Mat 28:12-15 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 12 With the elders - That is, the senators of the great Sanhedrin or Jewish council of state, elsewhere called the elders of the people; they could now meet, as the Sabbath was over.

Matthew 28:12-15

Verse 12

With the elders - That is, the senators of the great Sanhedrin or Jewish council of state, elsewhere called the elders of the people; they could now meet, as the Sabbath was over. Verse 13

His disciples came by night - This was as absurd as it was false. On one hand, the terror of the disciples, the smallness of their number (only eleven); and their almost total want of faith; on the other, the great danger of such a bold enterprise, the number of armed men who guarded the tomb, the authority of Pilate and of the Sanhedrin, must render such an imposture as this utterly devoid of credit.

Stole him away while we slept - Here is a whole heap of absurdities. 1st. Is it likely that so many men would all fall asleep, in the open air, at once? 2dly. Is it at all probable that a Roman guard should be found off their watch, much less asleep, when it was instant death, according to the Roman military laws, to be found in this state? 3dly. Could they be so sound asleep as not to awake with all the noise which must be necessarily made by removing the great stone, and taking away the body? 4thly. Is it at all likely that these disciples could have had time sufficient to do all this, and to come and return, without being perceived by any person? And 5thly. If they were asleep, how could they possibly know that it was the disciples that stole him, or indeed that any person or persons stole him? - for, being asleep, they could see no person. From their own testimony, therefore, the resurrection may be as fully proved as the theft. Verse 14

If this came to the governor's ears - Pilate - we will persuade him that it is for his own interest and honor to join in the deception; and we will render you secure - we will take care that you shalt not suffer that punishment for this pretended breach of duty which otherwise you might expect. Verse 15

Until this day - That is to say, the time in which Matthew wrote his Gospel; which is supposed by some to have been eight, by others eighteen, and by others thirty years after our Lord's resurrection.