Mark 7 - Introduction
CHAPTER 7. WASHING OF HANDS. SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN. A DEAF-MUTE HEALED.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 7. WASHING OF HANDS. SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN. A DEAF-MUTE HEALED.... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ connects what follows very loosely with what goes before: not temporal sequence but contrast between phenomenal popularity and hostility of the religious leaders of the people, in the view of the evangelist. τινὲς τῶν γραμ., etc., some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem. _cf._ Mark 3:22,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Concerning ceremonial ablutions_ (Matthew 15:1-20).... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἰδόντες : the sentence beginning with these words properly runs on to the end of Mark 7:5, but the construction of so long a sentence overtaxes the grammatical skill of the writer, so it is broken off unfinished after the long explanatory clause about Jewish customs, Mark 7:3-4 a kind of parenth... [ Continue Reading ]
Explanatory statement about Jewish customs, not in Mt. πάντες οἱ Ἰουδ.: the Pharisees, the thorough-going virtuosi in religion, were a limited number; but in this and other respects the Jews generally followed ancient custom. The expression reminds us of the Fourth Gospel in its manner of referring... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπʼ ἀγορᾶς, from market (coming understood = ὅταν ἔλθωσι in [62]), a common ellipsis, examples in Raphel, Kypke, and Bos, _Ell. Gr._, p. 98. ῥαντίσωνται ([63] [64]), they sprinkle. The reading, βαπτίσωνται (T.R.), may be interpreted either as = dipping of the _hands_ (_mersionem manuum_, Lightfoot,... [ Continue Reading ]
At last we come to the point, the complaint of the jealous guardians of Jewish custom, as handed down from the elders (κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τ. π.), against the disciples of Jesus, and indirectly against Jesus Himself διατί οὐ περιπατοῦσι κατὰ : for this Mt. substitutes δ. παραβαίνουσι.... [ Continue Reading ]
καλῶς : twice used in Mk. (Mark 7:9), here = appositely, in Mark 7:9 ironically = bravely, finely. The citation from Isaiah is given in identical terms in the two accounts.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The reply of Jesus_. It consists of a prophetic citation and a countercharge, given by Mt. in an inverted order. Commentators, according to their bias, differ as to which of the two versions is secondary.... [ Continue Reading ]
At this point Mk.'s account seems secondary as compared with Mt.'s. This verse contains Christ's comment on the prophetic oracle, then, Mark 7:9, He goes on to say the same thing over again.... [ Continue Reading ]
Μωσῆς, _Moses_; God in Mt., the same thing in Jewish esteem.... [ Continue Reading ]
Κορβᾶν : Mk. gives first the Hebrew word, then its Greek equivalent.... [ Continue Reading ]
Here again the construction limps; it would have been in order if there had been no λέγετε after ὑμεῖς at beginning of Mark 7:11 = but ye, when a man says, etc., do not allow him, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
ᾗ παρεδώκατε, which ye have delivered. The receivers are also transmitters of the tradition, adding their quota to the weight of authority. παρόμοια τοιαῦτα πολλὰ : many such similar things, a rhetorically redundant phrase (_such, similar_) expressive of contempt. _Cf._ Colossians 2:21.Hebrews 9:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The people taken into the discussion_. προσκαλεσάμενος : the people must have retired a little into the background, out of respect for the Jerusalem magnates. ἀκούσατέ μου, etc., hear me all ye, and understand; a more pointed appeal than Mt.'s: hear and understand.... [ Continue Reading ]
This saying is called a parable in Mark 7:17, and Weiss contends that it must be taken strictly as such, _i.e._, as meaning that it is not foods going into the body through the mouth that defile ceremonially, but corrupt matters issuing from the body (as in leprosy). Holtzmann, H. C., concurs. Schan... [ Continue Reading ]
_Conversation with the disciples_. εἰς οἶκον ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου = alone, apart from the crowd, at home, wherever the home, _pro tem_., might be. Whatever was said or done in public became habitually a subject of conversation between Jesus and the Twelve, and therefore of course this remarkable saying.... [ Continue Reading ]
Here, as in Mark 6:52, Mk. takes pains to make prominent the stupidity and consequent need of instruction of the Twelve. οὕτω καὶ ὑ., etc.: are ye, too, so unintelligent as not to understand what I have said: that that which goeth into the man from without cannot defile?... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτι οὐκ … εἰς τὴν καρδίαν : this negative statement is not in Mt. The contrast makes the point clearer. The idea throughout is that ethical defilement is alone of importance, all other defilement, whether the subject of Mosaic ceremonial legislation or of scribe tradition, a trivial affair. Jesus he... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔλεγεν δὲ : the use of this phrase here favours the view that καθαρίζων, etc., is an interpolated remark of the evangelist (Field).... [ Continue Reading ]
