144
y Mk. iv. 40. “ Κύριε, σῶσον
ἡμᾶς, ἀπολλύμεθα.”'
νι.
26. Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, “Τί Τότε ἐγερθεὶς 7 ἐπετίμησε τοῖς.
27. οἱ δὲ
Rev. xxi. Ht Bs) Σδειλοί ἐστε, ὀλιγόπιστοι ;” z here an parall. of ἀνέμοις καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ ἐγένετο "γαλήνη µεγάλη. the win A and sea ἄνθρωποι ἐθαύμασαν, λέγοντες, ““Ὁ Ποταπός ἐστιν οὗτος, ὅτι καὶ οἱ (Ps. εν. 9). y κ ε , ο 229 here and ἄνεμοι καὶ ἡ θάλασσα ὑπακούουσιν αὐτῷ ; arall.
b Mk. xiii, 1. Lk. i. 29; vii. 39. 1 John iii. 1.
1 ημας, another addition for clearness, wanting in ${B ; more expressive without.. 2 SOB transpose υπακ. avtw (so Tisch., W.H.).
in nature, is a lullaby to a great spirit. The Fathers viewed the sleep and the storm theologically, both arranged for beforehand, to give time for cowardice to show itself (Chrys., Hom. xxviii.), to let the disciples know their weakness and to accustom them to trials (Theophyl.). A docetic Christ, an unreal man, a theatrical affair!—Ver. 25. προσελθόντες: one of our evangelist’s favourite words.— ἤγειραν: they would not have waked Him if they could have helped it. They were genuinely terrified, though experienced sailors accustomed to rough weather.— Κύριε, σῶσον . . . ἀπολλύμεθα: laconic speech, verbs unconnected, -utterance of fear-stricken men. Luke’s ἐπιστάτα, ἐπιστάτα is equally descriptive. Who could tell exactly what they said? All three evangelists report differently.—Ver. 26, δειλοί, ὀλιγόπιστοι, He chides them first, then the winds, the chiding meant to calm fear. Cowards, men of little faith! harsh in tone but kindly meant ; expressive really of personal fearlessness, to gain ascendency ‘over panic-stricken spirits (cf. Luke).—7ére ἐγερθεὶς: He had uttered the previous words as He lay, then with a sudden impulse He rose and spoke imperial words to the elements: animos discipulorum prius, deinde mare composuit (Bengel).—avépots, θαλάσσῃ: He rebuked both. It would have been enough to rebuke the winds which caused the commotion in the water. But the speech was impassioned and poetic, not scientific.—yahyvq µεγάλη: antithetic to σεισμὸς µέγας, νετ. 24.—Ver. 27, ot ἄνθρωποι: who? Naturally one would say the disciples with Jesus in the boat, called men to suit the tragic situation. But many think others are referred to, men unacquainted with Jesus: “' quibus nondum innotuerat Christus” (Calvin) ; either with the disciples in the boat, and referred to alone (Jerome, Meyer) or jointly (De Wette, Bleek), or who after- wards heard the story (Hilary, Euthy., Fritzsche: “homines, quotquot hujus
portenti nuntium acceperant,” and Weiss). Holtzmann (H. C.) says they might be the men in the other ships. mentioned in Mk. iv. 36, but in reality the expression may simply point to the contrast between the disciples as men and the divine power ἀϊερ]αγεά.---ποτα- πός . . . οὗτος, what manner of person 2 The more classic form is ποδαπός = from what land? where born? possibly from ποῦ and ἄπο, with a euphonic 8 (Passow). ποταπός, in later use, = of what sort? vide Lobeck, Phryn., p. 56.—This story of the triple tradition is a genuine re- miniscence of disciple life. There was a storm, Jesus slept, the disciples awoke Him in terror. He rebuked the winds and waves, and they forthwith subsided. The only escape of naturalism from a miracle of power or Providence (Weiss, Leben Fesu) is to deny the causal sequence between Christ’s word and the ensuing calm and suggest coincidence. The storm sudden in its rise, equally sudden in its lull. Vv. 28-34. The demoniacs of Gadara (Mk. v. 1-20, Lk. viii. 26-39). This narrative raises puzzling questions of all sorts, among them a geographical or topological one, as to the scene of the occurrence, The variations in the read- ings in the three synoptical gospels reflect the perplexities of the scribes. The place in these readings bears three distinct names. It is called the territory of the Gadarenes, the Gerasenes, and the Gergesenes. The reading in Mk. v. 1 in B, and adopted by W.H.., is Γερασηνῶν, and, since the discovery by Thomson (Land and Book, ii. 374) of a place called Gersa or Kersa, near the eastern shore of the lake, there has been a grow- ing consensus of opinion in favour of Gerasa (not to be confounded with Gerasa in Gilead, twenty miles east ot the Jordan) as the true name of the scene of the story. A place near the sea seems to be demanded by the circum- stances, and Gadara on the Hieromax