“51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; 52 the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Mt 27:51-53 (RSV)
Where does this come from historically and did anyone else mention it? Sounds like a thing you would want to highlight.
Robert said
Critical scholars do not think this ever occurred as an event in history. Either it was invented at some point in the oral tradition prior to the gospel of Matthew or by author. See ** you do not have permission to see this link ** of how ‘Matthew’ may indeed have been using this story to fix a difficulty he saw in Mark’s text.Ah, okay. Yeah, I didn’t find that in search. Still learning my way around. What you said about tying in Mark makes sense, but I haven’t heard it mentioned or talked about yet. Thanks. I’ll check that discussion out.
Liam Quinn said
I find this passage fascinating in light of 1 Thessalonians 4:13ff. Apparently neither Paul nor the Thessalonians were aware of Matthew or his potential source for this story.
Welcome Liam.
The earliest Christians apparently expected Jesus to establish the kingdom almost immediately. Even Paul writing in the 50s(?) clearly expects it very soon. But by Matthew’s time it must have become clear it wasn’t going to be all that quick, especially post-First Revolt which had stimulated renewed apocalyptic fervor (judging by Mark). Yet Matthew had all these apocalyptic traditions about Jesus that he couldn’t deny. This is just speculation of course but perhaps stories like the “resurrection of the saints” in Matthew 27 arose as a way of saying that while the final kingdom didn’t come yet there were signs and wonders that validated some of the apocalyptic expectation? A safety valve for those who were wondering what was taking so long?
but why would matthew invent that while jesus was dead, saints rose and did not come out of their graves until after jesus’ rising?
if you are making up the story, wouldn’t you have the saints go out of their tombs immediately ?
I cannot accept this account as actual, but instead as a false memory on the writer’s part, a mistranslation, a miscopying or some other error simply because the “resurrection” happens at Jesus’ death, not at his resurrection. According to the passage, these people were resurrected and the tombs opened at Jesus’ death, but didn’t leave their tombs until Jesus’ resurrection. Why not? What did they do, sit there and twiddle there thumbs for over 24 hours even though they could have left? My belief it that this account is the result of glorified gossip.
If you recall, there was an earthquake at Jesus’ death. That earthquake no doubt did open some tombs…and shook up their contents, bones of people stored in ossuaries. Those ossuaries were made of breakable material. Some no doubt fell and broke. After Jesus’ resurrection (and the Sabbath), people would have gone to make sure Uncle Ariel and Aunt Esther, who died several years ago, were still safe in their ossuaries. Some no doubt weren’t. And some might even have fallen together so that they had to take them out in order to sort their bones. The relatives are talking about them to someone when the local gossip monger walks by and hears PART of the conversation. He (or she) immediately thinks someone has been resurrected and spreads the word, with the story eventually changing until it sounds like people have not only been resurrected but seen walking around.
And as far as their walking around, who saw them and how was it verified? If a person’s had their thinking focused in that direction by gossip, especially if it’s been affected by the news of Jesus’ resurrection, they could easily think they’ve seen the people they want to see when in reality they haven’t.
If this did actually happen, why are NONE of these people mentioned anywhere else in scripture by anyone? And, again, why did they wait so long to come out?
“According to the passage, these people were resurrected and the tombs opened at Jesus’ death, but didn’t leave their tombs until Jesus’ resurrection. Why not? What did they do, sit there and twiddle there thumbs for over 24 hours even though they could have left? My belief it that this account is the result of glorified gossip.”
I think techtonic apologetics say that they were under the law and obeyed the sabbath.
On a more serious note, Jesus said in John 11v25, “I am the resurrection and the life.” If “the resurrection and life” is dead, then nobody could have been resurrected until he came back to life. If that passage had said these people were raised at or after Jesus’ resurrection, I wouldn’t question it. But since it says they rose at his death, I can’t believe it as written.
Likewise at the Transfiguration, Elijah and Moses are speaking with Jesus, however, theirs may be a rather special case in that Elijah was taken up into heaven while still alive and there were also traditions about the assumption of Moses’ body after death.
I’ve always thought this was an important point that tends to get submerged in the traditional interpretation of the Transfiguration, that Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets testifying to Jesus’ status. That’s true of course but it is interesting that as you say, neither Elijah nor Moses had traditional deaths. They were both righteous human beings given special status by God who transcended normal death. This plays into Mark’s overall “adoptionist” approach.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert