Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 28:11-13

"Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept." — Matthew 28:11-13 (ASV)

Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

You must often have noticed what a mixture of falsehood this was. "You were asleep; you are sure that you were asleep?" "Yes."

"Yet you say that the disciples came; you knew they were the disciples though you were asleep. And they stole him away? You know how they did it, you can describe the stealthy way in which they took away the body of Jesus; you were the witnesses of it, although you were sound asleep all the while."

Go, sirs, it is worse than trifling to listen to the lying of a witness who begins by swearing that he was fast asleep all the time. Yet this was the tale that the soldiers were bribed to tell, and many a worse lie than this has been told to try to discredit the truth of God.

The modern philosophy which is thrust forward to cast a slur upon the great truths of revelation, is no more worthy of credence than this lie put into the mouths of the soldiers; yet common report gives it currency, and among a certain clique it pays. But the soldiers naturally said, "We shall be put to death for sleeping while on duty;" so the chief priests said.