CHAPTER 3. THE SABBATH QUESTION CONTINUED. THE DISCIPLE-CIRCLE. Another Sabbatic conflict completes the group of incidents (five in all) designed to illustrate the opposition of the scribes and Pharisees to Jesus. Then at Mark 5:7 begins a new section of the history, extending to Mark 6:13, in whi... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ : connection simply topical, another instance of collision _in re_ Sabbath observance. πάλιν : as was His wont on Sabbath days (Mark 1:21; Mark 1:39). συναγωγήν : without the article ([17] [18]), into a synagogue, place not known. ἐξηραμμένην, dried up, the abiding result of injury by accident o... [ Continue Reading ]
_The withered hand_ (Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 6:6-11).... [ Continue Reading ]
παρετήρουν, they were watching Him; who, goes without saying: the same parties, _i.e._, men of the same class, as those who figure in the last section. This time bent on finding Jesus Himself at fault _in re_ the Sabbath, instinctively perceiving that His thoughts on the subject must be wholly diver... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔγειρε εἰς : pregnant construction = arise and come forth into the midst. Then, the man standing up in presence of all, Jesus proceeds to catechise the would-be fault-finders.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀγαθὸν ποιῆσαι ἢ κακοποιῆσαι, either: to do good or evil to one, or to do the morally good or evil. Recent commentators favour the latter as essential to the cogency of Christ's argument. But the former seems more consonant to the situation. It was a question of performing an act of healing. Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
περιβλεψάμενος, having made a swift, indignant (μετʼ ὀργῆς) survey of His foes. συλλυπούμενος : this _present_, the previous participle aorist, implying habitual pity for men in such a condition of blindness. This is a true touch of Mk.'s in his portraiture of Christ. τῆς καρδίας : singular, as if t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξελθόντες : the stretching forth of the withered hand in obedience to Christ's command, conclusive evidence of cure, was the signal for an immediate exodus of the champions of orthodox Sabbath-keeping; full of wrath because the Sabbath was broken, and especially because it was broken by a _miracle_... [ Continue Reading ]
μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν, _with the disciples_ : note they now come to the front. We are to hear something about them to which the notice of the great crowd is but the prelude. Hence the emphatic position before the verb. πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν : as if to a place of retreat (_vide_ Mark 3:9). πολὺ πλῆθος : πολὺ,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The fame of Jesus spreads notwithstanding_ (_vide_ Matthew 4:25; Matthew 12:15 f.; Luke 6:17-19).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα πλοιάριον προσκαρτερῇ : a boat to be always in readiness, to get away from the crowds. Whether used or not, not said; shows how great the crowd was.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥστε ἐπιπίπτειν : so that they knocked against Him; one of Mk.'s vivid touches. They hoped to obtain a cure by contact anyhow brought about, even by rude collision. μάστιγας, from μάστιξ, a scourge, hence tropically in Sept [19] and N. T., a providential scourge, a disease; again in Mark 5:29; Mark... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅταν ἐθ. In a relative clause like this, containing a past general supposition, classical Greek has the optative without ἄν. Here we have the imperfect indicative with ἄν (ὅτε ἄν). _Vide_ Klotz., _ad Devar_, p. 690, and Burton, _M. and T._, § 315. Other examples in chap. Mark 6:56; Mark 11:19. προσέ... [ Continue Reading ]
This sentence is reproduced in Matthew 12:16, but without special reference to demoniacs, whereby it loses much of its point.... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰς τὸ ὅρος. He ascends _to the hill_; same expression as in Matthew 5:1; reference not to any particular hill, but to the hill country flanking the shore of the lake; might be used from whatever point below the ascent was made. προσκαλεῖται, etc., He calls to Him those whom He Himself (αὐτός after... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 3:13-19 a. _Selection of the Twelve_ (_cf._ Matthew 10:2-4; Luke 6:12-16).... [ Continue Reading ]
He is now on the hill top, surrounded by a body of disciples, perhaps some scores, picked out from the great mass of followers. καὶ ἐποίησε δώδεκα : and He made, constituted as a compact body, _Twelve_, by a second selection. For use of ποιεῖν in this sense _vide_ 1 Samuel 12:6; Acts 2:36; Hebrews 3... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἐποίησεν τ. δ., and He appointed _as_ the Twelve the following persons, the twelve names mentioned being the object of ἐποίησε, and τοὺς δ. being in apposition. Πέτρον is the first name, but it comes in very awkwardly as the object of the verb ἐπέθηκε. We must take the grammar as it stands, cont... [ Continue Reading ]
Βοανεργές = בְּנֵי רֶגֶש as pronounced by Galileans; in Syrian = sons of _thunder_; of _tumult_, in Hebrew. Fact mentioned by Mk. only. Why the name was given not known. It does not seem to have stuck to the two disciples, therefore neglected by the other evangelists. It may have been an innocent pl... [ Continue Reading ]
