Now late on sabbath, as it was the dusk of the next day after sabbath, came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary to look at the sepulchre.
The first verse of Matthew 28 is a hinge: the Sabbath closes, and two women who had watched Jesus die walk back to the grave. Their errand looks small. Yet the wording of the verse sets the order of everything that follows, and commentators have long argued over it.
The ESV reads "toward the dawn of the first day," which sounds like sunrise. Older translations read "late on the sabbath," and the Greek word behind "dawn" does not settle it.
In Matthew 28:1 the old and common mistake appears again. It has caused great confusion in putting the facts of the resurrection in order. The word epiphōskein fits the dusk just as well as the dawn. Only the context decides which is meant. The Jewish day began with the evening. Here it is certainly the dusk, because the dawn of the first day could not be called "late on the sabbath." The women came to the tomb on Saturday evening, as here, and again early on Sunday morning.
Commentators differ here. Many read verse 1 as a visit on Saturday evening.
The Jewish day ended at sunset. Their devotion was such that as soon as the sabbath was over they were on their way to the grave. It is not easy to piece together the details the four Gospel writers give us into one connected story. But it seems that the two Marys made this special visit, then returned at daybreak with Salome and perhaps others, bringing spices for embalming. It seems that what verses 2–4 record took place between the two visits. Whatever the order, it is clear that by sunrise on the first day of the week Christ was risen.
Another writer sees love that could not stay away, and only one visit:
The women could not stay away. They overcame all fear and went out to the tomb once more… Some have thought of two visits these women made, one on the evening and the other in the early morning. This is not likely. The time marked out is the dawning of the first day of the week. The first day of the week began after sundown on the Sabbath. It is quite correct to translate "after the Sabbath."
Matthew says nothing about spices in this verse. On the two-visit reading, they came only to look. Seeing the grave twice, evening and morning, gave them full certainty.
The sabbath ended — Saturday evening, as we reckon it — and the two Marys come to see the tomb. At that moment that was all they did… By their visit the evening before, and in the morning when the angel spoke to them, the women received full assurance of faith in the fact of His resurrection.
The men had scattered. The women had not.
The women stood by the cross when all the men who had declared their devotion to Him had run away, except John. The women were the last at His tomb on the night He died and the first there on the morning He rose. He showed Himself alive to them before any of the men knew He had risen. Mary Magdalene was the chief among those women, and the first to see Him.
Yet love is not the same as faith.
The women from Galilee visited the tomb with deep affection… What embalmed His body was more than spices and ointments. It was love and zeal, earnestness and tears… All this was gracious affection. Yet with all of it they were unbelieving. Their hearts were full of Him, but they had not taken in the great fact of His victory for them.
The verse marks a boundary between two days, and writers see more than a calendar note in it.
In Matthew 28:1 the sabbath ends and the first day of the week begins to dawn. It was then that the angel of the Lord said, "He is risen." So in Mark 16:1, "When the Sabbath was past," the glory of the resurrection burst out at once. The shadow of the Sabbath passed over the tomb of Jesus and disappeared; it vanished before the glory of the risen Son of God. It is very striking that Jesus stayed in the silent tomb until the Sabbath had fully ended.
- Dusk or dawn. The word for "dawn" can mean evening twilight as well as morning light. The Jewish day began at sunset, so many readers take the verse to mean Saturday evening.
- One visit or two. Commentators differ. Some see two visits, one to look and one with spices; others see a single visit at daybreak.
- Only to look. Matthew names no errand but seeing the tomb. That plain look, evening and morning, gave the women settled faith that He had risen.
- Love first. They were last at the tomb the night He died and first there when He rose. Their love was real, but faith in His victory had not come yet.
- A day ends, a day begins. He stayed in the tomb until the sabbath had fully ended. Then the shadow passed, and the glory of the risen Son broke out on the first day of the week.
And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of [the] Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.