The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 253

our Lord had been obliged to nee e. little making e. mile. The Sea of Galilee is not pressure to induoe his disciples to leave more than six miles broad at its widest him: "He constrained them (-l/11cl:y1<1111• .-ol,, po.rt. They were therefore now Uv µeuq, ,...o.,,.-lts ain-oii). -r~s 811/\&11u11•) '' in the midst of the sea," as Ver. 46.-And when he had sent them St. Mark expresses it; so that, after rowing away (cl.1ro.-a!&µ,11os)-more literallr, had for nine hours, they had hardly cro,sed talcen leave of them, thRt is, the multitude-- more than half over the sea. The Sea of he departed into e. monnte.in ( •ls .-o ~pos) ; Galilee is, speaking roughly, about twelve literally, into the mountain; that is, the miles from north to south e.nd six from high to.ble-le.nd e.t the foot of which the east to west. It may be asked why our multitude had been fed. Towards the Lord suffered them to be tempest-tossed so north-east of the See. of Galilee the land long; and the answer is: 1. It was a trial rises rapidly from the shore. To pray of their faith, so as to nrge them to seek (1rpotr,{,!a.118a,). This is e. very full word, more earnestly the help of Gud. 2. It was implying the outpouring of the heart to a lesson to accustom tbem to endure har,1- God. Our Lord did this that he might ness. 3. It made the stilling of so tedious tee.eh us in our prayers to shun the crowd, and dangerous a storm all the more grateful e.nd to pray in silence and in secret, with and welcome to them at last. The Fathers collected mind. There is here, too, e. specie.I find a fine spiritual weaning in this. Jerome example for the clergy, namely, this: that says, "The fourth watch is the last." So, when they have preached they should go too, St. .Augustine, who adds that "he who apart e.nd pre.y that God would me.ke has watched the ship of his Church will come effectual the.t which they have delivered; 11t leugth at the fourth watch, at the end of that he would himself give the increase the world, when the night of sin and evil where they have planted e.nd watered, and is ended, to judge the quick and the dead." renew their spiritual strength, that they Theophylact says, "He allows his disciples me.y return again to their labour refreshed to be tried by dangers, that they may be by communion with him. taught patience, e.nd does not come to them Ver. 47.-And when even was oome. It till morning, that they may learn perse- we.a now advancing onwards into night; the verance and faith." Hilary says, "The first wind was rising and blowing against them. we.tch was the age of the Law, the aecond Then it we.a that the Lord left his place of of the prophets, the third of the gospel, the prayer on the mountain, that he might fourth of his glorious advent, when he will succour his disciples in their difficulties. find her buffeted by the spirit of antichrist V.!>re. 48---50.-And he ee.w them toiling e.nd by the storms of the world. And by in rowing. The Greek is, according to his reception into the ship and the conse- the best readings, 1<al iBcl,11 (not Eioev) ab.-olis quent calm is prefigured the eternal peace /311111l111(0µ.evous ,,, .-qJ h,11611<111, The word of the Church after his second coming" (see /31111a.11,(oµ.l11ous means more than "toiling;" Wordsworth's •New Testament : • St. Matt. it means literally, tormented. It is well xiv.). He walked 0-,1 the sea. This he did rendered in the Revised Version by dis- by his Divine power, which he possessed 11s tressed. It was only by painful effort that God, and which, when he pleased, he cou.!d they could make head against the driving 11ssume as man. Infidelity is at fo.ult here. storm blowing upon them from the west, Paulus, the rationalist, revived the ridiculous that is, from the Mediterranean Sea. About idea. that Christ wo.lkiug on the see. merely the fourth we.toh of the night he oometh meant Christ wi1lking on the shore, elevated nnto them, walking on the sea. The Jews above the see.; but the interpretation was formerly divided the night into three rightly denounced by Lavater as "e. laugh- watches; but when Judme. became e. Roman able insult on logic, hermeneutics, good provincu they adopted the Roman division. sense, e.nd honesty." Was it because our The Romans changed the watches every Lord simply walked on the shore that the three hours, lest through too long watches disciples "cried out o.nd were troubled"? the guards might slumber o.t their posts. Was it merely for this that they were" sore These periods were called "watches." If a.mu.zed at themselves beyond measure and the night was short, they divided it into wondered " ? Yet such are the shifts to three wo.tches; if long, into four. Therefore which unbelief is reduced when it ventures the fourth we.tch began e.t the tenth hour to measuro itself o.gai.nst the acts of Omni- of the night, that is, at three o'clock in the potence. He wonld he.ve pused by them. morning, e.nd continued to the twelfth, that An expression something like that in St. is, to six o'clock. It would seem, therefore, Luke (xxiv. 28), "He made e.s though he tllat this storm lo.sted for nine hours. would go further," e.lthougll there the Greel,- During that time the disciples had rowed in St. Luke is different ( 1rpoue1ro«i.-o 1ro1,- about twenty-five or thirty furlongs, that p01.-,p01 1rop•6e11811,). Here i, is 1!8<11.• 1rap•/\· is, 11bout three Roman miles-eight furlongs tM11 : literally, lid wished to pan by them;  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S'l. MARK. [o!!. VI. 1-56.