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Culture Documents
1. The place. This curtain is either the one which hung in front of the
Holy Place (Ex 26:36-37), or the one which divided the Holy Place from the Most
Holy Place (Ex 26:31-35). As that passage shows, both were made of the same
material. Matthew does not clearly specify which curtain is meant. Good
arguments can be advanced for each choice (Gundry, 575; Carson, 580). Given
the NT's theological reflection on the event (notably Heb 6:19-20; 9:11-28;
10:19-22), I conclude that the inner curtain is meant. For some interesting parallel
accounts in Jewish literature, see Hugh Montefiore, Josephus and the New
Testament, 16-22.
2. The meaning. Matthew's word order is that the curtain "was torn from
top to bottom in two" (contrast the order in NIV). He thus emphasizes both that
the curtain was completely severed, and that this was God's action. What is God
declaring?
b. The end of Mosaic ceremonial. Jesus has taught that his coming
makes OT ceremonial obsolete - without abrogating the underlying moral law (see
comments on 15:1-20). Furthermore, Jesus has prophesied the destruction of the
temple. This is to come about, not only in judgment upon Israel but also as a
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visible demonstration that the temple ritual is no longer needed. The death of
Jesus makes it obsolete. The tearing of the curtain symbolizes the destroying of
the whole temple of which the curtain is a part. See further Carson, 580-81.
1. The language. Verses 51-53 are a single sentence in the Greek text (in
NIV the one sentence becomes four). The construction is paratactic (the clauses
stand beside each other) rather than hypotactic (where some clauses stand under
others). As is common in parataxis, the clauses are joined by the conjunction
"and" (kai): "And behold the curtain of the temple was torn..., and the earth
shook, and the rocks split, and the tombs broke open and the bodies of
many...were raised to life, and having come out of the tombs after his resurrection
they went into the holy city...." This structure connects these events in the closest
way. The theological upheaval reflected in the tearing of the curtain, finds a
geological counterpart in the quaking of the earth and the splitting of the rocks.
The immediate purpose of the latter is to break open the tombs and to set their
occupants free. John Wenham makes the reasonable suggestion (adopted by
Carson, 581) that a period be placed after the words "broke open." Given the
paratactic structure of 27:51-53, a new sentence may just as appropriately begin
with "and the bodies" as with "The tombs" (cf. NIV). If we adopt Wenham's
punctuation, the raising of the saints is more closely associated with what follows
(v. 53) than with what precedes (vv. 51b-52a), and we can more readily conclude
that the "raising" of the saints (not just their emergence from the tombs and their
appearances) occurs after Jesus' resurrection (he remains the "firstfruits," 1 Cor
15:20- 23). V. 53 is better rendered in RSV ("and coming out of the tombs after
his resurrection they went...") than in NIV ("They came out of the tombs, and after
Jesus' resurrection they went...").
on Jesus' work as much as later believers (Rom 3:25-26). More generally the
promise for believers is that by virtue of Christ's victory over Sin and Death, those
who die in him shall at his Return be raised from the dead and be given bodies like
his own glorious body (Phil 3:20-21; 1 Cor 15). Mt 27:52-53 foreshadows that
great event.
1. Their identity. Among the "many women" at the cross were "Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's
sons." Joining this information to that of Mk 15:40 and Jn 19:25, I conclude (i)
that "Mary the mother of James and Joseph" is Jesus' mother (cf. 13:55; Jn 19:25),
and (ii) that "the mother of Zebedee's sons" is named Salome (Mk 15:40) and is
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the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus (cf. Jn 19:25; and comments on Mt 20:20).
See further Carson, 583.