Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 28:8
And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
And they departed quickly – Joyful at the news, and wishing to impart it to all, they fled to find the disciples, and to tell them that the Lord was risen.
With fear and great joy – Fear because of:
1.The wonderful scenes which they had witnessed the stone rolled away, and the presence of an angel;
2.A confused state of mind, apprehensive, perhaps, that it might not, after all, be true.
The news was too good to be credited at once, yet they had sufficient faith in it to fill them with great and unexpected joy. Perhaps no language could better express the state of their minds – the mingled awe and rejoicing – than that which is used here.
And did run … – They ran to announce what they had seen to the disciples. The city, where the disciples were, was half a mile or more from the place.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 28:8
And they departed quickly from the sepulchre.
Joy in the morning
Just as a man who has travelled in the dark, looks back at break of day from some lofty eminence on the way that he has gone, and admires the beauty and magnificence of objects that he passed, aware only of their existence and not their claims, or even deeming them objects of fear and not of delight, so the disciples, when enlightened from above, recalled the scenes and events of their Masters life, and rejoiced in much which at the time they had not understood. Thus was it especially with the death and departure of Christ. They were to His followers like the fabled statue of Memnon, which sent forth sounds, mournful in the night, but melodious at the rising of the sun – when Gods morning light arose, how sweet the notes those facts, once only sad, emitted. (A. J. Morris.)
Sorrow ministering to joy
It is said that gardeners sometimes, when they would bring a rose to richer flowering, deprive it for a season of light and moisture. Silent and dark it stands, dropping one fading leaf after another, and seeming to go down patienty to death. But when every leaf is dropped, and the plant stands stripped to the uttermost, a new life is even then working in the buds, from which shall spring a tender foliage and a brighter wealth of flowers. So often, in celestial gardening, every leaf of earthly joy must drop, before a new and Divine bloom visits the soul. (Mrs. H. B. Stowe.)
Joy the shadow of sorrow
In this world full often our-joys are only the tender shadows which our sorrows cast. (H. W. Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. They departed quickly from the sepulchre] At the desire of the angel they went into the tomb, to have the fullest certainty of the resurrection.
Fear and great joy] Fear, produced by the appearance of this glorious messenger of God; and great joy occasioned by the glad tidings of the resurrection of their Lord and Master. At the mention of unexpected good news, fear and joy are generally intermingled.
—-Vix sum apud me, ita animus commotus est metu,
Spe, gaudio, mirando hoc tanto, tam repentino bono.
TERANT. Andr. v. 945.
“I am almost beside myself, my mind is so agitated with fear, hope, and joy, at this unexpected good news.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
8. And they departed quicklyMark(Mr 16:8) says “theyfled.”
from the sepulchre with fearand great joyHow natural this combination of feelings! See ona similar statement of Mr 16:11.
and did run to bring hisdisciples word“Neither said they anything to any man [bythe way]; for they were afraid” (Mr16:8).
Appearance to the Women(Mat 28:9; Mat 28:10).
This appearance is recorded onlyby Matthew.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they departed quickly from the sepulchre,…. Or “they went out from it”, as it may be rendered, and as it is in Mr 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 instructions, and errand to the disciples; which as soon as they received, they quitted the sepulchre in all haste, partly in obedience to the angel’s orders, and partly through surprise and fear; for Mark says, “they fled from the sepulchre”,
Mr 16:8, as persons terrified and affrighted: and it is added here,
with fear and great joy: a mixture of both these; with fear and dread, because of the vision they had seen, and with joy at the news of Christ’s resurrection; and yet in this their faith might not be so confirmed, as to have no doubt about it: they might fear the body was taken away, and removed to some other place, and that this they had seen might be a deception and a delusion. However, between both joy and fear, they set out,
and did run to bring his disciples word; as Mary Magdalene ran to Peter, Joh 20:2, nor is running unusual for women, or unbecoming them on certain occasions; see Ge 24:20. Their fright, as well as their joy, and their regard to the angel’s order, might cause them to run, and make the quicker dispatch.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With fear and great joy ( ). A touch of life was this as the excited women ran quickly ( ) as they had been told “to bring his disciples word” ( ). They had the greatest piece of news that it was possible to have. Mark calls it fear and ecstasy. Anything seemed possible now. Mark even says that at first they told no one anything for they were afraid (Mr 16:9), the tragic close of the text of Mark in Aleph and B, our two oldest manuscripts. But these mingled emotions of ecstasy and dread need cause no surprise when all things are considered.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Mat 28:8
. And they departed quickly. The three Evangelists pass by what John relates about Mary Magdalene, (Joh 20:2,) that she returned into the city before she had seen the angels, and complained with tears that the body of Christ had been taken away. Here they mention only the second return to the city, when she, and other women who accompanied her, told the disciples that Christ was risen; which they had learned both from the words and testimony of the angel, and from seeing Christ himself. Now before Christ showed himself, they already ran to the disciples, as they had been commanded by the angel. On the road they received a second confirmation, that they might with greater certainty assert the resurrection of the Lord.
