Mark 3:6

ἐδίδουν ([419][420] rather than ἐποίησαν ([421][422][423]), or ἐποίουν ([424][425][426][427]), or ποιοῦντες ([428] The variants are substitutions of a more usual verb. Cf. Mark 15:1.

[419] 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.

[420] 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.

[421] 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.

[422] 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.

[423] 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.
[424] 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.

[425] Codex Guelpherbytanus. 6th cent. Contains Mark 1:2-11; Mark 3:5-17; Mark 14:13-24; Mark 14:48-61; Mark 15:12-37.

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

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

[428] odex 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.

6. ἐξελθόντες. The service would be over before the healing; Christ would not have interrupted it. They had expected that Christ would heal, and that in healing He would do something which they could denounce as a violation of the Sabbath; but He had not even touched the man.

εὐθὺς μετὰ τῶν Ἡρωδιανῶν. To be taken with what follows; “they at once took counsel with the Herodians.” The Herodians are mentioned only here and at the close of the Ministry (Mark 12:13 = Matthew 22:16). They seem to have been a political rather than a religious party, and they would be opposed to one whose teaching was revolutionary. Perhaps we might call them the Royalist party or the Government party. That “in the country of the tetrarch Antipas there could not be a party called the Herodians” is both erroneous and irrelevant. In Galilee, as well as in Judaea, there might be those who wished Antipas to become what Herod the Great had been; and we are not told that this plot against Christ was laid in Galilee. With the termination comp. that of Χριστιανός.

συμβούλιον ἐδίδουν. See crit. note. Apparently, συμβούλιον is an official attempt to find an equivalent for consilium. Deissmann, Bib. St. p. 238. As with us, the usual phrase is “to take counsel,” λαμβάνειν συμβ. (So always in Mt.) Mk may mean that it was the Pharisees who originated and gave forth the idea, and that this was the beginning of a series of plots (imperf.). In fact, it was the beginning of the end. “The final rupture of Jesus with the religious authorities in Galilee arose out of the healing of the man with the withered hand in the Synagogue on the Sabbath” (Burkitt). We have reached “the parting of the ways.” Cf. Mark 15:1.

ὅπως. The only question was, How? Here only does Mk use ὅπως, which is freq. in Mt. and Lk. Only once in Jn (John 11:57).