers, or by leave at least from the Roman governor; and therefore they make their request to him.

(d) Piske Tosephot Sabbat, art. 314. (e) Seder Tephillot, fol. 183. 2. &c. Ed. Basil. (f) Lactantii Divin. Institut. l. 4. c. 26. (g) Lipsius de Cruce, l. 2. c. 14. p. 110, 114.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

Ver. 31. Because it was the preparation] Their preparation to the sabbath began at three of the clock in the afternoon? {a} The best and wealthiest of them, even those that had many servants, did with their own hands further the preparation; so that sometimes the masters themselves would chop herbs, sweep the house, cleave wood, kindle the fire. Our ancestors also were wont to give over work on the Saturday, when it rang to even song. And usually as men measure to God in preparation, he re-measureth to them in blessing. King Edgar ordained that Sunday should be solemnized in this land from Saturday, nine of the clock, till Monday morning. The Jews, before their preparation, had their fore-preparation; and before their sabbath, their fore-sabbath, their sabbatulum ante sabbatum. {b} Those of Tiberias began the sabbath sooner than others; those at Tsepphore continued it longer, adding De profano ad sacrum. We are now so far from this, that we trench upon the holy time, and say, "When will the sabbath be over?" yea, in too many places God’s sacred sabbath is made the voider and dunghill for all refuse businesses; as by others, it is made as Bacchus’ orgies, with ales, May games, {c} &c. So that it should be named according to these men’s observing of it, Daemoniacus potius quam Dominicus, The devil is prefrred to God, as Alsted hath it. (Encyclopaedia.)

{a} They might go no farther on the preparation day than three parsae, i.e. twelve miles, lest coming home too late they might not have leisure to prepare. Buxt. Synagog. Judaica. In Meth. Curandi, cap. de Catal. p. 98.

{b} προπαρασκευη, Mat 27:62. προσαββατον, Mar 15:42. Ante sabbatum Vetus ecclesia vigiliam vocabat. Buxtorf.

{c} The merrymaking and sports associated with the first of May. ŒD

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.

The preparation - Joh 19:14.

That the bodies ... - The law required that the bodies of those who were hung should not remain suspended during the night. See Deu 21:22-23. That law was made when the punishment by crucifixion was unknown, and when those who were suspended would almost immediately expire. In the punishment by crucifixion, life was lengthened out for four, five, or eight days. The Jews therefore requested that their death might be hastened, and that the land might not be polluted by their bodies remaining suspended on the Sabbath day.

Was an high day - It was:

The Sabbath. It was the day on which the paschal feast properly commenced.

It was called a high day because that year the feast of the Passover commenced on the Sabbath. Greek: “Great day.”

Their legs might be broken - To hasten their death. The effect of this, while they were suspended on the cross, would be to increase their pain by the act of breaking them, and to deprive their body of the support which it received from the feet, and to throw the whole weight on the hands. By this increased torment their lives were soon ended. Lactantius says that this was commonly done by the Romans to persons who were crucified. The common period to which persons crucified would live was several days. To compensate for those lingering agonies, so that the full amount of suffering might be endured, they increased their sufferings by breaking their limbs, and thus hastening their death.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Because it was the Parasceve. It is also called, (ver. 14.) the day of preparation of the Pasch. Literally, the Parasceve of the Pasch. And (ver. 31.) the Jews, because it was the preparation, that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for that was a great sabbath day, &c. Some pretend, by these expressions, to prove that Friday, the year Christ suffered, was not the first and great day of the feast of Azyms, but only the day of preparation, and that on Friday night the Jews eat the paschal lamb, and not the night before, or Thursday night, as Christ had done with his disciples. But according to the common exposition, Friday is here called the day of preparation, for the great and solemn sabbath, which happened in the paschal week. See Tillemont on the 5th passage out of John, p. 698, section 11. and 12. (Witham)

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).

It was the preparation; not to the passover, (for that was celebrated the night before), but to the weekly sabbath; and they judged according to the law, Deu 21:23, that the land would be defiled if the persons executed were not buried that day, but their bodies should remain on the tree all night, especially on the sabbath, which began immediately after sunset. And this sabbath was a more than ordinary sabbath, for it was not only the weekly sabbath, but also their second day of unleavened bread; which, and the last day, were both very solemn days, as may be seen, Lev 23:1-44. This makes them come and beseech Pilate that the bodies might be taken down, and in order to it,

that their legs might be broken, lest any life remaining in them they should revive and escape.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 31-37. (6) The piercing of the side, with its significance the final close of the life of earth.