With fear and great joy. By these words Matthew means that they were indeed gladdened by what the angel told them, but, at the same the were struck with fear, so that they were held in suspense between joy and perplexity. For there are sometimes opposite feelings in the hearts of the godly, which move them alternately in opposite directions, until at length the peace of the Spirit brings them into a settled condition. For if their faith had been strong, it would have given them entire composure by subduing fear; but now fear, mingled with joy, shows that they had not yet fully relied on the testimony of the angel. And here Christ exhibited a remarkable instance of compassion, in meeting them while they thus doubted and trembled, so as to remove all remaining doubt.
Yet there is some diversity in the words of Mark, that they fled, seized with trembling and amazement, so that through fear they were dismayed. But the solution is not very difficult; for though they were resolved to obey the angel, still they had not power to do so, (307) if the Lord himself had not loosed their tongues. But in what follows there is greater appearance of contradiction; for Mark does not say that Christ met them, but only that he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, while Luke says nothing whatever of this appearance. But this omission ought not to appear strange to us, since it is far from being unusual with the Evangelists.
As to the difference between the words of Matthew and of Mark, it is possible that Magdalene may have been a partaker of so great a favor before the other women, or even that Matthew, by synecdoche, may have extended to all what was peculiar to one of their number. It is more probable, however, that Mark names her alone, because she first obtained a sight of Christ, and in a peculiar manner, in preference to the others, and yet that her companions also saw Christ in their order, and that on this account Matthew attributes it to all them in common. This was an astonishing instance of goodness, that Christ manifested his heavenly glory to a wretched woman, who had been possessed by seven devils, (Luk 8:2,) and, intending to display the light of a new and eternal life, began where there was nothing in the eyes of man but what was base and contemptible. But by this example Christ showed how generously he is wont to continue the progress of his grace, when he has once displayed it towards us; and, at the same time, he threw down the pride of the flesh.
(307) “ Toutesfois le moyen leur defailloit, et elles n’eussent sceu le faire;” — “yet they wanted the means, and would not have known how to do it.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) They departed quickly.It is natural that independent narratives, given long years afterwards, of what had passed in the agitation of fear and great joy should present seeming, or even real, discrepancies as well as coincidences. The discrepancies, such as they are, at any rate, show that the narratives were independent. The best solution of the questions presented by a comparison of the Gospel narrative at this stage is that Mary Magdalene ran eagerly to tell Peter and John, leaving the other Mary and Joanna (Luk. 24:10), and then followed in the rear of the two disciples (Joh. 20:2). Then when they had left, the Lord showed Himself first to her (Joh. 20:14), and then to the others (Mat. 28:9), whom she had by that time joined, and then they all hastened together to tell the rest of the disciples.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. With fear For in spite of the consoling words of the angel, the sense of an angel’s presence filled them with tremor. Great joy In spite of the tremor, a joy at the thought that the Saviour had risen, thrilled their hearts and frames.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.’
Overjoyed at this sudden change in circumstances which turned their gloom and mourning into rejoicing, but very much awed at the presence of the angel and even more by the thought of all that this involved, the women hurried from the tomb to bring their good news to the disciples.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 28:8. And they departed quickly, &c. And they instantly left the sepulchre:Version of 1729. And they hastily went out of the sepulchre. Heylin. This verse contains a beautiful description of the mingled passions.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 28:8 , , , Euthymius Zigabenus.
