Mark 9 - Introduction
CHAPTER 9. THE TRANSFIGURATION. THE EPILEPTIC. SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PASSION. RETURN TO CAPERNAUM AND CONVERSATION THERE.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 9. THE TRANSFIGURATION. THE EPILEPTIC. SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PASSION. RETURN TO CAPERNAUM AND CONVERSATION THERE.... [ Continue Reading ]
to Mark 9:1. _At Caesarea Philippi_ (Matthew 16:13-28; Luke 9:18-27).... [ Continue Reading ]
_The transfiguration_ (Matthew 17:1-13; Luke 9:28-36).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναφέρει with accusative of person = to lead, a usage unknown to the Greeks. So in Mt.; Lk. avoids the expression. κατʼ ἰδίαν μόνους, apart alone, a pleonasm, yet μόνους, in Mk. only, is not superfluous. It emphasises the κατʼ ἰδίαν, and expresses the passion for solitude. Strictly, it refers only t... [ Continue Reading ]
στίλβοντα, glittering; here only in N. T., common in classics; in Sept [70] of bright brass (Ezra 8:27); “flashing sword “(R. V [71], Nahum 3:3); sunshine on shields (1Ma 6:39). λευκὰ λίαν, white _very_. All the evangelists become descriptive. Mk., as was to be expected, goes beyond the two others.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἡλίας σὺν Μ.: Elijah first, not as the more important, but because of his special significance in connection with Messiah's advent, which was the subject of subsequent conversation (Mark 9:9 ff.).... [ Continue Reading ]
Ῥαββί, Rabbi: each evangelist has a different word here. καλόν, etc. On this _vide_ notes in Mt. ποιήσωμεν : let _us_ make, not let _me_ make as in Mt. (_vide_ notes there). σοὶ μίαν καὶ Μωσεῖ, etc.: Moses now comes before Elijah.... [ Continue Reading ]
τί ἀποκριθῇ, what he should answer to the vision; he did not know what else to make of it than that Moses and Elijah had come to stay. This is probably an apologetic remark added by the evangelist to the original narrative. Lk. reproduces it in a somewhat altered form. ἔκφοβοι : they were _frightene... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἐγένετο, before νεφέλη, and again before φωνὴ, in each place instead of Mt.'s ἰδοὺ; in both cases pointing to something remarkable: an overshadowing cloud, and a mysterious voice from the cloud.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξάπινα, suddenly, a form belonging to late Greek = ἐξαπίνης = ἐξαίφνης : here only in N. T.; several times in Sept [72] Kypke cites examples from the Psalms of Solomon and Jamblichus. The word here qualifies not περιβλεψάμενοι, but the change in the state of things which they discovered (εἶδον) on... [ Continue Reading ]
_Conversation during the descent_, not given in Lk.... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸν λόγον ἐκράτησαν, they kept the word; _i.e._, if the verb be taken in the sense of Mark 7:3-4; Mark 7:8, gave heed to the Master's prohibition of speech concerning what had just happened, at least till after the resurrection strictly complied with His wish. If we connect πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς with ἐκράτ.,... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτι λέγουσιν, etc.: this may be taken as an indirect or suggested rather than expressed question, ὅτι being recitative, as in Mark 2:16 = the Pharisees and scribes say, etc., how about that? (Weiss in Meyer), or, writing not ὅτι but ὅ, τι (neuter of ὅστις), as an instance of the use of this pronoun... [ Continue Reading ]
The construction of this sentence also is somewhat puzzling. After Ἡλίας comes μὲν in the best MSS., raising expectation of a δὲ in the apodosis, instead of which we have καὶ (πῶς γέγραπται). Examples of such substitution occur in classic authors; concerning which Klotz, _Devar._, p. 659, remarks: w... [ Continue Reading ]
contains Christ's own view of Elijah's coming, which differs both from that of the scribes and from that of the disciples, who found it realised in the vision on the hill. καθὼς γέγραπται ἐπʼ αὐτόν : the reference is to the persecution of Elijah by Jezebel, the obvious intention being to suggest the... [ Continue Reading ]
ὄχλον πολὺν : the great crowd and the fact that the disciples at the foot of the hill, the nine, had been asked to heal the sufferer, are in favour of the view that the scene of the transfiguration was less remote than Hermon from the familiar theatre of the healing ministry of Jesus and His discipl... [ Continue Reading ]
