Bible Commentaries

Mark 3:1. πάλιν, again) on another Sabbath [which preceded the feast of the Passover by eight days.—Harm. p. 309]. Luke 6:6).²³— ἐξηραμμένην, withered) not from the womb, but through disease or a wound. This is the force of the participle.²⁴

Mark 3:2. παρετήρουν, they were watching) Obliquely and secretly. On the immediately preceding Sabbath they had heard His doctrine concerning the Sabbath.

Mark 3:3. λέγει, He saith) In order that the misery of the sick man might so much the more move the compassion of all.— ἔγειραι εἰς) An abbreviated expression for, arise, and go forth into the midst.

Mark 3:4. ἤ, or) Not to save is to destroy. The opposition between the two words is immediate and direct. To save life refers to the whole man; to do good, to a part; and so in the respectively antithetic words— ψυχὴν, life) of man; and therefore also a man’s hand,— ἐσιώπων, they were silent); Luke 14:3.— ἡσύχασάν, They had nothing to say.

Mark 3:5. περιβλεψάμενος, looking round) The expressions of Christ’s countenance teach us many lessons, Mark 3:34 [comp. ch. Mark 10:21; Mark 10:27].— συλλυπουμένος, being grieved) In the case of the Pharisees, their grief was malignant; Jesus grieves with holy affection, individually for individuals. Along with His just grief was combined just anger; see note Mark 3:2.— πώρωσει, the hardness) The habitual disposition of the heart renders the perception of the truth, and of its conclusions, either difficult or easy.— πωρωσις, hardness, which destroys the use of the senses, for instance, the sight and the touch. It is blindness, not to sec; hardness, not to perceive; John 12:40.

Mark 3:6. εὐθέως, straightway) Their hatred increased; comp Mark 3:2 at the end of the v.— ἡρωδιανῶν, the Herodians) although they perhaps had no great care for the Sabbath. Either by the order or permission of Herod, they were wishing to kill Jesus.

Mark 3:7. ἀνεχώρησε, He withdrew) He avoided plots against Him, and yet He did not flee to a distance, nor in a fearful spirit, for He went to the sea [The particulars which Mark in this passage, Mark 3:7-19, records, he sets forth in the regular order of the narrative, and they are to be combined with Matthew 4:24, etc. But the events which go before and follow in Mark, are parallel to the 12th. ch. of Matthew. Mark takes occasion [a handle] from the plots laid by His enemies, to record the withdrawal of the Saviour, Mark 3:7; and by that very fact, he returns in the meantime into the regular path from his digression, etc.—Harm., p. 238. The sea is mentioned in this verse; the house in Mark 3:19; and again the sea in ch. Mark 4:1. In this fashion Mark combines the histories of different times.—V. g.].

Mark 3:7-8. πλῆθος, the multitude) There were two multitudes; the one was following Him out of Galilee, the other, from most diverse quarters, was then, for the first time, coming to Jesus. The former is called a great multitude, the latter, a multitude that was great, the epitasis (increase of force, in repeating the words, see Append.) being indicated by the transposition of the noun [before the adjective, instead of as in the first instance after it: πολὺ πλῆθος— πλῆθος πολύ.]

Mark 3:8. ἰδυμάιας, Idumea) Therefore Esau was not altogether ‘hated’ [Malachi 1:3; Romans 9:13].— οἱ περὶ) These were Israelites living near Tyre and Sidon.

Mark 3:9. πλοιάριον, a small ship) Nominative.— προσκαρτερῇ, should wait on) Not merely at that time alone.— ἵνα μὴ, that not) Having thus a regard to His due convenience.

Mark 3:10. ἐπιπίπτειν, pressed upon) Illustrating the admirable patience and benignity of our Lord.

Mark 3:11. ὅταν) ὅτʼ ἂν is here joined with a past tense of the Indicative, as ὅπου ἂν, ch. Mark 6:56.

Mark 3:12. ἵνα μὴ φανερὸν, that not manifest) It was not yet the time, nor were they the proper heralds.

Mark 3:13. εἰς τὸ ὄρος, into a mountain) Apart.— οὓς ἤθελεν αὐτὸς, whom He Himself would) He had unlimited authority, and that the highest. His will was in accordance with the will of the Father [among these partly the Twelve, just mentioned, were included; partly others, for instance, Joseph and Matthias, Acts 1:23.—V. g.]— ἀπῆλθον, they came away) leaving all things.

Mark 3:14. δώδεκα, twelve) The characteristic notes of an apostle were, an immediate and direct call, a continuous intercourse with Christ, the being an eye-witness, the right of preaching universally [and not merely restricted to one locality], the gift of miracles.

Mark 3:16. ἐπέθηκε, He put upon) It is a mark of Lordship to give a surname; this He gave also to James and John jointly, Mark 3:17; but to Peter first of all before them. So in the catalogue of the twelve spies of the land of Canaan, mention is made of Joshua receiving that name instead of Hosea; Numbers 13:4-16.

