Mark 16:5

16:1-8 Nicodemus brought a large quantity of spices, but these good women did not think that enough. The respect others show to Christ, should not hinder us from showing our respect. And those who are carried by holy zeal, to seek Christ diligently, will find the difficulties in their way speedily vanish. When we put ourselves to trouble and expense, from love to Christ, we shall be accepted, though our endeavours are not successful. The sight of the angel might justly have encouraged them, but they were affrighted. Thus many times that which should be matter of comfort to us, through our own mistake, proves a terror to us. He was crucified, but he is glorified. He is risen, he is not here, not dead, but alive again; hereafter you will see him, but you may here see the place where he was laid. Thus seasonable comforts will be sent to those that lament after the Lord Jesus. Peter is particularly named, Tell Peter; it will be most welcome to him, for he is in sorrow for sin. A sight of Christ will be very welcome to a true penitent, and a true penitent is very welcome to a sight of Christ. The men ran with all the haste they could to the disciples; but disquieting fears often hinder us from doing that service to Christ and to the souls of men, which, if faith and the joy of faith were strong, we might do.

Mark 16:5 . Νεανίσκον , a young man) A style of appearance appropriate to angels. For the most part, they appeared in the form of a man, and that a youthful human form in this case [ Matthew 28:2 ].— ἐν τοῖς δεξίοις , on the right side ) The minister [attendant angel] is thus ready at hand to his Lord, fitly ministering to Him.

Mark 16:5-8 . The women enter into the tomb through the open door, and experience a greater surprise .— νεανίσκον , a young man. In Mt.’s account it is an angel, and his position is not within the tomb, as here, but sitting on the stone without. Lk. has two men in shining apparel.— στολὴν λευκήν , in a white long robe, implying what is not said, that the youth is an angel. No such robe worn by young men on earth.

5 . And entering into the sepulchre ] This emboldened them all to enter into the tomb, except Mary of Magdala, who, seeing in the rolling away of the stone the confirmation of her worst fears, fled away to the Apostles Peter and John; and there they saw a young man ] or as some of them may have specified, two ( Luke 24:4 ), sitting on the right hand. (Comp. Luke 1:11 .) clothed in a long white garment ] white or “ glistering ” ( Luke 24:4 ); “hilid with a whit stoole,” Wyclif. Note the word “hilid” here, from “hélan” to “cover,” whence our word “hell” = “ the covered place .” and they were affrighted ] On the force of the Greek word thus rendered, see above, ch. Mark 9:15 . The sight of the heavenly visitants ( Luke 24:4 ) filled them with the utmost terror and amazement, “olei weren abaist ,” Wyclif.

Verse 5. - And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white robe; and they were amazed . They enter the tomb, the expression "tomb" including the ante-chamber They see that the stone has been rolled back, so as to expose the entrance into the place where Jesus had lain. On that stone a young man was sitting. The angel peared in the form of a young man, because youth indicates the vigor, the beauty, and the strength of angels. The good angels always appear in beauty and comeliness of form. There will be no deformity in heaven. The angel appeared as arrayed in a white robe. This white robe, or talar indicated a heavenly spiritual being. St. Matthew ( Matthew 28:3 ) says that "his countenance was like lightning," flashing with splendor, and his raiment was as white as snow. It may be that he appeared more terrible to the keepers ( Matthew 28:4 ), and that he abated something of his dazzling brightness when he appeared to the women; but "they were affrighted" ( ἐξεθαμβήθησαν ); literally, they were amazed . Amazement was the dominant feeling, though probably not unmingled with fear. Mark 16:5

Ver. 5-8. Both Luke and John mention two angels in the habit of young men. Matthew speaks of one sitting upon the stone. They might see him sitting upon the stone, and yet find him within also, the motions of angels are quick and undiscernible to our sense, or the stone might be rolled inward. That they were affrighted is no wonder, considering how apt we are to be frightened by any apparitions. Concerning what the angel said to these women, See Poole on "Matthew 28:5" , and following verses to Matthew 28:8 . They presently flee from the sepulchre amazed, saying nothing to any till they came into the city, where they tell it to the disciples.

5. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man—In Mt 28:2 he is called "the angel of the Lord"; but here he is described as he appeared to the eye, in the bloom of a life that knows no decay. In Matthew he is represented as sitting on the stone outside the sepulchre; but since even there he says, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay" (Mt 28:6), he seems, as Alford says, to have gone in with them from without; only awaiting their arrival to accompany them into the hallowed spot, and instruct them about it. sitting on the right side—having respect to the position in which His Lord had lain there. This trait is peculiar to Mark; but compare Lu 1:11. clothed in a long white garment—On its length, see Isa 6:1; and on its whiteness, see on [1525]Mt 28:3. and they were affrighted.

Mark THE INCREDULOUS DISCIPLES THE ANGEL IN THE TOMB PERPETUAL YOUTHMark 16:5 . Many great truths concerning Christ’s death, and its worth to higher orders of being, are taught by the presence of that angel form, clad in the whiteness of his own God-given purity, sitting in restful contemplation in the dark house where the body of Jesus had lain. ‘Which things the angels desire to look into.’ Many precious lessons of consolation and hope, too, lie in the wonderful words which he spake from his Lord and theirs to the weeping waiting women. But to touch upon these ever so slightly would lead us too far from our more immediate purpose. It strikes one as very remarkable that this superhuman being should be described as a ‘young man.’ Immortal youth, with all of buoyant energy and fresh power which that attribute suggests, belongs to those beings whom Scripture faintly shows as our elder brethren. No waste decays their strength, no change robs them of forces which have ceased to increase. For them there never comes a period when memory is more than hope. Age cannot wither them. As one of our modern mystics has said, hiding imaginative spiritualism under a crust of hard, dry matter-of-fact, ‘In heaven the oldest angels are the youngest.’ What is true of them is true of God’s children, who are ‘accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead,’ for ‘they are equal unto the angels.’ For believing and loving souls, death too is a birth.