Mark 15 - Introduction
CHAPTER 15. THE PASSION HISTORY CONTINUED.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 15. THE PASSION HISTORY CONTINUED.... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐθὺς, πρωῒ, without delay, _quam primum_, in the morning watch, which might mean any time between three and six, but probably signifies after sunrise. συμβούλιον will mean either a consultation or the result, the resolution come to, according as we adopt the reading: ποιήσαντες (T.R. = [145] [146])... [ Continue Reading ]
_Before Pilate_ (Matthew 27:1-14; Luke 23:1-10).... [ Continue Reading ]
σὺ εἶ ὁ β. Pilate's question reveals the secret of the morning meeting. The crafty Sanhedrists put a political construction on the confession of Jesus. The _Christ_, therefore a pretender to the throne of Israel. _Vide_ on Mt.... [ Continue Reading ]
πολλά : either an adverb = much, or the accusative after κατηγόρουν. As to the matter of these accusations _vide_ on Mt. But to what end, when Jesus had confessed that He was King; giving Himself away, so to speak? The Sanhedrists must have seen from Pilate's manner, a smile on his face perhaps, tha... [ Continue Reading ]
πόσα, answering to πολλά in Mark 15:3, might mean “how grave,” Thayer's _Grimm_, but probably = how many, as in Mark 6:38; Mark 8:5; Mark 8:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥστε θαυμ. τ. Π. Mt. adds λίαν. The governor had never seen a prisoner like this before. He does not believe him to be a political pretender, but he sees that He is a remarkable man, and feels that he must proceed cautiously, groping his way amid the parties and passions of this strange people.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπέλυεν, imperfect = Mt.'s εἰώθει ἀπολύειν, pointing to a practice of the governor at passover season; on which _vide_ on Mt. ὅνπερ ᾐτοῦντο, “whomsoever they desired,” A. V [150] The R. V [151] adopts the reading preferred by W.H [152], ὃν παρῃτοῦντο, and translates “whom they asked of him”. It is d... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus or Barabbas?_ (Matthew 27:15-26; Luke 23:16-25).... [ Continue Reading ]
στασιαστῶν (συστασ., T.R.): this word (here only in N. T.) contains an interesting hint as to the nature of the offence committed by Barabbas and his associates. They were no mere band of brigands (λῃστής : John 18:40), but men engaged in an insurrection, probably of a political character, rising ou... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναβὰς, etc.: Mk. assigns the initiative to the people. So Lk.; Mt. and John to Pilate. The difference is not important to the course of the history. The custom existing, this incident was bound to come about somehow. Nor does it greatly affect the question as to the attitude of Pilate. In either ca... [ Continue Reading ]
θέλετε, etc.: Pilate makes the tentative suggestion that the favoured person should be Jesus; whom he designates “King of the Jews,” to see how the people would take a title which the Sanhedrists regarded as a mortal offence.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγίνωσκεν, it gradually dawned upon him. Pilate would see the _animus_ of the Sanhedrists in their many accusations (Mark 15:3), from which it would appear that Christ's real offence was His great influence with the people. Hence the attempt to play off the one party against the other: the people ag... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀνέσεισαν, the aorist implies that the priests stirred up the people _with success_, to the effect that their request to Pilate was in favour of Barabbas. One may wonder how they so easily gained their purpose. But Barabbas, as described by Mk., represented a popular passion, which was stronger than... [ Continue Reading ]
It is presupposed that the people have intimated their preference for Barabbas perhaps by the cry: not Jesus, but Barabbas. Hence Pilate proceeds to ask: “what, then, am I to do with Him _whom ye call_ (λέγετε) the King of the Jews?” That _whom ye call_ was very astute. It ought to bring out the rea... [ Continue Reading ]
πάλιν : they had intimated their will already by a popular shout = Barabbas, not Jesus; now they intimate their feeling about Jesus by a second shout with the unmistakable ring of reprobation in it: CRUCIFY HIM! That is what Pilate's ὅν λέγετε has brought out. It has been taken as an insult. The sen... [ Continue Reading ]
This final speech of Pilate presents a subtle combination of honesty and craft. He says what he really thinks: that Jesus is innocent, and he makes sure that the people really mean to stand to what they have said. περισσῶς, beyond measure: the positive here is stronger than the comparative περισσοτέ... [ Continue Reading ]
