01400
 \\For he wist not what to answer\\ (\\ou gar idei ti apokrithi\\).
 Deliberative subjunctive retained in indirect question. But why
 did Peter say anything? Luke says that he spoke, "not knowing
 what he said," as an excuse for the inappropriateness of his
 remarks. Perhaps Peter felt embarrassed at having been asleep
 # Lu 9:32
 and the feast of tabernacles or booths (\\sknai\\) was near.
 See note on "Mt 17:4"
 Peter and the others apparently had not heard the talk of Moses
 and Elijah with Jesus about his decease (\\exodon\\, exodus,
 departure) and little knew the special comfort that Jesus had
 found in this understanding of the great approaching tragedy
 concerning which Peter had shown absolute stupidity
 # Mr 8:32
 so recently.
 See note on "Mt 17:5"
  about the overshadowing and the voice.

01401
01402
 \\Suddenly looking round about\\ (\\exapina periblepsamenoi\\).
 # Mt 17:8
 has it "lifting up their eyes." Mark is more graphic. The sudden
 glance around on the mountain side when the cloud with Moses and
 Elijah was gone. \\Jesus only with themselves\\ (\\meth' heautn ei m\\
 \\Isoun monon\\). Mark shows their surprise at the situation. They
 were sore afraid
 # Mt 17:6
 before Jesus touched them.

01403
 \\Save when\\ (\\ei m hotan\\). Matthew has "until" (\\hes hou\\). \\Should\\
 \\have risen\\ (\\anasti\\). Second aorist active subjunctive. More
 exactly, "should rise" (punctiliar aorist and futuristic, not
 with any idea of perfect tense).
 # Lu 9:36
 merely says that they told no man any of these things. It was a
 high and holy secret experience that the chosen three had had for
 their future good and for the good of all.

01404
 \\They kept the saying\\ (\\ton logon ekratsan\\) to themselves as Jesus
 had directed, but \\questioning among themselves\\ (\\pros heautous\\
 \\sunztountes\\). Now they notice his allusion to rising from the
 dead which had escaped them before
 # Mr 8:31

01405
01406
 \\Restoreth all things\\ (\\apokatistanei panta\\). This late double
 compound verb, usual form \\apokathistmi\\ in the papyri, is
 Christ's description of the Baptist as the promised Elijah and
 Forerunner of the Messiah.
 See note on "Mt 17:10"
 ... through verse 13
 The disciples had not till now understood that the Baptist
 fulfilled the prophecy in
 # Mal 3:5
 They had just seen Elijah on the mountain, but Jesus as Messiah
 preceded this coming of Elijah. But Jesus patiently enlightens
 his dull pupils as they argue about the exegesis of the scribes.

01407
01408
 \\And scribes questioning with them\\ (\\kai grammateis sunztountes\\
 \\pros autous\\). Mark alone gives this item. He is much fuller on
 this incident
 # 9:14-29
 than either Matthew
 # Mt 17:14-20
 or Luke
 # Lu 9:37-43
 It was just like the professional scribes to take keen interest
 in the failure of the nine disciples to cure this poor boy. They
 gleefully nagged and quizzed them. Jesus and the three find them
 at it when they arrive in the plain.

01409
 \\Were greatly amazed\\ (\\exethambthsan\\). First aorist passive
 ingressive aorist with perfective compound \\ex-\\. The sudden and
 opportune appearance of Jesus in the midst of the dispute when no
 one was looking for him turned all eyes to him. He would not
 fail, however the disciples might do so. The people were awed for
 the moment and then running began to welcome him (\\protrechontes\\
 \\spazonto\\). Present participle and imperfect middle indicative.

01410
 \\What question ye with them?\\ (\\Ti sunzteite pros autous;\\). Jesus
 had noticed the embarrassment of the nine and at once takes hold
 of the situation.

01411
 \\I brought unto thee my son\\ (\\negka ton huion mou pros se\\). The
 father stepped out and gave the explanation of the excited
 dispute in direct and simple pathos.

