And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,.... The wife of Cleophas, and the mother of James and of Joses:
sitting over against the sepulchre; observing where the body of Christ was put, and how it was laid; for they intended to prepare spices and ointments to anoint it with; and were mourning for the death of Christ: for sitting was a mourning posture, which now they were allowed, the body being taken down from the cross, and interred by leave of the governor; for, for one that died as a malefactor, they might not use the outward signs of mourning: the canon is this w; for such
"they do not mourn, but they grieve; and there is no grieving but in the heart:''
hence these women before stood, John 19:25, but now they sat.
w Misn. Sarhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.