_The epileptic boy_ (Matthew 17:14-21; Luke 9:37-43). The story is told in Mark with much greater fulness than in the parallels.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξεθαμβήθησαν, were utterly amazed, used by Mark only in N. T., here, and in Mark 14:33 and Mark 16:5 in connections which demand a very strong sense. What was there in common in the three situations: the returned Master, the agony in the garden, and the appearance of the angel at the resurrection?... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτούς, He asked them, _i.e._, the people who in numbers ran to meet Him. Jesus had noticed, as He drew near, that there was a dispute going on in which the disciples were concerned, and not knowing the composition of the crowd, He proceeds on the assumption that they had all a share in i... [ Continue Reading ]
The father of the sick boy answers for the company, explaining the situation, laying the main stress of course on the deplorable condition of his child. πρὸς δε, to _thee_, not aware that Jesus was absent. πνεῦμα ἄλαλον, a dumb spirit; the boy dumb, and therefore by inference the spirit.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅπου ἂν α. καταλάβῃ, wherever it happens to seize him. The possession (ἔχοντα, Mark 9:17) is conceived of as intermittent; “the way of the spirit inferred from the characteristic phenomena of the disease” (_The Miraculous Element in the Gospels_, p. 181). Then follows a graphic description of the en... [ Continue Reading ]
_The complaint of Jesus, vide_ on Matthew. Observe the πρὸς ὑμᾶς instead of Matthew's μεθʼ ὑμῶν. = how long shall I be in relations with you, have to do with you?... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδὼν may be taken as referring to the _boy_ (Schanz), in which case we should have an anacolouthistic nominative for the accusative, the writer having in view to express his meaning in passives (ἐκυλίετο); or to the _spirit_ (πνεῦμα) by a construction _ad sensum_ = the spirit seeing Jesus made a las... [ Continue Reading ]
ὡς : a particle of time, here as frequently in Luke and John = since, or when. ἐκ παιδιόθεν, ἐκ redundant, similar to ἀπὸ μακρόθεν (Mark 5:6).... [ Continue Reading ]
εἴ τι δύνῃ, if Thou canst do anything (A. and R. Vv.), or better, if anyhow Thou canst help. The father speaks under the impression that the case, as he has just described it, is one of peculiar difficulty; therefore while the leper said “if Thou _wilt_,” he says “if Thou _canst_ ”. With reference t... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ εἰ δύνῃ, nominative absolute: as to the “if Thou canst”. πάντα δυν., _all_, in antithesis to the τι of the father.... [ Continue Reading ]
κράξας : eager, fear-stricken cry; making the most of his little faith, to ensure the benefit, and adding a prayer for increase of faith (βοήθει, etc.) with the idea that it would help to make the cure complete. The father's _love_ at least was above suspicion. Meyer and Weiss render “help me even i... [ Continue Reading ]
_The cure_. ἐπισυντρέχει (ἅπ. λεγ.) indicates that the crowd was constantly increasing, so becoming a new crowd (ὄχλος without art.); natural in the circumstances. Jesus seeing this proceeds to cure without further delay. The spirit is now described as unclean and, with reference to the boy's sympto... [ Continue Reading ]
describes a final fit, apparently worse than the preceding. It was evidently an aggravated type of epilepsy, fit following on fit and producing utter exhaustion. Mark's elaborate description seems to embody the recollections of one on whom the case had made a great impression.... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰς οἶκον : into a house, when or whose not indicated, the one point of interest to the evangelist is that Jesus is now alone with His disciples. ὅτι, recitative, here as in Mark 9:11, introduces a suggested question: we were not able to cast it out why?... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦτο τὸ γένος, etc.: This is one of the texts which very soon became misunderstood, the ascetic addition, καὶ νηστείᾳ, being at once a proof and a cause of misunderstanding. The traditional idea has been that Jesus here prescribes a certain discipline by which the exorcist could gain power to cope... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἐκεῖθεν ἐξελθόντες, going forth from thence, _i.e._, from the scene of the last cure, wherever that was: it might be north or south of their destination (Capernaum) Caesarea Philippi or Tabor. παρεπορεύοντο, they passed along without tarrying anywhere. Some take the παρὰ in the compound verb to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Second announcement of the Passion_ (Matthew 17:22-23; Luke 9:43-45).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐδίδασκε γὰρ, etc.: gives the reason for this wish. It was the reason for the whole of the recent wandering outside Galilee: the desire to instruct the Twelve, and especially to prepare them for the approaching crisis. καὶ ἔλεγεν introduces the gist or main theme of these instructions. The words fol... [ Continue Reading ]
