Matthew 27

Mt 27:1-10.

JESUS

LED

AWAY TO

PILATE--REMORSE AND

SUICIDE OF

JUDAS.

Mr 15:1;

Lu 23:1;

Joh 18:28).

Jesus Led Away to Pilate

(Mt 27:1, 2).

For the exposition of this portion, see on

Joh 18:28,

&c.

Remorse and Suicide of Judas

(Mt 27:3-10).

This portion is peculiar to Matthew. On the progress of guilt in the

traitor, see on

Mr 14:1-11;

Joh 13:21-30.

3. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was

condemned--The condemnation, even though not unexpected, might well

fill him with horror. But perhaps this unhappy man expected, that, while

he got the bribe, the Lord would miraculously escape, as He had once and

again done before, out of His enemies' power: and if so, his remorse

would come upon him with all the greater keenness.

repented himself--but, as the issue too sadly showed, it was "the

sorrow of the world, which worketh death"

(2Co 7:10).

and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and

elders--A remarkable illustration of the power of an awakened

conscience. A short time before, the promise of this sordid pelf was

temptation enough to his covetous heart to outweigh the most

overwhelming obligations of duty and love; now, the possession of it so

lashes him that he cannot use it, cannot even keep it!

4. Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent

blood--What a testimony this to Jesus! Judas had been with Him in

all circumstances for three years; his post, as treasurer to Him and

the Twelve

(Joh 12:6),

gave him peculiar opportunity of watching the spirit, disposition, and

habits of his Master; while his covetous nature and thievish practices

would incline him to dark and suspicious, rather than frank and

generous, interpretations of all that He said and did. If, then, he

could have fastened on one questionable feature in all that he had so

long witnessed, we may be sure that no such speech as this would ever

have escaped his lips, nor would he have been so stung with remorse as

not to be able to keep the money and survive his crime.

And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that--"Guilty or

innocent is nothing to us: We have Him now--begone!" Was ever speech

more hellish uttered?

5. And he cast down the pieces of silver--The sarcastic, diabolical

reply which he had got, in place of the sympathy which perhaps he

expected, would deepen his remorse into an agony.

in the temple--the temple proper, commonly called "the sanctuary," or

"the holy place," into which only the priests might enter. How is this

to be explained? Perhaps he flung the money in after them. But thus were

fulfilled the words of the prophet--"I cast them to the potter in the

house of the Lord"

(Zec 11:13).

and departed, and went and hanged himself--For the details, see

on

Ac 1:18.

6. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not

lawful for to put them into the treasury--"the Corban," or

chest containing the money dedicated to sacred purposes (see on

Mt 15:5).

because it is the price of blood--How scrupulous now! But those

punctilious scruples made them unconsciously fulfil the Scripture.

9. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet,

saying--

(Zec 11:12, 13).

Never was a complicated prophecy, otherwise hopelessly dark, more

marvellously fulfilled. Various conjectures have been formed to account

for Matthew's ascribing to Jeremiah a prophecy found in the book of

Zechariah. But since with this book he was plainly familiar, having

quoted one of its most remarkable prophecies of Christ but a few

chapters before

(Mt 21:4, 5),

the question is one more of critical interest than real importance.

Perhaps the true explanation is the following, from LIGHTFOOT: "Jeremiah of old had the first place among the

prophets, and hereby he comes to be mentioned above all the rest in

Mt 16:14;

because he stood first in the volume of the prophets (as he proves from

the learned DAVID KIMCHI)

therefore he is first named. When, therefore, Matthew produceth a text

of Zechariah under the name of Jeremy, he only cites the words of the

volume of the prophets under his name who stood first in the volume of

the prophets. Of which sort is that also of our Saviour

(Lu 24:41),

'All things must be fulfilled which are written of Me in the Law, and

the Prophets, and the Psalms,' or the Book of Hagiographa, in which the

Psalms were placed first."

Mt 27:11-26.

JESUS

AGAIN BEFORE

PILATE--HE

SEEKS TO

RELEASE

HIM BUT AT

LENGTH

DELIVERS

HIM TO

BE

CRUCIFIED.

Mr 15:1-15;

Lu 23:1-25;

Joh 18:28-40).

For the exposition, see on

Lu 23:1-25;

Joh 18:28-40.

Mt 27:27-33.

JESUS

SCORNFULLY AND

CRUELLY

ENTREATED OF THE

SOLDIERS,

IS

LED

AWAY TO

BE

CRUCIFIED.

Mr 15:16-22;

Lu 23:26-31;

Joh 19:2, 17).

