John Gill Commentary Luke 24

Now upon the first day of the week
On which day it appears by what follows, Christ rose from the dead, and which was the third day from his death, and so verified the Scriptures, and his own predictions.

very early in the morning ;
just as light began to spring, the day to dawn, and break; the first appearance of the morning; when it first began to dawn.

when it was yet dark ,
as in (John 20:1) and so read the Syriac and Persic versions here; and the Ethiopic version, "while it was yet night": this must be understood of the time when the women set out from the city, or suburbs; for by that time they got to the sepulchre it was at sunrise, (Mark 16:2) and shows their great love, zeal, and devotion for Christ, and great courage and fearlessness to go out of the city at such a time, without any man with them, and to a grave.

they came unto the sepulchre ,
where Christ was laid; that is, the women who came with Christ from Galilee, and who had observed where, and how his body was interred.

bringing the spices which they had prepared ;
on the sabbath eve, to anoint the body, but were prevented by reason of the sabbath; see (Luke 23:56).

and certain others with them ;
that is, other women; besides Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses, and Salome, and other Galilean women, there were other Jerusalem women, or of Bethany, it may be, Mary, and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, and of the parts adjacent: this clause is left out in the Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions, and in one ancient copy of Beza's; but is retained in the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions.

And they found the stone rolled away the sepulchre .
] Which Joseph had laid there, for the security of the body, and in the sight of these women; and which gave them a concern, as they went along, seeing they were all women, who should roll away the stone for them, (Mark 16:3) but when they came to the sepulchre, to their great surprise, they found it rolled away, which was done by an angel, (Matthew 28:2) .

And they entered in To the sepulchre, being invited, encouraged, and led on by the angel that sat upon the stone; for the Jews' sepulchres were built large enough for persons to go into; (See Gill on Mark 16:5) and found not the body of the Lord Jesus ; as they expected, having seen him put there, and had observed in what cave in the sepulchre, and in what form he was laid.

And it came to pass as they were much perplexed thereabout ,
about the body of Christ, and its being gone, what should become of it, where it was removed, and by what means, and by whom; whether by a friend, or foe, for they had no thought, nor expectation of a resurrection; behold, two men stood by them in shining garments ;
who were angels in the form of men; and as these were the first witnesses of Christ's resurrection, there were two of them; for by the mouth of two or three witnesses every thing is established. Matthew and Mark take notice but of one; but John makes mention of two, as here, seen by Mary Magdalene, though in a different posture; they were sitting, the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain; but when the rest of the women came, they were risen up, and stood close by them, on a sudden, at an unawares, being arrayed in white raiment, as white as snow, as a token of their purity and innocence, and as bringers of good tidings; and as joining in the triumph of their Lord's resurrection: their garments were bright and glittering like lightning, to set forth the glory and majesty of these celestial spirits, and that they might be known to be what they were.

And as they were afraid
That is, the women were afraid of these angels; these bright appearances and majestic forms, as it was usual for good men and women to be, as appears from the cases of Zacharias, the Virgin Mary, and others: and bowed down their faces to the earth ,
through great fear and reverence of these heavenly spirits, and as not being able to bear the lustre of their countenances and garments:

they said unto them ,
that is, the angels: why seek you the living among the dead ^F9 ?
intimating, that Christ, though he had been dead, was now living, and not to be sought for in a sepulchre;

a way of speaking, much like this, is used in a parable of R. Levi's, concerning Pharaoh's not finding the name of God among the gods of the nations, upon searching for it. Moses and Aaron said to Pharaoh, "you fool, is it usual for the dead to "seek" them among the living? (Mytmh lua Myyxh amv) , or ever the living among the dead?" our God is living, these you speak of are dead.'' Nor is Christ to be found among dead sinners, or lifeless professors, but among living saints, and among the churches of the living God; nor is life to be found among the dead works of the law, or to be obtained by lifeless performances on the dead letter of the law.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Shemot Rabba, sect. 5. fol. 95. 3.