Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 5].
inner circle of three seen again on the Mount of Transfiguration
and in the Garden of Gethsemane. The one article in the Greek
treats the group as a unit.
5:38 {Wailing greatly} (\alalazontas polla\). An onomatopoetic
word from Pindar down. The soldiers on entering battle cried
\Al•la\. Used of clanging cymbals (1Co 13:1). Like \ololuz•\ in
Jas 5:1. It is used here of the monotonous wail of the hired
mourners.
5:39 {Make a tumult} (\thorubeisthe\). Middle voice. Jesus had
dismissed one crowd (verse 37), but finds the house occupied by
the hired mourners making bedlam (\thorubos\) as if that showed
grief with their ostentatious noise. Mt 9:23 spoke of
flute-players (\aul•tas\) and the hubbub of the excited throng
(\thoruboumenon\. Cf. Mr 14:2; Ac 20:1,21,34). Mark, Matthew,
and Luke all quote Jesus as saying that "the child is not dead,
but sleepeth." Jesus undoubtedly meant that she was not dead to
stay dead, though some hold that the child was not really dead.
It is a beautiful word (she is {sleeping}, \katheudei\) that
Jesus uses of death.
5:40 {And they laughed him to scorn} (\kai kategel•n\). "They
jeered at him" (Weymouth). Note imperfect tense. They kept it up.
And note also \kat-\ (perfective use). Exactly the same words in
Mt 9:24 and Lu 8:53. The loud laughter was ill suited to the
solemn occasion. But Jesus on his part (\autos de\) took charge
of the situation. {Taketh the father of the child and her mother
and them that were with him} (\paralambanei ton patera tou
paidiou kai t•n m•tera kai tous met' autou\). Having put out
(\ekbal•n\) the rest by a stern assertion of authority as if he
were master of the house, Jesus takes along with him these five
and enters the chamber of death "where the child was" (\hopou •n
to paidion\). He had to use pressure to make the hired mourners
leave. The presence of some people will ruin the atmosphere for
spiritual work.
5:41 {Talitha cumi}. These precious Aramaic words, spoken by
Jesus to the child, Peter heard and remembered so that Mark gives
them to us. Mark interprets the simple words into Greek for those
who did not know Aramaic (\to korasion, egeire\), that is,
{Damsel, arise}. Mark uses the diminutive \korasi•n\, a little
girl, from \kor•\, girl. _Braid Scots_ has it: "Lassie, wauken."
Lu 8:5-9 has it \H• pais, egeire\, {Maiden, arise}. All three
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