For the exposition, see on

Mr 15:16-22.

Mt 27:34-50.

CRUCIFIXION AND

DEATH OF THE

LORD

JESUS.

Mr 15:25-37;

Lu 23:33-46;

Joh 19:18-30).

For the exposition, see on

Joh 19:18-30.

Mt 27:51-66.

SIGNS AND

CIRCUMSTANCES

FOLLOWING THE

DEATH OF THE

LORD

JESUS--HE

IS

TAKEN

DOWN FROM THE

CROSS, AND

BURIED--THE

SEPULCHRE

IS

GUARDED.

Mr 15:38-47;

Lu 23:47-56;

Joh 19:31-42).

The Veil Rent

(Mt 27:51).

51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top

to the bottom--This was the thick and gorgeously wrought veil which

was hung between the "holy place" and the "holiest of all," shutting out

all access to the presence of God as manifested "from above the mercy

seat and from between the cherubim"--"the Holy Ghost this signifying,

that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest"

(Heb 9:8).

Into this holiest of all none might enter, not even the high priest,

save once a year, on the great day of atonement, and then only with the

blood of atonement in his hands, which he sprinkled "upon and before

the mercy seat seven times"

(Le 16:14)

--to signify that access for sinners to a holy God is only through

atoning blood. But as they had only the blood of bulls and of

goats, which could not take away sins

(Heb 10:4),

during all the long ages that preceded the death of Christ the thick

veil remained; the blood of bulls and of goats continued to be shed and

sprinkled; and once a year access to God through an atoning sacrifice

was vouchsafed--in a picture, or rather, was dramatically

represented, in those symbolical actions--nothing more. But

now, the one atoning Sacrifice being provided in the precious

blood of Christ, access to this holy God could no longer be denied; and

so the moment the Victim expired on the altar, that thick veil which

for so many ages had been the dread symbol of separation between God

and guilty men was, without a hand touching it, mysteriously "rent

in twain from top to bottom"--"the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the

way into the holiest of all was NOW made

manifest!" How emphatic the statement, from top to bottom; as if

to say, Come boldly now to the Throne of Grace; the veil is clean

gone; the mercy seat stands open to the gaze of sinners, and the

way to it is sprinkled with the blood of Him--"who through the eternal

Spirit hath offered Himself without spot to God!" Before, it was death

to go in, now it is death to stay out. See more on this

glorious subject on

Heb 10. 19-22.

An Earthquake--The Rocks Rent--The Graves Opened, that the Saints

Which Slept in Them Might Come Forth after Their Lord's

Resurrection

(Mt 27:51-53).

51. and the earth did quake--From what follows it would seem that

this earthquake was local, having for its object the rending of the

rocks and the opening of the graves.

and the rocks rent--"were rent"--the physical creation thus sublimely

proclaiming, at the bidding of its Maker, the concussion which at

that moment was taking place in the moral world at the most critical

moment of its history. Extraordinary rents and fissures have been

observed in the rocks near this spot.

52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which

slept arose--These sleeping saints (see on

1Th 4:14)

were Old Testament believers, who--according to the usual punctuation

in our version--were quickened into resurrection life at the moment of

their Lord's death, but lay in their graves till His resurrection, when

they came forth. But it is far more natural, as we think, and consonant

with other Scriptures, to understand that only the graves were opened,

probably by the earthquake, at our Lord's death, and this only in

preparation for the subsequent exit of those who slept in them, when

the Spirit of life should enter into them from their risen Lord, and

along with Him they should come forth, trophies of His victory over the

grave. Thus, in the opening of the graves at the moment of the

Redeemer's expiring, there was a glorious symbolical proclamation that

the death which had just taken place had "swallowed up death in

victory"; and whereas the saints that slept in them were awakened only

that "the Prince of Life . . . should be the First

that should rise from the dead"

(Ac 26:23;

1Co 15:20, 23;

Col 1:18;

Re 1:5).

and went into the holy city--that city where He, in virtue of whose

resurrection they were now alive, had been condemned.

and appeared unto many--that there might be undeniable evidence of

their own resurrection first, and through it of their Lord's. Thus,

while it was not deemed fitting that He Himself should appear again in

Jerusalem, save to the disciples, provision was made that the fact of

His resurrection should be left in no doubt. It must be observed,

however, that the resurrection of these sleeping saints was not like

those of the widow of Nain's son, of Jairus' daughter, of Lazarus, and

of the man who "revived and stood upon his feet," on his dead body

touching the bones of Elisha

(2Ki 13:21)

--which were mere temporary recallings of the departed spirit to the

mortal body, to be followed by a final departure of it "till the

trumpet shall sound." But this was a resurrection once for all, to

life everlasting; and so there is no room to doubt that they went

to glory with their Lord, as bright trophies of His victory over

death.