] applying to both substantives. For similar instances of the mingling of fear with joy (Virg. Aen . i. 514, xi. 807, al .), consult Wetstein; Kster in the Stud. u. Krit . 1862, p. 351.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
Ver. 8. And they departed quickly ] According as they were bidden. A ready heart makes riddance of God’s work, and does it up quickly, as afraid to be taken with its task undone. Baruch repaired earnestly, and had done quickly, Neh 3:30 . Alexander being asked how he had so soon overrun so many countries, answered roundly, By making quick work, by despatching and not lingering long in a place. . Plut.
With fear and great joy ] A strange composition of two contrary passions; but frequently found in the best hearts, Psa 2:11 . God loves at once familiarity and fear.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] , , . Euthym [194]
[194] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 28:8-10 . Appearance of Jesus to the women on the way to deliver their message .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 28:8 . : the reading of T. R. ( .) implies that they had been within the tomb, of which no mention is made in Matthew. They went away from, not out of, the tomb. . ., depending on , in Mark on . , with fear and great joy. This union of apparently opposite emotions is true to human nature. All powerful tides of gladness cause nervous thrills that feel like fear and trembling. Cf. Isa 60:5 and Phi 2:12 . The fear and trembling St. Paul speaks of are the result of an exhilarating consciousness of having a great solemn work in hand a race to run, a prize to win.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 28:8-10
8And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
Mat 28:8 Fear and great joy characterize the first resurrection encounters. The spiritual realm breaking into physical reality also caused fear (which was to cease, cf. Mat 28:10, but the great joy would continue), but this time it was the message of the risen Christ which brought “great joy” and still does!
They ran to report it. This is the same thrust as Mat 28:19-20. The followers must go and tell!
Mat 28:9
NASB”and greeted them”
NKJV”rejoice”
NRSV, NJB”Greetings”
TEV”Peace be to you”
This was Jesus’ common greeting. It came from a word that meant “rejoice.”
SPECIAL TOPIC: Jesus’ POST RESURRECTION APPEARANCES
“they” Characteristically, Mark and Luke named one women, while Matthew named two.
“took hold of His feet” Joh 20:17 records only Mary taking hold of Jesus’ feet. This was the oriental way of showing submission, respect, and even worship.
Mat 28:10 “My brethren” What a designation for these fearful disciples (cf. Mat 12:15)!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
8.] , , . Euthym[194]
[194] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 28:8. , with fear and great joy) These emotions can coexist in spiritual matters.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
The Risen King
Mat 28:8. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
That seems a strange mixture, fear and great joy, awe and delight, doubt and faith; yet the joy was greater than the fear. It was not joy and great fear, but “fear and great joy.” Have we never had that mixture-drops of grief, like April showers, and peace and joy, like sunlight from heaven, making a glorious rainbow reminding us of God’s covenant of peace? A holy fear, mingled with great joy, is one of the sweetest compounds we can bring to God’s altar; such were the spices these holy women took away from Christ’s sepulchre. Fear and joy would both make them run to bring his disciples word. Either of these emotions gives speed to the feet; but when “fear and great joy “are combined, running is the only pace that accords with the messengers’ feelings.
Mat 28:9-10. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
Saints running in the way of obedience are likely to be met by Jesus. Some Christians travel to heaven so slowly that they are overtaken by follies or by faults, by slumber or by Satan; but he who is Christ’s running footman shall meet his Master while he is speeding on his way.
And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. These holy women were not Unitarians; knowing that Jesus was the Son of God, they had no hesitation in worshipping him. There must have been a new attraction about Christ after he had risen from the dead, something more sweet about the tones of his voice, something more charming about the countenance that had been so marred at Gethsemane, and Gabbatha, and Golgotha. Perhaps these timid souls clung to their Lord through fear that he might be again taken for them, so “they held him by the feet, and worshipped him,” fear and faith striving within them for the mastery.