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation; that is, the day before the sabbath. (Mar_15:42) This note of time certainly blends both the synoptists and John in the assurance that the crucifixion took place on a Friday. It was also, according to the previous statement, the preparation of the Passover, which, we have seen, is better understood in that literal sense than in the sense of "the Friday of Passover week." Consequently, there was a twofold sanctity about that particular sabbath, seeing that the sabbatic rest of the day following the Paschal meal coincided with the ordinary weekly sabbath; (for great, or high, was the day of that sabbath). (cf. Exo_12:16 Lev_23:7; and notes Joh_13:1 Joh_18:28 Joh_19:14) It was a "great" and "high" day in a sense far more profoundly impressive than any that could be derived from the ceremonial enactments of the Hebrew code. The sabbath of his rest came at length. The toil, the agony, are over, the whole world is transformed during its hours into his resting-place. There has been no such sabbath since the creative Word rested from all his work. In order that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the sabbath. This statement, with the events which followed, strongly confirms our interpretation of the day of the Crucifixion. The Jews would scarcely have justified a crucifixion on the first sabbatic day of the feast, if they shrank from the proceeding here described as in danger of taking place on the ordinary sabbath. They follow the law (Deu_21:22, Deu_21:23) so far as it would apply, and hasten the dissolution of the crucified, if it had not already occurred. (They) asked Pilate that their legs might be broken (crushed) kateagwsin , the same as aorist passive, katagnumi (Winer, Eng. trans., p. 85), arywsin , first aorist passive, and that they might be taken away, as polluting corpses. The skelokopia , equivalent to crurifragium, is a Roman custom, as it is clearly established by numerous authorities (Suet., "Aug.," 67; Seneca, " De Ira.," 3:32; see Wettstein); a brutal custom, which added to the cruel shame and torment, even though it hastened the end.

Vers. 31-37. The breaking of the legs.

It was usual for the Romans to leave the dead on the cross to the ravages of wild beasts. A providential event changed the usage in this case.

I THE ANXIETY OF THE JEWS FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE BODIES. "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day (for that sabbath was a high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

1. The Jews had accomplished their purpose, and were now anxious to carry out the letter of the law. The bodies ought, in any ease, to be removed before night"; but there was a special necessity on account of the day of the Crucifixion preceding a great festival.

2. Mark their hypocrisy. They regarded themselves as strictly bound to observe the outward ceremony, but they had no scruple in crucifying the Son of God. The ceremonial part of religion was of greater moment to them than the moral.

II PILATE"S CONCESSION TO THEIR DEMANDS. "Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

1. Though a cruel act, it was designed to shorten the sufferings of the crucified. Gangrene was the immediate result. The breaking of the legs, together with crucifixion itself, was abolished by Constantine, the first Christian emperor.

2. The soldiers treated Jesus in an exceptional manner. "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs.

(1) The quickness of Christ"s death took Pilate by surprise.

(2) Scripture was fulfilled in the exemption of Christ from the crurifragium. "But these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

(3) The act of the soldier, in piercing the side of Jesus, made his death certain. "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

(a) It could not be said hereafter that he had merely swooned, and that his disciples had come in the night and taken him away.

(b) The pierced side was the subject of prophecy. "They shall look on him whom they pierced?

(c) The blood and water had a figurative application. "This is he who came not by water only, but by water and blood". (1Jn_5:6)

(i) The blood indicated life sacrificed.

(ii) Water was the symbol of the spiritual life. The death of Christsecured at once the cleansing away of sin, and the quickening of dead souls by the Spirit.

III THE TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLE JOHN TO THESE FACTS. "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true.

1. It was the testimony of an eyewitness.

2. It was designed to support the faith of the world in the facts of our Lord"s death.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lest the bodies should remain on the cross on the Sabbath - Which they would have accounted a profanation of any Sabbath, but of that in particular. For that Sabbath was a great day - Being not only a Sabbath, but the second day of the feast of unleavened bread (from whence they reckoned the weeks to pentecost:) and also the day for presenting and offering the sheaf of new corn: so that it was a treble solemnity.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The Burial of Jesus.

