^V OF P«M?^ JUL ':9 ! O ?.74 COMMENTARY ON THE HOLT SCKIPTUEES: CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MINISTERS AND STUDENTS. BY JOHN PETEE LANGE, D.D., IN CONNECTION WITH A NUMBER OF EMINENT EUROPEAN DIVINES. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, AND EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS ORIGINAL AND SELECTED, PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., IN CONNECTION WITH AMERICAN DIVINES OP VARIOUS EVANGELICAL DENOMINATIONS. VOL. II. OF THE NEW TESTAMENT : CONTAINING THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK, AND THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCEIBNER & CO., 124 GRA^-D STREET. 1866. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO A E K. BY JOHN PETER IaNGE, D.D., PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN. REVISED FROM THE EDINBURGH TRANSLATION, WITH ADDITIONS, BY WILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D.D., PROFESSOR IN UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK. FIKST EDITION. NEW YORK: CHAELES SCEIBNER & CO., 124 GEAND STEEET. 1866. Entered, according to Act of Congress, iu the year 1866, by CHARLES SCRIBNER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. JOHK F. TROW & CO. PRINTERS, STEREOTVPERS, ASD E1.ECTR0TYPER3, 50 Greene Street, New York. II. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK; BEING THAT OF THE NEW AND DIRECT J^IANIFESTATION OF CHRIST FROM HEAVEN, OF HIS ALL-CONQUERING DIVINE POWER, AND OF HIS DIVINE VICTORY. {SYMBOLIZED BY THE LION.) INTRODUCTION. 1, DISTmCTIVE CHAEACTEBISTICS OF THE SECOND GOSPEL. The Gospel by Mark, like that of Matthew, presents the theocratic side of the life and acts of Christ ; while Luke and John bring out prominently their universal hearing, or application to mankind generally. On this common ground, however, it occupies a position distinct from that of Mattliew. Matthew sets forth our Saviour as the New Testament King of the Jews, in whom the Old Testament has been completely and throughout fulfilled; Mark, on the other hand, exhibits Him in His independent Pei'sonality, as that new and absolute manifestation of the Deity in Israel which the whole Old Testament was designed only to pre-announce and make ready for. Matthew presents the history of the Lord as that of the true Prophet, Priest, and King, in His conflict with the spurious representations of these set up by traditionalism ; while Mark shows how all the powers existing in the world, representing as they did tlie various phases of unbelief, rose in opposition to the Lord, and how all were vanquished by His absolute, victorious power. Hence, in the narrative of Matthew, the history of Jesus is pre- sented as the summing up and culminating of the martyrdom of all the Old Testament worthies and prophets, as that deepest and fullest suflfering which, through the Spirit of all grace, be- comes and forms the expiatory service of the great High-Priest ; in the Gospel of Mark, on the other hand, the element of victory and of triumph (Isa. ix.) appears, and is scarcely kept in the background, even amidst the scenes of intensest suffering. In the narrative of Matthew, Christ enters upon the scene in order to remove the conditions and limitations which had hitherto beset the course of history, and from His own infinite vantage-ground to transform it, and give it new direction ; in the Gospel by Mark, the coming of Christ is presented as the absolute breaking up of the former state of things, by which the elements of the old broken world are reduced to subservient material out of vrhich the new kingdom of salvation and of liberty is constructed. The first Evangelist delineates for us the life of Jesus in its theocratfc aspect, and as bearing upon universal history ; the second shows that, besides this human bearing, the life of Jesus, both in its nature and working, carries the direct impress of divinity. Thus the Gospel of history is followed by the history of the Gospel ; the Gospel which details mighty suffering, by the Gospel which delineates mighty achievement ; the Gospel which has appro- 1 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. priately been symbolized by the sacrificial bullock, by that to which even antiquity attached the symbol of the lion. {See the Introduction to the New Testament^ p. 26.) Hence, in tracing the Gospel history, Mark seems to have viewed his subject mainly in the light of that prophecy of the patriarch Jacob : " Judah is a young lion " (Gen. xlix. 9) — a pre- diction taken up once more by Hosea (xi. 10) and by Amos (i. 2), and swelling into a note of triumph in the last pages of Scripture (Rev. v. 8). Accordingly, although the great adversary of that Lion, even Satan himself, goeth about like a roaring lion (1 Pet. v. 8), he is not a lion in the genuine and spiritual sense. The simile applies only allegorically, in reference to his bold appearance in the open persecution of believers ; in its higher symbolical meaning, that title belongs to the Lord Himself. In this respect, Peter has well described the agency of Christ (Acts x. 38) as " healing all tliat were oppressed of the devil." Mark delineates Christ as, from first to last, pre-eminently the victorious Conqueror of all Satanic powers. He has left us a record of the manifestation of Christ's power, when that great Lion seized upon the ancient world, and of His brief but decisive victory, after which only the ruins of the ancient world are left, which in turn furnish the materials for the new one. This Gospel of the intrinsic power and life of Christ, in its original freshness, as it is reflected in the kindred soul of the Evangelist, possesses a great variety of distinguishing characteristics, both of a negative and positive kind. It is on the ground that it springs out into record from his own peculiar individual life, that we account for the conciseness of this the briefest of the Gospels, and not primarily on that of the historical occasion for its composition (Mark, one of Peter's Evangelists, relating the events of evangelical history by way of explaining his preach- ing). We can understand thus, why there is apparent in it no deliberate leisurely contem- plation of things and events ; why meditation gives place to rapid and picturesque description ; why he omits the longer discourses of Jesus, and, when he does record any of His discourses, selects those bm'ning words of controversy, denunciation, judgment, or triumph; why, occasion- ally, there is an indulgence in hasty, dashing expression (such as not to "put on two coats," ch. vi. 9) ; and towards the close he even breaks off abruptly and begins again (ch. xvi. 9) ; and why the arrangement of his material, though distinct, is so often obscured by the rapid suc- cession of the great events described, that Papias suggested that Mark had not written in the order of succession, such as he conceived it to have been (ou rd^fi, Euseb. iii. 39). These negative traits owe their origin to the positive characteristics of this Gospel. The deeds of divine heroism which it describes, find, as it were, an appropriate body in peculiarities of ex- pression, whether by an accumulation of strong negatives (ovKen, ovdeis) and by rapid transitions, or by rapid succession in the narrative, in fact, the word evSiws may be designated as the ap- propriate watch-word of our Gospel. While Matthew transports us gradually into the events of his time, as he relates what " came to pass in those days," the peculiar expression " immediately," '' forthwith," " straightway," employed by Mark, hurries us from one event to another. So fre- quently, indeed, does the term occur, that ancient copyists not unfrequently questioned its authen- ticity, and in Codex D it is even omitted in several instances. {See Ceednee, Introd. i. p. 102.) It is this vividness of description also that leads to the frequent use of the present tense in the narrative (ch. i. 21, 40, &c.), and to the introduction of the very language used by individuals (ch. iv. 88, V. 8, &c.). On the same ground also, the identical Aramasan words are introduced which were employed in the actual occurrence (ch. iii. 17, 22, v. 41), and the new, customary, or popu- lar expressions of the time are used {8r]vdpiov ; KevTvplcov). But while the Evangelist rapidly sketches his great picture, he also greatly delights to dwell on those particular events which form its essential features. That enthusiasm and vividness of realization which account for the brevity, rapidity, and somewhat dramatic tone of the narrative, also exi:)lain the introduction of details which seem to give life to the scene. Thus we have certain graphic touches of de- scription,— such as Christ being in the wilderness among wild beasts; the cursed fig-tree wither- ing to the root; Jesus asleep on a pillow in the hinder part of the vessel while crossing the lake. Along with those lifelike touches of the historian's pencil, which appear in the de- lineation of that beautiful simile in ch. iv. 26, or in that of the gradual cure of the blind man in ch. viii. 22, we also find a freshness and accuracy of recollection, as in rec;illing, for example, 1. DISTINCTIVE CHARACTEKISTICS OF THE SECOND GOSPEL. the name of Bartimseus, the son of Tinireus, the blind beggar on the road to Jericho, and a chihllike atfectionateness, leading to the frequent use of diminutive forms of expression, such as "little daughter," "little child," &c. Lastly, from the same causes there is a marked ac- curacy of details in reference to the persons introduced on the scene, the particulars of time and place, numbers, secondary circumstances, and other small points, more especially when the Evangelist describes the miraculous cures performed by the Lord. {See Ceedner, p. 103 seq.) Thus the second Gospel may be characterized as that of a rapt beholding of the Son of God manifesting His divine power by His divine working. The victorious work of Christ passes before us in a series of great life-pictures, rapidly succeeding each other. His mission of pardon and grace is accomplished in a few great stages, each the result of deepest energy and zeal, and the manifestation of His inmost life. It is as if the heavens were rent asunder, and were eternally pouring down their richest showers of blessing. Hence, also, both the attractive and the repelling influence of Christ are sharply and decisively set before us ; the enmity of un- believers rises immediately into mortal hatred, while the people, on the contrary, gather around Him in thronging crowds, bearing with them those who need His help. Sometimes there is not even room to stand, nor leisure so much as to eat. " Nay, His active love shines forth in such bright effulgence, and kindles such enthusiasm among the multitudes which sur- round Him, that on one occasion His kinsmen were about forcibly to remove Him from the throng, from an apprehension that He was beside Himself (ch. iii. 21). He produces the deepest impression on the people ; they are filled with wonder, astonished beyond measure, and dis- mayed, wherever He makes His appearance to manifest His power and love." The effects produced correspond to the influence felt. " He healed many, insomuch that they rushed upon Him for to touch Him, as many as had plagues." Wherever His arrival is announced, the sick are brought from all the neighborhood, and laid in the street on their couches; and they be- seech Him that they might touch if it were but the hem of His garment, " and as many as touched Him were made whole." Even His appearance among them causes the people to be greatly amazed, so that they tremble for joy and awe (ch. is. 15). But every deed He per- forms is a victory over the hostUe powers. Mark's Gospel is not so deeply pervaded by the anticipation of death as that of Matthew. Even of Christ's last words on the cross, only these are recorded: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? " — as if in this hour of agony, also, we were to hear only the Lion's cry of woe. In the same manner, in the history of the resurrection, only its astounding features are prominently brought forward. In their dis- tress, the disciples believe not the tidings of His resurrection, whether from the lips of Mary Magdalene, or from those of the two disciples to whom He had appeared by the way. But as soon as Christ Himself appears among them, and upbraids them with their unbelief, they are completely changed ; they are now ready to receive the commission to preach the Gospel to every creature. A continued manifestation of His power attends, after His resurrection and ascension, the messengers of Christ, and confirms the word. Thus characteristically closes the Gospel by Mark, even as, throughout his narrative, his eye was mainly fixed on those miraculous and healing manifestations of divine power by which the world was shaken and transformed. In this respect his narrative is unique ; it exhibits the life of Christ as divine power pervading the world. Throughout, it presents the history of Christ as the working, manifestation, and influence of the God-man. From the pages of Mark we gather how, at the time. He touched every chord of feeling in the souls of the people — amazement, fear, confidence, hope, joy, and delight ; and how He adapted His divine power to those varying states of emotion, whether by reproof, healing, or sanctification. The rapidity with which the Saviour achieved such immense results, the impetuous enthusiasm which characterizes that day's work in which He pervaded the world with the power and eflicacy of His name, and the victorious strength with which He triumphed over the bondage of the world and the sorrows of the grave, and rose to His throne of glory, are here presented as the grand characteristics of the divine Redeemer, who accomplishes His work of redemption by a series of rapid victories. At the same time, this glorious life of work and victory is to serve as a symbol, in the light of which we are to view and to understand every deed wrought in the name of the Lord, every awakening and THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. vivifying operation in hearts divinely moved, every triiimpli of chrisrological power, every lion-like bound, shout, and victory of faith on earth, — in short, every outgoing of that eternal energy which proceeds from the throne of the Sou of God. {See Lange, Life of Jesus, i. p. 248.) Another peculiarity of our Gospel deserves special mention. It will readily be noticed that the Evangelist lays emphasis on the periods of pause and rest which rhythmically intervene between the several great victories achieved by Christ. Each fresh advance, each new contest and victory, is preceded by a period of retirement. Thus, the Saviour, at tlie commencement of His work, leaves the obscure abode of His humiliation at Nazareth, that by humble sub- mission to the baptism of John, He might insure His victorious progress. Thence He retires into the wilderness ; again and again He repairs into the desert, to issue forth anew and to achieve ever larger conquests. Even His ascension is presented at the close of our Gospel under the peculiar aspect of Christ retiring in order to conquei', by His power and blessing, the whole world, through the instrumentality of His ambassadors. {See this feature fully brought out in Section, 5.) [To this sketching of Lange may be added the remarks of a thoughtful English critic, which strikingly agree with it. " There are many, again, whose sympathies are entirely with the present, who delight in the activity and warmth of daily life, who are occupied with things around them, without looking far beyond their own age and circle. To them St. Mark ad- dresses a brief and pregnant narrative of the ministry of Christ, unconn£cted with any special recital of His birth and preparation for His work, aud unconnected, at least in its present shape, with the mysterious history of the Ascension. ... It seems natural to find in St. Mark a characteristic fitness for his special work. One whose course appears to have been marked throughout by a restless and impetuous energy was not unsuited for tracing the life of the Lord, in the fresh vigor of its outward power. The friend alike of St. Paul and St. Peter, working in turn in each of the great centres of the Jewish world, at first timidly sensitive of danger, and afterwards a comforter of an imprisoned apostle, himself ' of the circumcision,' and yet writing to Gentiles, St. Mark stands out as one whom the facts of the Gospel had moved by their simple force to look over and beyond varieties of doctrine in the vivid realization of the actions of the 'Son of God.' For him teaching was subordinate to action; and every trait which St. Peter preserved in his narrative would find a faithful recorder in one equally suited to apprehend and to treasure it." "Westoott, Study of the Gospels^ pp. 205, 213, 214. — Ed.] § 2. HISTOKY OF MARK THE EVAIS^GELIST. In the Book of Acts, the writer of our Gospel is first designated as John Mark (ch. xii. 12, 25), then as John (ch. xiii. 5, 13), and lastly as Mark (ch. xv. 39). Oomp. Col. iv. 10; 2 Tim. iv. 11 ; Philem. 24. Originally he seems to have borne the Jewish name of John ; but it must not be imagined that on entering upon the duties of an Evangelist, he arbitrarily adopted the Koman name of Mark. His familiarity with the Latin, Avhich may be gathered from the circumstance that lie afterwards became "the interpreter of Peter" (his ipfirjvfiWijs, :iccording to Papias in Euseb. iii. 39, Iren. iii. 1 et alia; also TertuUian, Jerome), may have been due to some connection between his family and Italy. His father, or some other of his relatives, may have been a proselyte from Eome ; or else a wealthy family like that of Mark may have had other reasons for giving him, along with the Hebrew, a Eoman name. Certain it is that, in his capacity of companion to the Apostles, he is generally designated Mark, just as Saul took the name of Paul when engaged in his great work. Later ecclesiastical tradition has in the present, as in other instances, availed itself of this circumstance to transform our Evangelist into two or thi'ee saints. The Evangelist Mark was represented as being a diftcrcnt personage from John Mark; and again, these two as distinct from the relative of Barnabas (compare the art. Mark in "WiNEE, i?mZ Encycl.). Among later divines, Grotius, Calovius, and Schleiermacher {Stud. u. Krit. for 1832), and still more recently Kienlen {Stud. n. Krit. for 1848, p. 423), have endeavored, though unsuccessfully, to maintain the existence of two biblical personages of the name of 2. HISTORY OF MARK THE' EVANGELIST. '5 Mark, — the one a companion of Peter, the other of Paul. The fact that Mark acted as Evan- gelist alternately in connection with Paul and with Peter, is readily accounted for, both from the vitality and mobility of his temperament and character, and from the mutual understanding and accord between the two Apostles themselves. Nor is there more solid reason for including Mark among the seventy disciples, — upon the conjecture that he was one of those wlio were offended by the saying of Christ, about the necessity of eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John vi. 53, 60), but was afterwards restored through the admonitions of Peter. Stron"'er probability attaches to the supposition that Mark himself was the young man, of whom he relates in his Gospel (ch. xiv. 51), that on the night of the Lord's betrayal he followed Ilim clothed in a light night-dress, which he left in the hands of the officers when he fled from them (Comp. Olshausen, Lange, L^fe of Jesus ^ i. p. 245, and our comment on this passage). From the Book of Acts, we gather that the mother of Mark was a wealthy proprietress; and the supposition does not appear far-fetched, that she may have owned a country-house in the valley of the Kidron, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, — perhaps even the garden of Gethsemane. At any rate, there is a striking resemblance between the character of that young man and the life of Mark, in whose quick and ardent, but mobile and inconstant disposition sin required to be specially met and conquered by sovereign grace. Thus we find that, while Mark boldly accompanied Paul on his first, missionary journey, he suddenly forsook him, but afterwards again recovered himself, and offered his services in other expeditions of the same kind. For further particulars respecting the young man mentioned in ch. xiv. 51, see the Notes below. As already noticed, Mark was the son of an influential Christian matron of Jerusalem, called Mary, in whose house the disciples were wont to meet for united worship, according to the custom of those days (Acts xii. 12). Mary had wholly devoted herself to the cause and service of Christ; for at a time when James the Elder had just fallen by the sword of Herod Agrippa, and Peter lay in prison awaiting a doom from which he was only delivered by a miracle, she risked her all by converting her house, so to speak, into the principal church of Jerusalem. Indeed, so well was this understood, that after his miraculous liberation from prison, Peter at once directed his steps to her house, as the great centre and meeting-place of the disciples. The son of such a woman — a worthy companion of the other heroic Maries of tlie Gospels — could not but be early acquainted with the blessed truths of Christianity. From tlie expression in 1 Pet. v. 13 (vto? jnov), it has been inferred that the Apostle Peter had been the instrument of his conversion. That his religious convictions, however, depended not on those of any man in particular, is evidenced by the fact, that his peculiar relation towards Peter did not prevent him from joining Paul and Barnabas on their return from Jerusalem to Antioch, probably with a view to that missionary tour on which he afterwards accompanied them in the capacity of an evangelisf or minister (uTrrjpeVr/s-, Acts xiii. 5). But this step was probably taken, mainly at the suggestion of his uncle Barnabas (Mark was ai/e\//-tof to Barnabas, Col. iv. 10). We are not informed on what ground our Evangelist deserted the mission at Perga in Pamphylia, and returned to Jerusalem. Luke is silent on the point ; although Paul regarded the conduct as so blameworthy, that when he and Barnabas resolved to undertake a second missionary tour (Acts xv. 36j, he firmly refused to accept the proftered assistance of Mark (Acts xv. 38). Nay, of such importance did he deem the matter, that, when Barnabas insisted on allowing his nephew to accompany them, Paul, rather than yield, separated from his old companion, and that, too, although he was in many respects imder considerable obliga- tions to one who, under the influence of that love which thinketh no evil, had first introduced him to the Apostles at Jerusalem, and afterwards, with an unselfishness truly Christian, had brought him to Antioch, to share in the work going on in that city. We cannot doubt that Barnabas had spiritual grounds for his conduct in reference to Mark, beyond a mere natural feeling for his young relative, and that large-hearted charity of which he otherwise had gi^-en proof {See Acts iv. 36). Still, it may be supposed that the well-merited reproof administered by Paul, proved of greater use to Mark in after-life than the apology oflfered for him by Barnabas. It is just possible that, at the time, some of the views on which Paul acted in his missionary labors had appeared too liberal to the young convert from Jerusalem. Even Barnabas does 6* THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. not seem to have always felt equally confident on the subject (Gal. ii.). Suflice it tliat the presence of Mark was the occasion of "sharp contention" and separation between the two missionaries, who now took up different fields of labor. Paul went from Syria directly to Oilicia; while Barnabas took ship for Cyprus, his native island, where also, on his first journey, he had commenced a mission. It deserves special notice, that while Paul was in the habit of commencing a missionary tour by revisiting the place where on a former occasion he had first labored, he this time ceded it to Barnabas. It is on this occasion, that Luke for the first time designates our Evangelist simply by the name of Mark (Acts xv. 39). But the spirit of apos- tolic peace soon overcame the temporary misunderstanding and disagreement. Hence, we afterwards find Mark among the assistants of Paul during the time of his first captivity at Eome (Col. iv. 10 ; Philem. 24), i. e., about the year 62. At a somewhat later period, however, he seems to have been with Peter at Babylon (1 Pet. v. 13), whence the Apostle, addressing the disciples in Asia Minor, sends salutations from Marcus his son. For we regard the follow- ing as settled points : First, that Babylon means the place of that name, and not Rome, as it could have served no rational purpose to conceal the name of a place under a mystical title, wliich might so readily be misunderstood; secondly, tliat the First Epistle of Peter bears evi- dent marks of having been composed at the time when the persecution of Christians through- out the Eoman Empire was just beginning, and the Jews were preparing for their last great war of nationality, *. e., some time after the year 62. But as, during his second captivity, Paul charged Timothy (2 Tim. iv. 11) to bring Mark with him to Rome (probably from Asia Minor), the supposition is probable, that our Evangelist was at the time returning from Babylon. It is easily supposable, that in those great and portentous days — when, in rapid succession, the Epistle of James, that to the Hebrews, and the First Epistle of Peter were addressed to Jewish Christians, with the view of warning them against the danger of apostasy, and of entreating them to bear with patience the trials and sufferings which were approaching — Mark had been employed as the medium of special communication between Paul and Peter. At any rate, there is nothing strange in an interchange of service in the common work of the Lord, just as Silas was both a companion of Paul, and also engaged with Peter in the work of the Lord. Such special missions would be peculiarly in consonance with the bold and valiant character of Mark ; and hence, we do not wonder to find him ranged by the side of the chief Apostles, like a young lion, at the most dangerous points of attack, now at Babylon, and now again at Eome. But from this commission of Paul to Timothy, it does not necessarily follow that the latter was in circumstances to obey it. In all probability, Peter arrived at Rome about the same time as Mark ; as there is suflScient evidence of the fact, that Peter suffered martyrdom at Rome along with Paul, about the year 68. This fact, again, is the foundation for the other statements of antiquity (Papias in Euseb. iii. 39; Iren. iii. 1, and others), to the effect, that Mark acted as interpreter ((purjvedTrjs) to Peter. Nor is it necessary to suppose, with Kuinoel, that, according to this statement, Mark translated into Greek what Peter spoke in Aramaean; nor, with Meyer (who quotes from Jerome a statement evidently marked with a dogmatic bias), that the expression Hermeneutes merely meant a secretary, whose duty it was to put on paper the oral communications of the Apostle (Comp. Meyer, Introd. to the Gospel of M(a% p. 2). It is evident that Mark, who was familiar with the manners and language of Rome, could render important assistance to Peter in Italy, as "interpreter" in the strictest sense, and that too, not- withstanding the apostolic gift of tongues. It is also sufficiently well attested (Euseb. vi. 14; Clemens Alex. Ilypot. 6) that Mark was with Peter at Rome, — a statement wholly unconnected with the ecclesiastical hypothesis, acco-rding to which the Babylon of 1 Pet. v. 13 means the city of Eome (Euseb. ii. 15 ; Hieron. Vir. HI. 8). The Gospel of Mark presents evidence of a protracted intercourse with Peter, as plainly as that of Luke shows that this Evangelist must have enjoyed continued intercourse with Paul. It is indeed true, that the New Testament idea of the kingdom of God is not so fully developed in the Gospel of Mark as in the Epistles of Peter; yet the narrative of the Evangelist presents Christ chiefly as the Lord of that kingdom, and as the conqueror of Satan and his legions, — and that in so marked a manner, as if the sacred historian had adopted for his motto tlie testimony of Peter, Acts x. 28. Similarly, also, 3. COMPOSITION AND INTEGRITY OF THE GOSPEL. Irenffius (iii. 1 ; comp. Eusebius v. 8) records that, after the death of the Apostles Paul and Peter at Rome, Mark, as the disciple and interpreter of Peter, wrote down the statements of that Apostle. According to the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus {Hypot. 6 ; see Euseb. vi. 14) Mark composed his Gospel during the lifetime of Peter, in accordance with the request of that Apostle's converts, and Peter, who was cognizant of the fact, did not interpose in the matter. (For other similar testimonies, see Crednee, p. 113.) In that case, we must, of course, not confound the first draft'with the final revision of the work. According to the unanimous testimony of antiquity, Mark went, after the death of Peter, to Alexandria, where he founded a Christian church (Euseb. iii. 39), became its first bishop, and suftered martyrdom (Epiphan. Emres. li. 6 ; Euseb. ii. 16 ; Hieron. Yir. Illust. ii. 8, and others). The city of Venice, it is well known, has 'selected St. Mark as its patron-saiut, and consecrated the renowned church of St. Mark to his name. There is an entire correspondence between the character of Mark, and that of his Gospel. And this is another evidence of the fact, that the human form and aspect of a Gospel depended on the individuality of the Evangelist, and on the point of view which he took, deciding him in selecting, arranging, and presenting the liistorical material at his command. It may yet require some time before views like these will prevail in the schools, and the common error be discarded, that the auxiliaries and aids which the writer had enjoyed were the main thing, and the mental characteristics of the historian only secondary, if, indeed, at all to be taken into account. Mark the Evangelist, ardent and energetic (a kindred companion to Peter), kindly, warm-hearted, and affectionate (a nephew of Barnabas, in the spiritual sense also), liberal and original in his views (a friend of Paul), was called by the Lord to transmit unto the Church a Gospel, in which it is shown how the Lion of the tribe of Judah became the Lamb of God, and ho'w all human heroism finds both its harmony and transfiguration in the glorious achieve- ments and conquests of the God-man. Thus the Gospel of actual personal suftering, follows that of history and of historical suffering. [Lange's thought seems to be, that Mark represents the God-man in his concrete and actual personality, almighty both in his miracles and his passion, while Matthew presents him more as an object of prophecy.