Command therefore that the sepulchre be made
sure
By this also they own, that he was buried; and they knew in what,
and whose sepulchre he was laid, and where it was; and request of
Pilate, that as he had given leave to Joseph to take the body and
inter it, that he would also give orders that the sepulchre might
be watched, that no body might come near it, and remove the body,
and that
until the third day:
not from the time they made this request, but from the time of
Christ's death; for no longer did they desire the sepulchre to be
guarded; for if he did not rise, and no pretensions could be made
to it in that time, they then very likely intended to expose his
dead body, and triumph over him as an impostor; and after that
time, they cared not what became of it, and were in no concern
about watching the sepulchre; but till then they judged it
necessary and desired it,
lest his disciples come by night, and steal him
away:
but of this there was no danger; they were too fearful and
timorous to do such an action, had they been ever so much
inclined to it; they all forsook him and fled immediately upon
his apprehension; nor durst any of them appear at the time of his
crucifixion, but John; and were now shut up for fear of the Jews;
and besides, they had forgot what Christ said to them about his
resurrection, though these men remembered it, and even
disbelieved it when it was told them: the phrase "by night", is
not in two copies of Beza's, nor in the Vulgate Latin and Arabic
versions, nor in Munster's Hebrew Gospel; but is in other copies,
and in the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions:
and say unto the people, he is risen from the
dead;
to the common people, that were illiterate, credulous, and easily
imposed on: as for themselves, who were the learned, the wise and
knowing, they were in no danger of being carried away with such a
deception; but the populace, for whom they pretend a great
concern, were:
so the last error shall be worse than the
first;
either their own error and mistake, should the sepulchre be
neglected, and an opportunity given for such a report; this would
be of more fatal consequence than their first mistake, in
suffering him and his followers to go on so long: or rather, the
error of the people, in believing that Jesus was the Messiah;
which would be greatly strengthened and received by greater
numbers, should it be given out, and there was any proof of it,
that he was risen from the dead: nor were they mistaken in this,
for the number of the disciples and followers of Christ greatly
increased after his resurrection; to an hundred and twenty, which
was their number upon Christ's resurrection, three thousand were
added at one time; being converted under one sermon, and that the
first preached after Christ was risen.