Pilate was now quite sure what the people wished, and so, as an opportunist, he let them have their way. τὸ ἱκανὸν ποιῆσαι : to satisfy (here only in N. T.) = _satisfacere_ in Vulg [153], perhaps a Latinism (_vide_ Grotius), but found in later Greek (_vide_ Raphel and Elsner). φραγελλώσας : certainl... [ Continue Reading ]
The soldiers in charge of the prisoner conduct Him into the barracks (ἔσω τῆς αὐλῆς, ὅ ἐστιν πραιτώριον = into the court, that is, the praetorium Weizsäcker), and call together their comrades to have some sport. ὅλην τὴν σπεῖραν : “a popular exaggeration” (Sevin); at most 200 men.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mocked by the soldiers_ (Matthew 27:27-31).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐνδιδύσκουσιν for ἐνδύουσιν T.R.: a rare word, not in classics, found in Sept [154] and Joseph. (and in Luke 8:27; Luke 16:19), and because rare, the more probable reading. πορφύραν, a _purple_ garment, for. Mt.'s χλαμύδα κοκκίνην = “ _scarlet_ robe”. ἀκάνθινον σ.: here and in John 19:5. [154]Septu... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀγγαρεύουσιν : on this word _vide_ on Matthew 5:41. ἀπʼ ἀγροῦ : this detail in Mk. and Lk. has been taken as an unintentional hint that the crucifixion took place a day earlier than the synoptical statements imply. Coming from the country, _i.e._, from his work. But even Holtzmann, H. C., disallows... [ Continue Reading ]
_The crucifixion_ (Matthew 27:32-37; Luke 23:26; Luke 23:33-38).... [ Continue Reading ]
φέρουσιν α., they carry Him: “ferunt, non modo ducunt,” Bengel. It would appear that Jesus was so weak through the strain of the last few days, and the scourging, that He was unable to walk, not to speak of carrying His cross. He had to be borne as the sick were borne to Him (Mark 1:32).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐδίδουν : the conative imperfect = they tried to give, offered. ἐσμυρνισμένον οἶνον, wine drugged with myrrh, here only in N. T. _Cf._ Mt.'s account. οὐκ ἔλαβεν : Mt. says Jesus tasted the drink. He would not take it because He knew that it was meant to stupefy.... [ Continue Reading ]
τίς τί ἄρῃ, who should receive what; two questions pithily condensed into one, another example in Luke 19:15, _vide_ Winer, § lxvi., 5, 3.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥρα τρίτη, the third hour = nine o'clock as we reckon; raising a harmonistic problem when compared with John 19:14. Grotius comments: “id est, jam audita erat tuba horae tertiae, quod dici solebat donec caneret tuba horae sextae” (they called it the third hour till the sixth was sounded). καὶ = when... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπιγραφὴ ἐπιγεγραμμένη : awkwardly expressed; Mt. and Lk. have phrases which look like corrections of style. ὁ βασ. τῶν Ἰουδ.: the simplest form of the inscription.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐὰ = Latin, _vah_, expressing here ironical admiration: “admirandi vim cum ironia habet,” Bengel. Raphel remarks that this word was not given in the Greek Lexicons, but that it is not therefore to be regarded as a Latinism peculiar to Mk., but rather as a word which had been adopted and used by the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Taunts of spectators_ (Matthew 27:39-44; Luke 23:35; Luke 23:37; Luke 23:39).... [ Continue Reading ]
καταβὰς (καὶ κατάβα, T.R.), etc., save Thyself, _having descended_, etc., or by descending = descend and so save Thyself.... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς : both in Mt. and in Mk. the priests lead in the unhallowed chuckling, scribes and elders (Mt.) being mentioned only subordinately (μετὰ, etc.). πρὸς ἀλλήλους : a common fear gives place to a common sportiveness in this unholy brotherhood, now that the cause of their fear is removed.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα ἴδωμεν _that we may see_ (in the descent from the cross) an unmistakable sign from heaven of Messiahship, and so believe in Thee. οἱ συνεσταυρωμένοι, the co-crucified. Mk., like Mt., knows nothing of the conversion of one of the robbers reported by Lk. How different these fellow-sufferers in spi... [ Continue Reading ]
