Mark 15:46

And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(46) He bought fine linen.—Better, a fine linen sheet. The word is the same as in Matthew 27:59. The fact that it was bought just before the Sabbath began is peculiar to St. Mark.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:42-47 We are here attending the burial of our Lord Jesus. Oh that we may by grace be planted in the likeness of it! Joseph of Arimathea was one who waited for the kingdom of God. Those who hope for a share in its privileges, must own Christ's cause, when it seems to be crushed. This man God raised up for his service. There was a special providence, that Pilate should be so strict in his inquiry, that there might be no pretence to say Jesus was alive. Pilate gave Joseph leave to take down the body, and do what he pleased with it. Some of the women beheld where Jesus was laid, that they might come after the sabbath to anoint the dead body, because they had not time to do it before. Special notice was taken of Christ's sepulchre, because he was to rise again. And he will not forsake those who trust in him, and call upon him. Death, deprived of its sting, will soon end the believer's sorrows, as it ended those of the Saviour.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When he knew it of the centurion - Being informed by the centurion of the fact that he was dead. The centurion had charge of the soldiers who watched him, and could therefore give correct information.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 15:38-47. Signs and Circumstances Following the Death of the Lord Jesus.—He Is Taken Down from the Cross and Buried—The Sepulchre Is Guarded. ( = Mt 27:51-66; Lu 23:45, 47-56; Joh 19:31-42).

See on [1520]Mt 27:51-56; and [1521]Joh 19:31-42.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 15:42"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he bought fine linen,.... That is, Joseph, as is expressed in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions; which, when he had done, as is highly probable, in the city of Jerusalem, he went to Mount Calvary,

and took him down; took the body of Christ down from the cross; though, no doubt, with the assistance of others, or by others, and not he himself, at least not alone:

and wrapped him in the linen; wound him up in it, as was the manner of the Jews; See Gill on Matthew 27:59;

and laid him in a sepulchre, which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre; See Gill on Matthew 27:60.

Geneva Study Bible

And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 15:46. ἀγοράσας, having purchased linen; therefore purchases could be made. This word, and the reason given for Joseph’s haste (Mark 15:42), have, not without a show of reason, been regarded as unintentional evidence in favour of the Johannine Chronology of the Passion. So Meyer, Weiss, and Holtzmann.—καθελὼν: καθαιρεῖν was the technical term for taking down from the cross. Proofs in Elsner, Raphel, Kypke, and Loesner.—ἐνείλησεν: here only in N.T.—ἐν μνημείῳ (μνήματι, [161] [162]): no indication in Mk. as in Mt. that it was new, and Joseph’s own.

[161] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[162] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

46. And he bought fine linen] Thus successful, Joseph purchased fine (probably white) linen, the original word for which has been already explained in the note on ch. Mark 14:51, and then he repaired to Golgotha, where he was joined by Nicodemus, formerly a secret disciple like himself, but whom the Cross had emboldened to come forward and bring a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight (John 19:39), to do honour to the Lord of life.

wrapped him in the linen] Thus assisted, Joseph took down the Holy Body, laid it in the fine linen, sprinkled the myrrh and aloes amongst the folds, and wound them round the wounded Limbs.

a sepulchre] He then conveyed the Body to a new Tomb, wherein as yet no man had ever been laid, and which he had hewn out of the limestone rock in a garden he possessed hard by Golgotha (John 19:41). He was anxious probably himself to be buried there in the near precincts of the Holy City. Here now they laid the Holy Body in a niche in the rock, and

rolled a stone] of large size (Matthew 27:60) to the horizontal entrance, while

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 46. - And he bought a linen cloth (σινδόνα). This was a fine linen garment, or shroud, something like that in which the young man fled the night before (Mark 14:51, 52). And taking him down (καθελὼν αὐτὸν). It appears from these words that Joseph himself, assisted probably by Nicodemus and others, actually took the body of our Lord down from the cross. wrapped the sindon round him, and laid him in his own new tomb, which had been hewn out of the rock. The word rendered "tomb" is μνημεῖον, as being intended to be a memorial of the departed. And he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. The door here means "the opening," or "entrance." Thus, while our Lord died with the wicked, he was with the rich in his death (Isaiah 53:9). Mark 15:46

Vincent's Word Studies

Stone

See on Matthew 27:60.