— ^(?.] § 3. COMPOSITION AND INTEGRITY OF THE GOSPEL. The oldest testimony as to the origin of the second Gospel is that of Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, dating from the first half of the second century, and communicated by Eusebms {Hist. Ecdcs. iii. 39) : "Mark, being the interpreter * of Peter, wrote down with great accuracy whatever he interpreted (in other words, what Peter stated), though he recorded not in the order (ov fihroi rd^fi) in which it was spoken or done by the Lord (l e., as Matthew, who arranged and combined together the sayings and the history of the Saviour) ; for he neither heard nor followed our Lord (as His disciple), but, as before said, he was afterwards the com- panion of Peter, who arranged his instructions as was necessary (for popular teaching i. e.), but did not give a history of our Lord's discourses (which was one of Matthew's main objects). Wherefore Mark has not erred in any way by writing some things as he remembered them. For he was careful of one thing, not to omit anything of what he had heard, or to falsify (or add) anything in these accounts." It appears to us, that in his excessive anxiety to vmdicate the apostolic authority of this Gospel, Papias has represented the undoubted fact of a con- nection between Mark and Peter, as if the Evangelist had been merely the penman of the Apostle. Hence the other ancient testimony, derived by Clement of Alexandria from prmiitive tradition, and recorded in extracts from the Hypotyposes (in Euseb. vi. 14), must be regarded as supplementary of this account. According to the statement of Clement, a great number of those who had heard Peter proclaiming the word of God at Rome requested Mark, who liad followed the Apostle for a long time, and well remembered what he had said to reduce to writing what the Apostle had declared. It is added that Peter was cognizant of this, and * [Lange translates by the word gedolmetscM. The original is c^.,Mo-v.e, and denotes what Peter related from memory. — Ed.] 8 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. encouraged it (the work as a whole) ; while, at the same time, he abstained from all active interference, either in the way of directing or restraining (in its individual parts). "We leave it to others to translate the passage so as to mean that he neither hindered nor encouraged (Tj-poTpeTTTLKiis) thc matter. His encouragement of the work as a whole (jTpoTpcnTiKws) consisted in this, that he did not find it necessary to omit anything from, or to add unto, its individual portions. It was the approbation of a work bearing evidence of independent authorship. This view of the passage agrees with the earlier account in Eusel&ius (ii. 15). In both cases, the ostensible reason assigned for the work is the same. We are told that Peter was cog- nizant of the fact that Mark had composed the Gospel by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and that he rejoiced in the zeal of those who solicited the Gospel ; finally, that he gave his authority to the work in order that it might be read in the churches. On these grounds the earlier Fathers were warranted in designating our Gospel as that of Peter, so far as its sub- stance is concerned, without thereby invalidating the originality of Mark, so far as the style and arrangement of material are concerned. (Justin, c. Tryph. : to. anofjLV7]iJ.ovevnara Uerpov ; Tertull. c. Marc. 4, 5 : " Marcus, quod edidit Evangelium Petri adfirmetur, cujus interpres Marcus"; Euseb. ii. 15; Hieronym. Vir. III. 8.) A very slight examination will sufiice to convince the student, that in the third Gospel the distinctive mental characteristics of Luke coincided witli the views of the Apostle Paul, and exactly met the wants of well-educated Grecian inquirers and converts. Similarly, in our Gospel we note how the mental characteristics of Mark corresponded with the manner in which. Peter presented the truth, while at the same time they also harmonized with the wants of Roman Christians, and were peculiarly suited to the popular mind in the capital. This fact, along with the special occasion for the composition of the Gospel, must be regarded as giving its tone to the narrative. But before proceeding to consider this factor, we must refer to, and refute, some of the more popular theories on the subject. These are : 1. Mark was merely a compiler, who derived his Gospel from those of Matthew and of Luke, if not from the former alone. 2. The Gospel of Mark was the original record from which the other two were copied. 3. The Gospel of Mark and those of the other two Evangelists were equally derived from a primitive Gospel or tradition. 4. The Gospel of Mark was written for a special purpose (Tendenzschrift). Lastly, 5. The special notion of those who carry their views of inspiration so far as to ignore throughout Scripture, and in our Gospel also, all human individuality. — The first of these views was propounded in its most extreme form, — viz., that Mark was merely the 'pedisequtis et breviator of Matthew, — by Augustine, i?e consensu Evang. 1, 2, and after him by Euthym. Zigadenus and Michaelis. In a less extreme manner, Michaelis, Griesbach, Saunier {On the sources of the Gospel of Marie, 1825), Theile, Strauss, Von Amnion, and others, maintain that our Evangelist made use of Matthew and Luke. To this we reply, 1st, That Mark introduces a number of things not mentioned at all in the other Gospels (ch. iii. 20, 21, iv. 26-29, vii. 31-37, viii. 22-26, ix, 11-14, xiv. 51, 52, xvi. 9-11) ; and that he is marked by a peculiar way of presenting matter which he has in common with the others (ch. i. 42, v. 4, 5, vii. 3, 4, ix. 21-26, X. 24, 34, 49, xii. 32-34). 2. The Gospel of Mark commences and closes in an independent manner, and the material which it has in common with Matthew and Luke (89 sections), with Matthew alone (23 sections), or with Luke alone (18 sections), is presented in an independent form. Hence, these critics felt it necessaiy to modify the original hypothesis of Augustine as stated above. — The second hypothesis, that the Gospel of Mark contains the original and prim- itive record from which the other narratives were derived, was first propounded by Herder, and adopted by Storr, "Wilke, Weisse, Eeuss, and Ewald. Of late, critics have even gone further, and assigned to our Evangelist the authorship of the Book of Revelation (Hitzig, Oil John Marh ; or, which John was the author of the BooTc of Revelation f Zi'irich, 1843). But it is evident that the other two Evangelists furnish too many details of their own — such as the history of Christ's infancy, the longer discourses of Jesus, &c., — to warrant us in supposing that their narrative was derived from Mark. Add to this the consideration, that they also have their i)cculiar manner of presenting and arranging the evangelical history. — The third hypothesis, of the existence of some primitive Gospel, from which the canonical Gospels were § 3. COMPOSITION AND INTEGRITY OF THE GOSPEL. 9 derived, may now be regarded as finally discarded. The Aramo3an Matthew, to which Papias refers, could not have been that primitive Gospel, as Corrodi and others suggest (see Ebeaed, Eva7igelien Kritik, p. 5), since our first Gospel is itself a Greek version of it. The same objection applies to the Gospel of the Hebrews (Niemeyer and others), which was merely a Judfeo-Christian and interpolated edition of Matthew ; while the hypothesis of Herder and of Eichhorn, of an original Gospel now wholly lost, is evidently a baseless fiction. Greater im- portance attaches to the supposition of the existence of an original evangelical 07-al tradition, which, in some considerable degree, became fixed in a written form (Eckermann, Gieseler). Nor is it a sufficient objection to this hypothesis, that the Apostles at an early period became separated from each other ; for each original witness told and retold the evangelical narrative of and by himself. There was a mutual and unceasing narration of the same history. More- over, we gather from Luke i. 1, that at a very early period there existed individual sketches, memorabilia, relating to events in the history of our Lord. It will be readily understood how witnesses of such events would feel constrained to write down these glorious facts ; nor is it improbable that such narratives may have been disseminated, until they were incorporated into, or superseded by, the four Gospels. But this hypothesis of an original Gospel must be modified in its application, in three respects: 1. The first, second, and fourth Gospels are evi- dently derived from the personal recollection of the Apostles ; and the third Gospel, at least indirectly. 2. The unique style of the Gospels, their peculiar apostolic simplicity, could have been produced only by the continuous influence of the apostolic spirit. 3. So far as the form is concerned, the mental individuality of the Evangelists constituted a most important element in shaping the historical materials at their command. — In reply to the fourth hypothesis, defended by Baur, Schwegler, Kostlin, and others, that the Gospel of Mark was written with a special object, it is sufficient to say, that this has fallen to the ground along with the peculiar notions about Ebionism upon which it was reared. The main source whence the Gospel narratives were derived was the vivid recollection of the Apostles, deepened, strengthened, and purified by the Spirit of God. Thus Mark depended on the narrative of Peter, which shaped itself in accordance with the peculiar point from which that Apostle viewed the facts of the Gospel. As a secondary source of information, our Evangelist, no doubt, drew from that general evangelical tradition, which had in particular instances been chronicled by eye-witnesses. As to the origin of this tradition, it is of great importance to bear in mind, that both the evangelical narratives themselves, and the peculiar form in which they were couched, origi- nated in evangelical faith and feeling, and that their integrity, affectionateness, and simplicity were due to the inspiration of these writers. Thus, our Evangelist drew his materials from subjective recollection (on the part of Peter), which in turn rested on the more general basis of objective recollection (in apostolic tradition). This material took form in agreement with his particular charisma; i. e., objectively under the influence of inspiration by the Spirit, and subjectively imder that of his mental idiosyncrasy. According to the statement of Irenseus (iii. 1), Mark published his Gospel after the death of Peter and Paul (e^oSoi/, not their departure, as Mill, Grabe, Ebrard, and others render it). There is no contradiction between this and the statement of Clement of Alexandria, to the efi"ect that this narrative had been composed during the lifetime of Peter, as Irena3us refers not to the commencement, but to the close of its composition. For the purpose of introducing the apocryphal story of the victory of Peter over Simon Magus at Eome, Eusebius has fixed the time of the Apostle's stay in the capital in the third year of the Emperor Claudius (A. D. 43), evidently post-dating it. Tlie publication of Mark's Gospel must have taken place between the year 68 and 70. That it was written i)rior to the destruction of Jerusalem, we gather from the circumstance that in ch. xiii. tlie Evangelist relates the prediction of that event witliout referring to its fulfilment. Hence it must have been composed about the same time as that by Matthew and probably that by 'John; the Gospel of Luke having been published several years earlier. According to the testimony of Clement, Eusebius, Jerome, and others, the Gospel of ^Mark was composed at Rome — a tradition which is credited by most modern theologians. Richard 10 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. Simon and otters, on the strength of a statement by Chrysostom that Mark's Gospel was written at Alexandria, have conjectured that it existed in a twofold recension. A comparison ■ of the notice in ch. xv. 21 with Acts xi. 20, led Storr to adopt the untenable hypothesis that it was composed in Antioch. As our Gospel was, in the first place, intended for Eoman. Christians, it naturally addressed itself mainly to such as had formerly been Gentiles. Still, it cannot be inferred, from the total ab- sence of Old Testament proof passages (with one or two exceptions), that it was exclusively de- signed for Gentile Christians (Meyer). "VVe have already seen that it is one of the characteristics of Mark, to evince Christ to be the Son of God by His immediate divine working. That Mark introduces no Judaizing elements (Kostlin), is a trait which he has in common with all the New Testament writers. On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that, when the ardent Evangelist found himself addressing Latin readers, this may have influenced his style, as in the choice of Latin expressions (ch. vi. 27, vii. 4, 8, xv. 39, 44), in giving explanation (ch. xii. 42, XV. 16), and in making certain additions (ch. x. 12, xv. 21). There is the strongest historical evidence in favor of the genuineness of Mark. Besides the general ecclesiastical testimonies, commencing with Justin Martyr's Memorabilia and Tatian's Diatessaron, and those of Irenasus, Clement, and TertuUian, we have a sufficiently clear quotation in Justin and the primitive testimony of Papias in his favor, as in that of Matthew. But, just as the testimony of Papias in favor of Matthew has been turned against him by putting a peculiar meaning upon the words ra Xoyia* so in the present instance also it has been sought to invalidate the evidence in favor of our Gospel by an appeal to the expression oi ra^ei, used by Papias. This view was first propounded by Schleiermacher in the Studien und Kritilcen (1832), and for a time adopted by Credner, although 'that writer has since discarded this interpretation. The criticism of Schleiermacher was based on the ungrounded hypothesis, that Mark's Gospel was written in chronological order. Meyer refers the expression ov ra^ti to the first outlines of notices which Mark had made after hearing the discourses of Peter, and which were afterwards revised and arranged. In our opinion, the language of Papias refers more particularly to the contrast between the Gospel of Mark and the careful arrangement adopted by Matthew (of whom he had previously spoken), especially in recording the Lord's discourses. Baur, as might be expected, supposes that tlie original Gospel of Mark was a work similar in character to the Clementines ; Kostlin speaks of an original Gospel by Peter ; while other writers indulge in similar fancies. In support of such freaks of critical imagination, each of these critics appeals to the ov ra^ei of Papias, no matter whether it was originally well or ill founded, or is at'present properly or improperly interpreted. Others, such as De Wette, have cast doubts upon the testimony of Papias, in order thus to invalidate the authenticity of Mark. According to Ewald, there were many recensions of Mark, which underwent diiferent variations. All these suggestions are sufficiently refuted by a proper appreciation of the internal testimony of Mark's Gospel itself concerning its authorship. The conclusion of ch. xvi. 9-20 has given rise to critical difficulties and doubts, which are better founded than any of those above referred to. Eusebius did not admit the authenticity of this passage (ad Marin. Quajstio I.), remarking, that in almost all manuscripts Mark's Gospel closed with a description of the flight of the women from the sepulchre. Jerome (though not uniformly), Gregory of Nyssa, and Euth. Zigabenus make the same statement. Besides, the passage is wanting in the Vatican codex B. ; t and the Syriac Philoxeniana adds, that the close of the Gospel was difterent in other codices. Credner points out certain divergences in this paragraph from the ordinary modes of expression employed in this Gospel. He asserts that, while the distinctive characteristics of Mark are wanting in this passage, others not found throughout his Gospel may be traced there. Among the latter, are such expressions as naaa KTicrtf, yXcci(T(T(iis Kdivals XaXeif, ctc. On the other band, it should be noticed: 1. That Irenanis (adv. Ilosres. iii. 10, G) was acquainted with the present conclusion of our Gospel, as appears from the following passage: * SeeJjAftGE, on Matthew, p. 42 ; [Fisdek : Essays on the Siqjernatural Origin of Christianity. Soribncr, New York, 1866.1 t [Also in Codex Sinaiticus. — Ed.'\ 3. COMPOSITION AND INTEGRITY OF THE GOSPEL. n In fine auteni Evangelii ait Marcus (xvi. 19): Et quidem domimis Jesus, postquam locutns est eis, receptus est in cmlos et sedet ad dexteram Dei. Considering how much older and more im- portant the testimony of Irenseus is than that of Eusebius, we are naturally led to suppose it more likely that our present conclusion of the Gospel was originally found in all manuscripts, but was afterwards left out from ecclesiastical prejudices (because the Apostles were reproved in it, etc.), than that it was afterwards added. 2. In opposition to those codices in which this portion was wanting, we have the evidence of other codices in which it existed. 3. While the fact that minor characteristics of Mark — such as the expressions eldecos, ttuXiv — are wanting in tliis section, is prominently brought forward by opponents, the leading features of the passage are overlooked. But these are quite characteristic of our Evangelist, and show the conclusion of his Gospel to be quite in unison with the total narrative itself. Among these we reckon the fundamental idea of the section, that the risen Saviour overcame the unbelief of Ilis dis- ciples, and the promise of the Lord, that those who believed on Him should triumph over devils and serpents, and over the powers of death. The form and contents of the section, also, correspond with the idea of the Gospel generally. The strong expression, " Preach the Gospel to every creature,''^ is in keeping with the statement at the beginning of the Gospel, " Jesus was with the wild beasts; " as are also the closing words, " The Lord confirming the word with signs following.^^ Add to this, that the Gospel could not have closed with verse 8, with- out being fragmentary. Still, we cannot ignore the fact, that at an early period the Gospel of Mark seems to have existed in twofold recension or form. This we have, in another place (Lange, Leben Jcsu, i. 166) explained by the supposition that an incomplete work of the Evangelist may have circulated among the Christian public before our present and complete Gospel. A certain degree of probability attaches to this hypothesis from the circumstance, which the Fathers record, that the Eoman Christians ' were very anxious to obtain Mark's Gospel. "This rapid compilation and publication, followed by delay and hesitation in view of new materials, and, lastly, the final completion of the work, are so many traits in ac- cordance with the general character of Mark, as it is otherwise known to us." Nor should it be forgotten that, as hierarchical views gradually spread in the Church after the third century, the fragment in question may have excited greater interest from the fact that the Apostles had been presented by Mark in an unfavorable light in his narrative of the resurrection. Considerations like these may have weighed with such men as Eusebius. Thus, it would almost seem as if the very characteristics of the Evangelist, appearing in the passage, had given rise to the doubts about its authenticity. In this paragraph, as in his Gospel generally, Mark seems mainly bent upon presenting the risen Saviour in the full majesty of His power, as He transforms, by one stroke, the remaining unbelief of His followers int(i a faith that overcomes tlie world. — The authenticity of this section has been impugned by Michaelis, Griesbach, Oredner, Ewald, Hitzig (who, however, ascribes its composition to Luke), and many others ; among them Meyer, who designates the passage as an " apocryphal fragment." Its authenticity is defended by Richard Simon, Wolf, Bengel, Kuinoel, Hug, Guerike, and others. In consequence of the supposition that Mark had composed his Gospel at Eome, and for Romans, the idea was broached in the Syrian Church, that he had originally written it in Latin. Hence the subscription of the old Syriac Peshito runs in these words: Completion of the Holy Gospel, the announcement of Mark; which he uttered and proclaimed at Rome. Tliis view reappears in the Philoxeniana and some Greek manuscripts. Baronius availed himself of it in his Annals (ad ann. 45), for the purpose of adding to the authority of the Vulgate, and he was followed by others. Since the time of Richard Simon, however, the hypothesis has been abandoned, even by Romanist writers. A supposed Latin autograph of Mark's Gospel at Venice has been found to be a fragment of the Vulgate. The older Fathers partly imply, and partly expressly state, that Mark wrote in Greek. 12 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. § 4. THEOLOGICAIi AND HOMILETICAL 'WORKS ON THIS GOSPEL. For those exegetical and homiletical works wliich treat of the Gospel of Mark along with other smaller or larger sections of the New Testament, we refer the reader to the General Introduction, and the remarks prefatory to the Gospel by Matthew.* To the Writings there enumerated, we would add, the Commentary on the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, by Drs. Val. Loch and W. Reischl (Roman Catholic), Regensb., 1827; and Luther's Exposition of the Oospels^ edited by Ebeele, Stuttg., 1857. Besides these, we would mention Besser's Bible-Hours (Bihel-Stunden) Haems' and Josephson's works on the Sermon on the Mount. For the older commentaries on the Gospel by Mark, see Lilienthal's Evangelium secundum Marcum; Danz's Universal- Wdrte7'iuc?i, Art. Marcus; and Winer's i7a?i CRITICAL. Ver. 10. Straightway, evOews. — Mark's watch- word, constantly recurring from this time onwards. But here it means that Jesus only in a formal sense submitted to the act, and therefore did not linger in it. Much in the same way as Luke hastily passes over the circumcision of our Lord. — He saw the heavens. — Not John (as Erasmus and others), but Jesus is the subject of the seeing (Meyer) : yet the concurrent and mediate beholding of the Baptist is not excluded ; see John i. That the occurrence should not have been only an external one, but also an internal (Leben /esw,' ii. 1, S. 18-2), Meyer calls "fimtasy." But it is certain that without the fan- tasy of theological spiritual insight we cannot pene- trate the internal meaning of the text, and must fall now into mere dogmatism, and now into rationalistic perversions. Ver. 12. And immediately the Spirit driveth Him. — 'E/c/SaAAei is Stronger than the av-nxOri of Matthew and the ^'76x0 of Luke. Ver. 13. And He was there forty days tempt- ed of Satan. — According to Meyer and otliers, Mark (with Luke) is here out of harmony with Matthew. This difficulty springs from neglecting to distinguish, 1. between real difference and less exactitude, and 2. between the being tempted generally of Satan, and the being tempted in a specifically pregnant and decisive manner. But it is evident that Mark places the crisis of Christ's victory already in the baptism. That act of victory over self, and humiliation under the baptism of John, had already assured Him the victory over the now impotent assaults of Satan. — With the wild beasts. — The older expositors find in this circumstance a counterpart of the serpent in paradise. Starke: — The wilderness was probably the great Arabian desert, and Satan attacked Him also through the beasts. Usteri and others: — Christ as the restorer of paradise, and conqueror of the beasts. De Wette:— This is a mere pic- torial embellishment. Meyer: — He is threatened 2 DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The self-denial and self-renunciation with which- Christ, the Son of God, had lived in the se- clusion of Nazareth, was the condition and source of that strength in which He subjected Himself to the baptism of John in the Jordan. This act of subjec- tion sealed His submission under the law. His histor- ical fellowship of suffering with His people, and His passion. The baptism of Christ was consequently the pledge of His perfect self-sacrifice. Hence it was in principle the decision of His conflict and His victory ; and therefore it was crowned with His glori- fication. In this one act there was a consummation of His consciousness as God, of His consciousness as Redeemer, and His consciousness as Victor. 2. Christ really decided, in His baptism. His vic- tory over Satan. He went into the wilderness and 18 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. made it a paradise. The serpent in this paradise assaults Him, l^ut cannot hurt Him ; the wild beasts sink peaceably under His majesty ; and the angels of heaven surround and serve Him. 3. John is in the wilderness, and Satan tempts him not. Jesus is led up from the wilderness into the wilderness, — that is, into the deepest wildness of the wilderness (this being the i-esidence of the de- mons, see Com. on Matthew iv.), — and Satan comes down to assault Him there. But the Evangelist deems it superfluous to remark that Jesus overcame Satan. After what had just preceded, this was self- understood. Moreover, it is in the casting-out of the devils, that Mark presents to us Christ's concrete victories over Satan. Yet this victory is intimated in the fact that He maintained His abode in the wilder- ness for forty days in spite of all the assaults of the devil, and that in that very wilderness the angels ministered to Him. The incarnate Son of God could hold His heavenly court in the place which Satan preeminently arrogated for himself. The Lord's re- lation to His surroundings is threefold. 1. It is a sovereign and inimical one towards Satan, whose temptations appear only as impotent assaults. 2. It is a sovereign and peaceful one towards the beasts : they dare not hurt the Lord of creation, nor do they flee before Him. Jesus takes away the curse also from the irrational creation (Rom. viii.). According to the same Mark, who places this circumstance at the outset of his Gospel, Jesus commanded at its close that His Gospel should be preached to every creature. See Daniel in the den of lions. Comp. G(Ethe's Das Kind und der Lowe. 3. A sovereign and friendly one towards the angel-world. The world of the angels is subjected to the dominion of Christ : Eph. i. 21 ; Col. ii. 10 ; Heb. i. HOMILETICAIi AJND PEACTICAL. The abode of Jesus in Nazareth, or His self- humiliation, the foundation of all the Divine victo- ries in His life, Phil. ii. 6 seq. — The greatness of Christ by the side of the greatness of John. — Even in humiliation Christ is above John, in that He vol- untarily submits to his baptism. — With the submis- sion of Christ to the baptism of John, and what it signified, the whole course of His life, and also His victory over Satan in the wilderness, were decided. Hence His tarrying in the wilderness was the festival before a new career. — The perfected unfolding of the consciousness of Christ at His baptism, in its eternal significance. — With the self-consciousness of Christ was perfected the consciousness of the Son of God and of the Sou of man at one and the same time: Thus, 1. the consciousness of His eternity in His Godhead, and 2. of His redeeming vocation in His humanity. — The significance of perfect self-knowl- edge in self-consciousness: 1. Finding self, 2. gain- ing self, 3. deciding and dedicating self in God. — T!ie kiudredness and difference between tlie develop- ment of the Redeemer's consciousness and that of the sinner: 1. Kiudredness: humiliation, exaltation. 2. Difference : a. Christ's humiliation under the judg- ment of His brethren ; b. the sinner's under his own judgment; — a. Christ's exaltation through the con- templation of the communion of the Trinity ; b. the sin- ner's exaltation through faith in the fellowship of the Redeemer. — As our consciousness, so our history : This holds good, a. of our true consciousness, b. of our false. — The abode of the Baptist and of the Lord in the wilderness, a token of the destruction of the satanic kingdom. — The inseparable connection between the divine dignity and the redeeming vocation of Christ : 1. He is Christ, and submits to John's baptism of repentance ; 2. He sees the heavens open upon Him, and enters into the depths of the wilderness to con- tend with Satan. — The connection between the Lord's baptism and His temptation. — The connection be- tween the humiliations and the exaltations of our Lord, an encouraging sign to all who are His. — The connection between the invigorations and the new conflicts of Jesus, an admonitory sign to all who are His. — Christ takes possession again of the wilderness (the world), without asking leave of Satan whose dwelling it is. — Christ in the wilderness Ruler of all: 1. Of the abyss, whose assaults He regards not ; 2. of the earth, whose wild beasts and passions sink to rest at His feet ; 3. of the heavenly world, whose angels minister to Him. — Wherefore the Lion of Judah, according to Mark, so often goes into the wilderness. — How the Holy Spirit opens, with the manifestation of Christ, the decisive conflict with the spirit of apostasy. — How the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of might, drives the Lord into the decisive conflict. Even Christ did not go led by self into the contest. — Christ changing the wilderness, despite Sa- tan, into a paradise. — Adam in paradise, and Christ among the beasts in the wilderness. Starke : — Humility the best adornment of teach- ers.— Jesus of Nazareth (despised): So little does the great God make Himself, and thus at the same time constructs a ladder by which we may go up. — Jesus sanctifies through His baptism the laver of re- generation in the word. — Rejoice, 0 soul, in that God is well pleased with His Son, and with thee also, who through Him art reconciled to God ! But thou must in faith be made one with Him, Eph. i. 5, 6. — As soon as we become God's children, the Holy Ghost leads us ; but the cross and temptation come forth- with.— What the first Adam lost among and under the beasts, the Second Adam has asserted and re- gained among the beasts. — A pious man has nothing to fear, among either wild beasts or bestial men. Geklach : — How infinitely high does Christ stand above all human teachers, even those inspired by God. — ScHLEiERMAcnER : — The legal excitement which John occasioned, and the excitement which Jesus enkindled. — Gossner : — Solitude and the wilderness have their temptations equally with the world. — Baur : — No one is near to celebrate this victory, yet God's angels are there to glorifv Him. CHAP. I. 14, 15. 19 PART SECOND. Royal Appearance of Christ after the Baptist. His Conflicts and Victories in Galilee, in the Old Jewish Church (Ch. I. 14 — IX. 50). FIRST SECTION. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Chapter I. 14, 15. (Parallels : Liike iv. 14, 15 ; Matt. iv. 12-17 ; John iv. 43 ttq.S 14 Now, after that Jolm was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching tlie 15 Gospel of the kingdom of God, And sajing. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye, and believe [in] the Gospel. 1 Ver. 14.— Codd. B., L., and several cursive MSS. and versions, leave out t-^? Pao-iAei'as. So Lachmann and Tischen- dorf. Meyer%tiinks it an esegetical addition. But what follows might also have caused the omission. EXEGETIC^ii AKD CRITICAL. See on Matthew^ ch. iv. 12-1*7. Ver. 14. Jesus came. — Ewald : He would not let the Baptist's work fall to the ground. Meyer, on the contrary : that He might be safe ; but see our Notes on Matthew in refutation of this. By the Baptist's imprisonment the Baptist community in Israel was broken up ; Jesus therefore saw occasion first to receive to Himself the poor people in Gentile Galilee, and that as the representative of John. John was put in prison by the Galilean prince ; Jesus sum- mons the people of this prince to repentance, and to faith in the Gospel : this is the true political retalia- tion, and the sacred way to salvation and the restora- tion of right. Ver. 15. The time, b Kaipos. — Not the period, but the right time ; the great, fore-ordained, predicted and longed-for time of Messianic expectation ; more closely defined by the following " the kingdom of God is at hand." {See Gal. iv. 4.) Repent, Mera- I'oeiTe. — See the lexicon for the original moaning and the various significations of the word. [It includes the ideas of reflection, afterthought, and change of mind, i. e., of judgment and of feeling, upon moral subjects, with particular reference to the character and conduct of the penitent himself. Alexander in loc. — Ed.'] Believe the Gospel, nio-Teyere iv. Gal. iii. 26; Eph. i. 13. — By this expression faith is more strongly emphasized. Entering into the Gos- pel, we have decisive faith. The object of faith in this view is the manifestation of the kingdom of God. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1 . From the still prayer of the wilderness, or from the new paradise in which Christ had conquered Satan, He has now come forth to endure all the indi- vidual conflicts of life for the founding of His eternal kingdom. Adam came from his paradise conquered, to endure in his descendants a constant succession of defeats. 2. As here, so everywhere, the economy of the Gospel takes the place of the economy of the law. The legal economy yields at last to the lawlessness of the world : the economy of faith and salvation triumphs over it even in yielding, and saves with it- self also the ideality of the law. 3. An economy of the law which, in its tragical conflict with the spirit of the world, recognizes not the deliverance which is in the coming economy of salvation, like Elias (1 Kings xix. IS), is thereby con- verted into an economy of carnal precepts, which finally combines with the world against the economy of salvation. But, on the other hand, true evangel- ical faith knows how to give its due to the precur- sory office of the law, just as Christ gave honor to His forerunner, John the Baptist. 4. " Almost all the Jews of that time hoped for the kingdom of God ; but it was a strange and un- recognized idea, that repentance and faith must be the entrance into it. Jesus begins with the promise, but immediately goes on to the conditions." Ger- lacli. 5. Mark, like Peter in his first and second Epistle, places the announcement of the kingdom of heaven at the head of his writing. The kingdom is his fun- damental thoujrht. nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Jesus, in the silent conflicts of the wilderness, pre- pares for the open conflicts of fife — takes the place of John, delivered to death by the carnal mind. 1. The history : A testimony, a. that He honored the Baptist, b. that He did not fear the enemy, and c. that He was faithful to His people and His vocation. 2. The doctrine : a. The witnesses of the kingdom of God cannot be destroyed ; b. after every seeming 20 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. triumph of the kingdom of darkness, still stronger heroes of God come forward. 