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Mar_15:29-41. See on Mat_27:39-56. Comp. Luk_23:35-49.
οὐά ] the Latin vah! an exclamation of (here ironical) amazement. Dio Cass. lxiii. 20; Arrian, Epict. iii. 23. 24; Wetstein in loc.
ὁ καταλύων κ . τ . λ .] gives us a glimpse of the original affirmation of the witnesses, as it is preserved in Mat_26:61 (not in Mar_14:58).
Mar_15:31. πρὸς ἀλλήλ ., inter se invicem, belongs to ἐμπαίζ .
Mar_15:32. Let the Messiah the King of Israel come down now, etc.,—a bitter mockery! The ὁ Χριστός applies to the confession before the supreme council, Mar_14:61 f., and ὁ βασιλ . τ . Ἰσρ . to that before Pilate, Mar_15:2. Moreover, we may attach either the two forms of address (Lachmann, Tischendorf), or the first of them (Ewald), to what precedes. But the customary mode of apprehending it as a double address at the head of what follows is more in keeping with the malicious triumph.
πιστεύσ .] namely, that He is the Messiah, the King of Israel. καὶ οἱ συνεσταυρ .] agrees with Matthew, but not with Luke. See on Mat_27:44. It is to be assumed that Mark had no knowledge of the narrative of Luk_23:39 ff., and that the scene related by Luke belongs to a later tradition, in which had been preserved more special traits of the great event of the crucifixion, but with which the historical character of the exceedingly characteristic scene is not lost. See on Luke, l.c.
Mar_15:34.[176] ἐλωΐ ] the Syriac form for àÅìÄé (Matthew), which latter appears to have been what Jesus uttered, as is to be inferred from the scoff: ἨΛΊΑΝ ΦΩΝΕῖ .
Mar_15:36. ΛΈΓΩΝ ,] a difference from Mat_27:49, whose account is more original (in opposition to Holtzmann), because to remove the aspect of friendliness must appear more in keeping with the later development. In consequence of this difference, moreover, ἄφετε is to be understood quite otherwise than ἄφες in Matthew, namely, allow it, what I am doing, let me have my way,—which has reference to the scoffing conception, as though the proffered draught would preserve the life till Elias should come. The view that in Mar_15:35 f. friends of Jesus are meant who misunderstood His cry of ἘΛΩΐ , and one of whom had wished still to cheer Him as regards the possible coming of Elias (Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 490), is in itself improbable even on account of the well-known cry of the Psalm, as indeed the ἄφετε , ἴδωμεν κ . τ . λ ., comp. Mar_15:30, sounds only like malicious mockery.
Mar_15:37. ἘΞΈΠΝΕΥΣΕ ] He breathed out, i.e. He died. It is often used in this meaning absolutely in the Greek writers (Soph. Aj. 1025; Plut. Arist. 20).
Mar_15:39. According to Mark, the centurion concluded from the fact of Jesus dying after having cried out in such a manner, i.e. with so loud a voice (Mar_15:37), that He was a hero. The extraordinary power ( ΟὝΤΩ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΙΚῶς ἘΞΈΠΝΕΥΣΕ , Theophylact, comp. Victor Antiochenus: ΜΕΤʼ ἘΞΟΥΣΊΑς ἈΠΈΘΑΝΕ ) which the Crucified One manifested in His very departing, made on the Gentile this impression—in which his judgment was naturally guided by the circumstance that he had heard (Mat_27:40) of the charge brought against Jesus, that He claimed to be Son of God. According to others (as Michaelis, Kuinoel, de Wette), the unexpectedly speedy dying of Jesus, who had just before emitted a vigorous cry, made that impression, upon the Gentile, who saw in it a favour of the gods. But in order to express this, there would have been necessary under the circumstances before ἘΞΈΠΝ . an accompanying definition, such as ἬΔΗ or ΕὐΘΈΩς . Baur, Markusev. p. 108 f., illustrates the remark even from the crying out of the demons as they went forth (Mar_1:26, Mar_5:7, Mar_9:26); holding that Mark correspondingly conceived of the forcible separation of the higher spirit, through which Jesus had been the Son of God,—therefore after a Gnostic manner. Comp. also Hilgenfeld and Köstlin. Wrongly; because opposed to the doctrine of the entire N. T. regarding Christ the born Son of God, as indeed the heathen centurion, according to the measure of his conception of sons of God, could not conceive of Him otherwise. We may add that the circumstantial and plain statement of motive, as given by Matthew and Luke for the centurion’s judgment, betrays the later manipulators (Zeller in Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschr. 1865, p. 385 ff., gives a contrary opinion), to whom Mark in this place seemed obscure or unsatisfactory.
ἦν ] in His life.
Mar_15:40. ἮΣΑΝ ] aderant; comp. Mar_8:1.
καὶ Μαρ .] among others also Mary.
ΤΟῦ ΜΙΚΡΟῦ ] cannot according to the meaning of the word be without arbitrariness explained as: the younger, although the James designated is the so-called Younger, but as: the little (of stature, comp. Luk_19:3). Hom. Il. v. 801: Τυδεύς τοι μικρὸς μὲν ἔην δέμας , Xen. Cyr. viii. 4. 20. An appeal is wrongly made to Jdg_6:15, where in fact ΜΙΚΡΌς is not the youngest, but the least, that is, the weakest in warlike aptitude.
Mark does not name Salome, but he indicates her. According to Joh_19:25, she was the sister of the mother of Jesus. Comp. also Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 171. Thus there are three women here recorded by Mark. So also Mat_27:56. To distinguish the Mary of James from the mother of Joses, so that four should be adduced (Ewald, l.c. p. 324), there appears to be no sufficient ground (comp. the Remark after Mar_15:47); on the contrary, Mark and Matthew would have here expressed themselves in a way very liable to be misunderstood; comp. on Matthew.
Mar_15:41. αἳ καὶ κ . τ . λ .] as they were now in the company around Jesus, so also they were, while He was in Galilee, in His train, ΑἽ applies, we may add, to the three who were named. Beside these there were among the women present yet many others, who had gone up with Him to Jerusalem.
[176] Mark has only this one of the sayings of Jesus on the cross, and Schenkel regards only this one as absolutely undoubted,—in which opinion he does great injustice specially to John. Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 451, takes offence at this very saying, and only finds it conceivable as a reference to the whole twenty-second Psalm.