Mark 16:18 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

They shall take up serpents;— The power here referred to, included, as in the case of St. Paul, Acts 28:3-5 an ability to heal the most dangerous wounds given by the bite of the most noxious animals. We must understand the next clause with some restrictions; as much as to say, "If by some secret or open attempt they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them:" for it is not to be imagined that God ever intended these miraculous powers should be used merely for ostentation, or to gratifythe curiosityof spectators. Considering to what a degree of horrid refinement the art of poisoning was by this time brought, as well as how frequently execution was done by giving poison to condemned persons, in the age and countries in which the apostles lived or laboured, such a promise as this will appear more important than the reader might at first apprehend. See Doddridge and Grotius.