01412
 \\Wheresoever it taketh him\\ (\\hopou ean auton katalabi\\). Seizes him
 down. Our word catalepsy is this same word. The word is used by
 Galen and Hippocrates for fits. The word is very common in the
 papyri in various senses as in the older Greek. Each of the verbs
 here in Mark is a graphic picture. \\Dashes down\\ (\\rssei\\). Also
 \\rgnumi, mi\\ form. Convulses, rends, tears asunder. Old and common
 word. \\Foameth\\ (\\aphrizei\\). Here only in the N.T. Poetic and late
 word. \\Grindeth\\ (\\trizei\\). Another _hapax legomenon_ in the N.T.
 Old word for making a shrill cry or squeak. \\Pineth away\\
 (\\xrainetai\\). Old word for drying or withering as of grass in
 # Jas 1:11
 \\And they were not able\\ (\\kai ouk ischusan\\). They did not have the
 strength (\\ischus\\) to handle this case. See
 # Mt 17:16; Lu 9:40
 (\\kai ouk dunthsan\\, first aorist passive). It was a tragedy.

01413
 \\Bring him unto me\\ (\\pherete auton pros me\\). The disciples had
 failed and their unbelief had led to this fiasco. Even the
 disciples were like and part of the \\faithless\\ (\\apistos\\,
 unbelieving) generation in which they lived. The word \\faithless\\
 does not here mean treacherous as it does with us. But Jesus is
 not afraid to undertake this case. We can always come to Jesus
 when others fail us.

01414
 \\Tare him grievously\\ (\\sunesparaxen auton\\).
 # Lu 9:42
 has both \\errxen\\ (dashed down, like
 # Mr 9:18
 \\rssei\\) and \\sunesparaxen\\ (convulsed). This compound with \\sun-\\
 (together with), strengthens the force of the verb as in
 \\sunpnig\\
 # Mr 4:7
 and \\suntre\\
 # 6:20
 The only other instance of this compound verb known is in Maximus
 Tyrius (second century B.C.). \\Wallowed\\ (\\ekulieto\\). Imperfect
 passive, was rolled. A pitiful sight. Late form of the old
 \\kulind\\.

01415
01416
 \\But if thou canst\\ (\\all 'ei ti duni\\). Jesus had asked (verse
 # 21
 the history of the case like a modern physician. The father gave
 it and added further pathetic details about the fire and the
 water. The failure of the disciples had not wholly destroyed his
 faith in the power of Jesus, though the conditional form (first
 class, assuming it to be true) does suggest doubt whether the boy
 can be cured at all. It was a chronic and desperate case of
 epilepsy with the demon possession added. \\Help us\\ (\\boethson\\
 \\hemin\\). Ingressive aorist imperative. Do it now. With touching
 tenderness he makes the boy's case his own as the Syrophoenician
 woman had said, "Have mercy on me"
 # Mt 15:21
 The leper had said: "If thou wilt"
 # Mr 1:40
 This father says: "If thou canst."

01417
 \\If thou canst\\ (\\to ei duni\\). The Greek has a neat idiom not
 preserved in the English translation. The article takes up the
 very words of the man and puts the clause in the accusative case
 of general reference. "As to the 'if thou canst,' all things can
 (\\dunata\\) to the one who believes." The word for "possible" is
 \\dunata\\, the same root as \\duni\\ (canst). This quick turn
 challenges the father's faith. On this use of the Greek article
 see Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 766.

01418
 \\Cried out\\ (\\kraxas\\). Loud outcry and at once (\\euthus\\). The later
 manuscripts have "with tears" (\\meta dakrun\\), not in the older
 documents. \\I believe; help my unbelief\\ (\\Pisteu: bothei ti\\
 \\apistii\\). An exact description of his mental and spiritual
 state. He still had faith, but craved more. Note present
 imperative here (continuous help) \\bothei\\, while aorist
 imperative (instant help) \\bothson\\, verse
 # 22
 The word comes from \\bo\\, a cry and \\the\\, to run, to run at a cry
 for help, a vivid picture of this father's plight.

01419
 \\A multitude came running together\\ (\\episuntrechei ochlos\\). A
 double compound here alone in the N.T. and not in the old Greek
 writers. \\Epitrech\\ occurs in the papyri, but not \\episuntrech\\.
 The double compound vividly describes the rapid gathering of the
 crowd to Jesus and the epileptic boy to see the outcome. \\Come out\\
 \\of him\\ (\\exelthe ex autou\\). Jesus addresses the demon as a
 separate being from the boy as he often does. This makes it
 difficult to believe that Jesus was merely indulging popular
 belief in a superstition. He evidently regards the demon as the
 cause in this case of the boy's misfortune.

