Bible Commentaries
Mark 2

Verse 1

Mark 2:1 . Πάλιν , again ) Comp. ch. Mark 1:21 ; Mark 1:29 . δἰ ἡμέρων ) After some days had intervened. [ It is one and the same return into the city of Capernaum, of which Mark makes mention in this place after the healing of the leper; Matthew, after the return from the region of the Gergesenes, in his ch. Mark 9:1 : it is also the same man sick of the palsy, whom Mark and Luke, after Matthew, treat of . Harm., p. 276].

Verse 2

Mark 2:2 . Μηδὲ , not even ) Not only the house within, but not even the hall, could contain them.

Verse 3

Mark 2:3 . Ὑπὸ τεσσαρων , by four ) He was then fall grown, though not far advanced in years: comp. Mark 2:5 , Son [implying he was not old].

Verse 4

Mark 2:4 . Ἀπεστέγασαν ) they took off the roof ) out of love, without doing injury. [ So faith penetrates through all obstacles ( Mar 2:5 ) to reach Christ . V. g.] It is probable that it was a cottage [tugurium, hut ], not a large house. ἐξορύξαντες , digging out ) the ceiling, beneath the tiles of the roof, so as to make a large aperture. The people crowding in numbers, had caused great delay in reaching Christ.

Verse 5

Mark 2:5 . Πίστιν , their faith ) So painstaking.

Verse 8

Mark 2:8 . Τῷ πνεύματι Αὐτοῦ , in His Spirit ) The prophets became cognisant of things through the Spirit of God, but not with their own spirit: Christ, with His own Spirit, which is omniscient and Divine; comp ch. Mark 8:12 . Moreover, the Holy Spirit is not called the Spirit of Christ before that great Pentecost recorded in Acts 2:0 The conclusion therefore remains, that we are to understand the Spirit of Jesus as applying to His Divine nature, which had its dwelling in His human nature. τὶ , why ) An allusion to their Why? in Mark 2:7 .

Verse 14

Mark 2:14 . [17] ΤΕΛΏΝΙΟΝ , the receipt of custom ) At the sea; Mark 2:13 .

[17] Comp. on this history, note on Matthew 9:9 . E. B.

Verse 15

Mark 2:15 . [18] Ἦσαν γὰρ , for they were ) The Evangelist hereby explains why he had just written, with Jesus and His disciples; for they were many.

[18] Λευῒν Levi ) called also Matthew. V. g.

Verse 16

Mark 2:16 . [19] Τὶ ὅτι ) So the LXX.; Judges 11:7 , etc.

[19] Mark 2:15 . Καὶ ἠκολούθησαν , and they were following ) Therefore even then already with reformed minds they were holding to [entering upon] the right way. V. g.

Verse 18

Mark 2:18 . Νηστεύοντες , fasting ) This seems here to imply both their custom and their actual fasting at that present time; comp. note on Matthew 9:14 .

Verse 20

Mark 2:20 . [20] Ἐλεύσονται , shall come ) This is the first intimation of His Passion. ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ) So also the Gothic version reads. Moreover, the plural, which is substituted by some, comes evidently from Luke. [21] There is but one day of the Bridegroom being taken away; many days, of His continuing absent after having been so taken away. But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away; and then shall they fast in that day (In some one of those days, to wit, especially on the first of them). So in Luk 17:22 the plural number is used, the days shall come ; and in Luke 2:31 , on that day , in the singular number, with a force having relation to that plural.

[20] Mark 2:19 . Τοῦ νομφῶνος , the Bridegroom ) This means Jesus, in whose absence, they, to whom he is known, cannot feel the day joyful, and in whose presence they cannot feel the day sad. V. g.

[21] Through Harmonists. ED. The Gnomon and margin of Exodus 2:0 and Vers. Germ . prefer the Sing. The Ed. Maj. has at it the mark δ . E. B. ABCD and Amiat. Vulg. support the Sing.: abc later Vulg. and Rec. Text, the Plural. ED.

Verse 21

Mark 2:21 . Αἴρει τὸ πλήρωμα τὸ καινὸν τοῦ παλαιοῦ ) This reading is a mean between extremes, brief, and likely to be genuine. [22] The meaning is: the new piece put in to patch up the rent, takes away with it some of the old cloth.

[22] A Δ , later Syr., whom Tischend. follows, read αἴρει ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ πληρωμα . B reads τὸ πληρ . ἀφʼ εἁυτοῦ . L, whom Lachm. follows, has τὸ πλήρ . ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ . D ab Vulg. and Rec. Text have τὸ πλήρωμα (to which Rec. Text adds αὐτοῦ ) τὸ καινὸν ἀπὸ (omitted in Rec. Text) τοῦ παλαίου ED.

Verse 26

Mark 2:26 . Ἐπὶ , Ἀβιάθαρ , under Abiathar) Ahimelech was the priest who gave loaves of bread to David; but on his being put to death for that very act, his son Abiathar presently after succeeded to him; and afterwards the priesthood of Abiathar and the reign of David were contemporary. The series of the priests was very well known among the Hebrews, and so the denomination of [the mode of marking] the age of David is taken from the priest of that day; and indeed the Evangelist mentions Abiathar, in whose time the actions of David seem to have been entered in the sacred records, in preference to Ahimelech; comp. the use of ἐπὶ , Matthew 1:11 . Not unlike is the phraseology, Genesis 2:2 , on the seventh day [God ended His work; we should have said, at the close of the sixth day ], and ch. Mark 10:25 , in the days of peleg (who was born a short while after) the earth was divided .

Verse 27

Mar 2:27 Ἔλεγεν He was saying ) Again beginning to address them; comp. Mark 4:21 ; Mark 4:24 ; Mark 4:26 ; Mark 4:30 ; Mark 7:20 ; Mark 9:1 ; Luke 4:24 ; Luke 5:36 ; Luke 6:5 ; Luke 15:11 ; John 1:52. διὰ , for the sake of ) An axiom. So almost similarly 2Ma 5:19 : οὐ διὰ τὸν τοπον τὸ ἔθνος , ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ἔθνος τὸν τόπον ὁ Κύριος ἐξελέξατο ἐγένετο , was made ) The origin and end of things is to be kept in view. The blessing of the Sabbath, Genesis 2:3 , has regard to man.

Verse 28

Mark 2:28 . Ὥστε , therefore ) The more obvious sense of this remarkable enigmatical aphorism is, Whatever right as regards the Sabbath any man hath, I also have. The more august sense, though one kept hidden [recondite] then, as suited to the relations in which that time stood to the whole divine scheme, is this, The end of the institution of the Sabbath is the salvation [welfare] of man as to his soul and body. The Son of Man is bound to ensure this salvation; and, in order to bring about this end, He the same has also authority over all things, and expressly over the Sabbath, inasmuch as it was made for man; and with a view to [in accordance with] obtaining this end, He regulates aright the whole use of the Sabbath.