_They came into the country of the Gadarenes_ Called Gergesenes, Matthew 8:28. Gadara and Gergasa being towns near each other, and their inhabitants, and those of the country adjacent, taking their name indifferently from either. _There met him a man with an unclean spirit_ Matthew mentions two. Pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that had been possessed, prayed that he might be with him_ To enjoy the further benefit of his instructions. Perhaps he feared lest, if Jesus left him, he should relapse into his former condition, the terrors of which he dreaded. _Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not_ Judging it proper to leave him i... [ Continue Reading ]
_There cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue_ Probably that at Capernaum. The rulers of the synagogue were three persons chosen out of ten, who were obliged constantly to attend the public worship over which they presided, and determined such disputes as happened in the synagogue. For an explana... [ Continue Reading ]
_She felt in her body that she was healed of that plague_ Or distemper, with which she had been chastised; for this is the plain meaning of the word μαστιγος here used, which properly means _a stroke, scourge_, or _correction. And Jesus turned about in the press, and said, Who touched_, &c. The woma... [ Continue Reading ]
_John, the brother of James_ John is thus described here, because, when Mark wrote his gospel, not long after our Lord's ascension, the memory of James, lately beheaded, was so fresh, that his name was more known than that of John himself.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He seeth the tumult_ The crowd of people that _wept and wailed greatly_ Greek αλαλαζοντας πολλα, _howling much_, as some render the word. “From several passages of Scripture, (see Jeremiah 9:17; Jeremiah 16:6; Ezekiel 24:17,) it appears that the people of the East used to bewail the dead by tearing... [ Continue Reading ]
_He charged them that no man should know it_ That he might avoid every appearance of vain-glory, might prevent too great a concourse of people, and might not further enrage the scribes and Pharisees against him; the time for his death, and for the full manifestation of his glory, not being yet come.... [ Continue Reading ]