The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 59

is still frequently done. The honey, too, was the article made by bees. . . . Wild honey is still gathered in large quantities from trees in the wilderness, and from rocks in the we.dies, jUBt where the :Baptist sojourned, and where he came preachin"'0 the doctrine of repentance." X, DIBOOUBBE OF THE BAPTIST TO THE COMING CROWDS. 1. .Audience addressed. The persons who went out to John's ministry are described by St. Luke as crowds or multitudes (d;,c:Ao,); but they are distinguished by St. Matthew as comprehending two component parts, or :two contending sects, namely, Pharisees and Sadducees, that together made up the main body of the nation, To the Gentiles, for whom St. Luke wrote, the distinction would have little meaning and no interest; to the Hebrew Christians, for whom St. Matthew wrote, it would convey the fact that the crowds that flocked to the Baptist's ministry were made up of the two religious sects of Judaism promiscuously, In his audience were Judreans and Jerusalemites-peoplo from the country and the capital; and dwellers in all the region round about the Jordan (1t•pl;,c:01pos), Samaritans, Galileans, Perreans, and Gaulonites. 2. His discou-rse den-unci- atory. His discourse breathed the spirit of a reformer and evinced the power of a reformer. He denounced most scathingly the ritualistic Pharisee and the rationalistic Sadducee-traclitionist and scripturist alike ; high and low, rich and poor. He spared the shortcomings of no class, the iniquities of no rank, and the sins of no individual. The plea of ancient privilege and of pious ancestors he treated with scorn, telling such as resorted to those refuges that God could, and would if necessary, raise up children to Abraham out of the stones that lay scattered through the valley, or the shingle that strewed the strand of the Jordan, or those huge boulders-those memorial stones which Joshua had set up near the bank of that historic river. This expression, by the way, though apparently harsh, may allude to Isa. li. 1, 2, "Look unto the rock: whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you." 3. Bis discourse menacing. He threat- ened the vengeance of heaven on all who refused to repent and return to God. The woodman's axe was already brandished to fell the trees that continued barren. The axe was brought into unpleasant proximity to such trees-not to the branches merely, but was laid to the very root; in fact, lies at it (1<•,.-w). The fatal blow was ready to be struck at any moment. In view of anger so imminent, he urges all to flee from the wrath to come-to repent, and not only profess, but prove, their repentance real by fruits answerable to such profession; "If then ( oiv) you are as anxious as you seem to escape that storm of future wrath, bring forth fruit suitable to genuine penitence." 4. His discourse effective. The various classes that had resorted to his ministry were roused to a sense of danger. The terror of the alarmed multitudes took shape in the question, " What, then, shall we do?" Just as on the day of Pentecost, the men of Israel, pricked to the heart, addressed themselves to Peter and the rest of the apostles, asking, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And just as the Philippian jailor, in his wild alarm, trembling and falling down before Paul and Silas, cried out, "Sim, what must I do to be saved?" 5. Directions to different classes. The reply in this case inculcated a lesson of charity and sympathy-the person who had two tunics or under garments (xmiivu), besides his outer garment (lµdnov), was to impart to the poor starveling who had not even one, So with food of all forms and every kind (fJpwµa..-a), as well as raiment. Such were the directions addressed to the multitudes (li;,c:Ao,); while the difference between these directions and those addressed to the two following classes deserves notice. To the former (the multitudes) he said," Do good;" to the latter (publicans and soldiers) he said, "Abstain from evil;" to the one the direction is positive, to the other negative. To the former he said, "Learn to do well;" and to the latter, "Cease to do evil." The publicans again, who were looked on as trading on their country's degradation, he forbade to continue their unjust exactions and dishonest dealings; while the soldiers on their march (<T.-pa.-.uoµ•vo,), whether those of Antipas marching against his father-in-law Aretas, or otherwise, he commanded, in reply to their numerous and oarnest inquiries (br11p,:,.,..,,, imperf.), to forbear extortions either by threats or false accusations-neither to concuss the poor by the former, nor force money out of the. pockets of the rich by the latter: also to be content with their wa&es (ol/,t1111lou; literal!y, boiled fish, rations, soldiers' pay). ~I. FonMAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF MESSIAH. By this time the crowds assembled  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S1'. MARK. [ou. L 1-45.