Matthew’s Curious Account: Opened Tombs and Resurrected Saints?

In Matthew’s record of the Lord’s crucifixion, details are given not found anywhere else in the NT: “…and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matt. 27:51b-53).¹ This passage raises some intriguing and challenging questions. Who were these saints? When did they rise: at the moment of Christ’s death, or after his resurrection? If at Christ’s death, where were they during the three-day interval? Having “appeared to many,” why is there no other report of this extraordinary occurrence? And what happened to these resurrected saints afterwards?

Preliminary Considerations

• Each NT author, according to his immediate purpose and targeted audience, engages in authorial selectivity— focusing at times on certain details ignored by others, or omitting particular elements highlighted by others. The information in over 250 verses is unique to Matthew. 
• Matthew is not a secular historian; he is an evangelist and theologian. His narrative reveals not only historical facts, but also sacred truths that yield spiritual insights.
• Matthew writes as an ethnic Jew to an ethnically Jewish audience, sharing familiarity with OT imagery, including apocalyptic language and messianic expectations.
• A major thrust of Matthew’s Gospel is portraying Jesus as the long-anticipated messianic king, ushering in the final dispensation of God’s redemptive scheme (cf. 3:2; 4:17; 6:33; 9:35; 12:28; 16:16-19, 28; etc.).²
• Matthew has penned this material as a Christian writing to fellow-Christians, approximately three-and-a-half decades after the fact. Other NT documents were produced in the meantime that may shed light on the text in question. 

Contextual Clues

While the splitting of the temple’s veil is recounted by Matthew (27:51a), Mark (15:38), and Luke (23:45), only Matthew mentions the earthquake, opened tombs, and rising saints. The verb schízō (to “divide” or “split”) appears twice in this passage, and of its eleven occurrences in the NT, this is the only time it is applied to rocks. Matthew’s unusual, somewhat perplexing description seems to indicate more than a simple documenting of historical facts. Earlier he reported the Lord’s prediction of Jerusalem’s destruction, where there is a subtle transition from plain discourse (24:4-26) to symbolism (vv. 27-28) to heavy apocalyptic imagery (vv. 29-31), back to lighter symbolism (vv. 32) and then more straightforward speech (vv. 33-35).³

Matthew is writing to an audience well acquainted with the OT—the book of Isaiah in particular (cf. Matt. 1:23; 3:3; 4:14-16; 8:17; 12:17-21; 13:14-15; 15:7-9; 21:4-5; 21:13; 24:29). In Isaiah 26:19 the prophecy is given: “Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.” Contextually this passage is addressed in the 8th century BC to a bewildered Jewish people about to lose their political independence and be exiled from their homeland. For all practical purposes they are a “dead” nation. But there is hope for the future and salvation for “the righteous nation which keeps the truth” (vv. 1-2). The wicked will be brought “down to the dust” (v. 5) and “ashamed” (v. 11); “They are dead, they will not live; They are deceased, they will not rise …” (v. 14). Conversely, the seemingly “dead” people of God “shall live … they shall arise” (v. 19). The prophecy concerns the raising up of a defeated nation as their enemies are cast down.

About a century later, during the Babylonian exile, Ezekiel sees a vision of dry bones coming to life and explains the meaning to the Jewish captives: “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,’ says the Lord” (Ezek. 37:12-14; cf. vv. 11, 21). This appears to be a reiteration of Isaiah’s prophecy.

Daniel, a contemporary of Ezekiel, also writes of this post-Babylonian-exile hope and extends it further to describe what God plans to do about six centuries afterwards in the days of the Roman Empire (cf. Dan. 2:28-45). Daniel’s messianic-age prophecy includes the following: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2).

While the NT consistently speaks of a futuristic resurrection of all who have died physically,⁴ the OT repeatedly employs “resurrection” imagery to offer hope of redemption to the defeated, dejected, downcast people of God. With this background in mind, how would Matthew’s contemporary Jewish readers have understood the unusual, enigmatic account of opened graves and resurrected saints? 

Unique Details of the Account

Although most English versions translate Matthew’s words in v. 51, “the earth shook” (ESV, NASB, NIV) or “the earth did quake” (ASV, KJV), this unlikely refers to the entire material planet. The term gē is employed elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel with various nuances, usually in reference to the land inhabited by the Jews (2:6, 20, 21; 4:15; 5:5;⁵ 9:26, 31; 14:34; 27:45), or the earth/land inclusive of its inhabitants (5:18; 6:10, 19; 9:6; 10:34; 11:25; 16:19; 17:25; 18:18, 19; 23:9, 35; 24:30, 35; 28:18).⁶ In the immediate context of Matt. 27, “there was darkness over all the land [gē]” (v. 45; also Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44), viz. the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem.

