Mark 1:43

Syriac Peshitta (NT Only)

ܘܰܟ݂ܐܳܐ ܒ݁ܶܗ ܘܰܐܦ݁ܩܶܗ ܀

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Mark 3:12, Mark 5:43, Mark 7:36, Matthew 9:30, Luke 8:56

Reciprocal: Matthew 8:4 - See

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he straitly charged him;.... Either with the sin which had been the cause of this leprosy, and to take care that he sinned that sin no more, lest a worse evil should befall him; for sin was usually the cause of leprosy, as the cases of Miriam, Gehazi, and Uzziah show. It is said to come upon men for seven things. The seven abominations mentioned in Proverbs 6:16, are said, by the Jewish writers t, to be the reasons of persons being stricken with leprosy: "a proud look"; as appears from the instance of the daughters of Zion, Isaiah 3:16, the crowns of whose heads were smitten with a scab, and who were attended with a stink, boldness, and burning. "A lying tongue"; as in the case of Miriam, who, with Aaron, spoke against Moses; upon which the cloud departed from the tabernacle, and Miriam became leprous, white as snow, Numbers 12:1. "And hands that shed innocent blood"; which is proved from Joab, on whose head the blood of Abner and Amasa returned; and on account of which a leper was not to fail from his house; see 1 Kings 2:31, compared with 2 Samuel 3:29. "An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations"; which was fulfilled in Uzziah, who sought to bring the high priesthood into contempt, and therefore was smitten with leprosy, which arose in his forehead, while he had the censer in his hands, and was contending with the priests; and he continued a leper to his death, 2 Chronicles 26:18. "Feet that be swift in running to mischief"; which was true of Gehazi, who ran after Naaman the Syrian, and took a gift of him which he should not; for which, the leprosy, Naaman was cured of, seized him, and cleaved unto him, 2 Kings 5:20. "A false witness that speaketh lies"; of this no instance is given. "And him that soweth discord among brethren"; as Pharaoh between Abraham and Sarah; wherefore the Lord plagued Pharaoh, c. Genesis 12:17, which the Jews understand of the plague of leprosy. These seven things are, in another place u, said to be an evil tongue, shedding of blood, a vain oath, uncleanness, a proud spirit, theft, and envy. Elsewhere it is said w, that for eleven things leprosy cometh for cursing God, for uncleanness, for murder, for saying of a neighbour a thing that there is nothing in it, for pride, for entering into a border which is not a man's own, for a lying tongue, for theft, for a false oath, for profaning the name of God, for idolatry: and R. Isaac says, for an evil eye; and the Rabbins also say, it comes upon him who despises the words of the law: the first is proved from Goliath, 1 Samuel 17:26; the second from the daughters of Jerusalem, Isaiah 3:16; the third from Cain, Genesis 4:15 and from Joab, 2 Samuel 3:29; the fourth from Moses, Exodus 4:5; the fifth from Naaman, 2 Kings 5:1; the sixth from Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:16; the seventh from Miriam, Numbers 12:10; the eighth and ninth from Zechariah 5:4, compared with Leviticus 14:45; the tenth from Gehazi, 2 Kings 5:20; the eleventh from the children of Israel when they made the calf, Exodus 32:25, compared with Numbers 5:2. But whether this man's sin was either of these, or what it was, is not certain: however, he was, by this cure, laid under an obligation, for the future, to avoid it, and all other sins: or rather the charge was to tell no man of his cure, before he came to the priest: nor to him, or any other, how he came by it, and by whom he was healed;

and forthwith sent him away; to the priest, in all haste; and it looks as if the man was unwilling to have gone from him, but chose rather to have continued with his kind benefactor: for the word signifies, he cast him out; he drove him from him; he obliged him to go without delay.

t Vajikra Rabba, sect. 16. fol. 158. 1, 2. u T. Bab. Eracin, fol. 16. 1. Vid. Abarbinel. in 2 Kings v. 27. w Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 7. fol. 188. 2, 3.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And there came a leper ... - See the notes at Matthew 8:1-4.

Kneeling down to him - He kneeled and inclined his face to the ground, in token of deep humiliation and earnest entreaty. Compare Luke 5:12.

If thou wilt - This was an acknowledgment of the almighty power of Jesus, and an appeal to his benevolence.

Make me clean - You (Jesus) can heal me of this loathsome and offensive disease, in the eye of the law justly regarded as “unclean,” and render me “legally” clean, and restore me to the privileges of the congregation.

And Jesus ...touched him - It was by the law considered as unclean to touch a leprous man. See Numbers 5:2. The fact that Jesus touched him was evidence that the requisite power had been already put forth to heal him; that Jesus regarded him as already clean.

I will - Here was a most manifest proof of his divine power. None but God can work a miracle; yet Jesus does it by his “own will” - by an exertion of his own power. Therefore, Jesus is divine.

See thou say nothing to any man - The law of Moses required that a man who was healed of the leprosy should be pronounced clean by the priest before he could be admitted again to the privileges of the congregation, Leviticus 14:0. Christ, though he had cleansed him, yet required him to be obedient to the law of the land - to go at once to the priest, and not to make delay by stopping to converse about his being healed. It was also possible that, if he did not go at once, evil-minded men would go before him and prejudice the priest, and prevent his declaring the healing to be thorough because it was done by Jesus. It was of further importance that “the priest” should pronounce it to be a genuine cure, that there might be no cavils among the Jews against its being a real miracle.

Offer for thy cleansing those things ... - Two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop; and after eight days, two he-lambs, without blemish, and one ewe-lamb, and fine flour, and oil, Leviticus 14:4, Leviticus 14:10.

For a testimony unto them - Not to the priest, but to the people, that they may have evidence that it is a real cure. The testimony of the priest on the subject would be decisive.

Mark 1:45

Began to publish it much - That is, he made known his own cure. He was so deeply affected with it, and so much rejoiced, that he followed the natural dictates of his own feelings rather than the command of the Saviour.

Jesus could no more enter openly into the city - The word “could,” here, does not refer to any natural inability, or to any physical obstacle in his way, but only denotes that there was difficulty, inconvenience, or impropriety in his doing it then; that he judged it best not then to enter into the city. The difficulty was, probably, that his being in the city drew such crowds of people as rendered it difficult to accommodate them, or so as to excite the opposition of civil rulers.

The city - The city or large town where the leper was cured. The same reason for not entering that city applied also to others, so that he remained in the deserts, where the multitudes could come to him without any difficulty or opposition.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Mark 1:43. Straitly charged — See the reason for this, Matthew 8:4. This verse is wanting in two copies of the Itala.