JESUS IN THE TOMB.
It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, according to our manner
of reckoning,[1] when Jesus expired. A Jewish law[2] forbade a corpse
suspended on the cross to be left beyond the evening of the day of the
execution. It is not probable that in the executions performed by the
Romans this rule was observed; but as the next day was the Sabbath,
and a Sabbath of peculiar solemnity, the Jews expressed to the Roman
authorities[3] their desire that this holy day should not be profaned
by such a spectacle.[4] Their request was granted; orders were given
to hasten the death of the three condemned ones, and to remove them
from the cross. The soldiers executed this order by applying to the
two thieves a second punishment much more speedy than that of the
cross, the _crurifragium_, or breaking of the legs,[5] the usual
punishment of slaves and of prisoners of war. As to Jesus, they found
him dead, and did not think it necessary to break his legs. But one of
them, to remove all doubt as to the real death of the third victim,
and to complete it, if any breath remained in him, pierced his side
with a spear. They thought they saw water and blood flow, which was
regarded as a sign of the cessation of life.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 37; Luke xxiii. 44. Comp. John
xix. 14.]
[Footnote 2: _Deut._ xxi. 22, 23; Josh. viii. 29, x. 26, and
following. Cf. Jos., _B.J._, IV. v. 2; Mishnah, _Sanhedrim_, vi. 5.]
[Footnote 3: John says, "To Pilate"; but that cannot be, for Mark (xv.
44, 45) states that at night Pilate was still ignorant of the death of
Jesus.]
[Footnote 4: Compare Philo, _In Flaccum_, § 10.]
[Footnote 5: There is no other example of the _crurifragium_ applied
after crucifixion. But often, in order to shorten the tortures of the
sufferer, a finishing stroke was given him. See the passage from
Ibn-Hischâm, translated in the _Zeitschrift für die Kunde des
Morgenlandes_, i. p. 99, 100.]
John, who professes to have seen it,[1] insists strongly on this
circumstance. It is evident, in fact, that doubts arose as to the
reality of the death of Jesus. A few hours of suspension on the cross
appeared to persons accustomed to see crucifixions entirely
insufficient to lead to such a result. They cited many instances of
persons crucified, who, removed in time, had been brought to life
again by powerful remedies.[2] Origen afterward thought it needful to
invoke miracle in order to explain so sudden an end.[3] The same
astonishment is found in the narrative of Mark.[4] To speak truly, the
best guarantee that the historian possesses upon a point of this
nature is the suspicious hatred of the enemies of Jesus. It is
doubtful whether the Jews were at that time preoccupied with the fear
that Jesus might pass for resuscitated; but, in any case, they must
have made sure that he was really dead. Whatever, at certain periods,
may have been the neglect of the ancients in all that belonged to
legal proof and the strict conduct of affairs, we cannot but believe
that those interested here had taken some precautions in this
respect.[5]
[Footnote 1: John xix. 31-35.]
[Footnote 2: Herodotus, vii. 194; Jos., _Vita_, 75.]
[Footnote 3: _In Matt. Comment. series_, 140.]
[Footnote 4: Mark xv. 44, 45.]
[Footnote 5: The necessities of Christian controversy afterward led to
the exaggeration of these precautions, especially when the Jews had
systematically begun to maintain that the body of Jesus had been
stolen. Matt. xxvii. 62, and following, xxviii. 11-15.]
According to the Roman custom, the corpse of Jesus ought to have
remained suspended in order to become the prey of birds.[1] According
to the Jewish law, it would have been removed in the evening, and
deposited in the place of infamy set apart for the burial of those who
were executed.[2] If Jesus had had for disciples only his poor
Galileans, timid and without influence, the latter course would have
been adopted. But we have seen that, in spite of his small success at
Jerusalem, Jesus had gained the sympathy of some important persons who
expected the kingdom of God, and who, without confessing themselves
his disciples, were strongly attached to him. One of these persons,
Joseph, of the small town of Arimathea (_Ha-ramathaïm_[3]), went in
the evening to ask the body from the procurator.[4] Joseph was a rich
and honorable man, a member of the Sanhedrim. The Roman law, at this
period, commanded, moreover, that the body of the person executed
should be delivered to those who claimed it.[5] Pilate, who was
ignorant of the circumstance of the _crurifragium_, was astonished
that Jesus was so soon dead, and summoned the centurion who had
superintended the execution, in order to know how this was. Pilate,
after having received the assurances of the centurion, granted to
Joseph the object of his request. The body probably had already been
removed from the cross. They delivered it to Joseph, that he might do
with it as he pleased.
[Footnote 1: Horace, _Epistles_, I. xvi. 48; Juvenal, xiv. 77; Lucan.,
vii. 544; Plautus, _Miles glor._, II. iv. 19; Artemidorus, _Onir._,
ii. 53; Pliny, xxxvi. 24; Plutarch, _Life of Cleomenes_, 39;
Petronius, _Sat._, cxi.-cxii.]
