Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 7].
great faith as Mt 15:28 shows, but it was her quick and bright
repartee that pleased Jesus. He had missed his rest, but it was
worth it to answer a call like this.
7:30 {And the demon gone out} (\kai to daimonion exel•luthos\).
This was her crumb from the children's table. The perfect active
participle expresses the state of completion. The demon was gone
for good and all.
7:31 {Through the midst of the borders of Decapolis} (\ana meson
t•n hori•n Dekapole•s\). Jesus left Phoenicia, but did not go
back into Galilee. He rather went east and came down east of the
Sea of Galilee into the region of the Greek cities of Decapolis.
He thus kept out of the territory of Herod Antipas. He had been
in this region when he healed the Gadarene demoniac and was asked
to leave.
7:32 {And they bring unto him} (\kai pherousin aut•i\). Another
of Mark's dramatic presents. This incident only in Mark.
7:33 {Took him aside} (\apolabomenos auton\). The secrecy here
observed was partly to avoid excitement and partly to get the
attention of the deaf and dumb demoniac. He could not hear what
Jesus said. So Jesus put his fingers into his ears, spat, and
touched his tongue. There was, of course, no virtue in the
spittle and it is not clear why Jesus used it. Saliva was by some
regarded as remedial and was used by exorcists in their
incantations. Whether this was a concession to the man's
denseness one does not know. But it all showed the poor man that
Jesus healed him in his own way.
7:34 {Ephphatha} (\dianoichth•ti\, be opened). Another one of
Mark's Aramaic words preserved and transliterated and then
translated into Greek. "Be thou unbarred" (_Braid Scots_). Jesus
sighed (\estenaxen\) as he looked up into heaven and spoke the
word \ephphatha\. Somehow he felt a nervous strain in this
complex case (deaf, dumb, demoniac) that we may not quite
comprehend.
7:35 {He spake plain} (\elalei orth•s\). He began to speak
correctly. Inchoative imperfect tense.
7:36 {So much the more a great deal they published it} (\autoi
m•llon perissoteron ek•russon\). Imperfect tense, continued
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