"high-day,"[1338] the chief priests and Pharisees came in a
body to Pilate, saying: "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while
he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore
that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples
come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen
from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first." It is
evident that the most inveterate of the human enemies of Christ
remembered His predictions of an assured resurrection on the third day
after His death. Pilate answered with terse assent: "Ye have a watch: go
your way, make it as sure as ye can." So the chief priests and Pharisees
satisfied themselves that the sepulchre was secure by seeing that the
official seal was affixed at the junction of the great stone and the
portal, and that an armed guard was placed in charge.

NOTES TO CHAPTER 35.

1. Simon the Cyrenian.--Simon, upon whom the cross of Jesus was laid,
was a member of the Jewish colony in northern Africa, which had been
established nearly three centuries before the birth of Christ by
Ptolemeus Lagi, who transported thither great numbers of Jews from
Palestine (Josephus, Antiquities, xii, chap. 1). Cyrene, the home of
Simon, was in the province of Libya; its site is within the present
boundaries of Tunis. That the African Jews were numerous and influential
is evidenced by the fact that they maintained a synagog in Jerusalem
(Acts 6:9) for the accommodation of such of their number as visited the
city. Rufus and his mother are mentioned in friendly reference by Paul
over a quarter of a century after the death of Christ (Romans 16:13). If
this Rufus be one of the sons of Simon named by Mark (15:21), as
tradition indicates, it is probable that Simon's family was prominently
identified with the Primitive Church. As to whether Simon had become a
disciple before the crucifixion, or was converted through his compulsory
service in bearing the Lord's cross, or became a member of the Church at
a later date, we are not definitely told.

2. Christ's Words to the Daughters of Jerusalem.--"The time would come,
when the Old Testament curse of barrenness (Hosea 9:14) would be coveted
as a blessing. To show the fulfilment of this prophetic lament of Jesus
it is not necessary to recall the harrowing details recorded by Josephus
(Wars, vi, 3:4), when a frenzied mother roasted her own child, and in
the mockery of desp