Vincent's Word Studies Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. They marvelled (ἐξεθαύμαζον)
The preposition ἐξ, out of, indicates great astonishment. They marvelled out of measure. Hence Rev., marvelled greatly. The A. V. follows another reading, with the simple verb ἐθαύμαζον. The imperfect denotes continuance: they stood wondering. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. Who (οἵτινες)
This pronoun marks the Sadducees as a class: of that party characterized by their denial of the resurrection. Asked (ἐπηρώτων) Stronger. They questioned. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. Therefore (διὰ τοῦτο)
A rendering which obscures the meaning. The words point forward to the next two clauses. The reason of your error is your ignorance of the scriptures and of the power of God. Hence Rev., correctly, Is it not for this cause that ye err? Err (πλανᾶσθε) Lit., wander out of the way. Compare Latin errare. Of the wandering sheep, Matthew 18:12; 1 Peter 2:25. Of the martyrs wandering in the deserts, Hebrews 11:38. Often rendered in the New Testament deceive. See Mark 13:5, Mark 13:6. Compare ἀστέρες πλανῆται, wandering stars (Jde 1:13), from which our word planet. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. How in the bush God spake
An utterly wrong rendering. In the bush (ἐπὶ τοῦ βάτου), refers to a particular section in the Pentateuch, Exodus 3:2-6. The Jews were accustomed to designate portions of scripture by the most noteworthy thing contained in them. Therefore Rev., rightly, in the place concerning the bush. Wyc., in the book of Moses on the bush. The article refers to it as something familiar. Compare Romans 11:2, ἐν Ἠλίᾳ; i.e., in the section of scripture which tells of Elijah. There, however, the Rev. retains the A. V. of Elijah, and puts in in the margin. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Ye do greatly err
An emphatic close, peculiar to Mark. Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. Well (καλῶς)
Lit., beautifully, finely, admirably. What (ποία) Rather, of what nature. And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. With all thy heart (ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου)
Lit., out of thy whole heart. The heart, not only as the seat of the affections, but as the centre of our complex being - physical, moral, spiritual, and intellectual. Soul (ψυχῆς) The word is often used in the New Testament in its original meaning of life. See Matthew 2:20; Matthew 20:28; Acts 20:10; Romans 11:3; John 10:11. Hence, as an emphatic designation of the man himself. See Matthew 12:18; Hebrews 10:38; Luke 21:19. So that the word denotes "life in the distinctness of individual existence" (Cremer). See further on ψυχικός, spiritual, 1 Corinthians 15:44. Mind (διανοίας) The faculty of thought: understanding, especially the moral understanding. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. Neighbor
See on Matthew 5:43. And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. Well, Master, thou hast said the truth; for there is one God
All the best texts omit God. Well (καλῶς) Exclamatory, as one says good! on hearing something which he approves. The truth ( ἐπ' ἀληθείας) Incorrect. The phrase is adverbial; of a truth, in truth, truthfully, and qualifies the succeeding verb, thou hast said. For (ὅτι) The A. V. begins a new and explanatory sentence with this word; but it is better with Rev. to translate that, and make the whole sentence continuous: Thou hast truthfully said that he is one. And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Understanding (συνέσεως)
A different word from that in Mark 12:30. From συνίημι, to send or bring together. Hence συνίημι is a union or bringing together of the mind with an object, and so used to denote the faculty of quick comprehension, intelligence, sagacity. Compare συνετῶν, the prudent, Matthew 11:25. Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? Discreetly (νουνεχῶς)
From νοῦς, mind, and ἔχω, to lave. Having his mind in possession: "having his wits about him." The word occurs only here in the New Testament. And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: The common people (ὁ πολὺς ὄχλος)
Not indicating a social distinction, but the great mass of the people: the crowd at large. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. Desire (θέλοντων)
See on Matthew 1:19. And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. Uppermost rooms (πρωτοκλισίας)
More correctly, the chief couches,. So Rev., chief places. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: Widows' houses
People often left their whole fortune to the temple, and a good deal of the temple-money went, in the end, to the Scribes and Pharisees. The Scribes were universally employed in making wills and conveyances of property. They may have abused their influence with widows. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. The treasury
