Mark 16:4

And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. AND WHEN THEY LOOKED, THEY SAW THAT THE STONE WAS ROLLED AWAY: FOR IT WAS VERY GREAT. This last clause is added, both to account for their wonder how with such a stone on it the grave was to be laid open for them, and to call attention to the power which had rolled it away. Though it was too great for themselves to remove, and without that their spices had been useless, they come notwithstanding; discussing their difficulty, yet undeterred by it. On reaching it they find their difficulty gone-the stone already rolled away by an unseen hand. And are there no others who, when advancing to duty in the face of appalling difficulties, find their stone also rolled away?...

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 particu...

Verse Mark 16:4. _FOR IT WAS VERY GREAT_] This clause should be read immediately after the _third_ verse, according to D, _three_ copies of the _Itala, Syriac, Hier_., and _Eusebius_. "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? for it was very great. And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away." They knew that the stone was too heavy for them to roll away; and, unless they got access to the body, they could not apply the aromatics which they had brought to finish the embalming....

See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 28:1. Mark 16:1 SWEET SPICES - “Aromatics.” Substances used in embalming. The idea of sweetness is not, however, implied in the original. Many of the substances used for embalming were “bitter” - as, for example, myrrh - and none of them, perhaps, could properly be called “sweet.” The word “spices” expresses all that there is in the original. ANOINT HIM - Embalm him, or apply these spices to his body to keep it from putrefaction. This is proof that they did not suppose he would rise again; and the fact that they did not “expect” he would rise, gives more strength to the evidence for his resurrection....

EXPOSITION MARK 16:1 AND WHEN THE SABBATH WAS PAST, MARY MAGDALENE, AND MARY THE MOTHER OF JAMES, AND SALOME, BOUGHT SPICES ἠγόρασαν ἀρώματα) THAT THEY MIGHT COME AND ANOINT HIM. A hasty but lavish embalming of our Lord's sacred body had been begun on Friday evening by Joseph and Nicodemus. They had "brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight" (John 19:39). This would be a compound—the gum of the myrrh tree, and a powder of the fragrant aloe wood mixed together, with which they would completely cover the body, which was then swathed with linen cloths (ὀθόνια), also steeped in the aromatic preparation. Then the sindon_ _would he placed over all. Compare the ἐ

AND WHEN THEY LOOKED,.... Towards the sepulchre, as they came near it: THEY SAW THAT THE STONE WAS ROLLED AWAY; they perceived it lay at some distance from the door of the sepulchre, which doubtless was very grateful, and matter of rejoicing to them: FOR IT WAS VERY GREAT; these words are to be read, in connection with the preceding verse; for they are not a reason, why when they looked towards the sepulchre, they saw the stone rolled, because it was a very large one, and so easily to be seen at a distance; but a reason why they were so thoughtful and concerned, who should roll it away for them, it being so big, that they could not think that they were able to do it themselves....

Mark 16:1. _And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in. the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun._ Their love made them prompt. Their affection was about to attempt a needless, and, indeed, impossible thing; yet I do not doubt that it was acceptable before God. Oh, that we had such hove that even the dead body of the Christ should be so dear to us that we should be ready at great expense to anoint it! I fear that, nowadays, even his living Word is not valued as it should be. How few, therefore, should we be likely to find who would have cared for his dead body! These holy women had had cause enough to love their Lord, and they showed that their hearts were full of affection for him even after he had been taken

MARK 16:4 At the beginning of ver. Mark 16:4 the Old Latin codex Bobiensis (itk) introduces a description of the actual resurrection of Jesus Christ. At one or two places the text of the gloss does not appear to be sound, and various emendations have been proposed: _Subito autem ad horam tertiam tenebrae diei factae sunt per totam orbem terrae, et descenderunt de caelis angeli et surgent_ [surgentes?, surgente eo?, surgit?] _in claritate vivi Dei_ [viri duo? + et?] _simul ascenderunt cum eo; et continuo lux facta est. Tunc illae accesserunt ad monimentum_…(“But suddenly at the third hour of the day there was darkness over the whole circle of the earth, and angels descended from the heavens, and as he [the Lord] was risi...

PART V. THE SERVANT HIGHLY EXALTED. RISEN AND ASCENDED; HIS COMMISSION TO HIS SERVANTS AND WORKING WITH THEM Chapter 16 _ 1. The Resurrection and His Manifestation. (Mark 16:1 .Matthew 28:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1 .)_ 2. The Commission. (Mark 16:9. Luke 24:36; John 20:19 .) 3. The Ascension. (Mar

THE WOMEN FIND THE TOMB EMPTY. The true gospel of Mk. ends with the strange discovery made by the women when they visited the tomb early on the first day of the week. This can hardly be the original ending. Indeed the last sentence is not complete. It runs in Gr. _ephobounto gar_ (for they feared), and though sentences ending with the particle _gar_ (=for) are not unknown in Gr., _e.g._ in Philostratus, yet as the end of a chapter or a book such a sentence is intolerable, and the verb they feared calls for an object, perhaps the Jews. Moreover, this story of the women is clearly intended to lead up to other stories of appearances in Galilee to Peter and the Twelve, which are not narrated (see especially Mark 16:7). Either Mk. never completed his book or its original ending has been lost. The historicity of this story has been questioned, sometimes on account of the haziness of