They watched (παρετήρουν)

Imperfect tense. They kept watching. The compound verb, with παρά, by the side of, means to watch carefully or closely, as one who dogs another's steps, keeping beside or near him. Wyc., They aspieden him: i.e., played the spy. On τηρέω, to watch, see on John 17:12.

He would heal (θεραπεύσει)

Future tense: whether he will heal, the reader being placed at the time of the watching, and looking forward to the future.

Stand forth (ἔγειρε εἰς τὸ μέσον)

Lit., rise into the midst. So Wyc., Rise into the middle. Tynd., Arise into stand in the midst.

Being grieved (συλλυπούμενος)

Why the compound verb, with the preposition σύν, together with? Herodotus (vi., 39) uses the word of condoling with another's misfortune. Plato ("Republic," 4:62) says, "When any one of the citizens experiences good or evil, the whole state will either rejoice or sorrow with him (ξυλλυπήσεται). The σύν, therefore implies Christ's condolence with the moral misfortune of these hardhearted ones. Compare the force of con, in condolence. Latin, con, with, dolere, to grieve.

Hardness (πωρώσει)

From πῶρος, a kind of marble, and thence used of a callus on fractured bones. Πώρωσις is originally the process by which the extremities of fractured bones are united by a callus. Hence of callousness, or hardness in general. The word occurs in two other passages in the New Testament, Romans 11:25; Ephesians 4:18, where the A. V. wrongly renders blindness, following the Vulgate caecitas. It is somewhat strange that it does not adopt that rendering here (Vulgate, caecitate) which is given by both Wyc. and Tynd. The Rev. in all the passages rightly gives hardening, which is better than hardness, because it hints at the process going on. Mark only records Christ's feeling on this occasion.

Withdrew

Mark alone notes no less than eleven occasions on which Jesus retired from his work, in order to escape his enemies or to pray in solitude, for rest, or for private conference with his disciples. See Mark 1:12; Mark 3:7; Mark 6:31, Mark 6:46; Mark 7:24, Mark 7:31; Mark 9:2; Mark 10:1; Mark 14:34.

A great multitude (πολὺ πλῆθος)

Compare Mark 3:8, where the order of the Greek words is reversed. In the former case the greatness of the mass of people is emphasized; in the latter, the mass of people itself

He did (ἐποίει)

Imperfect tense. Others read ποιεῖ, he is doing. In either case the tense has a continuous force' what things he was doing or is doing. Note in Mark 3:7, Mark 3:8, Mark's accurate detail of places. See Introduction. The reasons for our Lord's withdrawing into a boat, given with such minuteness of detail in Mark 3:9, are also peculiar to Mark.

Pressed upon (ἐπιπίπτειν)

Lit., fell upon.

Plagues (μάστιγας)

Lit., scourges. Compare Acts 22:24; Hebrews 11:36. Our word plague is from πληγή, Latin plaga, meaning a blow. Pestilence or disease is thus regarded as a stroke from a divine hand. Πληγή is used in classical Greek in this metaphorical sense. Thus Sophocles, "Ajax," 270: "I fear that a calamity (πληγή) is really come from heaven (θεοῦ, god)." So of war. Aeschylus, "Persae," 251: "O Persian land, how hath the abundant prosperity been destroyed by a single blow (ἐν μιᾷ πληγῇ). The word here, scourges, carries the same idea.

The unclean spirits (τὰ)

The article indicating those particular spirits which took part in that scene. Mark's precision is shown in the use of the two articles and in the arrangement of the noun and adjective: The spirits, the unclean ones.

When they saw (ὅταν ἐθεώρουν)

More accurately as Rev., whenever they beheld. The imperfect tense denotes a repeated act. The ἄν in ὅταν gives an indefinite force: as often as they might see him.

He charged (ἐπετίμα)

The word is commonly rendered rebuke in the New Testament. In classical Greek its predominant sense is that of severe, strenuous reproach for unworthy deeds or acts. It is several times used in the New Testament, as here, in the sense of charge. In this sense the word carries, at bottom, a suggestion of a charge under penalty (τιμὴ).

That (ἵνα)

According to the A. V. and Rev. the that indicates the substance of Christ's charge. Properly, however, it indicates the intent of his charge. He charged them in order that they should not make him known.

Whom he would (οὓς ἤθελεν αὐτός)

Rev., more strictly, "whom he himself would;" not allowing any to offer themselves for special work. Out of the larger number thus called he selected twelve. See Mark 3:14.

Ordained (ἐποίησεν)

Lit., made. Rev., appointed.

Might send them forth (ἀποστέλλῃ)

As apostles. Compare the kindred noun ἀπόστολοι, apostles.