Ματθαῖον. One wonders why Mk. did not here say: Levi, to whom He gave the name Matthew. Or did this disciple get his new name independently of Jesus? This list of names shows the importance of the act of selecting the Twelve. He gives the names, says Victor Ant., that you may not err as to the desig... [ Continue Reading ]
And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
The traditional arrangement by which clause b forms part of Mark 3:19 is fatal to a true conception of the connection of events. The R. V [20], by making it begin a new section, though not a new verse, helps intelligence, but it would be better still if it formed a new verse with a blank space left... [ Continue Reading ]
And the multitude cometh together again, etc. συνέρχεται : the crowd, partially dispersed, reassembles (implying lapse of an appreciable interval). Jesus had hoped they would go away to their homes in various parts of the country during His absence on the hill, but He was disappointed. They lingere... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ γραμ. οἱ ἀπὸ Ἱ., the scribes from _Jerusalem_. The local Pharisees who had taken the Herodians into their murderous counsels had probably also communicated with the Jerusalem authorities, using all possible means to compass their end. The representatives of the southern scribes had probably arriv... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pharisaic theory as to the cures of demoniacs wrought by Jesus_ (Matthew 12:22-37; Luke 11:17-23).... [ Continue Reading ]
προσκαλεσάμενος : Jesus, not overawed by the Jerusalem authorities, invites them to come within talking distance, that He may reason the matter with them. ἐν παραβολαῖς, in figures: kingdom, house, plundering the house of a strong man. Next chapter concerning the parabolic teaching of Jesus casts it... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 3:24-25 set forth the principle or _rationale_ embodied in two illustrations. The theory in question is futile because it involves suicidal action, which is not gratuitously to be imputed to any rational agents, to a kingdom (Mark 3:24), to a house (Mark 3:25), and _therefore_ not to Satan (Mar... [ Continue Reading ]
by another figure shows the true state of the case. Jesus, not in league with Satan or Beelzebub, but overmastering him, and taking possession of his goods, human souls. The saying is given by Mk. much the same as in Mt.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus now changes His tone_. Thus far He has _reasoned_ with the scribes, now He solemnly _warns_ to this effect. “You do not believe your own theory; you know as well as I how absurd it is, and that I must be casting out devils by a very different spirit from Beelzebub. You are therefore not merel... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀμὴν : solemn word, introducing a solemn speech uttered in a tone not to be forgotten. πάντα ἀφεθήσεται, all things shall be forgiven; magnificently broad proclamation of the wideness of God's mercy. The saying as reproduced in Luke 12:10 limits the reference to sins of speech. The original form, We... [ Continue Reading ]
The great exception, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα : hath not forgiveness _for ever. Cf._ the fuller expression in Mt. ἀλλʼ ἔνοχός ἐστιν, but is guilty of. The negative is followed by a positive statement of similar import in Hebrew fashion. αἰωνίου ἁμαρτήματος, of an eternal sin.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτι ἔλεγον, etc., because they said: “He hath an unclean spirit,” therefore He said this about blasphemy against the Holy Ghost such is the connection. But what if they spoke under a misunderstanding like the friends, puzzled what to think about this strange man? That would be a sin against the Son... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔρχονται, even without the οὖν following in T. R., naturally points back to Mark 3:21. The evangelist resumes the story about Christ's friends, interrupted by the encounter with the scribes (so Grotius, Bengel, Meyer, Weiss, Holtz.; Schanz and Keil dissent). στήκοντες, from στήκω, a late form used i... [ Continue Reading ]
_The relatives of Jesus_ (Matthew 12:46-50; Luke 8:19-21).... [ Continue Reading ]
The crowd gathered around Jesus report the presence of His relatives. According to a reading in several MSS., these included _sisters_ among those present. They might do so under a mistake, even though the sisters were not there. If the friends came to withdraw Jesus from public life, the sisters we... [ Continue Reading ]
τίς ἐστιν, etc., who is my mother, and (who) my brothers? an apparently harsh question, but He knew what they had come for.... [ Continue Reading ]
περιβλεψάμενος, as in Mark 3:5, there in anger, here with a benign smile. κύκλῳ : His eye swept the whole circle of His audience; a good Greek expression.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὃς ἂν, etc.: whosoever shall do the will of God (“of my Father in heaven,” Mt.), definition of true discipleship. ἀδελφός, ἀδελφή, μήτηρ : without the article, because the nouns are used figuratively (Fritzsche). This saying and the mood it expressed would confirm the friends in the belief that Jesu... [ Continue Reading ]