“And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.”
Matthew 28:4 — Greek Interlinear
Church Fathers on Matthew 28:4
After the mockings and scourgings, after the mingled dr aug hts of vinegar and gall, the pains of the cross, and the wounds, and finally after death itself and Hades, there rose again from the grave a renewed flesh, there returned from obstruction a hidden life, health chained up in death broke forth, with fresh beauty from its ruin.
Concerning the hour when the women came to the sepulchre there arises a question not to be overlooked. Matthew here says, 'On the evening of the Sabbath.' What then means that of Mark, 'Very early in the morning, the first day of the week?' [Mark 16:2]
Otherwise; It may be understood that they began to come in the evening, but that it was the dawn of the first day of the week when they reached the sepulchre; that is, that they prepared the spices for anointing the Lord’s body in the evening, but that they took them to the sepulchre in the morning. This has been so shortly described by Matthew, that it is not quite clear in his account, but the other Evangelists give the order more distinctly. The Lord was buried on the…