Lange Commentary - Mark 11:1

Lange Commentary - Mark 11:1 - 11:11

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Lange Commentary - Mark 11:1 - 11:11

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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

3. The Triumphal Entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Mar_11:1-11.

(Parallels: Mat_21:1-17; Luk_19:29-46; Joh_12:12-29.)

¹ And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, ²And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. ³And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straight-way he will send him hither. ⁴And they went their way, and found the colt tied by ⁵ the door without, in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. And certain ⁶ of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. ⁷And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. ⁸And many spread their garments in the way; and others cut down branches off the trees, and strewed them in the way. ⁹And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: ¹⁰ Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: ¹¹ Hosanna in the highest. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the even-tide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

See on the parallels in Matthew and Luke.—The Evangelist translates us at once into Palm-Sunday, as to time; and, as to place, into the region between Bethany and the Mount of Olives. The departure from Jericho took place on the Friday before the Passion-Week: it was the custom to spend the night in the district of the Mount of Olives, and to keep the Sabbath there. In Bethany, on the evening of Saturday, the meal took place in the house of Simon the Leper. On Sunday morning the journey from Bethany was continued. Now, in the accounts of the Synoptists, the beginning and the continuation of the festal journey are combined in one, because it is their object to describe the important palm-procession at once as a whole. Luke, indeed, informs us of the delay of the journey on Friday in Jericho, that is, through the Lord’s entrance into the house of Zacchæus; and he adds the delivery of a parable which is connected with that entrance, and with the expectation of the people that He would at once found the Messianic kingdom in Jerusalem. But it is John alone who tells us that the tarrying in Bethany occupied an interval; and to him also we owe the most particular explanation of the procession, in the passage, Mar_12:12-29. What is peculiar to Mark is this, that he places us by his minute specialities in the very midst of the scene. He writes in the present tense: “They come nigh; He sendeth.” The sending of the two he relates somewhat more circumstantially; while, with Luke, he omits the mention of the older ass, and does not join Matthew and John in their allusion to Zec_9:9. He alone marks the fact, that the colt stood tied by the door of a house in a place where two ways met; and he also gives most vividly the particulars connected with the loosing of the ass. Then he again gives his record in the present tense: They bring the foal; they lay their garments thereon. In his description of the strewing of branches and garments in the way, as well as of the Hosanna, he agrees now with Matthew and now with Luke; yet he alone has the óôïéâÜäåò , and the greeting to the kingdom of the Messiah, as well as to the King. Several traits which are found in Matthew, Luke, and John, he omits. Earnest and powerful is the final narrative. Jesus comes into the city, into the temple; takes all into His eye with silent, searching glance, and returns back to Bethany in the evening with the Twelve. For this distinction between the day of the entrance and the day of the cleansing of the temple, we are indebted to Mark alone.

Mar_11:1. Unto Bethphage and Bethany.—They are approaching Jerusalem; and the approach is so ordered, that they arrive at Bethphage and Bethany. The intermediate stations are measured from Jerusalem, the goal; consequently, Bethphage comes first, and then Bethany, for they proceed from Bethany over Bethphage to the city. But how is it we read towards Bethany, when the departure was from that place? First, we must bear in mind that the Sunday procession from Bethany is blended into unity with the Friday procession from Jericho. Thus the passage means, that Jesus sent His disciples forth at once from Bethany. Moreover, it may be assumed that the Bethany of that time stretched wide into the country around, and that Jesus had found a lodgment in its eastern outskirts. The district of Bethany reached as far as to join the district of Bethphage. But Bethany they had not yet arrived at: the colt was sent for from thence. Concerning Jerusalem, Bethany, Bethphage, see on Matthew. Concerning the Mount of Olives, comp. Winer and the travellers.

Mar_11:2. Whereon never man sat.—So also Luke. This circumstance is wanting in Matthew, but perfectly agrees with his account of the mother-ass. The foal had up to this time run with its mother. Meyer discerns in this notice “an appendage of reflective tradition, based on the sacred characteristic of the animal (for unused animals were put to sacred purposes, Num_19:2; Deu_21:3;1Sa_6:7).”—Matthew did not note the circumstance, because it was self-understood that the foal was not yet used, so long as it was a foal running with the mother. See the notes on Matthew.

Mar_11:3. And if any man say unto you.—That this significant interchange of sayings implies previous acquaintance and private watchwords, is proved by the use of the åἰðåῖí in Mark, and in Luke of the emphatic ïὕôùò ἐñåῖôå . So is it with the ordering of the Passover-feast by such a particular one: åἱðáôå áὐôῷ . Luke has the equivalent ἐñåῖôå , with the addition, ëÝãåé óïé ὁ äéäÜóêáëïò .