In the Court of the Women, which covered a space of two hundred feet square. All round it ran a colonnade, and within it, against the wall, were the thirteen chests or "trumpets" for charitable contributions. These chests were narrow at the mouth and wide at the bottom, shaped like trumpets, whence their name. Their specific objects were carefully marked on them. Nine were for the receipt of what was legally due by worshippers, the other four for strictly voluntary gifts. See Edersheim, "The Temple." Beheld (ἐθεώρει) Observed thoughtfully. Cast Note the graphic present tense: are casting. Money (χαλκὸν) Lit., copper, which most of the people gave. Cast in (ἔβαλλον) Imperfect tense: were casting in as he looked. Much (πολλά) Lit., many things; possibly many pieces of current copper coin. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. A certain (μία)
Not a good translation. Lit., one as distinguished from the many rich. Better, simply the indefinite article, as Rev. Poor (πτωχὴ) See on Matthew 5:3. Mites (λεπτὰ) From λεπτός, peeled, husked; and thence thin or fine. Therefore of a very small or thin coin. Farthing (κοδράντης) A Latin word, quadrans, or a quarter of a Roman as; quadrans meaning a fourth, as farthing is fourthing. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. This poor widow (ἡ χήρα αὕτη ἡ πτωχὴ)
The Greek order is very suggestive, forming a kind of climax: this window, the poor one, or and she poor. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed. Stones
The spring-stones of the arches of the bridge which spanned the valley of Tyropoeon (the cheese-makers), and connected the ancient city of David with the royal porch of the temple, measured twenty-four feet in length by six in thickness. Yet these were by no means the largest in the masonry of the temple. Both at the southeastern and southwestern angles stones have been found measuring from twenty to forty feet long, and weighing above one hundred tons (Edersheim, "Temple"). And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. Thrown down (καταλυθῇ)
Rather, loosened down. A very graphic word, implying gradual demolition. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. Note the particularity of detail in Mark. He adds, over against the temple, and the names of the four who asked the question. With the following discourse compare Matthew 24.
And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;
And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. In my name (ἐπί)
Lit., upon. Basing their claims on the use of my name. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; Rumors of wars
Wyc., opinions of battles. Such as would be a cause of terror to the Hebrew Christians; as the three threats of war against the Jews by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. There were serious disturbances at Alexandria, a.d. 38, in which the Jews were the especial objects of persecution; at Seleucia about the same time, in which more than fifty thousand Jews were killed; and at Jamnia, near Joppa. Troubled (θροεῖσθε) Θροέω is, literally, to cry aloud. Earthquakes Between the prophecy and the destruction of Jerusalem (a.d. 70) occurred: A great earthquake in Crete, a.d. 46 or 47: at Rome, on the day on which Nero entered his majority, a.d. 51: at Apameia, in Phrygia, a.d. 53; "on account of which," says Tacitus, "they were exempted from tribute for five years:" at Laodicea, in Phrygia, a.d. 60: in Campania, a.d. 63, by which, according to Tacitus, the city of Pompeii was largely destroyed. Famines During the reign of Claudius, a.d. 41-54:, four famines are recorded: One at Rome, a.d. 41, 42; one in Judaea, a.d. 44; one in Greece, a.d. 50; and again at Rome, a.d. 52, when the people rose in rebellion and threatened the life of the emperor. Tacitus says that it was accompanied by frequent earthquakes, which levelled houses. The famine in Judaea was probably the one prophesied by Agabus, Acts 11:28. Of the year 65 a.d., Tacitus says: "This year, disgraced by so many deeds of horror, was further distinguished by the gods with storms and sicknesses. Campania was devastated by a hurricane which overthrew buildings, trees, and the fruits of the soil in every direction, even to the gates of the city, within which a pestilence thinned all ranks of the population, with no atmospheric disturbance that the eye could trace. The houses were choked with dead, the roads with funerals: neither sex nor age escaped. Slaves and freemen perished equally amid the wailings of their wives and children, who were often hurried to the pyre by which they had sat in tears, and consumed together with them. The deaths of knights and senators, promiscuous as they were, deserved the less to be lamented, inasmuch as, falling by the common lot of mortality, they seemed to anticipate the prince's cruelty" ("Annals," xvi., 10-13). And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]. Text Courtesy of Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Bible Apps.com |