3. Christ is always Himself victorious at last in every scene. — Persecu- tion the primitive furtherance of the kingdom of God. — The blood of the Church, the seed of the Church. — Where tlie law falls in the letter, it is re- established in the spirit. — The preaching of Christ : 1. It appears as the announcement of salvation in the place of danger and ruin. 2. What it announces : that the time is fulfilled, and that the kingdom of God is come. 3. What it requires : repentance (as change of mind, /xerdvoia) and faith. 4. What it signifies : the saving pre.'^ence of Christ Himself — Christ and John as preachers : the might of their preaching itself 1. John preaches in his whole life and manifestation; '2. Christ preaches out of the depth of His own divine life. — The seal of evangelical preaching the full harmony of the person and the word. On the whole section (ch. i. 14-45). — The first vic- torious appearance of Christ the prelude of His whole path of victory : 1. In the announcement of His Gos- pel ; 2. in His dominion over the hearts of the chosen ; 3. in His victory of the kingdom of Satan ; 4. in His miraculous removal of human misery ; 5. in His salutary shaking of the world. — The glory of the Lord in its first actual exhibition: 1. A glory of grace (vs. 16-20), 2. of sacred judicial and redeeming power (vs. 21-28), 3. of iiealing mercy (vs. 29-39), 4. of purifying purity (vs. 40-44). — Christ proceeds from the wilderness of the earth into the wilderness of human life for the restoration of paradise. — Christ confirms His victory over Satan in the solitude of the desert by His victories over satanic powers among all the people. Starke : — Satan seeks to bind and to oppress Christ and His Gospel ; but God's wisdom and power set at naught all his aggression. Gerlach : — With the public appearance of Jesus, the end of John's work had come. — Gossner : — He who understands repentance to mean that he must first become pious and good, and then come to Jesus, and believe His Gospel, goes out at the door of grace instead of entering in. Repenting and believing the Gospel, or beUeving in Christ, must go together and be one. SECOND SECTION. ^ CONQUEST OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES AT CAPERNAUM, VICTORY OVER THE DEMONS IN THAT CITY, AND WITHDRAWAL INTO THE WILDERNESS. Chapter I. 16-85. 1. 77ie Authoritative Word of Jesus, which calls the four first and greatest Disciples. Vers. 16-20. (Parallels : Matt. iv. 18-22 ; Iiuie v. 1-11 ; comp. Jolm i. 35^2.) 16 Now, as he walked^ by the .sea of Gahlee, he savr Simon, and Andrew his brother, 17 casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye 18 after rne, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook 19 their*' nets, and followed him. And when he had gone a little farther thence,* he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending 20 their nets. And straightway he called them : and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him. 1 Ver. 16. — The expression irapdyuv is recommended by B., D., L., Lacimann, and Tischendorf. Instead of auroO Lachmann and Tischendorf read ^ifiiovos. _ ' 2 Ver. 18.— Not "their" nets : aurwi' is wanting in B., C, L., Lachmann, Tischendorf. 3 Ver. 19.— 'E/ceieei/ iu wanting in B., D., L., Tischendorf; bracketed by Lachmann. It accords with Matt. iv. 21. EXEGETICAL AND CKITICAL. See on Ifatthcw, iv. 18 seq. Ver. 16. As He walked by. — The Evangelist would make prominent the apparently fortuitous character of this first vocation. Ver. 19. Wno also were in the ship. — Both pairs of brothers were called while in the earnest ' prosecution of their craft. The first two were throwing their nets into new positions in the water ; the two others were mending them for new draughts. Ver. 20. With the hired servants. — Why this addition? Paulus : It was to be made clear, how they could without impiety forsake their father. Meyer (after Grotius) : It was only a proof that Zebe- dee did not follow his craft in a petty way, and that he probably was not without means. In any case, it also shows that Zebedee was not left helpless. That they forsook so thrivhig a business (Ewald), is indeed of less significance. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAI.. 1, Christ Himself is the great Fisher of men. He catches the four elect ones as it were at one draught. These are the three (I\Iark ix. 2) and the four (Mark xiii. 3) confidential Apostles of after- CHAP. I. 21-28. 21 times. Therefore there were first four fishermen called. 2. The power of Christ's word over these souls here appears direct and immediate. We learn the mediating circumstances of this vocation from John i. At the same time, this calling was somethmg entirely new {see on Matthew, iv. 19), and their following so wonderful, that they at once forsook their calling, in the very act of pursuing it. The fishing life of these men was a preparation for their higher calling, as being fidelity in that which was least. HOMILETICAIi AND PEACTICAI.. The Lord knoweth His own. — The Lord and His elect quickly know each other. — The great increase of grace swiftly enters into our daily life.— Christ's walking by the sea apparently for relaxation, but at the same time the most noble work. — Christ's mark in this world the heart of man.— The great Fisher of men, and His art of making human fishers.— The calUng of Jesus a call to become something new. — The mighty calling of the Lord : 1. Gentler than any human request; 2, mightier than any human com- mand ; 3. unique as the victorious wooing of heav- enly love. — The calling of Jesus a calling at once to one thing and to many : 1. To one thing : into His discipleship and the fellowship of His Spirit, or to the Father ; 2. to many : to discipleship and master- ship, to cooperation, to fellowship in suifering, and community in triumph. — The greatness of tlie fol- lowing of the four disciples was the eff"ect of the great grace of their calling. They broke off sudden- ly in the midst of a new career of their labor, as a sign of the decision of their following. — The spiritual and the worldly vocation of Christians : 1. Opposi- tion ; 2. kindreduess ; S. union. — The twofold earth- ly companionship of the disciples a foundation for the higher : 1. Companions in fishing, — companions m fishing for men; 2. brethren after the fiesh, — spiritual brethren. — Leaving all for Christ's sake. — The Christian and ecclesiastical vocations in harmony with the sacred natural obhgations of life. Starke : — Never be idle. — Pious handicraft ac- ceptable to God. — The calling into Christianity binds us to faith and the following of Christ ; how much more the vocation to spiritual office ! — A true fol- lower of Clirist forgets everything earthly. — He who follows Christ loses nothing, though he may forsake all ; for he finds in Him a full sufficiency, Matt, xix. 29. Lisco: — The forsakmg all must be experienced inwardly by every believer ; and must be fulfilled outwardly also, in particular circumstances and occa4 sions, Matt. xix. 27. — Schleiermacher : — The two' tendencies in the life of the Redeemer : preaching to the multitude, and the separation of individuals to Himself — Gossner :— The Lord's fishermen actually catch the fish ; the world's fishermen swim with the figh.— Bauer -.—One glance of the Lord, and He knows the heart under its rough garment. 2. Tlie Word of Authority, which delivers the Demoniacn aivi attracts the People. Vers. 21-28. (Parallel : Luke iv. 31-37.) 21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the Sabbath-day he entered 22 into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrme :_ for he 23 taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. _ And there was m their 24 synao-ogue a man with an unclean spirit ; and lie cried out. Saying, Let us alone ; what have°we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I 25 know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked hnn, saynig Hold 26 thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn hmi, and cried 27 with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine ^s this ? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. 28 And immediately his fame spread abroad" throughout all the region round about Gahlee. 1 Ver. 24.-'Ea is wanting, it is true, in B., D., and others ; Jut it is as^accordant ^it^^^JS^^^l^iSlttl^al^aY; 2 Ver. 27.-Iiachmann, following B., L., A., &c. : « ecrri toSto; SiBa.xn ^ciyv' ««t. &c. Tischendo 1 coimects otoaxp Kctvr, Kar- Uovaiav. Laclinann's is better. [Meyer accounts for the Keccived Text, by a comparison with LuLe iv. 36. Ed.] 3 Ver. 28.— Kal e^riKBev : "And the fame," &c. Ver. 24. Art thou come to destroy us ?— The demoniac consciousness still predominant on the part of the demon. Hence, " to destroy ns .'" Kengel : " Communem inter se causam hahcnt dtemonia:'' The word involves also, 1. a testimony of the decided op- position between the demon empire and Christ ; 2. a testimony of the perfect supremacy of Christ ; 3. and a testimony of the beginning of the subversion ot the Satanic dominion.— To destroy us.— Meyer : By dis- missing them to Hades. But even in Hades, tiinst does not leave their empire to the demons. Ihus it was by the destruction of their empire generally. EXEGETICAIi AND CKITICAL. The Evangelist, in harmony with his main point of view, proceeds at once to the act by which the Lord approved Himself the conqueror of the demons. Ver. 22. As one that had authority. — See on Matt. vii. 29. Ver. 23. With an unclean spirit, eV wsvixari aKaddpTCf}. — He was in the unclean spirit ; that is, in his power, under his influence. Concerning the de- moniac possession, see on Matthew iv. 24. 22 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. Certainly it was by dismissing them to tlie Gehenna of torment (according to which, the expression in Matt. (viii. 29), the Hades of torment, is to be ex- plained).— I know Thee who Thou art. — The de- moniac consciousness in its involuntary presentiment. See Acts xvi. 16. It feels already the influence of Jesus, who would draw it from the side of the demon to His side. The word is ambiguous, so far as it be- longs to the demon and to the man. — The Holy- One of God. — In the emphatic sense, and thus, ac- cording to John vi. 69, Rev. iii. 7 (comp. John s. 36), the concealed designation of the Messiah. (" So Origen:" Meyer.) As the typical Old Testament anointed ones represented the Messiah, so the tyjjical saints, priests, prophets, and kings (Ps. xvi.) repre- sented the Hoiy One kut' i^oxvf. The unclean spirit, however, describes Him by that opposite to himself which torments him, when he terms' Him the Holy One of God. Ver. 25. Hold thy peace. — This refers to the outcry of the demon. The Messiahship of Jesus was not to be prematurely spread abroad, least of all by demons. The kingdom of God and the invisible world scorns such precursors and cooperators. It bears testimony to itself by overcoming all these. Only after the decisive victory are such testimonies supplementarily, and in their own significance, ad- missible ; then, when no interminglmg is any longer possible. Ver. 26. Torn him. — The decisive paroxysm with which the healing was declared ; at the same time, a phenomenon exhibiting the knavish, spiteful, and degraded nature of the demons (ch. ix. 26 ; Luke ix. 42). Ver. 27. Questioned among themselves. — The spirits are awake. They do not first ask the priests and Rabbis, but proceed to independent suppositions and conclusions. — New Doctrine. — From the ap- pearance of a new power of delivering, they infer the appearance of a new revelation ; for revelation and deliverance, miracle and prophecy, always to the Israelites were reciprocal in their influence. For various constructions and interpretations of this pas- sage, see Meyer m he. Ver. 28. Throughout all the region round about Galilee. — That is, through all Galilee, and beyond into the neighboring districts everywhere. DOCTRIIVAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The first miracle recorded by Matthew is the healing of the leper by a touch ; for one main point of view with him was the opposition of Christ to the hierarchical theocracy and their ordinances. The first miracle which John records is the changing of water into wine ; for his main point of view is the glorification of the old and darkened world into a world of spirit. The first miracle which Luke and Mark relate is this casting out of demons in the syn- agogue at Capernaum. But the points of view of the two latter in this matter are as dlflerentand char- acteristic as tlicir respective Gospels. Luke, in har- mony with his predominant object (the divine hu- manity of Christ), has in view preeminently the healed man. The demon threw him down, and de- parted from him, without hurting him at all. To Mark, ou the other hand, the supremacy of Christ over the kingdom of the demons is the giand object, even as it declares and approves His doctrine to be a new one. Hence he makes it emphatic, that Christ commanded even the uncjean spirits, and that they obeyed Hun. This point of view runs through hia whole Gospel, down to its concluding words. 2. To Mark belong the chief records of Christ's victory over the devils, while in the other Evangelists there is only a general reference to them. In John we do not find deliverances of this sort ; on the other hand, he gives pi'ominence to moral possession (John vi. YO, viii. 44, xiii. 27), — an idea which is found ap- proximately among the other Evangelists as sevenfold possession. Further, here we must mark the relation of Christ and His kingdom to Satan and his kingdom, according to the New Testament teaching. Dogmat- ics must, more rigorously than heretofore, distin- guish between the devil and this kind of demons, as well as between the children of the devil and these bound ones of Satan. 3. The synagogue cannot hinder a demoniac from entering it, nor that Satan should in it declare the victory of the kingdom of order and light. Christ cleanses the synagogue. HOMILETICAIi AKD PEACTICAL. Christ the Saviour of the synagogue and of the Church. — The adherence of Christ to the sanctuary i of His people, legal and yet free. — By the perfect J sauctification of the Sabbath and the synagogue, our Lord established the Sunday and the Church. — How the Child of the synagogue became the Prince of the Church. — Sabbath and synagogue ; or, the holy time and the holy place in their symboUcal meaning : 1. They signify rest from the toil of sin, and the temple ; 2. the Christian Sunday and the Church ; 3. the heavenly feast and the heavenly Church. — The de- moniac in the synagogue ; or, the daring incursion of Satan into the legitimate Church of God to be re- strained only by the word of Christ. — How Christ always victoriously confronts the satanic power which insinuates itself into the Church. — Heavenly and helHsh powers meet in the Church. — The healing of the possessed in the synagogue a decisive token of the redeemmg empire of Christ: L Of His victory over the kingdom of Satan ; 2. of His saving mercy to the wretched ; 3. of His miraculous sealing of the Gospel ; 4. of His awakening conquest of the world. — The consciousness of Christ a healing power for the consciousness disturbed by Satan. — The spiritu- ally disturbed consciousness a figure of the curse of sin: 1. In its destruction and contradictions; 2. in its restraint ; 3. in its despair ; 4. but also in its dim feeling of its misery and of the coming of its Saviour. — The characteristics of the wicked : 1. Knowledge without love; 2. hatred to the Lord, and withal flattering acknowledgment; 3. pride even to mad- ness, and yet impotent fear and flight. Or, 1. Dark- ness in its lie ; 2. murder in its hatred ; 3. death in its rending. — Christ immovably opposed to the flat- tery and hypocrisy, as well as to the threatening and pride, of Satan. — The antithesis of heaven and hell in the conflict of Christ with the demon: 1. Peace of soul and passion (the devil assaults first) ; 2. col- leetedness and distraction ; 3. the spirit of mercy and the spirit of torment ; 4. dignity and degradation ; 5. victory and prostration. — Christ scorns the testi- mony of the demons, and obtains the praise of the people. — The glory of Christ, that He came into the world to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John iii. 8. Starke : — The public service of God not to be CHAP. I. 29-35, 23 nclected Heb x 25 —Unclean spirits are found I however, give place to the Holy Spirit.— Gossner :— even in the Church Jas. ii. 19.— Christ will have no | The devil knew Him as the Holy One of God, but testimony from the spirit of lies.— Osiander -.—If the I not as the Saviour.— Beaune :— The possessed trem- devil must give way, yet he rages fearfully: he must, 1 bles before Him who is his Deliverer. 3. Healing among the Disciples ; Healings and casting out of Demons in Capernaum, ; the first Return of Christ after He had thus dealt with the susceptible in that city. Vers. 29-35. (Parallels : Matt. viii. 14-17 ; Luke iv. 38-41.) 29 And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the 30 house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon's wife's mother lay 31 sick of a fever; and anon they tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and hfted her up ; and 'immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto 32 thein And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were dis- 33 eased and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered to- 34 gether at the door. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and east 35 out many devils; and suflered not the devils to speak, because they knew him _ And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed mto a solitary place, and there prayed. » Ver. 34.— Some Codd. add, " tliat lie was Christ." EXEGETICAX AJ^D CEITICAL. See on Matthew, viii. 14-1'7. Ver. 29. They entered into.— Jesus, Peter, and Andrew are meant ; the two latter as the ordinary occupants of the house, which Peter or both pos- sessed in Capernaum {see on Matthete). In addition came James and John. Thus the Lord was with the collective four disciples who had lieen called. Ver. 30. And anon they tell him of her. — Here also we have wdews thrice in rapid succession. Im- mediately into the house, immediately to the matter in hand, immediately healed. Matthew transfers this miracle to a later period (see on Ilaithew). Starke for the sake of harmony : " It may have been that the mother-in-law of Peter twice had the fever, and that Christ healed her twice." (!) Ver. 32. At even, when the sun did set.— The full close of the Sabbath. " Judceos religio tencbat, quominus ante exitum Sabbati cegrotos suos afferrent.'''' Wetstein. Ver. 34. Sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils. — The physically sick and the demoni- acs clearly distinguished"(ver. 34; Matt. viii. 16); just as they are in relation to the opposite charisms which were given with respect to them, 1 Cor. xii. 9, 10. — And He healed many.— Not as opposed to all who were brought to Him, but to describe the abundance and variety of the healings which took place so late in the evening. Ver. 35. Into a solitary place. — To a secret place in the wilderness. It is to be noted that Jesus, according to Mark, thrice in quick succession, with- drew into the wilderness, vers. 12, 35, 45. Here we can understand only a sohtude near Capernaum. That He thus took up His abode time after time in the wilderness, declared his supremacy over the demons of the wilderness. He made the desert place a temple of God by His prayers. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The succession of events marks the develop- ment of Christ's work : 1. The synagogue at home. 2. The house of Peter, as the hearth of the new com- munity of disciples at its outset. 3. The whole town of Capernaum. 4. The entire land of Galilee.— The progression of the influence of our Lord's preaching: 1. His fame goes out through all Gahlce. 2. The whole town of Capernaum presses for help at His door, yea, into His doors. 3. All seek Him after He had withdrawn. 4. Even in the wilderness they come to Him from all parts. 2. In order that they may punctiliously guard their own rest on the Sabbath, the people of Caper- naum wait till evening with their sufferers, and rob the Lord of His rest in the night. nOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL. Jesus the Saviour of the new as of the old com- munity (Peter's house, the synagogue). — And they told Him of her : with faith waxes intercession.— Peter, as householder, a type of the ecclesiastic at home : 1. He is not hindered from his calling by do- mestic trouble (he also went into the synagogue) ; but, 2. he took his domestic trouble with him into his calling (he prayed the Lord for the sick).— The people at Capernaum seeking help ; or, Christ the true Physician : 1. As the revealer of human misery ; 2. as the marvellous deliverer from it.— An evening and a morning in the life of Jesus; or. His holy days work : 1. Closed in the blessing of toil ; 2. renewed in devotion.— The rapid diffusion of Christ's woi-k and influence : 1. Through the believing house ; 2 through the susceptible town ; 3. through the amazed land.— New seclusion for new conflicts.— Private prayer the source of Christ's victories.— The Lord s early hours.— His morning devotion.--Tie signifi- cance of morning in the kingdom of God : 1. A testal 24 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. time in the life of Jesus ; 2. an image of His wliole life ; 3. a blessed time in the life of Christians ; 4. figure of their regeneration and their eternity. — How Christ sanctifies all times and all places. Starke : — Quesnel : — The dwelling of a poor fish- erman pleases Christ more than a great palace. — OsiANDER : — God is oftener in Httle huts than in rich palaces. — Christianity and household life agree well together. — Marriage unfits no man for the ministry. — Compassionate love suffers not the wretched long to wait, but thinks at once of help. — Qdesnel : — The love of Jesus is never weary. — There are always wretched ones in this vale of tears, who stand in need of the help of the Most High. — Christ the most approved Physician. — It does not become the man spiritually possessed of the devil to reveal Christ. — Early hours must be thought much of. — For prayer even sleep must be abridged. Geklach : — The gracious love of Christ amidst the household necessities of the poor and neglected. — Lisco : — Jesus connects together prayer and work, solitude and public life, in order to do good. — Euth. ZiG. : — We must shun the praise of men, and thank God in silent secrecy. THIRD SECTION. Chapter I. 36-45. 1. The Preaching and Ileuliny of JfiMis, Ch. I. 36-39. (Parallel : Luke iv. 44.) 36, 37 And Simon, and they tliat were with him, followed after him. And when they had 38 fomid him, they said mito him, All men seek for thee. And he said mito them. Let us 39 go^ into the next towns, that I may preach there also : for therefore came I forth. And he preached in their ^ synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. 1 Ver. 38. — The Rec. omits aXKaxov after ayiafiev : it is supported by B., C, L., Copt., Tischendorf. 2 Ver. 39. — " Into their : " ei? ras in A., B., D., Griesbach, Lachmann, Tisehendorf. The Texlus Reccpliis reads iv Tttis crfvaywycus, — an emendation, says Meyer. phasis to the casting out of devils, and to the com- mand of silence, by which Jesus hindered the devils from uttering His name. 3. It is observed also that Jesus places preaching expressly above miraculous healings ; this is seen in the use of the participle, ^aiixovia fK^dWmv. But the preaching has its root in the secret devotion: His public work sprang from His solitary prayer. HOMILETICAIi AI^D PEACTICAX. How the Lord equipped himself anew for new la- bors.— Christ goes with His first four disciples into the land of Galilee : the small beginning of the universal mission. — How the Lord's preaching approves itself as the power of divine life : 1. As the spiritual word of His working ; 2. as delivering power for the suf- fering ; 3. as judicial power of victory over the de- mons.— Christ coirfroniing the increasing pressure of the people : 1. How He restrains it (withdrawal into the wilderness) ; 2. how He regulates it (preaching on the individual miracles) ; 3. how He surrenders Himself to it (responding to every demand of help). — Christ does not shut up His activity within the walls of Capernaum, nor within the limits of any one people or any one confession. — The way of Christ among the surrounding villages : 1. Already to as many as possible ; 2. one day to all. Starke : — We must have village preachers. — The Gospel of Jesus must sound out in all places. — AVhere Christ's kingdom is to be established, the devils must be abohshed. So also in thee. — Schleiermacher: — The preaching of the kingdom of God was Christ's EXEGETICAI, AJSTD CRITICAL. Ver. 36. And Simon, and they that were with him. — Simon placed first, not on account of any superiority, but as the head of the house and the guide. Ver. 38. Into the next towns. — The kw/xo- ■jtSx^is only here in the New Testament. The pri- mary object is to record the travelling through the Galilean hill-country, and its villages and towns.— For therefore came I forth. — The question is, whether the meaning be, "I am come from the Father to preach generally " (Bengel) ; or, " I have left the house (or Capernaum) in order to preach in the neigh- boring villages" (Meyer). We think that Christ lays stress upon preaching as His great vocation, in opposition to the pressure of individual applicants for help in Capernaum. The former of the two in- terpretations seems to be the better. Ver. 39. In their synagogues (into). — The Accusative, twice occurring, makes it emphatic that he filled the synagogues and all Judea with a might of preaching that formed a contrast to the syna- gogue style. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. Jesus prepared himself in the desert for His second great expedition. The spiritiuil awakening and conquest of the land of Galilee was now in ques- tion. 2. Here also Mark (like Luke) gives special em- CHAP, I. 40-45. 25 vocation: 1. Concerning Himself, as He who was come to save men ; 2. concerning tlie true righteous- ness which avails before God ; 3. concerning the wor- ship of God in spirit and truth. — Within these limits it was His vocation to spread that kingdom as far as He could. — GossNER : — To this end am I come (He says) to save men. — Christ did not scorn the Uttle towns and villages. 2. Tlie Touching of the Leper, and the Return into the Wilderness. Vers. 40-45. (Parallels : Matt. viii. 1-4 ; Luke v. 12-lG.) 40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneehng down to him,' and 41 saying unto him. If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus,^ moved with com- passion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will ; be thou clean. 42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was 43, 44 cleansed. And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away ; And saith unto him. See thou say nothing to any man : but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony 45 unto them. But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places : and they came to him from every quarter. ' Ver. 40.^The omission of koI yoi/uTreToiv avTov in B., D., and Laclimann and Tisohendorf, is not sufficiently sup- ported. 2 Ver. 41.— '0 Se 'Irjo-oCs omitted in B., D., iS:c. So Laohmann, Tiscbendorf. Meyer explains this omission, as also the dropping out of eiTrdi/Tos aiirov, Ver. 42, from an intention to' confoim the text with Matthew and Luke. So also with the /trjSt'i/, ver. 44. EXEGETICAL AIv'D CKITICAL. Respecting this narrative, and the leper, see on Matthew, viii. 1-13. The occurrence follows the Sermon on the Mount ; and this is here intimated by the return of Jesus to Capernaum, ch. ii. 1. Ver. 43. And He straitly charged him. — The efj.^piixrjadfj.ei'oi is the opposite of the preceding cr7rAa7xfin'S«^'5. Probably the leper had overstepped the Umits of his discipline (lepers were not suffered to intrude into others' houses) and of the law, and had penetrated to the house where Jesus might have been tarrying in one of the towns. This Meyer rea- sonably infers from the i^40a\ei/ — He forthwith sent him away. First of all, Jesus regarde tionalism eai-lier than Matthew ; ITence the earlier ian. — This means the house wliich Jesus occupied position of this narrative. Matthew, indeed, repre- with His mother and His brethren, after His settle- CHAP. II. 1-12. 27 ment there, ch. iii. 31. His adopted sisters prob- ably remained, as married, in Nazareth {see ch. vi. 3), when the family of Joseph passed over with Him to Capernaum. Ver. 3. Bringing one sick of the palsy. — See on Maftheio, viii. 6. Kpa^ySaros, a portable bed, used for mid-day sleep, and for the service of the gjck,* — Borne of four. — Pictorial definiteness. So • also the vivid description of the uncovering of the roof, or the bi-eaking of a large opening through it. Luke tells us how they did it : " through the tiling ; " thus they must have taken away the tilings them- selves. Meter: — We must suppose Jesus to have been in the upper room, vTrepoioi', where the Rabbis frequently taught : Lightfoot, in loc. ; Yitringa, Sgn. 145. Meyer rightly rejects the view of Faber, Jahn, and others, that Jesus was in the court, and that nothing more is meant than a breaking up of the roof-awning. Certainly it is not improbable that the roof and the upper room were connected hj a door; at least, the not improljable supposition of steps leading from the street to the roof suits that view. It is not at variance with the text to assume, with Lightfoot and Olshausen, an extension of the door- opening already there. Uncovering the roof can mean nothing else than actual uncovering, whether or not by means of an already existing opening. Strauss, after Wetstein, remarks, that the proceed- ing would have been too dangerous for those below. But see Hug's Gutachten, ii. p. 21. Moreover, a little danger would better suit the heroism of the act. It takes for granted the Oriental house with a flat roof, to which men might gain access either through the neighboring house, or by the steps on the outside. Ver. 6. Certain of the scribes. — According to Meyer, who cites Mark ii. 16, Luke (ver. 17) introduces the Pharisees too soon at this place. But why may not the scribes have been mainly of the pharisaic party ? These were so manifestly. — The scribes : — See on Matthew, ii. 4, and the article in Vv^inkr. Ver. 7. Why doth this man thus speak blas- phemies ? — That is, such a man (scornfully), such things (such great words as are fit only for God, or for the pTiests in His name). Meyer rightly : " This man in this wise : emphatic juxtaposition." The idea of blasphemy, as expressed by Mark and Luke, is shown to be direct blasphemy : they cast that upon Him, because He was thought to have wickedly in- truded into the rights of the Divine Miijesty. Ver. 8. And immediately, •when Jesus per- ceived in His spirit. — The Searcher of hearts. In this lay already the proof that He could forgive sins. Matthew (ix. 4) here takes as it were the place of Mark : ■)■ Jesus seeing (Ifiiiv) their thoughts. Ver. 10. The Son of man hath po-wer.— Dan. vii. 13 ; comp. Lange's Lehen Jesu, ii. 1, 235. Meyer asserts, without reason, against Ritzschl, that Christ by this expression declared undoubtedly, and even technically. His Messiahship. Certainly Daniel's Son of Man signified Clu-i.-it; but the correct under- standing of this expression does not seem to have been current in the Jewish schools at this time. Hence the choice of the expression here. They should know Him to be the Messiah, not according to their false Messiah-notions, but according to His true demonstrations of Messiahship ; and the expres- sion was meant to lead them to this. * Oftcntimos, however, the hed was a simple mattress or sheepskin. — Ed. t In picturesque dcscriptiveness, i. e. — Ed. Ver. 12. We never saTv it on this fashion. — We must assume in etSo/xev an object seen ; and that can be no other than the essential phenomenon which corresponds to essential seeing, viz. : the ap- pearance of the kingdom of God. But it is also in- cluded, that the omnipotent working of miracles had never been so manifest in Jesus before. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. , 1. See on the parallels in Matthew and Luke. Quickly as the glory of Christ was manifested in His first works, so quickly did the contradiction of the pharisaic worldly mind develop itself. It is most significant that the evangelical forgiveness of sins was the first stumbling-block. 