That an actual earthquake did occur is indicated by Matthew’s report of a seismós in v. 54, which is the typical word for “earthquake” (cf. 24:7; 28:2).⁷ However, when Matthew says the land “was shaken” (v. 51), the verb is seíō [to “shake” or “agitate”], used just two other times in Matthew’s Gospel, both in the sense of an emotional shaking of human hearts (Matt. 21:10; 28:4). Elsewhere in the NT, the only other usages of this verb are metaphorical (Heb. 12:26; Rev. 6:13).

The adjectival hágios appears twice in this passage, in reference to the “saints” [hágioi] (v. 52) and the “holy” [hágios] city (v. 53).⁸ At the time of Christ’s death and resurrection, the word “saints” (meaning “sanctified ones” or “holy ones”) could apply to old-covenant Israelites or patriarchs but is not used this way anywhere else by Matthew or the other Gospel writers. Rather, at the time of writing, this term was employed prolifically as a descriptive designation for disciples under Christ’s new covenant.⁹ The modifier “many” [pl. polloi] (vv. 52-53) simply denotes the large number of something with no implicit comparative or exclusionary contrast (cp. Matt. 20:28; 26:28; Luke 12:7).¹⁰

Matthew says they made their appearance in “the holy city.” When alluding to the literal geographical locality, Matthew’s ordinary reference is “Jerusalem” (2:1, 3; 3:5; 4:25; 5:35; 15:1; 16:21; 20:17, 18; 21:1, 10; 23:37) or simply “the city” (21:17, 18; 26:18; 28:11; cf. 5:35; 21:10). Just one other time does he employ the words “the holy city,” in the story of Jesus’ temptation (4:5) in an exceptional and what appears to be visionary experience (cp. Ezek. 8:1-3; 11:24). The parallel account in Luke 4:9 uses the proper name “Jerusalem.” 

What makes this even more intriguing is that the expression “the holy city” does not occur in any other NT document except the highly symbolic Apocalypse of John, wherein it occurs four times (Rev. 11:2; 21:2, 10; 22:19) and is applied to the “new Jerusalem” (21:2, 10). Contextually this is the community of the saved (the church) under Christ’s new covenant (cf. Heb. 12:22-24), which, incidentally, was foretold by Jesus and recorded in Matthew’s Gospel (16:18-19) [see New Jerusalem].

When Matthew states that they “appeared” to many, this is the only time in his Gospel he employs the verbal emphanízō. Elsewhere in the NT this word typically conveys the sense of “make known” (John 14:21, 22; Acts 23:15, 22; 24:1; 25:2, 15). In Hebrews it describes Christ’s “appearing” in heaven in God’s presence (Heb. 9:24), although a closer parallel to Matthew’s usage is found in Heb. 11:14. The ancient heroes of faith anticipated “the city … whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10), and “declare plainly [emphanízō, ‘make it manifest’ (ASV), ‘make it clear’ (ESV)] that they seek a homeland” (v. 14), while “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (v. 16). The idea here of “declaring plainly” or “making known” is essentially a public confession of faith (see Heb. 3:1; 4:14; 10:23; cf. 2 Cor. 9:13; 1 Tim. 6:12).

Making Sense of it All

The confusion we might feel as we read Matthew’s account is comparable to a 1st-century Jewish Christian trying to decipher a 21st-century North American English text. Our hypothetical document transported back in time could read: “My freshman year at university I was just getting my feet wet, but by the end of the first semester I was barely keeping my head above the water!” Unfamiliar with the modern context, institutions, terminology, and idioms, a literal interpretation would almost certainly leave the uninformed reader with a distorted perception.

Viewing Matthew’s text as a simple historical narrative from a modern-day, westernized perspective makes it hard to process and impossible to confirm beyond the text itself. But by reading the passage through the informed lenses of Matthew’s original audience (in the anxious environment of the first Jewish-Roman war), we recognize earthquakes and breaking of rocks as apocalyptic representations of the awe-inspiring nature of God’s mighty power (cf. Psa. 18:7; 78:15; Isa. 13:13; 48:21; Joel 2:10; 3:16; Nah. 1:6; Hag. 2:6, 21). The opening of graves and resurrected bodies are familiar images of the redemption of God’s dispirited people (cf. Isa. 26:19; Ezek. 37:12-14; Dan. 12:2).¹¹ “Saints” are understood as new-covenant followers of Jesus Christ, and “the holy city” is a metaphoric picture of the Lord’s church and spiritual kingdom.

Matthew’s enigmatic account vividly conveys a fundamental truth consistently taught throughout the NT, viz. the theological significance of the earth-shattering events of Christ’s death and resurrection. When Jesus “yielded up his spirit,” the devil had not won. Rather, divine power is demonstrated, especially “after His resurrection,” as those who are dead in sin are raised to walk in newness of life and join the citizens of the heavenly city (note Rom. 6:3-5; Eph. 2:1-5; 5:14; Phil. 3:20-21; Col. 2:13; Heb. 12:22-29).

