Matthew 27:65

65 “You have a guard,” Pilate said. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”

Matthew 27:65 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 27:65

Pilate said unto them, ye have a watch
Meaning either the watch of the temple, said to be placed in the tower of Antonia, for the service of it: hence mention is made of the captain of the temple, ( Acts 4:1 ) , but it is not likely they would remove the temple guards, to watch a sepulchre night and day: or rather, therefore, the soldiers that had had the care of the crucifixion of Christ, and watched him on the cross, are designed: the words may be read imperatively, "have yea watch", or "take a watch", as the Ethiopic version renders it, and which seems best; for if they had a watch already, what occasion had they to have applied to Pilate for one? but having none, he gives them leave to take one, or such a number of soldiers as were sufficient:

go your way;
as fast as you can, take the watch as soon as you please, make no stay, but satisfy yourselves in this point:

make [it] as sure as you can;
or, as you know how to do it, and what will be proper and necessary.

Matthew 27:65 In-Context

63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

64 So give the order that the tomb be secured until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him away and tell the people He has risen from the dead. And this last deception would be worse than the first.”

65 “You have a guard,” Pilate said. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”

66 So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.