01420
 \\Having torn much\\ (\\sparaxas\\). The uncompounded verb used in verse
 # 20
 \\Became as one dead\\ (\\egeneto hsei nekros\\). As if dead from the
 violence of the spasm. The demon did him all possible harm in
 leaving him.

01421
01422
 \\Privately, saying\\ (\\kat' idian hoti\\). Indoors the nine disciples
 seek an explanation for their colossal failure. They had cast out
 demons and wrought cures before. The Revisers are here puzzled
 over Mark's use of \\hoti\\ as an interrogative particle meaning \\why\\
 where
 # Mt 17:19
 has \\dia ti\\. Some of the manuscripts have \\dia ti\\ here in
 # Mr 9:28
 as all do in
 # Mt 17:19
 See also
 # Mr 2:16
 and
 # 9:11
 It is probable that in these examples \\hoti\\ really means \\why\\. See
 Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 730. The use of \\hos\\ as interrogative "is
 by no means rare in the late Greek" (Deissmann, _Light from the
 Ancient East_, p. 126).

01423
 \\Save by prayer\\ (\\ei m en proseuchi\\). The addition of "and of
 fasting" does not appear in the two best Greek manuscripts (Aleph
 and B). It is clearly a late addition to help explain the
 failure. But it is needless and also untrue. Prayer is what the
 nine had failed to use. They were powerless because they were
 prayerless. Their self-complacency spelled defeat.
 # Mt 17:20
 has "because of your little faith" (\\oligopistian\\). That is true
 also. They had too much faith in themselves, too little in
 Christ. "They had trusted to the semi-magical power with which
 they thought themselves invested" (Swete). "Spirits of such
 malignity were quick to discern the lack of moral power and would
 yield to no other" (_ibid_.).

01424
 \\He would not that any man should know it\\ (\\ouk thelen hina tis\\
 \\gnoi\\). Imperfect tense followed by ingressive aorist subjunctive
 (\\gnoi = gni\\, the usual form). He was not willing that any one
 should learn it. Back in Galilee Jesus was, but he was avoiding
 public work there now (cf.
 # 7:24
 He was no longer the hero of Galilee. He had left Caesarea
 Philippi for Galilee.

01425
 \\For he taught\\ (\\edidasken gar\\). Imperfect tense, and the reason
 given for secrecy. He was renewing again definitely the
 prediction of his death in Jerusalem some six months ahead as he
 had done before
 # Mr 8:31; Mt 16:21; Lu 9:22
 Now as then Jesus foretells his resurrection "after three days"
 ("the third day,"
 # Mt 17:23

01426
 \\But they understood not the saying\\ (\\hoi de gnooun to rhma\\). An
 old word. Chiefly in Paul's Epistles in the N.T. Imperfect tense.
 They continued not to understand. They were agnostics on the
 subject of the death and resurrection even after the
 Transfiguration experience. As they came down from the mountain
 they were puzzled again over the Master's allusion to his
 resurrection
 # Mr 9:10
 # Mt 17:23
 notes that "they were exceeding sorry" to hear Jesus talk this
 way again, but Mark adds that they "were afraid to ask him"
 (\\ephobounto auton epertsai\\). Continued to be afraid (imperfect
 tense), perhaps with a bitter memory of the term "Satan" hurled
 at Peter when he protested the other time when Jesus spoke of his
 death
 # Mr 8:33; Mt 16:23
 # Lu 9:45
 explains that "it was concealed from them," probably partly by
 their own preconceived ideas and prejudices.

01427
 \\In the house\\ (\\en ti oikii\\). Probably Peter's house in Capernaum
 which was the home of Jesus when in the city. \\What were ye\\
 \\reasoning in the way?\\ (\\Ti en ti hodi dielogiszethe;\\). Imperfect
 tense. They had been disputing (verse
 # 34
 not about the coming death of the Master, but about the relative
 rank of each of them in the political kingdom which they were
 expecting him to establish. Jesus had suspected the truth about
 them and they had apparently kept it up in the house.
 See note on "Mt 18:1"
  where the disciples are represented as bringing the dispute to
 Jesus while here Jesus asks them about it. Probably they asked
 Jesus first and then he pushed the matter further and deeper to
 see if this had not been the occasion of the somewhat heated
 discussion on the way in.

