Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 5
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Mark 5
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Mark 5
"And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes." — Mark 5:1 (ASV)
The country of the Gadarenes.—The better manuscripts give “Gerasenes,” some “Gergesenes.”
"And when he was come out of the boat, straightway there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit," — Mark 5:2 (ASV)
A man with an unclean spirit.—The phrase, though not peculiar to Saint Mark, is often used by him where the other Gospels have “possessed with demons, or devils.” Saint Mark and Saint Luke, it will be noticed, speak of one only; Saint Matthew of two.
"who had his dwelling in the tombs: and no man could any more bind him, no, not with a chain;" — Mark 5:3 (ASV)
No man could bind him.—The better manuscripts give, “no man could any longer bind him.” The attempt had been so often made and baffled that it had been given up in despair.
"because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame him." — Mark 5:4 (ASV)
Bound with fetters and chains.—These were not necessarily of metal. The two processes of snapping chains by one convulsive movement and wearing away (not “breaking”) chains by friction rather suggest the idea of ropes or cords, as in the case of Samson (Judges 15:13). In Psalms 149:8 the “chains” seem distinguished from the “links of iron.” The vivid fullness of the whole description is eminently characteristic of St. Mark’s style.
"And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones." — Mark 5:5 (ASV)
Cutting himself with stones.—This feature, again, is given only by St. Mark.
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