Buried
On Same Day Before Sunset? (In in Onlangs)
Women
Prepared Spices at the End, while Men at Days’ Beginning.
Cronin:
Note: The buying and preparing
of the spices and oils by the women occurred between two Sabbaths. Therefore, these two Sabbaths
could not have been concurrent, as is popularly believed. And, as
John 19:31 explains, the first Sabbath, the one immediately after Jesus'
death, was a High Day, that is, an annual Holy Day, the First Day of Unleavened
Bread, not the weekly Sabbath.
“The buying and preparing...” –
Wrong! “The buying and preparing
occurred between two Sabbaths...” – Wrong! ‘The preparing occurred’ immediately
after the interment on the first of the two consecutive
‘sabbaths’, on the Passover’s ‘Great Day’-sabbath, in its closing hours before
sunset before the weekly Sabbath.
And ‘the buying occurred’, after the second
‘sabbath’, after “the Sabbath according to the commandment”, after
it “had
gone through” – so that the women “bought” spices, on the
First Day of the week in fact— not to be confused with their
‘preparations’ on Friday afternoon. “Therefore, these two Sabbaths could
not have been concurrent, as is popularly believed”, nor could they have
been separated by another ‘ordinary’ day between them, as you would have
liked it popularly believed. Yet it was on precisely this ‘intermediate’ day of
your imagining which in actual fact was the Passover’s sabbath-day, that
Joseph and Nicodemus did their undertaking— according to your reasoning then, after
the women— while in fact the women did their preparations after the men!
Only the ‘preparing’ of the spices and oils by the two Marys ‘occurred’, well on “(Friday)
afternoon / while
the (weekly) sabbath drew on”
well on Passover-sabbath of that Friday.
And only the ‘buying’ (for Salome’s sake) – “occurred”, “after the Sabbath”.
The “buying” of the spices by three women, was “after the Sabbath” or “when the Sabbath was past”— nothing of the sort “occurred” on any day in “between two Sabbaths”!
The “two
Sabbaths” were:
Friday ‘Passover-sabbath’; and Saturday ‘weekly Sabbath’, Nisan
15 and Nisan 16. Crucifixion was on “The Preparation of the Passover”, Nisan 14, Thursday.
Cronin:
Then "they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56).
No women or men after the crucifixion and
before sunset prepared or bought
spices or ointments. No women before or for the burial,
prepared or bought spices or ointments. Nobody
ever expected a burial! The two
Marys on Friday afternoon after
the burial “prepared”; and they and Salome on Saturday
evening after the burial, “went to buy” spices and ointments, so that
they “on the Sabbath day according to the commandment”, the Fourth Commandment, first “rested”.
The way you emphasised, the women both ‘returned and prepared spices
and ointments and rested, on the Sabbath day according to
the commandment’, as if
‘the commandment’, were a ‘ceremonial
commandment’. But they rather ‘returned
and prepared spices and ointments’
after they had seen the tomb closed; then, “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment”.
All and
any preparations or buying of spices or ointments before or for the burial,
were made by men, before “the Sabbath according
to the Commandment”
but after “it had become evening” — therefore, were made during Thursday night on “the Day of Preparation
which is the Fore-Sabbath”-Friday.
Any and all preparations or buying of spices or ointments for the burial were made during about six hours or longer after the crucifixion and only after Joseph had begun with the
customary preparations for burial, about fifteen to twenty hours before he closed the grave “And
that day was the preparation, and the
sabbath drew on”!
The women
on Friday afternoon after the burial
“went home” – to Jerusalem like in every
time Luke uses the word “to
return” – hupostréphoh, Lk23:54-56. The women’s was a returning to prepare. Theirs then was no returning after a purchase of ointments and spices,
because this was “(Friday) afternoon”,
not Saturday evening “when the Sabbath was past”,
Mk16:2, and the women “went and bought spices”. This was their second ‘returning’ – their first
was after the crucifixion the day before. (Lk23:56 cf. 48c) “They
prepared spices and ointments” directly after
the two Marys had “looked
on how the body was laid”. Then, “the Sabbath approached”, and they after they had done to
prepare, “began
to rest the Sabbath”,
the ‘Sabbath’ in both 54 and 56. The “preparation” of spices by the two Marys therefore was on Friday
afternoon after the burial and “before the Sabbath” ‘epéfohsken sábbaton’. The “buying” of the spices by three women, was “after the Sabbath” (Mk16:1a) – more than 24 hours later. Both the after the burial “preparation” and after the burial “buying”,
were meant for application at the first possible opportunity after the Sabbath, which the women must
have realised because of the Roman guard,
would present itself after midnight of Saturday night when the Roman day and
watch would have ended. Therefore, “deepest morning (‘orthrou batheohs’) came the women bringing
their spices …”,
Lk24:1.
