Mark 11 - Introduction
CHAPTER 11. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. OTHER INCIDENTS.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 11. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. OTHER INCIDENTS.... [ Continue Reading ]
κατέναντι ὑ., opposite you. This adverb (from κατά ἔναντι) is not found in Greek authors, but occurs frequently in Sept [100] ἐφʼ ὃν οὐδεὶς οὔπ. ἀν. ἐκάθισεν : this point, that the colt had never been used, would seem of vital importance afterhand, from the Christian point of view, and one cannot wo... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ κύριος α. χ. ἔχει, the Master hath need of him. _Vide_ on this at Matthew 21:3. καὶ εὐθὺς, etc., and straightway He returneth him (the colt) again. πάλιν, a well-attested reading, clearly implies this meaning, _i.e._, that Jesus bids His disciples promise the owner that He will return the colt wit... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀμφόζου (ἄμφοδον and - ος from ἀμφί and ὁδός, here only in N. T.), the road round the farmyard. In Jeremiah 17:27, Sept [101], it seems to denote some part of a town: “the palaces of Jerusalem” (R. V [102]). [101]Septuagint. [102] Revised Version.... [ Continue Reading ]
Mk. tells the story very circumstantially: how the people of the place challenged their action; how they repeated the message of Jesus; and the satisfactory result. Mt. (Matthew 21:6) is much more summary.... [ Continue Reading ]
στιβάδας (στιβάς from στείβω, to tread, hence anything trodden, such as straw, reeds, leaves, etc.; here only in N. T.); “layers of leaves,” R. V [103], margin; or layers of branches (κλάδους, Mt.) obtained, as Mk. explains, by cutting from the fields (κόψαντες ἐκ τ. ἀγρῶν). στοιβάς (στοιβάδας, T. R... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ ποοάυοντες, those going before; probably people who had gone out from the city to meet the procession.... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰσῆλθεν, etc.: the procession now drops out of view and attention is fixed on the movements of Jesus. He enters Jerusalem, and especially the temple, and surveys all (περιβλεψάμενος πάντα) with keenly observant eye, on the outlook, like St. Paul at Athens, not for the picturesque, but for the moral... [ Continue Reading ]
tells how Jesus coming from Bethany, where He had passed the night with the Twelve, felt hunger. This is surprising, considering that He probably spent the night in the house of hospitable friends. Had the sights in the temple killed sleep and appetite, so that He left Bethany without taking any foo... [ Continue Reading ]
_The fig tree on the way_ (Matthew 21:18-19).... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ ἄρα, if in the circumstances; leaves there, creating expectation. εὑρήσει : future indicative; subjunctive, more regular. ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς, etc., for it was not the season of figs. This in Mk. only. The proper season was June for the first-ripe figs. One may wonder, then, how Jesus could have any exp... [ Continue Reading ]
φάγοι : the optative of wishing with μὴ (μηκέτι), as in classic Greek (Burton, M. T., § 476). The optative is comparatively rare in the N. T. ἤκουον : the disciples heard (what He said); they were not inobservant. His manner would arrest attention. The remark prepares for what is reported in Mark 11... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰς τὸ ἱερόν, into the temple, that is, the forecourt, the court of the Gentiles. τοὺς π. καὶ τοὺς ἀ., _the_ sellers and, _the_ buyers: article before both (not so in Mt.), both put in the pillory as alike evil in their practice.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cleansing of the temple_ (Matthew 21:12-17; Luke 19:45-48). The state of things Jesus saw in the temple yesterday has been in His mind ever since: through the night watches in Bethany; in the morning, killing appetite; on the way, the key to His enigmatical behaviour towards the fig tree.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤφιεν : _vide_ Mark 1:34. The statement that Jesus did not allow any one to carry anything (σκεῦος, Luke 8:16) through the temple court is peculiar to Mk. It does not point to any attempt at violent prohibition, but simply to His feeling as to the sacredness of the place. He could not bear to see th... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐδίδασκε covers more than what He said just then, pointing to a course of teaching (_cf._ Mark 11:18 and Luke 19:47). Here again we note that while Mt. speaks of a _healing_ ministry in the temple (Matthew 21:14) Mk. gives prominence to teaching. Yet Mt. gives a far fuller report of the words spoken... [ Continue Reading ]
πῶς, the purpose to get rid of Jesus fixed, but the _how_ puzzling because of the esteem in which He was held.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅταν (ὅτε, T.R.) implies repetition of the action. We have here ἄν with the indicative instead of the optative without ἄν as in the classics. Field (_Ot. Nor._) regards ὅταν ὀψὲ ἐγένετο as a solecism due probably to Mk. himself (as in Mark 3:11, ὅταν ἐθεώρουν), and holds that the connection in Mk.'s... [ Continue Reading ]
παραπορευόμενοι, passing by the fig tree (on the way to Jerusalem next morning). πρωῒ : the position of this word after παραπ., instead of before as in T.R., is important. It gives it emphasis as suggesting that it was in the _clear morning_ light that they noticed the state of the tree. It might ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_The withered fig tree and relative conversation_ (Matthew 21:20-22).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναμνησθεὶς, remembering (what the Master had said the previous morning). ὁ Πέτρος : spokesman as usual; the disciples generally in Mt.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔχετε πίστιν, have _faith_. The thoughts of Jesus here take a turn in a different direction to what we should have expected. We look for explanations as to the real meaning of an apparently unreasonable action, the cursing of a fig tree. Instead, He turns aside to the subject of the faith necessary... [ Continue Reading ]
in Matthew 17:20; Luke 17:6; Mark 11:24 in Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9; Mark 11:25 in Matthew 18:35; of course in somewhat altered form. Mk. seems here to make room for some important words of our Lord, as if to compensate for neglect of the _didache_ which he knew to be an important feature in His minis... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐλάβετε; this reading ([104] [105] [106] [107] [108]) Fritzsche pronounces absurd. But its very difficulty as compared with λαμβάνετε (T.R.) guarantees its genuineness. And it in not unintelligible if, with Meyer, we take the aorist as referring to the divine purpose, or even as the aorist of immedi... [ Continue Reading ]
πάλιν, _again_, for the third time: on the day of arrival, on the day of the temple cleansing, and on this day, the event of which is the questioning as to authority. περιπατοῦντος αὐτοῦ, while He is walking about, genitive absolute, instead of accusative governed by πρὸς; probably simply descriptiv... [ Continue Reading ]
_By what authority?_ (Matthew 21:23-27; Luke 20:1-8).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα ταῦτα ποιῆς : ἵνα with subjunctive after ἐξουσίαν instead of infinitive found in Mark 2:10; Mark 3:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
The grammatical structure of this sentence, compared with that in Matthew 21:24, is crude καὶ ἀποκρίθητέ μοι instead of ὃν ἐὰν εἴπητέ μοι. It is colloquial grammar, the easy-going grammar of popular conversation. ἕνα λόλον, _vide_ at Matthew 21:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀποκρίθητέ μοι, answer me; spoken in the confident tone of one who knows they cannot and will not try.... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 11:31-32 give their inward thoughts as divined by Jesus. Their spoken answer was a simple οὐκ οἴδαμεν (Mark 11:33).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλὰ εἲπωμεν, ἐξ ἀνθρώπων; = but suppose we say, from men? ἐφοβοῦντο τὸν ὄχλον. Here Mk. thinks for them instead of letting them think for themselves as in Mt. (Matthew 11:26, φοβούμεθα) = they were afraid of the multitude. ἅπαντες γὰρ, etc.: here again the construction is somewhat crude Ἰωάννην by... [ Continue Reading ]