The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 150

Vers. 20-30. Parallel passages: Matt. xii. 22-87; Luke xi. 14-23.-Mistaken friends and malignant foes, I. MlsTAKEN FRIENDS. 1. The connection, Between the appointment of the apostles and the transactions here narrated several important matters intervened. There was the sermon on the mount, recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew chs. v.-vii.; and an abridgment or modification of the same repeated in the Gospel of St. Luke, eh. vi. 17-49. Next followed the events recorded throughout the seventh chapter of St. Luke, and which were as follows :-The cure of the centurion's servant• the restoration to life of the widow's son of Na.in; the message seni by John th~ Baptist; the dinner in the house of Simon, with the anointing by a woman who had been a sinner. Previously to this last had been the doom pronounced on the impenitent cities, narrated by St. Matthew in eh. xi. towards the end; the second circuit through Galilee, of which we read in Luke viii, at the beginning; while immediately before, and indeed leading to, the circumstances mentioned in this section was the healing of a blind and dumb demoniac. 2. The concourse. Ow- Lord had just returned, not into the house of some believer, as Euthymius thinks; nor into the house in which he made his abode while at Capernaum., as this meaning would require the article; but more generally," to home," as in eh. ii. I. And no sooner is his return reported than he is followed by a great concourse of people. Again a crowd, as on several previous occasions, especially that mentioned in eh. ii. 2, when" there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door," pressed after him. Such was the curiosity of the crowd, and so great their eagerness, that 110 opportunity was allowed our Lord and his apostles to enjoy their ordinary repasts; "they could not so much as eat bread." This rendering corresponds to that of the Peshito, which omits the second and rtrengthening negative, for, while in Greek a negative is neutralized by a subsequent simpl,e negative of the same kind, it is continued and intensified by a following rompound negative of the same kind. The meaning, therefore, is stronger, whether we read µi,-rE or /L7J~•; thus," They were able, no, not (µi,-r•) to eat bread ; " or, stronger still, "They could not even (/L7J~•) eat bread," much less find leisure to attend to anything else: though, it may be observed in passing, if µ11-r• were the right reading, the meaning would rather be that they were neither able nor did eat bread. In fact, the crowd was so great, so continuous, so obtrusive, that no time was allowed our Lord and his apostles for their ordinary and necessary meals. From this we leam that our Lord's popularity was steadily as well as rapidly increasing, and that the excitement, instead of diminishing, was daily, nay, hourly, intensifying. 3. The concern of our Lord's kinefolk. Hearing of this wonderful excitement which the presence of Jesus was everywhere O".-casioning, his friends or kinsmen were alarmed by the circumstance ; and, dreadin~ the effect of such excitement upon his physical constitution-fearing, no doubt, that he might be carried away by his enthusiasm and zeal beyond the measure of his bodily strength, and even to the detriment of his mental powers-our Lord's relations wen& forth to check his excessive efforts and repress his superabundant ardour. 'l'ht1 statement is either general, that is to say, "they went forth," or it may be understooo in the stricter sense of their coming out of their place of abode, probably Nazareth, or possibly Capernaum. The expression, al np' av-raii, according to ordinary usage, would mean persons sent by him or away from him, as ol .,,."P" -roii N11do11, in 'fhucyuidcs, is CllL m. 1-35.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 145