To have power (ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν)

Note that he does not say to preach and to cast out, but to preach and to have authority to cast out. The power of preaching and the power of exorcising were so different that special mention is made of the divine authority with which they would need to be clothed. The power of driving out demons was given that-they might apply it in confirmation of their teaching. Compare Mark 16:20.

And Simon he surnamed Peter

Mark relates only his naming and not his appointment, leaving his appointment to be understood.

Although Mark mentions that the apostles were sent: out in pairs (Mark 6:7), he does not classify them here in pairs. But he alone throws Peter and James and John, the three who shared the Lord's particular intimacy, into one group. Matthew and Luke both introduce Andrew between Peter and James.

He surnamed them Boanerges (ἐπέθηκεν αὐτοῖς ὄνομα Βοανηργές)

Lit., he put upon them the name. Some uncertainty attaches to both the origin and the application of the name. Most of the best texts read ὀνόματα, names, instead of name. This would indicate that each of the two was surnamed a "son of thunder." Some, however, have claimed that it was a dual name given to them as a pair, as the name Dioscuri was given to Castor and Pollux. The reason of its bestowal we do not know. It seems to have been intended as a title of honor, though not perpetuated like the surname Peter, this being the only instance of its occurrence; possibly because the inconvenience of a common surname, which would not have sufficiently designated which of them was intended, may have hindered it from ever growing into an appellation. It is justified by the impetuosity and zeal which characterized both the brothers, which prompted them to suggest the calling of fire from heaven to consume the inhospitable Samaritan village (Luke 9:54); which marked James as the victim of an early martyrdom (Acts 12:2); and which sounds in the thunders of John's Apocalypse. The Greek Church calls John Βροντόφωνος, the thunder-voiced. The phrase, sons of, is a familiar Hebrew idiom, in which the distinguishing characteristic of the individual or thing named is regarded as his parent. Thus sparks are sons of fire (Job 5:7); threshed corn is son of the floor (Isaiah 21:10). Compare son of perdition (John 17:12); sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 5:6).

Andrew (Ὰνδρέαν)

A name of Greek origin though in use among the Jews, from ἀνήρ, man, and signifying manly. He was one of the two who came earliest to Christ (Matthew 4:18, Matthew 4:20; compare John 1:40, John 1:41); and hence is always styled by the Greek fathers πρωτόκλητος, first called.

Philip (Φίλιππον)

Another Greek name, meaning fond of horses. In ecclesiastical legend he is said to have been a chariot-driver.

Bartholomew

A Hebrew name - Bar Tolmai, son of Tolmai. Almost certainly identical with Nathanael. Philip and Nathanael are associated by John, as are Philip and Bartholomew in the parallel passages of the synoptics. Bartholomew is not mentioned in John's list of the twelve (John 21:2), but Nathanael is; while the synoptists do not mention Nathanael in their lists, but do mention Bartholomew. Probably he had two names.

Matthew

See on the superscription of Matthew's Gospel.

Thomas

A Hebrew name, meaning twin, and translated by the Greek Didymus (John 11:16).

Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus, as in Matthew 10:3

He is the Judas of John 14:22. Luther calls him der fromme Judas (the good Judas). The two surnames, Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus, mean the same thing - beloved child.

Simon the Canaanite

Properly, Cananaean. See on Matthew 10:4 : "No name is more striking in the list than that of Simon the Zealot, for to none of the twelve could the contrast be so vivid between their former and their new position. What revolution of thought and heart could be greater than that which had thus changed into a follower of Jesus one of the fierce war-party of the day, which looked on the presence of Rome in the Holy Land as treason against the majesty of Jehovah, a party who were fanatical in their Jewish strictures and exclusiveness ?" (Geikie, "Life and Words of Christ").

Judas Iscariot

See on Matthew 10:5.

Again

Glancing back to the many notices of crowds in the preceding narrative. This reassembling of the multitudes, and its interference with the repast of Christ and the disciples, is peculiar to Mark.

His friends (οἱ παῤ αὐτοῦ)

Lit., they who were from beside him: i.e., by origin or birth. His mother and brethren. Compare Mark 3:31, Mark 3:32. Wyc., kinsmen. Tynd., they that belonged unto him. Not his disciples, since they were in the house with him.

They said (ἔλεγον)

Imperfect tense. Very graphic, they kept saying.

Beelzebub

See on Matthew 10:25.

And

Not connecting two parts of one accusation, but two accusations, as is evident from the two ὅτις, which are equivalent to quotation marks.

And

Note the way in which the sayings are linked by this conjunction; an impressive rhetorical progression.

But hath an end

Peculiar to Mark.

