Matthew 27:52
Read Matthew 27:52 Using Other Translations
What does Matthew 27:52 mean?
And the graves were opened
Which were near the city of Jerusalem: this was a proof of
Christ's power over death and the grave, by dying; when he
through death, destroyed him that had the power of it, and
abolished death itself; and became the plague of death and the
destruction of the grave, taking into his hands the keys of hell
and death:
and many bodies of saints which slept, arose:
not that they arose at the time of Christ's death: the graves
were opened then, when the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent;
but the bodies of the saints did not arise, till after Christ was
risen, as appears from the following verse; but because the other
event now happened, they are both recorded here: these were
saints, and such as slept in Jesus; and of whom he is the first
fruits that now rose; and not all, but many of them, as pledges
of the future resurrection, and for the confirmation of Christ's,
and the accomplishment of a prophecy in ( Isaiah 26:19
) . And they rose in the same bodies in which they before lived,
otherwise they could not be called their bodies, or known by
those to whom they appeared: but who they were is not to be
known; some have thought them to be the ancient patriarchs, as
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob In the Septuagint on ( Job 42:17 ) , Job is said
to be one of them, and a tradition is there recorded, which runs
thus:
``it is written, that he rose with whom the Lord rose.''But it should seem rather, that they were some later saints, such as Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, John the Baptist himself, good old Simeon, Joseph the husband of Mary, and others, well known to persons now alive. Some think they were such, as had been martyrs in the cause of religion; and so the Persic version renders the words, "and the bodies of many saints who suffered martyrdom, rose out of the graves".
