Mark 12 - Introduction
CHAPTER 12. A PARABLE AND SUNDRY CAPTIOUS QUESTIONS.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 12. A PARABLE AND SUNDRY CAPTIOUS QUESTIONS.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν παραβολαῖς : the plural may be used simply because there are more parables than one even in Mk., the main one and that of the Rejected Stone (Mark 12:10-11), but it is more probably generic = in parabolic style (Meyer, Schanz, Holtz., H. C.). Jesus resumed (ἤρξατο) this style because the circumst... [ Continue Reading ]
_Parable of the wicked vinedressers_ (Matthew 21:33-46; Luke 20:9-19).... [ Continue Reading ]
τῷ καιρῷ : at the season of fruit, or at the time agreed on; the two practically coincident. δοῦλον : a servant, one at a time, three in succession, then many grouped together, and finally the son. In Mt. first one set of servants are sent, then a larger number, then the son. ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν : a part... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκεφαλί (αί, T.R.) ωσαν : ought to mean, summed up (κεφάλαιον, Hebrews 8:1 = the crown of what has been spoken), but generally taken to mean “smote on the head” (“in capite vulneraverunt,” Vulg [110]). A “veritable solecism,” Meyer (“Mk. confounded κεφαλαιόω with κεφαλίζω ”). Field says: “We can onl... [ Continue Reading ]
πολλοὺς ἄλλους, many others. The construction is very loose. We naturally think of πολ. ἄλ. as depending on ἀπέστειλε = he sent many others, and possibly that was really what the evangelist had in his mind, though the following participles, δέροντες ἀποκτέννοντες, suggest a verb, having for its subj... [ Continue Reading ]
Mk. says: the son and heir they killed and cast out of the vineyard. Mt. and Lk. more naturally, as it seems: they cast out and killed. We must understand Mk. to mean cast out _dead_ (Meyer, Weiss, Schanz), or with Grotius we must take καὶ ἐξέβαλον as = ἐκβληθέντα.... [ Continue Reading ]
παρὰ κυρίου, etc., from or through the Lord it (the rejected stone) became this very thing (αὕτη), _viz._, the head of the corner κεφαλὴ γωνίας.... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν : καὶ is to all intents adversative here, though grammarians deny that it is ever so used (_vide_ Winer, sec. liii. 3 b) = they sought to lay hold of Him, _but_ they feared the people. ἔγνωσαν refers to the Sanhedrists (Weiss, Holtz.), not to the ὄχλος (Meyer). It gives a reason at on... [ Continue Reading ]
τινὰς : according to Mt. the representatives of the Pharisees were _disciples_, not masters; a cunning device in itself. _Vide_ on Matthew 22:16. ἀγρεύσωσι (here only in N.T.), that they might _hunt_ or catch Him, like a wild animal. Mt.'s expression, παγιδεύσωσι, equally graphic. Lk. avoids both. λ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Tribute to Caesar_ (Matthew 12:15-22; Luke 20:20-26).... [ Continue Reading ]
The flattering speech is differently and more logically (Schanz) given in Mt. _Vide_ notes there on the virtues specified. ἔξεστιν, etc.: the question now put, and in two forms in Mk. First, as in Mt., is it lawful, etc.; second, in the added words, δῶμεν ἢ μὴ δῶμεν; These have been distinguished as... [ Continue Reading ]
δηνάριον : instead of Mt.'s νόμισμα τοῦ κήνσου; as a matter of fact the denarius was the coin of the tribute. ἵνα ἴδω, that I may see: as if He needed to study the matter, a touch of humour. The question was already settled by the existence of a coin with Caesar's image on it. This verb and the next... [ Continue Reading ]
Christ's reply is given here very tersely = the things of Caesar render to Caesar, and those of God to God. ἐξεθαύμαζον : the compound, in place of Mt.'s simple verb, suggests the idea of excessive astonishment, though we must always allow for the tendency in late Greek to use compounds. Here only i... [ Continue Reading ]
_The resurrection question_ (Matthew 22:23-33; Luke 20:27-30).... [ Continue Reading ]
The case is awkwardly stated here as compared with Mt., though Lk. retains the awkwardness = if the brother of any one die, and leave a wife, and leave not children, let his (the brother's) brother take his wife and raise up seed to his brother. Mk. avoids the word ἐπιγαμβρεύσει (in Mt.).... [ Continue Reading ]
τίνος αὐτῶν, etc., of which of them shall she be the wife? (γυνή, without the article, _vide_ notes on Mt.).... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ πλανᾶσθε, do ye not err? not weaker but stronger than a positive assertion: “pro vehementi affirmatione,” Grotius. διὰ τοῦτο usually refers to something going before, and it may do so here, pointing to their question as involving ignorant presuppositions regarding the future state, an ignorance d... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ Μ.: a general reference to the Pentateuch, the following phrase, ἐπὶ τοῦ βάτου, supplying a more definite reference to the exact place in the book, the section relating to the bush. “At the bush,” _i.e._, Exodus 3, similarly reference might be made to Exodus 15, by the title: “at the son... [ Continue Reading ]