γενομένης, ἐγένετο : another awkwardness of style variously amended in Mt. and Lk. σκότος : on this darkness _vide_ on Mt. Furrer (_Wanderungen_, pp. 175 6) suggests as its cause a storm of hot wind from the south-east, such as sometimes comes in the last weeks of spring. “The heavens are overcast w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Darkness without and within_ (Matthew 27:45-49; Luke 23:44-46).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐλωΐ, ἐλωΐ : the Aramaic form of the words spoken by Jesus, Mt. giving the Hebrew equivalent. On this cry of desertion _vide_ remarks on the parallel place in Mt. ὁ Θεός μου. ὁ Θ. μ.: as in Sept [155] Mt. gives the vocative. εἰς τί, for what end? ἵνα τί in Mt. and Sept [156] [155] Septuagint. [156]... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἠλίαν : the name of Elijah might be suggested by either form of the name of God Eli or Eloi. Who the τινες were that made the poor pun is doubtful, most probably heartless fellow-countrymen who only affected to misunderstand.... [ Continue Reading ]
δραμὼν δὲ : if the wits were heartless mockers, then δὲ will imply that this person who offered the sufferer a sponge saturated with _posca_ (_vide_ Mt.) was a friendly person touched by compassion. For the credit of human nature one is very willing to be convinced of this. ἐπότιζεν might, like ἐδίδ... [ Continue Reading ]
φωνὴν μεγάλην : a _second_ great voice uttered by Jesus (_vide_ Mark 15:34), the fact indicated in Mt. by the word πάλιν. At this point would come in John's τετέλεσται. (John 19:30). ἐξέπνευσεν, breathed out His life, expired; aorist, the main fact, to which the incident of the drink (ἐπότιζεν, impe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Death and its accompaniments_ (Matthew 27:50-56; Luke 23:46-49).... [ Continue Reading ]
The fact of the rending of the veil stated as in Mt., with omission of Mt.'s favourite ἰδοὺ, and the introduction of another of Mk.'s characteristic pleonasms, ἀπʼ ἄνωθεν.... [ Continue Reading ]
κεντυρίων, a Latinism = _centurio_, for which Mt. and Lk. give the Greek ἑκατόνταρχος. ἐξ ἐναντίας (χώρας), right opposite Jesus, so that he could hear and see all distinctly. The thing that chiefly impressed him, according to Mk., was the manner of His death. οὕτως ἐξέπνευσεν = with a loud voice, a... [ Continue Reading ]
On the faithful women who looked on from afar, _vide_ on Mt. Mk. singles out for special mention the same three as Mt.: Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children. Mk. distinguishes James, the brother of Joses, as τοῦ μικροῦ = either the little in statu... [ Continue Reading ]
This interesting reference to service rendered to Jesus in Galilee, given here by Mk. only, applies to the three named, hence the honourable mention of them. Mt. substitutes service on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem rendered by all evidently a secondary account. ἄλλαι πολλαὶ, others, many; also w... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤδη : omitted by Mt., but important, as indicating that the business Joseph had on hand that of obtaining and using permission to take down and bury the body of Jesus must be gone about without delay. It was _already_ the afternoon of the day before the Sabbath, προσάββατον, called παρασκευή (here a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Burial_ (Matthew 27:57-66; Luke 23:50-56).... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐσχήμων : Mt. has πλούσιος; _vide_ there for remarks on the two epithets. βουλευτής, a councillor, not in the provincial town, Arimathaea, which would have been mentioned, but in the grand council in Jerusalem. καὶ αὐτὸς : not in contrast to the Sanhedrists generally (Weiss), but in company with th... [ Continue Reading ]
Omitted by Mt., whose narrative throughout is colourless compared with Mk.'s. εἰ τέθνηκε : εἰ = ὅτι, after a verb of wonder (_vide_ Burton, M. and T., § 277, and Winer, § lx., 6). εἰ ἀπέθανε : τέθνηκε has reference to the present of the speaker, ἀπέθανε to the moment of death. πάλαι : opposed to ἄρτ... [ Continue Reading ]
Satisfied on the point Pilate freely gives (ἐδωρήσατο) the carcase (πτῶμα, [157] [158] [159] [160], corrected from feelings of reverence into σῶμα in many MSS.). [157] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862. [158] Cod... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀγοράσας, _having purchased_ linen; therefore purchases could be made. This word, and the reason given for Joseph's haste (Mark 15:42), have, not without a show of reason, been regarded as unintentional evidence in favour of the Johannine Chronology of the Passion. So Meyer, Weiss, and Holtzmann. κα... [ Continue Reading ]
τέθειται : from the _perfect_ Meyer and Weiss infer that the women were not present at the burial, but simply approached and took note where Jesus lay after burial. Schanz dissents, and refers to the καὶ before ὅτε in Mark 15:41 in some MSS., as proving that they had come to render the last office t... [ Continue Reading ]