Matthew 27:52-53

[tanachanswers]

But keep in mind that other folks (the apostles) saw the OT saints in person. And this appearance was private. Jesus made a point to only show the few apostles.

They saw Iesus, but no one of importance saw the saints.
*(Mat 27:52 BBE) And the resting-places of the dead came open; and the bodies of a number of sleeping saints came to life;
(Mat 27:53 BBE) And coming out of their resting-places, after he had come again from the dead, they went into the holy town and were seen by a number of people.
*
This does not count as winesses in my book.

Now when the other saints were similarly risen as described by Mathew, they too could have been given the same private treatment, meaning that they appeared to some, even many Jews, but not to all, but appeared in private So this may be the reason why nobody else discusses it.

I’ve no idea what you are referencing.

now that many Jews followed Jesus, and it may be for this very reason.

I have no problem with this verse from Mathew. Seems to fit in with the whole picture.

And anytime you have 4 true testimonials of anything, you are going to get somethings that only one of them report.

I know of only one witness to the saints rising from the grave.

 

[Frankenfurter]

They saw Iesus, but no one of importance saw the saints…

According to the gospel of Matthew (and the others similarly)

17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

So Peter James and John all saw the saints. Then they ask about building a house for them. Which confirms what they thought about what they had seen.

This is important since it establishes Jesus fulfillment of Daniel 12:2. That Mathew records that more saints were resurrected adds to the fulfillment but is not required.

To the OP. Realize please that Mathew was written to convince Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. SO it makes sense that he includes this extra bit only in his.version. The other Gospels had a different audience (Romans, Greeks, Gentiles, All of Mankind, etc) and they were not concerned about proving the Jesus met the Jewish standard.

Many Jews had confused the concept of Messiah as being a political savior, with being the spiritual savior of all. So they looked for someone to rid them of Roman rule, and if Jesus was not going to do that they they rejected him. But in fact he did fulfill all of the prophesies regarding the Messiah including the raising of the OT saints as required by Daniel 12:2.

I propose that many Jews who saw the OT saints that Mathew described were convinced by this and is why we had so many Jews following Jesus as described in the Acts.

For all non-Jews though, this was not an issue for them so it did not get a lot of press.

 

[tanachanswers]

According to the gospel of Matthew (and the others similarly)

17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

So Peter James and John all saw the saints. Then they ask about building a house for them. Which confirms what they thought about what they had seen.;quote]

This was not a resurrection. At best, this was similar to angels visiting men on earth.

This is important since it establishes Jesus fulfillment of Daniel 12:2. That Mathew records that more saints were resurrected adds to the fulfillment but is not required.

 

[Frankenfurter]

This was not a resurrection. At best, this was similar to angels visiting men on earth.

That is not supported by the data. The Gospel clearly indicates that the three apostles witnessed to the saints being present, not an angel. We have many examples of angels appearing to compare this to. And quite obviously they do not to appear to be in eternal shame.

I realize this is a difficult passage (and the one the OP quotes) for some since it helps establish Jesus as the Messiah. Which of course is Mathew’s intention.

To the OP, please note that I am responding to a Jewish interpretation of your question. I doubt we are going to see someone suddenly accept Jesus as the Messiah due to my internet postings. But I hope you are getting the answer you looked for. This is a very very old issue but a central theme of the faith. Great question.

 

[Faith1960]

But we do have other places where this is mentioned, and by multiple authors. The account of the transfiguration describes two old testament saints being physically present with Jesus. So physical, that the apostles wanted to build a house for them.

So we can assume that the same way that Moses and Elijah were raised to be with Jesus at the transfiguration is the same way that Mathew describes for others too.

So we do have a witness to seeing the saints raised from the dead just as Mathew describes, and this witness is recorded by multiple Gospels.

What’s the Scripture for that?

 

[Faith1960]

According to the gospel of Matthew (and the others similarly)

17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

So Peter James and John all saw the saints. Then they ask about building a house for them. Which confirms what they thought about what they had seen.

This is important since it establishes Jesus fulfillment of Daniel 12:2. That Mathew records that more saints were resurrected adds to the fulfillment but is not required.

To the OP. Realize please that Mathew was written to convince Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. SO it makes sense that he includes this extra bit only in his.version. The other Gospels had a different audience (Romans, Greeks, Gentiles, All of Mankind, etc) and they were not concerned about proving the Jesus met the Jewish standard.

Many Jews had confused the concept of Messiah as being a political savior, with being the spiritual savior of all. So they looked for someone to rid them of Roman rule, and if Jesus was not going to do that they they rejected him. But in fact he did fulfill all of the prophesies regarding the Messiah including the raising of the OT saints as required by Daniel 12:2.

I propose that many Jews who saw the OT saints that Mathew described were convinced by this and is why we had so many Jews following Jesus as described in the Acts.

For all non-Jews though, this was not an issue for them so it did not get a lot of press.

Why wasn’t it written in non Christian sources, or was it?