Spoil (διαρπάσαι)

Mark uses the stronger and more vivid compound verb, where Matthew employs the simple ἁρπάσαι. The verb means, primarily, to tear in pieces; to carry away, as the wind; to efface, as footstePsalms So, generally, to seize as plunder, snatching right and left.

His goods (τὰ σκεύη)

Lit., his vessels. So Wyc. Compare Mark 11:16; Acts 9:15; Acts 10:11; 2 Timothy 2:20. The special object of the robber may be precious vessels of gold or silver; but the word is probably used in its general sense of household gear.

Compare Matthew 12:31; and note Mark's superior precision and fulness of detail.

Guilty (ἔνοχος)

From ἐν, in, ἔχω, to hold or have. Lit., is in the grasp of, or holden of. Compare 1 Corinthians 11:27; James 2:10.

Eternal damnation (αἰωνίου ἁμαρτήματος)

An utterly false rendering. Rightly as Rev., of an eternal sin. So Wyc., everlasting trespass. The A. V. has gone wrong in following Tyndale, who, in turn, followed the erroneous text of Erasmus, κρίσεως, judgment, wrongly rendered damnation. See Matthew 23:33, and compare Rev. there.

They said (ἔλεγον)

Imperfect tense. They kept saying, or persisted in saying. An addition peculiar to Mark.

They sent unto him calling him, and a multitude was sitting about him. Detail by Mark only; as also the words in Mark 3:34, Looking round on them which sat round about him.

Again

He had taught there before. See Mark 3:7-9.

In the sea

Mark only.

There was gathered (συνάγεται)

The A. V. misses Mark's graphic use of the present, "There is gathered." So Rev.

Choked (συνέπνιξαν)

The preposition, συν equals con (together), carries the idea of compression.

It yielded no fruit

Added by Mark.

That sprang up and increased (ἀναβαίνοντα καὶ αὐξανόμενον)

The Rev. literally renders the participles, growing up and increasing, thus describing the process more vividly. These two participles, moreover, explain the use of the imperfect tense ἐδίδου (yielded), denoting continuance. It began to yield and kept yielding as it increased.

Thirty (εἰς τριάκοντα)

Lit., up to thirty.

When he was alone

Mark only.

They that were about him with the twelve

Mark only. Matthew and Luke, the disciples.

Unto them that are without (ἐκείνοις τοῖς ἔξω)

The two latter words are peculiar to Mark. The phrase means those outside of our circle. Its sense is always determined by the contrast to it. Thus, 1 Corinthians 5:12, 1 Corinthians 5:13, it is non-Christians in contrast with me. Colossians 4:5, Christians contrasted with people of the world. Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:12; 1 Timothy 3:7. Matthew (Matthew 13:11), with less precision, uses simply ἐκείνοις (to them), the pronoun of remote reference. Luke 8:10, τοῖς λοιποῖς (to the rest).

Peculiar to Mark.

Parables (τὰς παραβολὰς)

The parables, which I have spoken or may hereafter speak.

The sower soweth the word

More precise than either Matthew or Luke. Compare Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:11.

The lusts of other things entering in (αἱ περὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπιθυμίαι)

Lusts, not in the limited sense of mere sexual desire, but in the general sense of longing. The word is also used of desire for good and lawful things (Luke 22:15; Philippians 1:23).

Such as

A good rendering of the pronoun οἵτινες, which indicates the class of hearers.

A candle (ὁ λύχνος)

Properly, the lamp, as Rev.

Brought (ἔρχεται)

Lit., cometh. Doth the lamp come ? This impersonation or investing the lamp with motion is according to Mark's lively mode of narrative, as is the throwing of the passage into the interrogative form. Compare Luke 8:16. The lamp: the article indicating a familiar household implement. So also "the bed" and "the stand."

Bushel (μόδιον)

The Latin modius. One of Mark's Latin words. See on Matthew 5:15. The modius was nearer a peck than a bushel.

Bed (κλίνην)

A couch for reclining at table.

Candlestick (λυχνίαν)

Rev., correctly, stand; i.e., lampstand. See on Matthew 5:15.

Which shall not be manifested (ἐὰν μὴ ἵνα φανερωθῇ)

The A. V. makes Christ say that every hidden thing shall be revealed. This is wrong. He says that things are hidden in order that they may be manifested. Concealment is a means to revelation.

Should cast (βάλῃ)

Lit., should have cast, the aorist tense, followed by the presents sleep and rise (καθεύδῃ and ἐγείρηται). The whole, literally, "As if a man should have cast seed into the ground, and should be sleeping and rising night and day." The aorist tense indicates the single act of casting; the presents the repeated, continued sleeping and rising while the seed is growing.