πολὺ πλανᾶσθε, much ye err. This new and final assertion of ignorance is very impressive; severe, but kindly; much weakened by adding ὑμεῖς οὖν.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The great commandment_ (Matthew 22:34-40). The permanent value of this section lies in the answer of Jesus to the question put to Him, which is substantially the same in both Mt. and Mk. The accounts vary in regard to the motive of the questioner. In Mt. he comes to tempt, in Mk. in hope of getting... [ Continue Reading ]
προσελθὼν, ἀκούσας, εἰδὼς : the second and third of these three participles may be viewed as the ground of the first = one of the scribes, having heard them disputing, and being conscious that He (Jesus) answered them well, approached and asked Him, etc. ποία, what sort of; it is a question, not of... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, etc.: this monotheistic preface to the great commandment is not given by Mt. Possibly Mk. has added it by way of making the quotation complete, but more probably Jesus Himself quoted it to suggest that duty, like God, was one, in opposition to the prevailing habit of viewing duty as c... [ Continue Reading ]
Heart, soul, mind, strength (ἰσχύος); in Mt.: heart, soul, mind; in Lk. (Luke 10:27): heart, soul, strength, mind; in Deut. (Deuteronomy 6:4): heart, soul, strength (δυνάμεως); all varied ways of saying “to the uttermost degree” = “all that is within”; and with the full potency of that “all”.... [ Continue Reading ]
καλῶς, ἐπʼ ἀληθείας : to be taken together = well indeed! εἷς ἐστὶν : He is one (God understood, supplied in T.R.).... [ Continue Reading ]
[112]Septuagint.... [ Continue Reading ]
νουνεχῶς, intelligently, as one who had a mind (of his own), and really thought what he said, a refreshing thing to meet with at any time, and especially there and then. Here only in N.T. = νουνεχόντως in classics. οὐ μακρὰν, not far; near by insight into its nature (the ethical supreme), and in spi... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀποκριθεὶς, διδάσκων ἐ. τ. ἱ.: these two participles describe the circumstances under which the question was asked addressed to silenced and disheartened opponents, and forming a part of the public instruction Jesus had been giving in the temple; a large body of people present.... [ Continue Reading ]
_David's Son and David's Lord_ (Matthew 22:41-46; Luke 20:41-44). On the aim and import of this counter-question _vide_ notes on Mt.... [ Continue Reading ]
αὐτὸς Δ. Over against the dogma of the scribes, stated in Mark 12:35 as something well known (in Mt. Jesus asks for their opinion on the topic), is set the declaration of David himself, introduced without connecting particle. _David_, who ought to know better than the scribes. ἐν τῷ π. τ. ἁ.: especi... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ὁ πολὺς ὄχλος, etc.: this remark about the large crowd which had been witness to these encounters, as it stands in our N. T. at end of Mark 12:37, seems to refer merely to the closing scene of the conflict. Probably the evangelist meant the reflection to apply to the whole = the masses enjoyed C... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ α.: this expression alone suffices to show that what Mk. here gives is but a fragment of a larger discourse of the same type an anti-scribal manifesto. Here again the evangelist bears faithful witness to a great body of διδαχή he does not record. Matthew 23 shows how much he omits at th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Warning against the influence of the scribes_ (Luke 20:45-47). As if encouraged by the manifest sympathy of the crowd, Jesus proceeds to warn them against the baleful influence of their religious guides.... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ κατεσθίοντες : this verse is probably still to be regarded as a continuation of the description of the scribes commencing with τῶν θελόντων, only the writer has lost the sense of the original construction, and instead of the genitive puts the nominative, so giving to what follows the force of an... [ Continue Reading ]
καθίσας : Jesus, a close and keen observer of all that went on (Mark 11:11), sits down at a spot convenient for noticing the people casting their contributions into the temple treasury. γαζοφυλακίου (γάζα, Persian, φυλακή = θησαυροφυλάκιον, Hesychius). Commentators are agreed in thinking that the re... [ Continue Reading ]
_The widow's offering_ (Luke 21:1-4). This charming story comes in with dramatic effect, after the repulsive picture of the greedy praying scribe. The reference to the widows victimised by the hypocrites may have suggested it to the evangelist's mind. It bears the unmistakable stamp of an authentic... [ Continue Reading ]
μία χ. π., _one_ poverty-stricken widow. With what intense interest Jesus would watch her movements, after His eye fell on her! How much will _she_ give? λεπτὰ δύο, “two mites”; minute, of course, but _two_ : she might have kept one of them (Bengel). λεπτόν, so called from its smallness; smallest of... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ πτωχὴ, emphatic the poverty-stricken; manifest from her dress and wasted look.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκ τῆς ὑστερήσεως, from her state of want, _cf._ on Lk. ὑστέρησις, here and in Philippians 4:11. πάντα ὅσα : this not visible to the eye; divined by the mind, but firmly believed to be true, as appears from the repetition of the statement in another form. ὅλον τὸν βίον, her whole means of life. For... [ Continue Reading ]