THE TRUE RELIGION AND THE FALSE. A DISCOURSE TO THE PHARISEES, THE PEOPLE, AND THE DISCIPLES Mark 7:1-23 These twenty verses sum up the great controversy of the N.T., that between the religion of the letter and external observances and the religion of the heart, between what St Paul calls ‘the rig... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠῸ ἹΕΡΟΣΟΛΎΜΩΝ ΦΑΡΙΣΑΙ͂ΟΙ ΚΑῚ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΙ͂Σ. Probably a deputation from the Sanhedrin, such as was commissioned to question John the Baptist. Cp. John 1:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῊΝ ΠΑΡΆΔΟΣΙΝ ΤΩ͂Ν ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΈΡΩΝ. The elders, or presbyters, were the Jewish teachers, or scribes, such as Hillel and Shammai. The traditions were the rules or observances of the unwritten law, which they enjoined on their disciples. Many of these were frivolous; some actually subversive of God’s law;... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙᾺ ΤῊΝ ΠΑΡΆΔΟΣΙΝ. ‘For the sake of your tradition;’ i.e. in order that ye may establish it: ἵνα τὴν παράδοσιν ὑμῶν τηρήσητε, Mark 7:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΓᾺΡ ΘΕῸΣ ἘΝΕΤΕΊΛΑΤΟ, answering to τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ, as in Matthew 15:5, ὑμεῖς λέγετε refers back to διὰ τὴν παράδοσιν ὑμῶν. St Mark has Μωϋσῆς γὰρ εἶπεν (Matthew 7:10), an instructive variation. Ὁ ΚΑΚΟΛΟΓΩ͂Ν. As a classical word κακολογεῖν or κακῶς λέγειν—the preferable form (Lob. _Phryn._ 200... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ omitted before ΟΥ̓ ΜῊ ΤΙΜ. on the most ancient authority. 5. ΔΩ͂ΡΟΝ Ὃ ἘᾺΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. ‘Let that by whatsoever thou mayest be profited by me (i.e. the sum which might have gone to your support) be a ‘gift’ (κορβᾶν, Mark), or devoted to sacred purposes.’ The scribes held that these words, even when p... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸΝ ΛΌΓΟΝ for τὴν ἐντολὴν of _textus receptus_; τὸν νόμον the reading of Tischendorf has the authority of א and C and some cursives, and would explain τὴν ἐντολήν. τὸν λόγον may have been introduced from Mark.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΛΩ͂Σ ἘΠΡΟΦΉΤΕΥΣΕΝ. A common Jewish formula in quoting a saying of the prophets.... [ Continue Reading ]
The words ἐγγίζει μοι … τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν καὶ, which fill up the quotation from the LXX., are omitted on the highest MS. authority.... [ Continue Reading ]
8, 9. Isaiah 29:13. The quotation nearly follows the LXX. The Hebrew has nothing answering to μάτην δὲ σέβονταί με.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝΤΆΛΜΑΤΑ�. ‘Collections of ritual laws which were current in the times of the pre-exile prophets.’ (Cheyne, Isa. _ad loc._) Thus Pharisaism had its counterpart in the old dispensation.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡΟΣΚΑΛΕΣΆΜΕΝΟΣ ΤῸΝ ὌΧΛΟΝ. The moment our Lord turns to the people, His teaching is by parables. This appeal to the multitude as worthier than the Pharisees to receive the divine truths is significant of the popular character of the Kingdom of heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΟΙΝΟΙ͂. Literally, maketh common; cp. ‘common or unclean,’ Acts 10:14. ‘The Pharisees esteemed “defiled men” for “_common_ and vulgar” men; on the contrary, a religious man among men is “a _singular_ man.” ’ Lightfoot _ad loc_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΦΑΡΙΣΑΙ͂ΟΙ ἘΣΚΑΝΔΑΛΊΣΘΗΣΑΝ. A proof of the influence of the Pharisees. The disciples believed that Christ would be concerned to have offended those who stood so high in popular favour.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑ͂ΣΑ ΦΥΤΕΊΑ. Not a wild flower, but a cultivated plant or tree; the word occurs here only in N.T.; in LXX. version of O.T. it is used of the vine, the most carefully cultivated of all plants; 2 Kings 19:29; Ezekiel 17:7; Micah 1:6; Aq. and Symm. have δένδρων φυτείαν in Genesis 21:33, of the tamaris... [ Continue Reading ]
ὉΔΗΓΟΊ ΕἸΣΙΝ ΤΥΦΛΟῚ ΤΥΦΛΩ͂Ν. The proverb which follows is quoted in a different connection, Luke 6:39; cp. also ch. Matthew 23:16. ΕἸΣ ΒΌΘΥΝΟΝ ΠΕΣΟΥ͂ΝΤΑΙ. Palestine abounded in dangers of this kind, from unguarded wells, quarries, and pitfalls; it abounded also in persons afflicted with blindness.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἰησοῦς omitted and 30 τοῦ Ἰησοῦ for ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂. 16. ἀκμήν. Here only in N.T. Strictly, ‘at the point of time,’ in late authors, ‘even now,’ ‘still.’ Latin, _adhuc_. In the modern Greek versions ἔτι is used for ἀκμήν. ΚΑῚ ὙΜΕΙ͂Σ, as well as the crowds to whom the parables are spoken. ἈΣΎΝΕΤΟΊ ἘΣΤΕ. C... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΚ ΓᾺΡ ΤΗ͂Σ ΚΑΡΔΊΑΣ Κ.Τ.Λ. The enumeration follows the order of the Commandments. Evil thoughts—(διαλογισμοὶ πονηροί) ‘harmful reasonings’—form a class under which the rest fall, indicating, too, that the transgression of the commandments is often in thought, by Christ’s law, not in deed only. The... