Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 2]
2:17 {The righteous} (\dikaious\). Jesus for the sake of argument
accepts the claim of the Pharisees to be righteous, though, as a
matter of fact, they fell very far short of it. Elsewhere (Mt
23) Jesus shows that the Pharisees were extortionate and
devoured widows' houses and wore a cloak of pride and
hypocritical respectability. The words "unto repentance" (\eis
metanoian\) are not genuine in Mark, but are in Lu 5:32. Jesus
called men to new spiritual life and away from sin and so to
repentance. But this claim stopped their mouths against what
Jesus was doing. The well or the strong (\ischuontes\) are not
those who need the physician in an epidemic.
2:18 {John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting} (\•san hoi
math•tai I•anou kai hoi Pharisaioi n•steuontes\). The
periphrastic imperfect, so common in Mark's vivid description.
Probably Levi's feast happened on one of the weekly fast-days
(second and fifth days of the week for the stricter Jews). So
there was a clash of standpoints. The disciples of John sided
with the Pharisees in the Jewish ceremonial ritualistic
observances. John was still a prisoner in Machaerus. John was
more of an ascetic than Jesus (Mt 18f.; Lu 7:33-35), but
neither one pleased all the popular critics. These learners
(\math•tai\) or disciples of John had missed the spirit of their
leader when they here lined up with the Pharisees against Jesus.
But there was no real congeniality between the formalism of the
Pharisees and the asceticism of John the Baptist. The Pharisees
hated John who had denounced them as broods of vipers. Here the
disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees (\hoi
math•tai I•anou kai hoi math•tai t•n Pharisai•n\) join in
criticizing Jesus and his disciples. Later we shall see
Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, who bitterly detested each
other, making com- mon cause against Jesus Christ. So today we
find various hostile groups combining against our Lord and
Saviour. See on ¯Mt 9:14-17 for comments. Matthew has here
followed Mark closely.
2:19 {The sons of the bridechamber} (\hoi huioi tou numph•nos\).
Not merely the groomsmen, but the guests also, the \paranymphs\
(\paranumphoi\ of the old Greek). Jesus here adopts the Baptist's
own metaphor (Joh 3:29), changing the friend of the bridegroom
(\ho philos tou numphiou\) to sons of the bridechamber. Jesus
identifies himself with the bridegroom of the O.T. (Ho 2:21),
God in his covenant relation with Israel (Swete). Mourning does
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