Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 3
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Mark 3
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Mark 3
"And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there who had his hand withered. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man that had his hand withered, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth; and his hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out, and straightway with the Herodians took counsel against him, how they might destroy him." — Mark 3:1-6 (ASV)
A man there which had a withered hand.—See Notes on Matthew 12:9-14. Mark omits the reference to the sheep fallen into a pit and, on the other hand, gives more graphically our Lord’s “looking round” with an “anger” that still had in it a touch of pitying grief. The form of the Greek participle implies compassion as well as sorrow. Mark alone names (Mark 3:6) the Herodians as joining with the Pharisees in their plot for His destruction. On the Herodians, see Notes on Matthew 11:8; Matthew 22:16.
"And Jesus with his disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judaea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and beyond the Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came unto him." — Mark 3:7-8 (ASV)
And from Judea. ... and from Jerusalem.—The fact thus recorded is interesting as it implies, to some degree, the ministry in Jerusalem and its neighborhood, which the first three Gospels, for some reason or other, pass over.
From Idumea.—This is the only passage in the New Testament in which this country is named. It had acquired a considerably wider range than the Edom of the Old Testament and included the whole country between the Arabah and the Mediterranean. It was at this time under the government of Aretas (2 Corinthians 11:32), the father of the wife whom Herod Antipas had divorced, and this had probably brought about more frequent interaction between its inhabitants and those of Galilee and Perea.
They about Tyre and Sidon.—The fact is interesting in its connection with the history of the Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24) as showing how it was that our Lord’s appearance in that region was welcomed as that of one whose fame had traveled there before Him.
"And he spake to his disciples, that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd, lest they should throng him:" — Mark 3:9 (ASV)
That a small ship should wait on him.—The fact so mentioned incidentally shows that in what is recorded in Matthew 13:2 our Lord was merely making use of a practice already familiar.
"for he had healed many; insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed upon him that they might touch him." — Mark 3:10 (ASV)
As many as had plagues.—Literally, scourges; the same word as in Acts 22:24, Hebrews 11:36.
"And the unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God." — Mark 3:11 (ASV)
And unclean spirits.—The testimony which had been given in a single instance (Mark 1:24) now became more or less general. But it came in a form which our Lord could not receive. The wild cry of the frenzied demoniac had no place in the evidence to which He appealed (John 5:31–37), and tended, so far as it impressed men at all, to set them against the Teacher who was thus acknowledged.
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