Texts in Conversation
Matthew describes an unusual earthquake and opened tombs at Jesus’s death. This recalls Zechariah, where an earthquake marks God’s appearance with holy figures. Zechariah has no resurrection, but its language shapes Matthew’s story.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Zechariah 14:4
Septuagint
3 And the Lord shall go forth, and fight with those Gentiles as when he fought in the day of war. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall split apart, half of it toward the east and half of it toward the west, a very great division; and half the mountain shall lean to the north, and half of it to the south. 5 And the valley of my mountains shall be closed up, and the valley of the mountains shall be joined on to Azal, and shall be blocked up as it was blocked up in the days of the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him. 6 In that day there shall be no light, and cold and frost;
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 27:51
New Testament
51 Just then the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks were split apart. 52 And tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had died were raised. 53 (They came out of the tombs after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.) 54 Now when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were extremely terrified and said, “Truly this one was God’s Son!”
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Despite the parallel between Ezekiel 37:12 and Matthew 27:52, there is another Scripture that lays claim to bear directly on our text: Zechariah 14:4-5. The affinity between the two passages has probably gone largely unnoticed because, in the Christian tradition, Zechariah 14:4-5 has not been interpreted as an account of the resurrection ... Such an interpretation gains some support by (1) the Targum on Zechariah 14:3-5: the passage is introduced with God blowing the trumpet ten times to announce the resurrection of the dead ... later rabbinic uses of Zechariah 14:5 the "holy ones" of Zechariah are more than once identified not with the angels but with the ancient saints, specifically the prophets (for example, Midr. Rabbah on Song of Songs 4.11.1) ... Once Zechariah 14:4-5 LXX is read as a prophecy of the resurrection, its relation to Matthew 27:51-53 becomes manifest. In both texts (1) a resurrection of the dead takes place immediately outside of Jerusalem (contrast Ezekiel 37, where the resurrection takes places in the Diaspora); (2) there is an earthquake; (3) the verb schizo is used in the passive, in connection with a mountain (Zechariah) or rocks (Matthew); and (4) the resurrected ones are called hoi hagioi. These parallels are sufficient to permit the conclusion that Matt. 27:51-53 is based in part upon Zechariah 14:4-5 and not, as Senior holds, solely upon Ezekiel 37 ..."
Dale C. Allison, The End of the Ages Has Come: An Early Interpretation of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 44.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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