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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 10:40 - 10:40
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40. ἐξ εὐωνύμων. Omens from the left hand were sinister, but they were euphemistically called “of good name” to avert ill fortune; εὐωνύμων = ἀριστερῶν (Mar 10:37). The former is more freq. in N.T., but the latter is far more freq. in LXX.
οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι. Cf. οὐκ ἐμὲ δέχεται (Mar 9:37). The rewards will be His to give (Rev 22:12; 2Ti 4:8), but only in accordance with the will of the Father, who “hath given all judgment unto the Son” (Joh 5:22 f.; Act 10:42), and He will exercise it when the time and season come (Act 1:7). Their asking the Son of Man to give the reward, before they had earned it, and before He was glorified, was altogether out of place; it was asking Him to be capricious and unfair. Cf. Mar 13:32. This was a favourite Arian text, and as such is often discussed by the Fathers. Hence the addition in some Latin texts of vobis, which is retained in the Clementine Vulgate without Greek authority; also in Aeth.
ἀλλʼ οἷς ἡτοίμασται. But it shall be given to them for whom it hath been prepared by the Father. This interpretation “by the Father” is certainly right, and it is given by Mt. as having been uttered; cf. Mar 10:19; Mar 10:28; Mar 10:33; Mar 10:38. And δοθήσεται is to be understood. In A.V. “it shall be given” is in italics in Mt., but not in Mk. There is no δοθήσεται in either text. On the reading ἄλλοις for ἀλλʼ οἷς see Nestle, p. 37. Syr-Sin. reads ἀλλῷ. Euthym. understands, not δοθήσεται, but ἐκείνων ἐστίν, “it belongs to those for whom it hath been prepared,” which comes to much the same. The point is that fitness, and not personal influence, decides these matters; but we may also make ἀλλά. equivalent to εἰ μή, “Not Mine to give, except to those.” This is sometimes denied, but without good reason. ἔπαισε δʼ αὐτόχειρ νιν οὔτις ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ τλάμων (Soph. O.T. 1331): ἡδέα δʼ αὐκ ἔστιν ἀλλὰ τούτοις καὶ οὕτω διακειμένοις (Arist. Eth. Nic. x. 5. 10). In the sense of Divine preparation, ἑτοιμάζω is almost a technical expression (Mat 25:34; Joh 14:2; 1Co 2:9; Heb 11:16; Rev 12:6; Rev 21:2; 2Es 8:52). Hatch, Essays, p. 51 f.