Mark 4:26

ὡς ([779][780][781][782][783] 33) rather than ὡς ἐάν ([784][785][786]), an obvious correction; but ἐάν might get lost before ἄνθρ.

[779] 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.

[780] 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.

[781] 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.

[782] 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.

[783] 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.
[784] 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.
[785] 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.

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

26. Καὶ ἔλεγεν. In Mark 4:10-25 we have had specimens of Christ’s private instructions to the disciples, given probably on different occasions, and in some cases more than once. We now (26–34) have a little more of His public teaching. The omission of αὐτοῖς may intimate that the audience is changed. Certainly we have another specimen of the parables which He addressed to mixed audiences (Mark 4:33). This parable is the only one which is recorded by Mk alone. Tatian places it immediately before the Tares, with which it has, almost of necessity, a few words in common, χόρτος, σῖτος, θερισμός: but the words for “seed” differ, σπόρος and σπέρμα, and also for “sow,” βάλλω and σπείρω. The one remarkable resemblance is the sleeping (καθεύδω) of the sower. The more simple parable might easily lead on to the more elaborate one.

Οὕτως … ὡς ἄνθρωπος βάλῃ. Another imperfect constr. We require ὡς ἐὰν ἄνθρ. βάλῃ (1 Thessalonians 2:7). See crit. note and J. H. Moulton, p. 185. Οὕτως in the Gospels hardly ever looks forwards, as here; it nearly always refers to something already said. The chief actor in a parable is elsewhere simply ἄνθρωπος (Mark 12:1; Mark 13:34). No carelessness on the man’s part is implied in βάλῃ (Mark 2:22; Mark 7:33; Matthew 4:18; Matthew 8:6; Matthew 25:27; Luke 13:19; etc.). We have aor. of what is done once for all, and pres. of the habitual actions which follow the sowing. Why does R.V. change “ground” to “earth” here and not in Mark 4:20?

τὸν σπόρον. “The seed which he has to sow,” his seed (cf. Mark 4:36). In Mark 4:31 we have the more usual σπέρμα. In class. Grk σπόρος is “sowing” more often than “seed,” and sometimes means “crop” (Hdt. iv. 53, viii. 109). In the Sower, Lk. has σπόρος for seed.