Luke 23:51

‘He had not consented to their counsel and deed.'

Furthermore it is made clear that he had not consented to what had happened to Jesus. He had not voted for Jesus' death. And yet we cannot hide from the fact that his voice against it had not been heard sufficiently to be commented on, apart from here. He had accepted the verdict reluctantly but he had not stood up to be counted, until now.

‘A man of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, who was looking for the Kingly Rule of God.'

But primarily, while he came from a city of the Jews, he was a man who was ‘looking for the Kingly Rule of God' (compare Luke 2:25; Luke 2:38). He was a true believer, seeking first the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness (Luke 12:31; Luke 18:29; Matthew 6:33). His hear was thus set rightly towards God.

Arimathea was probably twenty miles north west of Jerusalem at Ramathaim-zophim (1 Samuel 1:1), now known as Rentis. The explanatory ‘a city of the Jews' was for Luke's Gentile readers.