The Gospels

by Sarah Ruden

  *23 These sets of suspiciously repetitious words, bracketed by the modern editors, likely illustrate a common scribal mistake, dittography, or “twice-writing.”

  *24 This means “rock” in Greek, and behind the Greek is an Aramaic word for a rock that is rendered as Kēfas in John 1:42. The name will become significant for Peter’s later role in the Jesus movement: see Matthew 16:18.

  *25 The lists of the “disciples” show some variation among the Gospels. Realistic features of the passage are common names duplicated here and elsewhere (Iōannēs, Iakōbos, Simōn), nicknames not explained here (Petros, Boanērges; but see Matthew 16:18 concerning Petros), Greek names (Filippos, Andreas, Alfaios), and designations with no certain meaning (Kananaios and Iskariōth), which the author of the Gospel may not have understood. (“Kananaios” might indicate that this Simon is a Zealot, a member of a Jewish nationalist sect using violent tactics: they spearheaded an unsuccessful tax rebellion in 6 C.E. and the disastrous First Jewish–Roman War in 66 C.E. But even if that identification were historically accurate, it would not accord well at all with the Gospels’ general depiction of Jesus’ mission, or with the strong tendency of the Gospel authors to side with Roman interests. It has been suggested that Judas is a “man from Keriōth,” but that is hardly the usual way to indicate geographical origin.)

  *26 See “devil” in the Glossary. This discourse plays on the idea of “the opponent.”

  *27 Whether his attitude is just starkly radical or outright obnoxious depends on whether he is in a home belonging to his own relatives—as Verse 20 above probably indicates—or in someone else’s.

  *28 The word mustērion means a holy secret: in pagan literature, it was a rite or object before which an initiate in a “mystery cult” would “close his eyes” (the origin of the word) in reverent fear; in scripture, it is a secret imparted (or kept) by God. Perhaps even in this earliest Gospel, exclusivist thinking of a Gnostic strain had influence.

  *29 Isaiah 6:9–10. The patterned, repetitive manner of the quotation in Greek reflects the Hebrew Bible’s poetic language.

  *30 See “W/word” in the Glossary.

  *31 Before matches existed, it was usual to share fire among neighbors; the oil lamp with its exposed wick would be covered on the way home to preserve the flame and to keep out of sight of any nocturnal malefactors.

  *32 The densely repetitive style (literally, “the measure in which you measure will be measured to you”) suggests traditional wisdom about the marketplace.

  *33 The harvest is important apocalyptic imagery; see, for example, Revelation 14:14–20.

  *34 Compare this story to the first chapter of the Book of Jonah. The prophet flees his mission and, oblivious to a storm, sleeps in the hold of a pagan ship on his way to the ends of the earth.

  *35 The location is uncertain. I have merely transliterated the name for its inhabitants in the best version of the Greek text. This lurid and derogatory story is, however, probably set in or near a place of Greco-Roman culture on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, part of the Decapolis, or “Ten Cities,” region.

  *36 A demon, like a god, must be addressed by the proper name. A Roman legion numbered around five thousand.

  *37 Back on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, this woman is presumably Jewish, and thus bound by the purity laws that would render her untouchable as long as she experiences the uncleanliness of a discharge.

  *38 The pronoun is feminine; Jesus knows that it was a woman.

  *39 The proper, feminine form of this Aramaic verb would be koumi, but that is not a sufficient reason to correct the reading of the manuscripts in question; it is more likely that the author of Mark did not know Aramaic well. Notice the words he adds, “I’m telling you,” to the translation to make sure readers understand that the verb is a command. This narration is not sure what to call the girl, ranging in Greek among “little daughter” and “daughter” (one time each), “child” (literally “little child,” four times), and the unusual—and perhaps incorrect—talitha (from Aramaic), which is then echoed twice by the rather rare Greek word korasion, “little girl” or “little virgin.”

  *40 Eating is proof of genuine resurrection in the flesh, instead of the appearance of a ghost (see Luke 24:41–43).

  *41 It is not known exactly what kind of man was expected to teach in a synagogue, or to perform other religious functions in an outlying community, so it is not clear why the people would be surprised.

  The death of a father would normally make no difference in someone’s designation as “the son of such and such [a male].” Why is Joseph treated as if he never existed? Or is “son of the builder” as a textual variant in Verse 3 correct?

  *42 I dispute the familiar “without honor” translation. The Greek atimos isn’t normally a sort of blank, the simple lack of honor; it usually means conspicuous and strongly felt dishonor. The formulation can work, considering how badly some of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible were treated in their own communities, and in how many cases they found refuge or patronage elsewhere.

  *43 These instructions resemble the rules for Essenes, members of an ascetic sect, when they traveled. They were to depend wholly on their fellow sectarians, except that they were allowed to carry weapons for self-defense. This is not an ordinary walking stick, but akin to the king’s rod (for punishment) or the shepherd’s staff (for defense of the herd).