2. The healing of the palsied man gives us, in a certain sense, the key to all the miraculous works of our Lord ; inasmuch, that is, as the healing of the mem- bers is here definitely based upon the healing of the heart, the forgiveness of sins, awakening and regene- ration. Because Christ Himself was the new birth of man from heaven, He was the principle of re- generation to sinful man. That is, in other words, because He Himself was the absolute miracle — the new principle of life breaking into and through the old — therefore the miraculous energies for the re- newal of life issued from Him as sudden and great vivifications, which, proceeding from the heart of the renewed, pervaded their whole life. The qmckening of the heart was, therefore, always the soul of fight , in the miracle ; the external miracle was its dawning manifestation, though not all such quickenings re- sulted in permanent bodily healing. Therefore, also, the kernel of the miracle has remained in the Church, and becomes more and more prominent, that is, re- generation. The dawn has retreated and vanished, since this sun of the inner life has come forth. Yet the dynamic unfolding of the heart's renewal in the i-enewal of the bodily members has in reality re- mained ; only, now that Christianity has been incor- porated with human nature, it develops itself only in gradual effect, until its full manifestation in the day of resurrection. The regenerating principle works in the regenerate gradually, and in almost invisible, leaven-like influence and transformation. But, as certainly as the regeneration of the heart is effected, so certainly is the germ of the renewal of the whole life present. Our scholastic notions have too care- fully separated the external miracle from the inter- nal, making it almost of itself a higher class of mir- acle. Luther, however, recognized regeneration as the great and abiding miracle, and had some feeling of its connection with the resurrection, as symbol- ized in the Supper of the Lord. — The power of Christ over the whole life, a demonstration of His power over the centre of life, the heart. 3. Christ the Searcher of the heart, knowing all things. In His messianic vocation, in His concrete sphere of life, He proved His Divine omniscience, and that too in the personal unity of the God-man. This concrete Divine-human knowledge He Himself disthiguished from the universal omniscience of the Father. Starke : — " Christ knoweth all things even according to His human nature ; not, however, through the human, tcmquam per principium quo, but tiu-ough the divine." In a certain sense, also, through the human; through human sensibility to hostile dispositions, which assuredly had its source in the Divine nature. 28 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. HOMILETICAL XNT) PEACTICAl. See on the parallels of Matthew and Luke. — How the Lord's redeeming power, breaking in, awakens the daring courage of faith. — Christ the restorer of victorious courage on earth. — Man inventive, above all in his faith. — The inventions of faith. — ^The bold- ness of faith, which leaps out of the anguish of a believing spirit. — How the miracle of Christ is ap- pended to the word of Christ. — The miracle not without the previous word. — The return of Christ to His town ; or, Christ does not willingly leave the place in which He has once settled. — And it was noised abroad that He was in the house, — when Christ is in a church, or in a house, it cannot be hid. — The courage of fuith by which they uncovered the roof, in connection with the Divine courage in which Christ uncovered their hearts. — Great faith discovers and adopts wonderful plans. — Clirist the Searcher of hearts: 1. This has a many-sided confirraation, 2. is full of comfort, 3. and full of terror. — The power of the forgiveness of sins a free and legitimate preroga- tive of Christ's rule : 1. A free exercise of His love ; 2. a legitimate administration between free grace and free faith ; 3. therefore the free prerogative of Christ. — The Divine love will not be restrained by man's narrow-heartedness. — God's grace is not bound to the ordinances of man. — The Gospel makes the Church, not the Church the Gospel. — The ordinance of absolution no monopoly of absolution. — The glorious and boundless blessings which result from the forgiveness of sins. — The paralytic more troubled about his sins than about his bodily suffering. — Christ the fundamental Healer.- — As the paralytic Lad a new power of moving, so the witnesses had a new power of seeing. — Only he who has seen Christ has learned rightly to see. — Christ's miracles of grace always preachers of salvation, which prepare for new miracles. — All awakenings in order to regenera- tion are miracles of Christ, the subsequent influences of which must be manifest in the bodily hfe, though, it may be, iu a very gradual manner. — The harder and the easier miracle : 1. The internal miracle was, in the Lord's judgment, greater and harder, inasmuch as it was the condition of the external. 2. The ex- ternal miracle was greater and harder in the judg- ment of His opponents, as something impossible to the absolving priests. 3. Both were equally hard, in as far as both were impossible to man ; and hence the external miracle was Christ's authentication in opposition to His enemies. — The limited blessing of healing a witness for the unhmited blessing of for- giveness of sins. Starke : — Moving to the house of God with the crowds. — The sick should come to Christ, the true Physician. — Benevolence, and still more, Christian love, demands that we should serve and help the sick in every possible manner. — He who would be a true Christian must strive to bring to Christ others who are weak and sinful, by prayer and all good ofiSces, Jas. V. 16. — Canstein : — We must somehow come to Christ, whether through the door or through the roof; that is, either in an ordinary or an extraordi- nary way. — True faith, working by love, breaks through all impediments. — Love makes all thiugs good and decorous, though they may not externally seem so. — Those who are troubled we should not trouble more, but comfort, Ps. xxxii. 1 ; Isa. Ixi. 2. — The ungodly change the best medicines into poi- son, and pervert the holiest truths. — Majus : — The slanderei-'s manner is, not to try to seek what mean- ing the speaker has, but to pervert at once and wrest his words. — That whicli is visible and before the eyes seems to men harder than the invisible ; and they prefer what is bodily to what is spiritual. — QuESNEL : — Christ by His visible miracles taught men to understand His invisible miracles. — The price- less benefit of the forgiveness of sius worthy of all praise and thanksgiving. Sciileiermacher: — We have two things to mark in this whole narrative : first, that which passed be- tween the Redeemer and this sufferer ; and then, what referred to the thoughts of the scribes congre- gated around Him. — As sure as we are that the Re- deemer knew what was in man, we must assume that the sufferer thought most of the spiritual gift of Christ, and its importance to himself. — The more powerful the might of love is, as being the energy of faith, the sooner vanish all lesser evils, losing their sting, which is the consciousness of sin. — Thus we see in miniature, in this history, the whole his- tory of the kingdom of God upon earth. — Bauer : — We can thus, by our faith and our intercession, be helpful to the good of others. Second Confiict. — The Eating with Publicans and Sinners. Yeks. 13-1 7. (Parallels : Matt. is. 9-13 ; Luke v. 27-32.) 13 And he went forth again by the sea-gide : and all the multitude resorted unto him, 14 and he taught them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat [reclined] at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat [reclined] also together with Jesus and his disciples; for there were 16 many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples. How is it that he eateth and drinketh 17 with publicans and sinners? "When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick : I came not to call the righteous, bitt sinners to repentance.^ 1 Ver. 17. — The addition eU iJ.eTa.foiav is foimd only in ciu'sive MSS., after Lulcc v. 32. CHAP. II. 18-22 29 EXEGETICAL AJJO) CRITICAI.. See on the parallels of Matthew and Luke. — The narrative of Mark has here also its characteristic traits of vividness. A congregation of the people around Christ at the sea-side, and a discourse uttered there, form the introduction to the calling of Mat- thew. From ver. 15 we learn that many followed the Lord who belonged to the class of publicans and sin- ners (excommunicated persons). Meanwhile Mat- thew (ix. 13) alone has our Lord's appeal to the say- ing of Hosea (ch. vi. 6). Ver. 13. Forth (from the town), again (ch. i. 16) by the sea-side. — Setting plainly before us the posi- tion of Capernaum, connected probably with the sea by a suburb of fishers' huts and custom-houses. Ver. 14. Levi (see the explanation in Matthew) the son of Alpheus. — Not to be confounded with Alpheus the father of James the Less. Ver. 15. In his house. — Not in his own house, as Meyer thinks. See on Matthew. The rjKoAovdT]- trav must be understood of the si^iritual following of the disciples, and not merely of outward accompany- ing. Ver. 16. When the Pharisees {see on Matthew) saw EUm. — Not coming into the houso, which is improbable ; but as observers of the feast, after which they came forward towards the disciples com- ing out. DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. See on the parallels of Matthew and Luke. 2. The offence taken at our Lord's table-fellow- ship with publicans and sinners has significance, first, in respect to Church principles as against Donatism and Novatianism ; and, secondly, in relation to tlie true idea of communion as against Confessionalism ; and, thirdly, in favor of Clnistian and social inter- course in opposition to the narrowness of Pietism. 3. The holy intercourse of Christ with sinnei'S, the redemption of the world, is here represented in a concentrated image. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. 1. See on Matthew. — The multitude of the needy people gave the Lord occasion to summon helpers to Himself. — Levi (Matthew) better than his reputa- tion : a warning against all premature condemna- tion of our neighbor. — How difierent is the clance of our Lord's eyes into the world from that of the Pharisees' eyes ! — Christ in the house of publicans and sinners an offence to the Pharisee ; Christ in the house of the Pharisee was not strange and repulsive to sinners (the woman, Luke vii. 37) : 1. Historical ; 2. typical. — The feast in which Christ is a guest. — The feasts in which Christ was a guest all-saving and decisive for souls. — The slavish dread with which our Lord's enemies come to attack His disciples. — The attempt of His enemies to turn away His disciples from the Lord. — The narrative of the gradual bold- ness of our Lord's opponents : 1. The features of its development ; 2. its symbolical character. — The mis- sion of Christ a Gospel for sinners, who are in evil case : 1. For them with full assurance ; 2. for them preeminently, and before those who think themselves sound ; 3. for them in contradistinction to the others. — Jesus come for all, according to the law that He has come only for the sick. — The feast of Christ an expression of His Gospel. — The feast of a Christian an expression of his Christian vocation. — How this history stands in full harmony with Ps. i. 1. Starke, Quesnel : — Grace draws Matthew from the love of gold, and makes of him an apostle ; the love of gold drew Judas away from Christ and his apostleship. — Hedinger : — As soon as God is re- vealed in thee, take no long counsel with flesh and blood. — Jesus receiveth sinners. — A converted man should bring all his acquamtance to God, and take care for their salvation. — Those are shameful ene- mies of the truth, who put on the guise of godliness but deny its power. — Quesnel : — He who has not love can- not understand what another may do in care for his neighbor's salvation. — Be patient, and slow to judg- ment, 1 Cor. iv. 3. — That in which the children of Gnd find their joy and blessedness is hateful to the wicked. — The more a man thinks himself righteous, the further does he remove himself from Christ. — Jesus calls to repentance. — We must bring into the pastoral work a heart filled with true sympathy with the wretched, and with Jesus the Physician. Gerlach : — Every invitation to a feast was for Jesus an occasion for issuing His invitation to the heavenly feast. — Lisco : — Jesus the one Physician for all. — Schleiermacher : — The Pharisees a pure coun- terpart of the publicans. — The calling to repentance (that is, to change of mind) the essence of the work of Christ. — He describes them (the Pharisees) as they described themselves ; but in such a manner that they could not but see that He thought quite differently concerning them (irony). — We should always, in our friendly social life, have spiritual things in view. TIdrd Conflict. — The Fasting of John^s Disciples and of the Pharisees. Vers. 18-22. (Parallels : Matt. is. 14-17 ; Luke v. 33-39.) 18 And the disciples of John and [of] the Pharisees^ used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples 19 fast not? And Jesus said unto them. Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them ? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they 20 cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from 21 them, and then shall they fast in those days.* No man also seweth a piece of new [un- fuUed] cloth on an old garment ; else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from 30 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. 22 the old,^ and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into okl [skin] bottles;' else the new wine doth burst* the [skin] bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the [skin] bottles will be marred : but new ' wine must be put into new [skin] bottles. 1 Ver. 18. — The reading of the Rec, oi t^iv ^apiuaiwv, is not supported. Gricsbach, Scholz, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Pritzsche read oi "toptcroioi. J' Ver. 20. — Bee. : ec cKetVais raU fjixepaLi, is an emendation. Griesbach, I/achmann, Scholz, Tischendorf read iKeCvy 3 Ver. 21. — We follow the reading : alpu air' avrov to TrX-qpuiixa to Kaiv'ov tov naKaiov ; adopted by Tischendorf and Meyer. * Ver. 22. — The Present is more vivid than Lachmann's Future, pijlet, found, also, in B., C, D., Vulgata. * Ver. 22. — The addition "new," 6 vio^, is from Luke v. 37. 4. The meal of Christ everywhere a sacred, spir- EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAIi. itual feast. 1. See on the parallels of Matt, aud Luke. — The offence at Christ's meal with Levi, as it might repre- sent similar meals, was twofold : 1. As an eating with publicans and sinners ; 2. as the opposite of fasting. In the former view the Pharisees took um- brage ; in the latter, the disciples of John, — the Pharisees also joining them. This offence was a point in which the legal Pharisees aud the ascetic disciples of John, as spiritually related, might meet. Ver. 18. Used to fast : ^laav vrjaTevovres. — Mey- er : They were then in the act of fasting. It may be easily supposed that the imprisonment of John would give occasion to his disciples, and with them to many of the Pharisees, for an extraordinary fast {see art. " Fasten " in Winer). An ordinary legal season of fasting is not meant ; for Christ and His disciples would not have neglected or outraged that. But if an extraordinary fast, occasioned by the Baptist's im- prisonment or by any other cause, formed the pri- mary reason of this question, yet we think that the participle, is to be taken as emphatic, according to tTie parallels in Matthew (v-rjcrTevovdi ttoWo.) and Luke [vriiTTevovcn tvukvo.). — And they come. — Of course only some, as representing the mind of all (Weisse) ; not necessarily all, as Meyer thinks. The combination of both parties on this point does not exclude the prominence of John's disciples, accord- ing to Matthew. Ver. 20. In those days.— Emphatically, in those dark days. Ver. 21. Else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. — The new piece is rent away from the old : the most approved reading is also the most expressive. The inappropriate and disproportionate is again made emphatic by the antithesis. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. See on the paraUels. 2. Compare the word concerning foisting, Matt, vi. 16. We may distinguish: 1. Legal-symbolical fasting (Lev. xvi. 29, xxiii. 2*7); 2. personal, real fasting — Moses (Ex. xxiv. 18), Elias (1 Kings xix. 8), Christ (Matt, iv.) ; 3. ascetic, penance fasting (the Baptist); 4. hypocritical fasting (Isa. Iviii. 3, 4), which may easily combine with 1 and 3. Fasting generally is the ascetic symbolical exercise of real renunciation of the world, in which all true fiistin<' is fulfilled. 3. Application of the two parables concerning old garments and old bottles to the history of Ebion"^ itism, of the Inteiim* in the Reformation age, and of analogous incongruities in the present day. * An ordinance of Charles V., "that all his Catholic nOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL. How often do sincere legal souls suffer them- selves to be led away by traditionahsts into an as- sault upon the freedom of the Gospel ! — The greatest danger of the weak brethren (Rom. xiv. 1, 15), that they fall under the bondage oi false brethren (2 Cor. xi. 26 ; Gal. ii. 4), and thus become separated from the peace of the Gospel. — Wrong aUiances of Chris- tians in the Church lead to wrong alliances of eccle- siastical things, even in opposition to the right aUian- ces of both. — Openness a characteristic of John's dis- ciples as of their master: they apply themselves, as later the Baptist did, with their offence to Christ Himself. — Yet they are infected with the policy of the Pharisees ; for they ask. Why fast Tky disciples not '? {see on Mattheiv). — Christ at once the Physi- cian aud the Bridegroom : 1. The Bridegroom as the Physician ; 2. the Physician as the Bridegroom. Or, Christ is the supreme festal end, and the only means of salvation, in the kingdom of God : 1. lie is the means of healing, while He calls souls to the par- ticipation of His blessedness ; 2. He is the Prince of the blessed kingdom in the midst of His redeemed. — We should think, on our feast-day, of our coming fast-day. — Even in the greatness of His fast, Christ with His disciples leaves far behind Him all the severe penitents of the old theocracy. — The secret fasting of Christians ; or, the great, silent, and festal renunciation of the world : 1. Its form ; 2. its rea- son, the reconciliation of the world ; 3. its goal, the glorification of the world. Starke : — It is a pharisaic and very common evil, that men are very much more troubled about setting others right in their living than about directing their own.— Qdesnel : — The busybody begins by talking about others, and comes afterwards to himself, but makes the best of his own case, 1 Tun. iv. 8. — Cra- mer : — Fasting is good ; but to make a merit of it, or even to burden the conscience with it, is opposed to Christian freedom. — It is spiritual pride when, in matters which God has left to our freedom, people desire that others should regulate their piety by their ivdcs. — The fasting of a penitent does not consist only in abstinence from food, but in abstinence also from all the pleasures and all the occasions of sin, Joel ii. 12. — Where Jesus is the Bridegroom of the soul, there is joy aud refreshment ; where He is not, there is mourning and grief of heart. — Canstein : — The right measures of pacification in religion are those in which truth and sincerity are consulted. — Majus: — The dominions should, for the future, inviolably observe the custom*, statutes, and ordinances of the universal church," etc. ; by which he endeavored to reestablish Popery among the Protestants. — Ed. CHAP. II. 23-28. 31 nakedness of sin cannot be covered with old tra- ditions. Gerlach : — Jesus terms Himself the Bridegroom of His Church. — Longing for the Bridegroom is the feeling of the Church, vfhen He is away ; bridal love and dehght, when He is present again. — Bkaune : — It is a special temptation to good-natured, well-meaning souls, not reconciled to Christ, His doctrine. His disci- pline, His life, His Church, when evil-minded cavillers fall in with them. — The disciples of Jesus a wedding company. — In all Christians there is more or less interchange of cheerful joy and gloomy sorrow, al- though the joyous temper when the Lord is near pre- dominates.— New wine, new bottles. — Schleier- MACHER : — How Jesus would have us understand and treat the great new period which He came to bring in. — Thus the Redeemer compares Himself with John, Matt. xi. 18 se^'.— " That day": the interval of uncertainty concerning the further course of the divine economy for man's salvation. — The old garment : He would thereby intimate that it was by no means lawful to cut up and divide the spiritual power with which He was furnished by God that He might communicate it to men, in order to repair and set in order again that which was obsolete and effete. — In our joyous fellowship with the Lord, let us pre- serve the happiness which He declares to be the pre- rogative of His people. — Gossner : — They have now once more discovered something. Envy looks at and judges only others, without caring about correcting itself. Another failing of the Pharisees was, that they required all pious people to measure according to their standard, and adopt their usages. The third error was, that they began to speak about others, in order that they might come to themselves, and exalt their own reputation at the expense of others. Fourth Conflict. — TTie Ears of Corn on the Sabbath ; the Son of Man also Lord of the Sabbath. Vers. 23-28. (Parallels : Matt. xii. 1-8 ; Luke vi. 1-5.) 23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn-fields [gowed-fields] on the Sabbath-day ; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn [began to 24 make a way, by plucking off the ears: Meyer]. And the Pharisees said unto him, Be- 25 hold, why do they on the Sabbath-day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them. Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungered, 26 he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God, in the days of Abiathar the high-priest,' and did eat the shew-bread, which is not lawful to eat but 27 for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, 28 The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: Tlierefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbatli. 1 Vcr. 26.— "Under Abiathar the higli-priest " is wanting ia D. ; omitted on accoimt of tic historical difficulty. EXEGETICAIi AND CRITICAL. 1. See on the parallels of Matthew and Luke. — In regard to the time, it is to be observed that this event belongs to a later section of the life of Jesus (after He had returned from the Feast of Purim * in 782), when persecution took a decided form against Him. The same remark hokis good of the heahng of the man with a withered hand. But the motive of Mark in inserting the matter here was evidently to connect appropriate facts. The first offence and, the first conflict referred to the forgiveness of sins, which Christ pronounced, and which was alleged against Him as a blasphemous invasion of the rights of God, meaipng especially the rights of the priests ; the second offence was the intercom-se of Clirist with publicans and sinners ; the third, the opposition of His festal, social companionship to the ascetic and phari- saic fasts, — on which then follows in our narrative the account of the offence taken at the freer position which He and His disciples assumed towards the Sabbath. * A festival introduced by Mordcoai, to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews from the designs of Uaman. It was celebrated on the 14th or 15th day of Adar, or March, and was called Pui-im, fi-om a Persian word which f ignifies Int ; because Ilaman ascertained by lot the day on which the Jews were to bo destroyed. Esther iii. 7 ; ix. 26. — Ed. Vcr. 23. Went through the corn-fields The TrapairopfViadat marks the circumstance that He opened His way right and left through the over- hanging ears ; whereas the disciples began to make their path by plucking and rubbing these ears. Thus does Meyer explain, and doubtless rightly, the nShv ■Koiilv TiAAoi'T65 Tous araxva^. It is true that Mark says nothing directly about eating ; but that is to be taken for granted in any rational rubbing of the ears, and is further manifest from the Lord's justification of them, appealing to the fact of David having eaten the shew-brcad. According to Meyer, the allusion to the history of David aimed only to vindicate the rubbing of the ears as an act of necessity ; and he thinlvs that the unessential circumstance of tlie shew- bread having been eaten led to the insertion into the other Gospels of the tradition concerning eating the ears. This needs no refutation. It is impossi- ble to make the rubbing corn in their hands, in order to clear the way, into an act of slieer necessity, such as eating the shew-bread was. In firct, Mark takes pleasure in presenting a vivid picture of everything. He here tells us how the disciples attained two ob- jects by one and the same act. The less of the two, making a way, occupied his mind merely as the coun- terpart of Jesus' TTopevea-Qai in another manner ; and the suggestion of plucking the ears was tjuite enough to denote synecdochicaliy the eating them also. 32 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. Ver. 24. Why do they on the Sabbath-day that which is not lawful ? — Meyer tries to estab- lish this discrepancy between the other Evangelists and Mark, that he makes the Pharisees ask in this passage, Why do they on the Sabbath-day some- thing that is forbidden in itself? * But in that case important part of their accusation. But if we regard their words as a question of surprise, abruptly asked, and as it were answered by themselves, the harmony of the accounts is sufficiently established. For the Sabbath traditions of the Rabbins, consult Braune. " It was not a journey, being only a walk through a by-path ; 2,800 ells' distance from the town were permitted by the law." — " To pluck and rub with the hand ears from the field of a neighbor, was allowed ; Moses forbade only the sickle (Deut. xxiii. 25). But the matter belonged to the thirty-nine chief classes (fathers), each of which had its subdivi- sions (daughters), in which the works forbidden on the Sabbath were enumerated. This was their hypo- critical way, to make of tiifling things matters of sin and vexation to the conscience. Ver. 26. In the days of Abiathar the high- priest. — According to 1 Sam. xxi. 1, Ahimelech was the high-priest who gave David the shew-bread (Jo- seph. Antiq. vi. 12, 6). His son Abiathar succeed- ed him, who was David's friend (1 Sam. xxii. 20 ; 1 Kings i. V). Moreover, in 2 Sam. viii. 17, Ahimelech is inversely called the son of Abiathar. So also in 1 Chron. xxiv. 6 and 31. Hence it was early sup- posed that the father and son had both names (Euth. Zig.), or that the son was the vicar ins of his father (Grotius) ; while some have proposed to modify the meaning of the eVt (under Abiathar). f Later ex- positors, on the other hand, have assumed that the names have been mistakenly interchanged ; but to insist, with Meyer, upon tJiis view, appears to us hyi)ercritical and arbitrary, when we remember that in Ex. ii. 18 the same father-in-law of Moses is once called Raguel and then Jethro, and especially that Jewish tradition was possessed of many supplements of the sacred narrative, as appears from the discourse of Stephen (Acts vii.), and the allusion to the Egyp- tian magicians, 2 Tim. iii. 8. Here the Old Testa- ment itself gave occasion to supplementary tradition, and the scriptural knowledge of the time incor- porated and used it. Moreover, it is to be assumed that the priest's son Abiathar stood in a nearer lelation to David, which made the unusual proceed- ing more explicable. The tabernacle was then at Nob. Ver. 28. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord. — The Son of Man, and not merely as man (Gro- tius) ; not, however, the Messiah in the ofiBcial sense, but the Son of Man in His inviolable holiness, and in His mysterious dignity (intimated in Daniel) as the Holy Child and Head of humanity appearing in the name of God. — Lord over the Sabbath ; that is, ad- * Meyer would find a discrepancy between Mark and Matthew with Luke, in the fact that the former says noth- ing abi ut eatiiiij the gi-aiu, but my spc.iks of " uiakiug a p'.th" through it. According to him, the Pharisees cb- jected merely to the travelling od the Sal bath and the labor theieia involved, and the story of the eating is an i^t.r- pulation. But aside fi-ora the fact that bSov noulv may be rcndeied as ui the Eng;ish version "to go," it setms im- probable that the disciples should have taken pains n erely to " make a path " throunh the yielding giain by pulling it up or J lucking it oft', when the simple stride would triad it down. — Ed. t Wetstein and Scholz suggest that it stands for coram. —Ed. ministrating and ruling over it in its New Testament fulfilment and freedom (comp. Meter). A clause is found appended to Luke vi. 6 in some Codd. : " The same day Jesus saw one working on the Sabbath, and said unto him, ' Man, if thou knowest what thou doest, thou art happy ; if thou Jesus would have replied only to the first and less^ knowest not, thou art accursed.' " This historically questionable saying has been placed by some in the same traditional category with the words, " To give is more blessed than to receive," Acts xx. 35. See Meyer on lAike, and Bradne, Evangelium. DOCTEINAL ANB ETHICAIi. 1. See on the parallels. — For the Jewish Sabbath and the Sabbath ordinances, consult the article in Winer. First, the opponents of Jesus thought that He sinned against sound doctrine ; then they went further, and urged objections against His free treat- ment of discipline and pious usages ; but now, final- ly, they would allege that He, in the person of His disciples, sinned against the decalogue, and against one of its most sacred commandments, that concern- ing the Sabbath. And if, at first, their exasperation against Him was only an internal matter, they now directly attack Him in the persons of His disciples, as appears without any disguise in the history that follows in the text. 2. Christ, even in the silent corn-field, is not safe from the plots of His enemies. — The diSerent man- ner in which Jesus and His disciples made their re- spective ways through the field. 3. Abiathar = Ahimelech ; or, the freer relation of the New Testament believers to the Old Testa- ment. For the shew-brcad, consult the article iu Winer, as well as the various writings on Old Testa- ment Symbolism of BiEiiR, Kurtz, Hengstenberg, Sartorius, etc. 4. The Sabbath for man, not man for the Sab- bath.— The spirit of traditionalism and fanaticism perfectly inverts the ordinances of the kingdom of God ; making the means the end, and the end the means. 5. The Son of Man the Lord ; or the roots of the supremacy and dignity of Christ which are found iu the relation of His sacred human nature to mankind. The Son of Man, the Lord in all aspects and on all sides ; therefore Lord of the Sabbath. — But the Lord is a ruler, administrator, and fulfiUer of His ordi- nances ; not the abolisher of them. HOMILKTICAL AND PRACTICAL. The Lord's patience in making His way, and in abstaining, as contrasted with the conduct of His dis- ciples.— Christ in the field among the ears of corn, a noble figure. — The blessing of nature and the bless- ing of grace in their unity. — The first tokens of the coming freedom of the disciples in its significance ; or, Christian freedom a child of need and justification felt in the spirit of Christ. — The peculiar need of the moment pointing to the means of help for ever : 1. The failing way ; the lacking bread ; the idea that one need might be removed Ijy the other. 2. The significance of this fact for the spiritual relations of the kingdom of God. — To make a way for the Lord the best means of nourishment for His disciples. — The Pharisees everywhere like a shadow of the free CHAP. III. 1-12. 33 Gospel. — Man himself the oldest Divine institution, and what follows from it : 1. Nothing in favor of the arbitrary treatment of Divine institutions ; 2. but much in favor of free dealing with human traditions. — The kingdom of heaven is preeminently a king- dom of personal life or of love. — The Sabbath for man ; that is, 1. its law is for the life of the soul, 2. its rest is for devotion, 3. the ordinance for salva- tion.