Jesus perceived the palpitation of these poor women’s hearts, so he repeated the angel’s message, “Be not afraid.” He also confirmed the angel’s information about “Galilee “, only he spoke of his disciples as “My brethren.” When Christ’s servants, angelic or human, speak what he has bidden them, he will endorse what they say.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom
with: Ezr 3:12, Ezr 3:13, Psa 2:11, Mar 16:8, Luk 24:36-41, Joh 16:20, Joh 16:22, Joh 20:20, Joh 20:21
Reciprocal: Mar 10:17 – running Luk 5:26 – and were Luk 7:16 – a fear Luk 8:47 – she came Luk 24:9 – General Luk 24:22 – General Joh 4:28 – General Act 12:14 – she opened
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
28:8
The fear of these women was the same as profound respect, and the great joy was caused by the wonderful fact that their Lord was alive again. Their joy would not let them be selfish, but they went running to bring the word to the disciples.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 28:8. And they departed quickly from the tomb. As we suppose, the visits of Peter and John, and of Mary Magdalene, occurred next; then these two women met the others, and returning with them, all entered the tomb, where the message was repeated (Luk 24:3-8). The word quickly is not against this, for the events must have taken place in rapid succession.
With fear and great joy. A natural state of mingled feeling, in view of what they had seen and heard. Fear at what they had seen, joy at what they had heard, and both mingled because the latter seemed too good to be true. The same state of mind is indicated in all the accounts.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, What haste and speed these holy women make to carry the news of Christ’s resurrection to the apostles; such as find and feel their hearts grieved for the absence and want of Christ, will be very ready to comfort such as are in the same condition. O how glad are these holy women to carry the good news of their Lord’s resurrection to the heart-broken disciples!
Observe, 2. How these holy women hastened, in obedience to the angel’s command, to tell the disciples to meet with Christ in the way. Such as obey the directions of God’s ministers, seeking Christ in his own way and means, shall find him to their comfort sooner than they expected. These holy women find Christ before they looked for him: as they went to tell his disciples, Jesus met them. O happy women, while they were weeping for a dead Christ, they find a living Jesus.
Observe, 3. The affectionate and loving title which Christ puts upon his disciples: Tell my brethren. He might have said, “Go tell those apostate apostles, that cowardly left me in my danger, that durst not own me in the high priest’s hall, that durst not come within the shadow of my cross, nor within the sight of my sepulchre.” Not a word of this, by way of upbraiding them for their late shameful cowardice, but all words of kindness: Go tell my brethren.
Where note, That Christ calls his disciples brethren after his resurrection and exaltation, as he had done before in his state of humiliation, to show the continuance of his former affection to them, and that the change of his condition had wrought no change in his affection to his despised members: but those that were his brethren before, in the time of his abasement, are so still after his exaltation and advancement.
Observe lastly, The place where Christ chooses to meet with and speak to his disciples, not in Jerusalem, but in Galilee; I go before them into Galilee, there they shall see me. Jerusalem was now a forsaken place, a people abandoned to destruction; Christ would not show himself openly to them, but Galilee was a place where Christ’s ministry was more acceptable. Such places wherein Christ is most welcome to preach, shall be most honoured with his presence. In Galilee they shall see me.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
RETURN OF THE WOMEN
Mat 28:8-10; Mar 16:8; Luk 24:9-11; Joh 20:2. Then she runs, and comes to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and says to them, They have taken away the Lord from the sepulcher, and we know not where they have placed Him. This is spoken of Mary Magdalene, the most prominent of our Lords female disciples, and the only woman John mentions in this early visit to the sepulcher. This is not out of harmony with the other three, from the simple fact that she was the leader of the heroic sisterhood who lingered last at the cross, and hastened first to greet the risen Lord and look into the empty sepulcher.
I must here observe, in reference to Marks Gospel, that this eighth verse, which you see in the above reference, winds it up, the following twelve verses having been added by an unknown hand after Mark had laid down his pen. This fact of these last twelve verses not appearing in the old and authoritative manuscripts, does not necessarily invalidate their claims to inspiration, the author might have been inspired for ought we know, though we can have no idea as to his name. As it is believed that Peter dictated this Gospel to Mark, his faithful amanuensis and gospel helper, while in Rome, about A. D. 63, some suppose his martyrdom stopped the work, and consequently some one took it on himself to finish it out somewhat after the order of Matthews, which had been written A. D. 48. From the simple fact that in all of this writing I have used the Greek Testament by Tischendorf, on the basis of the Sinaitic manuscript which he discovered in the Convent of St. Catherine, on Mt. Sinai, A. D. 1859, and has thrown a flood of light on the New Testament, being the oldest manuscript and the only one entire, and as it closes Marks Gospel with this eighth verse of the sixteenth chapter, I shall neither quote nor expound the ensuing twelve verses; for, like Joh 8:1-11, and not a few other isolated passages, they are not in my book.
