1. A withered hand (é&npaypévny tiv xetpa). More cor- rectly Rev., his hand withered. The participle indicates that the withering was not congenital, but the result of accident or disease. Luke says his »ght hand.
2. They watched (craperijpouv). Imperfect tense. They kept watching. The compound verb, with rapa, by the side of, means to watch carefully or closely, as one who dogs another’s steps, keeping beside or near him. Wye. They aspieden him: Le., played the spy. On tnpéw, to watch, see on John xvii. 12.
He would heal (Separedcer). Future tense: whether he will heal, the reader being placed at the time of the watching, and looking forward to the future.
3. Stand forth (éyeupe eis Td pécov). Lit., rise into the midst. So Wye., Lise into the middle. Tynd., Arise and stand in the midst.
5. Being grieved (cuddvrovpmevos), Why the compound verb, with the preposition avy, together with ? Herodotus (vi., 39) uses the word of condoling with another's misfortune. Plato (“ Republic,” 462) says, “When any one of the citizens experiences good or evil, the whole state will either rejoice or sorrow with him (EvAAumycetar). The ovv therefore implies Christ’s condolence with the moral misfortune of these hard- hearted ones. Compare the force of con, in condolence. Latin, con, with, dolere, to grieve.
Cu. III.) MARK. 175
Hardness (rapwcer). From tapos, a kind of marble, and thence used of a callus on fractured bones. IT@pwats is origi- nally 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, Rom. xi. 25; Eph. iv. 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.
7. Withdrew. Mark alone notes no less than eleven occa- sions on which Jesus retired from his work, in order to escape his enemies or to pray in solitude, for rest, or for private confer- ence with his disciples. See i. 12; iii. 7; vi. 31, 46; vil. 24, Bie ik Sem, 1s SIV. ot.
A great multitude (odd 7490s). Compare ver. 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.
8. He did (ézrode). Imperfect tense. Others read rove, he is doing. Jn either case the tense has a continuous force: what things he was doing or is doing. Note in vv. 7, 8, Mark’s accurate detail of places. See Introduction. The reasons for our Lord’s withdrawing into a boat, given with such minute- ness of detail in vy. 9-11, are also peculiar to Mark.
10. Pressed upon (émerimrew). Lit., fel upon.
Plagues (udoruyas). Lit., scourges. Compare Acts Xx. 24: Heb. xi. 36. Our word plague is from mdyyn, Latin plaga, meaning a blow. Pestilence or disease is thus regarded as a stroke from a divine hand. IIAny7 is used in classical Greek in this metaphorical sense. Thus Sophocles, “ Ajax,” ewe
176 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. III.
fear that a calamity (wAnyy) is really come from heaven (Jeod, god).” So of war, Aeschylus, “ Persae,” 251: “O Persian land, how hath the abundant prosperity been destroyed by a single blow (év pod many). The word here, scourges, carries the same idea.
11. The unclean spirits (ra). The article indicating those particular spirits which took part in that scene. Mark’s preci- sion is shown in the use of the two articles and in the arrange- ment of the noun and adjective: The spirits, the unclean ones.