Mark 16:5 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw, &c.— The circumstance of the angel's being within the sepulchre, expressly mentioned by this apostle, is so far from being contradicted by St. Matthew 28:2-7 as some infidels have imagined, that it is plainly implied by the words He is not here; come,—(δευτε,— which might more properly be translated, Come hither;) see the place where the Lord lay; as is also that other circumstance of the women's entering into the sepulchre, by the Greek word εξελθουσαι, which should have been rendered they went out, instead of they departed; as it is in Mark 16:8 of this chapter. To which may be further added, that the description of the angel's clothing, which according to St. Mark was a long white garment, corresponds with the only particular relating to it, taken notice of by St. Matthew, which was its whiteness:—His raiment was white as snow. In the latter, indeed, this angel is described with, a countenance like lightning. The purposes of the angel's descent are mentioned in the note on Matthew 28:2-4 and as one of these was to strike terror into the guards, it is not unreasonable to suppose that he might at first assume a countenance of terror, and after the resurrection was accomplished, put on the milder appearance of a young man: in which form the women, as St. Mark says, saw him sitting within the sepulchre. That the angel was not seen by the women sitting on the stone without the sepulchre, is evident, not only from the silence of all the Evangelists with regard to such an appearance, but also from what is observed concerning Mary Magdalene, John 20:1 who, though she saw the stone rolled away, yet saw no angel. Besides, had the angel remained sitting on the stone without the sepulchre, with all his terrors about him, he would, in all probability, by frightening away the women and disciples, as well as the soldiers, have prevented those visits to the sepulchre, which he came on purpose to facilitate. It was necessary, therefore, either that he should not appear at all to the women; or that he should appear within the sepulchre; and in a form which, although more than human, might however not be so terrible as to deprive them of their senses, and render them incapableof hearing, certainly of remembering that message, which he commanded them to deliver to the disciples: from all which considerations it may be fairly concluded, that the appearance of the angel without the sepulchre, mentioned by St. Matthew, was only to the keepers; and that when he was seen by the women, he was within the sepulchre, as St. Mark expressly says, and as the words above cited from St. Matthew strongly imply: so that these two evangelists agree in relating, not only the words spoken by the angel, but the principal, and, as it were, characteristical circumstances of the fact; which, from this agreement, we infer to be one and the same. The like agreement is also to be found in their account of the terror of the women upon seeing the angel, their speedy flight from the sepulchre, and the disorder and confusion which so extraordinary an event occasioned in their minds; a confused and troubled mixture of terror, astonishment, and joy; which, according to St. Mark, was so great, as to prevent their telling what had happened to those whom they had met upon the way; for so must we understand the words, neither said they any thing to any man, Mark 16:8 since it is not to be imagined that they never opened their lips about it. Their silence doubtless ended with the cause of it; namely, their terror and amazement:andthese,inallprobability,vanishedontheir seeing Christ himself; who, as St. Matthew has informed us, met them, as they were going to tell the disciples the message of the angels;—accosted them with an all hail, and bade them dismiss their fears. See West on the Resurrection, p. 35. The reader will find in Tasso's Jerusalem, b. 1: Song of Song of Solomon 1 the amiable appearance of an angel like a youth, finely embellished with poetical painting.