THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. -Usherian year of the World, 4030. -Alexandrian year of the World, 5528. -Antiochian year of the World, 5518. -Constantinopolitan AEra of the World, 5534. -Rabbinical year of the World, 3786. -Year of the Julian Period, 4740. -AEra of the Seleucidae, 338. -Y... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:2. _AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS_] Rather, _As it is_ _written by Isaiah the prophet_. I think this reading should be adopted, instead of that in the common text. It is the reading of the _Codex Bezae, Vatican_, and several other MSS. of great repute. It is found also in the _Syria... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:3. _THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING_] See Clarke on Matthew 3:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:4. _JOHN_] The original name is _nearly_ lost in the Greek ιωαννης, and in the Latin _Johannes_, and almost _totally_ so in the English _John_. The original name is יהוחנן _Yehochanan_, compounded of יהוה חנן _Yehovah chanan_, the _grace_ or _mercy of Jehovah_: a most proper and signifi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:5. _ALL THE LAND_] See on Matthew 3:4. _CONFESSING THEIR SINS._] It was an invariable custom among the Jews to admit no proselyte to baptism, till he had, in the most solemn manner, declared that he forever had renounced all idolatrous worship, all heathenish superstitions, and promise... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:6. _JOHN WAS CLOTHED_, c.] Matthew 3:4, Matthew 3:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:7. _THE LATCHET OF WHOSE SHOES_] The _shoe_ of the ancients was properly only a _sole_ tied round the foot and ankle with _strings_ or _thongs_. Matthew 3:11, Matthew 3:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:8. _I INDEED HAVE BAPTIZED YOU WITH WATER_] As if he had said: This baptism is not to be rested in; it is only an _emblem_ of that which you must receive from him who is mightier than I. It is he only who can communicate the Holy Spirit; and water baptism is nothing, but as it points ou... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:9. See the subject of these verses which contain the account of our Lord's baptism, explained. Matthew 3:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:10. Mark 1:9, Mark 1:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:11. Mark 1:9, Mark 1:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:12. _THE SPIRIT DRIVETH HIM_] εκβαλλει, _putteth him_ _forth_. St. Matthew says, Matthew 4:1, ανηχθη, _was brought up_. See this important subject of our Lord's temptation explained at large, Matthew 4:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:13. _WITH THE WILD BEASTS_] This is a curious circumstance, which is mentioned by none of the other evangelists; and seems to intimate that he was in the most remote, unfrequented, and savage part of the desert; which, together with the diabolic influence, tended to render the whole sce... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:14. _PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM_] Matthew 3:2, Matthew 3:2; and on the office of the _preacher_, or _herald_, at the end of that chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:15. _THE TIME IS FULFILLED_] That is, the time appointed for sending the _Messiah_; and particularly the time specified by Daniel, Daniel 9:24. Here are _four_ points worthy of deep attention, in the preaching of the Son of God. 1. Every thing that is done is according to a plan laid b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:16. _AS HE WALKED BY THE SEA_, c.] See Clarke on Matthew 4:18. _ANDREW HIS BROTHER_] Instead of the common reading, αδελφον αυτου, _his brother_, the best MSS. and versions have αδελφουτου σιμωνος, _the brother of Simon_, which should be received into the text. The most eminent critics... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 21. _CAPERNAUM_] See Matthew 4:13. _HE ENTERED INTO THE SYNAGOGUE_] Their synagogues - εν ταις συναγωγαις αυτων, according to the _Syriac_, which has the word in the _plural_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _AS ONE THAT HAD AUTHORITY_] From God, to do what he was doing; and to teach a pure and beneficent system of truth. _AND NOT AS THE SCRIBES._] Who had no such authority, and whose teaching was not accompanied by the power of God to the souls of the people: 1. because the _matter_ of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _A MAN WITH AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT_] This demoniac is only mentioned by Mark and Luke, Luke 4:33. It seems the man had lucid intervals; else he could not have been admitted into the synagogue. _Unclean or impure spirit _- a common epithet for those fallen spirits: but here it may mean, one who... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _WHAT HAVE WE TO DO WITH THEE_] Or, _What is it to us_ _and to thee_? or, _What business hast thou with us_? That this is the _meaning_ of the original, τιημινκαισοι, Kypke has sufficiently shown. There is a phrase exactly like it in 2 Samuel 16:10. _What have I to do with you, ye sons of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _AND JESUS REBUKED HIM_] A spirit of this cast will only yield to the sovereign power of the Son of God. All _watchings, fasting_, and _mortifications_, considered _in themselves_, will do little or no good. Uncleanness, of every description, will only yield to the _rebuke_ of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _AND WHEN THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT HAD TORN HIM_] _And had_ _thrown him down in the midst_, Luke 4:35, και σπαραξαν, _and convulsed_ him. Never was there a person possessed by an unclean spirit who did not suffer a _convulsion_, perhaps a total _ruin_ of nature by it. Sins of _uncleanness_, as t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _WHAT THING IS THIS?_] Words of surprise and astonishment. _AND WHAT NEW DOCTRINE_] I have added the particle _and_, from the Syriac, as it helps the better to distinguish the members of the sentence; but there is a vast diversity in the MSS. on this verse. See _Griesbach_. _FOR WITH AUT... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _AND IMMEDIATELY HIS FAME SPREAD ABROAD_] The miracle which he had performed was - 1. great; 2. evidenced much _benevolence_ in the worker of it; and 3. was very _public_, being wrought in the synagogue. The _many_ who saw it published it wherever they went; and thus the fame of Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. See this account of the _healing of Peter's_ _mother-in-law_ explained at large, Matthew 8:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _WHEN THE SUN DID SET_] Matthew 8:14, Matthew 8:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _BECAUSE THEY KNEW HIM_] _To be the Christ_, is added here by several ancient and respectable MSS. and versions; but it appears to be only a _gloss_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _IN THE MORNING A GREAT WHILE BEFORE DAY_] By πρωι, _the morning_, is to be understood the whole space of three hours, which finished the fourth watch of the night. _AND THERE PRAYED._] Not that _he_ needed any thing, for in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; but that he mig... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _AND SIMON - FOLLOWED AFTER HIM._] κατεδιωξαν, _followed_ _him eagerly_. They had now begun to taste the good word of God, and thought they could never hear too much of it. Many possess this spirit when first converted to God. O! what a pity that they should ever lose it! The soul that _re... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _ALL_ MEN _SEEK FOR THEE._] Some to _hear_; some to be _healed_; some to be _saved_; and some, perhaps, through no _good_ motive. There are all sorts of followers in the train of Christ; but how few walk _steadily_, and _persevere_ unto the _end_!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 38. _THE NEXT TOWNS_] κωμοπολεις properly signifies such towns as resembled cities for _magnitude_ and _number_ of inhabitants, but which were not _walled_ as were _cities_. The _Codex Bezae_, most of the versions, and all the _Itala_, read, _Let us go into the_ _neighbouring villages_, AND IN... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _AND HE PREACHED_] _He continued preaching _- ην κηρυσσων: this is the proper meaning of the words: he never slackened his pace-he continued proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation to all - there was no time to be lost - immortal souls were perishing for lack of knowledge; and the grand... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:40. _THERE CAME A LEPER_] See the notes on Matthew 8:2, c. Should any be inclined to preach on this cleansing of the leper, _Mark_ is the best evangelist to take the account from, because he is more circumstantial than either Matthew or Luke. I. Consider this leper. 1. He _heard_ of J... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:43. _STRAITLY CHARGED_] See the reason for this, Matthew 8:4. This verse is wanting in two copies of the _Itala_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Mark 1:45. _BEGAN TO PUBLISH IT MUCH_] Began to publish πολλα, _many things_; probably all that he had heard about our Lord's miraculous works. _AND TO BLAZE ABROAD THE MATTER_] That is, his own healing; thinking he could never speak too much, nor too well, of him who had thus mercifully and... [ Continue Reading ]