Mark 3

7 from Galilee, etc. The enumeration in this and the next verse shows that the fame of our Lord’s teaching and miracles had spread through the whole land, and had attracted to Him all classes of the inhabitants.

8. Idumea. Edom, which reached from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea.

10 plagues. Or, “scourges”; i.e. sicknesses; so called because they were regarded as Divine chastisements for sin.

11 when they saw Him. Lit., “whensoever they beheld Him” (R.V.). The word indicates the close connexion between the demons and the human beings whom they “possessed.” The demons recognise “the Son of God” in Him whom the demoniaes see, and urge their victims to “fall down before Him,” etc.

12 that they should not make Him known. See notes on i. 24, and on Matt. xvi. 20.

13 into a (the) mountain. See note on Matt. v. 1.

14-19. See notes on Matt. x. 1-4.

14 ordained. That is, “appointed” (R.V.). Whilst Matthew records at length the commission subsequently given to the apostles, from which we may gather the nature and objects of their office, Mark states the immediate purpose of their designation. They were to be with Jesus; to witness His life, death, and resurrection; to learn by His example, as well as by His public discourses (Matt. v.-vii.) and His private teachings (John xiv.-xvi.). Thus instructed, they were to begin, under His superintendence, that work of preaching and healing which they were further to carry out after His departure.

17 sons of thunder. Some take this name to be an allusion to the vehement and zealous disposition of the two brothers: see ix. 38; x. 37.

19 they went into a house. Wycliffe’s rendering, as given in the margin of the A.V., “they came home,” is probably the best. But the Septuagint has the verb in the singular, “he cometh” (as R.V.).

21. His friends. That is, His family. They intended to persuade, or even to compel Him to desist from His labours; regarding Him as “beside Himself”: see note on Matt. xii. 46. For their arrival, see ver. 31. Their conduct in influencing the mother of Jesus to impede Him in His work accounts for His tone towards her.

22 the scribes . . . from Jerusalem. These, like most of the Scribes, were Pharisees (Matt. xii. 24); and they had come down from Jerusalem probably to oppose the progress of the new teaching. On vers. 22-35, see notes on Matt. xii. 24-50.

He hath Beelzebub (Beelzebul). See note on Matt. x. 25. If Jesus were possessed by Beelzebul, “the prince of the demons,” He would have power over inferior demons. Hence the form of His reply.

29 in danger of eternal damnation. The best authorities read, “is guilty of an eternal sin” (R.V.). The phrase is peculiar to Mark: see on Matt. xii. 32.