Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 1].
Matthew (Mt 3:4) has it a garment (\enduma\) of camel's hair.
Mark has it in the accusative plural the object of the perfect
passive participle retained according to a common Greek idiom. It
was, of course, not camel's skin, but rough cloth woven of
camel's hair. For the locusts and wild honey, see on ¯Mt 3:4.
Dried locusts are considered palatable and the wild honey, or
"mountain honey" as some versions give it (\meli agrion\), was
bountiful in the clefts of the rocks. Some Bedouins make their
living yet by gathering this wild honey out of the rocks.
1:7 {Mightier than I} (\ho ischuroteros mou\). In each of the
Synoptics. Gould calls it a skeptical depreciation of himself by
John. But it was sincere on John's part and he gives a reason for
it. {The Latchet} (\ton himanta\). The thong of the sandal which
held it together. When the guest comes into the house, performed
by a slave before one enters the bath. Mark alone gives this
touch.
1:8 {With water} (\hudati\). So Luke (Lu 3:16) the locative
case, {in water}. Matthew (Mt 3:11) has \en\ (in), both with
(in) water and the Holy Spirit. The water baptism by John was a
symbol of the spiritual baptism by Jesus.
1:9 {In the Jordan} (\eis ton Iordan•n\). So in verse 10, \ek
tou hudatos\, out of the water, after the baptism into the
Jordan. Mark is as fond of "straightway" (\euthus\) as Matthew is
of "then" (\tote\). {Rent asunder} (\schizomenous\). Split like a
garment, present passive participle. Jesus saw the heavens
parting as he came up out of the water, a more vivid picture than
the "opened" in Mt 3:16 and Lu 3:21. Evidently the Baptist
saw all this and the Holy Spirit coming down upon Jesus as a dove
because he later mentions it (Joh 1:32). The Cerinthian
Gnostics took the dove to mean the heavenly _aeon Christ_ that
here descended upon the man Jesus and remained with him till the
Cross when it left him, a sort of forecast of the modern
distinction between the Jesus of history and the theological
Christ.
1:11 {Thou art} (\su ei\). So Lu 3:22. Mt 3:17 has {this is}
(\houtos estin\) which see. So both Mark and Luke have "in thee,"
while Matthew has "in whom."
1:12 {Driveth him forth} (\auton ekballei\). Vivid word, bolder
than Matthew's "was led up" (\an•chth•\) and Luke's "was led"
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/MR1.RWP.html (3 of 12) [28/08/2004 09:03:34 a.m.]