John 19:42

42 So because of the Jewish ¹day of Preparation, ²since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

John 19:42 Meaning and Commentary

John 19:42

There laid they Jesus therefore
Because it was a new sepulchre, and no man had been ever laid there before; and some other reasons are added:

because of the Jews' preparation day;
either for the Chagigah, or the sabbath, which was just at hand; the Persic version reads, "the night of the sabbath": for this reason, they could not dig a grave purposely for him; for it was forbidden on feast days; and therefore they put him into a tomb ready made: the canon runs ^F9,

``they may not dig pits, (twrbqw) , "nor graves", on a solemn feast day.''

The former of these, the commentators say ^F11, are graves dug in the earth, and the latter edifices built over graves; and for the same reason, because it was such a day, they did not take his body to any of their houses, and embalm and anoint it, as they otherwise would have done; but this being a solemn day, and the sabbath drawing on apace, they hastened the interment, and took the most opportune place that offered:

for the sepulchre was nigh at hand;
some say about an hundred and eight feet from the cross, and others an hundred and thirty feet, though some say but fifty or sixty, at furthest it was not far off.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Misn. Moed Katon, c. 1. sect. 6.
F11 Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

John 19:42 In-Context

40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Cross References

• 1. ver. 14, 31
• 2. ver. 41