Mark 13:5

5. [2880][2881][2882][2883] omit ἀποκριθείς.

[2880] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2881] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2882] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[2883] Codex Athous Laurae. 8th cent. Like N and Σ, it is written in silver letters on purple vellum. Contains Mark 9:5 to Mark 16:20, and, as in L, the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9. As in Δ, the text of Mark is specially good.

5. ἤρξατο. The verb is not pleonastic; He is beginning a new course of instruction. Cf. Mark 8:31; Mark 12:1. This is the longest of Christ’s utterances in Mk. The only other connected discourses of Christ which Mk gives us are parables, and of those he has only four, against twenty-three in Lk. We need not reject this discourse because it is unique in this Gospel, any more than we need reject the one parable which is peculiar to Mk.

Βλέπετε μή. He takes the second question first, and, as often, gives no direct reply. Instead of telling them of some manifest signal, He bids them be on their guard against false signals. A great deal must take place before the end comes and there will be much deception. All three have βλέπετε μή, and his charge, to “be on their guard,” is the main lesson of the chapter; it recurs Mark 13:9; Mark 13:23; Mark 13:33 : ἄλλο τοίνυν ἠρώτησαν, ἄλλο� (Victor).

ὑμᾶς πλανήσῃ. Lead you astray (R.V.). Cf. Mark 12:24; Mark 12:27. The verb is freq. in the Johannine and Pauline writings, and it is used of serious departure from the truth. see on 1 John 1:8.