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Mar_14:55-65. See on Mat_26:59-68.
Mar_14:56. καὶ ἴσαι κ . τ . λ .] and the testimonies were not alike[170] (consonant, agreeing). At least two witnesses had to agree together; Deu_17:6; Deu_19:15; Lightfoot, p. 658; Michaelis, Mos. R. § 299; Saalschütz, p. 604. The καί is the simple: and. Many testified falsely and dissimilarly.
Mar_14:58. ἡμεῖς ] we, on our part: the ἐγώ also which follows has corresponding emphasis.
χειροποίητον … ἄλλον ἀχειροποίητον ] peculiar to Mark, but certainly (comp. on Mar_15:29) a later form of the tradition resulting from reflection (at variance with John’s own interpretation) as to the meaning of the utterance in Joh_2:19, according to which there was found in that saying a reference to the new spiritual worship of God, which in a short time Christ should put in the place of the old temple-service. Comp. Act_6:14. Matthew is here more simple and more original.
ἀχειροπ .] is an appositional more precise definition to ἄλλον . See van Hengel, Annotat. p. 55 ff. Comp. on Luk_23:32.
Mar_14:59. οὐδὲ οὕτως ] and not even thus (when they gave this statement) was their testimony consonant. The different witnesses must therefore have given utterance to not unimportant variations in details (not merely in their mode of apprehending the saying, as Schenkel would have it). It is plain from this that one witness was not heard in the presence of the other. Comp. Michaelis, Mos. R. § 299, p. 97. Others, like Erasmus, Grotius, Calovius, in opposition to linguistic usage and to the context (see Mar_14:56), hold that ἴσος is here and at Mar_14:56 : sufficiens.
Mar_14:60. Two questions, as at Mat_26:62. If we assume only one, like the Vulgate, and take τί for ὅ , τι : answerest thou nothing to that, which, etc. (Bornemann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1843, p. 120 f.; Lachmann, Tischendorf, Ewald, Bleek, and various others), it is true that the construction ἀποκρίνεσθαί τι is not opposed to it (see on Matthew), but the address is less expressive of the anxiety and urgency that are here natural to the questioner. Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 217 [E. T. 251], harshly suggests that “hearing” should be supplied before ὅ , τι .
Mar_14:61. Well known parallelismus antitheticus, with emphasis. Inversely at Act_18:9.
ὁ εὐλογητός ] κατʼ ἐξοχήν , äÇáÌÈøåÌêÀ , God. Used absolutely thus only here in the N. T. The Sanctus benedictus of the Rabbins is well known (Schoettgen, ad Rom_9:5). The expression makes us feel the blasphemy, which would be involved in the affirmation. But it is this affirmation which the high priest wishes (hence the form of his question: Thou art the Messiah?), and Jesus gives it, but with what a majestic addition in this deep humiliation!
Mar_14:62. The ἀπʼ ἄρτι in Mat_26:64, which is wanting in Mark, and which requires for what follows the figurative meaning, is characteristic and certainly original. On ΜΕΤᾺ Τ . ΝΕΦΕΛ ., comp. Dan_7:13 ( òÄí ); Rev_1:7. That figurative meaning is, moreover, required in Mark by ἐκ δεξιῶν καθήμ τ . δυν ., although Keim finds in this interpretation “arbitrariness without measure.” Luke only, Luk_22:69, while abbreviating and altering the saying, presents the literal meaning.
Mar_14:63. ΤΟῪς ΧΙΤῶΝΑς ] a more accurate statement, in accordance with the custom of rending the garments, than the general ΤᾺ ἹΜΆΤΙΑ in Mat_26:65; see in loc. People of rank wore two under-garments (Winer, Realw.); hence τοὺς χιτ .
Mar_14:64. κατέκριναν κ . τ . λ .] they condemned Him, to be guilty of death[171] On κατακρ . with an infinitive, comp. Herod, vi. 85, ix. 93; Xen. Hier. vii. 10.
Mar_14:65. ἤρξαντο ] when the “guilty!” had heen uttered. A vivid representation of the sequel.
ΤΙΝΈς ] comp. previously ΟἹ ΔῈ ΠΆΝΤΕς , hence: some of the Sanhedrists. The servants, i.e. the servants of the court, follow afterwards.
προφήτευσον ] usually: who struck thee, according to the amplifying narratives of Matthew and Luke; Mark, however, does not say this, but generally: prophesy! which as Messiah thou must be able to do! They wish to bring Him to prophesy by the κολαφίζειν ! The narrative of Mark, regarded as an abbreviation (Holtzmann), would be a singularity without motive. Matthew and Luke followed another tradition. The veiling of the face must, according to Mark, be considered merely as mocking mummery.
And after some of the Sanhedrists had thus mocked and maltreated Him, the servants received Him with strokes of the rod. To them He was delivered for custody until further orders. This is the meaning according to the reading ἔλαβον (see the critical remarks). On the explanation of the reading ἜΒΑΛΛΟΝ , they struck Him, see Bornemann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1843, p. 138. As to ῥαπίσμασιν , see on Mat_26:67 The dative denotes the form, the accompanying circumstances, with which on the part of the servants the ἔλαβον took place. Bernhardy, p. 100 f. Comp. the Latin accipere aliquem verberibus (Cic. Tusc. ii. 14. 34).
[170] It is not to be accented ἶσος , as in Homer, but ἴσος , as with the Attic and later writers. See Fritzsche in loc.; Bentley, ad Menandr. fragm., p. 533, ed. Meinek.; Brunck, ad Arist. Plut. 1113; Lipsius, grammat. Unters. p. 24.
[171] This was the result, which was already from the outset a settled point with the court, and to the bringing about of which the judicial procedure had merely to lend the form of legality. The defence of the procedure in Saalschütz, Mos. R. p. 623 ff., only amounts to a pitiful semblance of right. Against the fact as it stood, that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, they had no law; this claim, therefore, was brought into the sphere of the spiritual tribunal under the title of blasphemy, and before the Roman tribunal under that of high treason. And into the question as to the ground and truth of the claim—although in the confession of Jesus there was implied the exceptio veritatis—they prudently did not enter at all.