  *44 This gesture (probably a curse) has no clear parallel; the point may be that the very dust of hostile places doesn’t deserve to cling to the travelers’ soles.

  *45 Olive oil was in common use for removing dirt from skin and would probably soothe many wounds, sores, and rashes.

  *46 This is the Romans’ client ruler of Galilee and Perea, Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great.

  *47 Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21 may have originally referred only to an adulterous relationship with a brother-in-law, but at this later period the verses were taken to forbid a divorce from one brother and marriage to another.

  *48 Who is the girl? The manuscripts read variously “his daughter Herodias,” “the daughter of Herodias,” and “Herodias’ daughter herself”; I merely follow the authoritative, edited text as usual. She was probably only the king’s stepdaughter. But no respectable Greek or Jewish man would have displayed any daughter of his house to his associates via such a performance. (The “entertainment” at an all-male banquet in the Greek style—notice that Herod’s consort is not included—was barely, if at all, distinguished from prostitutes.)

  *49 That is, are they to spend what would amount to a laborer’s wages for two hundred days on a single meal for a crowd of strangers?

  *50 To depict this unconventional feast, outdoor terms are whimsically combined with terms for an ordinary indoor social gathering. The arrangement of the diners here is literally “drinking parties drinking parties,” “on the green greenery,” and “garden plots garden plots.” Two are expressions like the modern Greek plai plai for “side by side.”

  *51 A town on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

  *52 The hours of darkness were divided into only four “watches,” so this was near dawn.

  *53 A town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, not far south of Capernaum.

  *54 The Greek here expresses the idea of purity and ritual setting aside rather clunkily with the word normally meaning “common.” Routine washing is not prescribed in the Hebrew Bible but became a well-established practice later.

  *55 Isaiah 29:13. Torah, the name for the five “Books of the Law,” means “teaching.”

  *56 Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9.

  *57 This was a term for Temple offerings of all sorts. Jesus refers to an arrangement by which a man could deny t
he support he traditionally owed his parents on the authority of the Sixth Commandment, by directing the resources to the Temple instead.

  *58 The insistent repetition of the words for “hand down” (paradidōmi) and “handing-down” (paradosis, tradition) may convey sputtering anger or seething sarcasm. The Greek of the final part of this last verse has a five-word alliteration of the letter p, including these two words.

  *59 Verse 16, translated as “Whoever has ears, let him hear,” is not thought to be an authentic part of the oldest manuscripts and so is excised from this edition of the Greek text.

  *60 This is a radical proposition. The basic Jewish laws governing what kinds of food may be eaten (“kosher” is the modern term) are scriptural; the main sources of the laws are Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.

  *61 Many Jewish decrees later than the Hebrew Bible, and some in the Hebrew Bible, do concentrate on ethical intent and inward integrity.

  *62 Tyre was on the Mediterranean coast, a cosmopolitan port city to the west of the rustic region of Galilee. Non-Jewish Canaanites such as the Phoenicians of Tyre were in fact the people against whose religion, including child sacrifice, the Jews had defined their own since remote times.

  *63 Ethnic Greeks had long ago settled in many places in the Near East, where they could be well assimilated and have dual identities. To a Jew such as Jesus, the woman is of course untouchable. But she invades the home where he is a guest; and her groveling literally places him in an awkward position. One advantage a suppliant had is that her target couldn’t get away from her in a dignified way—in front of the witnesses normally present.

  *64 In the entire Greek Bible, only this passage and its mirror in Matthew (15:21–28) use this diminutive (kunarion) of the word for “dog,” a rare and largely comical word. This word choice weakens the usual sense of dogs as dirty and uncivilized and excluded from the home, much less from the table that symbolized God’s providential bounty. Also see “child” in the Glossary: in this passage the Jewish “offspring,” reminiscent of the covenant, and the ordinary “children” are distinguished. The style here is also suitable to a more lighthearted narrative: thugatrion (“little daughter”), daimonion (“demon”), kunarion (“little doggie”), and paidion (“child”) are four diminutive forms crowding the narrative.

  *65 That is, Jesus heads north along the Mediterranean coast in Phoenicia before turning inland and to the south, passing through Galilee and then the Greco-Roman area to the east of the Sea of Galilee.

  *66 The saliva is probably applied to the man’s tongue. The healing powers of saliva are described in ancient medical literature.

  *67 Some magical texts instruct a drawing in and a letting go of breath to access divine power. As in the raising of the little girl from the dead (Mark 5:41), Jesus’ command is shown in Aramaic.

  *68 This place is unknown from any other source.

  *69 See “swear” in the Glossary.

  *70 It isn’t clear which shore this refers to.

