Luke 23:54

That day was the preparation. — See Note on Matthew 27:52.

The sabbath drew on. — Literally, the Sabbath was dawning. It is a question whether the word is used here of the actual beginning of the Sabbath — which was, of course, at sunset after the Crucifixion — or, as St. Matthew appears to use it (28:1), for the actual dawn. The later Rabbis appear to have spoken of the day “dawning” in the sense of its beginning at sunset, and so far support the former interpretation. It was possible, however, under the emergencies of the case, that the entombment began before the sunset, and may have been finished during the night, or that, in common speech and usage, the Sabbath, though theoretically beginning on Friday evening at sunset, was not practically recognised till Saturday at sunrise.