The Centurion's Testimony

(Mt 27:54).

54. Now when the centurion--the military superintendent of the

execution.

and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake--or

felt it and witnessed its effects.

and those things that were done--reflecting upon the entire

transaction.

they feared greatly--convinced of the presence of a Divine Hand.

saying, Truly this was the Son of God--There cannot be a reasonable

doubt that this expression was used in the Jewish sense, and that it

points to the claim which Jesus made to be the Son of God, and on which

His condemnation expressly turned. The meaning, then, clearly is that He

must have been what He professed to be; in other words, that He was no

impostor. There was no medium between those two. See, on

the similar testimony of the penitent thief--"This man

hath done nothing

amiss"--Luke 23. 41.

The Galilean Women

(Mt 27:55, 56).

55. And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed

Jesus--The sense here would be better brought out by the use of the

pluperfect, "which had followed Jesus."

from Galilee, ministering unto him--As these dear women had

ministered to Him during His glorious missionary tours in

Galilee (see on

Lu 8:1-3),

so from this statement it should seem that they accompanied him and

ministered to His wants from Galilee on His final journey to

Jerusalem.

56. Among which was Mary Magdalene--(See on

Lu 8:2).

and Mary the mother of James and Joses--the wife of Cleophas, or

rather Clopas, and sister of the Virgin

(Joh 19:25).

See on

Mt 13:55,56.

and the mother of Zebedee's children--that is, Salome: compare

Mr 15:40.

All this about the women is mentioned for the sake of what is

afterwards to be related of their purchasing spices to anoint their

Lord's body.

The Taking Down from the Cross and the Burial

(Mt 27:57-60).

For the exposition of this portion, see on

Joh 19:38-42.

The Women Mark the Sacred Spot that They Might Recognize It on

Coming Thither to Anoint the Body

(Mt 27:61).

61. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary--"the mother of

James and Joses," mentioned before

(Mt 27:56).

sitting over against the sepulchre--(See on

Mr 16:1).

The Sepulchre Guarded

(Mt 27:62-66).

62. Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation--that

is, after six o'clock of our Saturday evening. The crucifixion took

place on the Friday and all was not over till shortly before sunset,

when the Jewish sabbath commenced; and "that sabbath day was an high

day"

(Joh 19:31),

being the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. That day being

over at six on Saturday evening, they hastened to take their

measures.

63. Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver--Never, remarks

BENGEL,

will you find the heads of the people calling Jesus by His own name. And

yet here there is betrayed a certain uneasiness, which one almost

fancies they only tried to stifle in their own minds, as well as crush

in Pilate's, in case he should have any lurking suspicion that he had

done wrong in yielding to them.

said, while he was yet alive--Important testimony this, from the lips

of His bitterest enemies, to the reality of Christ's death; the

corner-stone of the whole Christian religion.

After three days--which, according to the customary Jewish way of

reckoning, need signify no more than "after the commencement of the

third day."

I will rise again--"I rise," in the present tense, thus reporting not

only the fact that this prediction of His had reached their ears,

but that they understood Him to look forward confidently to its

occurring on the very day named.

64. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure--by a Roman

guard.

until the third day--after which, if He still lay in the grave, the

imposture of His claims would be manifest to all.

and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead--Did they really

fear this?

so the last error shall be worse than the first--the imposture of His

pretended resurrection worse than that of His pretended Messiahship.

65. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch--The guards had already

acted under orders of the Sanhedrim, with Pilate's consent; but probably

they were not clear about employing them as a night watch without

Pilate's express authority.

go your way, make it as sure as ye can--as ye know how, or in the way

ye deem securest. Though there may be no irony in this speech, it

evidently insinuated that if the event should be contrary to their

wish, it would not be for want of sufficient human appliances to prevent

it.

66. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone--which

Mark

(Mr 16:4)

says was "very great."

and setting a watch--to guard it. What more could man do? But while

they are trying to prevent the resurrection of the Prince of Life, God

makes use of their precautions for His own ends. Their stone-covered,

seal-secured sepulchre shall preserve the sleeping dust of the Son of

God free from all indignities, in undisturbed, sublime repose; while

their watch shall be His guard of honor until the angels shall come to

take their place.