The piercing of the side:

v. 31. The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath-day, (for that Sabbath-day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

v. 32. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him.

v. 33. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs;

v. 34. but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

v. 35. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

v. 36. For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken.

v. 37. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced.

The Jews, that is, their spiritual leaders, concerned, as usual, more about the keeping of the traditions of their elders, in which they had applied Deu 21:23, than about committing murder and other heinous crimes, now sent a delegation to Pilate with a request. It was Friday, the day of preparation, and the Sabbath which. was now coming was unusually great, being the. day on which the first-fruits of the field were waved before the Lord and offered as a sacrifice. The Jews, therefore, did not want the bodies of the crucified hanging on the cross on that day, for fear of polluting their great festival day. Accordingly, their request was that Pilate should resort to a method sometimes employed for the speedy killing of the crucified, namely, by breaking the bones of their legs with a heavy bar or mallet. Here was evidence of the most despicable hypocrisy with a vengeance. Without compunction in condemning the just and innocent Christ, but when they fear a Levitical impurity existing largely in their own imagination, they guard against a possible contamination by providing for a forcible death and a speedy removal of the dead bodies. Pilate having given his consent, the idea broached by the Jews was carried into execution. The soldiers broke the legs first of one and then of the other malefactor that was crucified with Jesus. But coming to Jesus as the last one, they found that He was dead, that He had already expired. The carrying out of the customary breaking of the legs in His case would have been without purpose, and so they refrained from doing so. The explanation seems simple enough, and yet there was not the least shred of chance in the happening. The bones of Jesus were not broken because He is the true Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb, of whom all the Iambs that were slaughtered on that festival of old were but types and figures, Exo 12:46; Num 9:12. As the angel of death in Egypt passed by or over all the houses that were marked with the blood of the lamb, so the blood of this Lamb has turned the wrath of God from us. All those that have the portals of their heart marked with the blood of Jesus will not be visited by the angel of eternal death. Jesus was apparently dead when the soldiers reached His cross. And yet they wanted to make assurance doubly sure. One of their number, therefore, either pricked His side, as the strictest literalness of the word seems to indicate, in order to determine whether He had merely swooned away, or actually inflicted a deep wound in His side, piercing the heart, and thus fatal if Jesus had still been alive. But when the soldier withdrew his lance, as John relates, both blood and water flowed from the wounded side of the Savior. This was a strange happening, that the blood of one that had been dead for some time should flow out as from the living body, and that water should come from the wound at the same time. But John insists upon it that no mistake was possible; he, as an eye-witness, was too near not to be certain of the fact just as he describes it here. Both facts should be impressed upon the minds of the believers: that Christ truly died, and that this strange phenomenon took place at the piercing of His side. As one commentator has it: The blood that flowed from the side of Jesus was to serve for the washing of the sins of the whole world. It is the blood of reconciliation, the blood of God, wherewith He has cleansed all men from their sins. "The blood which flows from the side of our Lord Jesus is the treasure of our redemption, the payment and atonement for our sins. For by His innocent suffering and death and through His holy, precious bloodshed on the cross, our dear Lord Jesus Christ has paid for all our guilt, eternal death, and damnation, in which we, because of our sins, are immersed. That same blood of Christ is our advocate with God, and without ceasing cries for us to God: Mercy, mercy; forgive, forgive; indulgence, indulgence; Father, Father! and thus earns for us God’s grace, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and salvation. Therefore the blood and the water which flowed from the side of our dear Lord Jesus Christ on the cross is our highest comfort. For therein consists our soul’s salvation: in the blood is our redemption and satisfaction for our sins; in the water there is our daily cleansing and purging from sins. This we should learn well and thank God, our dear Lord, for His boundless love and goodness, and our faithful Savior Jesus Christ for His suffering and death, with all our: hearts" Incidentally, as the evangelist points out, there is another prophecy which was in part fulfilled on Calvary, in the piercing of the side of Christ, Psa 22:16-17; Zec 12:10; Rev 1:7. The unbelieving Jews saw Him whose side was pierced hanging on the cross, and the fact should have recalled to their minds this prophecy of the Psalms and its import. The day will come when they will see the same Man against whom they vented their spite coming back to judge the quick and the dead; then their wailing and pleading for mercy will come too late.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These verses contain several remarkable passages tending to the confirmation of our faith, in the belief of the certainty and reality of our Saviour’s death: in which the Jews, the soldiers, and St. John, do all five their several and sufficient evidences.