ἠγνόουν : they had heard the statement before, and had not forgotten the fact, and their Master had spoken too explicitly for them to be in any doubt as to His meaning. What they were ignorant of was the why, the δεῖ. With all He had said, Jesus had not yet been able to make that plain. They will ne... [ Continue Reading ]
Καπερναούμ : home? This statement, more than anything else in Mk., gives the impression that Capernaum was a kind of home for Jesus. ἐν τῇ οἰκαίᾳ, in the _house_, opposed to ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, but probably pointing to a particular house in which Jesus was wont to stay. τί … διελογίζεσθε, what were ye discus... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Twelve at school_ (Matthew 18:1-10; Luke 9:46-50, etc.).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐσιώπων, they kept silent, ashamed to tell.... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ καθίσας, etc.: every word here betokens a deliberate attempt to school the disciples in humility. The Master takes His seat (καθίσας), calls His scholars with a magisterial tone (ἐφώνησεν, for various senses in which used, _vide_ references, Matthew 20:32) the _Twelve_ (τοὺς δ.), called to an im... [ Continue Reading ]
The child, produced at the outset in Mt., is now brought on the scene (λαβών), not, however, as a model (that in Mark 10:15), but as an object of kind treatment. ἐναγκαλισάμενος : in Mk. only = taking it into His arms, to symbolise how all that the child represents should be treated.... [ Continue Reading ]
f1δέξηται in the first member of the sentence, δέχηται in the second; the former (aorist subjunctive with ἂν), the more regular in a clause expressing future possibility. Winer, xlii. 3b (a). The second member of the sentence is not in the corresponding place in Mt., but is given in Matthew 10:40.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A reminiscence_ (Luke 9:49-50). Probably an incident of the Galilean mission, introduced without connecting particle, therefore (Weiss) connection purely topical; suggested (Holtz., H. C.) to the evangelist by the expression ἐπὶ τ. ὀνόματί μου in Mark 9:37, answering to ἐν τ. ὀ. σ. in Mark 9:38. ἐκ... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus disallows the interdict for a reason that goes deeper than the purely external one of the disciples = not of our company? well, but with us at heart. δυνήσεται ταχὺ : points to moral impossibility: use of Christ's name in exorcism incompatible with hostile or inappreciative thought and speech... [ Continue Reading ]
The counterpart truth to that in Matthew 10:30. Both truths, and easily harmonised. It is in both cases a question of tendency; a little sympathy inclines to grow to more, so also with a lack of sympathy. _Vide_ on Matthew 12:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
= Matthew 10:42, but a later secondary form of the saying: ποτήριον ὕδατος for π. ψυχραῦ, and ὅτι Χριστοῦ ἐστέ instead of εἰς ὄν. μαθητοῦ.... [ Continue Reading ]
καλόν, etc.: well for him; rather = better. Each evangelist has his own word here: Mt. συμφέρει, Lk. (Luke 17:2) λυσιτελεῖ; but Mk., according to the best attested reading, has the strong phrase μύλος ὀνικὸς in common with Mt. He is content, however, with the expression “in the sea,” instead of Mt.'... [ Continue Reading ]
After the episode of the exorcist the narrative returns to the discourse broken off at Mark 9:38. From receiving little children and all they represent, Jesus passes to speak of the sin of causing them to stumble.... [ Continue Reading ]
The offender of the little ones is still more an offender against himself, hence the discourse by an easy transition passes to counsels against such folly. In Mk.'s version these are given in a most particular way, hand, foot and eye being each used separately to illustrate the common admonition. In... [ Continue Reading ]
is a _crux interpretum_, and has given rise to great diversity of interpretation (_vide_ Meyer, _ad loc._). Three questions may be asked. (1) What is the correct form of the saying? (2) Was it spoken at this time by Jesus? (3) If it was, how is it to be connected with the previous context? As to (1)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Salting inevitable and indispensable_. These verses appear only in Mk. as part of this discourse. The _logion_ in Mark 9:50 corresponds to Matthew 5:13; Luke 14:34-35.... [ Continue Reading ]
sets forth the other great truth: salting in the form of self-discipline _indispensable_. καλὸν τὸ ἅλας, an excellent thing is salt; a most seasonable truth just then. What follows seems less so, as it stands in Mk.'s text. As spoken by Jesus, if we may assume that it was spoken on this occasion, it... [ Continue Reading ]