CHAPTER 6. AT NAZARETH. MISSION OF THE TWELVE. HEROD AND JOHN. FEEDING OF THE THOUSANDS. SEA INCIDENT. The first two of the miscellaneous group of narratives contained in this chapter (Mark 6:1-13) are regarded by some (Weiss, Schanz, etc.) as forming the conclusion of a division of the Gospel beg... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξῆλθεν ἐκεῖθεν. It is not said, but it is very probable, that this was another of Christ's attempts to escape from the crowd into a scene of comparative quiet and rest (the _hill_, Mark 3:13, the _eastern shore_, Mark 5:1, _Nazareth_, Mark 6:1). Mt. gives this incident at the close of the parable c... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 6:1-6 a. _Jesus at Nazareth_ (Matthew 13:53-58 _cf._ Luke 4:16-30).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤρξατο διδάσκειν, etc.: Jesus did not go to Nazareth for the purpose of preaching, rather for rest; but that He should preach was inevitable; therefore, the Sabbath coming round, He appeared in the synagogue, and spoke. πόθεν τούτῳ ταῦτα : laconic; comprehensive, vague question, covering the discour... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ τέκτων : avoided by Mt., who says the carpenter's _son_ : one of Mk.'s realisms. The ploughs and yokes of Justin M. (c. Trypho., 88) and the apocryphal Gospels pass beyond realism into vulgarity. ἐσκανδαλίζοντο : what they had heard awakened admiration, but the external facts of the speaker's conn... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τοῖς συγγενεῦσιν α., among his kinsmen. This omitted in Mt., ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ α. covering it.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἠδύνατο, etc., He was not _able_ to do any mighty work, which is qualified by the added clause, that He placed His hands on a few _ailing_ persons (ἀρρώστοις); quite minor cures, not to be compared with those reported in the previous chapter. For this statement Mt. substitutes: He did not there... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐθαύμασεν, etc. Jesus marvelled at the _faith_ of the centurion. Nazareth supplied the opposite ground for astonishment. There Jesus found an amount of stupid unreceptivity for which His experience in Decapolis and elsewhere had not prepared Him. It was the _ne plus ultra_ in that line. This wonder... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤρξατο, etc.: Jesus calling to Him (προσκαλεῖται, _vide_ Mark 3:13) the Twelve _began_ at length to do what He had intended from the first (Weiss), _viz._, to send them forth as missioners (ἀποστέλλειν). δύο δύο, two (and) two, Hebraic for κατὰ or ἀνὰ δύο; two together, not one by one, a humane arra... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ μὴ ῥάβδον μόνον : _vide_ in Matthew, _ad loc._ χαλκόν : no mention of gold and silver, brass the only money the poor missionaries were likely to handle.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλὰ … σανδάλια, but shod with sandals. μηδὲ ὑποδήματα, says Matthew, reconcilable either by distinguishing between sandals and shoes (_vide_ on Matthew), or by understanding μηδὲ before ὑποδεδεμένους (Victor Ant.). δύο χιτῶνας : In Mark the prohibition is not to wear (ἐνδύσησθε) two tunics, in Matt... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκεῖ, ἐκεῖθεν, there, in the house; thence, from the village.... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ὃς ἆν τ.… ὑμῶν; another instance of inconsequent construction beginning with a relative clause and passing into a conditional one = and whatever place does not receive you, if (ἐάν understood) they, its people, do not listen to you (so Schanz and Weiss in Meyer). ὑποκάτω, the dust that is _under... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤκουσεν : Herod _heard_, what? Christ's name, τὸ ὀ. α. (φανερὸν γὰρ ἐγέν., a parenthesis)? Or all that is stated in Mark 6:14-15, court opinion about Jesus (from φανερὸν to προφητῶν, a parenthesis)? Both views have been held, but the simplest view is that Herod heard of the doings of the Twelve, tho... [ Continue Reading ]
_Herod and Jesus_ (Matthew 14:1-2; Luke 9:7-9).... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἠλίας, Elias _redivivus_, with extraordinary power and mission. προφήτης, etc., a prophet _like_ one of the old prophets, not any of them _redivivus_. Luke understands it in the latter sense.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἰωάννην : the accusative incorporated with the relative clause by attraction both in position and in construction; _vide_ Winer, § xxiv. 2, and Viger, p. 33. The king's statement is very emphatic = the man whom I beheaded, John, he is risen (that is what it all means).... [ Continue Reading ]
αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Ἡ., for the same Herod, who made the speech just reported, etc. τὴν γυναῖκα φιλίππου : some have supposed that the mistake is here made of taking Herodias for the wife of Philip the tetrarch, who in reality was husband of her daughter Salome (so Holtz. in H. C.). Herodias had previously... [ Continue Reading ]
_Story of Herod and the Baptist_ (Matthew 14:3-12). Herod's endorsement of the theory that Jesus is John _redivivus_ gives a convenient opportunity for reporting here _post eventum_ the Baptist's fate. The report is given in aorists which need not be translated as pluperfects (as in A. V [45] and R.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ δὲ Ἡρ.: the murderous mood is by Mark ascribed to Herodias; in her it would certainly be strongest and unchecked by any other feeling. In Herod, if the mood was there, it was accompanied by worthier impulses (_vide_ on Matthew). ἐνεῖχεν, had a grudge (χόλον understood, so Fritzsche _al._) against... [ Continue Reading ]
gives the reason. ἐφοβεῖτο, feared, a mixture of reverence and superstitious dread towards the prophet and man of God. συνετήρει, not merely _observed him_ (A. V [47]) this, too neutral and colourless _kept him safe_ (R. V [48]) from her fixed malice often manifested but not likely to have its way w... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐκαίρου, a day _convenient_ for the long cherished purpose of Herodias; so regarded by her as well as by the evangelist. She had a chance then, if ever, and might hope that by wine, love, and the assistance of obsequious guests, her irresolute husband would at last be brought to the point (Grotius)... [ Continue Reading ]
_The fatal day_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤρεσεν, it, the dancing, _pleased_ Herod and his guests. τ. κορασίῳ, to the girl, as in Mark 5:41-42, not necessarily a child; the word was used familiarly like the Scotch word “lassie”; disapproved by Phryn., p. 73. αἴτησόν με … ὥμοσεν : promise first, followed by oath after a little interval, duri... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡμίσους, genitive of ἥμισυς, like ἡμίση (τὰ, plural), a late form = _the half_, of my kingdom: maudlin amorous generosity.... [ Continue Reading ]
She goes out to ask advice of her mother, implying that she had not previously got instructions as Matthew's account suggests.... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐθὺς μετὰ σπουδῆς, without delay and with quick step, as of one whose heart was in the business. There had been no reluctance then on the girl's part, no need for much educating to bring her to the point; _vide_ remarks on προβιβασθεῖσα in Matthew 14:8. Her mother's child. ἐξαυτῆς (supply ὥρας), on... [ Continue Reading ]
περίλυπος γενόμενος : a concessive clause, καίπερ understood = and the king, though exceedingly sorry, yet, etc. ὅρκους : there might be more oaths than one (_vide_ on Matthew), but the plural was sometimes used for a single oath. Schanz cites instances from Aeschylus and Xenophon. ἀθετῆσαι α., to s... [ Continue Reading ]
σπεκουλάτορα = speculator in Latin, literally a watcher, a military official of the empire who acted partly as courier, partly as a police officer, partly as an executioner; illustrative citations in Wetstein. The word found its way into the Jewish language (here only).... [ Continue Reading ]
relates how the disciples of John buried the carcase of their master. ἐν μνημείῳ, in a tomb. The phrase recalls to mind the burial of Jesus. Did the evangelist wish to suggest for the reflection of his readers a parallel between the fate of the Baptist and that of Christ? (So Klostermann).... [ Continue Reading ]
transfers us from the past date of the horrible deed just related to the time when the fame of Jesus and His disciples recalled the deed of guilt to Herod's mind. συνάγονται οἱ ἀπόστολοι πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν, the _apostles_ (here only, and not in the technical sense of after days, but = the men sent out... [ Continue Reading ]
_Return of the Twelve_ (Matthew 14:13; Luke 9:10-11).... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑμεῖς αὐτοὶ, either: you yourselves, _vos ipsi_, without the crowd (Meyer, Schanz), or, better: you the same men who have been hard at work and need rest (Weiss in Meyer, Holtz., H. C.). This sympathy of Jesus with the Twelve reflects His own craving for rest which He often unsuccessfully strove to... [ Continue Reading ]
τῷ πλοίῳ. The boat which stood ready for service (Mark 3:9). κατʼ ἰδίαν, privately, _i.e._, with Jesus only in the boat, and without other boats accompanying. As to the reason for this withdrawal into privacy _cf._ Mk.'s account with Mt.'s (Mark 14:13), who connects with the report of John's death.... [ Continue Reading ]