An enumeration of the things which come out of the man, from the heart; first six plurals, πορνεῖαι, etc.; then six singulars, δόλος, etc. (Mark 7:22).... [ Continue Reading ]
Concluding reflection: all these bad things come out from within and defile the man. Commonplace now, what a startling originality then!... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Syrophenician woman_ (Matthew 15:21-28). ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἀναστὰς points to a change from the comparatively stationary life by the shores of the lake to a period of wandering in unwonted scenes. _Cf._ Mark 10:1, where ἀναστὰς is used in reference to the final departure from Galilee to the south. The... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐθὺς : does not imply that the woman heard of Christ's arrival as soon as it happened, but that, after hearing, she lost no time in coming = as soon as she heard. Yet sorrow, like the demoniacs, was quick to learn of His presence. θυγάτριον : another of Mk.'s diminutives.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἑλληνὶς, Σύρα, φοινίκισσα, a Greek in religion, a Syrian in tongue, a Phenician in race (Euthy. Zig.). The two last epithets combined into one (Συροφ.) would describe her as a Syrophenician as distinct from a Phenician of Carthage. Mk. is careful to define the nationality and religion of the woman t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄφες πρῶτον, etc.: a milder word than that in Mt. (Matthew 7:26); it is here a mere question of order: first Jews, then Gentiles, St. Paul's programme, Romans 1:16. In Mt. we read, οὐκ ἔστι καλὸν, it is not right, seemly, to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs. Mk. also has this wo... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπεκρίθη, aorist, hitherto imperfect. We come now to what Mk. deems the main point of the story, the woman's striking word. ὑποκάτω τ. τραπ., the dogs _under the table_, waiting for morsels, a realistic touch. τῶν ψιχίων τ. π., not merely the crumbs which by chance fall from the table, but morsels s... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 7:29, διὰ τ. τ. λόγον, for this _word_, which showed the quick wit of the _faith_ which Mt. specifies as the reason of the exception made in her favour.... [ Continue Reading ]
βεβλημένον : the emphasis lies on this word rather than on παιδίον (Bengel), as expressing the condition in which the mother found her daughter: lying _quietly_ (“in lecto molliter cubantem sine ullâ jactatione,” Grotius). It is probable that this interesting incident cannot be fully understood wit... [ Continue Reading ]
After the instructive episode Jesus continued His journey, going northwards through (διὰ, _vide_ critical notes) Sidon, then making a circuit so as to arrive through Decapolis at the Sea of Galilee. The route is not more definitely indicated; perhaps it was along the highway over the Lebanon range t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cure of a deaf-mute_, peculiar to Mk. Mt. has, instead, a renewal of the healing ministry on an extensive scale, the thing Jesus desired to avoid (Mark 15:29-31).... [ Continue Reading ]
μογιλάλον, speaking with difficulty; but here for dumb. _Cf._ ἀλάλους, Mark 7:37, used in Sept [66], Isaiah 35:6, for אִלֵּם, dumb, here only in N.T. [66]Septuagint.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπολαβόμενος, etc., withdrawing him from the crowd apart. Many reasons have been assigned for this procedure. The true reason, doubtless, is that Jesus did not wish to be drawn into a new ministry of healing on a large scale (Weiss, Schanz). ἔβαλε τοὺς δακτύλους, etc.: one finger of the right hand i... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναβλέψας, ἐστέναξε : Jesus looked up in prayer, and sighed or groaned in sympathy. In this case a number of acts, bodily and mental, are specified. Were these peculiar to it, or do we here get a glimpse into Christ's _modus operandi_ in many unrecorded cases? On the latter view one can understand t... [ Continue Reading ]
αἱ ἀκοαί, literally, the hearings, here the instruments of hearing, the ears. So often in classics. ἐλάλει ὀρθῶς, he began to speak in a proper or ordinary manner, implying that in his dumb condition he had been able only to make inarticulate sounds.... [ Continue Reading ]
μᾶλλον περισσότερον, a double comparative, forcibly rendered in A.V [67], “So much the more, a great deal”. _Cf._ 2 Corinthians 7:13. This use of μᾶλλον to strengthen comparatives is found in classics, instances in Raphel, _Annon., ad loc._, and Hermann's _Viger_, p. 719. [67] Authorised Version.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑπερπερισσῶς, superabundantly, a double superlative; here only. καλῶς π. πεποίηκε, He hath done all things well. This looks like a reflection on past as well as present; the story of the demoniac, _e.g._ Observe the ποιεῖ, present, in next clause, referring to the cure just effected. It happened in... [ Continue Reading ]