Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 10].
their text as an evident addition to explain the difficult words
of Jesus.
10:25 {Needle's eye} (\trumali•s rhaphidos\). See on ¯Mt 19:24
for discussion. Luke uses the surgical needle, \belon•s\. Matthew
has the word \rhaphis\ like Mark from \rhapt•\, to sew, and it
appears in the papyri. Both Matthew and Luke employ \tr•matos\
for eye, a perforation or hole from \titra•\, to bore. Mark's
word \trumalias\ is from \tru•\, to wear away, to perforate. In
the LXX and Plutarch.
10:26 {Then who} (\kai tis\). Mt 19:25 has \Tis oun\. Evidently
\kai\ has here an inferential sense like \oun\.
10:27 {Looking on them} (\emblepsas autois\). So in Mt 19:26.
Their amazement increased (26). {But not with God} (\all' ou
para the•i\). Locative case with \para\ (beside). The impossible
by the side of men (\para anthr•pois\) becomes possible by the
side of God. That is the whole point and brushes to one side all
petty theories of a gate called needle's eye, etc.
10:28 {Peter began to say} (\•rxato legein ho Petros\). It was
hard for Peter to hold in till now. Mt 19:27 says that "Peter
answered" as if the remark was addressed to him in particular. At
any rate Peter reminds Jesus of what they had left to follow him,
four of them that day by the sea (Mr 1:20; Mt 4:22; Lu 5:11).
It was to claim obedience to this high ideal on their part in
contrast with the conduct of the rich young ruler.
10:30 {With persecutions} (\meta di•gm•n\). This extra touch is
in Mark alone. There is a reminiscence of some of "the
apocalyptic of the familiar descriptions of the blessings of the
Messianic kingdom. But Jesus uses such language from the
religious idiom of this time only to idealize it" (Gould). The
apostles were soon to see the realization of this foreshadowing
of persecution. Vincent notes that Jesus omits "a hundred wives"
in this list, showing that Julian the Apostate's sneer on that
score was without foundation.
10:31 See on ¯Mt 19:30 for the use of the paradox about {first}
and {last}, probably a rebuke here to Peter's boast.
10:32 {And they were amazed} (\kai ethambounto\). Imperfect tense
describing the feelings of the disciples as Jesus was walking on
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