01428
 \\But they held their peace\\ (\\Hoi de esipn\\). Imperfect tense. Put
 thus to them, they felt ashamed that the Master had discovered
 their jealous rivalry. It was not a mere abstract query, as they
 put it to Jesus, but it was a canker in their hearts.

01429
 \\He sat down and called the twelve\\ (\\kathisas ephnsen tous\\
 \\ddeka\\). Deliberate action of Jesus to handle this delicate
 situation. Jesus gives them the rule of greatness: "If any man
 would be first (\\prtos\\) he shall be last (\\eschatos\\) of all, and
 minister (\\diakonos\\) of all." This saying of Christ, like many
 others, he repeated at other times
 # Mr 10:43; Mt 23:8; Lu 22:24
 # Mt 18:2
 says that he called a little child, one there in the house,
 perhaps Peter's child.
 # Lu 9:47
 notes that he "set him by his side." Then Jesus \\taking him in his\\
 \\arms\\ (\\enagkalisamenos\\, aorist middle participle, late Greek word
 from \\agkal\\ as in
 # Lu 2:28
 spoke again to the disciples.

01430
01431
 \\One of such little children\\ (\\hen tn toioutn paidin\\).
 # Mt 18:5
 has "one such little child" and
 # Lu 9:48
 "this little child." It was an object lesson to the arrogant
 conceit of the twelve apostles contending for primacy. They did
 not learn this lesson for they will again wrangle over primacy
 # Mr 10:33-45; Mt 20:20-28
 and they will be unable to comprehend easily what the attitude of
 Jesus was toward children
 # Mr 10:13-16; Mt 19:13-15; Lu 8:15-17
 The child was used as a rebuke to the apostles.

01432
 \\Because he followed not us\\ (\\hoti ouk kolouthei hmin\\). Note
 vivid imperfect tense again. John evidently thought to change the
 subject from the constraint and embarrassment caused by their
 dispute. So he told about a case of extra zeal on his part
 expecting praise from Jesus. Perhaps what Jesus had just said in
 verse
 # 37
 raised a doubt in John's mind as to the propriety of his
 excessive narrowness. One needs to know the difference between
 loyalty to Jesus and stickling over one's own narrow prejudices.

01433
 \\Forbid him not\\ (\\m kluete\\). Stop hindering him (\\m\\ and the
 present-imperative) as John had been doing.

01434
 \\He that is not against us is with us\\ (\\hos ouk estin kath' hmn\\
 \\huper hmn estin\\). This profound saying throws a flood of light
 in every direction. The complement of this logion is that in
 # Mt 12:30
 : "He that is not with me is against me." Both are needed. Some
 people imagine that they are really for Christ who refuse to take
 a stand in the open with him and for him.

01435
 \\Because ye are Christ's\\ (\\hoti Christou este\\). Predicate genitive,
 belong to Christ. See
 # Ro 8:9; 1Co 1:12; 2Co 10:7
 That is the bond of universal brotherhood of the redeemed. It
 breaks over the lines of nation, race, class, sex, everything. No
 service is too small, even a cup of cold water, if done for
 Christ's sake.
 See note on "Mt 18:6"
 ... and verses following
  for discussion on stumbling-blocks for these little ones that
 believe on Jesus
 # Mr 9:42
 a loving term of all believers, not just children.

01436
01437
 \\Into hell, into the unquenchable fire\\ (\\eis tn geennan, eis to\\
 \\pr to asbeston\\). Not Hades, but Gehenna. \\Asbeston\\ is alpha
 privative and \\sbestos\\ from \\sbennumi\\ to quench. It occurs often in
 Homer. Our word asbestos is this very word.
 # Mt 18:8
 has "into the eternal fire." The Valley of Hinnom had been
 desecrated by the sacrifice of children to Moloch so that as an
 accursed place it was used for the city garbage where worms
 gnawed and fires burned. It is thus a vivid picture of eternal
 punishment.

01438
 The oldest and best manuscripts do not give these two verses.
 They came in from the Western and Syrian (Byzantine) classes.
 They are a mere repetition of verse
 # 48
 Hence we lose the numbering 44 and 46 in our verses which are not
 genuine.

