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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 3:4 - 3:4
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4. It might have been sufficient to say that it was no violation even of their rules respecting the Sabbath for the man to stretch out his hand. But Christ appeals to a broader principle (cf. Mar 2:17; Mar 2:27). To refuse to do good is to do evil (Jam 4:17), and, Sabbath or no Sabbath, it is wrong to do evil and right to do good. His enemies cared nothing about the man’s hand. Κακοποιεῖν is class. Grk, but not ἀγαθοποιεῖν, which in LXX. takes the place of the class, εὖ ποιεῖν.
ψυχὴν σῶσαι ἢ ἀποκτεῖναι. This second way of putting the alternative has two points. (1) The Rabbis themselves allowed attending to suffering when life was in danger, and life being in danger was interpreted liberally. (2) They were plotting to kill Jesus. Which did more honour to the Sabbath, His healing or their plotting? “To save” means more than “to preserve from death”; it includes restoring to health. Mt. here inserts the argument about the animal fallen into a pit, which Lk. (Luk 14:1-6) has in the healing of the man with the dropsy.
ἐσιώπων. They remained silent. They cannot refute His arguments, but they will not yield. Mk alone mentions the silence of the Pharisees, which, like the watching, continued for some time. See on Mar 10:48. Here and in Mar 3:5 we seem to have the vivid recollections of an eye-witness, such as Peter.