explains why. εἶδον, etc., they (the people) saw them departing. ἐπέγνωσαν (or ἔγνωσαν, [54] [55]) is better without an object (αὐτοὺς or αὐτὸν) = they knew, not who they were, but what they were after, where they were going, doubtless from the course they were steering. πεζῇ (from πεζός, adjective,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤρξατο διδάσκειν, He began to teach, constrained by pity (ἐσπλαγχνίσθη), though weary of toil and of _popularity_. To _teach_; Mt. says to _heal_. There could be few, if any, sick in a crowd that had come in such a hurry.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The feeding_ (Matthew 14:14-21; Luke 9:11-17).... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥρας πολλῆς, it being late in the day. πολύς was extensively used by the Greeks in all sorts of connections, time included; examples in Kypke and Hermann's _Viger_, p. 137 f. The phrase recurs in last clause of this verse (ὥρα πολλή).... [ Continue Reading ]
δηναρ. διακ. ἄρτους, loaves of (purchasable for) 200 denarii; the sum probably suggested by what the Twelve knew they were in possession of at the time = seven pounds in the purse of the Jesus-circle (Grotius, Holtz., H. C.).... [ Continue Reading ]
συμπόσια συμ. Hebraistic for ἀνὰ συμ. (_cf._ δύο δύο, Mark 6:7) = in dining companies. ἐπὶ τῷ χλωρῷ χόρτῳ, on the green grass; a reedy, marshy place near the mouth of the Jordan at the north end of the lake. _Vide_ Stanley's description (Sinai and Palestine).... [ Continue Reading ]
πρασιαὶ πρασιαὶ = ἀνὰ πρασίας, in garden flower plots, or squares, picturesque in fact and in description, bespeaking an eye-witness of an impressionable nature like Peter.... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἦραν, etc., and they tool up, as fragments (κλάσματα, [57] [58]), the fillings (πληρώματα) of twelve baskets. καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἰχθύων, and of the fishes, either over and above what was in the twelve baskets (Fritzsche), or some fragments of the fishes included in them (Meyer). [57] Codex Vaticanus ... [ Continue Reading ]
πεντακισχίλιοι ἄνδρες, 5000 men: one loaf for 1000! Mt. adds: χωρὶς γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων, women and children not counted. Of these, in the circumstances, there would be few, therefore probably not referred to by Mk.... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐθὺς : no time to lose; it was getting late. ἠνάγκασε, _vide_ on Mt. εἰς τὸ πέραν : we are apt to take this as a matter of course as = to the other (western) side of the lake, and consequently to assume that πρὸς Βηθσαϊδάν points to a Bethsaida there, distinct from Bethsaida Julias (John 1:44). But... [ Continue Reading ]
_Another sea-anecdote_ (Matthew 14:22-33). Luke drops out here and does not join his brother evangelists till we come to Mark 8:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀποταξάμενος, having dismissed them, _i.e._, the multitude; late Greek condemned by Phryn., p. 23 (ἔκφυλον πάνυ).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τῷ ἐλαύνειν, in pro pelling (the ship with oars). περὶ τετ. φυλ., about the fourth watch, between three and six in the morning, towards dawn. ἤθελε παρελθεῖν, He wished to pass them “praeterire eos,” Vul.; it appeared so to them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Not quite an instance of Mark's habit of iteration: explains how they came to think it was a phantasm. All saw what looked like Jesus, yet they could not believe it was He, a real man, walking on the water; therefore they took fright and rushed to the conclusion: a spectre!... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκόπασεν, as in Mark 4:39 λίαν ἐκ περισσοῦ, very exceedingly, a double superlative, a most likely combination for Mark, though ἐκ περ. is wanting in some important MSS. and omitted in W.H [59] _Cf._ ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ in Ephesians 3:20. [59] Westcott and Hort.... [ Continue Reading ]
reflects on the astonishment of the Twelve as blameworthy in view of the recent feeding of the multitude. One might rather have expected a reference to the stilling of the storm in crossing to Decapolis. But that seems to have appeared a small matter compared with walking on the sea. The evangelist... [ Continue Reading ]
προσωρμίσθησαν (πρὸς ὁρμίζω from ὄρμος), they came to anchor, or landed on the beach; here only in N. T.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The landing_ (Matthew 14:34-36).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπὶ τοῖς κραββάτοις, upon their beds, _vide_ Mark 2:4. περιφέρειν, to carry about from place to place. If they did not find Jesus at one place, they were not discouraged, but carried their sick to another place where He was likely to be. Their energy, not less than the word κραββάτοις, recalls the s... [ Continue Reading ]
κώμας, πόλεις, ἀγρούς : point probably to a wider sphere of activity than the plain of Gennesaret. This was practically the close of the healing ministry, in which the expectation and faith of the people were wound pp to the highest pitch.... [ Continue Reading ]