— The Sabbath for man, and therefore for his eternal Sabbath ; and this also was made for man, as man for it. Starke : — Quesnel : — Christ never performed mir- acles to feed Himself and His disciples in their hun- ger ; in order to teach them that they should never without necessity seek extraordinary ways, and that their neighbors' need should press on their hearts more than their own. — Jesus hungers, while His dis- ciples eat ; and thereby shows that a teacher, ruler, and leader should be more perfect than his disciples. — OsiANDER : — We should learn to suffer want with Christ, and to abound with Christ. — Quesnel : — The pride of the Pharisaic nature drives a man to make himself a judge of others, and to demand of them an account of all they do. — Canstein : — God's will is, that we should diligently read the books of the Old Testament, and set them before the people ; that we may derive thence teaching and example. — Majus : — All errors must be refuted out of Holy Writ. — Quesnel : — The usages and ordinances of rehgion should have for their object the glory of God and the profit of men. — The true Sabbath festival. — Believ- ers are with Christ and through Christ lords of the Sabbath, that they may use it for their own and their neighbors' necessities. Liaco :— The highest end is man himself. The whole law was only the means for the education of men, whom God keeps thus under external discipline until the law is inwardly and spiritually apprehended and obeyed. But behevers adapt themselves, in the spirit of love, to all outward ordinances (although, of course, in the spirit of the Lord),— Gerlacli rightly adds : To all outward ordinances that assist the need of the Christian Church. — Every arbitrary violation of legal discipline, without the justification of the spirit of grace and love in Christ, is a heavy sin. — Only the spirit of adoption makes free from the yoke of the law.— Braune : — As David was pitilessly per- secuted by Saul, so were the disciples by the Phari- sees.— Men are to find rest and refreshment in holy days, but not to suffer hunger and distress. — There is no law given to the righteous; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is hberty. — Schleier- macher: — The Redeemer might have more easily vindicated Himself had He referred to the words of the law, Deut. xxiii. 24, etc. ; but He aimed at some- thing higher, to show that all such laws were sub- jected to a higher spiritual law (the example of Da- vid).— The Son of Man Lord of the Sabbath; the Redeemer is the measure of all ; the question must be, whether a thing is according to His mind and of advantage to His kingdom. — Bauer : — The Lord of the Sabbath has given to every believing mind a Sabbath-law, for its direction and not for its trouble : Thou shalt worship God in spirit aud in truth. Fifth Conflict. — Healing of the Withered Hand on the Sabbath. The Traditionalists hardened into pur- poses of Murder. Withdrawal of Jeeus to the Sea. Cii. IIL 1-12. (Parallels : Matt. xii. 9-21 ; Luke vi. 6-11 ; vers. 17-19.) 1 And he entered again into the synagogue ; and there was a man there which had a 2 withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath- 3 day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto tlie man which had the withered 4 hand, Stand forth [up]. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath- 5 days, or to do evil ? to save life, or to kill ? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out : and 6 his hand was restored [whole as the other]. ^ And the Pharisees went forth, and straight- 7 way took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to [cts, unto] ^ the sea : and a great multitude 8 from Galilee followed him, and from Judea, And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and fro7n beyond Jordan ; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, v/hen they 9 had heard what great things he did, came unto him. And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng 10 him. For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch 11 him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down be- 12 fore him, and cried, saying. Thou art the Son of God. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known. ' Ver. 5.—" Whole as the other " wanting in the most important Codd. Probably brougbt over from Matt. xii. 13. Ver. 7. — Eis, after D., P., Lachmann, Tischendorf ; stronger than the wpos. scene actually before us, giving bis relation very much in the present tense. Like Matthew, he re- gards the mcident in the light of an important turn- ing-point. But he omits the parabolic word conceni- ing the sheep fallen into a pit. EXEGETICAL AJXD CEITICAL. See on the parallels. — The narrative of Mark is here particularly vivid and pictorial. He places the 34 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. Ver. 1. And He entered again. — According to Luke, this occurred eight days later, on the Sab- bath which immediately followed the Sabbath of the previous narrative. By the side of the readmg eh riiv (Tvvaycoyijv, Cod. D. [which Tischendorf follows] places the reading els aw., into a synagogue : prob- ably an exegetical hint that it was not the same sj-na- gogue as before But the expression, " into the syna- gogue," does not designate of itself any definite syna- gogue. It has, however, this advantage, that it marks the fact of Jesus having gone into the syna- gogue again, in spite of all the machinations of the Pharisees and scribes. Ver. 3. Stand forth.— Meyer : " Up ! into the midst ! " Ver. 4. To do good. — The kyaQo-non^aai and KaKOTToirjffai may be taken generally, io do good and to do evil ; or, more concretely, to benefit and to in- jure. Erasmus, De Wette, and others, take it in the latter sense ; Meyer, in the former, and Matthew decides us for this. The question of Jesus, that is, was an answer to their question. May a man heal on the Sabbath ? This question Jesus answers by an impregnable principle ; as appears also from the words. It is lawful to do good, to perform a good act, on the Sabbath-day (woAws -Koielv). — To save life. — The antithesis of doing good and doing evil now receives its concrete foi-ce, to benefit or to in- jure, and thereby its apphcation to the present case. Ver. 5. With anger. — Mark gives vivid promi- nence to the indignation of Jesus. With a glance of displeasure and discomposui-e He looked round upon the assembly of men who were hardening their hearts before His eyes, as they could not refute His vindication of the right of healing, by reference to the design of the Sabbath. — Grieved, av\\vTrov/j.e- yus. — The aw establishes Meyer's translation, "feel- ing compassion for." Ver. 6. With the Herodians. — Comp. on Matthew. De Wette, without reason, thinks that the Herodians have been by error introduced here from Matt. xxii. 16. Tiberias in Galilee was a place of residence for the Herodians, that is, the Herodian political party ; and the time had come when they began to take part in the persecution of the Lord. But it marks a great advance in the enmity of the Pharisees, that they, who had before leagued them- selves with the disciples of John for the sake of gathering weight against Christ, now entered into fellowship with the Herodians, whom in ideality they hated, iu order to destroy Him whom they hated still more, by machinations behind his back. — How they might destroy Him. — Thus the GaUlean con- flicts had in rapid process reached their conclusion. Ver. */. To the sea Not merely to the coast. The life on the sea, in the ship which was now His chief place of instruction in opposition to the syna- gogue, and which more than once served Him tor a transient retreat to the opposite bank, here had its commencement. Matthew also had made this turn- ing-point prominent. But in Mark it is plainly enough characterized as a withdrawal of Christ from His customary work iu the synagogue to the ship. — And a great multitude. — The great crowds who heard the ship-discourses of Jesus were formed of two main masses, who are distinguished l)y iiKoXovd-q- aav and ijKQov vphi avrot/. Thus, after the words, " followed Him," we must, with Gricsbach, and De Wette, and Meyer, place either a colon or a period. The Jews from Galilee followed Him. The strangers from other parts came to Him. The " following " does not merely indicate external following ; it in- cludes a moral element also. In the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees, they held with Jesus. It was the beginning of a specific discipleship, from which indeed most afterwards receded, but from which the germ of the Galilean believers was after- wards developed. The remaining multitude testifies the extent of the fame of Jesus ; but we must also take into account the Jewish traffic, and the com- mercial route through Capernaum, which attracted multitudes in that direction. The descrii^tion of the crowd brings them from all parts. Ver. 8. They about Tyre and Sidou are the Jews of that district. We quote the good remark of Meyer : " Observe the difierent position of nXrjOos in ver. 1 and ver. 8. In the one, the greatness of the mass of people is prominent ; in the other, the idea of the mass itself is presented ; " or rather their coming from all distances. With the followers, the most important thing was, that it was a great multi- tude ; with the crowds coming, it was that they came from all parts, and from all distances. Comp. Luke vi. lY; Matt. xii. 15. Moreover, we must re- mark that the concourse of people round Jesus stood in a reciprocal I'elation to His excitement and His breach with the Pharisees. The time had now come when the people began to display an inclination to make a political party in His favor, and to exalt Him into a king. And on this account, also, He was con- strained to withdraw from the people, now to this and now to the other side of the lake, in the ship that was provided. Comp. Mark iv. 1 seq. ; John vi. 15. We must bear in mind the tendency of the vigorous and brave Galilean people to insurrection and uproar. — And from Idumea. — John Hyrcanus had brought the Idumeans by violence to embrace the Jewish faith. There were possibly some of that people by this time who voluntarily adhered to it, notwithstanding that unholy violence. But the words may refer to Jews who had been dispersed so far as Idumea and Arabia. — [" This is the fullest statement to be found in any of the Gospels as to the extent of our Lord's personal influeuce and the composition of the multitudes who followed Him." Alexander in loc. — Ed.^ Ver. 9. A small ship should wait on Him. — The immediate object was that the people should not throng Him. But this does not exclude the ul- terior purpose, of having a freer position in the ship, and retreating often to the other shore. Ver. 10. Insomuch that they pressed upon Him. — The cause of the thronging. It was not merely the pressure of a vast listening multitude to- wards the central speaker ; it was rather the intenser earnestness of many who were urged by their desire to touch Him for their cure. Ver. 11. Unclean spirits. — That is, demons, who identified themselves with these. Ver. 12. That they should not make Him known. — That is, as the Messiah. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. Sec on the parallels. — The Pharisees now seek to involve the Lord Himself in the charge of Sabbath desecration. The present case seemed to differ from the former in this, that the healing of the withered hand was a matter that might have been postponed. And it did not appear to be one of those urgent works of necessity which even the Pharisees permit- CHAP. in. 1-12. 35 ted tliemselyes to do. On the other hand, the Lord declares the work of compassionate love, or doing good generally, to be of itself always urgent ; and the thought is further involved, that sickness does not tarry at a stand, but that there is a continual sinking into deeper danger and need. 2. On the previous Sabbath a work of necessity was justified and established ; on the present, the Lord justifies and establishes a work of love. The Christian glorification of the Sabbath into the Lord's day assumes two aspects : 1. The ethical /aw of the day of rest is, with the other laws of the decalogue, transformed into an ethical principle for the Christian social world, especially the State. 2. The divine law, a»d the human tradition, of the festival become now the Incarnate Lord's creation and institution of the Sunday. The Sabbath was the end of the old world, — a figure of its rest in death after its labor under the law. The Sunday was the beginning of the new world, — a figure of the rising to a new life, wliich began with the resurrection of Christ, The former was the close of a week of labor which had passed in restless activity, like the days' works of creation ; the latter was the beginning of a festal week, the works of which should be performed in the joyful light of the Spirit and of love. On the historical and general relations of the day, consult Hengstenberg's treatise (Berlin, 1852). Comp. also the writings of Edcker, Liebetrut, Oschwald, Wilhelmi, and others. 3. Christ the personal fulfilment and manifesta- tion of the law in glorified form, and thus also of the Sabbath. The source and the founder of the day ; Himself the Sun of the Christian Sunday. 4. The Pharisees and the Herodians. " Hierarchs and despots are necessary to each other." F. v. Bander. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. See the parallels. — The Lord's Sabbath work : saving Ufe and the soul ; the traditionalists' Sabbath work : destroying life (that of the Messiah Himself). — The needy and wretched in the sjTiagogue ; or, the school of the law cannot save and heal. — The envious glance of the spy in the sanctuary ; or, how carnal zeal does not look up to the Lord, but sideways at what others are doing. — Christ performs the glorious work of heaven in the midst of the dark contentions of those who harden themselves in unbeUef: stand- ing alone as Saviour with His faithful few. — The Lord's glance in the world is a looking around in in- dignation, or a looking upon in love. — The harden- ing of His enemies under the very eye of Christ. — Christ is to some a savor of life unto life ; to others, a savor of death unto death. — As the paralytic, who could not move, took the boldest course through faith (over the roof) ; so the man with the withered hand learns by faith to come forward and stretch out his hand in spite of the mightiest enemies of faith. — As it was divinely great to work wonders in the midst of this envious circle of enemies, so it was humanly great to maintain faith in such a circle. — The old and new connection between need and the boldness of faith. — The leagues between carnal re- ligious zeal and secular power against Christ (Phari- sees and Herodians). — The transference of Christ's preaching from the synagogue to the ship, in its sig- nificance ; or, God's word is not bound. — The throng- ing of the people round tlie Lord, in its various as- pects: 1. A confused impulse to seek help, confused by a craving for the miraculous in that help ; 2. an act of homage to the Prince of life : at Golgotha a band of deadly enemies, who cast Him out as if He had been the great enemy of man and destroyer of the people. — How men have ever sought to change the pastoral oflSce, and preaching of the Gospel of Christ for tlie good of souls, into an office of external acts and helps (changing the spiritual Messiah into a worldly one). — Christ must often withdraw Himself, not only from His enemies, but also from His friends, in order to maintain the spirituality and freedom of His vocation. — It is beyond all important that we should accept Clu'ist as the Physician of souls ; for the redemption of the soul occurs now, the resurrec- tion of the body at the last day. — The earthly mind would fain invert this order. — The ship* of the Church must save Christianity from interminghng with the pohtics of the world. — How often did Jesus retreat before the disposition of the people to pro- claim Him as a Messiah in the carnal sense ! — The crying demons mislead the people. — The infinitely discordant mixture of dispositions and characters in an excited mass of people. — The test of right-coming to Jesus : 1. A coming to Him alone, not only with, but also in spite of, the multitude ; 2. a being alone with Him, whether among many or few ; 3. a remaining alone with Him, and entering through Him into the fellowship of the saved. — The confession of the demons : how the Lord estimated its ambiguity and recoiled from it. — The demons were first in the confession that Jesus was the Messiah, but their con- fession was a slavish one. — The Lord had here to do not merely with the words of truth, but with the truth of the words. — The glance of Christ's anger a prelude of the judgment ; yet it was qualified by com- passion.— Christ, the gentlest friend of men, will one day be a most terrible personage to many. Starke : — Majus : — The contradiction and slan- der of enemies should not restrain us from avowing the truth, but make us more courageous and joyful in our confession. — Quesnel : — A miser, an unfruit- ful Christian, a negUgent ruler, a strong man that will not help, are all mere withered hands. — 0 ava- rice, how withered is thy hand ! — To suck poison out of what is good, or to slander, is devilish. — Hypo- crites are very urgent about ceremonies ; but as it regards true discipline, they know nothing about it. — When we do what is right, we need not fear secret slanderers. — Ti'ue love is not afraid of wicked men when it would do good to others. — Canstein : — The enemies of Christ are not sincere ; they have seared consciences, and backbite in secret. — Quesnel: — There is much silence that proceeds from the Spirit of God, but there is also a devilish silence. — Here anger and love meet together ; but the Socinians can- not, and will not, reconcile these. — The passions of Christ are a great mystery. — Majus: — Divine zeal against sin must be connected with love, with tender compassion towards the sinner. — Quesnel: — What a mystery is an envious heart ! It poisons every- thing, and extracts poison from everything. — When Jesus is persecuted or forsaken of all, there is yet a little company of the faithful who follow Him. — OsiANDER : — The more fiercely the Gospel of Christ is persecuted, the more surely and widely it is dif- fused.— The hearing about Christ is not saving of it- self; it must lead the soul to Himself. — Quesnel : — * Perhaps there is an allusion here to the '_' nave " of the chui'ch ediiice, which is derived from the Latin imxiis, horn. a supposed resemblance to the hull of a vessel. — Ed. 36 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MAEK. True love makes no difference among men, but does good to all, even ^ Aramaean, the sheva being equivalent to oa. The UJS'H , in He- brew meaning a threatening people (Ps. Iv. 15), in Syriac meant thunder. — That the name refers to the event mentioned in Luke ix. 54 (according to Cal- met, Heumann, etc.), is not contradicted by the sup- position that it must have been a surname significant of praise, and not of blame. Comp. on this point the notes on Matthew. According to the ancients, the sons of Zebedee were so termed as ixeyaXoK-h- pvKSi Ka\ OeoAoyticwraToi (Theophylact, and others), because thunder is the ordinary symbol of solemn and profound utterances. We understand the ex- pression to refer to the fiery, grand, sublime spirit, which found its utterance in correspondingly high, strong, and pregnant words. That the name was not habitually used, like the name Peter, may be ex- plained by the fact that it was a collective one. It was disti-ibuted later, or merged in the several digni- ties of the first apostolical martyr, and the disciple who lay on the Lord's bosom, the last great EvangeHst. Ver. 18. Oanaanite. — Though the form of the surname has in it something unusual, yet it is easily explicable by the term ^tjAiottii in Luke, and the ac- companying reading Kuvavirrii. Ver. 19. And they went into a house. — For the chronology, Comp. the notes on Matthew. The Evangelist's arrangement here is not according to time, but regulated by a classification of the facts. For the circumstance described does not, as Meyer thinks, fall into the period after the return from the Sermon on the Mount, but into a later period, when Christ's work in Galilee was drawing to its close. According to Ewald, an original form of Mark might have introduced, before this return, the Sermon on the Mount, and the narrative of the nobleman in Capernaum. These, and similar suppositions of Hilgenfeld, we have sufficiently dealt with in our in- troductory account of this Evangelist. Finally, it does not follow from tljeir coming into a house, that the ensuing discourse took place in that house. — [" The true sense is most probably that given in the margin of the EngUsh Version, and long before by Wiclif, they came home, i. e., returned to Cajoernaum again as their headquarters, and the centre of their operations. Comp. fU oIkov in Mark ii. 1." Alex- ander in loc. — Ed.'] DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAX. 1. Comp. on the parallels. — It is characteristic of Mark, that he gives prominence here to the sons of thunder. On the fiery zeal of John, comp. Ger- lach, p. 118. "The peculiarity of John was pure simplicity, and also glowing, fiery zeal ; this having been at first disturbed by impure passion (ch. ix. 38 ; Luke ix. 54), but sanctified afterwards by inward love to Christ. His epistles contain some of the sternest passages in the New Testament. See 1 John ii. 22, 23; iii. 8; 2 John 7-11. Comp. also the Seven Epistles in the Apocalypse. Church history also records many things concerning his sacred zeal." And then Gerlach introduces the narrative of John's hastily leaving the bath in which the heretic was found. 2. As it respects the calling of the Twelve, it must be observed that it falls into two separate cri- ses, according to Mark, ch. iii. 13-19, and ch. vi. 7 seq. Only it is evident that the more precise char- acterization of the mission in ch. vi. 7 is identical with the mission in Matt. x. 1 seq., and Luke vi. 12 seq. Hence, we assume that Mark here describes a selection of the Apostles preliminary to that mission, one that was a continuation and enlargement of the call of the four most select disciples at the Sea of Galilee, and intended primarily as a vocation to more decided discipleship and engagement in helping the Kedeemer's work. Yet the more express apostolical vocation is kept in view even here, as is manifest from the very solemn account of Mark, in which he anticipates some features of the later vocation. It would appear, indeed, that the point of time to which Mark here carries us, was even later than the proper historical epoch of the more express vocation. The motive for placing it in this connection was the fact of the commencement of the great conflict of our Lord with the unbelief of the world, as it is ex- hibited in this section. 3. The names of the Apostles, or their call, intro- duced with respect to Christ by the appointment of the Father : mediate, and yet immediate. 4. Judas possessed a certain species of endow- ment ; yet observe the doubtfulness of such kind of endowments in the affairs of Church and State, inas- much as the superficial ability may easily outweigh the central character. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. See on the parallels. — The call of Christ's servants a call from the mountain : 1. Christ stands on the mountain ; 2. those called go up the mountain to Him ; 8. they come down from the mountain into the world of men. See Isa. Iii. 7. — The place of Jesus' prayer the birthplace of apostolical and evan- gelical vocation. — Fellowships and collegiate bodies in the kingdom of God : 1. In their meaning : union of the divine and the human, even here. 2. Their design : mutual supplementing and strengthening, lessening of human one-sidedness, and increase of divine power. — Casting out of devils a main branch of ecclesiastical vocation. — The variety and differ- ences of the disciples of Jesus are an unfolding of the riches of Christ and of His kingdom. — Judas 38 THE GOSPEL ACCOEDING TO MARK. Iscariof among the Twelve an eternal sign, 1. Of the all-endeavoring love of Christ, 2. of the greatness of human depravity, 3. of the dangers of the spiritual office (or of a mere external connection with the Lord) without perfect fidelity in the spiritual life (an internal union with Him), 4. of the aim and end of the Church (not a community of perfect saints, but of redeemed men). — Degrees in the apostolical circle, notwithstanding their unity and equality. — Even the dark power which was displayed by the last of the Twelve testified of the spiritual abilities of this company, over which Jesus reigned in kindly majesty. — " Who betrayed Him : " the called Apos- tle a denounced traitor. Starke : — The choice of a pastor should be en- tered upon with prayer. Acts i. 24. — He who would be fit for the work of the Lord must first be much with the Lord. — Quesnel : — Spiritual pastors make up, with Christ the chief Pastor, only one Priest ; His priesthood in the preaching of the Gospel being continued, diffused, and perfected, 1 Pet. ii. 9. — The Lord gives the word along witli the great host of the Evangelists. They who take their ease when they are placed in office, often become brethren of Judas. — It is a miserable delusion to repose in a legitimate call, while negligent of fidelity and diligence in dis- charging its functions. — Xot all the names of Chris- tians are written in heaven, though they may stand recorded in the books of the Church below. GossNER : — He who would be a witness for Christ and His Gospel, must be much with Him, and by constant communion have learned to know Him. — How will they stand before Him, who learn what they have to say by heart, stand up, and only declaim, or read it off'! — Bauer: — The death-roll of the Twelve Apostles itself a sermon. 1. Conflict of Jesus with the blaspheming Unbelief of His Enemies, and His Triumph over Human Wis- dom. (Ch. III. 20-30.) — 2. His Conflict with the ivell-meaning Unbelief of His Friends ; Triumph over Devilish Malice and Human Policy. (Verss. 20, 21, and Verss. 31-35.) (Parallels : Matt. sii. 22-50 ; Luke viii. 19-21 ; xi. 14-26.) 20 And the multitude cometli together again, so that they could not so much as eat 21 bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they 22 said, He is beside himself. And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, 23 He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. And he called them tmto him, and said unto them in parables. How can Satan cast out Satan ? 24, 25 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a 26 house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against 27 himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil [plunder] his goods, escept he will first bind the strong 28 man; and then he will spoil [plunder] his house. Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men,^ and blasphemies wherewith soever tliey shall bias- 29 pheme : But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, 30 but is in danger of [liable to] eternal damnation:^ Because they said. He hath an un- 31 clean spirit. There came then his brethren, and his mother, and, standing without, 32 sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, 33 Behold, thy mother and thy brethren^ without seek for thee. And he answered them, 34 saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?^ And he looked roimd about on them 35 which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. * Ver. 28. — The words rots ulow twv avOpiamav precede ra. aiJ.apTrJix.aTa in the test Codd. ; and so they are placed in Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf. B., D., G., Lachmann, and Tischendorf read oua, instead of oo-a?. ^ Ver. 29. — The reading ei'oxos ecmi' aluiviov d/oi.apTij;naTos, according to B., L., A., and others, is accepted by Gries- bach, Lachmann, and Tischendorf. The readings Kpi<7eoi^ and KoAdo-ews seem to have been explanatory paraphrases of this strong and pregnant expression. 3 Ver. 32. — " His mother and His brethren " is the reading of B., C, D., G., Versions, Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann ; better established than the order in the Rp.cepla, "His brethren and His mother," which is also adopted by Fritzsche and Tischendorf. Meyer holds to this last, thinking that the mother was afterwards put first on account of her rank, and ia conformity with the parallels in Matthew and Luke. It may have been the purpose to make the mother less prominent, in a case of seeming error. An additional clause, koX ai a.S€\r) is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf, following preponderating authorities. to Mark. According to Baur, Mark here represents the mother of Jesus, with His brethren, as confede- rate with the Pharisees. Meyer, on the contrary, shows that their opinion, on t^eaTi, was honest er- ror (not wickedness), and that their design was to provide for Christ's safety. But if they really had EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. See on the parallels. Ver. 21. When His (friends). — This very im- portant feature in the evangelical narrative is peculiar i CHAP. III. 20-35. 39 thouo-ht Him beside Himself, their care for his safety would have taken the form of an attempt forcibly to seize and detain Him. We regard the step as having been the result of timid policy. At the crisis, when Christ's breach with the powerful party of the Pharisees was decided, they sought by a fic- tion to remove Him from publicity and a supposed extreme danger. We may regard the adoptive brethren of Jesus as the representatives of this idea ; but it is evident that Mary also was drawn into this error of worldly policy (.sf« the notes on Matihew). It is quite m keeping" with the character of such a poUcy, that these brethren soon afterwards sought to thrust Him forward, Jolm vii. 1 seq.—The house- hold of Jesus did not come from Nazareth to Caper- naum, as Meyer supposes, but from the house of their abode in Capernaum to the place where the crowds were thronging Him. That the Pharisees would here come against him with a public accusa- tion would very well be known in Capernaum. — For they said. — Themselves, of course, the household of Jesus; and not, as Olshausen thinks, "it was said " by the malicious Pharisees, or by others gen- erally (Ewald), or by messengers (Bengel).— He is beside Himself.— Not, as Luther says, "He will be beside Himself-," but not, with Meyer, "He is mad." It is designedly ambiguous, inasmuch as the e'lea-TT) may mean, in a good sense, the being for a season rapt into ecstasy by religious enthusiasm (2 Cor. V. 13), as well as, in a bad sense, the being per- manently insane. In His ecstasy. He is no long- er master of Himself. The involuntary, rehgious /LtaiVeffflaf is, indeed, not an Old-Testament idea, but a Greek one : it was, however, current m the Jewish popular notion ; and the more ambiguous it was, the better it would suit the aun of their policy. It must not be confounded, as Theophylact confounds it, with the allegation of Christ's opponents.* On the contrary, if His opponents should say that He was raging "in demoniacal possession, the politic answer was at hand, " He is, indeed, beside Himself, but it is in a good demoniacal ecstasy." According to Meyer, this circumstance cannot be reconciled with the previous history of Mary in Matthew and Luke. The supposition of Olshausen (and Lange), that this was a moment of weakness in her life, he thinks very precarious. And Pius IX. would agree with him, though for a different reason. For the various interpretations of the passage, see Meyer. Euthym. Zigab. : " Some envious ones said so." Schottgen and Wolf: " The disciples said that the people were mad." Grotius : " Report said that he had fainted." Kuinoel : " It was the message to come home to eat, for maxime defatigatus est" etc. Ver. 30. An unclean spirit. — Characterization of Beelzebub, in opposition to the Holy Spirit. Ver. 34. And He looked round about. — Mark often gives prominence to the Lord's glance around. Here it is in contrast with the indignant looking around of ch. iii. 5. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. S'eonthe parallels. — Mark omits, among other things, to give us the immediate occasion of the main matter of the section, — the heahng of the demoniac. The reason that his friends came out to Him as they did seems to have lain in the thronging of the * Nainely, that lie was in Ica^e with the demons. — Ed. crowds, and in the fact that there was no room to eat. These facts, however, furnished them with a pretext for rescuing Him from the hands of His en- emies, whose designs and power they well knew. John came not eating and drinking, and they said. He haih a devil. Spirit-like oblivion of the bod; and of its nourishment, they interpreted as involun- tary demoniac enthusiasm. Thus did it seem to be with the Lord at this time ; and using this repre- sentation, his family went out to gain their object. 2. The choice of the Twelve was soon followed by this erring conduct of His own friends towards Him, several of the Twelve being among them. These, therefore, mistook their vocation, in the same manner as Peter and the sons of Zebedee mistook theirs on another occasion. The new impulse given to the Lord's cause, and the new step it had taken, is followed by a new defeat and counter-stroke. As soon as He takes assistants to Himself, they aim to infuse earthly policy into His plans. 2. The worst manifestation of the kingdom of evil is the blasphemy with which hypocrites, uncon- sciously standing in the service of darkness, inter- pret the most glorious manifestations of the kingdom of heaven as works from below. The blasphemy against the Son of God, as approximating to the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, is the most fear- ful display of the power of the arch-blasphemer. 