So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a guard.
All Commentaries on Matthew 27:66 Go To Matthew 27
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
So they went their way, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. They secured the sepulchre in a twofold way—with the guard of soldiers, whom they ordered to keep diligent watch, and by sealing the stone.
They sealed it with a signet, not Pilate"s, as S. Chrysostom suggests, but with their own, i.e, with the signet of the city of Jerusalem, or of the Sanhedrin, so that the stone could not be moved, nor the body be taken away, without its being detected. Song of Solomon , too, Darius ( Daniel 6:17). Nicephorus adds that the Jews bored through both the stones of the tomb, and fastened them with an iron band. And thus, by endeavouring to prevent the resurrection of Christ, they did but add to the miracle, and furnished greater evidence for it; which God, as it were, extorted from them. So S. Chrysostom, "An undoubted demonstration is furnished by your own doings. For if the sepulchre were sealed, no room was left for fraud and deceit. But if no fraud had been committed, and the tomb was found empty, it is clear beyond all question that He had risen. Thou seest how, even against their will, they help to demonstrate the truth." "It was not enough," says S. Jerome, "for the Chief Priests and Pharisees to have crucified the Lord, unless they took a band of soldiers, sealed the stone, and, as far as they could, opposed His resurrection; so that all they did was for the furtherance of our faith. For the more it is kept back, the more fully is the power of the resurrection displayed."
Tropologically: Says Barradius, "From this deed of the ungodly let us learn godliness. After we have received Christ into our breast, as into a new tomb, let us take diligent heed that He may remain therein by grace, and never forsake us. Let us post our vigilant guards—that Isaiah , our watchful virtues—to drive away sleep and sloth from us; let us gird ourselves with a weapon stronger than iron; let us fortify our breasts with an unconquerable resolve to sin no more."
* Cornelius adds, "For He did not wish to be born except of a virgin espoused to Joseph." - Editor. (Back up the the place)
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