@Porphyry

“You’ve never seen in a movie when kids go somewhere they aren’t supposed to be–an abandoned house or an old factory–and get spooked while inside, then run all the way home because their flight response takes over? If you are actually trembling with fear, it is pretty normal to start running and keep on running until you are no where near the thing that scared you.

It also makes no sense to say they are fleeing the rulers of the age. How is running going to help them get away from that threat?

And while I’m at it, why would Mark specify they fled from the tomb, if they were afraid of the rulers of the age?”

Because they don’t want to be identified as living witnesses to the resurrection, or be accused of helping Jesus escape. Jesus has already told them that “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because my name, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

They watched the crucifixion from a distance and thought that was the end. Now the realize its just the beginning and followers of Jesus will themselves be in danger.

The movie would be the kids walking in on Robin Hood stealing from the Sheriff of Nottingham’s treasury. He shows them all the money he’s taking and that he will give it all away. He says tell my disciples to meet me in Sherwood forest where he will distribute the cash. The kids upon leaving the vault flee for fear of being seen as a witness to the theft. They don’t tell everyone they see – hey look come see Robin Hood is stealing all the Sherriff’s money!”

Rickgill “But they risked their lives by going to the tomb knowing that jewish threat was present? jewish female followers wanting to be caught annointing a blasphemour?”

When they go to the tomb they believe the movement is over. That Jesus has been executed as a failed messiah. Joseph has been allowed to bury the body and nobody will care about the women anointing the body of a dead man. But when they’re in the tomb they realize that has all changed. That it’s just the beginning and everything Jesus had told them would come true – including the subsequent persecution of followers of Jesus by the rulers of the age. They weren’t going to hang around the tomb to be the first of those persecuted.

@Robert

**You neglected to cite and ignored my explanation of Markan style: “If Mark wanted to describe a new act only beginning after the exit, he would use ἤρξατο (1,45) or give more description of the new act (5,13 6,34 7,30), or …” **

He could have done if he wished but its not necessary that he did.

**For Mark’s text to have the meaning you imagine, he would have written something like Καὶ ἐξελθοῦσαι ἐκ τοῦ μνημείου, εἶδον καὶ ἐφοβοῦντο τοὺς τηροῦντας καὶ ἔφυγον …**

He could have written something like that but its wrong to say he would have.

Here’s a way he could have written what you want him to say “He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you, they fled from the tomb for trembling and fear had seized them”.

But he doesn’t write this – he addds “having exited”. And the whole question is why does he have this her. In Mark 1:29 the purpose of including this is to tell us the account of the synagogue has been completed and we’re moving on to a new account of a healing in Simon’s home. Its not telling us the purpose of leaving the synagogue was to go to Simon’s. Their business in the synagogue had been completed so they left. Immediately after this incident they went to Simon’s.

Same as Mark 16:8. “Having exited” the tomb they then fled. The business in the tomb had been completed and having exited they then fled.

**εὐθὺς is an adverb that modifies the verb, not the participle so, yes, there is an implication that they intended to go straightaway to Peter’s house.**

No the implication is that they did go straight away to Simon’s; not that that was the purpose of leaving. They were going to leave the synagogue regardless of what they intended to do next.

**There’s no reason to assume they left the synagogue and didn’t know where they were going. There’s no need to assume there was some unmentioned intervening event that motivated them to go to Peter’s house. Or are you supposing that at first their intent was merely, “Hey, let’s get the hell out of this synagogue,” and only then they held a meeting to discuss where they would go. James and John were afraid that Zebedee was still angry so they preferred to go to Simon’s house. But Simon said, “No, we can’t go there, the old battle axe, my goddam mother-in-law is sick with a very contagious fever, it must be COVID. But then Jesus chimed in, “Hey, I’ve got an idea, why don’t I just cure Simon’s goddam mother-in-law and then she will surely cook us something good.” And all of the disciples said, “OK, we gotta see this!” Or, upon exiting the synagogue, did they see that Matthew’s guards had descended upon the synagogue, motivating them out of fear to flee to Peter’s mother-in-law for protection?**

No what it means in a completely natural way is that upon concluding their business in the synagogue and exiting their next port of call was Simon’s house. They are two different incidents. And “having exited the synagogue” is a marker delineating these two events.

Same with Mark 16:8 – they have a chat with the nice young man dressed in white giving the good news of Jesus’s resurrection and having concluded their business there and having exited (end of scene) they then flee from the tomb (as Mark has told us and his cast of characters that the persecution of Jesus’s followers will now begin).

**Yes, exactly the same. In Mk 6,12, the twelve did not decide on their own to preach. No, they went out to preach, as part of their mission for which Jesus had already chose them (3,14-15 6,7.11). Were Matthew’s guards also waiting for them outside of Tyre?**

Yes they went out to preach. The preaching did not begin there and then. They went forth then preached. That’s the purpose of the participle. In the tomb the fleeing didn’t begin there and then. They went out and then fled. They could have simply fled what was in the tomb. But they didn’t. They went out – then fled. Its purpose is to indicate that they’re not fleeing what’s in the tomb, but the dangers awaiting outside the tomb.

You could argue 6:24 is one action but in all these cases “having gone out” is a leisurely action, consistent with asking a mother a question in 6:24 but inconsistent with “fleeing” in 16:8.

**There’s no reason at all think that the women leisurely strolled out of the tomb.**

There is – every other usage in Mark is a leisurely stroll, and its incongruent with “fleeing”.

** They were already afraid in the tomb: they were alarmed (ἐξεθαμβήθησαν), such that they needed to be commanded to stop being alarmed (μὴ ἐκθαμβεῖσθε). **

ἐξεθαμβήθησαν need not have connotations of “fear”. It’s used in Mark 9:15 “As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were greatly amazed and ran to greet him”.

Here’s what Mark is saying:
They women entered the tomb and were shocked to find a young man there instead of Jesus. Don’t look so shocked, Jesus is risen just as he told you. Go and tell the disciples he’ll meet them in Galilee. Having exited the tomb they were gripped by the sudden realization that everything had changed and as witnesses to the resurrection they themselves were now in danger. Mark wants to convey the contrasting emotions with τρόμος καὶ ἔκστασις (tembling and ecstasy). They flee from the tomb saying nothing to no one for they were afraid … (of the chief priests and Roman guards).

@rickgill – “there is NOTHING in mark which suggest that there was any danger awaiting the women upon their exit.”

There is no immediate danger waiting for them outside the tomb. The danger is that they are now witnesses to the empty tomb and they must “beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues”

Mark says they say nothing to no one because they were afraid. So their fear acts as an explanation for why they said nothing to no one.

So Mark is telling us they have a fear of revealing what they have just witnessed. This fear is fear of those who have just executed Jesus.

They flee from the tomb without speaking to anyone.

Who are they afraid of that makes them say nothing to no one?