Mar_11:4. Without, in a place where two ways met.—The ἄìöïäïí means primarily a way encompassing a block of houses; then the street, and even a quarter of the town. The animal being fastened to the door points to the open space before the house.

Mar_11:8. Branches.—The word óôïéâÜäåò is an error of the transcriber; the Codd. B. D., and others, read óôéâÜäåò . The óôéâÜò is a scattering of straw, reed, branches, or twigs. The plural and the cutting down point to branches of trees. According to Joh_12:13, palm-leaves were strewed (as the symbol of peace).

Mar_11:10. The kingdom of our father David.—That is, the kingdom of the Messiah as the spiritual restoration of the kingdom of David, which had become, for the Jew, a type of the Messianic kingdom, as David was a type of the Messiah. “The Messiah Himself was also called David, among the Rabbis (Schöttgen, Hor. ii).” (Meyer.)

Mar_11:11. He went out unto Bethany.—Meyer insists on it that there is here a discrepancy with Matthew. It is a discrepancy when the definite is opposed to the definite; but not when the definite is opposed to the indefinite. This well-founded canon of hermeneutics would demolish many of the discrepancies pointed out by school criticism. Matthew and Luke wrote no diaries. There is no difference here, any more than the blending of the parts of the palm-procession into the journey of one day makes the Synoptists and John disagree. Matthew and Luke connect the cleansing of the temple with the import of the palm entry; but this Mark does not. Christ, according to his account, takes a general survey, which in its silent observation betokened the cleansing which would take place on the morrow.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. See on Matthew and Luke.

2. The expectation of the Messiah was the expectation of His kingdom; hence the salutation of the Messiah was the salutation of His kingdom. Christ and His kingdom are not to be separated; but the kingdom of His cross and the kingdom of His glory are to be distinguished, even as the glorified Christ is distinguished from the Christ in the form of a servant. Of this gulf between the kingdom here and the kingdom there, most of the jubilants had no idea; many rose not beyond it, but plunged below.

3. The Mount of Olives a symbol.

4. The palm-procession in Mark is brief, earnest, sublime. A swift progress to the city, and to the temple; ending in a wide and silent inspection of the temple until evening.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See on Matthew, and the preceding reflections.—Christ’s goal in His royal procession: to the temple.—The significance of Christ’s coming to the temple: 1. The types and promises, Exo_40:34; 1 Kings 8; 2 Chronicles 5; Isaiah 2; Isa 46:20; Ezekiel 43; Hag_2:3; Hag_2:9; Zec_14:20; Mal_3:1. 2. The historical visits paid to it: the child Jesus in the temple, the visit when twelve years old, the feasts, Jesus as the public Messiah in the temple, the Pentecost, the burning of the temple in a. d. 70. 3. The spiritual visitations of the temple.—The history of the temple the history of the world; the history of the temple the history of the kingdom of God.—The palm-entry into the temple, according to its external and its internal form: 1. The great procession to the great cathedral; 2. Christ the judged, and Christ the Judge, conducted by a wretched people to the deserted house of God.—Christ comes to the temple, 1. from Galilee with the ecclesiastical devout, 2. from Jericho with the enthusiasts, 3. from Bethany with His friends and servants, 4. from the Mount of Olives alone with His Holy Spirit.—Christ in the temple as the Jesus of twelve years, and as the openly-proclaimed Messiah.—Christ in the beautiful new-built temple; or, the difference between an æsthetic and a spiritual inspection of the temple.—The fearfully silent glance of Christ in the temple until evening.—The Lord’s visitation of His churches: 1. He knows and sees all; 2. He sees and looks through all; 3. He looks through all, and keeps silence; 4. He keeps silence, thinking upon judgment and mercy.—Christ’s entrance and exit at His temple visitation: 1. The entrance: through the city straight to the temple; 2. the exit: from the temple to Bethany.—The procession of the people with Christ to the temple.

