Quote:
|
Originally Posted by boxcar
Mark's gospel gives the most abbreviated post-resurrection information. The most sparse in details.
The three women left Jerusalem well before daybreak. They arrived at the empty tomb right at daybreak. The tip of the sun was probably just breaking over the horizon. As you probably know the earliest MSS. don't have vv. 9-19, so we'll just stop the chapter at v.8.
Mark 16:8
8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
NASB
Since it was now full fledged sunrise by the time they left and the trip from the tomb to Jerusalem was probably about 2 hours long. By this time, people were waking up and traveling the roads. So what the text is saying is that as they traveled the road -- as they were heading back -- they didn't stop to broadcast the great news to anyone along the road. Also, they weren't going back to Jerusalem. They were going to report their finding to the apostles in Galilee, which would have been an even longer trip.
Matthew 28, providing more details, tells us that they encountered Jesus on the way. And Jesus told them the same thing the lead angel at the tomb did: Go and report this to my disciples who are staying in Galilee.
Luke 24 tells us that the women did indeed tell the disciples in Galilee what they saw at the empty tomb. And of course, the disciples probably ridiculed the women because Luke tells us that the disciples thought their story was "nonsense" and that "they would not believe them".
So, all the difficulties with these accounts are due to you reading your presuppositions into Mark's account. Mark doesn't say that the women didn't tell the disciples as they were commanded to do -- twice, I might add. The account makes a generalized statement that the women told no one. And they didn't on their trip back Galilee. Period.
Again, people rose early back in those days to go about their chores. Mark, in all probability, is telling us is that the women didn't stop to tell anyone anything who they seen or met on their trip to Galilee. And for all we know, they could have bumped into people they knew. But if so, they said nothing. This bit of information, by the way, was to tell readers that Jesus only wanted to let his disciples know about his resurrection. Mark is assuring his readers that no outsiders knew about Christ's resurrection. All post-resurrection accounts throughout the NT are consistent on this point: Christ revealed himself only to his people.
Even the context of the very passage bears this out. It's easy to see that Mark was saying that the women fleeing the tomb -- because they were in a HURRY -- said nothing to anyone. People in a rush are not likely to stop to tell anyone very much, are they? These gals were on a mission to get back to the disciples ASAP to share their news! And what stupendous news it was! The best news in human history!
|
What you say may or may not be correct. But my point of bringing up"contradictions in the Bible" is that if the Bible is the "word" of God, why does every simpleton who reads the Bible need someone to come up with "excuses" or "explanations" for the many parts of the Bible that do contradict each other. Are you saying that Bible readers need interpreters?
Now talk your way out of this contradiction.
Who moved the stone from the tomb:
Matthew:
"There was a violent earthquake and the lord came down and moved the stone"
Mark:
"the stone was rolled away, when the women looked up."
Luke:
"They found the stone rolled away from the tomb"
This is your idea of the perfection of God's word in the Bible? I would think if the Bible is the word of God, he can get the context right. If it is the words of men with poor memory and hearsay, the contradictions make sense.