Mark 3:17. ἰάκωβον, James) He calls to Him.— ὀνόματα, names) The plural intimates that this name applied even to each of the two separately [Vers. Germ. maintains, on the contrary, that it was only conjointly they seem to have been honoured with this surname. This is the only passage in which the surname of James and John is mentioned, whereas that of Peter occurs frequently].— βοανεργὲς, Boanerges) “Without doubt Christ by this name alludes ( בני ריגשא) to the two Scribes, who, in the Sanhedrim, were wont to sit, one on the right hand, the other on the left of the high priest, of whom the former used to collect the votes of acquittal, the latter those of condemnation, and Christ applies this judicial custom of the Sanhedrim to His spiritual kingdom;” Mellant, Sac., p. 36, 37. The etymology of the surname is somewhat differently traced out by Hiller; Onom., p. 117, 699.— ὑιοὶ βροντῆς, sons of thunder) A magnificent appellation. Thunder in Scripture is something both terrible and Joyous. So also the Gospel strikes terror into the world, and brings joy and gain to the godly. John in his mildness has, notwithstanding the hidden force of thunder, especially in his testimony as to the Godhead of Jesus Christ; comp. John 12:29; John 12:28; and in the Revelation he has written out the account of very many thunders; and he himself heard utterances of thunders, which he was forbidden to write out; Revelation 10:3-4. Hiller, in the passage quoted from him, says, “The thunder-bolt (lightning) is the son of thunder, inasmuch as it accompanies the crashing sound which proceeds from the rent clouds.”

Mark 3:20. [Eng. Vers. 19] ἔρχονται, they come) Jesus with His new family [This relation of Mark follows, not the order of time, but the change of places; comp. Mark 3:7; Mark 3:13; Harm. p. 311].— εἰς οἶκον “to the house,” rather than into the house; comp. Mark 3:21; Mark 3:31.

Mark 3:21. οἱ παρʼ αὐτοῦ, those belonging to Him) See App. Crit. Ed. ii., p. 150. The Gothic Version fram answers to περὶ and παρὰ.²⁵ Who these were, who belonged to Him, is clear from Mark 3:31, where the particle οὖν,²⁶ therefore, refers to this 21st verse, after the intervening parenthesis 22–30 has been as it were cleared out of they.— ἐξῆλθον, they went out) Their coming in Mark 3:31 followed their going out here. A table seems to have been laid at the house; see end of Mark 3:20.— κρατῆσαι, to lay hold) to put a restraint on him.— ἔλεγον, they were saying) the messengers [not the relatives] from whom his relatives heard of His earnestness.— ὅτι ἐξέστη, He is beside Himself) By this word they were attributing to Him excess of ardour, overwhelming His intellect, but it was falsely that they attributed this to Him, as Festus did to Paul; Acts 26:24, Thou art mad. Comp. by all means 2 Corinthians 5:13; comp. ιἑρεὺς καὶ προφήτης ἐξέστησαν διὰ τὸ σίκερα, Heb. שגו. Isaiah 28:7; so ὁ προφήτης παρεξεστηκὼς, Heb. משגע; Hosea 9:7. The singular number does not admit of this being understood of the people; for although ὄχλος, a multitude, Mark 3:20 is singular, yet after an interval [between οχλος and the verb, if the latter were to be understood of the former], there always follow the pronoun and the verb in the plural.

Mark 3:23.²⁷ προσκαλεσάμενος, having called them to Him) By that very act He led them on to some degree of attention.— σατανᾶν, Satan) see Matthew 12:26, note.

Mark 3:26. ἀνέστη) A very suitable word; rose up, that is to say, it would be a strange thing!

Mark 3:27. ἐὰν μὴ— δήσῃ, καὶ τότε— διαρπάσει) A most similar construction occurs; Deuteronomy 20:5, etc.— μὴ ἀποθάνῃ καὶ ἕτερος, ἐ γκαινιε͂ ι; also Genesis 27:12; Matthew 5:25; Matthew 26:53; Matthew 27:64; Romans 11:25-26; Romans 11:35; also Mark 5:23 at the end of the verse; Luke 13:25; Luke 18:7; John 12:35.

Mark 3:28. τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, to the sons of men) Ordinary sins are the sins of man; but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the sin of Satan.— καὶ αἱ βλασφημίαι) The omission of the article in some editions gives great force to the language.²⁸

Mark 3:29. αἰωνίου ἁμαρτίας, everlasting guilt) Sin in this place denotes guilt; and everlasting sin or guilt is opposed with great propriety of language to forgiveness [It therefore carries with it the punishment consisting as well of (in) the feeling as also of (in) the penalty itself (damnation). V. g.— ἀιωνίου κρίσεως [the reading of the Rec. Text] is a gloss.²⁹

Mark 3:31.³⁰ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ καὶ ἡ ΄ήτηρ αὐτοῦ) See App. Crit. Ed. ii. on this passage.³¹ Mark has placed the brothers first in order, implying that the brothers had made the first move in seeking Him, and the mother followed them. [She is not, however, on that account, to be held free from all blame in the case.—V. g.] There is a similar account to be given for the order of the words in Numbers 12:1; Numbers 12:10, where Miriam, being the more prominent of the two in opposing Moses, is placed before Aaron. So Rachel and Leah, in inverse order, Genesis 31:14; Gad and Reuben, Numbers 32:6. She who was “blessed among women,” suffered less from the taint of human infirmity than others, yet she was not entirely exempt from it.— ἔξω, without) outside of that circle [“the multitude about Him”], Mark 3:32; or even outside of the house, where He was teaching.— φωνοῦντες, calling Him) with a loud voice.

Mark 3:32. εἶπον, they said) He Himself was well aware of it, without their telling Him.

Mark 3:34. κύκλῳ, in a circle round about) With the utmost sweetness.