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAUGHTER OF A CANAANITE WOMAN IS CURED Mark 7:24-30 This narrative of faith without external observance or knowledge of the Law affords a suggestive contrast to the preceding discourse. It is not related as we might have expected by the Gentile St Luke. St Mark has various points of particular... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΝΕΧΏΡΗΣΕΝ. Perhaps to avoid the hostility which this attack upon the Pharisees would arouse. St Mark preserves the connection ἀναστὰς� as if He had been teaching (καθίσας). ΕἸΣ ΤᾺ ΜΈΡΗ ΤΎΡΟΥ ΚΑῚ ΣΙΔΩ͂ΝΟΣ. The reading adopted by the leading editors, Mark 7:31, ἦλθεν διὰ Σιδῶνος εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τῆς... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΚΡΑΖΕΝ rightly replaces the rarer form ἐκραύγασεν. 22. ΓΥΝῊ ΧΑΝΑΝΑΊΑ. In Mark ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ἦν Ἑλληνίς, Συροφοινίκισσα (Matthew 7:26). The two expressions are in Hellenistic Greek identical. In Joshua 5:12, ‘The land of Canaan’ (Hebr.) appears in the LXX. version as τὴν χώραν τῶν Φοινίκων. Hecatæus (Tr... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓Κ�. Jesus, by this refusal, tries the woman’s faith, that He may purify and deepen it. Her request must be won by earnest prayer, ‘lest the light winning should make light the prize.’ Observe that Christ first refuses by silence, then by express words. ἨΡΏΤΟΥΝ. For the form cp. νικοῦντι, Revela... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΤᾺ ΠΡΌΒΑΤΑ ΤᾺ�.Τ.Λ. Jesus came to save all, but his personal ministry was confined, with few exceptions, to the Jews. The thought of Israel as a flock of sheep lost upon the mountain is beautifully drawn out, Ezekiel 34; ‘My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did searc... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡΟΣΕΚΎΝΕΙ is probably right, though the evidence is evenly balanced between aor. and imperf.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸΝ ἌΡΤΟΝ ΤΩ͂Ν ΤΈΚΝΩΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. The τέκνα are the Jews; the κυνάρια are the Gentiles. This was the name applied by the Jews to all outside the chosen race, the dog being in the East a symbol of impurity. St Paul, regarding the Christian Church as the true Israel, terms the Judaizing teachers τοὺς κύνας... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΓΆΡ. ‘For even’ (‘yet’ of the A.V. is misleading). The woman takes Jesus at His word, admits the truth of what He says, accepts the name of reproach, and claims the little that falls even to the dogs. ‘True, it is not good to cast the _children’s_ bread to the dogs, for even the dogs have their... [ Continue Reading ]
St Mark has εὖρεν τὸ παιδίον βεβλημένον ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην καὶ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐξεληλυθός.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΤῸ ὌΡΟΣ. The mountain country; the high land, as distinguished from the low land, which He had left.... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS RETURNS TO THE HIGH LAND OF GALILEE, AND CURES MANY BLIND, DUMB, AND LAME Mark 7:31-37, where, not content with the general statement, the Evangelist describes one special case of healing.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἩΜΈΡΑΙ ΤΡΕΙ͂Σ. For this parenthetical introduction of the nominative see Winer, p. 704, § 2 and note 3.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOUR THOUSAND MEN, BESIDES WOMEN AND CHILDREN, ARE MIRACULOUSLY FED Mark 8:1-9... [ Continue Reading ]
35, 36. The omission of καὶ before εὐχαριστήσας makes the structure very harsh. It is the reading necessitated by the rules adopted for forming the present text. Tregelles omits the καὶ against Lachmann and Tischendorf. If the former had seen א it can scarcely be doubted that he would have inserted... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕΥ̓ΧΑΡΙΣΤΉΣΑΣ. εὐχαριστεῖν does not occur before Polybius in the sense of _gratias agere_. The decree in Demosth. _de Cor._ p. 257, where the word is found, (see Lob. _Phryn._ 18) is probably spurious. The classical expression is χάριν εἰδέναι. ΤῸ ΠΕΡΙΣΣΕΥ͂ΟΝ ΤΩ͂Ν ΚΛΑΣΜΆΤΩΝ. See ch. Matthew 14:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἙΠΤᾺ ΣΠΥΡΊΔΑΣ. See note ch. Matthew 14:20, and Acts 9:25, where St Paul is said to have been let down from the wall of Damascus in a σπυρίς, probably a large basket made of rope-net, possibly a fisherman’s basket; in 2 Corinthians 11:33, where the same incident is related, the word σαργάνη is used.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΑΓΑΔᾺΝ for Μαγδαλὰ with the chief MSS. (א B D) and versions; some ancient authorities have Μαγεδάν. Most of the later uncials read Μαγδαλά. 39–16:4. JESUS AT MAGDALA, OR MAGADAN, IS TEMPTED TO GIVE A SIGN Mark 8:10-12; Luke 12:54-57 39. ΜΑΓΑΔΆΝ. For the reading see critical note. It is probable t... [ Continue Reading ]