led out of the city, no mortal man, we may suppose, would have been likely to have discovered, not to say, would have been able to have persuaded others, had not the wisdom of the apostle instructed us on the subject, Heb. xiii. 11-14. — Harm., p. 559.]
21. ' Ep^ofttvov, coming) either in order to be present at the Passover, or in order to see what would be done to Jesus. — aw a-ypou) Where perhaps he had his home. Happy man, in that he was not present, and had no part in the accusation : but in consequence of that very fact he was the less agreeable to the Jews. — 'AXf£<£*dp0u xai 'Poupou, of Alexander and Rufus) These two, at the time when Mark wrote, were better known than their father, inasmuch as he is denominated from them [instead of vice versa] : They were distinguished persons among the disciples (see Rom. xvi. 13 as to Rufus, who also is set down in that passage as one better known than his mother, though Paul seems to have regarded her as his mother at Jeru salem) : which is an evidence whereby the truth of the whole fact, as it happened, may be perceived.
22. <$>spouffiv, they bring [bear or take']) not merely lead. — ToXyo^a) The genitive.
23. OUK iXa,(3e, He took it not) He tasted, but did not drink it. Matt, xxvii. 34 : comp. ch. xxvi. 29.
24. Zravpugavres) having crucified. — rig T!, what, and icho \ivhat every man should take]) See Bud. Comm. 1349, 27.
25. Tplrq, third) which the sixth and ninth hour follows, ver. 33. Therefore it is Jewish hours that are here marked. However the case stands in Mark and John as to both the kind of hour and the mode of enumeration respectively employed by them, both mean the one and the same portion of the day, viz. in the forenoon. Nor is there any reason why we should desire to diminish the number of hours of His remaining on the cross. Jesus hung upon it more than six hours : for even six hours, from the third to the ninth hour, were in themselves a longer time than ordinary hours of equal length, inasmuch as the equi nox was now past : for they were wont to divide the day, whether it were shorter or longer, into twelve hours : and be tween the close of the supernatural darkness and the death of Jesus many events intervened. There are some who explain this verse thus : It was the third hour from the time that they