_Now at that time_ When our Lord had spent about a year in his public ministry, and had sent out his disciples to preach the gospel, to cast out devils, and to heal diseases, and they, by virtue of his name, had been successful in that work; Mark 6:12; Luke 9:6; _Herod the tetrarch_ King of Galilee... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Herod had laid hold on John_ Had formerly seized him; _and put him in prison for Herodias's sake_ On account of the reproof which John gave him for marrying Herodias, _his brother Philip's wife_ Who was still living. _For John said to him_ Probably in some private conference he had with him, _I... [ Continue Reading ]
_And she, being before instructed of her mother_ Namely, before she made her request: for, after the king had made her this promise, _she immediately went forth and said to her mother, What shall I ask?_ And her mother, having now obtained the wished-for opportunity of executing her revenge, eagerly... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he sent and beheaded John in the prison_ How mysterious is the providence of God, which left the life of so holy a man in such infamous hands! which permitted it to be sacrificed to the malice of an abandoned harlot, the petulancy of a vain girl, and the rashness of a foolish, perhaps drunken p... [ Continue Reading ]
_And his disciples came and took up the body_ Which it seems had been thrown over the prison walls, without burial, probably by order of Herodias. _And buried it Laid it_, says Mark, doubtless with great reverence and due lamentation, _in a tomb_, belonging to some of them who were willing to pay th... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Jesus heard it, he departed thence_ It appears from Mark 6:30, that the disciples of John arrived with the news of their master's death at, or immediately after, the time when the apostles returned from their mission, and gave Jesus an account of the miracles which they had performed, and of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when it was evening his disciples came to him_ That is, the first evening, which began at three in the afternoon. That this is the meaning is plain from Matthew 14:23, where another evening is said to have come after the people were fed and dismissed. Accordingly, Mark says, they came _when the... [ Continue Reading ]
He _commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass_ Mark says, _by companies_, as we render the phrase συμποσια, συμποσια, which is literally, _companies, companies_, that is, _in separate companies._ These, as appears by comparing Mar 6:39 with Luke 9:14, consisted some of fifty persons, some of... [ Continue Reading ]
_And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship_, &c. According to John 6:15, the people were so affected with the above-mentioned miracle, that they were _about to take him by force, and make him a king_, very naturally supposing, doubtless, that he, who with five loaves and two... [ Continue Reading ]
_When he had sent the multitudes away_ As well as his disciples, and was now alone, _he went up into a mountain apart_ Though Christ had so much to do with and for others, yet he chose sometimes to be alone; and those are not his followers who are averse to solitude, and out of their element when th... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the ship_ In which the disciples were; _was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves_, &c. A striking emblem of his church, in the sea of this world, tossed, as it often is, on the waves of affliction and trouble, and assailed by the contrary wind of persecution. It is worthy of notice he... [ Continue Reading ]
_And in the fourth watch of the night_ The Jews, as well as the Romans, usually divided the night into four watches of three hours each. The first watch began at six, the second at nine, the third at twelve, the fourth at three. During these many tedious and distressing hours of storm and tempest, o... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when the disciples saw him, they were troubled_ “It is well known that it is never entirely dark on the water not to urge that the moon might perhaps now be in the last quarter, as it must have been, if this was about three weeks before the passover.” By that little light, therefore, which they... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Peter said, Lord, if it be thou_ Or, since it is thou, (the particle _if_ frequently bearing this meaning;) _bid me come unto thee on the water_ This was a rash request, proceeding from the warmth and forwardness of Peter's natural temper. _And he said, Come_ Our Lord granted his request, doubt... [ Continue Reading ]
_When they were come into the ship, the wind ceased_ And that so suddenly that all in the ship were sensible it was the effect of Christ's presence and power. He seems, also, according to John 6:21, to have wrought another miracle at the same instant, for immediately on his entering the ship, _it wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_They came into the land of Gennesaret_ A large tract of ground on the western shore of the lake, in a part of which Capernaum appears from hence to have been situated. For though Matthew and Mark speak only of their coming to the land of Gennesaret and putting to shore there, (see Mark 6:53,) it is... [ Continue Reading ]