At the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
One must not dismiss lightly the question concerning the exact hour at which the women came to the tomb. For if Matthew says, “In the evening of the sabbath, at the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Madgalene and other Mary came to see the tomb,” what then does it mean that Mark says, “And early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb at the rising of the sun”? The other two Gospels, Luke and John, do not disagree with Mark; Luke says “early in the morning,” and John says “in the morning when it was still dark.” Both statements are consistent with Mark’s declaration that it was “early in the morning at the rising of the sun," that is, when the heavens in the east were brightening. But this doesn’t occur except when the sun is very close to rising, a phenomenon which customarily is called the dawn. Therefore Mark does not oppose John, who says “when it was still dark,” for as day is breaking the remaining shadows of darkness diminish only in proport...
Vespere autem Sabbati quæ lucescit in prima Sabbati. opse de sab baton, (one Greek copy, sabbatou) te epiphoskouse eis mian sab baton, (in unam seu primam Sabbatorum.) What must the Latin, quoe, and the Greek, epiphoskouse, agreek with? We must understand in the Latin, dies; i.e. die quæ lucescit: and in the Greek, we must understand, emera te epiphoskouse.
We may also observe, that in the Greek we read not opsia, but opse, the adverb, sero; so that in the Latin to correspond with the Greek, it should also be vespere, late after the sabbath. In fine, that vespera is used in Scripture for the night: see what is said in Genesis, on all the days of creation; and the annotations on Matthew xiv. 15.
Paulus Burgensis, in his Additions, published with his Glossa on Gen. 1 p, Attendendum quod Hebræi per vespere intelligunt Noctem, quæ incipit a vespera, et terminatur in mane sequenti Ver. 2. Estius. Est omnium Patrum sententia Christum resurrexisse clauso sepulchro.
And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week. According to the letter, in the evening of the sabbath, which began to dawn on the first of the sabbath; (or of the sabbaths in the common Greek copies.) This latter translation, which is that of the Rheims Testament, is certainly more according to the letter, and more obscure than it need to be. First, by translating, on the first of the sabbath, where sabbath is taken for a week, as in other places, Luke xviii. 12.; Acts xx. 7.; and 1 Corinthians xvi. 2. It may therefore here be literally translated, on the first day of the week. Secondly, By the evening, is here meant the night: for in the Scriptures, both the Latin and Greek word, which we find in this place, not only signifies that time which we commonly call the evening, but is also put for the whole night itself, and for the time from sunset to sunrise next morning. Thus it is taken in the first chapter of Genesis, where, in the computation o...
The apostles are preceded in ministry by women, who follow the men by gender and the disciples by order. The apostles are not thereby made masters by these women. These women are bringing to the sepulcher the form and appearance of women, but they together symbolize the wholeness of the Lord’s churches. Mary and Mary: one as herself, and herself as the other. Mary, the single maternal name of Christ, is duplicated in two women. Here is symbolized the church coming from two peoples yet made into one from two peoples—that is, from the Gentiles and the Jews. For “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.”
“In the evening toward the dawn.” Behold, with the Lord’s resurrection the evening does not grow dark, it becomes light. What was normally the beginning of night now becomes the break of day. “In the evening of the sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week.” Even as mortality is transformed into immortality, corruption into incorruption and flesh into the Word of God, the darkness is transformed into light, so that the night itself rejoices that it did not die but is transmuted ….“In the evening of the sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week.” The sabbath rejoices that it now has a subservient effect. Under the yoke of the law the sabbath had become smugly apathetic and alienated from lifegiving power. Through the primacy of the Lord’s Day the sabbath is now wonderfully awakened to works of divine power. To paraphrase the Lord: Is it not permitted to heal the sick on the sabbath, to give aid to the afflicted, sight to the blind and life to the dead? Sermons
The sacred authors of the Gospels did not say whether the Savior was raised “after the sabbath,” or when most of the night had passed, or at the dawn or when the sun had already begun to shine. Indeed, it would be contradictory for the authors to say that the same event transpired at different times. However, they did write that some of the women arrived at the tomb at one time and some of the women at another time, but not all at the same time—how could that be possible, since they came separately?—and that each of the women heard the angels say similar things regarding the Savior: “He is risen, he is not here,” without adding when his resurrection occurred. It follows that if the resurrection had taken place on that divine night, as all of the Evangelists aver and agree, no one has specified the hour. [That hour] is unknown to the entire world except for the God who was raised and for the Father—who alone knows the Son as he is known by the Son—and except for the Spirit, who “searche...
