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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Mark 5:25 - 5:34
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_5:25-34
25A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse — 27after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. 28For she thought, "If I just touch His garments, I will get well." 29Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My garments?" 31And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'" 32And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. 33But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction."
Mar_5:25 "hemorrhage for twelve years" This would have made her ceremonially unclean (cf. Lev_15:25-27) and, therefore, excluded her from all forms of Jewish worship (i.e., synagogue and temple).
Mar_5:26 "and had endured much at the hands of many physicians" Luke, the physician, leaves this comment out in Luk_8:43 ff.
▣ "had spent all she had and was not helped at all" The Jewish cures for this problem listed in the Talmud were (1) carrying the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen rag around one's neck in summer and in a cotton rag in winter or (2) carrying barley corn from the dung of a white female donkey (cf. Shabb. 110 A & B).
Mar_5:27 "touched His cloak" Probably what she touched was His prayer shawl, used by men for covering their heads during worship. It was called the Tallith (cf. Num_15:38-40; Deu_22:12). For a ceremonially unclean woman to touch a rabbi was an inappropriate act. This woman was desperate!
Mar_5:30 "Immediately" See note at Mar_1:10.
▣ "Jesus perceiving in Himself that the power" The exact nature of this power is uncertain. It was obviously from God (cf. Luk_5:17). Jesus felt its affect. Jesus was able to bestow it to others in the missions of the Twelve and the seventy.
▣ "proceeding from Him had gone forth" Mat_8:17 quotes Isa_53:4 that the Messiah would heal us because He bore our infirmities.
▣ "Who touched My garments" There was a great crowd (cf. Mar_5:31). Mat_9:20 has "tassel." The prayer shawl had thirteen blue tassels, commemorative of the Mosaic Law.
Mar_5:32 "And He looked around" This imperfect tense implies He began to look over the crowd. On this occasion Jesus was not supernaturally informed about who or what had happened. Possibly the question was meant for the woman (i.e., an opportunity to publicly express her faith).
Mar_5:33 "fearing and trembling" Women had such a low place in society. She was reluctant to speak in public. She also knew that since she was ceremonially unclean she was not permitted to touch a rabbi.
Mar_5:34 "'Daughter'" The teachings of Jesus reveal the profound truth that human beings, through faith in Jesus, can become family members of God. Salvation is described in birthing or legal terms, indicating a family relationship. What powerful metaphors for the Christian experience!
▣ "'your faith has made you well'" Not her touch, but acting on her faith in Him was the key. Faith itself is not the issue, but the object of faith (i.e., Jesus). There was nothing magical here, nor was it the power of positive thinking, but the power of Jesus. This is another use of the Greek sôzô in its OT sense (cf. Mar_5:23). Here it is a perfect active indicative, which implied she was healed and remained healed of the physical problem.
▣ "'go in peace and be healed of your affliction'" These are both present active imperatives. The term peace (eirçnç) has the connotation of wholeness and well-being, not just the absence of problems. The term "affliction" is from the root "to whip."