Bible Commentaries

A withered hand (ἐξηραμμένην τὴν χεῖρα)

More correctly Rev., his hand withered. The participle indicates that the withering was not congenital, but the result of accident or disease. Luke says his right hand.

They watched (παρετήρουν)

Imperfect tense. They kept watching. The compound verb, with παρά, by the side of, means to watch carefully or closely, as one who dogs another's steps, keeping beside or near him. Wyc., They aspieden him: i.e., played the spy. On τηρέω, to watch, see on John 17:12.

He would heal (θεραπεύσει)

Future tense: whether he will heal, the reader being placed at the time of the watching, and looking forward to the future.

Stand forth (ἔγειρε εἰς τὸ μέσον)

Lit., rise into the midst. So Wyc., Rise into the middle. Tynd., Arise into stand in the midst.

Being grieved (συλλυπούμενος)

Why the compound verb, with the preposition σύν, together with? Herodotus (vi., 39) uses the word of condoling with another's misfortune. Plato ("Republic," 4:62) says, "When any one of the citizens experiences good or evil, the whole state will either rejoice or sorrow with him (ξυλλυπήσεται). The σύν, therefore implies Christ's condolence with the moral misfortune of these hardhearted ones. Compare the force of con, in condolence. Latin, con, with, dolere, to grieve.

Hardness (πωρώσει)

From πῶρος, a kind of marble, and thence used of a callus on fractured bones. Πώρωσις is originally the process by which the extremities of fractured bones are united by a callus. Hence of callousness, or hardness in general. The word occurs in two other passages in the New Testament, Romans 11:25; Ephesians 4:18, where the A. V. wrongly renders blindness, following the Vulgate caecitas. It is somewhat strange that it does not adopt that rendering here (Vulgate, caecitate) which is given by both Wyc. and Tynd. The Rev. in all the passages rightly gives hardening, which is better than hardness, because it hints at the process going on. Mark only records Christ's feeling on this occasion.

Withdrew

Mark alone notes no less than eleven occasions on which Jesus retired from his work, in order to escape his enemies or to pray in solitude, for rest, or for private conference with his disciples. See Mark 1:12; Mark 3:7; Mark 6:31, Mark 6:46; Mark 7:24, Mark 7:31; Mark 9:2; Mark 10:1; Mark 14:34.

A great multitude (πολὺ πλῆθος)

Compare Mark 3:8, where the order of the Greek words is reversed. In the former case the greatness of the mass of people is emphasized; in the latter, the mass of people itself

He did (ἐποίει)

Imperfect tense. Others read ποιεῖ, he is doing. In either case the tense has a continuous force' what things he was doing or is doing. Note in Mark 3:7, Mark 3:8, Mark's accurate detail of places. See Introduction. The reasons for our Lord's withdrawing into a boat, given with such minuteness of detail in Mark 3:9, are also peculiar to Mark.

Pressed upon (ἐπιπίπτειν)

Lit., fell upon.

Plagues (μάστιγας)

Lit., scourges. Compare Acts 22:24; Hebrews 11:36. Our word plague is from πληγή, Latin plaga, meaning a blow. Pestilence or disease is thus regarded as a stroke from a divine hand. Πληγή is used in classical Greek in this metaphorical sense. Thus Sophocles, "Ajax," 270: "I fear that a calamity (πληγή) is really come from heaven (θεοῦ, god)." So of war. Aeschylus, "Persae," 251: "O Persian land, how hath the abundant prosperity been destroyed by a single blow (ἐν μιᾷ πληγῇ). The word here, scourges, carries the same idea.

The unclean spirits (τὰ)

The article indicating those particular spirits which took part in that scene. Mark's precision is shown in the use of the two articles and in the arrangement of the noun and adjective: The spirits, the unclean ones.

When they saw (ὅταν ἐθεώρουν)

More accurately as Rev., whenever they beheld. The imperfect tense denotes a repeated act. The ἄν in ὅταν gives an indefinite force: as often as they might see him.