[Footnote 2: Mishnah, _Sanhedrim_, vi. 5.]
[Footnote 3: Probably identical with the ancient Rama of Samuel, in
the tribe of Ephraim.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvii. 57, and following; Mark xv. 42, and
following; Luke xxiii. 50, and following; John xix. 38, and
following.]
[Footnote 5: Dig. XLVIII. xxiv., _De cadaveribus puntorum_.]
Another secret friend, Nicodemus,[1] whom we have already seen
employing his influence more than once in favor of Jesus, came forward
at this moment. He arrived, bearing ample provision of the materials
necessary for embalming. Joseph and Nicodemus interred Jesus according
to the Jewish custom--that is to say, they wrapped him in a sheet with
myrrh and aloes. The Galilean women were present,[2] and no doubt
accompanied the scene with piercing cries and tears.
[Footnote 1: John xix. 39, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 61; Mark xv. 47; Luke xxiii. 55.]
It was late, and all this was done in great haste. The place had not
yet been chosen where the body would be finally deposited. The
carrying of the body, moreover, might have been delayed to a late
hour, and have involved a violation of the Sabbath--now the disciples
still conscientiously observed the prescriptions of the Jewish law. A
temporary interment was determined upon.[1] There was at hand, in the
garden, a tomb recently dug out in the rock, which had never been
used. It belonged, probably, to one of the believers.[2] The funeral
caves, when they were destined for a single body, were composed of a
small room, at the bottom of which the place for the body was marked
by a trough or couch let into the wall, and surmounted by an arch.[3]
As these caves were dug out of the sides of sloping rocks, they were
entered by the floor; the door was shut by a stone very difficult to
move. Jesus was deposited in the cave, and the stone was rolled to the
door, as it was intended to return in order to give him a more
complete burial. But the next day being a solemn Sabbath, the labor
was postponed till the day following.[4]
[Footnote 1: John xix. 41, 42.]
[Footnote 2: One tradition (Matt. xxvii. 60) designates Joseph of
Arimathea himself as owner of the cave.]
[Footnote 3: The cave which, at the period of Constantine, was
considered as the tomb of Christ, was of this shape, as may be
gathered from the description of Arculphus (in Mabillon, _Acta SS.
Ord. S. Bened._, sec. iii., pars ii., p. 504), and from the vague
traditions which still exist at Jerusalem among the Greek clergy on
the state of the rock now concealed by the little chapel of the Holy
Sepulchre. But the indications by which, under Constantine, it was
sought to identify this tomb with that of Christ, were feeble or
worthless (see especially Sozomen, _H.E._, ii. 1.) Even if we were to
admit the position of Golgotha as nearly exact, the Holy Sepulchre
would still have no very reliable character of authenticity. At all
events, the aspect of the places has been totally modified.]
[Footnote 4: Luke xxiii. 56.]
The women retired after having carefully noticed how the body was
laid. They employed the hours of the evening which remained to them in
making new preparations for the embalming. On the Saturday all
rested.[1]
[Footnote 1: Luke xxiii. 54-56.]
On the Sunday morning, the women, Mary Magdalen the first, came very
early to the tomb.[1] The stone was displaced from the opening, and
the body was no longer in the place where they had laid it. At the
same time, the strangest rumors were spread in the Christian
community. The cry, "He is risen!" quickly spread amongst the
disciples. Love caused it to find ready credence everywhere. What had
taken place? In treating of the history of the apostles we shall have
to examine this point and to make inquiry into the origin of the
legends relative to the resurrection. For the historian, the life of
Jesus finishes with his last sigh. But such was the impression he had
left in the heart of his disciples and of a few devoted women, that
during some weeks more it was as if he were living and consoling them.
Had his body been taken away,[2] or did enthusiasm, always credulous,
create afterward the group of narratives by which it was sought to
establish faith in the resurrection? In the absence of opposing
documents this can never be ascertained. Let us say, however, that
the strong imagination of Mary Magdalen[3] played an important part in
this circumstance.[4] Divine power of love! Sacred moments in which
the passion of one possessed gave to the world a resuscitated God!
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxviii. 1; Mark xvi. 1; Luke xxiv. 1; John xx. 1.]
[Footnote 2: See Matt. xxviii. 15; John xx. 2.]
[Footnote 3: She had been possessed by seven demons (Mark xvi. 9; Luke
viii. 2.)]
[Footnote 4: This is obvious, especially in the ninth and following
verses of chap. xvi. of Mark. These verses form a conclusion of the
second Gospel, different from the conclusion at xvi. 1-8, with which
many manuscripts terminate. In the fourth Gospel (xx. 1, 2, 11, and
following, 18), Mary Magdalen is also the only original witness of the
resurrection.]