Mark 2:1

Mark 2:1-2 . And again — After having been in desert places for same time, he returned privately to Capernaum. It was noised that he was in the house — The rumour immediately spread, that he was come to the city, and was in Peter’s house. And straightway many were gathered together — His arrival was no sooner known than such a multitude was gathered together that the house could not contain them; nor even the court before the door. Hitherto the general impression on their hearts continued. Hitherto, even at Capernaum, most of those who heard, received the word with joy. And he preached the word unto them — He preached to as many as could hear him; and among the rest, as we learn, Luke 5:17 , to many Pharisees and teachers of the law, who on the report of his miracles were come from all quarters to see his works, and judge of his pretensions.

Mark 2:1-12 . Comp. on Matthew 9:1-8 ; Luke 5:17-26 . At the foundation of both lies the narrative of Mark, which they follow, however, with freedom (Matthew more by way of epitome), while not only Matthew but Luke also falls short of the vivid directness of Mark. According to the reading εἰσελθών (see the critical remarks), this participle must be taken as anacoluthic in accordance with the conception of the logical subject of the following: it was heard that He , etc. See Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 256 [E. T. 298]. διʼ ἡμερῶν ] interjectis diebus , after the lapse of intervening days. See on Galatians 2:1 . εἰς οἶκον ἔστι ] just our: “He is into the house.” The verb of rest assumes the previous motion; Mark 13:16 ; John 1:18 ; Herod, i. 21, al. See Buttmann, p. 286 [E. T. 333]. Comp. even εἰς δόμους μένειν , Soph. Aj. 80, and Lobeck in loc. ; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. 537. The house where Jesus dwelt is meant (but not expressly designated, which would have required the use of the article). Mark 2:2 . μηκέτι ] from the conception of the increasing crowd. μηδέ ] not even the space at the door, to say nothing of the house. Köstlin, p. 339, arbitrarily finds exaggeration here. τὸν λόγον ] κατʼ ἐξοχήν : the Gospel. Comp. Mark 8:32 ; Luke 1:2 , al. Mark 2:3-4 . Here also Mark has the advantage of special vividness. Jesus is to be conceived of as in the upper chamber , ὑπερῷον (where the Rabbins also frequently taught, Lightfoot in loc. ; Vitringa, Synag. p. 145 f.).

Now, as the bearers could not bring the sick man near[61] to Him through the interior of the house by reason of the throng, they mounted by the stair, which led directly from the street to the roof, up to the latter, broke up—at the spot under which He was in the ὙΠΕΡῷΟΝ —the material of which the floor of the roof consisted, and let down the sick man through the opening thus made. The conception that Jesus was in the vestibule , and that the sick man was lowered down to Him after breaking off the parapet of the roof (Faber, Jahn, Köster, Imman. p. 166), is at variance with the words ( ἈΠΕΣΤΈΓΑΣΑΝ ΤῊΝ ΣΤΈΓΗΝ , comp. Luke 5:19 ), and is not required by Mark 2:2 , where the crowd has filled the fore-court because the house itself, where Jesus is tarrying, is already occupied (see above on μηδέ , Mark 2:2 ); and a curious crowd is wont, if its closer approach is already precluded, to persevere stedfastly in its waiting, even at a distance, in the hope of some satisfaction. Moreover, the fact of the unroofing is a proof that in that house roof and upper chamber were either not connected by a door (comp. Joseph. Antt. xiv. 15. 12), or that the door was too narrow for the passage of the sick man upon his bed (Hug, Gutacht. II. p. 23); and it is contrary to the simple words to conceive, with Lightfoot and Olshausen, only of a widening of an already existing doorway.

It was noised (ἠκούσθη) Lit., it was heard. That he was in the house (ὅτι εἰς οἶκόν ἐστιν) The ὅτι, that, is recitative, introducing the report in the direct form. It was reported - he is in the house! The preposition in is literally into, carrying the idea of the motion preceding the stay in the house. "He has gone into the house, and is there." But the best texts read ἐν οἴκῳ in the house. The account of this rumor is peculiar to Mark. He preached (ἐλάλει) Lit., spake, as Rev. Imperfect tense. He was speaking when the occurrence which follows took place.

Mark 2:1 . Πάλιν , again ) Comp. ch. Mark 1:21 ; Mark 1:29 .— δἰ ἡμέρων ) After some days had intervened. [ It is one and the same return into the city of Capernaum, of which Mark makes mention in this place after the healing of the leper; Matthew, after the return from the region of the Gergesenes, in his ch. Mark 9:1 : it is also the same man sick of the palsy, whom Mark and Luke, after Matthew, treat of .—Harm., p. 276].

Verse 1. - The first sentence of this verse is better rendered thus: And when he entered again ( εἰσελθῶν πάλιν ) into Capernaum after some days; literally, after days ( δι ἡμερῶν ). It is probable that a considerable interval had taken place since the events recorded in the former chapter. It was noised that he was in the house ( ὅτι εἰς οϊκόν ἐστὶ ); or, if the ὅτι be regarded as recitative, it was noised, He is in the house , at home , in his usual place of residence at Capernaum. Mark 2:1