Seed (τὸν σπόρον)

The seed; that particular seed which he had to sow. Such is the force of the article.

Grow (μηκύνηται)

Lit., lengthen; be extended by the seed lengthening out into blade and stalk.

He knoweth not how (ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός)

The Greek order is very lively: how knoweth not he.

Of herself (αὐτομάτη)

Lit., self-acting. It occurs in only one other passage of the New Testament, Acts 12:10; of the city gate which opened to Peter of its own accord.

Is brought forth (παραδοῖ)

This rendering cannot be correct, for the verb is active, not passive, meaning to deliver up. Hence it is usually explained, shall have delivered itself up to harvest; which is stilted and artificial. Rev. is ripe, is a free rendering from the margin of A.V. It is, perhaps, better to explain, as Meyer does, whose rendering is adopted by Rev. in margin: When the fruit shall have allowed, i.e., shall have admitted of being harvested. Xenophon and Herodotus use the word in the sense of permit or allow; and an exact parallel to this occurs in the historian Polybius (xxii., 24, 9): "When the season permitted (παραδιδούσης)."

Putteth in (ἀποστέλλει)

Lit., sendeth forth. So Rev. in margin. The rendering, putteth in, misses the figure. The verb is the same as that used of sending forth the apostles to reap the harvest of souls. See especially John 4:38 : "I sent (ἀπέστειλα) you to reap."

Peculiar to Mark.

With what comparison shall we compare it? (ἐν τίνι αὐτὴν παραβολῇ θῶμεν;)

Lit., In what parable might we put it? Rev., In what parable shall we set it forth ? Note the we, taking the hearers, with a fine tact, into consultation.

When it is sown (ὅταν σπαρῇ)

This phrase is repeated in Mark 4:32. Here the emphasis is on ὅταν, when. It is small at the time when it is sown. In Mark 4:32 the emphasis is on σπαρῇ, it is sown. It begins to grow great from the time when it is sown.

That are upon the earth

A little detail peculiar to Mark.

Groweth up

Mark only.

Herbs (τῶν λαχάνων)

Rev., rightly, the herbs; those which people are wont to plant in their gardens. The word denotes garden - or pot-herbs, as distinguished from wild herbs.

Shooteth out great branches (ποιεῖ κλάδους μεγάλους)

Lit., maketh, etc. Rev., putteth out. Peculiar to Mark. Matthew has becometh a tree. On branches, see note on Matthew 24:32. One of the Talmudists describes the mustard-plant as a tree, of which the wood was sufficient to cover a potter's shed. Another says that he was wont to climb into it as men climb into a fig-tree. Professor Hackett says that on the plain of Akka, toward Carmel, he found a collection of mustard-plants from six to nine feet high, with branches from each side of a trunk an inch or more in thickness. Dr. Thomson relates that near the bank of the Jordan he found a mustard-tree more than twelve feet high.

Lodge (κατασκηνοῦν)

See on Matthew 8:20. Lit., pitch their tents.

Such

Implying that Mark knew yet more parables that were spoken at that time.

As they were able to hear it

Peculiar to Mark.

Even as he was in the ship

Rev., boat. Just as he was, in the boat in which he was then sitting. Mark adds the detail about the accompanying boats.

Storm (λαῖλαψ)

So Luke. Distinctively a furious storm or hurricane. Compare Septuagint, Job 38:1, of the whirlwind out of which God answered Job. See, also, Job 21:18. Matthew uses σεισμὸς a shaking. See on Matthew 8:24. Mr. Macgregor ("Rob Roy on the Jordan") says that "on the sea of Galilee the wind has a singular force and suddenness; and this is no doubt because that sea is so deep in the world that the sun rarefies the air in it enormously, and the wind, speeding swiftly above a long and level plateau, gathers much force as it sweeps through flat deserts, until suddenly it meets this huge gap in the way, and it tumbles down here irresistible."

A pillow (τὸ προσκεφάλαιον)

The definite article indicates a well-known part of the boat's equipment - the coarse leathern cushion at the stern for the steersman. The Anglo-Saxon version has bolster.

Peace, be still (σιώπα, πεφίμωσο)

Lit., be silent! be muzzled! Wyc., rather tamely, wax dumb! How much more vivid than the narratives of either Matthew or Luke is this personification and rebuke of the sea as a raging monster.

Ceased (ἐκόπασεν)

From κόπος meaning, 1, beating; 2, toil; 3, weariness. A beautiful and picturesque word. The sea sank to rest as if exhausted by its own beating.

There was (ἐγένετο)

More strictly, there arose or ensued. The aorist tense indicates something immediate. Tynd. has followed.

Calm

Wyc., peaceableness.