4. While the pictorial vividness of the Evangelist is observable throughout the whole of the conflict which he depicts, he, however, omits the sign of Jonas, the statement concerning possession by seven devils, and the like. 5. And looking round. — Jesus, in His conflict with His enemies and the dark kingdom which they serve, does not trust to men, but does trust to His own influence on mankind ; that is, he does not con- fide in His own friends, so far as they would dictate to Him with carnal policy as his natural family ; but to His friends as they trustmgly hang upon His Ups as his spiritual family. 6. Christ's defence becomes immediately an at- tack. Earnest apologetics pass over into polemics. HOMILETICAL AND PEAOTICAL. See on the parallels. — No room to eat. How often did the Lord, in the zeal of His vocation, for- get eating and drinking and sleep !— The highest freedom of spirit and self-government are interpreted even by His people as bondage and being beside self. — How much to be reprobated is an ambiguous and feigned adoption of the notions of the enemies of truth, on thp part of those who would represent the truth !— The concessions of carnal ecclesiastical poHcy to the unfriendly world always spring from evil.— The sound concession is the infinite lorbear- ance with which Christ enters into the notions of His opponents to refute their assertions.— Christ exalted equally above the protection of His friends and the attacks of His foes.— Contrast between the Lord s great conflict with His opponents and his disciples slight assistance : 1. Contrast in temper: heroic re- liance in divine truth ; petty trust in human cunning. 2. Contrast in the conflict itself: simple defence ana simple attack; ambiguous apology and mediation. 3 Contrast in the result : high victory ; deep humili- atiou.— The false and the true family of Jesus : 1. The one would watch over Him and His cause, the other will be watched over by Him ; 2. the one would 40 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. lead Him, the other will be led by Him ; 3. the one would save Him, the other will be saved by HLm ; 4. the one would restrain and bring Him into danger, the other will be restrained and bound by His word and Spirit. — The Lord detects and cuts asunder the bands of perilous fellowship between His friends and His enemies : 1. He detects them : worldliness in religion, fear, cunning, and policy ; 2. He cuts them asunder by the word of severance, by warning, and by blessing. — The divine dignity of our Lord in the decisive conflicts of His kingdom : 1. As opposed to His enemies, the instruments of darkness ; 2. as op- posed to His liimily, as they are confused by the ap- parent danger of His cause; 3. as opposed to His Church, which hangs upon His lips with child-like simpUcity, not suspecting its danger. — Christ says to His people, in the days of apparent peril to religion : My thoughts are not your thoughts ; neither are My ways your ways. — Christ's defence is, in its own na- ture, also a victorious attack. — Blasphemy against the Spirit is eternal guilt, and therefore exposed to eter- nal condemnation. — The calm declaration of Christ, that He wrought in the power of the Holy Spirit, in opposition to His blaspheming enemies, who charged him with being possessed by the spirit of darkness and working under his influence. — Main- tenance of this opposition : 1. Divine repose against devilish excitement ; 2. divine forbearance against devilish hatred ; 3. divine Ulumination against devil- ish confusion. Starke : — Canstein : — If Christ endures, the Chris- tian Church endures. — Zeisius : — The devil never gives up the work that his name imports — slander- ing the good; nor do those who are on his side, John viii. 44. — Quesnel : — We must strive to pre- serve our honorable name, so long as it is possible. — It is awful to ascribe to the devil that which comes from God. Thus God is made into Satan. — The Creator endures this blasphemy, in His patience and long-suffering, and men will endure nothing. We should be imitators of God. — Wolf does not eat wolf, nor does Satan drive out Satan. — Satan does not persecute Satan, yet Christians persecute Christians. 0 fearful wickedness! — Rebellion and insurrection are destiuctive and ruinous. — When once the devU is master of any heart, none but Jesus Christ can drive hhn out. — Ckamer : — Children must honor their parents ; but in matters that pertain to office, and the things of God and conscience, they should not be overruled by any. — There is no carnal pre- rogative in the kingdom of God. — Quesnel: — He who doeth the will of God to the end enters into an eternal alliance with God as his Father, with Jesus Christ as his brother, with the angels and saints as his sisters, and with the heavenly Jerusalem as his mother. — Gerlach : According to Mark, Jesus dis- tinguishes general blasphemy against God from the particular blasphemy against the Holy Spirit; ac- cording to Matthew and Luke, He distinguishes from it also the blasphemy against the Son of Man : in both cases there is the contrast between a revela- tion which has been more external, and one which has seized the inner man with more convincing di- vine power. — " He that doeth the will of God: " He means thereby faith, which is the fount and begin- ning of aU holy obedience.— Braune : We must watch over zeal, as over fire in a house. But that cold moderation which the world loves so well is most oflensive to Christ, who will spue the luke- warm out of His mouth, Rev. iii. 16. This is our Lord's official fidelity. — In the presence of this blas- pheming malignity, the Redeemer exhibits a simplicity, a security, a freedom from all bitterness, which must have produced a sacred impression upon all who beheld, even as upon us now. — It is in the Spirit of God that Jesus overcomes Satan. — Schlkiermacher (on the words. He is beside Himself) : — So those have always been accounted whom God in hard times has chosen for His special instruments: it was in the time of the Church's Reformation, and it will always be so again when times of darkness shall return. — There have never been wanting such enemies of the truth, who have similarly sought to put another character upon that one only institute for human salvation which can never find a substitute. But, as in the text, their efforts are always vain. — How far blind and rash zeal may lead men ! — " He that ga- thereth not with Me, scattereth." — " He that for My sake forsaketh not father and mother is not worthy of Me." — Christ on the cross : " Behold thy son ! Behold thy Mother !"— There should be, then, no con- flict between our natural and spiritual relationships. — All the household must be members of the one same family. 8. Our Lord's Conflict with the carnal Unbelief of the People in the Delivery of His Parables, and His Triumph over Human Narrowness. (Ch. TV. 1-34.) (Parallels : Matt. xiii. 1-23 ; vers. 31-35 ; Luke viii. 4-18.) 1 And he began again to teach by the sea-side : and there was gathered* unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a [the] ship, and sat in the sea ; and the whole 2 multitude was by the sea on the land. And he taught them many things by parables 3 and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken : behold, there went out a sower to sow : 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way-side, and the fowls [birds] of 5 the air^ came and devoured it up. And some^ fell on stony groimd, where it had not 6 much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth : But when 7 the sun was up,* it was scorched ; and, because it had no root, it witliered away. And some fell among thorns, and the tliorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good gromul, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased, and' 9 brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said 'unto CHAP. IV. 1-34. 41 10 them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was alone [apart], they 1 1 that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.^ And he said unto th'em. Unto you it is given to know^ the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto 12 them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive ; and hearing they may hear, and not understand ; lest at any time 13 they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. And he said unto 14 them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? The sower 15 soweth the word. And these are they by the way-side, where the word is sown; but [and] when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word 16 tliat was sown in their hearts. And these' are they likewise which are sown on stony ground ; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness ; 17 And have no [not] root in themselves, and so endure but for a time [but are transient] : afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they 18 are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the 19 word, And the cares of this^ world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other 20 [remaining] things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. And these® are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and 21 bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them. Is a candle [the lamp] brought to be put under a bushel [the measure], 22 or under a [the] bed? and not to be set on a candlestick [the lamp-stand]? For there is nothing hid, which shall not^" be manifested; neither was anything kept secret, 23 but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 24 And he saith unto them, Take heed what ye hear : with what measure ye mete, it shall 25 be measured to you; and unto you that hear" shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given ; and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which 26 he hath. And he said. So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast [the] seed 27 into [upon] the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should 28 spring [sprout] and grow up [elongate], he knoweth not how. For^^ the earth briugeth forth fruit of herself [automatically] ; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn 29 in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth [yields], immediately he putteth in the 30 sickle, because the harvest is [has] scome. And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the 31 kingdom of God ? or with what comparison shall we compare it ? '^ /it ts like a grain of mustard-seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in 32 the earth : But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out [makes] great branches ; so that the fowls [birds] of the air may lodge 33 under the shadow of it. And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, 34 as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them : and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. ■ ' Ver. 1. — 'S.vviyiTo.i instead oicrvvrix^r) : Laohmann, Tischendorf, after B., C, L. 2 Vcr. 4.— "Fowls of heaven." Tou oiipavov has oi^y D. of the uncial MSS. in its favor. Probably added from Lnke viii. 5. 3 Ver. 5.— Kal aWo instead of aAAo 5e : Lachmann and Tischendorf, after the best MSS. * Ver. 6.— Lachmann and Tischendorf, after B., C, D., L., A., Vvilgate, read xal ore aviruXtv 6 jjAios, instead of Tl\iov fie di'ttTetAavTO?. * Ver. 10.— Ta? 7rapa|8oAas instead of ttjv irapajSoA^V : Tischendorf, after B., C, L., A. The parable just delivered gave them occasion to ask about the design of parables generally. « Ver. 11.— The yviavai is wanting in A., B., C* So Lachmann, Tischendorf. ' Ver. 18. — Kal aKKoi eitri instead of koX ovtol eitni' : Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, after B., C.*, D., Vulgate, &c. 8 Ver. 19. — TouTou is wanting in the best MSS., and rejected by Griesbach, Fritzsche, Lachmann, and Tischendorf. ' Ver. 20. — 'Eiceti'oi instead of outoi : Tischendorf, after B., C, L., A. \'> Ver. 22.— 'Eciv ixri, the most difficult and best authenticated reading (A., B., C, Tischendorf). [Ifeyer thinks that the o is an addition, and would explaia by comparison with Mark s. 30. He denies the assertion of Fritzsche and Da Wette that iav furj is al^surdly used here, and contends that it contains a logical analysis of the thought. — Ed.i 1' Ver. 24. — Tot; clkovovciv, omitted in LacLmann and Tischendorf, after B., C, D., G., L. '2 Ver. 28. — The yap must be given up. HA^pTj; criTos Instead of ttAijpt) ., L., A., Vulfrate. Tischendorf defends it by important Codd. The insertion, indeed, is more easily explained than the omission. Grieshach, Lachmann read ovirw, instead of TTuii ovK, in confoimity with B., D., L., Vulgate, Itala, &c. matter, there is here a definite historical sequence to the preceding section. — And the same day, He saith unto them. — Thus it was before the stormy voyage that our Lord uttered the first par- ables concerning the kingdom of heaven. Ver. 36. Even as He was in the sliip. — That is, they proceeded at once, before they could make special preparation for the voyage. The evening voyage over the sea to the southeast coast w-as ex tended to several hours, and became a night voyage. Ver. 37. The waves beat into the ship. — The iiTf^aWfi' intransitive, referring to the waves. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. See on the parallels. — Pictorial vividness in the narrative of the voyage: evening, the sudden de- parture, the convoy of ships, the violence of the storm, tlie ship all but sinking, the image of Him who slept on the pillow, the reproach of the distressed men that Jesus cared not, the words of rebuke to the wind, the strong reproof of the disciples, their great fear, and its effect. Ver. 35. Besides the arrangement according to CHAP. IV. 35-41. 45 Ver. 40. Meyer : The disciples' weakness in knowledge and faith is made more prominent by Mark than by the other Synoptics : comp. ch. vi. 52 ; vii. 18 ; vui. 17, 18, 33 ; ix. 6, 19, 32, 34 ; x. 24, 32, 35; siv. 40. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. See on the parallels. 2. Significance of the crisis of deep excitement : mutual reproaches. The disciples allege against the Lord, groundlessly and irreverently, the reproach of not caring for them ; He on His side inflicts the well- founded reproof of despondency and lack of faith. They uttered their charge prematurely, before they had waited to see the Lord's manner of action ; Christ did not utter his reproof (fully, comp. Matthew), until He had brought relief in the danger. This often re- curs in the history of the Church's great tribulations, as well as in the private difficulties of the Christian life. 3. The personification of the wind and sea in Christ's address is most emphatic in the rebuking words of Christ, as found in Mark. But at the base of this personification there is a dogmatic element, to wit, that nature has acquired a character of ap- parently wild independence and anarchy since man became unfaithful to his destiny : Rule over it, and make it subject to you. But in this seeming anarchy, which is under the power of God, and is used by Him as a means of discipline and judgment, is reflected that real anarchy, that lack of obedience and faith in the human breast, which is at the same time felt as a lack of self-government and rule over the creature. Therefore we see confronting the unbelief of the dis- ciples Jesus' confidence ; His peace is opposed to their excitement. His self-possession to their distraction ; His majestic supremacy over the winds and waves is op- posed to their subjection to natural terrors. And the effect is, that his own disciples experience to- wards Ilim the same awe of reverence and fear which they had experienced before towards the frightful sublimity of nature. But now they are the subjects of a fear which passes over into the utter- ances of a rising and blessed faith. HOMILETICAD AND PRACTICAL. See on the parallels. — The voyage of the disciples of Jesus a night-voyage (according to Mark ; see the notes) in the life of the disciples : 1. The history; 2. its significance. — The victory of the Lord over feeble- minded unbelief: 1. He leads little faith into danger; 2. He lets it wrestle with the peril to the utmost point; 3. He convicts, humbles, and heals it. — The fear of man before the terrors of nature, a sign that he is not consecrated through the terrors of the spirit. — The Lord's supremacy over human voca- tions (seafaring, fishing, government, learning). — Trial of tlie disciples in the danger of death. — The pride of the little apostolical crew, and its humilia- tion: a sign. — Jesus' sleeping and awaking: 1. His sleeping, the repose of His divine power, an exercise and test of the human ; 2. His awaking, a new glori- fication of the saving divinity in humanity needing salvation. — Jesus the star of the sea (the anchor, the rudder, the lighthouse, the rescuer of the wreck- ed).— Danger to life always danger to the soul. — Divine help in our human life ^ould be to us a sign for quickening and salvation.^ — How all fear of the creature should be changed by the awe of Christ's presence into peace. — To reverence the Son of God, and to obtain kingly power over the creaturely world, are one and the same — Perfect love casts out fear. — The wide wild world glorified by the Spirit of Christ into a blessed house of God. — Jesus Christ, the com- mander of wind and sea : 1. In nature; 2. in history; 3. in the fates of the Church. — What follows from His being obeyed by the winds and the waves, — as to Himself, as to the world, as to us ? — Christ as the Ruler of nature, and Restorer of its paradisaical peace. Starke : — The evening may be very different from the early morning. — Faithful servants of God may have some seasons of rest permitted them, lest they sink under their burden. — Going forth with Christ into a sea of tribulation. — H He be with us, we shall not sink and perish. — The little ship of the Church is often so beaten by the storms of tribula- tion and persecution, that it seems as if it must go do^v^l. — Distress teaches man to pray, although faith is never without prayer. — It is the error of men, tliat they take, at once, danger to be a mark that God takes no heed of them. — Canstein : — A great storm followed by a great calm : so is it ever with God's consolations after trial. — Quesnel : — God is so gra- cious and gentle, that He does not despise a slender faith, or reject an imperfect prayer, or cast out a fearful heart.— How profitable would Christians find it, if they would discourse in their social meetings about the wonders of God and the glory of Jesus Christ ! Gerlacii : — It is always a blameable unbehef, when we fear to enter the ship with Christ. — Braune : — The difference between Jonah's sleeping in the ship and that of Jesus. — He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. — Schleiermacher : — That was their unbelief. He meant, that they thought He could sink at a time when He had not yet given them any commission ; that they thought God could take so little care of His work, as that it should sink with them. — There is no one among us who can assure himself that the old man, however en- tirely he may seem to be buried into the death of Christ, will not rise up with his giant lusts, and in- volve the soul in storm and tempest. — But if we are members of His body, we should maintain the sure confidence, that in all times of severe trial and tempta- tion, the bond of union between Him and us will not be severed. — As certainly as He could not sink with His disciples on that day, He will not suffer his disciples to sink in this. — Gossner: — When the help of man ceases, God's help begins ; or, faith in the sure word. — When there is storm in the soul, and when thou art in great peril, thou knowest what it is for, and whither to fly. — What calmness in the soul, when the Lord arises and utters His voice ! 46 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. 5. Coiiflict of Jesus tcith the despairing Unbelief of the Demoniac, and the selfish Unbelief of the Gada- renes ; Healing of the Demoniac, and Triumph over Human Devices for Security. (Ch. V. 1-20.) (Parallels : Matt. viii. 28-34 ; Luke viii. 26-39.) 1 And tKey came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gada- 2 renes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the 3 tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no 4 man could bind him, no, not with chains : Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters 5 broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he 6 was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But 7 when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him. And cried with a loud voice, and said. What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I ad- 8 jure thee by God, that thou torment me not. (For he said unto him, Come out of the 9 man, thou unclean spirit.) And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered 10 saying. My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he 11 would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there, nigh unto the 12 mountains [mountain], a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought 13 him, saying. Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swin^; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea (they were about two thou- 14 sand), and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the 16 legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind [sane] ; and they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and 17 also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 18 And when he was come into the sliip, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed 19 him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not; but saith unto him. Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, 20 and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Deca- polis how great things Jesus had done for him : and all men did marvel. 1 Ver, 1. — Many Codd. read ^XBev instead of ?iX9ov. But this is not sufficiently authenticated : '^prohahly from Matt, viii. 28." Lachmann and Tischendorf, after B., D., Vulgate, read repao-vjviov ; L., A., &c., Vepyecrivutv; Cod. A., Recepla, Scholz, Meyer, TaSap-qvdi'. Comp. the parallel in Matthew. 2 Ver. 3. — 'AAvtrei, instead of aAuo-e(nv eaurois, Tt <|)dy(i)., L., A., is important. It shows, that is, that the previous incident must be regarded as an examination by the synagogue, in which Clu-ist was separated from the people. * Ver. 15. — To. ex toO di>6pu>Trov eKTTopeuo^tei'a, according to B., D., L., A., Lachmann, Tischendorf. '' Ver. 16. — This verse is wanting in 13., L. Omitted by Tischendorf, it is retained by Lachmann and Meyer. An in- terpolation here is not probable. The connection requires this point. 8 Ver. 19. — A., B., E., F., G., A., Chrysostom, Lachmann, Meyer, read KaOapl^iav, not K.a.9api^ov ; D. reads KaBapi^et. EXEGETICAL A^T> CRITICAL. Comp. the parallel place in Matthew. The occur- rence before us took place in the summer of the year 782 : in the midst of the year of persecutions. The combination of the Pharisees of Galilee and the Pharisees of Judea in their opposition to Jesus had already been concerted and entered upon. They had begun to institute against Him ecclesiastical proceed- ings in Galilee, and to watch His every step. The basis of the conspiracy consists of tlae preceding Galilean crisis, ch. ii. and iii., and the confederacy against Jesus at the Feast of Purim in Jerusalem, 782 (John v.). The pi-ogress and the conclusion of the scheme appear in ch. viii. 11. From the time of the Feast of Purim a common action and combina- tion of the Sanhedrim in Jerusalem and the GalUean synagogue was inaugurated. The Sanhedrim were in constant connection and correspondence with the synagogues of the provinces, and even with those of foreign lands (see Acts ix. 2). Some, therefore, ap- pointed by them, diligently visited the provinces ; and watched especially those teachers whose doc- trines declined from the principles of Pharisaism, at the head of which stood that of tradition (Ammon, Lehen Jesu, ii. 264). There were two official trans- actions or interferences. And there were two re- treats on the part of Jesus : the first time, as far as the borders of the Gentile territory ; the second time, into the solitude of the mountain beyond the sea, and even to the borders of the other world (trans- figuration) ; — and all for the preparation of the new Church. {See my Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 858.) — Between the narrative of the first feeding, the walking of Christ upon the sea, and our present narrative, there are many things to be interposed, which Mark has already communicated. Among these are the hereti- cation of Jesus in the cornlield ; the healing the man with a withered hand ; tlie allegation of the Galilean Pharisees, that the works of Christ were done in the power of Beelzebub, etc. {See the Table of Contents, Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 14.) — Peculiar to Mark is the expression, (rwdyovrai irphs ainov, in which we cannot fail to see reference to an official interference of the Sanhedrim with our Lord. Also the exact account of the rehgious washings of the Jews ; the detailed characterization of the conflict between the Pharisaic traditions and the command- ment of God, including the Corbau ; the striking and profound sentence concerning the purging all meats ; and the perfect description of those evil things which proceed out of the heart. Also, in the following section, which may be glanced at here, the design of Christ to remain concealed in a house (belonging to a friend) on the borders of Phoenicia, during the time of His sojourn there ; and the Lord's return to the Sea of Galilee through the Sidonian territory and that of Decapolis. It is observable that Peter must have communicated the account of these remarkable travels, having faithfully preserved the individual details. On the other hand, this Evangehst omits the intercession of the disciples on behalf of the woman of Canaan, and the declaration of Christ that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Ver. 2. And when they szlvt. — Probably on the appearance of the disciples in Jerusalem at the Passover, which He did not attend in the year 782. The spiritual impulse of freedom which actuated the disciples might at that time have led them into the commission of certain acts of thoughtlessness. — With common, that is to say, with unwashen hands. — So Mark explains for Roman readers. We must particularly define the idea of unwashen hands by that of unwashen in the sense of a religious cere- mony prescribed by tradition ; and the idea of com- mon by that of ecclesiastically profane, unclean, and defiling. Those who persisted in this uncleanness, which had for its result excommunication, must at last draw down upon themselves the decisive ban. Ver. 3. With the fist ; oft. [Margin of Eng. "V e.v. diUgcntly.'] Uvyny. — Among the many explana- tory translations which have missed the meaning of the difficult expression are these: Vulgate, cre6ro / Gothic, ufta (oft) ; Syriac, dilirjenter. See in I)e Wette and Meyer the various exegetical methods adopted. " Probably it was part of the rite, that the washing hand was shut ; because it might have been thought that the open hand engaged in washing might make the other unclean, or be made unclean by it, after having itself been washed " {Lebeyi Jesu, ii. 2, 858). The expression might mean a vigorous and thorough washing. Ver. 4. And from the market. — Codex D. has the addition, fav iXdwnif, ii'hen they come; which Meyer, De Wette, and others regard as a sound inter- pretation. According to tliis view the progression would be this: 1. Before every meal the washing of hands ; 2. but, after the return from market, where there was so much danger of coming into contact with unclean men, the bath was used as a washing of the whole body ; hence iau /urj /SaTrr. But that which follows — the ^aTrTtcr/jiol irorripicov — requires still another degree in the progres.^ion, and proves that /SoTrTKTiUos here must be understood in a wider sense. Therefore we interpret it, with Paulus, Kui- nocl, and Olshausen, of that which came from tho market. De Wette, on the contrary, observes that this was everywhere customary. But it was not cus- CHAP. VII. 1-23. 65 tomary as a religious ceremony of washing, or as a kind of baptism, like that of the pots and cups, or the Romish baptism of bells. And, moreover, the same held good of the washing of hands; for the washing of hands before eating was generally cus- tomary amongst the Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Thus, in our view, there was a triple washing at meals: 1. That of the persons; 2. that of the vic- tuals ; 3. that of the vessels. — Cups and pots. — Made of wood, in contrast with those of brass, which follow ; or, it may be, considered as earthen. [" Pots," leo-Tii;', perhaps from le'co, to poUsh ; or else from the Latin sextus or sexiarius, denoting the sixth part of a larger measure. ^-fic?.] Meyer says, indeed, " Earthen vessels, when they were Levitically unclean, were broken to pieces, according to Lev. xv. 12." But the case supposed there was that of positive desecra- tions ; and it is not to be supposed that the Jews, after or before every meal, broke all the earthen vessels which they used. [Tables (in the margin beds), i. e., couches, anything on which men recline, whether for sleep, or, according to the later use of the ancients, to partake of food, — which accounts for the word used in the text of our Bible. That these couches were immersed in every instance of ceremonial wash- ing, can be thought probable, or even possible, only by those who are under the necessity of holding that this Greek word not only means to dip or plunge, originally, but, unlike every other word transferred to a religious use, is always used in that exclusive and invariable sense, without modification or excep- tion ; to those who have no purpose to attain by such a paradox, the place before us will afford, if not conclusive evidence, at least a strong presumption, that beds (to say no more) might be baptized without immersion. Alexander, in loco. — Ud.^ Ver. 9. Pull well, /caAuJs. — Ironically, as among ourselves. — Your own tradition, iVa. — Very strong and deep. At the bottom of all rigorous en- forcement of traditional observances there is an un- conscious or half-conscious repugnance to submit perfectly to the law of God. Bengel : Vere accusan- tur, haiic siiam esse intentionem. " Not only uncon- sciously, but with the fullest purpose, the Rabbis exaltetl their precepts above the law of Moses." In the Talmud we read : " The words of the scribes are more noble than the words of the law ; for the words of the law are botli bard and easy, but the words of the scribes are all easy (to be understood)." — " He who deals with Scripture, it is said in the Bava Mezia, does a thing indifferent ; he who reads the Mishna has a reward ; but he who devotes him- self to the Gemara is most meritorious of all." Sepp, Leben Jesu, ii. p. 345. Ver. 11. Corban. — Comp. on Matthew xiv. 5; as also, for the ellipsis in ver. 11, Luther's marginal note : " Corban means an offering, and it was as much as to say, Dear father, I would willingly give it to thee, but it is Corban : I count it better to give it to God than to thee, and it will help thee better." Ver. 14. He said again. — The significant 7ra\ij' — the reading we adopt — throws light upon the whole precedmg occurrence ; and, together with the a-w- dyouTai at the beginning, gives it the appearance of a judicial process of the synagogue. Ver. 17. His disciples asked Him. — Comp. Matthew, where Peter is marked out as the ques- tioner ; and observe here, as elsewhere, his modest suppression of himself in the Gospel which sprang from himseir. And here, again, there is emphatic prominence given to the disciples' want of developed 5 spiritual vigor and insight of faith, and their slow- advancement in knowledge. Ver. 19. Purging all meats. — Meyer: KaOapi- (ov might be connected with the iKiropivirai as an appositional expression. The apposition, however, would not be connected with the iKwopeveTai, but with its subject, that is, meat ; and that could not be tolerated. Kadapi^ov is rather the substantival defini- tion of cKpeSpciu, as being a general means of purifi- cation for all the external impurities of meats : the better supported reading Kadapi^aiv, on the other hand, expressed the same thought adjectivally. — The a(pe5piiv makes all meats clean, not because it simply takes away all impurities, but because the unclean- ness or impurity of the object consists in its being out of its place, and therefore defiling something else. It is therefore a place of filth for all the house ; a place of cleansing, on the contrary, for the great household of nature. Not without irony does Christ make prominent this ideal significance of the exter- nal means of cleansing for meats, addressing as He did the men of traditions, who strove to ensure a prophylactic external purity to their food. Ver. 21. Evil thoughts. — In relation to the distribution here, we must notice the change between the plural and the singular forms ; or, 1. predominant actions, and 2. dispositions. The acts in the plural are arranged under three categories : a. lust ; 6. hatred ; c. covetousness. They then combine into wickednesses {-n-ovripiai), by which the forms of evil dispositions are then introduced: deceit and lasciv- iousness indicate, in two contrasts, the concealed and the open wickedness of self-gratitication ; whilst the evil eye and blasphemy indicate concealed and open enmity (blasphemy against God and man). Pride or self-exaltation, and foolishness (rtb33), are the in- ternal and the external side of the one ungodly and wicked nature. " The evil eye " is notorious in the East ; here it is the description of an envious look. DOCTEHSTAL AND ETHICAIi. 