Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 4]
4:12 {Lest haply they should turn again, and it should be
forgiven them} (\m•pote epistreps•sin kai apheth•i autois\). Luke
does not have these difficult words that seem in Isaiah to have
an ironical turn, though Mt 13:15 does retain them even after
using \hoti\ for the first part of the quotation. There is no way
to make \m•pote\ in Mr 4:12 and Mt 13:15 have a causal sense.
It is the purpose of condemnation for wilful blindness and
rejection such as suits the Pharisees after their blasphemous
accusation against Jesus. Bengel says: _iam ante non videbant,
nunc accedit iudicium divinum_. Jesus is pronouncing their doom
in the language of Isaiah. It sounds like the dirge of the
damned.
4:13 {Know ye not this parable?} (\ouk oidate t•n parabol•n
tauten;\). They had asked Jesus his reasons for using parables.
This question implies surprise at their dulness though initiated
into the secret of God's Kingdom. Incapacity to comprehend this
parable of the sower raises doubt about all the others on this
day and at all times.
4:14 {The sower soweth the word} (\ho speir•n ton logon
speirei\). Not put thus clearly and simply in Mt 13:19 or Lu
8:11.
4:15 {Where the word is sown} (\hopou speiretai ho logos\).
Explanatory detail only in Mark. {Satan} (\Satan•s\) where Mt
13:19 has {the evil one} (\ho pon•ros\) and Lu 8:12 {the
devil} (\ho diabolos\). {Sown in them} (\esparmenon eis autous\).
Within them, not just among them, "in his heart" (Matt.).
4:19 {The lusts of other things} (\hai peri ta loipa
epithumiai\). All the passions or longings, sensual, worldly,
"pleasures of this life" (\h•don•n tou biou\) as Luke has it (Lu
8:14), the world of sense drowning the world of spirit. The word
\epithumia\ is not evil in itself. One can yearn (this word) for
what is high and holy (Lu 22:15; Php 1:23).
4:20 {Bear fruit} (\karpophorousin\). Same word in Mt 13:23 and
Lu 8:15. Mark gives the order from thirty, sixty, to a hundred,
while Mt 13:23 has it reversed.
4:21 {Not to be put on the stand?} (\ouch hina epi t•n luchnian
teth•i;\). First aorist passive subjunctive of \tith•mi\ with
\hina\ (purpose). The lamp in the one-room house was a familiar
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