Observe, 1. The Jews’ part in clearing up his truth: they desire Pilate (who had power alone to dispose of the dead bodies of condemned persons) that the legs of the crucified persons might be broken to hasten their death, that so they might be taken away, and buried; because according to the law, (Deu 21:22-23) the land was defiled with those that were hanged, if not timely buried: and they judged if the bodies of these persons did remain on the cross all that night, and the next sabbath-day, which was an high day, (the ordinary-sabbath, and the first day of the passover, or feast of unleavened bread, meeting together,) it might pollute both them and their feast.

Whence note, the cursed hypocrisy of these Jews; they look upon themselves as strictly bound to observe an outward ceremony, but their consciences never scruple to violate the most weighty precepts of the moral law; they strictly observe the ceremonial precept, that the dead bodies should not remain upn the cross, but they scruple not to crucify the Son of God, and to use him with the utmost rigour, desiring his bones may be broken.

Observe, 2. The soldiers’ part contributed to clear the truth of Christ’s death: they execute what the Jews had desired, and Pilate granted, breaking the legs of the two thieves, but not of Jesus, because he was already dead; but one of, the soldiers resolving to make sure work, thrusts a spear into his side, and there came out straightway blood and water, proving that he was really dead.

All which points out to us, that it is he who came by water and blood, 1Jn 5:6 and that from the merit and efficacy of his death, there floweth out blood for the obtaining remission of sin, and water to regenerate and wash us from our uncleanness.

From the barbarous soldier’s piercing of Christ’s side after he was dead, we learn, that no cruelty was omitted to Christ either dead or alive, which might testify the great desert of our sin, nor was there any needful evidence wanting which might make clear the truth of his death; the soldier’s piercing of our Saviour’s side was at once an exercise of their cruelty, and an evidence of the certainty of Christ’s death.

Observe, 3. St. John’s part in this evidence: he avouches, that Christ really died, and expressly affirms that he saw it with his own eyes, for the confirmation of our faith: He that saw it bare record, and his record is true. And farther shows that by these actions of the soldiers, that was done by which several scripture prophecies were fulfilled, and received their accomplishment; particularly, that of Exo 12:46, concerning the paschal lamb, which was a type of Christ, That a bone of it should not be broken; and that prediction, They shall look on him whom they have pierced Zec 12:10.

Learn hence, that Christ is the truth and substance of that type, the paschal lamb, mentioned, Exo 12:46 and the true passover sacrificed for us; therefore what was ordained concerning the paschal lamb, is applied here to Christ, as the substance of that type: A bone of him shall not be broken.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXXIII. D. Jesus Found to Be Dead].

CXXXIII. THE CRUCIFIXION. Subdivision D. JESUS FOUND TO BE DEAD. HIS BODY \line BURIED AND GUARDED IN THE TOMB. aMATT. XXVII. 57-66; bMARK XV. 42-47; cLUKE XXIII. 50-56; dJOHN XIX. 31-42.

