Mark 12:28

εἰδώς ([2776]c[2777][2778][2779][2780][2781][2782]) rather than ἰδών ([2783][2784][2785][2786][2787][2776] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2777] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.
[2778] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2779] Codex Monacensis. 10th cent. Contains Mark 6:47 to Mark 16:20. Many verses in 14, 15, 16 are defective.

[2780] Codex Oxoniensis. 9th cent. Contains Mark, except Mark 3:35 to Mark 6:20.

[2781] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.
[2782] Codex Athous Laurae. 8th cent. Like N and Σ, it is written in silver letters on purple vellum. Contains Mark 9:5 to Mark 16:20, and, as in L, the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9. As in Δ, the text of Mark is specially good.

[2783] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2784] An asterisk denotes that the word is not found elsewhere in N.T., and such words are included in the index, even if there is no note on them in the commentary.
[2785] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mark 1:17 to Mark 6:31; Mark 8:5 to Mark 12:29; Mark 13:19 to Mark 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[2786] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mark 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[2787] odex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

28. προσελθὲν εἷς τῶν γραμματέων. When the discomfited Sadducees retired, a Scribe came forward and asked a question which was often discussed. Mk takes a favourable view of his intentions and says that his comment on Christ’s reply won from Him high commendation. Mt. does far otherwise. He says that the man was a Pharisee (therefore an enemy, according to Mt.), who, so far from being grateful to Christ for refuting the Sadducees about resurrection, put a testing question to Him, apparently to draw a vulnerable reply. The man makes no comment on Christ’s reply and receives no commendation. Lk. says that some of the Scribes praised Christ’s refutation of the Sadducees, but he does not give this conversation with one of them, perhaps because he has recorded a similar conversation earlier (Mark 10:25 f.). Note the accumulation of participles. Syr-Sin. omits the first and smooths the awkward constr. “And when one of the Scribes heard that He had answered well to those who were questioning Him.” See on Mark 1:15.

Ποία ἐστὶν ἐντολὴ πρώτη πάντων; R.V. elsewhere gives the right meaning to ποῖος (Luke 9:55; John 12:33; John 18:32; John 21:19; Romans 3:27; 1 Corinthians 15:35), but neither here nor Mark 11:28. Sometimes the distinctive meaning is faint or extinct, but here it has point. The Scribe wants to know what kind of a commandment is to be put in the highest place. The Rabbis divided the 613 precepts of the Law (248 commands and 365 prohibitions) into “weighty” and “light,” but the sorting of them caused much debate. This Scribe wants a principle of classification. The neut. πάντων looks as if πρωτ. πάντων was a colloquial expression used independently of the gender of whatever was “first.” Alford suggests that πρῶτος πάντων was treated as one word, “first-of-all”; or perhaps as meaning “first of all things” (Winer, p. 222; Blass § 36. 12). Examples from papyri are wanted; there seem to be none in Greek literature, where πρώτη πασῶν would be correct.