Mark 8
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12. And he sighed deeply in his spirit--The language is very strong. These glimpses into the interior of the Redeemer's heart, in which our Evangelist abounds, are more precious than rubies. The state of the Pharisaic heart, which prompted this desire for a fresh sign, went to His very soul.
and saith, Why doth this generation--"this wicked and adulterous generation" ( Matthew 16:4 ).
seek after a sign?--when they have had such abundant evidence already.
There shall no sign be given unto this generation--literally, "If there shall be given to this generation a sign"; a Jewish way of expressing a solemn and peremptory determination to the contrary (compare Hebrews 4:5 , Psalms 95:11 , Margin). "A generation incapable of appreciating such demonstrations shall not be gratified with them." In Matthew 16:4 He added, "but the sign of the prophet Jonas."
13. And he left them--no doubt with tokens of displeasure.
The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees ( Mark 8:14-21 ).
14. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf--This is another example of that graphic circumstantiality which gives such a charm to this briefest of the four Gospels. The circumstance of the "one loaf" only remaining, as WEBSTER and WILKINSON remark, was more suggestive of their Master's recent miracles than the entire absence of provisions.
15. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees--"and of the Sadducees" ( Matthew 16:6 ).
and of the leaven of Herod--The teaching or "doctrine" ( Matthew 16:12 ) of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees was quite different, but both were equally pernicious; and the Herodians, though rather a political party, were equally envenomed against our Lord's spiritual teaching. leaven, for good or bad, is the ground of the comparison.
16. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread--But a little while ago He was tried with the obduracy of the Pharisees; now He is tried with the obtuseness of His own disciples. The nine questions following each other in rapid succession ( Mark 8:17-21 ) show how deeply He was hurt at this want of spiritual apprehension, and worse still, their low thoughts of Him, as if He would utter so solemn a warning on so petty a subject. It will be seen, however, from the very form of their conjecture, "It is because we have no bread," and our Lord's astonishment that they should not by that time have known better with what He took up His attention--that He ever left the whole care for His own temporal wants to the Twelve: that He did this so entirely, that finding they were reduced to their last loaf they felt as if unworthy of such a trust, and could not think but that the same thought was in their Lord's mind which was pressing upon their own; but that in this they were so far wrong that it hurt His feelings--sharp just in proportion to His love--that such a thought of Him should have entered their minds! Who that, like angels, "desire to look into these things" will not prize such glimpses above gold?
17. have ye your heart yet hardened?--How strong an expression to use of true-hearted disciples!
18. Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye
and do ye not remember?
19. When I brake the five loaves among five thousand--"the five thousand."
how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? &c.
21. How is it that ye do not understand?--"do not understand that the warning I gave you could not have been prompted by any such petty consideration as the want of loaves in your scrip." Profuse as were our Lord's miracles, we see from this that they were not wrought at random, but that He carefully noted their minutest details, and desired that this should be done by those who witnessed, as doubtless by all who read the record of them. Even the different kind of baskets used at the two miraculous feedings, so carefully noted in the two narratives, are here also referred to; the one smaller, of which there were twelve, the other much larger, of which there were seven.
Blind Man at Bethsaida Restored to Sight ( Mark 8:22-26 ).
22. And he cometh to Bethsaida--Bethsaida Julias, on the northeast side of the take, whence after this He proceeded to Cæsarea Philippi ( Mark 8:27 ).
and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch
23. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town--Of the deaf and dumb man it is merely said that "He took him aside" ( Mark 7:33 ); but this blind man He led by the hand out of the town, doing it Himself rather than employing another--great humility, exclaims BENGEL--that He might gain his confidence and raise his expectation.
and when be had spit on his eyes--the organ
and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught.
24. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking--This is one of the cases in which one edition of what is called the received text differs from another. That which is decidedly the best supported, and has also internal evidence on its side is this: "I see men; for I see [them] as trees walking"--that is, he could distinguish them from trees only by their motion; a minute mark of truth in the narrative, as ALFORD observes, describing how human objects had appeared to him during that gradual failing of sight which had ended in blindness.
25. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw every man clearly--Perhaps the one operation perfectly restored the eyes, while the other imparted immediately the faculty of using them. It is the only recorded example of a progressive cure, and it certainly illustrates similar methods in the spiritual kingdom. Of the four recorded cases of sight restored, all the patients save one either came or were brought to the Physician. In the case of the man born blind, the Physician came to the patient. So some seek and find Christ; of others He is found who seek Him not.
26. Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town--Besides the usual reasons against going about "blazing the matter," retirement in this case would be salutary to himself.
Mark 8:27-38 . PETER'S NOBLE CONFESSION OF CHRIST--OUR LORD'S FIRST EXPLICIT ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS APPROACHING SUFFERINGS, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION--HIS REBUKE OF PETER, AND WARNING TO ALL THE TWELVE. ( = Matthew 16:13-27 , Luke 9:18-26 ).