Cronin:
"When evening 2 had come..." Joseph of Arimathea walked ... to Pilate ... to
ask of him the body of Jesus”
... “Note the use and application of the term "evening."
Clearly, evening was before sunset and must have been considerably
longer than just an hour and twenty minutes before sunset. (Underlining CGE) Joseph had time enough to do all these
things and still finish before
sunset. Since the Passover could not be sacrificed until "between the two evenings," and
according to some, that must be between 3:00 in the afternoon and sunset, but
others consider it to be between sunset and dark, this scripture is evidence
that it is the former definition that is the Biblically accepted meaning of the
term.
Since the Passover had to be sacrificed “between the
PAIR OF NIGHTS” –
that of the 14th Nisan ending and that of the 15th Nisan
beginning – Jesus was crucified 9 am and died 3:00 in the afternoon. Then after
sunset, between sunset and dark, this Scripture (Mk.15:42 / Mt.27:57) is
evidence that after sunset is the definition that is the Biblically accepted
meaning of the term. Mk.15:42 / Mt.27:57
has no relevancy to the time of the sacrifice of the Passover – it simply gives
the time when Joseph began undertaking.
Evening
was after sunset and Joseph must
have had time considerably longer than just an hour and twenty minutes. He had enough
time to do all these things; in fact, he had until the following day about 3
p.m., well ‘before sunset’. Mk15:42 and Mt27:57 have no ‘between’, nor “two
evenings”, but ‘opsia’,
singular. So does any day have one undividable
evening, always from sunset until dark, which when Joseph appeared on the
scene, had already begun. ‘Evening’, even ‘considered to be
between sunset and dark”, is
still ‘evening’ after sunset, not “before
sunset”. To make Joseph and
the women start after 3 pm, “do all these things”, “go home and prepare spices”, “and still finish before sunset” or forty minutes later, is not
even comical. The Greek word here used, opsía,
without exception means the early part of night after sunset before deep night
(6 to 7.30 maybe 8 pm)— fifteen times without exception in the NT! Mark and
Matthew say “evening already had begun”
and that “it was the Preparation”.
Mark says “the Preparation which is the
Fore-sabbath”, that is to say, Friday. John says
Joseph did so “after these things”,
19:38, referring to “The Jews (who) therefore because it was the
Preparation
(now), that the bodies should not on the
sabbath day remain
upon the cross because that sabbath
would be a great day— asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified broken.”
Jn19:31. The Sixth Day was beginning; it
was after sunset at night now, and the “great
day” of Passover-“sabbath”, prospective.
Cronin:
"When evening had come..."
Joseph of Arimathea walked from
Incorrect!
“walked from Golgotha”—
Nobody remained at
Cronin:
Pilate investigated
the death of Jesus, to find "if he had been dead for some
time" (Mark 15:44), and granted
Joseph his request (Matt 27:58,
Mark 15:45, John 19:38. Joseph went
to buy "fine linen" —
presumably in
For the exact
order of Joseph’s actions – he first took the body down, and then removed it
from the place of the crucifixion to the place he could “treat the body”, and then only, must have gone
out to buy the linen. The implication is, Joseph did not immediately and at the cross, prepare or bury the body of
Jesus.
Cronin:
He then walked back to
Joseph
then walked back to the place he had taken the body to for safekeeping and
preparation – probably where he stayed for the Passover; it isn’t recorded; we
correctly may assume it.
Cronin:
He and Nicodemus (John 19:39) "Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen cloths with the spices..." (John 19:40, Matt 27:59), "and laid it in his [Joseph's] own new tomb" (Matt 27:60, Mark 15:46, Luke 23:53, John 19:39-42).
