He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
And when Joseph had taken the body,.... Down from the cross, with the assistance of others, or from the hands of those who had orders to deliver it to him: he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth: that is, he wound up the body in it round and round, as was the custom of the Jews; see Act 5:6. Joh 11:44.
Verse 58. He went to Pilate. Because no one had a right to remove the body but the magistrate, he was condemned to be crucified--usually a long and most bitter death; and, in common cases, it would have been unlawful to have removed the body so soon.
[Begged the body of Jesus.] It was not lawful to suffer a man to hang all night upon a tree, Deuteronomy 21:23: nay, nor to lie all night unburied: "Whosoever suffers a dead body to lie all night unburied violates a negative precept.