Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Bible Commentaries
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Ellicott's Commentary
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliographical Information
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Mark 14". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/ebc/mark-14.html. 1905.
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Mark 14". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (45)New Testament (18)Gospels Only (6)Individual Books (13)
Verses 1-2
XIV.
(1, 2) After two days was the feast of the passover.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:1-5. Better, was the passover, and the feast of unleavened bread. The latter designation is common to St. Mark and St. Luke, as an explanation intended for Gentile readers. The same fact accounts, perhaps, for the omission by both of the name of Caiaphas as the chief mover in the scheme.
Verses 3-9
(3-9) And being in Bethany.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:6-13.
Ointment of spikenard.âThe Greek word so translated is, as the various renderings in the margin show, of doubtful import. It is used by St. John (John 12:3) in his account of the same facts.
She brake the box.âAs in the âbreaking throughâ the roof in Mark 2:4, the vivid touch that brings the manner of the act distinctly before our eyes is found in St. Mark only. The Greek word implies not so much the breaking of the neck of the costly jar or flask, but the crushing it in its entirety with both her hands.
Verse 4
(4) There were some that had indignation.âNote St. Markâs limitation of the murmurers to âsome,â as an intermediate stage between St. Matthewâs âthe disciplesâ and St. Johnâs naming âJudas.â
Verse 5
(5) For more than three hundred pence.âThe specific mention of the sum, not given by St. Matthew, is one of the few points common to St. Mark and St. John (John 12:5).
Verse 6
(6) She hath wrought a good work on me.ââGoodâ in the sense of ânoble,â as implying the higher form of goodness. The use of the word here is peculiar to St. Mark.
Verse 7
(7) Whensoever ye will ye may do them good.âPeculiar to St. Mark; the other words being given by him in common with St. Matthew and St. John.
Verses 10-11
(10, 11) And Judas Iscariot.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:14-15.
Verse 11
(11) They were glad, and promised to give him money.âIt may be noted (1) that the mention of the priests being âgladâ is in common with St. Luke, and (2) that St. Mark does not name the specific sum which was promised as the price of blood.
Verses 12-21
(12-21) And the first day of unleavened bread.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:20-25.
When they killed the passover.âBetter, when they used to sacrifice; the Greek tense implying a custom. Here, again, both St. Mark and St. Luke write as explaining the custom for their Gentile readers.
Verse 13
(13) And he sendeth forth two of his disciples.âThe number is given by St. Mark; the names, Peter and John, by St. Luke only. The sign of the pitcher of water is common to both Gospels, but not to St. Matthew.
Verse 14
(14) The goodman of the house.âBetter, the master. The better MSS. give the reading, âWhere is my guest-chamber,â a form which implies discipleship on the part of the owner of the house, even more than that given by St. Matthew. The word translated âguest-chamberâ is the same as that which appears in Luke 2:7 as âinn.â It was, in fact, the generic term for a hired lodging.
Verse 15
(15) Furnished and prepared.âThe first word implied that it was not a bare, empty chamber, but set out with cushions or divans, on which the guests could recline; the second, that it was specially arranged for the Paschal Supper of that evening.
Verse 18
(18) As they sat.âBetter, as they reclined.
Verse 21
(21) Good were it for that man.âSt. Mark, it will be noted, omits the fact recorded by St. Matthew, that the last âIs it I?â was uttered by the Traitor.
Verses 22-25
(22-25) As they did eat.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:26-29.
Take, eat.âThe latter word is wanting in many of the best MSS.
Verse 23
(23) When he had given thanks.âSt. Mark agrees with St. Matthew in using the word âblessingâ of the bread, and âgiving thanksâ of the cup. St. Luke uses the latter word of the bread, and implies by the word âlikewiseâ that the form was repeated with the cup.
Verse 24
(24) Which is shed for many.âBetter, is being shed, the participle, both here and in St. Matthew, being in the present tense.
Verse 25
(25) Of the fruit of the vine.âBetter, of the product. Note the difference between âthe kingdom of Godâ here, and âthe kingdom of My Fatherâ in Matthew 26:29.
Verses 26-42
(26-42) And when they had sung an hymn.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:30-46.