Here you
put together two events that in fact had been separated by quite a few hours and the going under of the sun!
Although the text in Mark and Matthew mentions different things in one breath,
it does not mean they happened simultaneously. John e.g., mentions
Nicodemus’ arrival at the scene of Joseph’s preparation of the body some good
part of the night after Joseph’s
initial request for and removal of the body. The preparation was properly done “according to the Jewish
usage”, and must have
taken Joseph – and later on also Nicodemus – the whole night! This brings us to
the two things I say you should have separated instead of have put together:
They are: “... (they) wound it in
linen cloths with the spices...", and "... laid it in his [Joseph's] tomb”. Most part of night, and good
deal of day, separated Joseph’s first initiatives
and the finishing of his
undertaking.
Cronin:
"And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on" (Luke 23:54, John 19:42).
Here we have the last word on Jesus’ burial, “as the sun (“light” – fohs) was sinking towards (the west), the Sabbath approaching” – epéfohsken sábbaton— not of his death. The weekly Sabbath approached. You in the wrong place make it the ‘Great Day’-sabbath of Passover that was prospective; you confuse Mk15:42 and Mt27:57 for this place, Lk23:53-56. But see Lk23:48-49 which you have overlooked! In Lk23:53-56 it is the immediate day before “the Sabbath according to the Commandment” – the weekly Sabbath, that was running out. You seem to have forgotten that you yourself have shown how on the day before, after the crucifixion and after “the evening had come”, Joseph only had begun his undertaking, so that, by the time he – the next day – had finished, “it was the preparation, and / while the sabbath drew on”— “that day”, had been, the burial; which implies, crucifixion had had happened the day before, and was, the Thursday.
Cronin:
"And the women also, which came with
Him from
This happened just before your point "And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on"(Luke 23:54, John 19:42).”
The women
followed in the procession to the grave. They must have joined with Joseph and
Nicodemus during the course of Friday morning. Four people only – the
Scriptures mention them only – “beheld how his body was laid”. Only these knew of the interment – nobody else – no disciple
besides these, and no Jew or Roman.
Cronin:
"And that day was the preparation, and the
sabbath drew
on".
...
referring to the burial, not the
crucifixion. The women after the burial and after sundown, “began to rest the Sabbath” the whole Sabbath’s rest (Ingressive Aorist). On Sabbath
morning, the Jews came to know of Jesus’ burial— all their plans thwarted, and
asked Pilate to have the grave sealed and guarded “for the third day”, Mt27:62-66.
Cronin:
"And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Solome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him" (Mark 16:1).
“(H)ad bought” is old English for the ordinary past tense. The Greek simply states the fact: "When the Sabbath was past, the three women “bought sweet spices”. This time there are three women – Salome who was absent from the burial has now joined the two Marys. The buying of spices most probably was for the sake of her who did not know about the burial.
“(T)hat they might come and anoint him” has a future, tentative
connotation. They “bought when the Sabbath had passed” – that is, they bought
during the evening of after-sunset, ‘Saturday’-night. But they could not
immediately go and anoint Him. Why not? Because according to the Roman reckoning of time the guard’s watch would last till midnight.
Only after midnight would any disciples of Jesus again be allowed to approach
the grave. Mk16:2 gives a
time of a later actualised visit of the women to the grave when it
was “very early sunrise” – lían prohí anatéílantos tou hehlíou
– by far not the time of their buying the spices just after sunset.
Cronin:
As John 19:31 explains, the
first Sabbath, the one immediately after Jesus' death, was a High Day, that is,
an annual Holy Day, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, not the weekly Sabbath.
Rather, as
John 19:31 explains, the first of the two Sabbaths was the one on which
Joseph would bury Jesus, and was a
High Day, that is, an annual Holy Day, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, not
the weekly Sabbath. It was pending
because it had just begun. The Passover Institution had the “remains” of
the Passover lambs returned to dust and earth on the Feast Sabbath that followed “the day when they
always slaughtered the Passover”. Ex12:10. When Jesus was crucified our Passover and Lamb of God, His
body was sealed in the earth on the Passover Feast’s Sabbath Day – “a Great Day that day
was”, John says. “That day” was what we call, Friday, and “the Sabbath approaching” was “the Sabbath according
to the (Ten) Command-ment(s)”— the second and
consecutive Sabbath during that Passover Feast. “They could not have been concurrent”, but also were not separated by a day in between them.
