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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 13:4 - 13:4
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4. Εἰπὸν ἡμῖν. All three record these two questions, When? and What sign? The disciples want to know how soon the Temple will be destroyed, and what will give warning that the destruction is very near. The sing., τὸ σημεῖον, is in all three; one manifest signal is expected. They accept, without question, that the destruction will take place, just as they accept the equally appalling statement that one of them is a traitor (Mar 14:19). They probably assumed that the end of the world would immediately follow the destruction, an assumption which Christ does not directly correct. Experience would do that, as soon as correction was necessary. Εἰπόν is from the 1st aor. εἶπα.
συντελεῖσθαι. Nowhere else in Mk. It is used of days being completed, Luk 4:2; Act 21:27; Job 1:5; Tob 10:7. The πάντα comes last with emphasis, ταῦτα συντ. πάντα being the right order; but the meaning of ταῦτα πάντα is not clear. Christ’s reply is about the Parusia. Mt. here makes use of two expressions which no other Evangelist employs, παρουσία and συντέλεια τοῦ αἰῶνος.