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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 9:48 - 9:48
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48. ὅπου ὁ σκώληξ κ.τ.λ. This highly metaphorical expression is here part of the true text. It comes from Isa 66:24; cf. Jdt 16:17; Sir 7:17; Apocalypse of Peter 10. The “worm” and the “fire” are opposed to “life,” and seem to denote “destruction”; they can hardly mean life in endless torture. They have no end so long as they have anything to devour. Victor and Theophylact interpret them of the gnawing reproaches of conscience and the memory of shameful things done in this life. Perhaps they point rather to permanent loss, irreparable deterioration of the man’s real self. Jews had strange ideas about the unseen world, as that one of the joys of the righteous was to see the torments of the wicked. Christ did not contradict these ideas, but He has left teaching which enables us to correct them.