Matthew 14 - Introduction
CHAPTER 14. DEATH OF THE BAPTIST: COMMENCEMENT OF A NEW DIVISION OF THE EVANGELIC HISTORY.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 14. DEATH OF THE BAPTIST: COMMENCEMENT OF A NEW DIVISION OF THE EVANGELIC HISTORY.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ. Mk. connects with return of Twelve from their mission (Matthew 6:14), Mt. apparently with immediately preceding section. But the phrase recalls Matthew 11:25; Matthew 12:1, and it may be the evangelist is thinking generally of a time of prevailing insusceptibility (Weiss-Meyer).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Death of the Baptist_ (Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9). This section might with advantage have been given as a short chapter by itself, and a new start made with the feeding of the thousands which forms the first of a series of narratives together giving the story of the _later_ Galilean ministry (Matthe... [ Continue Reading ]
παισὶν αὐτοῦ : not his sons, but his servants, _i.e._, the courtiers, great men in their way, not the menials in the palace. The king would propound his odd theory in familiar talk, not in solemn conclave. αὐτός ἐστιν, etc. It is this theory we have to thank for the narrative following, which in its... [ Continue Reading ]
γὰρ implies that the following story is introduced to make the king's theory intelligible. “Risen” implies previous death, and how that came about must be told to show the _psychological_ genesis of the theory. It is the superstitious idea of a man who has murder on his conscience. κρατήσας, etc.: f... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔλεγε γὰρ ὁ Ι. The progressive imperfect, with force of a pluperfect. John had been saying just before he was apprehended (Burton, Moods and Tenses, § 29). οὐκ ἔξεστιν : doubly unlawful; as adultery, and as marriage within prohibited degrees (Leviticus 18:16; Leviticus 20:21).... [ Continue Reading ]
θέλων : _cf._ Matthew 1:19. Mark gives a fuller statement as to Herod's feelings towards John. No injustice is done Herod here by ascribing to him a wish to get rid of John. There are always mixed feelings in such cases. Compare the relations of Alcibiades to Socrates as described by Plato (Συμπόσιο... [ Continue Reading ]
γενεσίοις γενομένοις : one expects the genitive absolute as in T.R., which just on that account is to be suspected. The dative of time. But _cf._ Mark 6:21, where we have γενομένης and γενεσίοις occurring together, and _vide_ Weiss, Mk.-Evang., p. 221, on the literary connection between the two text... [ Continue Reading ]
ὡμολόγησεν, confessed by oath; obligation to keep a promise previously given. _Cf._ Mark 6:22, where the fact is more fully stated. The account in Matt. seems throughout secondary.... [ Continue Reading ]
προβιβασθεῖσα : not “before instructed,” as in A. V [87], but “brought to this point”; urged on. It should require a good deal of “educating” to bring a young girl to make such a grim request. But she had learnt her lesson well, and asked the Baptist's head, as if she had been asking a favourite dis... [ Continue Reading ]
λυπηθεὶς : participle used concessively, _though_ grieved he granted the request, the grief quite compatible with the truculent wish in Matthew 14:5. βασιλεύς : only by courtesy. ὅρκους, plural, singular in Matthew 14:7; spoken in passion, more like profane swearing than deliberate utterance once fo... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπεκεφάλισε : expressive word, all too clear in meaning, though not found in Attic usage, or apparently much used at all; a plebeian word, according to Salmasius cited by Kypke, who gives instances from late authors.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἠνέχθῃ, not expressly said “there and then,” but all points to immediate production of the head on a platter in the banqueting hall before the guests; gruesome sight! ἐδόθη, ἤνεγκε : what a nerve the girl must have had! her mother's nature in her; the dancing and the cool acceptance of the horrible... [ Continue Reading ]
πτῶμα : carcase, used absolutely in this sense only in late writers. Earlier writers would say πτῶμα νεκροῦ. Lobeck, Phryn., 375.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀκούσας, having heard of the fate of John from John's disciples (Matthew 14:12). ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν : withdrew from where He was when the report reached Him; locality not indicated. Mark connects the retirement with the return of the Twelve from their mission, and the report they gave, and assigns a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus retires; feeding of thousands_ (Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξελθὼν, in this place, naturally means going forth from His retreat, in Mk. (Mark 6:34) going out of the ship, the crowd having arrived on the spot before Him. To escape from the people always difficult, now apparently more than ever. Evidently a time of special excitement, popularity at its height... [ Continue Reading ]
ὀψίας γενομένης : might mean sunset as in Matthew 8:16, but from the nature of the case must mean afternoon from 3 to 6, the first of the “two evenings”. ἔρημος, comparatively uninhabited, no towns near. ἡ ὥρα ἤδη παρῆλθεν : the meaning not clear. Mk. has: ἤδη ὥρας πολλῆς = already the hour is advan... [ Continue Reading ]
