p. 557 | Note on Matt. 28:1 by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 14, 1882

Note on Matt. 28:1.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

"IN 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." Some difficulty has been experienced in harmonizing this verse with the account given by the other evangelists. Luke says it was on "the first day of the week, very early in the morning," and Mark says: "And when the Sabbath was past, . . . . . very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun." There is really no difference in the accounts, but the translation of Matt. 28:1 is misleading. Clarke says: "After the end of the week; this is the translation given by several eminent critics; and in this way the word opse is used by the most eminent Greek writers." The "Speakers' Commentary" says: "The rendering, after the Sabbath, or at a late hour after the Sabbath, is fully justified by quotations from Hellenistic writers, and is adopted by Fritzsche, Ewald, and Dr. Wette. The holy women left their home at the first dawn of day, nearly twelve hours after the close of the Sabbath." John says: "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark." It appears from this that she reached the sepulcher before the rest of the women. John speaks only of her coming; the other evangelists relate the coming of the women as a whole.

E. J. W.