R R q 1. His own country.
r 2-. Teaching. (Positive.)
S s -2. Astonished.
t 3-. His kindred.
s -3. Stumbled.
R q 4. His own country.
r 5,6. Mighty works. (Negative.)
29 A.D.
Mark 6)
1 And He went out from there, and came into His native country (i.e. Galilee. This was His 2nd visit [Matt.13:54]); and His disciples follow Him.
2 And when the sabbath day was come, He began to teach in the synagogue:
and many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "From where has this Man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that even such miracles are come to pass by His hands?
3 Is not this the workman (such terms used only by His rejectors. Occ. only here and Matt. 13:35), the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?
And they stumbled in Him.
4 But Jesus, said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house."
5 And He was not able to do any miracles there (Nazareth saw most of the Lord, but profited least), except that He laid His hands upon a few infirm folk, and healed them.
6 And He marveled on account of their unbelief (occ. only in Mark). And He went round about the villages, teaching.
J3 T 7-13. Mission of the 12 begun.
U 14. Herod hears of the Lord. Mission of John ended.
V 15. John. Opinion of others. "
V 16. John. Opinion of Herod. "
U 17-29. Herod beheads John. "
T 30. Mission of the 12 reported.
T W u 7-. The 12 called and sent.
v -7. Authority given.
X w 8,9. Journey.
x 10. Reception.
X x 11-. Rejection.
w -11. Departure.
W u 12. The 12 going and proclaiming.
v 13. Authority exercised.
7 And He called to Him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two;
and gave them power over unclean spirits;
8 And charged them that they should take up (as luggage) nothing with a view to their journey, save a staff only (see Matt. 10:10); no scrip, no bread, no money (the only coins minted in Palestine then were copper. Cp. Matt. 10:9 for a Divine supplement) in their belt (or girdle):
9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
10 And He said to them, "Wherever you enter into an house, there abide till you depart from there.
11 And whatever people shall not receive you, nor hear you,
when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say to you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city."
12 And they went out, and proclaimed that men should repent.
13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick (then a common practice. See Jam. 5:14), and healed them.
14 And king Herod heard of Him; (for His name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist had been raised from the dead, and on account of this mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
15 Others were saying, That it is Elijah. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.
16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, "It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead."
U Y y 17-. Herod. Apprehension of John.
z -17,18. Reason. For the sake of Herodias.
Z a 19. Herodia's quarrel.
b 20. Her failure.
Z b 21-23. Her opportunity.
a 24,25. Herodia's quarrel.
Y z 26. Reason. For the sake of his promise.
y 27-29. Herod. Execution of John.
17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John,
and bound him in the prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.
18 For John kept saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
19 Therefore Herodias kept cherishing a grudge against him, and was desiring to kill him; but she could not:
20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and kept him [John] safe [from her] (i.e. for the reason given. Occ. only here, and Matt. 9:17. Luke 2:19; 5:38); and when he heard him, he was at a loss [what to do] (or, hesitated, or was much perplexed), and [yet] heard him gladly.
21 And a opportune day being come, when that Herod on his birthday (the notice of the banquet and guests is a Divine supplement) made a supper to his great men (cp. Rev. 6:15; 18:23), chiliarchs (i.e. colonels, commanders of 1,000 men), and leading men of Galilee;
22 And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said to the damsel, "Ask of me whatsoever you will, and I will give it you."
23 And he swore to her, "Whatsoever you shall ask of me, I will give you it, unto the half of my kingdom."
24 And she went forth, and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist."
25 And she came in immediately with haste (note how the opportunity was eagerly seized. See v.19) to the king, and asked, saying, "I wish that you give me instantly upon a large flat dish the head of John the Baptist."
26 And the king became exceeding sorry (this Divine supplement occurs only here); yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he was unwilling to reject her.
27 And immediately the king sent an executioner (Gr. spekoulatōr. Occ. only here. A Latin word [speculator] = a man who spies out; used of the Roman emperor's body-guard [an armed detective body] round the emperor at banquets, &c. Herod adopted Roman customs.), and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 And brought his head in a large flat dish, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.
29 And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in the tomb. (See Matt. 27:60)
30 And the apostles (1st occ. in Mark) gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and reported Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
H4 A1 6:31-34. Teaching. Multitudes.
B1 6:35-56. Miracles.
A2 7:1-23. Teaching. Pharisees.
B2 7:24-8:9. Miracles.
A3 8:10-21. Teaching. Pharisees.
B3 8:22-26. Miracle.