Verse 30
(30) Before the cock crow twice.âThe word âtwiceâ is omitted in many MSS. It agrees, however, with the emphatic mention of the cock crowing a âsecond timeâ in Mark 14:72, and with the form of the prediction in the same verse, and may fairly be regarded as the true reading, the omission in some MSS. being accidental.
Verse 31
(31) He spake the more vehemently.âThe Greek tense implies frequent and continuous speaking.
Verse 32
(32) While I shall pray.âLiterally, till I shall have prayed.
Verse 33
(33) Began to be sore amazed.âNote St. Markâs use of the stronger word as compared with St. Matthewâs âto be sorrowful.â
Verse 36
(36) And he said, Abba, Father.âThe record of the word âAbbaâ as actually uttered, is peculiar to St. Mark. We, perhaps, find traces of the impression it made on the minds of men in the âAbba, Fatherâ of Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6.
Verse 37
(37) Simon, sleepest thou?âNote that while St. Matthew and St. Luke give the question in the plural, St. Mark reports it in the singular, and joins it with the emphatic utterance of the name of the disciple. His report, too, includes the two questions which appear separately in the other two Gospels.
Verse 41
(41) And he cometh the third time.âWe may note St. Markâs omission of the third repetition of the prayer.
It is enough.âPeculiar to St. Mark, and probably noting the transition from the half-reproachful permission, âSleep on now, and take your rest,â to the emphatic and, as it were, startled exclamation, âthe hour is come.â
Is betrayed.âThe tense, as in St. Matthew, is present, âis at this moment being betrayed.â
Verses 43-45
(43-45) And immediately, while he yet spake.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:47-50. Note the re-appearance of St. Markâs characteristic âimmediately.â Many of the better MSS. add the distinguishing âIscariotâ to the name of Judas.
Verse 44
(44) Take him.âBetter, seize.
Verse 45
(45) Master, master.âBetter, Rabbi, Rabbi. All the MSS. give the Hebrew word, and not its Greek equivalent.
Verses 46-50
(46-50) Took him.âBetter, as before, seized. See Notes on Matthew 26:51-56.
Verse 48
(48) As against a thief.âBetter, as against a robber, the word implying the bolder form of theft.
Verse 49
(49) Ye took me not.âBetter, ye seized Me not, or, ye laid no hold on Me.
Verse 51
(51) And there followed him a certain young man.âThe remarkable incident that follows is narrated by St. Mark only. It had clearly made a deep impression on the minds of some of the disciples (probably enough, on that of Peter), from whom, directly or indirectly, the report came. Who it was that appeared in this strange fashion we are left to conjecture. Some have supposed that it was St. Mark himself, but for this there is obviously no ground but the fact that this Evangelist alone records it. A careful examination of the facts suggests another conclusion as probable. (1) The man was âyoung,â and the self-same term is applied to the ruler who had great possessions (Matthew 19:20). (2) He had apparently been sleeping, or, it may be, watching, not far from Gethsemane, with the linen sheet wrapped round him, and had been roused by the approach of the officers and the crowd. This suggests one who lived somewhere on the Mount of Olives, and so far points to Lazarus or Simon of Bethany, as the only two conspicuous disciples in that neighbourhood. (3) He was one who so loved our Lord that he went on following Him when all the disciples forsook Him and fled, and this also was what might be expected from Lazarus. On the supposition suggested in (1), he was now obeying almost literally the command, âTake up thy cross, and follow Me.â (See Notes on Matthew 19:16-22.) (4) He was one whom the officers (the words âthe young menâ are omitted in the better MSS.) were eager to seize, when they allowed all the disciples to go their way, and this agrees with the command which had been given by the priests, that they should take and kill Lazarus also (John 12:10). (5) As the âlinen sheetâ or sindôn (see Note on Matthew 27:59) was especially used for the burial of the dead, it is conceivable, on this supposition, that what had been the winding-sheet of the dead Lazarus had been kept and used by him in memory of his resurrection. (6) On the hypothesis thus suggested, the suppression of the name stands on the same footing as that of the name of the sister of Lazarus, who poured the precious ointment on our Lordâs head at Bethany (Matthew 26:7, Mark 14:3), whom the Evangelists must have known, but whom they mention simply as a âwoman.â Their lips were sealed as to the family of Bethany until the circumstances, whatever they may have been, that called for silence had passed away. It is obvious that so far as this identity is established it suggests many thoughts of profound interest. What had seemed impossible to men had proved possible with God. He who had gone away sorrowful because he had great possessions, had given freely to the poor (see Notes on Matthew 26:6; Matthew 26:9), and had proved more faithful than the Twelve, and so the last had become the first.
