Chú giải Kinh Thánh

1. The beginning] St Mark commences his Gospel suddenly and concisely. He does not begin with a genealogy of our Lord, like St Matthew, or with the history of the Infancy, as St Luke, or with the doctrine of the Eternal Word, as St John. He desires to pourtray Christ in the fulness of His living energy. See Introduction, pp. 16, 17.

of Jesus Christ] The Gospel of Jesus Christ denotes the Glad Tidings concerning Jesus Christ = the Messiah, the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. For the meaning of the name Jesus see Matthew 1:21.

the Son of God] Contrast this with St Matthew 1:1, “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” The first Evangelist writes for Jews, the second for Gentiles.

Ch. Mark 1:1-8. The Preaching and Baptism of John

The object of St Mark is to relate the official life and ministry of our Lord. He therefore begins with His baptism, and first relates, as introductory to it, the preaching of John the Baptist.

2. in the prophets] The citation is from two prophets, (1) Malachi 3:1, (2) Isaiah 40:3. Some would read here in Isaiah the Prophet according to certain MSS. Observe that St Mark in his own narrative quotes the Old Testament only twice, here and Mark 15:28. See Introduction, p. 12.

4. the wilderness] i. e. the dry and unpeopled region extending from the gates of Hebron to the shores of the Dead Sea. “It is a dreary waste of rocky valleys; in some parts stern and terrible, the rocks cleft and shattered by earthquakes and convulsions into rifts and gorges, sometimes a thousand feet in depth, though only thirty or forty in width … The whole district is, in fact, the slope of the midland chalk and limestone hills, from their highest point of nearly 3000 feet near Hebron, to 1000 or 1500 feet at the valley of the Dead Sea. The Hebrews fitly call it Jeshimon (1 Samuel 23:19; 1 Samuel 23:24), ‘the appalling desolation,’ or ‘horror.’ ”

for the remission] or unto the remission. See margin and comp. Matthew 26:28; Luke 1:77. This remission was to be received of the Messiah. John required of all who came to him a change of mind and life with a view to pardon from Christ. Thus his baptism was preparatory to that of Christ.

5. all the land] This strong expression is peculiar to St Mark. But it is illustrated by the other Gospels. The crowds that flocked to his baptism included representatives of every class, Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 3:7), tax-gatherers (Luke 3:12), soldiers (Luke 3:14), rich and poor (Luke 3:10).

of Jordan] Of here is redundant and appositional. We use it after “town,” “city,” “valley.” For its use after river, comp. “the river of Cydnus,” Shak. A. and C. II. 2. 192. The word “river” does not occur in the best MSS. of Matthew 3:6. It is used by St Mark, who writes for those who were unacquainted with the geography of Palestine.

6. was clothed] The Evangelist draws our attention to three points in reference to the Baptist:

(a) His appearance. He recalled the asceticism of the Essene. His raiment was of the coarsest texture, such as was worn by Elijah (2 Kings 1:8) and the prophets generally (Zechariah 13:4). His girdle, an ornament often of the greatest richness in Oriental costume and of the finest linen (Jeremiah 13:1; Ezekiel 16:10) or cotton or embroidered with silver and gold (Daniel 10:5; Revelation 1:13; Revelation 15:6), was of untanned leather (2 Kings 1:8), like that worn by the Bedouin of the present day.

(b) His diet was the plainest and simplest. Locusts were permitted as an article of food (Leviticus 11:21-22). Sometimes they were ground and pounded, and then mixed with flour and water and made into cakes; sometimes they were salted and then eaten. For wild honey comp. the story of Jonathan, 1 Samuel 14:25-27.

(c) His message. (1) That the members of the Elect Nation were all morally unclean, and all needed moral and spiritual regeneration; (2) that One mightier than he was coming; (3) that He would baptize with the Holy Ghost.

7. cometh] present tense. With prophetic foresight the Baptist sees Him already come and in the midst.

latchet] diminutive of latch, like the Fr. lacet dim. of lace, comes from the Latin laqueus = a “noose,” and means anything that catches. We now only apply latch to the catch of a door or gate. We speak of a “shoe-lace,” and “lace” is radically the same word. Here it denotes the thong or fastening by which the sandal was fastened to the foot; comp. Genesis 14:23; Isaiah 5:27. The office of bearing and unfastening the sandals of great personages fell to the meanest slaves.

to stoop down] This expression is peculiar to St Mark. It is the first of those minute details which we shall find in such abundance in his Gospel.

9–11. The Baptism of Jesus

9. in those days] i. e. towards the close of the year a. u. c. 781, or a. d. 28, when our Lord was thirty years of age (Luke 3:23), the time appointed for the Levite’s entrance on “the service of the ministry” (Numbers 4:3).

came from Nazareth] where He had grown up in peaceful seclusion, “increasing in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52), in a town unknown and unnamed in the Old Testament, situated among the hills which constitute the southern ridges of Lebanon, just before they sink down into the Plain of Esdraelon.

baptized of] i. e. by John. Comp. Luke 14:8, “when thou art bidden of (=by) any man;” Php 3:12, “I am apprehended of (= by) Christ;” Collect for 25th Sunday after Trinity, “may of (=by) Thee be plenteously rewarded.”

in Jordan] Either (i) at the ancient ford near Succoth, which some have identified with the Bethabara or rather Bethany of St John (John 1:28); or (ii) at a more southern ford not far from Jericho, whither the multitudes that flocked from Judæa and Jerusalem (Mark 1:5) would have found a speedier and more convenient access. From St Matthew we learn that (i) the purport of the Saviour’s journey from Galilee was that He might be thus baptized (Matthew 3:13); that (ii) His Forerunner instantly recognised His superhuman and stainless nature; that (iii) he tried earnestly to prevent Him; that (iv) his objections were overruled by the reply that thus it became Him to “fulfil all righteousness,” i. e. every requirement of the Law. St Luke tells us that the Baptism of our Lord did not take place till “all the people had been baptized” (Luke 3:21).

10. straightway] This is St Mark’s favourite connecting word, and constantly recurs; comp. Mark 1:12; Mark 1:28, Mark 4:5; Mark 4:15, Mark 8:10. Mark 9:15, Mark 11:3, and other places.

he saw] i. e. Jesus, while engaged, as we learn from St Luke 3:21, in solemn, prayer. We find solemn prayer preceding (i) our Lord’s Baptism, (ii) His choice of the Twelve (Luke 6:12), (iii) His Transfiguration (Luke 9:29), (iv) His Agony in the Garden (Matthew 26:39).

opened] Lit rent, or rending asunder, one of St Mark’s graphic touches: see the Introduction. The same word in the original Greek is applied to “the old garment rending the new piece” (Luke 5:36); to the veil of the Temple rent in twain at the Crucifixion (Luke 23:45); to the rending of the rocks at the same time (Matthew 27:51); and of the net in the Lake after the Resurrection (John 21:11).