Matthew 27:59

59 So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean sheet of fine linen.

Matthew 27:59 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 27:59

And when Joseph had taken the body
Down from the cross, with the assistance of others, or from the hands of those who had orders to deliver it to him:

he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth:
that is, he wound up the body in it round and round, as was the custom of the Jews; see ( Acts 5:6 ) ( John 11:44 ) . Nor was it usual to bury in any thing but linen: so it is said F13,

``let the wrappings, or grave clothes, be (Mynbl Ntvp lv) , "of white linen"; and let not the price of them be dear, for it is forbidden to bury in wrappings of silk, or broidered garments, even to a prince of Israel: for this is pride and destruction, and the work of the Gentiles.''

This clean linen cloth, in which the dead body of Christ was wrapped, may be an emblem of his purity and innocence, who did no sin; nor did he die for any of his own, but for the sins of others; and also of his pure and spotless righteousness, which is compared to fine linen, clean and white, and which he now had wrought out, and brought in; see ( Revelation 19:8 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F13 Juchasin, fol. 54. 2. Vid. Maimon. Hilchot Ebel, c. 4. sect. 2.

Matthew 27:59 In-Context

57 Towards sunset there came a wealthy inhabitant of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who himself also had become a disciple of Jesus.
58 He went to Pilate and begged to have the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
59 So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean sheet of fine linen.
60 He then laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn in the solid rock, and after rolling a great stone against the door of the tomb he went home.
61 Mary of Magdala and the other Mary were both present there, sitting opposite to the sepulchre.
The Weymouth New Testament is in the public domain.