Note 54 — Chapter IV · DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

Thus however, in consistency, it is necessary to solve the second contradiction which exists between the two intermediate Evangelists unitedly and the fourth, namely, that according to the latter Jesus was embalmed with a hundred weight of ointment before being laid in the grave, while according to the former the embalming was deferred until after the sabbath. But as far as the quantity was concerned, the hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes were more than enough: that which was wanting, and had to be supplied after the sabbath, could only relate to the manner, i.e. that the spices had not yet been applied to the body in the right way—because the process had been interrupted by the arrival of the sabbath.54 But, if we listen to John, the interment of Jesus on the evening of his death was performed καθὼς ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐνταφιάζειν, as the manner of the Jews is to bury, i.e. ritè, in due form, the corpse being wound in the linen clothes ὀθόνια with the spices μετὰ τῶν ἀρωμάτων (v. 40), which constituted the whole of Jewish embalming, so that according to John nothing was wanting in relation to the manner;55 not to mention that if the women, as Mark and Luke state, bought fresh spices and placed them in readiness, the embalming of Nicodemus must have been defective as to quantity also. Thus in the burial of Jesus as narrated by John nothing objective was wanting: nevertheless, it has been maintained that subjectively, as regarded the women, it had not been performed, i.e. they were ignorant that Jesus had already been embalmed by Nicodemus and Joseph.56 One is astonished that such a position can be advanced, since the synoptists expressly state that the women were present at the interment of Jesus, and beheld, not merely the place (ποῦ τίθεται, Mark), but also the manner in which he was interred (ὡς ἐτέθη, Luke).