1. See the parallel passage in Matthew. 2. The Jews have fallen through their Sabbath or Rest-day traditions into eternal unrest, through their law of purification into moral defilement, through their many baptisms into an abiding lack of baptism, through their service of the letter into Talmudist fables, through their separation into dispersion all over the world, through their milienarlan Messiah- ship into enmity to Christ, through their trifling with the blessing into the power of the curse. The irony of the Spirit, that He punishes extremes by ex- tremes. 3. The prophecy of Isaiah (eh. xxlx. 13) pronoun- ces a condemnation, always in force, upon all dead and fanatical zeal, and upon all mere ceremonial worship and work. 4. Zeal for traditional observances in its abiding conflict with the eternal commandments of God and laws of humanity. The conflict between false eccle- siastlcism and morality. The contradiction of fanat- icism has for Its foundation an evil bias towards ex- ternalizing the inner life. The worm of superstition is unlielief ; the worm of fanaticism Is religious death or atheism ; the worm of hypocritical outside reli- gion Is impiety. For the conflict between human fanatical eccleslasticlsm and the divine fundamental commandments of morality, see the history of By- zantism and Romanism. 66 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. 6. Tradition and human ordinances identical. Tradition needs continual reform through the law of God ; and human ordinances, through the living development of this law. 6. Contrast between external and internal fellow- ship ; i. e., between being excommunicated, and being out of the Church. HOMlLETICAIi AND PRACTICAL. See on Matthew. — Christ in judgment upon human tradition. — Christ the Deliverer of His disciples : 1. The Originator, 2. the Defender, 3. the Guardian, 4. the Director and Consummator, of their freedom. — Christ and Christianity a hundred times exposed to spiritual censure: 1. The censure of school-learning (theology) ; 2. of the tradition of the elders (clerical office); 3. of the synagogue (popular assembly). — Christ and tradition ; 1. He is the foundation or kernel of all true internal tradition ; 2. therefore He unites in one and renews all external tradition ; 3. and He is the Judge of all externalized and impious tradition. — The conflict between the law and human ordinances, or between ecclesiasticism and morahty. It is, 1. an unnatural conflict, for true ecclesiasticism and true morality can never come into collision. 2. It is a light conflict, when false morality contends with true ecclesiasticism. 3. It is a critical conflict, when false ecclesiasticism fights against true morality. 4. There is a frightful doom upon both, when false ecclesiasticism and false morahty struggle with each other. — The old conflict between fanaticism and hu- manity. Ecclesiastical systems which bury piety (household relations, filial obligations, etc.) condemn themselves. — The indivisible unity of faith and love, of piety and duty. — The fearful perversion of the conflict between divine revelation and humiui sin into a contradiction between the divine and the human nature. — Tlie triumph of human ordinance is always upon the ruins of the law of faith. — To enjoy with thankfulness, is the sanctification of enjoyment, 1 Tim. iv. 4. — In the place of the washing of hands before meat, has come in the folding of hands. Therefore we must mind the reality of the symbol, even in this latter case. — Isaiah, Christ, and the Re- formation, agreeing in their judgment upon what is true and what is false worship of God. — The right process of a true reformation: 1. It distinguishes between spirit and flesh, between the internal and the external. 2. It fights against the false inter- niixtures of the two, in which the spirit is made sub- servient to the flesh, and the internal to the external. 3. It seeks to connect the two aright, so that the spirit may make the flesh its own and glorify it. 4. It therefore contends also against a false and un- natural separation between the two. — The purity and the purifying power of the great divine economy of nature. — Christianity has consecrated even natural infirmity; or, a beam of the gloiification which shines upon the dark natural ways of men. — The de- cisive objection against human ordinances, that they vainly attempt to elTcct symboUcally a purity which actual life better provides for : 1. Holy water, God's streams ; 2. arbitrary penances, divine burdens ; 3. ecclesiastical purgatory fires, God's salting fires. — The evil things which proceed from the heart and defile the man. See Critical Holes on ver. 21. Starkk : — Majus : — As Christ and Ilis disciples were not without their slanderers, so the devout are never without their accusers and rebukers, 1 Pet. ii. 12. — Nova Bill. 2'ab.: — From Jerusalem hypocrisy went forth into all the land. — Hedinger : — "What is the dross to the pure gold ? what the inventions of men to the truth of God ? what superstition to faith ? — QuESNEL : — As man may dishonor God by over- much caring for beauty and external purity, Isa. iii. 16, so God is honored by the neglect of these things, when that neglect springs from humiliation of self and true mortification, Jonah iii. 6-10. — We must wash the heart after having been defiled by the world ; that is, we must test ourselves and cleanse ourselves of sin, Job i. 5. — Majcs: — With hypo- crites, regard to man and human ordinances has more weight than the commandments of God. — The hypocrisy of hypocrites must be revealed, — Cramer : — The enemies of the truth must be confounded by the word of God. — Canstein : — The true worship of God is the union of the heart with Him. — Men com- monly do willingly and cheerfully all things that do not set them about changing their own hearts. — Self-love, or the selfish mind, is so mad, that it pre- fers expending its care upon pots and cups rather than upon itself. — Many external ceremonies and human ordinances are not good in the Church of God ; for, those who are bent upon rigidly observing them easily come to forget, or postpone to them, the true commandments of God. — Qdesnel : — The open- ly impious do not dishonor the truth of the divine law so much by their evil life, as those do who give themselves out to be lovers of the law of God, and yet falsely interpret it. — After God, our parents are most important; and them their children should honor as the channel of the first gifts of God — na- ture, life, nourishment, and education. — Bibl. Wirt. : — Christian children should learn well the fourth and fifth commandments. — Quesnel : — Man may disguise his godlessness under the fairest show of piety, but God sees it nevertheless ; and, as He condemns it now. He will hereafter make it manifest to all the world. — Majus : — Vows against the honor of God are sinful, and must not be paid. — £ibl. Wirt. : — He who departs from God's word in one point, and in that point prefers the ordinances of men, may be- come so thoroughly entangled as not again to escape, Tit. i. 15. — In the New Testament, the making dis- tinctions of meats is classed among the works of the devil, 1 Tim. iv. 1-3. — Canstein: — All depends upon the state of the heart : as that is, we are. — As the heart is the source of all evil, we should carefuUy watch its issues, Jer. xvii. 9. Schleiermacjier : — This was the sense in which the Lord Himself said that His yoke was easy and His burden light ; for He contrasted Hhnself, and the fellowship which He would found upon His own name, with the yoke and the manifold external bur- dens which the elders were never weary of imposing upon the Jews. — Those who rest wholly on external things have always the same vain labor as the Phari- sees ; and this has its ground in a lack of confidence. It springs from the fact that man can never have so much firm assurance concerning that which is not the truth as he can concerning that which is the truth ; and this unrest manifests itself in looking anxiously at the letter, and in seeking after external uniformity. The greater the number, the greater their hope of internal confidence: of that which is slrictli/ internal they have nothing. — This also He would say, that whosoever contributes to confirm such notions in the minds of men, and make their notions of God's ser- vice purely external, leads them thereby away from the true worship of God in spirit and in truth, and seeks to give their ideas of God such a direction and CHAP. Vn. 24-31. 67 such a form, that they no longer represent to them- selves that God who will be worshipped in spirit and in truth, but an imaginary Being, such as the Gen- tiles frame in their imaginations. — The same feeling which leads to the honor of father and mother leads to the honor of our Father iu heaven. — Gossner : — nacity. Manifestly, wicked human ordinances do not injure the divine doctrine so much as specious and seeming- ly holy superstitious inventions and false interpreta- tions, which are received with confidence by the weak devout, and held fast with stubborn perti- 3. TTie Withdrawal of Jesus to the Gentile Borders of Tyre and Sidon, and to the District of Decapolis. The Woman of Canaan. Vers. 24-31. (Parallel : Matt. xy. 21-29.) 24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon,' and en- tered into an house, and would have no man know it : but [and] he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him,^ and 26 came and fell at his feet; (The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation,) and 27 she besought liim that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said^ unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's 28 bread, and to cast it unto the [little] dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, 29 Lord: yet the [little] dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said 30 unto her. For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and lier daughter laid 31 upon the bed.* And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto^ the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 1 Ver. 24.— ''Opta : LachTnann, after B., D., L., A. Kal SiSuli/os is wanting in B., L., A., &c. Tischcndorf and Meyer omit it ; taken from Matt. xv. 21. 2 Ver. 25. — Tischcndorf, after B., L., A., Versions : dA\' euffi/; axovaocra yvvrj. 3 Ver. 27. — Lachmann and Tischendorf: koI e\eyev, after B., L., A., &o. (D. : koI Ae'yei ; Vulgate: qice dixit). And this is more in keeping ; for it is not a definitive utterance, like the 6 6e 'Irjo-oOs elirei/. ^ Ver. 30. — See Meyer, concerning the inversions of this clause. [Lachmann and Tischendorf, after B., D., L., A., Versions, have adopted the transposition : to naiSCoi' iSefSATj/neVoc cttI KAiVijf Kal to SaLfjLovLov ef eATjAuSo?. The Received Text is to be retained ; the reading of Lachmann is accounted for from the fact, that the copyist passed immediately from the Kai following e^eA7)Au9ds to the Kal in ver. 31, so that the clause, kol rqv fluyaT. to kAiVtjs, was left out, and was after- wards inserted in the \vTong, but what seemed to be the more fitting, iilaoe. Hence the clause, Bvyar. to kAiVt;?, and not the clause, to Sai.ti.6v. eleAijA., is the omitted and restored one ; so that all the variations in the readings are found in the former and not the latter. Meyer, in loco. — &1.] '^ Ver. 31.— Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, after weighty authorities, read ei? instead of irpds (as in Mark iii. 7). liachmann and Tischendorf, after B., D., L., A., Coptic, Ethiopian, Syriac, Vulgate, Saxon, Itala, read rjAfle Sia SiSui'os instead of xal SiSii>>'os rjXOe. on Matthew., xv. 21, Critical Note, p. 281. — And en- tered into an house. — Here also He had friends and dependants, as He had in the opposite direction, on the borders of Perea. Ver. 26. A Gentile, or Greek. — 'EWtj^'j, according to the Jewish phraseology of the time, in- dicating a Gentile woman generally. This was not merely the result of the intercourse of the Jews with the Greeks specially; but it sprang from the fact that in the Greeks and in Greece they saw the most finished and predominant exhibition of this world's culture and glory. Siirophcnician, as distinguished from the Ai;8u0oiVi/c6?, the Phoenicians of Africa, that is, Carthage (Strabo). The Tex. Rcc. has ^upo(poi- viacra ; but the true reading wavers between 2vpo(poL- v'lKKTffa (Codd. A., K., &c., Lachmann) and 2upa- *oifiKi(r(ra (Tischendorf, after Codd. E., F., &c.). Thus she was a Phoenician-Syrian woman: most generally viewed, a Gentile ; more specially, a Sy- rian ; and still more specifically, a Phosuician. Phce- nicia belonged to the province of Syi-ia. But the word may also, more precisely still, describe the Syrian of Phoenicia, the Canaanite woman (Mat- thew). Ver. 30. And her daughter laid upon the bed. — A sign of her perfectly tranquil condition: EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. See the parallel passage in Matthew, and the pre- liminary summary of the foregoing section. Critical Notes, p. 282. Ver. 24. And from thence He arose, and went. — That His departure was at the same time a breaking away from the Pharisaic party, is emphat- ically shown both by Matthew and Mark. His travel- ling towards the borders of Tyre and Sidon was the prophetic and symbolic representation of the future progress of Christianity from the Jews to the Gen- tiles. So in ancient times Elijah travelled out of his own land into Phoenicia. Elijah was driven away by the ascendency of idolatry in Isi'ael; Christ was driven away by ascendency of a hierarchy and of a traditionalism which in his eyes was apostasy from the law of God, and therefore idolatry. Yet Jesus did not yet separate from His unbelieving people ; He did not actually go into Phcenicia, but only into the adjoining borders of Galilee (eij ra nedopia), that is, into the district of the tribe of Asher. But after- wards, during His travels among the mountains and on His return to the Galilean sea. He actually passed through the Sidonian region. On those travels, see 68 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. the demon had previously drivcD her hither and thither. But there is also an intimation of her ex- haustion after the last paroxysm ; and this is one more instance of that gradual restoration which Mark loves to describe. The arrival of her mother, who was the subject of heaUiig faith, perfected then her new life and vigor. Ver. 31. Through Sidon. — Meyer thinks that the analogy of Tvpov requires us to understand the town of Sidon. But the coasts of Tyre do not refer to Tyre as a city, but to Tyre as a country. Thus we agree with Ewald, that only the travelling through the district of Sidon is settled. The direction of the journey was first northward towards Lebanon ; thence from the foot of Lebanon northeasterly, and back through the district of Decapolis, that is, back through the region which lay to the east, or the farther side, of the sources of the Jordan, to the eastern hank of the Sea of Galilee. On Decapohs, comp. Winer, and the Critical Notes on Matthew XV. 2L DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. See on the parallel passage in Matthew. 2. The circumstance that Mark passes over the mediation of the disciples on behalf of the Gentile wo- man, is explained by the critics in various ways, after their favorite fashion of external comparison. Meyer thinks Matthew's the original account. But if we look at internal motives, this whole intervening occur- rence, which would be very easily understood by the Jewish-Christian readers of Matthew, would not, without some commentary, be at all intelligible to the Gentile-Christian readers of Mark. Matthew gave prominence to the points which proved to the Jewish-Christian how strictly Christ remained, during His work in the flesh, within the limits of His call- ing ; and that He received the Gentile woman into communion and fellowship of His healing works, only on account of her strong faith^ attested by the Israelite witness of the disciples themselves. This motive had no force in Mark's account. Hence he might, in harmony with his own design, paraphrase the repelling word of the Lord, modifying it accord- ing to its inner meaning ; and we need not, with Meyer, attribute it to the " softening down of later tradition." 3. As Christ, in the former narrative, let a ray of His transfiguring glory fall upon the low region of meats and the " draught," so here He casts one upon the poor dog. Under the light of the kingdom of heaven, everything common and natural obtains a higher meaning ; it obtains a value in the econo- my of God, and as a figure of the relations of His kingdom. The place of daily corruption is a figure of the purifying grave and kingdom of the dead ; the dog a figure of the Gentile world. Sin remains more than ever condemned, but only that it may be made subservient to the judgments and honor of God. 4. As the earnest coming of the Syrophenician woman evinced a strong susceptibihty among the Phoenicians, humbled by many sevei'e judgments, it was needful that Christ should for the present leave this country, in order that His Jewish people might not be alienated by his premature labors among the Gentiles. But He left the region with the glad anti- cipation that the prophecy of Ps. ii. 8 would one day be fulfilled. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. See on Matthew. — A solemn sign, when' Jesus only seems to go forth. — The travels of Jesus to- wards west, north, east, south : also a sign. — Jesus has everywhere His hidden friends. — He could not remain hidden : that is, 1. He hid from Himself, in His humility, the consciousness of the great influence of His majesty ; 2. He sacrificed His rest to the rest- lessness of passionate men ; 3. He ever submitted His human will to the ruling will of His Father. — The work of the Son, under His Father's government, though free, yet conditioned : 1. In Nazareth, His own city, He could not reveal Himself; 2. in the dark boundary of heathenism. He could not be hid- den.— The Gentile longing everywhere feels from afar and seeks after salvation, whilst the Jews reject it before their very eyes. (The nobleman at Caper- naum ; Cornelius, Acts x. ; the Canaanitish woman ; the symbolical man of Macedonia, Acts xvi. 9.) — The Gentiles likened to the dogs (house-dogs, not wild ones), not to awaken, but to humble a fanatical party spirit: 1. Unclean indeed, and without the natural gift to distinguish the pure from the impure ; 2. but modest, tractable, docile, thankful table- companions of unthankful children. — Christ present with His fulness of help, wherever there is the slight- est germ of faith.—" For this saying." Faith mani- fest in new and wonderful words: 1. Its source, words unspeakable (Rom. viii. 26) ; 2. its expression, new words of the Spirit, clear and joyful in confes- sion, preaching, and prayer ; 3. its glory, the speak- ing with new tongues. — The regeneration, sanctifica- tion, and glorification of speech.— Christ, the terror of evil spirits far beyond His own personal mani- festation.— The great sign which the Lord gave His disciples, that the door of the Gentile world was open. — Even among a people of Moloch-worshippers, maternal love was not extinct. — Humility the test of faith.— Humility the deep ground into which all the streams of heavenly blessing are poured. — The Lord is high, and yet hath respect unto the lowly, Ps. cxiii. 5-7. — As Mary prophesied in her song of praise, such was Christ's rule.— The tarrying of Je- sus in the mountain-range of Lebanon, a silent anti- cipation of His entrance into the heathen world ; as the tarrying in the wilderness was an anticipation of His entrance into Israel. Starke: — t^ANSTEiN: — Christ's travels from one place to another. — Quesnel : — A servant of Christ in the Gospel may indeed remain hidden, but it must be so as not to incur the shame of neglecting any duty owing to his neighbor.— Cramer : — When we pursue honor in an unreasonable manner, it flies from us ; when we fly from it, it pursues us. — Ques- nel : — Every sin is an unclean spirit which possesses the sinner ; from Jesus we must in all humility, every man for himself, seek the only remedy.— SuSerings urge men to seek God : liappy those who use them to "that end. — Christ is still, and for ever, the Saviour of the Gentiles, Rom. iii. 29.— Parents should feel the utmost anxiety on account of their children, that they be dehvered from the power of Satan and led back to God.— Lange : — The sharper the test, the more blessing does it bring when believingly endured. Bibl. Wirt. .•— Faith in the heart permits no dis- placence against God's rule to arise in the soul. However God disposes, and whatever He says, must be best, 1 Pet. v. 5, 0. — Hedinger : — Perseverance presses 'through, and a good warfare obtauis the I CHAP. VII. 32-3'7. 69 prize. — QuESNEL : — It is a great consolation to a Christian mother when God converts, in answer to her prayer, a daughter possessed by a worldly spirit. But how little prayer is urged for that blessing ! — Eieger: — A very little word, faUing into a softened, broken, and humbled heart, works great things. — Faith derives greater advantage and strength from humble submission and willing acknowledgment of its unworthiness than from anything else. — Braune : — Let every one Umit himself to the field of labor which God has appointed to him : he will soon see whether or not God gives him a commission to go beyond it. — Let no one be offended if he is hemmed in by a narrow limit, according to God's will. Holy charity and heroic love are all in all. — Schleier- MACHER : — For this word, go thy way. It was not merely a word of faith, but such an answer, too, as fell in with our Saviour's design. Without abolishing the distinction between those who belonged to the people of the old covenant and those who were idolaters, it yet threw such a veil over the distinction that many demonstrations of love might seem proper to pass from the one to the other. — Gossner, on ver. 24 : — Many might remain hidden enough, but they will not. — A seemingly great severity is often a prep- aration for great benefactions. — Bauer : — The first act of salvation in the Gentile world. — Ahlfeld : — Persevering faith is sure to win its object. When a heavy cross weighs thee down, seek the hght of Christ's countenance ; hold on in faith, and doubt not ; He will give at last all that thou needest. — Thomasius: — How the Lord awakens faith in the hearts of men. — Greiling : — The time of suffering is a time of test. — Hartog : — The three stages of victorious faith: 1. It looks with longing at the di- vine Saviour ; 2. it waits with all humility for help ; 3. it holds fast its hope with firm confidence. — Bo- decker : — Wherefore doth God delay His help ? — C. G. Hoffmann : — The mighty word of faith : I will not let Thee go. — Dittmar : — Great faith in its three stages : 1. Its stage of distress ; 2. its stage of sift- ing : 3. its stage of confirmation. 4; The Healing of the Deaf and Dumb Man. Vers. 32-37. (Parallel: Matt. sv. 29-31.) 32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf,^ and had an impediment in his speech 33 [a stammerer] ; and they beseech liim to put his liand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he. spit, and touched his 34 tongue : And, looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, 35 Be opened. And straightway^ his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was 36 loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but 37 the more he^ charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it ; And were beyond measure astonished, saying. He hath done all things well : he maketli both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. P Ver. 32. — After Kia^iov, Ladunann and Tischendorf, after B., D., A., Versions, have Ka.i. — Ed.] ^ Ver. 35.— Eu^t'tos is wanting here in B., D., L., A., Versions, liachmann, Tischendorf. Instead of 6ii)foi'x5i)o-av, Lachmann and Tischendorf, after B., D., A., read ijvoiyrfcrav. [3 Ver. 36. — Autos is wanting in A., B., L., A., Vulgate, Lachmann, Tischendorf. — Ed.] EXEGETICAL AND CEITICAX. See on Matthew. — The healing of the deaf and dumb man on the east side of the Jordan is a nar- rative peculiar to Mark. In regard to time it is closely connected with the two foregoing events : oc- curring at the termination of the Lord's travels to- wards Phoenicia and through Decapolis back to the eastern border of the Sea of Galilee (Gaulonitis). Mark shows, in his account of the miracles, a prefer- ence for those healings in which the gradual pro- cess of the cure, as connected with the instrument and the development of it, is vividly presented. Thus, in his account, the daughter of the Syro- phenician woman lies exhausted upon her bed after her deliverance. Thus, he represents Jesus as com- manding them to give the daughter of Jairus some- thing to eat. And he alone records the heaUng of the blind man at Bethsaida — a process which was gradual, and performed in two stages. And here he alone communicates a narrative in which the mirac- ulous act of the Lord is closely connected with the application of the saliva. Ver. 32. A deaf man, who could not well speak. — Meyer opposes this translation: "KOKphv HoyiXdXov is wrongly translated, a deaf man difficult of speech {see Beza, Maldonatus, De Wette). — MoyiXaKos, although it seems in its formation to be hard of speech, corresponds in the Septuagint to the Hebrew D^X, dumb. See Isa. xxxv. 5, &c. Hence it is a deaf and dumb man (Vulgate, Luther, Calo- vius, Ewald), which is also confirmed by dAaAous." Since ixoyiXaXos does literally mean one who speaks with diflBculty, — and it is said of this one, that after his cure he spoke opflcDs (not simply he spoke), — the meaning of the words is sufficiently established. With deafness there is connected a disturbance of the organs of speech, or a general perversion of speech. Ver. 33. Aside from the mvdtitude. — AVliere- fore? 1. He would make no display (Theophylact); He would not nourish superstition (Reinhard) ; He would have an undisturbed relation between Himself and the sick man (Meyer). This last is the weakest reason ; for we might for the same reason except the same thing elsewhere. Rather we may assume that the district of Decapolis was something like the re- gion of Tyre and Sidon : it was not a purely Jewish land. Here it was necessary, especially in this time 70 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. of crisis, that He should avoid a publicity which might bring together the Gentiles in crowds, excite superstition as much as faith, and create in the minds of the Jews a prejudice against Him. In an anal- ogous manner the Lord acted in the case of the blind man of eastern Bethsaida: He led him altogether out of the village. In both cases, however, we must remember that it was a susceptibility of faith which was to be gradually awakened. See the Doctrinal Reflections. — And put His fingers. — A similar circumstantial procedure we have in the healing of the blind man, ch. viii. " But we are not to assume that Jesus desired in any sense to conceal the mirac- ulous element in the cures (Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 1, p. 282), which would amount to untruth." Meyer. But, upon this principle, the disguise thrown over the evangelical truths of the Gospel through the employ- ment of parables, would amount to untruthfulness. And He spit. — Spitting, He touched His tongue. Meyer thinks that the touchiug was the direct spitting upon the tongue. But as the touching {S.irTf(jdai) is elsewhere an application of the hand, it may be assumed that He moistened His finger and touched therewith the man's tongue. Saliva used in healing : here ; ch. viii. 23 ; John ix. 6. De Wette : Saliva was in antiquity a remedy for the eyes (Plin. if. iV. 28, 7 ; Tacit. Hist. 4, 21 ; Sueton. Vesp. Cp. 7; Tanchuma, f. 10, 2; Sanhed., f. 101, 1; Hieros. Sotah, f. 16, 4; Vajikra Rabba, f. 175, 2. Comp. Wetstein and Lightfoot, ad Joh. ix. 6). Meyer: " The saliva is, like the oil (ch. vi. 13), to be regarded as a conductor of the miraculous power." Yet it was not applied in the cure of the ear, but only in the healing of the tongue here, as ch. viii. in the healing of the eyes. Wherefore then was this dis- tinction? Probably because the saliva was better suited to be a symbolical medium for the awakening of faith, and it was never wont to be applied to the ear. Ver. 34. Looking up to heaven, He sighed. — Manifestly the sighing of prayer. How much more easily He seemed to accomplish His heaUng on other occasions ! Or was deafness, in its spiritual signi- ficance, much worse than blindness and possession ; and did the Lord intend to signify that ? We assume, 1. that in this half-heathen district, more imperfect and disturbed forms of faith presented themselves to Him, which made the healing on His part more of a conflict ; and 2. that in this half-heathen district, where they generally believed in demigods and magic, He desired to make more definitely prominent His own dependence on God the Father. For the like reason — that is, because the Pharisees had blas- phemed the source of His miraculous power — He accomplished the raising of Lazarus before the Jews from Jerusalem in connection with a loud prayer to the Father ; and in healing the man born blind, John ix.. He joined with Himself in the work the temple- fountain Siloam, the holy spring of the priests. 3. Since the Lord could not influence the deaf man by word, it was necessary that He should influence Him by a strongly speaking sign. — Mark everywhere sets a special mark on the sighing of the Lord, as also upon His manner of looking : comp. ch. viii. 12. Meyer remarks, and rightly, that this sigh was at the same time a sigh of painful sympathy. — Ephphatha. — An Aramaean word, in the Imperative : Bo thou opened. Related, though not identical, is the Hebrew nns, in the Imper. Niphal. Ver. 35. And the string of His tongue was loosed. — Thus he did not merely speak with diflS- culty on account of his being dumb, as Olshausen supposes. Ver. 36. But the more He charged them. — The stronger His prohibition was, the more it enkindled a desire to spread the i-eport of the miracle. Ver. 37. He hath done aU things well j that is, in the healing. — Thence they draw the conclusion: As well the deaf. He hath, &c. DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. Nothing is more instructive and full of signifi- cance than the prudence of our Lord in respect to the publication of His miracles, as soon as He had entered the borders of the land where there were closer relations with heathenism, and the people were more infected by heathen views: — the history of the woman of Canaan, the present narrative, and the healing of the blind man in eastern Bethsaida, all illustrate this. The reason was, that Christ would have a monotheistic faith, which traces all up to God the Father as the final source, and that He would not suffer His divine power of heahng to be mingled and debased with superstitious and magical notions. This holy prudence will explain many and great restraints upon the full influence of Christianity in the heathen or heathen-Christian world, down to the present day. 2. We may compare the doxology of this people, ver. 37, with the doxologies of ch. i. 27; ii. 12 ; iii. 11, &c. Matthew explains: They glorified the God of Israel. 3. It must be particularly observed here also, that Jesus could aifect this deaf and dumb man only through His glance, His immediate revelation. His signs, and manner of action. So far this instance stands alone ; for the youth who was deaf and dumb through possession, ch. ix. 25, suffered not through the sealing up of his organs, but through the perver- sion and violence done to his soul. So also the pos- sessed who was dumb. Matt. ix. 32 ; and the de- moniac who was blind and dumb. Matt. sii. 22. 4. Our Christian institutions for the deaf and dumb are an abiding monument of that miraculous healing in the mountains : the natural development of the miraculous act of our Lord. The heaUng of the deaf and dumb by signs, was a type of the in- struction of the deaf and dumb. 5. The Romish rite of baptism relies especially on this miraculous history, because it exhibits the use of several symbolical elements: 1. Separation from the multitude : dedication of Christ in baptism. 