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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 8:15 - 8:15
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
15. διεστέλλετο. In Mar 5:43, Mar 7:36, Mar 9:9 we have the aor., as elsewhere in N.T. The imperf. may mean that the charge was given more than once; or, like εἶχον, it refers to the time in the boat,—they were short of bread and He was saying this; or it may be the conversational imperf. Mt. has εἶπεν, again changing imperf. to aor.
βλέπετε ἀπό. Not “look away from,” but “look and turn away from,” “consider and avoid.” Cf. φυλάσσεσθε ἀπό (Luk 12:15), προσέχετε ἀπό (Mat 7:15), φοβηθῆτε ἀπό (Mat 10:28), and see on αἰσχυνθῶμεν ἀπό (1Jn 2:28). This pregnant constr. is not Hebraistic. In a letter of A.D. 41, βλέπε ἀπό occurs in a warning against dealings with Jews (G. Milligan, N.T. Documents, p. 50).
τῆς ζύμης. Leaven works imperceptibly and may represent good (Mat 13:33) or bad (1Co 5:6; Gal 5:9) influence; Ignatius (Magnes. x.) has it of both. But it is generally used of bad influence, fermentation being regarded as corruption; fermentation disturbs, inflates, sours. Hence the careful banishment of it during the Passover. Mt. interprets the leaven of the Pharisees (and Sadducees) as their “doctrine,” Lk. (Luk 12:1) as “hypocrisy,” and this might apply to Herod also. Bede gives as part of Herod’s leaven simulatio religionis. The repetition of τῆς ζύμης shows that the leaven of the Pharisees is different from the leaven of Herod, and perhaps irreligion and moral weakness is meant by the latter. Possibly, in thus hurriedly crossing the Lake, they were avoiding being molested by Herod’s emissaries. Cf. Luk 13:31. The two leavens were alike in working against Christ. Mk gives no interpretation, and the different interpretations in Mt. and Lk. point to early conjectures.