d31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross upon the sabbath (for the day of that sabbath was a high day), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. [According to rabbinical writing a few hours before the Sabbath were called the Preparation; but afterwards the term was applied to the entire day preceding the Sabbath. The Romans left the bodies of criminals hanging upon the cross until beasts and birds of prey, or putrefaction, removed them. But the Jewish [733] law forbade that a body should hang over night; for a dead body was accursed, and so the day following might be polluted by the curse which attached to it ( Deu_21:23, Jos_8:29, Jos_10:26; Jos. Wars iv. 5. 2). The context suggests that the Jews had grown lax with regard to this law on account of the trouble of obtaining the consent from the Romans required to carry it out. But as the Sabbath in this instance was that of the passover week, and as they were ready enough to do anything to show that Jesus was an extraordinary criminal, they asked Pilate that their law might be observed. Instead of killing the criminals, they broke their legs, which rendered recovery impossible, since putrefaction almost immediately set it.] 32 The soldiers therefore came, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him: 33 but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 howbeit one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side [to insure death in case they might be mistaken], and straightway there came out blood and water. 35 And he that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye also may believe. [Many able men have argued learnedly that this flow of blood and water was evidence that Jesus died of a ruptured, or literally broken, heart; but they confess themselves involved in difficulties, for it is hard to reconcile the idea that Jesus died a voluntary death with the idea that he died of any natural cause whatever. Can anything be at once natural and supernatural? However, John's asservation that he was an eye-witness of this shows that he attached importance to it. To him the body of Jesus gave evidence that it differed from other dead bodies. We enter with hesitancy the realm of symbolism, knowing how flagrantly it is abused, but we offer this as a suggestion. Jesus died for our sins, and his death was therefore to provide a means for the cleansing of sin. But, under the terms of his gospel, sins are visibly and physically washed away by water, and invisibly and spiritually by blood ( Heb_10:22). Now, since both these means were seen [734] by a faithful witness to issue from the side of our crucified Lord, contrary to the ordinary law and course of nature, we have additional reason to believe that things out of the course of nature, namely, the cleansing of sin, etc., were accomplished by his crucifixion.] 36 For these things came to pass, that the scripture might be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. [ Psa_34:20.] 37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced. [ Zec_12:10. Even after his death divine power went on fulfilling the prophecies concerning Jesus. He hangs upon the cross as one of a group of three, yet, in the twinkling of an eye, he is separated from the other two by the fulfillment of a brace of prophecies which point him out as the chosen of God.] 38 And after these things bwhen even was now come, because it was the Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, cbehold, athere came a rich man from Arimathaea, ca city of the Jews, anamed Joseph, bof Arimathaea, cwho was a councillor, bof honorable estate, ca good and righteous man 51 (he had not consented to their counsel and deed), bwho also himself was looking for the kingdom of God; awho also himself was Jesus' disciple: dbeing a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews [ Joh_12:42, Joh_12:43], a58 this man bboldly went in unto Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. dasked of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus [Joseph's town has been variously identified with Ramleh in Dan, Ramathaim in Ephraim ( 1Sa_1:1), and Ramah in Benjamin ( Mat_2:18). It was a fulfillment of prophecy that the one who buried Jesus should be rich ( Isa_53:9). It is strange that those who were not afraid to be disciples were afraid to ask for our Lord's body, yet he who was afraid to be a disciple feared not to do this thing]: b44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead [instances are cited where men lived one whole week upon the cross, and men rarely died the first day]: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while [735] dead. 45 And when he learned it of the centurion, aThen Pilate bgranted the corpse to Joseph. acommanded it to be given up. dand Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took away his body. 39 And there came also Nicodemus, he who at the first came to him by night [ Joh_3:2], bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. [Myrrh was a resin and the aloe was pulverized wood. Both were aromatic-- Psa_45:8.] a59 And Joseph bbought a linen cloth [a sindon--see Act_5:6. The spices were wrapped between the folds of the linen in order to partially embalm the body. Thus two members of the Sanhedrin unite to bury Jesus, each showing his reverence in his own way: Joseph by buying a sindon instead of cheaper cloth, and Nicodemus by a wonderful wealth of spices--twelve hundred ounces. Possibly the heart of Nicodemus smote him for his tardiness in honoring Christ, and he desired to appease his conscience by giving the Lord a royal burial-- 2Ch_16:14.] 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden [belonging to Joseph]; and in the garden a { ahis own new tomb which he had cthat was bwhich had been chewn in stone, bout of a athe rock: dwherein was never man yet laid. cwhere never man had yet lain. [To the sindon Joseph adds the honor of a burial in his own tomb. The unused state of the tomb is mentioned to show that there is no shadow of doubt as to whose resurrection opened it.] 54 And it was the day of the Preparation, and the sabbath drew on. d42 There then because of the Jews' Preparation (for the tomb was nigh at hand) they laid Jesus. aand he rolled a great stone to bagainst the door of the tomb. aand departed. c55 And the [736] women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and beheld the tomb, and how his body was laid. a61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, bthe mother of Joses asitting over against the sepulchre. cand beheld the tomb, bwhere cand how his body was laid. 56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. And on the sabbath they rested according to the commandment. [As Jesus died about three o'clock in the afternoon, and as all work had to stop at sunset, which was the beginning of the Sabbath, Joseph was much hurried in his efforts to bury Jesus. The context, therefore, shows that our Lord was not completely embalmed by him. The body of Jesus might have been kept elsewhere until after the Sabbath; but because the tomb was near it appears to have been used temporarily, and the preparation of spices by the women shows that even that part of the burial was not, in their estimation, completed. This unfinished burial led the women back to the tomb early on the first day of the week, and thus brought to the disciples the glad news of the resurrection without any needless delay.] a62 Now on the morrow, which is the day after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together unto Pilate [This was not the whole Sanhedrin, but members of it. When did they come to Pilate? Meyer, Cook, etc., say that the Greek word translated "morrow" precludes any other idea than it was after daylight Saturday morning, but Michaelis, Paulus, Kuinoel, etc., say that they came Friday night, and we think their view is correct. The word translated "morrow" also means "the next day." As the Jewish day began at sunset, we know of no other Greek adverb by which Matthew could have expressed the beginning of a day. Had it been the Sabbath morning there is no reason why Matthew should not have said so. By mentioning, instead, the Preparation, he draws the mind back to what we would call Friday night. It is highly improbable that the Jews would leave the tomb of Jesus unguarded for one whole night. Their gathering thus to Pilate in the shades of evening presents a gruesome picture], 63 saying, Sir, we remember [737] that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, After three days I rise again. [For this saying, see Luk_23:48), and judging the disciples of Jesus by themselves--full of all subtlety and cunning--they grasped at once the idea that the disciples could make a great stir among the people by stealing the body and proclaiming the predicted resurrection. The apostles, on the other hand, when the actual resurrection had taken place, did not learn for fifty days what use to make of it, thus showing they could not have planned a pretended resurrection.] 65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a guard [The Greek here may be the indicative or the imperative; it is clearly the latter. If the Jews had possessed a guard, they would not have asked for one. Pilate consents to their request by saying, "Have ye a guard:" thereby fully sanctioning their idea]: go, make it i as sure as ye can. 66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, the guard being with them. [They sealed the stone by drawing a string or tape across it and fastening the ends with wax or clay to the surface of the rock on either side. If either seals were broken, that fact would show that the tomb was entered from without.] [738]