Cronin:
"Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." (Matt 28:1 3 , Luke 24:1, Mark 16:2, John 20:1)
There are
two crucial mistakes in this ‘translation’ of the text. “Dawn” from ‘epifohskóúsehi’
should be “afternoon” – like in Lk.23:56
where “the Sabbath approached”-‘epéfohsken sábbaton’ on Friday
afternoon; and ‘came’ should be “went to look”, “éhlthen theohréhsai”.
Because of the guard the women’s intention
“to go
have a look at the grave”
was frustrated; and the occurrence of the earthquake
made impossible the occurrence of their intended visit. Also from the reports
of the women’s realised visits to
the grave on Sunday morning is it clear they had not actually visited the grave
before then.
Cronin:
The women could not have bought the spices after the sun set on "Saturday" because:
· If there had been any businesses open on the Sabbath (unlikely, because the Jews were strict in not allowing such at that time) they would have closed for the day before dark; and,
· It is highly unlikely that any businesses would have opened after sunset.
‘Businesses
... unlikely’, but for any
who “have
need against Passover”—
see Jn13:29. Here it was Joseph and
Nicodemus “after
it had become evening ...”,
even “night”, “in need against Passover” for the interment of the Lamb of
God’s Passover. And the women before
sunset on this very ‘Great
Day’ “the Sabbath approaching”, “in need against Passover” indeed ‘preparing’ for the embalmment of the Lamb
of God’s Passover “after
the Sabbath had gone through”! These were no ‘foolish virgins’ who before midnight bought their
oil, but faithful followers “in need against Passover” “nothing
let remaining … with loins girded, shoes on, and staff in hand … this night …
the LORD’s Passover” observing.
Summary
1."The ninth hour..." (3 p.m.) Jesus died.
Matt 27:46-50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:44-46,
John 19:28-30).
2."When evening had
come..." (6
p.m.) Joseph of Arimathea walked to Pilate to ask of him the body of Jesus
(Matt 27:57-58, Mark 15:42-43, Luke 23:50-52, John 19:38).
3. Pilate
investigated the death of Jesus, to find "if he had been
dead for some time" (Mark 15:44), and granted Joseph his request (Matt 27:58,
Mark 15:45, John 19:38.
4. Joseph then walked back to
5. He then
went to buy "fine linen" (Mark 15:46).
6. He and
Nicodemus (John 19:39) "Then treated the body of
Jesus, and wound it in linen cloths with the spices..." (John 19:40,
Matt 27:59),
7. "And the women also, who came with Him from
8. Then "they returned, and prepared spices and ointments...(Luke 23:56).
8. "And (retrospectively) that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath (now) drew on" (Luke 23:54, John 19:42).
9. “They
(the women) started to rest the Sabbath Day according to the commandment.”
10. “Late on the Sabbath
Day, after the noon, before the First Day of the week, (when) went Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary to look at the grave, and suddenly there was an
earthquake …” Mt.28:1
11. “And when
the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the
mother of James, and Solome, bought sweet spices, that they might
come and anoint him
(Mark 16:1).”
Christ
entered hell and tasted death, from “the table”, through Gethsémané and onward,
and
died and was dead while on the cross for the last three hours of the Preparation day “of the Passover”,
and for the
entirety of the first High Day Sabbath ‘the intervening day’ Friday, the second day of the Passover Season, was dead and
buried all but the last three hours of the last
weekly Sabbath, Saturday, “the third day according
to the Scriptures” — exactly three days and three nights, just as scripture declares
(Mt 16:21, 17:23, 20:19, 27:64, Mr 9:31, 10:34, Lu 9:22, 18:33,
24:7, 21, 46, Ac 10:40, I Cor 15:4). There is no finagling
needed (redefining what a day and night is) to get Scripture to agree with some
preconceived and errant doctrine.
Cronin:
It
is also noteworthy that A. T. Robertson, in A Harmony of the Gospels,
declares that the women visited the tomb at dusk*
at the end of the
Sabbath (sunset on Saturday)*, not at dawn on the first
day of the week (Sunday) as is popularly believed. ... (meaningless
omitted.)
