Mark 1:10

straightway This is St Mark's favourite connecting word, and constantly recurs; comp. Mark 1:12; Mark 1:28; Mark 4:5; Mark 4:15; Mark 8:10; Mark 9:15; Mark 11:3, and other places.

he saw i. e. Jesus, while engaged, as we learn from St Luke 3:21, in solemn, prayer. We find solemn prayer preceding (i) our Lord's Baptism, (ii) His choice of the Twelve (Luke 6:12), (iii) His Transfiguration (Luke 9:29), (iv) His Agony in the Garden (Matthew 26:39).

opened Lit rent, or rending asunder, one of St Mark's graphic touches: see the Introduction. The same word in the original Greek is applied to "the old garment rendingthe new piece" (Luke 5:36); to the veil of the Temple rent in twainat the Crucifixion (Luke 23:45); to the rendingof the rocks at the same time (Matthew 27:51); and of the net in the Lake after the Resurrection (John 21:11).