2. The baptizing priest touches, with an Ephphatha, the ears of the infant ; 3. moistens its nostrils with saliva; 4. lays salt in its mouth. The Christian Church should do all this in a real manner, and not in a symboUcal. As the symbol for it, and at the same time the reality of it, Christ instituted simple baptism. HOMILETICAI, AND PRACTICAL. Sufferers to be brought to Jesus. — The healing of the deaf and dumb ; or, the double disease and the double cure in their reciprocal connection. 1. The connection between deafness and the inability to speak : a. in physical things ; h. m spiritual. 2. Right speaking conditioned by right hearing: in natural CHAP. Vn. 32-S1. 71 life, in spiritual things. — He who does not persevere to the end in hearing aright will surely cease by degrees to speak aright. — The true obedience is of eminently quick and sure hearing. — The education of the deaf and dumb man in faith; 1. He must yield himself up to be led by the strange Wonder-worker, who can only speak to him by looks, into the wilderness ; 2. he must see His signs, especially the signs of His prayer and His sighing ; 3. he must hear his word of power, that he may have his hearing and be able also to speak. — The holy care of the Lord in all His wonderful works, aiming ever at the glory of God's name. — How the wonder-working majesty of Jesus is concealed in His humility. — Christ, as He went on His way, opposed and avoided with the same decided earnestness the heathenism which deified men and the world, and the Judaism which deified the letter and ceremonial observances. — Christ had to struggle as well with superstition as with unbelief, to exalt both into faith. — All Christ's miracles were to the honor of God: 1. All His miracles were miracles of prayer, dependence on God, and strict union with His Father ; 2. all His miracles were distinguished, not only in their reason and their end, but also in their form and manner, from the magical works of the heathen world. — Christ ever conceals the thou- sands of His miracles by the disguise of an unpre- tending medium. — Christ in His whole being full of saving power. — The sighing of Christ and of His Spirit (Rom. viii. 26) over the sin and the misery of humanity and the creature. — The sympathy of Christ. — Guilt and innocence in the popular pi-oclamation of Christ's works. — The words of His astonished people: He hath done all things well : 1. In its hu- man hmitation ; 2. in its higher significance. — Con- cerning redemption as concerning the creation, the word holds good, The Lord hath done all things well (Gen. i. 31): 1. in the whole, 2. in the details. Starke : — Where Jesus goes in and out, there is nought but blessing. — Caxstein : — When we look at the deaf and dumb, it should make us reverence all the more the glorious gifts of hearing and speech, and determine to use both prudently to the glory of God. — Zeisids : — Most people can both hear and speak ; but how great and how common is spiritual deafness and dumbness ! — Luther : — Christ begins His cure with the ears, and acts in accordance with nature ; since from hearing speaking comes : uKor} begets vnaKoriv. — Lange : — Let us seek silence. — A Christian should often sigh over spiritual and l)odily misery. — The ears should be open for God, but shut to the devil and the world. — It is a sign that the tongue has been loosened by Christ, when the words become holy, and the new song is sung to His glory out of a new heart. — Quesnel : — The humility of the benefactor, and the thankfulness of him who has re- ceived the benefit, may contend without damaging peace in the heart. — Wondering at God's works is well; but it should never end there. — Nova Bibl. Tub. : — God doeth all things well, not only in healing and binding up, but also in smiting and wounding. — Zeisics : — As Satan damages and i-uins everything. so, on the contrary, Christ repairs all things. — Braune : — The Lord guides all His own in various ways, every one in his own ; but the goal for all is the great salvation longed for. — Jesus speaks the right language of signs to the deaf and dumb. — Gerlach : — The words, "He hath done all things well," seem to express an anticipation of the new creation. — Jesus finds His glory in the deaf ears of hardened sinners, and in the speechless or restrained tongues of unthankful, earthly-minded unbelievers. Even from among them He takes many into solitude with Him : His creating hand touches the sealed ear and the idle tongue, His high priestly intercession groans to the Father for them, and often His Eph- phatha opens the ear and looses the bonds of their tongue, so that they may speak plainly. — Lisco : — The turning of the eyes of Jesus towards heaven should teach us to expect our help from thence, and thither to direct our thanksgivings. — Schleiek- MACHER : — That love which could manifest itself so mightily in the Redeemer is among us in our benev- olent institutions. But if we ask what has driven men to think upon this, we can say no more than that it is the selfsame Spirit of love who is for ever striving to meet and overcome all the woes and suf- ferings of humanity. — What a great and wonderful word is this " Be opened," which the Redeemer was ever speaking throughout His whole manifestation, and the influences of which have never ceased, but will go on until the whole race of mankind have come to the hearing and knowledge of His salvation, and their tongues shall be loosed to the praise of the Most High ! — Heubner : — The significance of the healing of the deaf and dumb (in its spiritual applica- tion): 1. The person of the wretched one; 2. the lead- ing him to Jesus ; 3. the action of our Lord ; 4. His looking up to heaven and sighing ; 5. His work ; 6. His prohibition (the conversion of a simier should not be boastfully trumpeted to the world ; it should exert its influence silently). — Christ the only Phy- sician who can repair the mischiefs in God's creation. — How much knowledge of God may come through the senses. — Bauer : — How many are still deaf and dumb towards the kingdom of God ! Klefeker : — Even in the suflFerings of His crea- ture man, God finds His glory. — Reinhard : — How we, as Christians, should sanctify to our own good the defects, infirmities, and sicknesses of our bodies. — Huefell : — The Christian's look to heaven. — Reinhard: — The quiet unostentatious zeal with which Christians should do good. — Thiess : — The deaf and dumb man is a type of us. — Couakd : — He took him out of the crowd apart. — Bombard : — The Ephphatha of our Redeemer: 1. A woi'd of omnipotence and grace ; 2. great and glorious in its effect ; 3. it is uttered to all of us ; 4. it is vain for many ; 6. it proves its virtue on believers, ever more beautifully and abundantly ; 6. it wiU one day abol- ish for ever all our fetters. — Rautenberg : — He hath done all things well: 1. Praise of His perfection — wonder ; 2. praise of His benevolence — thanksgiving ; 3. praise of His glory — adoration. 72 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. 5. The Miraculous Feeding of Four Thousand. Ch. VIII. 1-9. (Parallel : Matt. xv. 32-39.) 1 In those days the multitude being very great/ and having nothing to eat, Jesus 2 called his disciiiles unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, 3 because they have now been with me^ three days, and have nothing to eat; And if t send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way : for divers of 4 them came from far. And his disciples answered him. From whence can a man satisfy 5 these men with bread here in the wilderness ? And he asked them, How many loaves 6 have ye? And they said. Seven. And he commanded^ the people to sit down on the ground : and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his 7 disciples to set before them ; and they did set thein before the people. And they had 8 a few small fishes : and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them} So they did eat, and were filled : and they took up of the broken meat that was left, seven 9 baskets. And they that had eaten^ were about four thousand : and be sent them away. ' Ver. 1.— Instead of TrojUTrdAXou, B., D., G., L., M., A., [Vulgate, Coptic, Gothic, Lachmaim, Tiscliendorf,] read ttoAiv iroAAoO. — The 6 'Iijo-oOs is probably an explanatory interpolation. ^ Ver. 2. — Moi is wanting in E., D., [Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer.] 3 Ver. 6. — B., D., L., A., [Lacbmann, Tischendorf, Meyer:] jrapa-yyeAAei. * Ver. 7. — Kai evAoy^o-as aina. flirev Koi TaCra TtapaTiOivai. B., L., A., [Meyer.] ^ Ver. 9. — The oi ay6vTei wanting in B., L., A., [Tischendorf, Meyer;] following ch. vi. 44. EXEGETICAL AJS^D CEITICAi. See on the parallels in Matthew. — Marli's second miraculous feeding, with the following events, stands in the same connection as Matthew's with the moun- tain travels of our Lord. There is not in the slight- est particular a difference between Matthew and Mark. The representations of the second feeding are more than ordinarily aUke in both : the begin- ning and the end, especially, are essentially the same. Vei\ v. And he blessed and commanded to set them also. — The Evangelist distinguishes the thanksgiving over the fish as a particular act, with the word evKoyijcras, while concerning the bread he used (vxapicTTria-a^. Both acts of devotion are to be regarded as benedictions of the food. But the prayer of praise {euKoytlv) is related to the prayer of thanks- giving, as praise is related to thanks : it is the same thing carried to its higher pitch. That the thanks- giving becomes here blessing, characterizes the sec- ond act of the feeding, the festival anticipatory of the great feast ; and it is all the more sublime as be- ing pronounced over the IxOvSia oAi'yo. The follow- ing Romanist distinction (Reischl) is without founda- tion : " Thanksgiving (eucharist) Jesus presents as man (and High-Priest) to the Father ; but He Him- self, as Lord and God, distributes the blessing of omnipotence." Ver. 8. Seven baskets. — Comp. the explana- tions on Matthew. Ver. 9. About four thousand men. — Matthew adds ; besides women aftd children. DOCTIlINAIi AND ETHICAL. 1. See on the parallel passage in Matthew. — The divine side of the second miraculous feeding is pre- sented all the more expressly and clearly by the cir- cumstance, that in the present instance the multitudes of the people were more alien, the scene of it was a place more desolate and remote from human habita- tion, the excitement of the people more intense ; not to mention that Christ had just returned from an extended and fatiguing journey. As it respects the human side of the miracle, and its relation to the measure of faith, we cannot fail to observe the cir- cumstance that a more abundant provision of food is made for a smaller number of the fed. As it re- gards the difference between the fragments gathered up in the two miracles respectively, we have to notice the distinction between inrvpiSes and ko^icoc the former seem to have been vessels of larger capacity. 2. Starke : — 'S,TT\ayxy'^i^(f6at means such a feel- ing of compassion as not only moves the mind, but causes a physical emotion — the rush of blood, yearn- ing of the bowels, &c. — likewise. The word is used several times concerning our Saviour by the three Evangelists. The greater the love of Jesus was, the more susceptible was His sacred humanity of sym- pathy. 8. The first miraculous feeding took place when the malignity of Herod occasioned the Lord's de- parture from Galilee ; the second, after He had re- tired from Galilee before the hierarchical and phari- saic party. Both times, as driven away, and as a refugee, He took upon Himself, forgetting His own sorrow, the needs of all the people. nOMILETICAIi AND PRACTICAX. See on Matthew. — Christ's compassion towards the people was a compassion for their want of bread. — The Lord's resting-place after long travelhng. — Christ does not let His people depart without food. — Where Christ is in the midst, the multitude never go away unfed. — The rebuke contained m the exam- ple of the people, who waited on Christ three days, though they had nothing given them to eat. — The impotence of the disciples, and the Lord's jirovident care. — Christ's thanksgiving becomes blessing, whilst the provision is diminishing. — Christ's royal law for the table. — The second miraculous feeding seemingly less, but in fact more, wonderful than the first. 1. Seemingly less ; there was more provision, and a smaller number. 2. Really greater : a. in regard to CHAP. VIII. 10-21. 73 the Lord (returning from long journey and much labor) ; b. in regard to the despondency of tlie dis- ciples ; c. in regard to the foreign elements of which the mass of this mountain-people was made up (probably in part Gentiles). — Wells are made, as by the Lord, so by the pilgrims of Zion, passing through the valley of banishment, Ps. Ixxxiv. — The Lord's heavenly peace in His earthly need : He is Himself as a refugee in great straits, and yet feeds with com- passion a host of thousands. 1. The peace of God in the forgetfulness of His own distress. 2. The self-renouncing love of others in this forgetfulness. — To-day He gives the people a feast ; to-morrow all sorrows await Him. Starke : — True brotherly love does not look so much at the worthiness of the person as at his need and misery. — Believers may sometimes fall, even though Jesus be near, into temporal difficulties and need ; but they do not and cannot come to harm or perish, Kom. viii. 35-39. — The Lord knows our need earlier and better than our complaints can tell Him. — OsiANDER : — How different from these people are some Christians amongst us, who can scarcely tarry one hour with Christ's servants, hearing the divine word ! — Preachers should care not only tor the souls, but also for the bodies, of their hearers. — Kova Bibl. Tub. : — When we truly love Jesus, we think little of the length or hardship of the way ; we care nothing for want and weariness; but wait with Him, and prefer the kingdom of God to all other things. — Our unbeUeving heart hangs on the means, and will be- lieve nothing that it does not see, Matt. vi. 2.5-30. — We should thank God for everything, even for our scanty provision ; He is bound to us for nothing. — (The breaking of bread.) When God puts anything into our hands, we should not keep it unbroken for ourselves alone, but break and dispense abundantly to others. — Canstein: — Preachers should dispense the food of God's word among the people ; but they should give to the multitude nothing which God has not first put in their mouth and in their heart. — The meek shall eat and be satisfied, Ps. xxii. 2(5. — The gifts of God satisfy the heart. — In every fragment there is God's blessing : therefore it is right to gather up the fragments. — With God it is all the same whether there be little or much. — Schleiermacher: — He kept them near Him, and distributed spiritual gifts ; nor did He remember their earthly need until He had found that they were filled with desires that extended much further. And this is the divine order, in this connection, between the spiritual and the temporal. All earthly things, so far as they go beyond necessity, have value only so far as they are connected with the spiritual. Heubner : — Perseverance in hearing the word of God. — The design of Providence in letting us en- counter earthly need. — Have we sought diligently, and first of all, heavenly things? — Trust in God when the season of scarcity comes. — The prevenient providence of God, and His anticipating care. — The Christian's attention to his neighbor's need. — God can bring help by small means. — Giving is better than receiving. — Christ's miracle as a figure of the ' miracle of divine sustentation. — Jesus as House- holder.— The Christian householder after the pattern of Jesus: 1. Watchfulness, and attention to all needs ; 2. love and sympathy for the distress of each ; 3. trust in God when the question is. Whence shall we get? (Do the best: God will do the rest in His own way) ; 4. spiritual care of all who belong to Him. — How our partaking of food may be sanctified. — Rambach : — How may the Christian give God His honor in the enjoyment of his daily food ? — Mar- HEiNEKE : — The Christian should alwaj-s see a higher significance in the means of his daily sustentation. — Harms: — Instruction concerning table-worship. — DiETSCH : — The miracle in our nourishment. — Huf- FELL : — The divine blessing on our food. — Mehliss : — The glorifying of God in the care of His creatures. — Reinhard : — The connection between the necessity of nourishment in order to the sustentation of our bodies, and the growth and nourishment of our souls. — Valerius Herberger: — How should the guests at God's table comport themselves ? — Heubner : — Jesus the people's holy Friend. — Burk: — Jesus Christ supplies all our need out of His riches iu glory. — Stier: — The miraculous blessing of God's power, as shown, 1. in the domain of nature, and 2. in the kingdom of grace. — Ulber : — The meal bless- ed by prayer. — The compassionate heart of Jesus moaning over all our misery. — Couard : — Reproof of the prevalent complaint over hard times. — Rein- hard : — Christian benevolence at a time of general need. — Bauer: — When Christ's blessing rests on anything, it becomes infinitely more than it was in the hands of men. EIGHTH SECTION. THE DECISIVE CONFLICT OF JESUS WITH THE PHARISEES IN GALILEE, AND HIS RETURN TO THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE SEA. PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEW CHURCH. Chaptees viii. 10— IX. 29. 1. Return to the Galilean Shore. Conflict ; Return ; the Leaven of the Pharisees and the Leaven of Herod. Ch. VIIL 10-21. (Parallel : Matt. xvi. 1-12.) 10 And straightway lie entered into a [the] ship with his disciples, and came into the 1 1 parts of Dalmanutha. And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, 12 seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, 74 THE GOSPEL ACCOKDING TO MARK. and saith, Why cloth this generation seek after a sign ? Verily I say unto you, There 13 shall no sign be given unto this generation. And he left them, and entering into the 14 ship again,' departed to the other side. Now [And] the disciples had forgotten to take 15 bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying. Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and o/the leaven of 16 Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying," It is because we have no bread. 17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them. Why reason ye because ye have no bread? perceive ye not, neither understand? have ye your heart yet^ hardened? 18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember, 19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments 20 took ye up? They say unto him. Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, 21 how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said. Seven. And he said unto them, How* is it that ye do not understand? 1 Ver. 13.— The waAtv precedes efijSas, accordin:? to B., C, D., L., A. Eis to irXoiov {Recepta), or eis nKolov (Lachmann, after A., E., F.). wanting in B., C, L., D., and omitted by Tischendorf [and Meyer]. "^ Ver. 16. — The Aeyofre? wanting in B., D., and Itala; and B., Itala read exovcriv for exoM^*"- So Laohmann and Tischendorf. 2 Ver. 17.— 'Eti not in B., C, D., L., A., [Laohmann, Tischendorf, Meyer.] * Ver. 21.— Laohmann: ttus oin-u, according to A., D., M. Tischendorf merely outtw, according to C, L., D. So Meyer. tlie political and hierarchical party. According to Matt. xvi. 1, 2, the Sadducees were leagued with them. The act, therefore, was not merely an act of the Pharisaic school, but the act of the priests and politicians. Mark merges the Sadducees in the Phari- sees; for they hypocritically played the Pharisee, inasmuch as they demanded a sign from heaven, al- though they believed in no such thing. — And began. — They had made their arrangements for a decisive contest, which began with the demand of the sign from heaven. For this sign, see on ilatthew, p. 287. Sighed deeply in His spirit. — Comp. ch. vii. 34. He sighed so deejily, not merely in general sorrow for the hardened unbelief of these men, but also in the feeling that the decisive crisis of sever- ance from the pi'edominaut party had come. For the demand of a sign from heaven was a demand that He should, as the Messiah of their expectation, accredit Himself by a great miracle; thus it was fundamentally similar to the temptation in the wil- derness, which He had repelled and overcome. But His deep sigh also signifies here the holding in of His judicial power, the silent resolution to enter upon the path of tribulation. Hence the refusal of the sign is immediate, and in the form of an affirma- tion most strongly uttered. It is to be observed that, the article being wanting, the nature of the sign from heaven is left free to Him : He was to perform a sign from heaven, which should be acknowledged as the sign from heaven. Ver. 15. And the leaven of Herod. — See on Matthew ; and for the coml^ination of Pharisees and Herodians, compare the notes on Mark iii. 6. The one passage depends on the other ; and it is ob- servable how Mark both times gives marked promi- nence to this hypocritical and malignant combination of extreme parties. Meyer concludes from Matt. xiv. 2 that Herod was no Sadducee. But that passage must not be pressed too far. Herod certainly coin- cided with the auti-scrij3tural, anti-Messianic, Hel- lenizing universalism of tlio Sadducees, although he did not adhere to their party in its dogmatic views , and coloring. Thus we have here only two aspects of the same idea. The Jewish dependence upon tra- ditions and human ordinances, and the Jewish free- tliinking, form in their respective principles the two kinds of leaven wliich the disciples were to guard against. Compare on Matthew. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. See on Mattheii}. — What follows is here closely and certainly connected with the preceding ; and in this Matthew and Mark concur, as also in the es- sentials of the whole. Mark passes over the rebuke of Christ in relation to the Pharisees' knowledge of the weather, and also the sign of Jonas, On the other hand, he mentions the Lord's deep sighing. He notices the circumstance that the disciples had with them in the ship one loaf. Instead of tlie leaven of the Sadducees, he has the leaven of Herod ; and he gives most keenly the Lord's rebuke of the unbelief of the disciples. Ver. 10. 3DaImanutha was a small place, not otherwise known ; it lay probably in the district of Magdala, where, according to ilatthew, Jesus landed. Robinson (iii. 514) leaves it undecided whether or not the present village of Delhemija is its modern representative. The specifications of locality by the two EvangeUsts, respectively, are not to be referred to any hypothesis of earlier and later accounts: Matthew's narrative has a more general cast, and Mark's a more special, in these respects. The land- ing was manifestly in a desert and unfrequented place ; and the reason of this was, that the Galilean party of Pharisees were on the alert to seize Jesus, in order to bring Him under a judicical process ; for this purpose having many spies abroad. The first illustration of this is found in Mark ii. 6 ; the second, ch. iii. 22 ; the third (in connection with ch. vi. 29- 31), ch. vii. 1. That allegation touching neglect of purifyings, which the Pharisees, in connection with the scribes from Jerusalem, made against Him, is carried out here into its last issues. Ver. 11. And the Pharisees came forth. — Meyer : " Out of their dwellings in that country." People generally come out of their dwellings ; but these men came forth as spies out of a hiding-j^lace ; and their coming was proof that the most extreme care as to the circumstances of the landing of Jesus, in a quiet place and in the dead of night, could no longer protect the Lord from their eyes {see on Mat- thew and Leben Jcsu, ii. 875). On the western side of the sea there might be, here and there, ricli mansions, belonging to Herodian courtiers, which were well adapted to be loopholes of observance ibr CHAP. VIII. 10-21. 75 DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. See on the parallel in Matthew. — The debasing eifects of party spirit. The Sadducees must here submit to the Pharisees, and be merged in them. 2. As it regards the desired sign from heaven, it is to be observed further: 1. As they asked for a sign from heaven, they demanded the decisively at- testing sign expected from heaven. 2. The conse- quence of this authentication would have been, tliat Christ must have come forward as a Messiah in their sense. Hence it is said that they tempted Him. The demand of a sign from heaven was like the tempta- tion in the wilderness. The Lord had hitherto, since that time, escaped any such demand. If He now refused it. His death was certain. 3. The demand was so far not absolutely hostile, as they were still disposed to accept Christ, if He would adapt Himself to their views, and become a party instrument for their purposes. {See on Matthew.) 4. The sign from heaven which Christ denied to the Pharisees, stood in close relation with the sign of Jonas. The denial of the one was the announcement of the other. 5. What He denied to the Pharisees, He provided soon afterwards for the three chosen disciples on the Mount : the heavenly sign of His transfiguration. 3. The sighs of Jesus. — The Lord's sigh (ch. vii. 34) was the sigh of self-devoting mercy to the world ; His deep sigh (ch. viii. 12) was the restraint and hold- ing back of His judicial power over the world, under the holy resolution to suffer for it. The sigh of the Lion of Judah over the hardening of His enemies : the prophecy of His path of suffering, but also the prophecy of the world's judgment. The groaning of His spirit was, 1. a sighing from the depths of His being, 2. in the all-embracing glance of His con- sciousness over the path of His own suffering, and the path of the world's wretchedness. 4. Tlie return of Jesus. — Not without a plan, but as the result of His last experience, Jesus now returns back to the eastern bank. It is clear to His consciousness that He must now go up to confront His death. He therefore needed solitude, that He might regulate the process of His departure. And to this there was necessary, 1. the confirmation of the disciples in faith for the establishment of the new Church, and 2. the provision that His death should take place at the right time and in the right way. HOSIILETICAL AND PEACTICAL. See on Matthew. — The Pharisees perfect spies on all our Lord's ways. — The Lord cannot escape the Pharisees, and therefore the Pharisees cannot escape the Lord. — The demand of a sign from heaven : the tempting crisis that our Lord foresaw in the wilder- ness.— The confusion of the disciples, occasioned by this decisive conflict (and shown in the forgetting of bread, and anxiety about it), as opposed to the di- vine repose of the Lord : a prelude of their con- fusion on the eve of the Passion. — The great decisive No of the Lord. — The Lord's deep sigh in its great significance: 1. A silent and yet decisive sign of His conflict and of His victory ; 2. an unuttered word, which contains a world of divine words ; 3. a fulfil- ment of the primitive prophecy concerning the breach between the external and the spiritual Israel ; 4. a prophecy which stretches forward to the cross and the final judgment. — The infinite meaning of this sigh of Christ : 1. As a breathing forth of the divine patience over the visible world (Omnipotence restrain- ing itself in love and wisdom, when dealing with the enmity of the free will of the world) ; 2. a collective expression of all the sufferings and of all the patience of Christ; 3. a declaration of all the incarnate sorrow and endurance of the Lord in His Church. — The significance of sighs: 1. In the creature (Rom. viii. 22) ; 2. in humanity, and in the kingdom of God (Rom. viii. 23; 2 Cor. v. 2; Rev. vi. 10).— The return of Christ to the other bank : a sign of His return back to the other world. — How little the disciples understood that crisis. — The last loaf in the ship, the last loaf in the house (the last meal, the last piece of money, the last sheet-anchor). — In this mat- ter, mark, 1. the disciples' spirit: they misinterpret the most sublime and the most spiritual things through their own over-anxiety ; 2. the Lord's spirit : He makes provision for the testing of His disciples, especially now. — The displeasure of Christ at the lack of spiritual development among His own dis- ciples.— True remembering, in its full import: 1. Christian wakefulness ; 2. Christian life ; 3. Christian progress. — The influence of the Holy Spirit, and life in the Spirit : bringing to remembrance (John xiv. 26; xvi. 13). — The retreat of Jesus in order to ar- range His death. Starke : — Many desire new wonders ; and when they have thought they have seen them, have not yet turned to God. — It is not becoming to prescribe to God the means by which we are to arrive at divine knowledge and blessedness. — Hedinger : — Ingrati- tude drives Christ away. — Quesnel: — It is a fearful judgment when the truth altogether forsakes men, and they are left to themselves. — Forgetfulness gives an opportunity for new instz'uction ; and therefore even their failings should be turned to account by believers. — Cramer: — Faithful teachers should, after the example of the Great Shepherd, diligently warn their sheep against false doctrine and false teachers (against every evil leaven to the right or left). — Out of one error many others gradually arise, so that the whole system of religion may become perverted. — Quesnel : — Concerning the tendency to Sad- duceism among courtiers. — The weaker our faith is, the more anxious and troubled we are about bodily need, and the more hkely to make spiritual posses- sions of less account. — OsiANDf:R : — Ministers must be always ready to exhort their hearers with severity, and to rouse them out of the sleep of security. Braune: — When, after a joyful event, or the attainment of a great success, one is suddenly op- posed by an obstinate contradiction, the result is often great disquietude or blank despondency. The Lord, whose case this was on the present occasion, knew very well what He would do, and did it with- out any restraint. Let all men learn this. They need the lesson in their family circles, and in their civil and political relations, whether more or less exalted. — Scarcely had Jesus ended with His enemies, when He must begin again with His friends. — Before His spirit rose the whole wickedness of His enemies' spirit, so perverse in itself, pervading vv'ith evil the whole of the people, and invading even His disciples. It had already seized and possessed the mind of Judas, 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. ScuLEiERMACHER :' — The Redeemer often uses the idea of leaven, as something of which only a little is needed in order to make tlie whole like itself — In truth, He was the leaven, in the form of a servant 76 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. iudeed, destined to penetrate the whole mass of mankind and all human hfe by the divine power dwelling in Him. — If ye use only a little of the leaven of the Pharisees, ye will very soon be per- vaded throughout with its influence. — The leaven of Herod : the family of Herod was a foreign one ; they held to the law, and affected much devotion to cere- monial ordinances, in order to attach the people more firmly to themselves. The disciples must not use Christianity as something that might exert a good influence upon their external condition. — We must be pure disciples of the Master, and desire nothing but the pure kingdom of God. — Gossner (on ver. 19): — This is a test. They had the whole history in their head and memory, but they did not under- stand how to apply it. 2. Tlie Blind Man in Eastern Bethsaida. Vkrs. 22-26. 22 23 EXEGETICAl AND CRITICAIi. And he cometh^ to Bethsaida; and they bring a bhnd man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when lie had spit on Ins eyes, and put his liands upon him, he asked him if 24 he saw aught. And he looked up, and said, I see [the] men as trees, walking.^ 25 After that lie put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up : and he was 26 restored, and saw ^ every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house [home], saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.* ' Ver. 22.— The Plural, epx""™'. after B., C, D. Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Meyer.] ^2 Ver. 24.— The beautiful reading: pAeVw tou; avOp^Trov;, on is Biv&pa bpi> trepmarovvrai is adopted bv Mever, lachmann, lischendorf, following [A., B., C.*, E., F., G., K., L., M., A., Gothic, Thcophylact, Euthj-mius. (D.and most of the Versions have the Received Text).] r j , j 3 Ver. 25.— Tischendorf, [Meyer,] Sie')3A6i/