Mark 15:46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

Mark 15:46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

What does Joseph buy?

“Joseph bought a linen cloth…” (Mark 15:46).

•        σινδόνα (sindona) (“linen cloth”)

o  “Greek sindōn refers to linen cloth of fine quality. The young man who fled naked on the night of Jesus’ arrest had worn only a linen tunic or sheet (Mk. 14:51f). In preparation for His burial, Jesus’ body was wrapped in a shroud of this material (Mt. 27:59; Mk. 15:46; Lk. 23:53).”

Geoffrey Bromiley, ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised, vol. 3, 140.

What does Joseph do?

“Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb…” (Mark 15:46).

•        What does Isaiah 53:9 reveal about Messiah’s burial?

o  “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth” (Isaiah 53:9).

Where does Joseph lay Jesus?

“…laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock…” (Mark 15:46).

•        Is the tomb new?

o  “And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away” (Matt 27:59-60).

•        What is prophesied concerning Yahweh’s Holy One?

o  “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay” (Psalm 16:10).

•        ἦν λελατομημένον (ēn lelatomēmenon) 

    (“had been hewn out in the rock”)

o  Pluperfect Periphrastic

ἦν 3S Imperfect Active Indicative of εἰμί

λελατομημένον Neuter Nominative Singular Perfect Middle/Passive Participle of λατομέω

 “Periphrastic:

a. Definition

An anarthrous participle can be used with a verb of being (such as εἰμί or ὑπάρχω) to form a finite verbal idea. This participle is called periphrastic because it is a round-about­ way of saying what could be expressed by a single verb. As such, it more naturally corresponds to English: ἦν ἐσθίων means he was eating, just as ἤσθιεν does. This usage is common with the present participle and perfect participle, but not with other tenses.

b. Structure and Semantics

First, regarding semantics, in classical Greek this construction was used to highlight aspectual force. By the Hellenistic era, and particularly in the NT, such emphasis is often, if not usually, lost.

Second, as to structure, the following should be noted. The participle is almost always nominative case and usually follows the verb. And, as Dana-Mantey succinctly stated long ago,

This mode of expression, common to all languages, is extensively employed in Greek. It occurs in all the voices and tenses, though rare in the aorist.… Certain tense forms in Greek were expressed exclusively by the periphrastic construction; namely, the perfect middle-passive subjunctive and optative. As the finite verb, εἰμί is generally used, though also γίνομαι and ὑπάρχω, and possibly ἔχω in the perfect (cf. Lk. 14:18; 19:20) and pluperfect (Lk. 13:6). The periphrastic imperfect is the form most common in the New Testament.

Finally, various verb-participle combinations are used to constitute a single finite verb tense, as noted in the following table.”

Finite Verb          +       Participle      = Finite        (of εἰμί)                                                Tense                                                              Equivalent

Present                +      Present           = Present Imperfect            +      Present           = Imperfect Future                 +      Present           = Future Present                +      Perfect           = Perfect Imperfect           +     Perfect           = Pluperfect

Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 647.

What does Joseph roll against the entrance of the tomb?

“…and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb” (Mark 15:46).

•        Who else secures the tomb on the following day?

o   Matt. 27:62   Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,  63 and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘ After three days I am to rise again.’  64 “Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”  65 Pilate said to them, “You have a  guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.”  66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with  the guard they set a  seal on the stone.

Father,

You are infinite, sovereign and all-powerful. Many plans are in a man’s heart, but Your counsel will stand. All that You plan, You do. Your power is eternal and Your purposes are unthwartable. You know the beginning and the end. And You watch over Your Word to fulfill it, just as it has been written. Though wicked men thought to prevail in the dark hour of the Messiah’s death, You accomplished Your eternal purposes through even the evil that they intended. And not one of Your promises failed or will fail.

As You ordained, Jesus became the great High Priest through Whom You would reconcile Your sinful people to Yourself. In order to represent us, He became like us. Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, identified with sinners and became the curse of sin, though He Himself committed no sin. Jesus became the curse of sin and bore the penalty of our sin, which is death.

Jesus, Your Son, eternal and divine, took the form of sinful man in order to overcome the presence, power and penalty of sin, which is death. We were captives of sin, the devil and death. Then Jesus died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to You, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. Those who are baptized into the death of Jesus are raised in the power of His resurrection.

The Son of God became the Son of Man and came in the flesh. And just as He foretold according to Your Word, He died and was buried. And just as You promised, You did not allow Him to see decay. You laid Him in a new tomb, and on the third day, You raised Him from the dead. After His resurrection, Jesus was seen by all the apostles and over 500 witnesses. And after forty days, Jesus ascended and sat down at Your right hand.

Your promises never fail because You are true. And just as You promised, You sent the Holy Spirit through Whom You give us new life, and that life is in Jesus. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are Your children, and if children, heirs also, Your heirs and fellow heirs with Jesus Messiah, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, You did: sending Your own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, You condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

Glory and thanks to You and to Your Son, Yeshua the Messiah!

In Yeshua's Name, Amen.