Charger. See on Matt. xiv. 8. 26. Exceeding sorry. Where Matthew has sorry.
27. Mark’s favorite straightway. The king is prompt in his response.
Executioner (omexovddtopa). One of Mark’s Latin words, speculator. A speculator was a guardsman, whose business it
Cu. VI] MARK. 195
was to watch or spy out (speculari). It came gradually to de- note one of the armed body-guard of the Roman emperor. Thus Suetonius says of Claudius that he did not dare to attend banquets unless his specudatores with their lances surrounded him. Seneca uses the word in the sense of executioner. “He met the executioners (speculatoribus), declared that he had nothing to say against the execution of the sentence, and then stretched out his neck.” Herod imitated the manners of the Roman court, and was attended by a company of speculatores, though it was not their distinctive office to act as executioners. Wye. renders man-killer, and Tynd. hangman.
29. Corpse. See on Matt. xxiv. 28.
- Stier (“ Words of Jesus”) says of Herod: “This man, whose inner life was burnt out; who was made up of contradictions, speaking of his kingdom like Ahasuerus, and yet the slave of his Jezebel; willingly hearing the prophet, and unwillingly kill- ing him ; who will be a Sadducee, and yet thinks of a resurrec- tion ; who has a superstitious fear of the Lord Jesus, and yet a curiosity to see him.”
31. Come apart. See on ch. iii. 7.
37. Shall we go and buy, ete. This question and Christ’s answer are peculiar to Mark.
39. By companies (cuyrrocta cuprdota). Peculiar to Mark. The Jewish dining-room was arranged like the Roman: three tables forming three sides of a square, and with divans or couches following the outside line of the tables. The openend of the square admitted the servants who waited at table. This explains the arrangement of the multitude here described by Mark. The people sat down, literally, en table-companies, ar- ranged like guests at table ; some companies of a hundred and some of fifty, in squares or oblongs open at one end, so that the disciples could pass along the inside and distribute the loaves.
Green. Mark only.
196 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. VI.
40. In ranks (apacwal rpacial). Lit., like beds in a garden. The former adverb, by companies, describes the arrangement ; this the color. The red, blue, and yellow clothing of the poor- est orientals makes an Eastern crowd full of color; a fact which would appeal to Peter’s eye, suggesting the appearance of flower- beds in a garden.
41. Brake and gave (atéxAacev, éd/S0v). The verbs are in different tenses; the former in the aorist, the latter in the im- perfect. The aorist implies the instantaneous, the imperfect the continuous act. He brake, and kept giving out. Farrar re- marks that the multiplication evidently took place in Christ’s hands, between the acts of breaking and distributing.
All. Peculiar to Mark. Were filled. See on Matt. v. 6.
43. Baskets full (copivwv wrnpouata). Lit., fillings of baskets. See on Matt. xiv. 20. Mark alone adds, and of the Jishes.
44. Men (dvdpes). Not generic, including men and women, but literally men. Compare Matt. xiv. 21, beside women and children ; a detail which we should have expected from Mark.
46. When he had sent them away (amotaEapevos). Rev., more correctly, after he had taken leave. Unclassical, and used in this sense only in later Greek. So in Luke ix. 61; Acts xviii. 18; 2 Cor. ii. 13.
48. He saw (iswv). Participle. Tev., seeeng. Better, how- ever, the literal having seen. It was this which induced him to
go to them.
Toiling (Bacaviopévovs). Lit., tormented. Rev., distressed. See on Matt. iv. 24. Wye. twravailing. Tynd., troubled.
Fourth watch. Between 3 and 6 a.m.
Cx. VL] MARK. 197 Would have passed by them. Peculiar to Mark. 50. They all saw him. Peculiar to Mark.