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are from the NKJV.

     ² Note the repeated allusions to Jesus the Christ as “the Son of David” (1:1, 20; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30, 31; 21:9, 15; 22:41-42; cf. 2:2; 21:5) and the prolific use of the verbal plēróō [“fulfill”] (1:22; 2:15, 17, 23; 4:14; 5:17-18; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; 26:54, 56; 27:9, 35). See K. L. Moore, “The Kingdom of God” Part 1 and Part 3.

     ³ See K. L. Moore, “Matthew 24: the End of the World or Jerusalem’s Fall?” <Link>.

     ⁴ Matt. 22:29-32; Luke 20:37-38; John 6:39-40, 44, 54; 11:25; Acts 4:2; 17:18; 23:6; 24:15; Rom. 8:11, 23; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:12-57; 2 Cor. 4:14; 5:1-5; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Tim. 2:18; Heb. 6:2; Rev. 20:4-6, 13.

      ⁵ Matt. 5:5 is a quote from Psa. 37:11, which itself is in the context of vv. 3, 9, 22, 29, 34. See K. L. Moore, “The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth” <Link>.

      ⁶ Sometimes gē is used as a metonymy for the human inhabitants of the land/earth (5:13) or the inhabitants of another land for comparison (10:15; 11:24; 12:42), or simply the ground or soil (10:29; 12:40; 15:35; 25:18, 25), representing human hearts in the parable of the sower (13:5, 8, 23). The statement in 5:35 may be a reference to the entire earth, albeit in a figurative sense.

    ⁷ See also Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11; Acts 16:26. The same word is used once by Matthew to describe the “tempest” of the sea (8:24), and multiple times symbolically in the book of Revelation (6:12; 8:5; 11:13, 19; 16:18).

     ⁸ Elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel this descriptive term is applied to God’s Spirit (1:18, 20; 3:11; 12:32; 28:19), the sacred things of God (7:6), and the holy temple (24:15); also, according to a variant reading in the Byzantine Majority Text, the holy angels (25:31).

     ⁹ Acts 9:13, 32, 41; 26:10; Rom. 1:7; 8:27; 12:13; 15:25, 26, 31; 16:2, 15; 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:1, 2; 14:33; 16:1, 15; 2 Cor. 1:1; 8:4; 9:1, 12; 13:12; Eph. 1:1, 15, 18; 2:19; 3:8, 18; 4:12; 5:3; 6:18; Phil. 1:1; 4:21, 22; Col. 1:2, 4, 12, 26; 1 Thess. 3:13; 2 Thess. 1:10; 1 Tim. 5:10; Philem. 5, 7; Heb. 6:10; 13:24; Jude 3; Rev. 5:8; 8:3, 4; 11:18; 13:7, 10; 14:12; 16:6; 17:6; [18:20?]; 18:24; 19:8; 20:9; 22:21.

     ¹⁰ See K. L. Moore, “Did Jesus die for ‘many’ or for ‘all’?” <Link>. The term sóma is employed here with reference to the “bodies” of the saints (v. 52), which elsewhere in Matthew applies to the physical body, both living (6:25; 26:12) and dead (27:58, 59); the post-resurrection body (5:29-30); a dual reference to both the physical body and the post-resurrection body (10:28); the spiritually-illuminated person (6:22-23); and the symbolic body of Christ (26:26). Matt. 27:53 is the only occurrence of the noun égersis (“resurrection”) in the NT.

    ¹¹ D. A. Hatcher calls this “historicized apocalyptic” (Matthew 14–28 WBC [Dallas: Word Books, 1995]: 33b:851).

ADDENDUM: 

Here is a summary of the unusual features of this passage, indicating it may be something other than a straightforward historical narrative: (a) the only biblical record of these extraordinary details; (b) the verb seíō (“shake” or “agitate”) in v. 51 is applied to the earth/land [gē], while the other usages in Matthew refer to emotional disturbance (21:10; 28:4); (c) the verb schízō (“divide” or “split”) is applied to rocks, the only such usage of its eleven occurrences in the NT; (d) reference to the hágioi (“saints”), a term consistently applied to NT Christians and thus historically displaced; (e) reference to “the holy city” rather than the more common designation “Jerusalem”; (f) the lone occurrence of the verb emphanízō (“make manifest”) in the Synoptic Gospels; (g) the chronological uncertainty of events, as Jesus “yielded up his spirit” then “after His resurrection”; (h) the resurrection of Jesus is not reported by Matthew until chap. 28 (void of this information) but is mentioned here in the midst of the crucifixion narrative.

Related Posts: Matthew's Audience, Uniqueness of Mark's Gospel, The Resurrection of Jesus, Matthew's 'Two' vs Mark & Luke's 'One', Anticipating Christ's Return Part 1

Image credit: http://theancientbridge.com/2017/09/the-tombs-also-were-opened-matthew-27-in-its-jewish-context/