Mark 2:14

14. For Λευείν ([271]c[272][273][274] Λευίν ([275][276][277][278][279][280][281] Λευί ([282][283][284][285][286] 33), Λευεί ([287][288] [289] some cursives and Lat-Vet. have Ἰάκωβον. The Gospel of Peter sub fin. has Λευείς. Vulg. has Leuin.

[271] 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.

[272] 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.

[273] Codex 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.

[274] odex Campianus. 9th cent. At Paris. Gospels complete.
[275] 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.

[276] Codex Boreelianus. Once in the possession of John Boreel. 9th cent. At Utrecht. Contains Mk 1–41; Mark 2:8-23; Mark 3:5 to Mark 11:6; Mark 11:27 to Mark 14:54; Mark 15:6-39; Mark 16:19-20.

[277] Codex Seidelianus I. 9th or 10th cent. Contains Mark 1:13 to Mark 14:18; Mark 14:25 to Mark 16:20.

[278] Codex Seidelianus II. 9th or 10th cent. Contains Mark 1:1-31; Mark 2:4 to Mark 15:43; Mark 16:14-20.

[279] Codex Vaticanus. 10th cent. Dated A.D. 949.
[280] Codex Nanianus. 9th or 10th cent. Gospels complete.
[281] odex Mosquensis. 9th cent.
[282] 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.
[283] Codex Cyprius. 9th cent. One of the seven uncials which have the Gospels complete, the others being אBMSUΩ. At Paris.

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

[285] 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.
[286] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mark 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

[287] 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.

[288] n 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.

[289] 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.

14. παράγων εἶδεν. As in Mark 1:16; the repetition confirms the view that πάλιν refers to Mark 1:16. Once more, on the shore of the Lake, He becomes a fisher of men.

Λευείν. See crit. note. The fact that James the Less was son of an Alphaeus (Mark 3:18) may have led to the reading Ἰάκωβον. That Levi and James were brothers, sons of the same Alphaeus, is improbable. They are associated in no list of the Apostles. With Λευείν Lk. has his favourite ὀνόματι, and with Μαθθαῖον Mt. has his λεγόμενον. Mk has λεγόμενος once (Mark 15:7) and ὀνόματι not at all.

καθήμενον ἐπὶ τὸ τελώνιον. Sitting at or near the place where toll was collected. The douane of the Lake; the word occurs only in this connexion; cf. δεκατώνιον, the office of a collector of tenths. In N.T., ἐπί c. acc. often answers the question Where? Blass § 43. 1. Capernaum was on some of the main trade routes, and here tolls were collected for the tetrarch; hence the πολλοὶ τελῶναι (Mark 2:15), some of whom would be sitting with Levi. There is no serious ground for doubting the identity of Levi the toll-gatherer with Matthew the toll-gatherer. The two names do not cause great difficulty, although they are not quite parallel to the other instances among the Apostles. In those of Simon Peter and Thomas Didymus, one name is Semitic, the other Greek. Bartholomew (who is probably Nathaniel) has a patronymic for one name. But both Levi and Matthew are Semitic, and neither is a patronymic.

Ἀκολούθει μοι. A call to be a disciple (Mark 8:34), and perhaps to be an Apostle (Mark 1:17): cf. Matthew 8:22; Luke 9:59. It certainly meant leaving his lucrative post at the τελώνιον, and therefore it was a severer test than the call to the four fishermen: Lk. inserts καταλιπών πάντα. They could, and did, return to their fishing, when the work to which Jesus had called them seemed to be at an end. Once more Jesus appears as the reader of hearts. If He had not known Levi’s character, He would not have called one of his very unpromising profession to be an Apostle: his ministrations would be unacceptable to every Jew who had known him as a toll-collector. There may have been a religious stir among the toll-collectors. Many of them had come to listen to John (Luke 3:12).

ἀναστὰς ἠκολούθησεν αὐτῷ. The Hebraistic pleonasm ἀναστάς is in all three. We may suppose that Levi heard Christ teach, or that he knew something of His teaching, and had thought about it. But there is nothing incredible in the thought that there was something in Christ’s look and manner and sudden invitation which answered to a craving in the toll-gatherer’s heart, and that he felt at once, like Francis of Assisi at the Portiuncula, that this was a call which came home to him. Such feeling may show want of mental ballast, as Porphyry thought. The outcome is the only practical test of its value; “By their fruits ye shall know them.”