Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 5].
move because of the jam, or even to breathe (\sunepnigon\, Lu
8:42).
5:26 {Had suffered many things of many physicians} (\polla
pathousa hupo poll•n iatr•n\). A pathetic picture of a woman with
a chronic case who had tried doctor after doctor. {Had spent all
that she had} (\dapan•sasa ta par' aut•s panta\). Having spent
the all from herself, all her resources. For the idiom with
\para\ see Lu 10:7; Php 4:18. The tragedy of it was that she
"was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse" (\m•den
•phel•theisa alla m•llon eis to cheiron elthousa\). Her money was
gone, her disease was gaining on her, her one chance came now
with Jesus. Matthew says nothing about her experience with the
doctors and Lu 8:43 merely says that she "had spent all her
living upon physicians and could not be healed of any," a plain
chronic case. Luke the physician neatly takes care of the
physicians. But they were not to blame. She had a disease that
they did not know how to cure. Vincent quotes a prescription for
an issue of blood as given in the Talmud which gives one a most
grateful feeling that he is not under the care of doctors of that
nature. The only parallel today is Chinese medicine of the old
sort before modern medical schools came.
5:28 {If I touch but his garments} (\Ean haps•mai k'an t•n
himati•n autou\). She was timid and shy from her disease and did
not wish to attract attention. So she crept up in the crowd and
touched the hem or border of his garment (\kraspedon\) according
to Mt 9:20 and Lu 8:44.
5:29 {She felt in her body} (\egn• t•i s•mati\). She knew, the
verb means. She said to herself, {I am healed} (\i•mai\). \I•tai\
retains the perfect passive in the indirect discourse. It was a
vivid moment of joy for her. The plague (\mastigos\) or scourge
was a whip used in flagellations as on Paul to find out his guilt
(Ac 22:24, cf. Heb 11:26). It is an old word that was used
for afflictions regarded as a scourge from God. See already on
¯Mr 3:10.
5:30 {Perceiving in himself} (\epignous en heaut•i\). She
thought, perhaps, that the touch of Christ's garment would cure
her without his knowing it, a foolish fancy, no doubt, but one
due to her excessive timidity. Jesus felt in his own
consciousness. The Greek idiom more exactly means: "Jesus
perceiving in himself the power from him go out" (\t•n ex autou
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/MR5.RWP.html (5 of 9) [28/08/2004 09:03:42 a.m.]