Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Mark 5:25 - 5:34

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Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Mark 5:25 - 5:34


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Mar_5:25-34. See on Mat_9:20-22; Luk_8:43-48.

Mar_5:26. Mark depicts with stronger lines than Luke, and far more strongly than Matthew.

τὰ παρʼ αὐτοῦ ] what was of her means. How manifold were the prescriptions of the Jewish physicians for women suffering from haemorrhage, and what experiments they were wont to try upon them, may be seen in Lightfoot, p. 614 f.

Mar_5:27. ἀκούσασα ] subordinated as a prior point to the following ἐλθοῦσα . Comp. on Mar_1:41.

The characteristic addition τοῦ κρασπέδου in Mat_9:20, Luk_8:44, would be well suited to the graphic representation of Mark (according to Ewald, it has only come to be omitted in the existing form of Mark), but may proceed from a later shape of the tradition.

Mar_5:28. ἔλεγε γάρ ] without ἐν ἑαυτῇ (see the critical remarks) does not mean: for she thought (Kuinoel, and many others), which, moreover, àîø used absolutely never does mean, not even in Gen_26:9, but: for she said. She actually said it, to others, or for and to herself; a vivid representation.

Mar_5:29. πηγὴ τ . αἵμ . αὐτ .] like îÀ÷å̇ø ãÌÈîÄéí (Lev_12:7; Lev_20:18), not a euphemistic designation of the parts themselves affected by the haemorrhage, but designation of the seat of the issue of blood in them.

τῷ σώματι ] διὰ τοῦ σώματος μηκέτι ῥαινομένου τοῖς σταλαγμοῖς , Euthymius Zigabenus. Still this by itself could not as yet give the certainty of the recovery. Hence rather: through the feeling of the being strong and well, which suddenly passed through her body.

μάστιγος ] as at Mar_3:10.

Mar_5:30. ἐπιγνούς ] stronger than the previous ἔγνω .

ἐν ἑαυτῷ ] in His own consciousness, therefore immediately, not in virtue of an externally perceptible effect.

τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δύν . ἐξελθ .] the power gone forth from Him. What feeling in Jesus was, according to Mark’s representation, the medium of His discerning this efflux of power that had occurred, we are not informed. The tradition, as it has expressed itself in this trait in Mark and Luke (comp. on Mat_9:22), has disturbed this part of the narrative by the view of an efflux of power independent of the will of Jesus, but brought about on the part of the woman by her faith (comp. Strauss, II. p. 89), the recognition of which on the part of Jesus occurred at once, but yet not until after it had taken place. This is, with Weiss and others (in opposition to Holtzmann and Weizsäcker), to be conceded as a trait of later origin, and not to be dealt with by artificial explanations at variance with the words of the passage (in opposition to Ebrard and Lange), or to be concealed by evasive expedients (Olshausen, Krabbe, and many others). It does not, however, affect the simpler tenor of the history, which we read in Matthew. Calovius made use of the passage against the Calvinists, “vim divinam carni Christi derogantes.”

τίς μου ἥψατο τῶν ἱμ .] who has touched me on the clothes? Jesus knew that by means of the clothes-touching power had gone out of Him, but not, to whom. The disciples, unacquainted with the reason of this question, are astonished at it, seeing that Jesus is in the midst of the crowd, Mar_5:31. In Olshausen, Ebrard, Lange,[91] and older commentators, there are arbitrary attempts to explain away that ignorance.

Mar_5:32. περιεβλέπετο ἰδεῖν ] namely, by any resulting effect that might make manifest the reception of the power. The feminine τὴν τ . ποιήσασαν is said from the standpoint of the already known fact.

Mar_5:33. πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ] the whole truth, so that she kept back nothing and altered nothing. Comp. Plat. Apol. p. 17 B, 20 D; Soph. Trach. 91; and see Krüger on Thuc. vi. 87. 1.

εἰς εἰρήνην ] ìÀùÑÈìå ̇ í , 1Sa_1:17; 2Sa_15:9; Luk_7:50, al.: unto bliss, unto future happiness. In ἘΝ ΕἸΡΉΝῌ (Jdg_18:6; Luk_2:29; Act_16:36; Jam_2:16) the happy state is conceived of as combined with the ὝΠΑΓΕ , as simultaneous.

ἼΣΘΙ ὙΓΙῊς Κ . Τ . Λ .] definitive confirmation of the recovery, which Schenkel indeed refers merely to the woman’s “religious excitement of mind” as its cause.

[91] According to Lange, for example, the conduct of Jesus only amounts to an appearance; “He let His eyes move as if (?) inquiringly over the crowd” ( περιεβλέπ . ἰδεῖν κ . τ . λ .).