Mark 1:1-8. The Preaching and Baptism of John The object of St Mark is to relate _the official life and ministry_of our Lord. He therefore begins with His baptism, and first relates, as introductory to it, the _preaching of John the Baptist_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The beginning_ St Mark commences his Gospel suddenly and concisely. He does not begin with a genealogy of our Lord, like St Matthew, or with the history of the Infancy, as St Luke, or with the doctrine of the Eternal Word, as St John. He desires to pourtray Christ in the fulness of _His living ener... [ Continue Reading ]
_in the prophets_ The citation is from two prophets, (1) Malachi 3:1, (2) Isaiah 40:3. Some would read here IN ISAIAH THE PROPHET according to certain MSS. Observe that St Mark in his own narrative quotes the Old Testament only twice, here and Mark 15:28. See Introduction, p. 12.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the wilderness_ i. e. the dry and unpeopled region extending from the gates of Hebron to the shores of the Dead Sea. "It is a dreary waste of rocky valleys; in some parts stern and terrible, the rocks cleft and shattered by earthquakes and convulsions into rifts and gorges, sometimes a thousand fee... [ Continue Reading ]
_all the land_ This strong expression is peculiar to St Mark. But it is illustrated by the other Gospels. The crowds that flocked to his baptism included representatives of every class, Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 3:7), tax-gatherers (Luke 3:12), soldiers (Luke 3:14), rich and poor (Luke 3:10).... [ Continue Reading ]
_was clothed_ The Evangelist draws our attention to three points in reference to the Baptist: (_a) His appearance_. He recalled the asceticism of the Essene. His raiment was of the coarsest texture, such as was worn by Elijah (2 Kings 1:8) and the prophets generally (Zechariah 13:4). His girdle, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_cometh_ present tense. With prophetic foresight the Baptist sees Him already come and in the midst. _latchet_ diminutive of _latch_, like the Fr. _lacet_dim. of _lace_, comes from the Latin _laqueus_= a "noose," and means anything that catches. We now only apply latch to the catch of a door or gat... [ Continue Reading ]
The Baptism of Jesus 9. _in those days_ i. e. towards the close of the year a. u. c. 781, or a. d. 28, when our Lord was thirty years of age (Luke 3:23), the time appointed for the Levite's entrance on "the service of the ministry" (Numbers 4:3). _came from Nazareth_ where He had grown up in peace... [ Continue Reading ]
_straightway_ This is St Mark's favourite connecting word, and constantly recurs; comp. Mark 1:12; Mark 1:28; Mark 4:5; Mark 4:15; Mark 8:10; Mark 9:15; Mark 11:3, and other places. _he saw_ i. e. Jesus, while engaged, as we learn from St Luke 3:21, in solemn, prayer. We find solemn prayer preceding... [ Continue Reading ]
_a voice from heaven_ The first of the three heavenly Voices to be heard during our Lord's Ministry, viz., at (i) His Baptism; (ii) His Transfiguration (Mark 9:7); (iii) in the courts of the Temple during Holy Week (John 12:28). This Voice attested in the presence of His Forerunner the Divine Nature... [ Continue Reading ]
_immediately_ See above, Mark 1:10. The object of the Saviour's first Advent was "to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). His very first work, therefore, was to enter on a conflict with the great Enemy of mankind. _driveth him_ This is a stronger word than that employed by St Matthew, who s... [ Continue Reading ]
_tempted of Satan_ In Matthew 4:1 and Luke 4:2, He is said to have been tempted by the Devil, i. e. the "Slanderer," who slanders God to man (Genesis 3:1-5) and man to God (Job 1:9-11; Revelation 12:10). St Mark, who never uses this word, says He was tempted by _Satan_, i e. "the Enemy" of God and m... [ Continue Reading ]
_put in prison_ The causes of the imprisonment of the Baptist are more fully related by the Evangelist ch. Mark 6:17-20. _came into Galilee_ and commenced the great Galilean ministry. Galilee was the most northern and the most populous of the three provinces, into which the Romans had divided Pales... [ Continue Reading ]
Beginning of our Lord's Ministry Between the events just described and those on which the Evangelist now enters, must be placed several recorded chiefly by St John; viz., (1) The testimony of the Baptist to Christ as _the Lamb of God_(John 1:19-34); (2) the early joining of Andrew, John, Simon, Phi... [ Continue Reading ]
_The time_, i. e. the great fore-ordained and predicted time of the Messiah. _the kingdom of God_ or as it is called in St Matthew _the Kingdom of the Heavens_(comp. Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:13-14; Daniel 7:27), denotes here _the Kingdom of grace_, the visible Church, of which our Lord described (_a_)... [ Continue Reading ]
Call of the first Four Disciples 16. _as he walked_ The Saviour had _come down_(Luke 4:31; John 4:47; John 4:51) from the high country of Galilee, and now made His permanent abode in the deep retreat of the Sea of Galilee at Capernaum "His own city" (Matthew 4:13; Luke 4:31), whence He could easily... [ Continue Reading ]
_James the son of Zebedee_ Two brothers had already been called and two more were now to join them.... [ Continue Reading ]
_straightway_ Notice the frequency of this formula of transition. It has occurred just before, Mark 1:18. _the hired servants_ The mention of these, of the two vessels employed (Luke 5:7), and the subsequent allusion to St John's acquaintance with a person in so high a position as the high priest ... [ Continue Reading ]
The Cure of the Demoniac at Capernaum 21. _Capernaum_ is not mentioned in the Old Testament or the Apocrypha. It was situated on the western shore of the Lake, in "the land of Gennesaret" (Matthew 14:34; John 6:17; John 6:24), and was of sufficient size to be always called "a city" (Matthew 9:1). It... [ Continue Reading ]
