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indeed justly: for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, " Verily I say " unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in "paradise." Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, "Woman, behold "thy son!" Then saith he to the disciple, "Behold thy mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Time.

A. D. 33.

noon on the

C

Now from the sixth hour there From noon to was darkness over all the land unto the Sd hour the ninth hour. And about the in the after- ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud day of cruci- voice, saying, " Eli, Eli, lama safixion. "bachthani?" that is to say, " My "God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, 'This man calleth for Elias. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, "I thirst." Now there was

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* In Hades, the receptacle of departed spirits, or the intermediate state between death and the final judgment.

► Likewise called Alpheus, the father of St. James the less, and of St. Matthew.

St. John the Evangelist.

d A miraculous darkness from noon to three o'clock. These words are the beginning of Psalm xxii.

f Psalm lxix. 21.

set a vessel full of vinegar: and straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, said, " Father, into thy hands I com" mend my spirit;" and having said thus, he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

d

140. What happened at Jesus death. Who were present during the crucifixion. The remaining transactions of the day.

AND, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now

a Vinegar had been for many ages the common drink of the lower people of the East, (Ruth ii. 14;) and as it was at that time the common drink of the Roman soldiers, a vessel was placed near at hand for their use.

▸ Either upon the stalk of the hyssop, or a reed with a bunch of hyssop at the top.

• Psalm xxxi. 5.

d He expired.

• A curtain of rich tapestry that separated the sanctuary from the temple-wall, signifying that Christ by his death had procured for us an entrance into the holy of holies, or heaven. Heb. x. 20.

↑ A general name for Christians: most probably some of those who had believed in Christ, such as old Simeon; and others whose persons were known in the city.

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when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.

Time.

A. D. 33. Between the third and

And all his acquaintance, and the women, stood afar off beholding

these things, among which was Mary sixth hour Magdalene, and Mary the mother of in the after- James and Joses, and the mother noon on the day of cruof Zebedee's children, which fol

cifixion. lowed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him; and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the

* The Roman officer (a Heathen) appointed with a guard of soldiers to attend his crucifixion, and see the sentence carried into execution.

Struck with the miraculous events that followed the crucifixion, and, overwhelmed with the evidence of the meekness and resignation of Christ under his load of sufferings, at once pronounced him the Messiah.

• Salome.

d Attended on him, and relieved his wants,

• An high day, because in the passover week. Levit. xxiii. 11, 15.

This was done to dispatch them, or at least to prevent any recovery.

other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

d

And now when the even was come, there came a rich man named Joseph, of Arimathea, Time. a city of the Jews: being a counA. D. 33. sellor; and he was a good man and The evening of the day a just: who also himself waited for of cruci- the kingdom of God: the same had fixion. not consented to the counsel and deed of them. Joseph being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, came

* The spear having pierced the membrane, containing the watery liquor that surrounds the heart. Thus the new covenant was notified like the old, both with water and blood. Heb. ix. 19. And it was done either to ascertain his death, or by way of insult.

► This proves him to have been the true Paschal Lamb, of which not a bone was broken. Num. ix. 12.

Zech. xii. 10.

d Probably very soon after our Lord expired on the cross, which was about three in the afternoon. A Jewish evening was reckoned from about that time, and lasted a considerable while after the sun was down.

e

• Probably a member of the Sanhedrim.

f Who was in expectation of the Messiah, and disposed to receive our blessed Lord as such.

and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus.* And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, hewn out of a rock wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day. And Joseph rolled a great stone unto the door of the sepulchre, and departed. And the women

e

* Criminals executed for treason were not allowed the rites of burial.

b Hence we may infer how grievous this punishment was, Pilate being surprized to hear our Saviour was dead in the evening, though he was crucified before noon.

A proof of Nicodemus' wealth, and of his great veneration for our Saviour. The ancient usage of the Jews at grand funerals was to lay the corpse in a bed filled with sweet odours and spices; 2 Chron. xvi. 14. which, or a part of which, were burned when it was buried. Ibid. xxi. 19. Jerem. xxxiv. 54. The same custom seems to have continued among them in the days of our Saviour.

The Jews of rank and opulence, agreeably to the prophecy of Isaiah liii 9.

• The Jewish law forbade that a dead body should remain all night upon the tree, (Deut. xvi. 23;) and more especially when so high a festival was approaching.

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