Starke:—Thus Jesus comes as the Lamb of God, and places Himself on the altar of sacrifice. Certainly this was not the act of a mere man, thus joyfully to come, to give Himself up to His enemies, and go to confront His death.—Comp. the foal, 1Sa_6:7.—Canstein:—The Lord needs not that we should give Him anything, for all is always His; yet He may require it for certain purposes.—Quesnel:—All things must be cast under the feet of Jesus.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Where Jesus is, there is life, movement, praise, and joy.—How necessary is the visitation of the churches!—Hedinger:—The eye and the heart may well take pleasure, as in nature, so also in art, her copy. (But all in its measure and in its time.)—Gerlach:—(The foal never yet used.) This trait points to the fact that Jesus made His entrance as Priest-King.—Braune:—Believers gladly place their substance at the feet and disposal of Jesus, their Master.—In the way of obedience (which the disciples followed), light always arises upon light.—The Lord now came upon the animal of peace, not as one day upon the great white horse to judgment.—Thus they received with peaceful joy the Prince of peace.—Every festal pilgrim was received with the “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord;” but the greeting befitted Him in a peculiar and, higher sense.

Schleiermacher:—We must confess that, though they may not have been the same men (who first cried Hosannah! then Crucify Him), yet that it was the same people.—The oneness and interdependence of the people makes the difference of the individuals disappear.—We cannot help regarding this gross fickleness and instability as the proper characteristic of the great mass.—(Christ keeping silence in the temple till even-tide.) The boundary between the old and the new covenant came nearer and nearer: the one was to find its end, and the other was to be erected on the ruins of the former.—What thoughts touching the past must have arisen, and how deep must His emotions have been, in the consciousness of what He came to do, when He compared the magnificence and glory of the old covenant with the spiritual life of the new covenant, which, far removed from all outward demonstration, unseen and unpretending, was creating for itself its own form in sweet and gentle silence; when He compared the magnificence and glory of the external temple with the spiritual temple built of living stones, in which His spirit should dwell, and where should be established for ever the worship of His heavenly Father in spirit and in truth!

Brieger:—The devotion of the garments to His service intimates something extraordinary. When Jehu in the camp was to be proclaimed as king, a throne of garments was erected for him. This, with the sound of trumpets, and the cry, “Jehu is king,” made up the homage (2Ki_9:13). Here we have something similar, whereby homage is done to Jesus.—As a light before its final extinction blazes up once more, so Israel before their final fall lifted themselves up to Jehovah once more. But as at Sinai they were put to shame after professing obedience (Exo_20:19), through making the golden calf, so here they are put to more wretched shame, by so soon crying, Crucify Him! crucify Him!—Now does the Father set His Son as a King upon His holy hill of Zion, Psa_2:6.—Christ was a King from this hour. In all the parables from this point, His own Person is the centre. He speaks and acts as a king. (But we must distinguish between the time when the people heralded Him as king, and when God lifted Him up to His throne: between Palm Sunday and the Resurrection and Ascension.)

Footnotes:

Mar_11:2.—Lachmann reads ïὐäåὶò ïὔðù , after B., Origen, and others. [A. reads ïὐäåὶò ðþðïôå .] Tischendorf and Meyer, after B., C., L., Ä . read ëýóáôå áὐôὸí êáὶ öÝñåôå .

Mar_11:3 .—In several Codd., B., C.*, D., L., Ä ., &c., stands ðÜëéí . Thus the clause is made part of the answer of the disciples: The Lord will use the colt and send it back again.—Probably this was designed to soften the seeming violence of the transaction. [Elzevir and Fritzsche read ἀðïóôåëåῖ .]

Mar_11:6.— Êáèὼò åἶðåí corresponding to the preceding åἶðïí , according to B., C., L., Ä ., Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Meyer].

Mar_11:7.—B., L., Ä ., Origen, Tischendorf, Meyer, read öÝñïõóéí instead of ἤãáãïí . ἘðéâÜëëïõóéí , empha tic Present, [B., C., D., L., Ä ., Vulgate, Griesbach, Fritzsche, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer].

Mar_11:8.—Tischendorf’s reading (recommended by Meyer), ἄëëïé äὲ óôéâÜäáò , êüøáíôåò ἐê ôῶí ἀãñῶí , is not sufficiently supported. [ Ἀãñῶí is found in B., C., L., Ä ., Syriac (margin); Fritzsche, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Meyer regard óôéâÜäáò as the correct form.]

Mar_11:9.—The ëÝãïíôåò is wanting in B., C., L., Ä ., [Tischendorf; bracketed by Griesbach, Lachmann].

Mar_11:10.—The reading, ἐí ὀíüìáôé êõñßïõ , has some important Codd. against it, but A. and others sustain it. It was probably corrected as being difficult: but the difficulty is obviated if we regard the expression “kingdom” (poetically brief, without the Article) as repeated in thought. [Meyer rejects it.]

Mar_11:11.—‘O’ Ἰçóïῦò is an explanatory addition. [Rejected by Griesbach, Fritzsche, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer.]