Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary
The Annual Sabbath and First of Sabbaths
"Luke 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.
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Now they rested the one Sabbath, [[according to the ordinance,]] 24:1 But upon the first of the Sabbaths, at deep dawn, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them" (DLT: torahtimes.org).
the one Sabbath: το μεν σαββατον. This was the annual Sabbath on the 15th of Nisan, Thursday that year. The ordinance to rest on this Sabbath is specified in Leviticus 23:7, however Codex Bezae omits the words in brackets. The annual Sabbath is called, "the Sabbath" in Lev. 23:11, 15, השבת. It was the annual shapattu that came on the 15th of the first month. Luke 23:56b actually goes with Luke 24:1. The words "the one" here translates the Greek article το which sometimes has a demonstrative meaning. In fact, BDAG 3rd edition, "1. this one, that one, the art. funct. as a demonstrative pronoun...b. ο μεν... ο δε the one...the other" (pg. 686).
comment: Chapter 23 is supposed to end at the "." after the word "ointments". The effect of properly ending chapter 23 after the word 'ointments' is that it ends the chronology of that chapter. Chapter 24 then beings a fresh chronological description of events jumping backward in time to reference their resting on the annual sabbath, and then progressing to the weekly sabbath after it. Luke 23:54 introduces the annual Sabbath in vs. 54, "But it was the day before a Sabbath", ην δε η ημερα προ σαββατου, (Codex Bezae), and 23:56a ends the chapter saying "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments" which of course, was after the annual Sabbath. However, Codex Bezae (D) omits the words "according to the commandment". The western text D is the best here. Perhaps the Byzantine Scribes edited the text to make it look like the weekly Sabbath, counting on people being ignorant of the ordinance to rest on the annual Sabbath? At all events, 23:56b goes with the next chapter, and introduces the two sabbaths, between which, the spices were bought and prepared, but which are not mentioned again since the reader will assume that they waited till after the annual Sabbath to do this.
comment: "23:56b-24:1. το μεν σαββατον ... τη δε μια των σαββατων—The μεν ... δε construction links these two days together and prompts consideration of a literary and theological link. (In Nestle-Aland25 23:56b begins a new paragraph that continues with 24:1-11; 23:56b is separated from 24:1 only by a comma. In Nestle-Aland26 and Nestle-Aland27 23:56b has been separated from Luke 24 and ends with a period.) The close relationship between 23:56b and 24:1 forms the transition from Luke 23 to Luke 24. The double use of σαββατον and the way Luke has phrased the sentence suggest theological implications as the narrative moves from one day to the next. This is why 23:56b is best considered part of Luke 24 and the resurrection narrative" (Concordia Commentary, Luke 9:51-24:53, Arthur A. Just Jr., 1997).
first...Sabbath: μια των σαββατων. The first of the seven Sabbaths after the annual Passover Sabbath which were counting during the 50 days till Shavuot (Pentecost), cf. Lev. 23:15. The Greek word σαββατων in this text means "Sabbaths", the same as everywhere else it occurs. Μια των σαββατων means "one of the sabbaths" in literal Greek. However, in Jewish Greek, which is influenced by the Hebrew idiom, the word μια may stand for "first" like the Hebrew word אחת. Further the word σαββατων besides being plural in Greek is a Hebrew loan word derived from שבתון, which means "sabbatism" or from the Hebrew word שבתות, which means "Sabbaths" in the plural sense. Evidently the later is meant:
אחת השבתות=one/first of the Sabbaths, and refers to Lev. 23:15, the annual seven sabbath counting between the Passover Sabbath and the Shavuot Sabbath.
comment: J.P. Green's The Interlinear Bible, vol. iv correctly begins the last chapter of Luke with verse 23:56b, "και το μεν σαββατον ησυχασαν [κατα την εντολην,] τη δε μια των σαββατων, ορθρου βαθεος ηλθον επι το μνημα...." (Luke 23:56b-24:1a). This is a typical μεν...δε construction, properly translated as, "And on the one hand, that Sabbath they rested [according to the commandment], but on the other hand, on the first of the Sabbaths they came upon the tomb...." It is a compare and contrast construction where "μεν ... δε" = "on the one hand...but on the other hand" (cf. Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar, pg. 672) and J.P. Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Luke 23:56-24:1. Luke's purpose is to contrast the two Sabbaths, the annual Sabbath on which the women rested (cf. Lev. 23:7) from the following weekly Sabbath, which was the first of the Sabbaths (cf. Lev. 23:15) in the annual seventh Sabbath counting. Evidently, Green was too hasty, because he forgot to insert the traditional "first day of the week" into the English side translation, which reads, "But on the indeed sabbath, while still very early, they came upon the tomb..." (a freudian slip?, hmm).
comment: The words "at deep dawn". "ορθρου βαθεως—The genitive signifies the period of time (the one known as "deep dawn") during which the action takes place. (BDF, §186 [2], calls this an unclassical usage for the point of time at which.) Perhaps the most illuminating comment on this phrase is the remark of B.B. Rogers in his commentary on Aristophanes, where he describes ορθρος βαθεως as "the dim twilight that precedes the dawn ... the thick dullness of night [that] has not yet yielded to the clear transparency of day" (The Wasps of Aristophanes, 32, n. 216)." (pg. 964, Concordia Commentary, Luke 24:1, Arthur A. Just Jr., 1997). This phrase is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew שחר, shakhar, in Hosea 6:3, which says that YHWH (Yeshua) goes forth at שחר in reference to the resurrection of Yeshua on the third day (cf. Hosea 6:1-2). The word means the hint of reddish light that precedes the dawn. It is derived from the same Hebrew word as the word for "black". It refers to the end of the third night hinting in the east while it is still the darkness of night everywhere else except the hint of the coming dawn in the east. This accords well with his crucifixion on Wednesday afternoon and resurrection on the Sabbath at the deep dawn, making exactly three days and three nights (cf. Matthew 12:40).
the spices: The question is often asked if the women were permitted to so this on the Sabbath according to the Law. According to Jewish interpretation, 'They make make ready [on the Sabbath] all that is needful for the dead, and anoint it and wash it, provided that they do not move any member of it. They may draw the mattress away from beneath it and let it lie on sand that it may be the longer preserved; they may bind up the chin, no in order to raise it but that it may not sink lower. So, too, if a rafter is broken they may support it with a bench or with the side-pieces of a bed that the break may grow no greater, but not in order to prop it up. They may not close a corpse's eyes on the Sabbath; nor may they do so on a weekday at the moment when the soul is departing; and he that closes the eyes [of the dying man] at the moment when the soul is departing, such a one is a shedder of blood.' (The Mishnah, Herbert Danby, 23.5) " Further, it is generally considered disrespectful to the dead to neglect anything involved in a proper burial, mourning, or last respects. How much work did they do? Yeshua was buried in a rich man's garden tomb on the Mount of Olives, and the women lived in Bethany, which was 1.5 miles from the garden. (DLC: torahtimes.org)
Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary: (http://www.torahtimes.org/translation/luk2401.html)
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