Verses 53-65
(53-65) And they led Jesus away.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:57-66.
Verse 54
(54) Sat . . . and warmed himself.âBetter, was sitting and warming himself.
With the servants.âBetter, with the officers.
At the fire.âLiterally, at the light; the word bringing out very vividly the effect of the glare of the charcoal fire on St. Peterâs face,
Verse 56
(56) Their witness agreed not together.âSt. Mark gives what St. Matthew only implies as the cause of the failure.
Verse 57
(57) There arose certain.âSt. Mark is here less definite than St. Matthew, who, writing for Jews, was apparently anxious to show that the rule which required âtwo or three witnessesâ in support of a criminal charge had barely been complied with.
Verse 58
(58) This temple.âThe word here, as in Matthew 26:61 and John 2:19, is that which indicates generally the sanctuary or shrine, and here the âHoly Placeâ of the Temple.
Made with hands . . . made without hands.âThe antithesis is peculiar to St. Mark, but we may, perhaps, trace an echo of it in the âmore perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,â of Hebrews 9:11.
Verse 59
(59) Neither so did their witness agree together.âThis, again, is peculiar to St. Mark. We are not told in what respects their evidence failed to agree; possibly in details of time and place, possibly in the absence or presence of the words reported in the previous verse.
Verse 61
(61) The Son of the Blessed.âIn St. Matthew and St. Luke we have simply âthe Son of God;â but the use of âthe Blessedâ as a name of God in doxologies and other solemn formulæ was a common practice.
Verse 63
(63) Then the high priest rent his clothes.âIt is noticeable that St. Mark uses the word for the inner garment, St. Matthew that for the outer.
Verse 64
(64) Guilty of death.âHere, as in Matthew 26:66, the translators follow the old English usage, and connect the word âguilty,â not as we now do, with the crime of which a man is convicted, but with the punishment to which he is liable.
Verse 65
(65) And to cover his face.âIt was this (recorded by St. Mark and St. Luke, but not by St. Matthew) which gave point to the taunt âProphesy.â They blindfolded the Prophet, and then called on Him to use His power of supernatural vision.
The servants did strike him.âBetter, as before, the officers. The two forms of outrage, with the clenched fist and with the open palm, are specified by both St. Matthew and St. Mark.
Verse 66
(66) And as Peter was beneath.âSee Notes on Matthew 26:69-75.
Verse 67
(67) Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.âThe order of the words varies in the MSS.; but the better ones give the words as spoken with an emphatic scorn, âAnd thou also wast with the Nazarene, Jesus.â
Verse 68
(68) And he went out into the porch.âThe noun is not the same as that used by St. Matthew, but signifies literally âthe space before the palace,â i.e., the vestibule. Substantially, of course, it comes to much the same meaning.
Verse 69
(69) A maid.âBetter, the maidâi.e., the one that had pointed him out before.
Verse 70
(70) And thy speech agreeth thereto.âSingularly enough, the words, which seem so natural, are wanting in many of the best MSS., and may, therefore, possibly have been an interpretative addition, possibly made by St. Mark himself, in what we may call a revised edition of his Gospel.
Verse 72
(72) When he thought thereon.âThe Greek word is a somewhat peculiar one, and means literally âthrowing at,â or âon.â The English version assumes that it means âcasting his mind or thoughts,â just as âto reflectâ is âto bend the mind,â and is probably right. The marginal readings give two conjectures. Yet another may be found in the idea that the word describes St. Peterâs action âcasting himself down, he wept,â but there is not enough authority for any other interpretation to justify a change in the text.