01439
01440
 See note on "Mr 9:44"

01441
 \\With one eye\\ (\\monophthalmon\\). Literally one-eyed. See also
 # Mt 18:9
 Vernacular _Koin_ and condemned by the Atticists. See
 # Mt 18:8
 Mark has here "kingdom of God" where
 # Mt 18:9
 has "life."

01442
 \\Their worm\\ (\\ho sklx autn\\). "The worm, i.e. that preys upon the
 inhabitants of this dread realm" (Gould). Two bold figures of
 Gehenna combined (the gnawing worm, the burning flame). No
 figures of Gehenna can equal the dread reality which is here
 described. See
 # Isa 66:24

01443
01444
 \\Have salt in yourselves\\ (\\echete en heautois hala\\). Jesus had once
 called them the salt of the earth
 # Mt 5:13
 and had warned them against losing the saltness of the salt. If
 it is \\analon\\, nothing can \\season\\ (\\artu\\) it and it is of no use
 to season anything else. It is like an exploded shell, a
 burnt-out crater, a spent force. This is a warning for all
 Christians.

01445
 \\Into the border of Judea and beyond Jordan\\ (\\eis ta horia ts\\
 \\Ioudaias kai peran tou Iordanou\\).
 See note on "Mt 19:1"
  for discussion of this curious expression. Matthew adds "from
 Galilee" and
 # Lu 17:11
 says that Jesus "was passing through the midst of Samaria and
 Galilee" after leaving Ephraim
 # Joh 11:54
 A great deal has intervened between the events at the close of
 Mark 9 and those in the beginning of Mark 10. For these events
 see
 # Mt 18; Joh 7-11; Lu 9:57-18:14
 (one-third of Luke's Gospel comes in here). It was a little over
 six months to the end at the close of Mark 9. It is just a few
 weeks now in Mark 10. Jesus has begun his last journey to
 Jerusalem going north through Samaria, Galilee, across the Jordan
 into Perea, and back into Judea near Jericho to go up with the
 passover pilgrims from Galilee. \\Multitudes\\ (\\ochloi\\). Caravans and
 caravans journeying to Jerusalem. Many of them are followers of
 Jesus from Galilee or at least kindly disposed towards him. They
 go together (\\sunporeuontai\\) with Jesus. Note dramatic historical
 present. \\As he was wont\\ (\\hs eithei\\). Second past perfect used
 like an imperfect from \\eitha\\, second perfect active. Jesus \\was\\
 \\teaching\\ (\\edidasken\\, imperfect, no longer present tense) this
 moving caravan.

01446
 \\Tempting him\\ (\\peirazontes\\). As soon as Jesus appears in Galilee
 the Pharisees attack him again (cf.
 # 7:5; 8:11
 Gould thinks that this is a test, not a temptation. The word
 means either (
 See note on "Mt 4:1"
 ), but their motive was evil. They had once involved the Baptist
 with Herod Antipas and Herodias on this subject. They may have
 some such hopes about Jesus, or their purpose may have been to
 see if Jesus will be stricter than Moses taught. They knew that
 he had already spoken in Galilee on the subject
 # Mt 5:31

01447
 \\What did Moses command you?\\ (\\Ti humin eneteilato Muss;\\). Jesus
 at once brought up the issue concerning the teaching of Moses
 # De 24:1
 But Jesus goes back beyond this concession here allowed by Moses
 to the ideal state commanded in
 # Ge 1:27

01448
 \\To write a bill of divorcement and to put her away\\ (\\biblion\\
 \\apostasiou grapsai kai apolusai\\). The word for "bill" (\\biblion\\)
 is a diminutive and means "little book," like the Latin
 _libellus_, from which comes our word _libel_ (Vincent). Wycliff
 has it here "a libel of forsaking." This same point the Pharisees
 raise in
 # Mt 19:7
 showing probably that they held to the liberal view of Hillel,
 easy divorce for almost any cause. That was the popular view as
 now.
 See note on "Mt 19:7"
  for this and for discussion of "for your hardness of heart"
 (\\sklrokardia\\). Jesus expounds the purpose of marriage
 # Ge 2:24
 and takes the stricter view of divorce, that of the school of
 Shammai.
 See note on "Mt 19:1"
 ... through verse 12
  for discussion.
 # Mr 10:10
 notes that the disciples asked Jesus about this problem "in the
 house" after they had gone away from the crowd.

