The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 320

9. Moral obligation ,et aside through Pharuaism. Our Lord proceeds to expose the practical and pernicious effect of Pharisaic traditionalism in the domain of ethics. He had shown the hollowness of its teaching in cases of ceremonial cleansings , but he now advances from the ceremonial to the moral. For this purpose he selects the fifth commandment, and proves t~at the antagonis~ between the written Law, or Law of God, and the oral, or human law, m respect to thlS commandment, is complete. He quotes the prescriptive part of the commandment, and omits the promissory as not required by the object he has in view; instead of the promissory clause attached to obedience, he substitutes the punitive sentence prononnced on the person gnilty of a breach of the commandment in question. "MosP.s said "-and here it will be observed that the com- mandment of God, who spake by Moses, is identified with the commandment of his inspired servant, so that what was really said by God is here attributed by our Lord to his servant Moses-" Honour thy father and thy mother." These words were graven by the finger of the Almighty on the stone tablet at Sinai, and the precept thus solemnly delivered at first was enforced by the awfully severe sanction which follows:- " Whoso curseth "-that is, speaketh ill of or revileth-" father or mother, let him die the death." (1) In the "precept" the possessive pronoun and article are used with both words, " father" and " mother," as if to individualize, and point out specifically to every reader or hearer of the Law, the duty as individual and personal; but, in the penalty clause, the pronoun and article, though expressed both in the original Hebrew and Septuagint Version, are omitted in the record of both evangelists, as if to genenllze or treat as a class, and present the duty in the abstract, thus denoting unfaithfulness to 11'11,Ch a relationship-such a sacred object of affection as a father and a mother. The omission of the article by itself draws attention to the quality, character, or nature, rather than the substance, of the thing thus spoken of. (2) The original Hebrew expression is a peculiar idiom of that language, implying intensity by means of an infinitive mood joined to the finite verb of the same signification, and denoting, " Let him be surely put to death "-literally," dying, let him be put to death." The Septuagint Version has two ways of expressing this Hebrew idiom, either by the verb and cognate noun in the dative, or by the verb and its participla; the former is the mode not exactly adopted, but only approximated in this instance, with merely an insignificant variation, by the evangelist, namely, "Let him end with death." But (3) the words ., he shall be free" of the common version are supplied in order to make out the sense. If the reading of the received text, which begins the next verse with ,...i, be retained, the verse before us may be regarded (a) as an instance of the figure aposiopesis, by which our Lord, as if with inexpressible indignation at the thought of conduct so unnatural and reprehensible, breaks off without completing the sentence ; while the supplied words of the English version express the acquittal conceded in the case by Pharisaic casuistry. Another way (b) of evading the difficulty was suggested by Fritzsche, who supplies here the closing words of ver. 10 with a. negative-that is,µ.~ 6a~d.,.'I' .,.,>.,u.,-d.,--so that this verse would read as follows:-" Bot ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatseover thou mightest be profited by me, let him not die the death." The Revised Version, (c) how- ever, cuts the knot by adopting the reading which excludes ,.a} from the beginning a1 ver. 12; thus, "But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or his mother, That where- with thou mightest have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given to God• ye no longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother." 10. Further development of our Lord's retort. The word " corban" meant anything brought near to the altar or to the God of the altar for presentation, and applied, like th? cognate verb hikrib, to bring near, to any offerings, whether bloody or unbloody~ ammal or vegetable. The evangelist, as is his custom, explains it by a Greek word denoting a gift in general, but more particularly, according both to Homeric anrl Hellenistic usage, a gift to God, or a votive offering. It is thus a correct equivalent of the word which the evangelist explains by it. When, then, a Jewish child wished to discard, and entirely free himself from, filial obligation, he had only to pronounce this mystic word of potent meaning, and the traditional law of Pharisaism gave him a full release. Whenever a man said of any part of his property or of his whole possessions, "It is Corban," that is," given to God,' he was bound by his vow, and the property was. devoted to the service or support of the altar <c temple or national religion; it waa  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. MARK. [cH. vu. 1-37.