And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
his
death
These words are generally supposed to refer to a fact that was
afterwards done; that Christ, who died with wicked men, as if he
himself had been one, was buried in a rich man's grave. Could the
words admit of the following transposition, they would exactly
agree with it, "and he made his grave with the rich; and with the
wicked in his death"; for he died between two thieves, and was
buried in the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathaea, a rich man. Or
the meaning perhaps in general is, that, after his death, both
rich men and wicked men were concerned in his sepulchre, and
about his grave; two rich men, Nicodemus and Joseph, in taking
down his body from the cross, in embalming it, and in laying it
in the tomb of the latter; and wicked men, Roman soldiers, were
employed in guarding the sepulchre, that his disciples might not
take away the body. Or the sense is, "he" the people, the nation
of the Jews, through whose enmity against him he suffered death,
"gave", intended, and designed, that "his grave" should be with
"the wicked"; and therefore accused him to the Roman governor,
and got him condemned capitally, and condemned to a Roman death,
crucifixion, that he might be buried where such sort of persons
usually were; and then it may be supplied, "but he made it"; that
is, God ordered and appointed, in his overruling providence, that
it should be "with the rich in his death", as it was. Aben Ezra
observes, that the word (wytmb) , which we translate "in his death", signifies
a structure over a grave, "a sepulchral monument"; and then it
may be rendered impersonally thus, "his grave was put or placed
with the wicked, but his tomb", or sepulchral monument, was "with
the rich"; his grave was indeed put under the care and custody of
the wicked soldiers; yet a famous tomb being erected over it, at
the expense of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathaea, which was
designed for himself, made the burial of Christ honourable: which
honour was done him,
because he had done no violence:
or injury to any man's person or property; had not been guilty of
rapine and oppression, theft and robbery; murder and cruelty; he
had not been a stirrer up of sedition, an encourager of mobs,
riots, and tumults, to the harm of the civil government:
neither was any deceit in his mouth:
no false doctrine was delivered by him; he was no deceiver of the
people, as he was charged; he did not attempt to seduce them from
the true worship of God, or persuade them to believe anything
contrary to the law of Moses, and the prophets; he was no enemy
to church or state, nor indeed guilty of any manner of sin, nor
given to any arts of trick and dissimulation; see ( 1 Peter 2:22
) . Some render the words, "though" F25 "he had done no
violence" and connect them with the following.