A4 8:27-30. Teaching. Disciples.
A1 y1 31-. Concourse. Proposal.
z1 -31. Reason of Proposal.
y2 32. Concourse. Proposal attempted.
z2 33. Reason of failure.
y3 34. Concourse. Teaching.
28 A.D.
31 And He said to them, "Come you yourselves apart into a desert place (cp. 3:7), and rest a while:"
for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. (Ministering to others can be hard work. It can make for some very long days, when the people are hungry for God's Word. Jesus is encouraging the apostles to rest.)
32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
33 And the crowds saw them departing, and many recognized Him, and ran afoot to there from all cities, and they went out, and came together to Him. (The people were starving for truth. They realized where Jesus and the apostles were going, and raced around the shoreline and were waiting on them when they arrived.)
34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw many people, and was moved with compassion upon them, because they were as sheep not conscious of [not] having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many things. (Jesus didn't send them away because He was tired. He realized feeding the sheep was more important than resting. By teaching the people, He was giving them rest.)
B1 C1 35-44. Miracle. Feeding the 5,000.
D11 a 45. Departure.
b 46,47. Alone.
C2 48-52. Miracle. Walking on the Sea.
D2 a 53. Departure.
b 54. Recognized.
C3 55,56. Miracles. Many.
C1 c1 35,36. Disciples. "Send them away to buy."
d1 37-. The Lord. "Give you."
c2 -37,38. Disciples. "Shall we buy?"
d2 39-42. The Lord. "Give them."
c3 43,44. Disciples. Gathering of the 12 baskets.
35 And when the day had become already now far spent, His disciples came to Him, and said, "This is a desert place, and now the time is advanced: (It was getting late in the day, and remember, the disciple hadn't had time to eat anything.)
36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread (this was their highest thought. Note the answer ["Give"]): for they have not anything to eat." (Jesus would tell the disciple to feed the people. This has a physical and spiritual meaning. The famine in the end times is not for bread, but for hearing the Word of God (Amos 8:11). They fed the people with spiritual truth, and as for the physical, they fed the people five loaves of bread and two fishes. This satisfied the people. Yoke yourself to Jesus. When you take on His yoke, Jesus takes care of the difficult tasks and you can handle the rest. To fully find His rest, you must abide in Him.)
37 But He answered and said to them, "Give you them to eat." (This is the Lord's higher thought)
And they say to Him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?" (This question and Christ's answer are a Divine supplement only here. Pennyworth = 16 cents [U.S.])
38 He says to them, "How many loaves have you? go and see." And when they found out, they say, "Five, and two fishes."
39 And he commanded them to make all sit down in table-parties (i.e. arranged in 3 sides of a square, as in a Jewish or Roman dining-room; the guest being seated on the outside and served from the inside. These were arranged in companies of 50 and 100) upon the green grass. (This is a Divine supplement only here.)
40 And they sat down in divisions (like garden beds), by hundreds, and by fifties.
41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes (5 = Grace, God's goodness, 2 = Union, division, witnessing), He looked up to the heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave (this shows that the miraculous power was in the hands of Christ, between the breaking and giving) them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all. (A Divine supplement, here.)
42 And they did all eat, and were satisfied.
43 And they took up twelve (12 = Governmental perfection) baskets full from the fragments, and of the fishes. (Only mentioned here.)
44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
45 And immediately He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before to Bethsaida (= house of fish), while He sent away the people.
46 And when He had sent them away, He departed into the mountain (denoting a well known mountain) to pray.
47 And when evening was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land.
48 And He having seen them distressed in rowing; for the wind was contrary to them:
and about the fourth watch of the night (3 a.m. to 6 a.m.) He comes to them, walking upon the sea, and wished to pass by them.
49 But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a phantom (cp. Matt. 14:26), and cried out:
50 For they all saw Him (a Divine supplement, here), and were troubled. And immediately He spoke with them (Matthew & John = to them), and said to them, "Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid."
51 And He went up unto them into the ship;
and the wind dropped:
and they were exceedingly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
52 For they considered not concerning of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. (Referring to a habitual state. This verse is a Divine supplement, here)
53 And when they had passed over, they came upon the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. (A Divine supplement, here)
54 And when they were come out of the ship, immediately recognized knew Him, (The result of 5:20)
55 And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in mats those that were sick, where they heard He was.
56 And wherever He entered, into villages, or cities, or country places, they laid the sick in the market-places (cp. Matt. 11:16), and besought Him that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment (see Matt. 9:20): and as many as touched Him were healed. (Gr. sozō = to save.)