_not as the scribes_ The Scribes, _Sopherîm_, first came into prominence in the time of Ezra. Their duty was to copy, read, study, explain, and "fence round" the Law with "the tradition of the Elders" (Matthew 15:2). The Scribes proper only lasted till the death of Simon "the Just," b. c. 300. In th... [ Continue Reading ]
_with an unclean spirit_ lit. IN AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT, i. e. in his power, under his influence. St Luke describes him as having a "spirit of an unclean demon" (Luke 4:33). He seems to have entered unobserved amongst the throng, but could not resist the spell of that Pure Presence.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let us alone_ Many MSS. omit the Greek word thus translated. Even if genuine, it appears to be rather an exclamation of horror = the Latin _vah! heu!_It is not the man who cries out so much as the Evil Spirit which had usurped dominion over him. _Jesus of Nazareth_ As the angels had in songs of rap... [ Continue Reading ]
_rebuked him_ Though he had borne testimony to Christ, yet his testimony is not accepted, for it was probably intended only to do harm, "to anticipate and mar His great purpose and plan." Compare the conduct of St Paul in reference to the girl possessed with the spirit of Apollo (Acts 16:16-18). _Ho... [ Continue Reading ]
_had torn him_ i. e. thrown him into strong convulsions, and according to St Luke's account, _into the midst_(Luke 4:35), comp. Mark 9:26. The first miracle recorded by St Matt. is the healing of a leper by a touch (Matthew 8:1-4); the first miracle which St John records is the changing water into w... [ Continue Reading ]
The Cure of Peter's Wife's Mother and Others 29. _they_ i. e. the Lord and the four disciples, whom He had already called. It was a Sabbath day, and He probably went to the Apostle's house to eat bread. Comp. Luke 14:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Simon's wife's mother_ For St Paul's allusion to him as a _married man_see 1 Corinthians 9:5. _sick of a fever_ a "great" or "violent fever" according to the physician St Luke. Intermittent fever and dysentery, the latter often fatal, are ordinary Arabian diseases.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he came_ Observe all the graphic touches in this verse; the Lord (i) _went to_the sufferer, (ii) _took her by the hand_, (iii) _lifted her up_, and (iv) _the fever, rebuked_by the Lord of life (Luke 4:39), _left her_, and (v) she began to _minister unto them_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_when the sun did set_ All three Evangelists carefully record, that it was not till the sun was setting or had actually set, that these sick were brought to Jesus. The reason of this probably was (1) either that they waited till the mid-day heat was past and the cool of the evening was come, or (2)... [ Continue Reading ]
_at the door_ i. e. the door of St Peter's house, "the door so well known to him who supplied St Mark with materials for his Gospel." St Matthew connects the cures now wrought with the prophecy of Isaiah 53:4, _Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Solitary Prayer. Tour in Galilee 35. _IN THE MORNING_, … _A GREAT WHILE BEFORE DAY_] Another graphic touch of the Evangelist. He brings the scene before our eyes. The previous day had been a long day of conflict with and victory over the kingdom of sin and death. He now retires to refresh Himself i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Simon_ already with his earnest impulsiveness beginning to take the lead. Comp. Luke 8:45; Luke 9:32. _followed after Him_ The word in the original is very expressive and only occurs here. It denotes (i) _to follow hard upon_, (ii) _to pursue closely, to track out_. "Simon and his friends almost h... [ Continue Reading ]
_towns_ rather VILLAGE-TOWNS or COUNTRY-TOWNS. The word only occurs here. His gracious Presence was not to be confined to Capernaum. Dalmanutha, Magdala, Bethsaida, Chorazin were all near at hand. For the crowded population of Galilee, see Josephus _B. J_. iii. 3, 2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cleansing of a Leper 40. _there came_ Better, THERE COMETH, in the present tense. See Introduction, p. 19. _a leper_ One afflicted with the most terrible of all maladies, "a living death, a poisoning of the springs, a corrupting of all the humours, of life; a dissolution little by little of the who... [ Continue Reading ]
_and touched him_ though this act was strictly forbidden by the Mosaic Law as causing ceremonial defilement. But "He, Himself remaining undefiled, cleansed him whom He touched; for in Him life overcame death, and health sickness, and purity defilement.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he straitly charged him_ The word thus rendered occurs in four other places; (1) Matthew 9:30, "Jesus _straitly charged_them, saying, See that no man know it;" (2) Mark 14:5, "And they _murmured against_her," said of the Apostles in their indignation against Mary; (3) John 11:33; John 11:38, "A... [ Continue Reading ]
_shew thyself to the priest_ that he may attest the reality of thy cure (Leviticus 14:3). _those things which Moses commanded_ viz. (1) two birds, "alive and clean," Leviticus 14:4, (2) cedar wood, (3) scarlet, and (4) hyssop; this was for the preliminary ceremony (Leviticus 14:4-7). On the eighth... [ Continue Reading ]
_began to publish it much_ even as others in similar circumstances found it impossible to keep silence; comp. (1) the blind man, Matthew 9:30-31; (2) the man with an impediment of speech, Mark 7:36. _could no more openly enter into the city_ In these words we have perhaps one of the reasons why the... [ Continue Reading ]