[FFG 733-738]

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.

31. Because it was the preparation. For the passover. See verse 14. That sabbath was a high day. A double Sabbath, both the weekly Sabbath and a passover Sabbath. It was usual Roman custom to leave crucified bodies on the cross, but out of deference to their wishes Pilate consents that the legs of the victims should be broken in order to hasten death, so that the bodies might be taken down and buried. The legs were crushed with a hammer like a sledge and the shock would bring speedy death.

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 Jews

Here "Jews" is a synecdoche for the Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus. AT: "the Jewish leaders" (See: Synecdoche)

day of preparation

This is the time before the Passover when people prepared food for the Passover.

to break their legs and to remove them

You can translate this in an active form. AT: "to break the legs of the executed men and take their bodies down from the crosses" (See: Active or Passive)

who had been crucified with Jesus

You can translate this in an active form. AT: "whom they had crucified near Jesus" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

Jew

Sabbath

Pilate

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

31–42. THE PETITION OF THE JEWS AND THE PETITION OF JOSEPH

31. As in Joh 18:28, the Jews shew themselves to be among those ‘who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.’ In the midst of deliberate judicial murder they are scrupulous about ceremonial observances. The οὖν, as in Joh 19:23, probably does not refer to what immediately precedes: it looks back to Joh 19:20-21. The Jews still continue their relentless hostility. They do not know whether any one of the three sufferers is dead or not; their request shews that; so that ‘therefore’ cannot mean in consequence of Jesus’ death. In order to save the Sabbath, and perhaps also to inflict still further suffering, they ask Pilate for this terrible addition to the punishment of crucifixion. Certainly the lesson ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice,’ of which Christ had twice reminded them, and once in connexion with the Sabbath (Mat 12:7; Mat 9:13), had taken no hold on them.

παρασκευή. The eve of the Sabbath; and the Sabbath on this occasion coincided with the 15th Nisan, the first day of the Passover. This first day ranked as a Sabbath (Exo 12:16: Lev 23:7); so that the day was doubly holy. Comp. Joh 7:37.