_The feeding_.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν ἀπελθεῖν, etc.: even if, as some think, what happened was that under the moral influence of Jesus the people present generously made the provisions they had brought with them available for the company at large, the character of Jesus appears here in a commanding light. No situation... [ Continue Reading ]
πέντε ἄρτους κ. δ. ἰχ · A very modest supply even for the disciple circle. They seem, under the influence of Jesus, to have been a care-free company, letting to-morrow look after itself. “Learn the philosophy of the Twelve, and how they despised food. Being twelve they had only so much, and they rea... [ Continue Reading ]
φέρετε, etc.: Christ's imperial way in critical situations often arrests attention.” Stretch forth thine hand” (Matthew 12:13). “Bring them hither to me.”... [ Continue Reading ]
κελεύσας, λαβὼν, ἀναβλέψας, participles without copula all leading up to εὐλόγησεν, the central chief action: rapid, condensed narrative, briefly, simply, recounting an amazing event. εὐλόγησεν with accusative (ἄρτους) understood. He blessed the loaves and fishes. καὶ κλάσας ἔδωκεν, then dividing th... [ Continue Reading ]
δώδεκα κοφ. πλ. is in appos. with τὸ περισσεῦον τ. κ. They took the surplus of the broken pieces to the extent of twelve baskets. κοφίνους, answering to the Rabbinical קופא, a basket of considerable size (“ein grosses Behältniss,” Wünsche). Each of the Twelve had one. The word recalls the well-known... [ Continue Reading ]
πεντακισχίλιοι, 5000 _men_, not counting women and children. This helps us to attach some definite meaning to the elastic words, ὄχλος, ὄχλοι, so frequently occurring in the Gospels. Doubtless this was an exceptionally great gathering, yet the inference seems legitimate that ὄχλος meant hundreds, an... [ Continue Reading ]
ἠνάγκασεν : a strong word needing an explanation not here given, supplied in John 6:15. Of course there was no physical compulsion, but there must have been urgency on Christ's part, and unwillingness on the part of disciples. Fritzsche objects to special emphasis, and renders: “auctor fuit discipul... [ Continue Reading ]
_The return voyage_ (Mark 6:45-56)... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος. After dismissing the crowd Jesus retired into the mountainous country back from the shore, glad to be alone κατʼ ἰδίαν, even to be rid of the Twelve for a season. προσεύξασθαι : “Good for prayer the mountain, and the night, and the solitude (μόνωσις), affording quiet, freedom from... [ Continue Reading ]
μέσον, an adjective agreeing with πλοῖον (Winer, § 54, 6), signifies not merely in the middle strictly, but any appreciable distance from shore. Pricaeus gives examples of such use. But the reading of [88], probably to be preferred, implies that the boat was many stadii (25 or 30, John 6:19 = 3 to 4... [ Continue Reading ]
τετάρτῃ φυλ. = 3 to 6, in the early morning, πρωῒ. ἐπὶ τ. θ.: the readings in this and the next verse vary between genitive and accusative. The sense is much the same. The evangelist means to represent Jesus as really walking on the sea, not on the land above the sea level (Paulus, Schenkel). Holtz.... [ Continue Reading ]
φάντασμα : a little touch of sailor superstition natural in the circumstances; presupposes the impression that they saw something walking on the sea.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐλάλησεν : Jesus spoke; the words given (θαρσεῖτε, etc.), but the mere sound of His voice would be enough.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Peter-episode_, peculiar to Mt. The story is true to the character of Peter.... [ Continue Reading ]
βλέπων τὸν ἄνεμον, seeing the wind, that is, the effects of it. It is one thing to see a storm from the deck of a stout ship, another to see it in midst of the waves. καταποντίζεσθαι : he walked at first, now he begins to sink; so at the final crisis, so at Antioch (Galatians 2:11), so probably all... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐδίστασας : again in Matthew 28:17, nowhere else in N. T., from δίς, double, hence to be of two minds, to doubt (_cf._ δίψυχος, James 1:8).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναβάντων αὐτῶν : Jesus and Peter. ἐκόπασεν : used in narrative of first sea-anecdote by Mark 4:39 = exhausted itself (from κόπος).... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ : _cf._ οἱ ἄνθρωποι in Matthew 8:27; presumably the disciples alone referred to. ἀληθῶς θ. υ. εἶ, a great advance on ποταπός (Matthew 8:27). The question it implies now settled: Son of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Safe arrival_. διαπεράσαντες, having covered the distance between the place where Jesus joined them and the shore. ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν : they got to _land_; the general fact important after the storm. εἰς Γεννησαρέτ, more definite indication of locality, yet not very definite; a district, not a town, the r... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἐπιγνόντες, etc.: again popular excitement with its usual concomitants. The men of the place, when they recognised who had landed from the boat, sent round the word: Jesus has come! They bring their sick to Him to be healed.... [ Continue Reading ]
παρεκάλουν, etc.: they have now unbounded confidence in Christ's curative powers; think it enough to touch (μόνον ἅψωνται) the hem of His mantle. διεσώθησαν : they are not disappointed; the touch brings a _complete_ cure (διὰ in composition). The expression, ὅσοι ἥψαντο, implies that all who were cu... [ Continue Reading ]