IN THE END OF THE SABBATH,.... This clause is by some joined to the last verse of the preceding chapter, but stands better here, as appears from Mark 16:1, and intends not what the Jews call the sabbath eve, for that began the sabbath; but what they call מוצאי שבת, "the goings out of the sabbath";... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BEHOLD THERE WAS A GREAT EARTHQUAKE,.... Or "there had been one"; which, how far it reached, and whether further than the spot of ground in which the sepulchre was, is not certain: it was an emblem of the shaking of the earth by the preaching of the Gospel, the sound of which was now to go after... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS COUNTENANCE WAS LIKE LIGHTNING,.... There was such a lustre and brightness in his face, that it glittered like lightning: such a description is in Daniel 10:6, AND HIS RAIMENT WHITE AS SNOW: the word "white" is left out in the Vulgate Latin, and in Munster's Hebrew Gospel: the angel appeared cl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FOR FEAR OF HIM THE KEEPERS DID SHAKE,.... Though they were soldiers, Roman soldiers and veterans, who had been used to terrible sights in the field of battle; were men of courage, and fearless of danger; and yet were seized with a panic, and every limb of them shook and trembled at the sight of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE ANGEL ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THE WOMEN,.... Who being come up, were also affrighted at the sight of the angel. The Arabic version leaves out the first part, "and the angel answered": which is a Jewish way of speaking, when nothing goes before, to which it is a reply; and renders the other pa... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS NOT HERE,.... In the grave, where he was laid, and these women saw him laid: he was dead, but is now alive; he was laid in the grave, but God would not leave him there, nor suffer him to see corruption: FOR HE IS RISEN, AS HE SAID; not stolen away, as the chief priests hired the soldiers to s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GO QUICKLY AND TELL HIS DISCIPLES,.... Who were mourning and weeping for the death of Christ; despairing of his resurrection, of which, at least, they had but little hope, nor indeed much thought, though Christ had so often told them of it; and therefore a quick dispatch was necessary to remove... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY DEPARTED QUICKLY FROM THE SEPULCHRE,.... Or "they went out from it", as it may be rendered, and as it is in Mark 16:8, which shows, that they went into the sepulchre upon the invitation of the angel, and saw the place where the Lord lay; and here it was the angel gave them their instruction... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS THEY WENT TO TELL HIS DISCIPLES,.... This clause is wanting in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions, and in Beza's most ancient copy; but it stands in the Ethiopic version, and in Munster's Hebrew Gospel, BEHOLD, JESUS MET THEM: that they might be confirmed in what the ange... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAID JESUS UNTO THEM, BE NOT AFRAID,.... Of me, or what you have seen; or lest there should be any deception in the case. In other respects the saints are subject to fears; as lest they should have no share in the love of God, nor interest in Christ, or the work of God is not begun in their hea... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WHEN THEY WERE GOING,.... Or were gone from the sepulchre: that is, the women, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, and their companions, when they were going, or gone, and before they could come to the disciples, to inform them of what they had seen and heard, and deliver the message both of the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY WERE ASSEMBLED WITH THE ELDERS,.... Upon this the grand sanhedrim was convened together, which consisted of the chief priests, Scribes, and elders; AND HAD TAKEN COUNSEL among themselves what steps to take to stifle this matter, that it might not spread and be believed by the people;... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING, SAY YE HIS DISCIPLES CAME BY NIGHT,.... They charged them to tell every one that should ask them about this affair; and even publish it every where, that the disciples of Christ came in the dead of the night, AND STOLE HIM AWAY WHILE WE SLEPT: which was a very unlikely thing, and a foolish... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF THIS COME TO THE GOVERNOR'S EARS,.... Not the governor of the watch, but Pontius Pilate the governor of Judea: if this should be told him, and should be heard by him; or this matter should come before him, and be under his examination, and there should be any danger of punishment; for to slee... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THEY TOOK THE MONEY, AND DID AS THEY WERE TAUGHT,.... Though they had been just now in the greatest fright and consternation imaginable, at the sight of the angel, and knew what was done; yet being men of no religion or conscience, were tempted with the money, and took it, and reported every wher... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE ELEVEN DISCIPLES,.... For Judas was not only gone from them, but was dead; so that there were now but eleven of them: went AWAY INTO GALILEE: not directly, as soon as the women had delivered their message; for Christ appeared to them the same day at Jerusalem; and so he did at the same pla... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN, THEY SAW HIM, THEY WORSHIPPED HIM,.... With divine adoration, as the eternal Son of God; for so he was now declared to be by his resurrection from the dead, Romans 1:4, BUT SOME DOUBTED; or "some of them", as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; that is, some of the eleven disciples:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS CAME AND SPAKE UNTO THEM,.... To the eleven disciples and apostles; for though there might be so large a number as before observed, yet the following words were only spoken to the apostles: SAYING, ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH; which is to be understood of him, not as... [ Continue Reading ]
GO YE THEREFORE,.... Into all the world; some into one place, and some into another; since his power and authority, and so now the commission he gave them, reached every where: before it was confined to Judea, but now it is extended to all the nations of the world; see Matthew 10:6, AND TEACH ALL N... [ Continue Reading ]
TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS,.... All ordinances, not only baptism, but the Lord's supper; all positive institutions, and moral duties; all obligations, both to God and men; all relative duties that respect the world, or one another, those that are without, and those that are within; and thes... [ Continue Reading ]