Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
She turned herself back - Or, , she was turned back, i.e. to go again with the other women to Jerusalem, who had already departed; but she had not as yet gone so far as to be out of the garden.
Knew not that it was Jesus - John has here omitted what the angels said to the women, about Christ' s being risen; probably because it was so particularly related by the other evangelists: Matthew 28:5-7; Mark 16:6, Mark 16:7; Luke 24:5-7. Mary was so absorbed in grief that she paid but little attention to the person of our Lord, and therefore did not at first discern it to be him; nor could she imagine such an appearance possible, as she had no conception of his resurrection from the dead. She was therefore every way unprepared to recognize the person of our Lord.
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