  *71 The bread for Passover feasting has to be made completely without yeast, so cooking implements and the home environment are thoroughly cleaned to prevent ritual contamination.

  *72 See Jeremiah 5:21 and Ezekiel 12:2.

  *73 Jesus demands that they remember the exact scale of the miracle. Again, the verb for their ponderings, usually translated to mean mere “discussion,” is cognate with logos (primarily a “reckoning” or “account”) and is properly about logical discussion. In this context, this suggests that they are stuck trying to understand materially, through numbers. But the main point here must be that any concern they have with the amount of food on hand is silly, given Jesus’ power to multiply food miraculously.

  *74 See the story in 7:31–35, in which saliva is also efficacious. The narration proceeds in playful singsong, adding three different prepositions to the same verb. The first issue is whether the man can simply see (blepein). When he can see again (anablepein), his vision is blurred. Only with follow-up can he see with his eyes fully open (diablepein) yet (probably) focused (emblepein).

  *75 This was one of two cities in Judea named after the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. The Caesarea in this passage was north of the Sea of Galilee. Philip the Tetrarch was one of Herod the Great’s sons and rebuilt “Philip’s Caesarea.”

  *76 This is an extreme example of what is called inclusive reckoning, which counts all units of time, no matter how partial. Jesus spends only one full day, the Sabbath, in the tomb. Yet the sum has passed into English as “three days.” I have generally not drawn attention to inclusive reckoning, but in this case the difference is important.

  *77 Literally “adulterous,” an ancient prophetic image to describe the Jewish people’s violation of its covenantal bond with God.

  *78 Pure white clothing—difficult to produce and maintain—was associated with divinity and royalty.

  *79 Jesus’ covenantal authority is rounded out by the bringer of the Israelites to Canaan and purported author of the Torah, and the most militant and supernaturally powerful of the prophets.

  *80 A skēne being a temporary shelter, divine beings or beings associated with divinity were supposed to have houses wherever they manifested, as the Hebrew God has his portable Tabernacle (from the Latin for “tent”) as he leads his people through the wilderness after the escape from Egypt.

  *81 Similar wording occurs in God’s instructions to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22:2.

  *82 This language is used about Elijah in the Apocryphal book Sirach 48:10: he will return “to reestablish the tribes of Israel.”

  *83 See Isaiah 53:3.

  *84 Elijah’s wilderness mission, persecutions by royalty, and assumption into heaven are treated in 1 and 2 Kings. The story parallels John the Baptist, especially in that Elijah was hounded by the notorious royal consort Jezebel, partisan of the cult of Baal: she resembles the meddling Herodias, whose national and cultural allegiances were questionable and would have offered obvious parallels.

  *85 Again, related to the metaphor of the covenant as marriage.

  *86 This question is somewhat similar to the one found in Psalms 13:1–2, but it looks as if it might also have been influenced by a famous rhetorical flourish in the Roman orator Cicero’s speech against the traitor Catiline: “Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?” (“Exactly how long in the end are you going to take advantage of our tolerance, Catiline?”)

  *87 Our word “epilepsy” comes from a Greek word for demonic “seizing.” Pagans and Jews alike attributed this illness to demonic possession and prescribed religious remedies.

  *88 Again, ancient inclusive reckoning expands a period with only one full day in it to “three days.”

  *89 Again, the verb for their discussion is based on logos. Is this a hint that the followers are once again trying to sort things out numerically? If so, Jesus upends the equation.

  *90 See “receive” in the Glossary. Hospitality is a startling usage in connection with small children, who as a rule were not included in formal social gatherings. The widespread ancient idea of entertaining a god in disguise may figure here too.

  *91 I.e., he is not under our religious leadership.

  *92 These last two clauses are the same as the excised Verses 44 and 46. The strictures in the passage accord strongly with the Talmud, with its particular interest on control of the body and the senses to avoid temptation. See “hell” in the Glossary.

  *93 In Leviticus 2:13, it is decreed that every sacrifice must be salted, and in the Septuagint, the Greek translation, that wording is “salted with salt.” In Greek and Roman literature, “salt” can stand for the wit that prevents dullness and tastelessness. Salt was also an important preservative, while “decay” can s
tand in the Gospels for mortality. But why is salt, a good thing, associated with the punishment of fire? It is easy to suspect a later scribe’s mistake or imposition.

  *94 Jewish pilgrims going from Galilee to Jerusalem often crossed over to the east side of the Jordan to avoid Samaria, and then crossed back near Jericho.

  *95 The Genesis verses are 1:27, 2:23–24, and 5:2. Human marriage, associated with the Creation, had an unusual degree of ethical importance for Jews.

  *96 The basic scriptural permission for divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1–4) opens with the condition that the husband find “indecency” in his wife, and the passage does not allude to her postmarital state except in decreeing that she may not return to her original husband.

  *97 See the note at 9:37.