*** ‘at’ – before or after sunset?
Robertson
does not say these things! Cronin obviously
means to say ‘ascended’ – not, ‘risen’. Jesus was the First Sheaf through
resurrection from the dead waved before the Lord and “exalted to the right
hand of the power of God in heavenly places” right there on the soil of Calvary’s hill “in (earthly) Sabbath’s time” (Mt.28:1)! (Ro.1:4, 14:9, Eph.1:19f, Col.2:12, 15, Phil.2:8-9, 3:10a
Cronin:
After
having risen from the dead (GE: on the “afternoon of the
Sabbath” - opse sabbátohn
epifohskóúsehi), what was he doing all
night long while waiting for the disciples to discover him alive at the tomb? However, if it had only been
a few minutes since his resurrection to when the women discovered the empty
tomb (as is suggested by Matt 28:1-15 and Mark 16:1-4), there is no
interval to question.
“....
what was he
doing all night long while waiting...”?
Cronin’s ‘answer’ does not solve his ‘problem’ as were it a ‘problem’ for Jesus
‘all night long to have to waited for the disciples to discover him alive at
the tomb’. That “the
women discovered the empty tomb (as is suggested by Matt 28:1-15 and
Mark 16:1-4)”, makes no difference, and there still is the “interval to question”, “what was he doing all night
long while waiting for the disciples to discover him alive”?
There
is NO “interval
to question”
in Matt 28:1-15 or Mark 16:1-4, and it had NOT been “only a few minutes since his
resurrection to when the women discovered the empty tomb”. Since his resurrection to when the women
discovered the empty tomb was as many hours as between 3 pm to after 12 pm on
Saturday night when “on
the First Day of the week” in “deep darkness” (Lk.24:1) the women “came, bringing the
spices” to anoint the body. Only Mary
had an earlier glimpse of the rolled away stone
“when it
was still early darkness” (Jn.20:1) of
that same night.
Jesus Christ, our Passover lamb, was sacrificed and died at the time of the Passover sacrifice of the lambs in the afternoon at the end of the 14th of Abib (Nisan) — which occurred
on a Thursday (in 30 AD), the year
of his crucifixion. He was finally “laid” in the sepulchre in the afternoon before sunset the next
day, and he experienced death and was in
"the heart of the earth" for … three days and three nights, as he had said He would, until he rose
from the dead and his grave in the afternoon
long before sunset on that week's Sabbath — NOT on Sunday morning, as is
popularly believed.
Cronin: Footnotes:
Translation from A.T.
Robertson's A Harmony of the Gospels,
Harper San Francisco, p. 239 — He footnotes this verse (Matt 28:1) with:
"This phrase once gave much trouble, but the usage of the vernacular Koine Greek amply justifies the translation. The visit of the women to inspect the tomb
was thus made before the Sabbath was over … (before 6 p.m. on Saturday). But the same
Greek idiom was occasionally (GE:
two centuries later!) used in the sense of after.' Robertson goes
on to say that the women likely bought the spices after sunset. But this
is contradictory. (GE: It is
no contradiction) Robertson
orders Matt 28:1 the time the women visited the sepulchre (GE: They did not ‘visit’ – they “set off to go have a
look”, but obviously
they did not execute what they intended to do.) at the end of the
Sabbath, before Mark 16:1 (the buying of the spices and
oils, after the Sabbath), in effect, saying that the women went to the
sepulchre with the spices and oils --- Cronin
saying, not Robertson. This also
is not what Matthew or Mark says; Luke says it – one of those “certain
details included in one account that are not in another”! So they “the earliest morning” – Luke, went to the
sepulchre WITH the spices
which the Marys the Friday afternoon already had prepared, as well as WITH
those they had “bought
... when the Sabbath was over / through”.
Cronin:
This … shows that there is (GE: all the) evidence that Jesus
did not die on a Friday night and rise on a Sunday morning … and that translat-ors are
subject to bending scripture toward their preconceived beliefs over the truth.
Cronin
not only perverts the Scriptures; he also perverts Robertson’s word and thoughts.
Gerhard
Ebersöhn
Private
Bag 43
Sunninghill
2157