When the even was come. This was what was called the first evening, the time between the ninth hour, or three o'clock, and sunset, and the great sabbath would shortly be beginning. It was the Roman custom to leave criminals hanging on the cross for days, till their bodies were devoured by birds and wild animals; the Jewish Law enacted that when bodies were penally suspended, they should be taken down and buried before night (Deuteronomy 21:22, Deuteronomy 21:23), that the land might not be defiled.
Tomorrow (beginning at sunset), being a specially solemn day, as combining the sabbath and the Passover celebration, the Jews were particularly anxious that the crucified bodies of our Lord and the two robbers should be taken away and put out of sight before the sabbath began.
To effect this object, they went to Pilate, and begged him to put an end to their sufferings by the sharp, short process of breaking their legs. St. John's account must be referred to for this and the result of the soldiers' examination of our Lord.
There came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple. He is further said to have been "an honourable counsellor," i.e. a member of the Sanhedrin, "a good man and a just, who also waited for the kingdom of God, and had not consented to the counsel and deed" of the rest of the rulers.
"It was divinely appointed," says the Ven. Bede, "that Joseph should be rich, in order to have access to Pilate, for no mean man could have access to the governor; and that he should be a just man, in order to receive the body of our Lord."
This man's native place was Arimathaea, a town with much probability identified with Ramathaim-Zophim of 1 Samuel 1:1, which lay in Mount Ephraim, and was the birthplace of the Prophet Samuel. That he was "a rich man" naturally gave him some influence with Pilate, and joined with his position as a Sanhedrist, made his request more likely to be granted.
"One Joseph was appointed by God to be guardian of Christ's body in the virgin womb, and another Joseph was the guardian of his body in the virgin tomb, and each Joseph is called a 'just man' in Holy Scripture" (Wordsworth).