Matthew: Having quickly come out from the sepulcher, with fear and great joy, they were running to tell His disciples. You see how these women take the report of the angels, and run with all expedition to render obedience. And while they were going to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, Hail! And they having come, embraced His feet, and worshipped Him. Then Jesus says to them, Fear not; go, tell My brethren, that they may depart into Galilee, and there they shall see Me. Luke: And returning from the sepulcher, they proclaimed these things to the eleven, and all the rest, And they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women along with them, who continued to tell these things to the apostles. And their words appeared unto them like a dream, and they believed them not. Though Jesus had three different times distinctly prophesied to them His crucifixion and resurrection, they had never understood it; but were all settled in the common conviction that the Christ would never die, but abide and reign forever. Luke says that these prophecies were withheld from them, so they understood them not. That was all right. It was absolutely necessary that these most salient facts of redeeming mercy should be prominent in the prophetical curriculum, which, along with miracles, constitutes the basis of all faith in the Christhood.
Then why withhold it from their understanding until after it was all over? Good reason! If the disciples had understood it, they would have fought, bled, and died in His defense. Thousands would have helped them, and a bloody civil war broken out at the time of His arrest. Through fear of the people, His enemies were often restrained from laying hands on Him, finally attacking Him at midnight, doing their best to kill Him before day; and despite the tardiness of Pilate and Herod, actually had Him nailed to the cross at the early hour of 9 A.M., Pilate finally signing His death-warrant as a sheer peace measure, as he saw the crowd gathering rapidly, and knew they were going to fight for Him, and thus involve the whole country in a terrible civil war. In the good providence of God, the prophecies revealing His crucifixion and resurrection were withheld from the understanding of His disciples till after the momentous tragedy of the worlds redemption was consummated. When they saw Him expire on the cross, they gave up all hope of His Messiahship, settling down in the conclusion that He was the greatest prophet the world ever saw and no more, so that when those women came and told them that He was absent from the sepulcher, and the angels had said He was risen, and that they had actually seen Him, their words seemed like a dream the news was too good to be believed.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 8
There is a very remarkable diversity in the accounts given by the several evangelists of the circumstances attending the announcement to the disciples if the Savior’s resurrection–a diversity extremely perplexing to those who cannot trust the sacred writers any further than they can scrutinize and prove their testimony. (Compare Mark 16:1-8. Luke 24:1-12. John 20:1-18.) Many ingenious attempts have been made to harmonize these accounts, and to combine them, by means of conjectural emendations and additions, into one self-consistent narrative. The results, however, afford the mind but little satisfaction. Unbelief does not feel itself answered by them, and is not silenced; and faith, having other ground to rest upon, which is of the most solid character, prefers, in regard to such difficulties, to wait for future and complete solutions, rather than to rely upon explanations that are, after all, forced and unsatisfactory. See note on John 20:18.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
2. Jesus’ appearance to the women 28:8-10
All the Gospels mention the fact that women were the first people to see Jesus alive. This is a proof that the resurrection was real. In that culture the witness of women was not regarded very highly. [Note: Craig S. Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, pp. 698-99, especially footnote 282.] Thus, if the evangelists fabricated the resurrection, they certainly would not have written that women witnessed it first.
"The crowning events of the resurrection narrative are the appearances of the risen Jesus first to the women and then to his disciples, i.e., the eleven. The empty tomb, for all of its impressiveness and importance, is not sufficient evidence in itself for the resurrection of Jesus. What alone can be decisive is reliable eyewitness testimony that Jesus had been raised from the dead." [Note: Hagner, Matthew 14-28, p. 874. Cf. p. 878.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jesus’ sudden appearance must have given the women the shock of their lives (cf. Mar 16:8). He gave them a customary salutation (Gr. chariete, cf. Mat 26:49). They kneeled at His feet and worshipped Him (cf. Mat 28:17). Grasping someone’s feet was a recognized act of supplication and homage (Mar 5:22; Mar 7:25; Luk 17:16).