Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 9].
spiritual state. He still had faith, but craved more. Note
present imperative here (continuous help) \bo•thei\, while aorist
imperative (instant help) \bo•th•son\, verse 22. The word comes
from \bo•\, a cry and \the•\, to run, to run at a cry for help, a
vivid picture of this father's plight.
9:25 {A multitude came running together} (\episuntrechei
ochlos\). A double compound here alone in the N.T. and not in the
old Greek writers. \Epitrech•\ occurs in the papyri, but not
\episuntrech•\. The double compound vividly describes the rapid
gathering of the crowd to Jesus and the epileptic boy to see the
outcome. {Come out of him} (\exelthe ex autou\). Jesus addresses
the demon as a separate being from the boy as he often does. This
makes it difficult to believe that Jesus was merely indulging
popular belief in a superstition. He evidently regards the demon
as the cause in this case of the boy's misfortune.
9:26 {Having torn much} (\sparaxas\). The uncompounded verb used
in verse 20. {Became as one dead} (\egeneto h•sei nekros\). As
if dead from the violence of the spasm. The demon did him all
possible harm in leaving him.
9:28 {Privately, saying} (\kat' idian hoti\). Indoors the nine
disciples seek an explanation for their colossal failure. They
had cast out demons and wrought cures before. The Revisers are
here puzzled over Mark's use of \hoti\ as an interrogative
particle meaning {why} where Mt 17:19 has \dia ti\. Some of the
manuscripts have \dia ti\ here in Mr 9:28 as all do in Mt
17:19. See also Mr 2:16 and 9:11. It is probable that in
these examples \hoti\ really means {why}. See Robertson,
_Grammar_, p. 730. The use of \hos\ as interrogative "is by no
means rare in the late Greek" (Deissmann, _Light from the Ancient
East_, p. 126).
9:29 {Save by prayer} (\ei m• en proseuch•i\). The addition of
"and of fasting" does not appear in the two best Greek
manuscripts (Aleph and B). It is clearly a late addition to help
explain the failure. But it is needless and also untrue. Prayer
is what the nine had failed to use. They were powerless because
they were prayerless. Their self-complacency spelled defeat. Mt
17:20 has "because of your little faith" (\oligopistian\). That
is true also. They had too much faith in themselves, too little
in Christ. "They had trusted to the semi-magical power with which
they thought themselves invested" (Swete). "Spirits of such
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/MR9.RWP.html (5 of 9) [28/08/2004 09:04:30 a.m.]