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§246
We have translated Matthew 28:1 as, "The Latter of the Sabbaths, at the
dawning on the first of the Sabbaths ...." The first part of the
verse, in Greek, is 
.
Literally, we translate it as "Later yet of Sabbaths." The "Later
Sabbath" is the second of the two Sabbaths in Passover week.
as "After," however, is most strange. This is a meaning that
does not have according to some sources (cf. Thayer). Normally, the
word is translated "late," and like English it might be used in serveral
senses, "the late President Kennedy," or "the style, of late, is to wear
long dresses."
)
[later than the hour], and thus comes to approximate "after." But
we should note, if the word can mean "later than," it can also be a simple
"later" [later of the hour, viz. a later part of the hour]
at all. Rather "than" is just one of several ways of rendering a
genitive. The genitive can also be rendered "of," and it is rendered
"of" more often than "than." Hence, the same scholars that argue
for "later than," must conceed that the word can also mean "later of."
Therefore, we are justified in translating "Later of the Sabbaths ...."
,
but it might also speak of the "late rain" 
and mean the same thing. What
means is readily apparent to the reader of Greek, i.e. "Late yet of the
rains." The phrase in Matthew 28:1 is to be taken in the same sense, 
,
i.e. "Late yet of the Sabbaths." A good translation into idiomatic
English might be:
And on the latter of the Sabbaths (at dawn on the First Sabbath) Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb (Matthew 28:1, my translation).§252 If we are willing to recognize it, then, Matthew gives a very precise statement concerning the time of the resurrection. In order to distinguish the two sabbaths in Passover week, he calls the weekly sabbath the "later" (see Fig. 246).
,
i.e. "later [than the] mysteries." Also 
,
"later of these things," or "later [than] these things." Note that
the exact sense is dependent on the ambiguity of the genitive case.
The genitive is interpreted as a comparitive genitive by using "than" to
arrive at the sense of "after." However, this has not gone undisputed:
... but an examination of the instances just cited (and others) will show that they fail to sustain the rendering after (Thayer's Lexicon).§254 Liddell and Scott's Lexicon appends a timid "perh[aps]" to the suggestion that
means after in Matthew 28:1. Moulton, uncertain of himself, says
"A Latinism? Just After," (Grammar of New Testament Greek, Edinburgh:
T & T Clark, c. 1963, vol. III., pg. 278). Obviously, someone
needs to go through all the claimed usages of this word meaning after to
see if it is really so.
§255
See BLASS, section 185, "The genitive of comparison" BLASS (A Greek
Grammar of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press, 1961) cites the usage for oye we speak
of, "the gen. with
and 
have become associated in meaning with 
, 
" (§164.4). That is,
(later), is associated with "the latter of these," and the "former of these."
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