John 19:42

There laid they Jesus therefore,.... Because it was a new sepulchre, and no man had been ever laid there before; and some other reasons are added: because of the Jews' preparation day; either for the

There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. There laid they Jesus therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

There they immediately buried Christ, because the time strictly called the preparation (for the whole day was so called) was nigh at hand. See a fuller account of the history of our Saviour’ s passion, death, and burial: See Poole on "", and following verse to , where what is said by all the evangelists is compared together, and made one complete history.

42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. Ver. 4:2. Because of the Jews] That they might not do servile work on the sabbath, though it were to inter Christ’ s body. See Luke 23:56.

(42) The Jews’ preparation day.—Comp. John 19:14; John 19:31, and Excursus F: The Day of the Crucifixion of our Lord, p. 559.

Verse 42. Because of the Jews' preparation] From this it may be conjectured that they had designed to have put him in a more magnificent tomb; or, that they intended to make one expressly for himself after the passover: or, that they had designed to have put him somewhere else, but could not do it for want of time; and that they put him here because the tomb was nigh. It appears plainly, from embalming, c., that none of these persons had any hope of the resurrection of Christ. They considered him as a great and eminent prophet, and treated him as such. 1. IN the burial of our Lord, a remarkable prophecy was fulfilled: His death was appointed with the wicked and with a rich man was his tomb. See Lowth on Isaiah 53:9. Every thing attending his mock trial, his passion, his death, his burial, c., afforded the fullest proof of his innocence. In still continuing to reject him, the Jews seem to have exceeded the ordinary bounds of incredulity and callousness of heart. One might imagine that a candid attention to the Gospel facts, collated with those passages in the law and in the prophets which they acknowledge to speak of the Messiah, would be sufficient to furnish them with the utmost evidence and fullest conviction that he is the Christ, and that they are to expect none other. But where people once make a covenant with unbelief, argument, reason, demonstration, and miracles themselves, fail to convince them. As their conviction, through this obstinacy, is rendered impossible, it belongs to God's justice to confound them. At present they have scarcely any correct knowledge of the true God and, while they continue to reject the genuine faith, they are capable of crediting the most degrading absurdities. 2. The holy sepulchre, or what has long passed for the burial place of our Lord, is now no more! On the following information the reader may depend: "On the night of October 11, 1808, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was discovered to be on fire; and between five and six in the morning the burning cupola, with all the melting and boiling lead upon it, fell in. The excessive heat which proceeded from this immense mass of liquid fire, caused not only the marble columns, which supported the gallery, to burst; but likewise the marble floor of the Church, together with the pilasters and images in bas relief that decorate the chapel, containing the holy sepulchre, situated in the centre of the church. Shortly after, the massive columns which supported the gallery, fell down, together with the whole of the walls." Thus has perished the famous church raised by the Empress Helena fourteen hundred years ago, over the place where the body of our blessed Lord was supposed to have been deposited, while he lay under the power of death. And thus has perished an engine of superstition, fraud, and imposture. To the most sinful purposes has this holy sepulchre been abused.

42. the Jews’ preparation day] Perhaps another slight indication that the Gospel was written outside Palestine. Or the addition ‘of the Jews’ may point to the time when there was already a Christian ‘preparation-day.’ See notes on ‘the Passover of the Jews’ (John 2:13; John 11:55).It would seem as if the burial was hastily and temporarily performed. They probably intended after the Sabbath to make a more solemn and complete burial elsewhere.was nigh at hand] Perhaps this fact suggested to Joseph the thought of going to Pilate. He had a sepulchre of his own close to Golgotha.