New World Translation
(Matthew
27:51-54)51 And, look! the curtain of the sanctuary was rent in two, from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rock-masses were split. 52 And the memorial tombs were opened and many bodies of the holy ones that had fallen asleep were raised up, 53 (and persons, coming out from among the memorial tombs after his being raised up, entered into the holy city,) and they became visible to many people. 54 But the army officer and those with him watching over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things happening, grew very much afraid, saying: “Certainly this was God’s Son.”“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” (Matthew 27: 51-53 NIV. emphasis mine)
On the surface this seems pretty straight forward. But this interpretation creates a problem. If this is true, we have a very odd scene where freshly resuscitated corpses are hanging around in or near their tombs for three days waiting for Jesus to rise from the dead. What were they doing during this time, twiddling their thumbs?
King James
“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."
This translation is interpreted as saying that the saints were not raised until afterJesus’ resurrection. Thus, they rose from the dead and went into the city on the same day. This conveniently solves the problem of hanging around in the cemetery with nothing to do, but is it accurate? Well, even Christian scholars are willing to acknowledge that the proper interpretation is that they rose at the point of Jesus’ death, nor afterwards .
As a dub I was taught the graves opened and the corpses were exposed, nothing more. I never noticed it said in brackets they entered the Holy City which they would have had to walk to!