κατεαγῶσιν. The σκελοκοπία or crurifragium, like crucifixion, was a punishment commonly reserved for slaves. The two were sometimes combined, as here. Lactantius (IV. xxvi.) says, ‘His executioners did not think it necessary to break His bones, as was their prevailing custom;’ which seems to imply that to Jewish crucifixions this horror was commonly added, perhaps to hasten death. For even without a Sabbath to make matters more urgent, corpses ought to be removed before nightfall (Deu 21:23); whereas the Roman custom was to leave them to putrefy on the cross, like our obsolete custom of hanging in chains. The plural verb (contrast μείνῃ just before) emphasizes the separate acts: comp. ἅ ἐπερίσσευσαν (Joh 6:13). Winer, p. 645.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31-42.] Jesus in Death: and herein,

31-37.] Proof of His Death.

31.] On the Jewish custom, see note, Mat 27:57.

ἦ γὰρ μεγ.…, being as it was (see note on ch. 18:28, and Mat 26:17) a double sabbath: the coincidence of the first day of unleavened bread (Exo 12:16) with an ordinary sabbath.

ἵνα κατεαγ.] The crurifragium was sometimes appended to the punishment of crucifixion, see Friedlieb, p. 164,—but does not appear to have been inflicted for the purpose of causing death, which indeed it would not do. Friedlieb supposes that the term involved in it the ‘coup de grâce,’ which was given to all executed criminals, and that the piercing with the spear was this death-blow, and was also inflicted on the thieves.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. The statement that the “Jews,” i.e. the Sanhedrists who had brought about the condemnation of Jesus, approached Pilate with the request that the death of those who had been crucified should be hastened, and their bodies removed, is peculiar to Jn. (see on v. 38). It has every mark of truth. Criminals crucified on a Friday might linger until the Sabbath, when they could not be buried, so that they would remain hanging on the Cross. But it was contrary to the Deuteronomic law that the dead bodies of criminals should remain on the cross after sunset (cf. Deu 21:23, Jos 8:29, Jos 10:27). Accordingly, Josephus (B.J. IV. v. 2) tells us that the Jews of his time were careful to bury before sundown the bodies of those who had been crucified. Thus it was urgent, from the Sanhedrist’s point of view, that those crucified on a Friday should die on that day, and that their bodies should be removed forthwith. But this could be arranged only by an order from the Roman governor.

Now the usual Roman practice was to leave a corpse on its cross (cf. Horace, Epistles, I. xvi. 48), as in England the bodies of criminals used to be left hanging in chains. But there was no Roman law forbidding burial. Wetstein quotes Quintilian, Declam. vi., “omnes succiduntur, percussos sepeliri carnifex non uetat.” And Philo mentions that he had known of bodies being taken down from the cross and handed over to the relatives of the condemned for burial, on the occasion of the emperor’s birthday or the like (in Flacc. 10). Hence, although Pilate, in ordinary circumstances, might have refused the request of the Sanhedrists, there was nothing to prevent him from granting it if he wished. And, in this case, apart from his evident unwillingness to condemn Jesus, there was the further consideration that Jerusalem, at the moment, was crowded with pilgrims who had come for the Passover, and that it was desirable to avoid a conflict between the Jews and the Roman authorities.3

For Παρασκευή, see on v. 14 above. It was “Preparation” or “Friday,” doubly a day of preparation this year, because the Sabbath day following synchronised with “the first day of unleavened bread,” which was a “great” day. It is called a “holy” day in the LXX of Exo 12:16, ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ πρώτη κληθήσεται ἁγία.

ἦν γὰρ μεγ. κτλ., “for the day of that sabbath was a great day,” ἐκείνου being emphatic. ADsuppO transfer the words ἐπεὶ παρασκευὴ ἦν to a position after σαββάτῳ, but אBLW fam. 13 support their more natural place at the beginning of the sentence after Ἰουδαῖοι. The Peshitta gives the paraphrase: “Because it was Preparation, they say, these bodies shall not remain on the Cross, because the sabbath dawneth.” ἐπεί is “because,” exactly as in the parallel passage Mar 15:42 ἐπεὶ ἦν παρασκευή.

The crurifragium, or breaking of the limbs, was done by a heavy mallet; and terrible as such blows would be, if inflicted on a man in health and strength, they were merciful if they ended quickly the torture of a lingering death by crucifixion.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Jews - Sabbath. The Jews, who had so recently asserted their sole allegiance to Caesar, are now scrupulous about observing the letter of the law.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.