Matthew 28:1

End of the sabbath. [The Resurrection, Matt. 28:1–15=Mark 16:1–11=Luke 24:1–12=John 20:1–18. Major comment: Matthew and John. See The Resurrection and Subsequent Events; the Crucifixion In Relation To Passover, Passion Week and Resurrection to Ascension.] Gr. opse de sabbatōn. The word opse, here translated “end,” may mean either “late” or “after.” Opse is used but three times in the NT, here and in Mark 11:19; 13:35, where it is translated “even.” In Mark 11:19 it is not clear whether opse designates the late afternoon of the day mentioned earlier in the narrative, or time after sunset, which would be, according to the Hebrew method of reckoning time, the day following. In Mark 13:35, opse, “even,” designates the first watch of the night, from about sunset till about 9:00 P.M. Usage of opse in the NT is thus comparatively indefinite so far as determining whether the phrase opse de sabbatōn of Matt. 28:1 means late Sabbath afternoon, before sunset, or after Sabbath, on the first day of the week. Use of opse in the LXX is similarly indefinite.

Opsia, a related form, appears more frequently in the NT. Opsia is always translated “even,” “evening,” or “eventide.” In Matt. 8:16 and Mark 1:32 it is specifically used of time following sunset. In Matt. 14:23; Mark 6:47; John 6:16 it also designates time after sunset. In Matt. 26:20 and Mark 14:17 it is used of the Passover meal, which was supposed to be eaten during the early hours of Nisan 15, after the sunset that brought Nisan 14 to a close (see Additional Notes on Chapter 26, Note 1). In John 20:19 it also refers to time after sunset, probably after darkness had set in; in Matt. 27:57 and Mark 15:42, time preceding sunset.

Commenting on opse de sabbatōn, E. J. Goodspeed concludes that “the plain sense of the passage is: ‘After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning’” (Problems of New Testament Translation, p. 45). Similarly, J. H. Moulton assigns opse the meaning of “after” in ch. 28:1 (A Grammar of New Testament Greek, vol. 1, p. 72). “After the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week” is the RSV translation of the time statement of this passage. Goodspeed (op. cit., p. 43) cites Greek writers of the 2d and 3d centuries who use opse in the sense of “after.”

Indefinite as the word opse itself is, parallel passages in the other Gospels seem to make clear that Matthew here means “after the Sabbath,” not “late on the Sabbath.” According to Mark 16:1, 2, “when the sabbath was past,” the women “bought sweet spices,” apparently after sundown Saturday night, and went to the tomb “very early in the morning the first day of the week … at the rising of the sun.” Mark’s words are clear and definite, and there seems to be no substantial reason for doubting that he refers to the same visit mentioned in Matt. 28:1. It may also be observed that Jewish regulations on Sabbath travel (see on Ex. 16:29) would have precluded any visit to the tomb from a distance greater than 2/3 mi. The home of Mary Magdalene was Bethany, a distance of 2 mi. from Jerusalem (see on Matt. 21:1). If she spent the Sabbath in Bethany (Luke 23:56), she would not have traveled to the tomb until the Sabbath had closed.

If, as some hold, the women’s visit to the sepulcher (Matt. 28:1) took place late Sabbath afternoon, the narrative of vs. 2–15 thereby becomes detached from the time statement of v. 1. But vs. 2–15 appear to give an account of what took place at the time designated in v. 1. It seems improbable that the detailed time statement of v. 1 should be given for the supposed Sabbath afternoon visit to the sepulcher, and no time be indicated for the momentous events of vs. 2–15. There is nothing to indicate a transition in time from Sabbath afternoon to Sunday morning.

In the second place, if, as some have tried to show, the resurrection itself took place Sabbath afternoon, other difficulties appear. The Roman guard had been stationed at the sepulcher during the light hours of the Sabbath day (ch. 27:62–66), yet one night intervened between the beginning of their vigil and the resurrection (ch. 28:13). When both language and context permit interpreting ch. 28:1 in harmony with the unanimous statements of the other gospel writers, there is no valid reason for doing otherwise.

Some have suggested that the phrase “in the end of the sabbath” should be connected with ch. 27:66. However, the Greek does not favor such a relationship.

It began to dawn. Gr. epiphōskō, literally, “to grow light,” “to dawn.” Epiphōskō is used of both the “dawn” of the 12-hour day (sunrise) and the 24-hour day (sunset). In Luke 23:54 epiphōskō is translated “drew on,” in reference to the approach of the Sabbath at sundown. Expositors are generally agreed that in Matt. 28:1 it retains its literal meaning, and this seems to be confirmed by the parallel statements in the other Gospels. At this season of the year astronomical morning twilight began about 4:00 in the latitude of Jerusalem, and the sun rose about 5:30. If Mary Magdalene arose about the time it began to get light (see John 20:1), and walked from Bethany to Calvary, she would have arrived there about sunrise (see Mark 16:1, 2; cf. John 20:1).

First day of the week. Gr. mia sabbatōn. The word sabbatōn in both its plural form, as here, and in the singular, means either “Sabbath,” the seventh day of the week, or “week.” Examples of its use in the latter sense are Luke 18:12; 1 Cor. 16:2; etc. Some whose zeal to promote their personal ideas greatly exceeds their knowledge of Greek have interpreted mia sabbatōn as “the first of the sabbaths,” and concluded that Matthew here designates the resurrection Sunday as the first occasion on which Sabbath sacredness was transferred to the first day of the week. No Greek scholar has ever attempted to make an argument in favor of Sunday sacredness on the basis of this grammatically impossible translation of Matt. 28:1. Novices who have made such an attempt have been rebuked by their more scholarly Sundaykeeping brethren who categorically deny the possibility of such a translation. For such a rebuke, see note no. 1593 in Source Book (vol. 9 of this series).

Came. Each of the four evangelists gives his own account of the rapid and dramatic events of the resurrection morning, and, on the surface, each account differs from the others (see Additional Notes on Chapter 3, Note 2). The seeming differences are not due to discrepancies between the various accounts, but rather to their brevity.

Mary Magdalene. See Additional Note on Luke 7. The women “beheld where he [Jesus] was laid” (see on Mark 15:47), apparently in order that they might return after the Sabbath to complete the preparation of His body.

The other Mary. Probably Mary the mother of James (Mark 16:1) and Joses (ch. 15:47).

To see the sepulchre. In view of the fact that Mark (ch. 16:1, 2) and Luke (ch. 24:1) speak of the bringing of spices, some have concluded that Matthew is referring to an earlier visit to the sepulcher, perhaps late Sabbath afternoon, a simple visit to see the tomb. Concerning the improbability of such a visit see on Matt. 28:1.