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9 But Pilate answered them, | saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

10 (For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.)

11 But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.

12 And Pilate answered, and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? 13 And they cried out again, Crucify him.

14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.

15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.

16 And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Pretorium; and they call together the whole band;

17 And they clothed him with

CHAPTER XV.

See the explanation of the whole chapter, in notes on Matt. ch. xxvii. See also Luke ch. xxiii.; and John xviii. 28-40; xix. 1-42.

15. Willing to content the people. The weakness, not to say wickedness, of Pilate deserves the severest reprehension. He believed Jesus to be innocent; yet he condemned him to death, merely to please the Jews, and to avoid their enmity.

16. Pretorium. The hall of the prætor, or Roman governor; called by Matthew, the common hall.

19. Worshipped him. That is, prostrated themselves before him in mock

ery.

This was not designed as a semblance of religious worship, but only of the civil homage rendered, in the East, to superiors, by prostration. This act was in unison with placing a crown on his head, a purple or scarlet robe on his shoulders, and a reed in his hand for a

purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,

18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!

19 And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees, worshipped him.

20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.

23 And they gave him to drink, wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.

24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.

25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

sceptre; all were designed to ridicule his pretensions of royal authority; for though he never claimed an earthly kingdom, yet his enemies so represented the matter, and thus obtained his condemnation on the charge of treason against the Roman government.

23. Wine. Matthew calls it vinegar. It was probably wine, which had passed that state of fermentation whereby it became vinegar, and might be called by either name indifferently. Received it not. Matthew says, more particularly, "when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink." See note on Matt.

xxvii. 34.

25. Third hour. That is, nine o'clock in the morning. John says "about the sixth hour," or about noon. John xix. 14. It is generally supposed by commentators that John wrote the third hour, and that the change was made by some early transcriber. As it was customary to denote such numbers by single letters, such a mistake would not

26 And the superscription of his | ing, Let alone; let us see whether accusation was written over, THE Elias will come to take him down KING OF THE JEWS.

27 And with him they crucify two thieves, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.

28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

29 And they that passed by, railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,

30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross.

31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him, reviled him.

33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land, until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?

35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.

37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

38 And the vail of the temple was rent in twain, from the top tc the bottom.

39 And when the centurion which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

40 There were also women looking on afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less, and of Joses, and Salome;

41 Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him; and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.

42 And now, when the even was come, (because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,)

43 Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.

44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.

45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Jo

36 And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, say-seph.

be surprising. See note on John xix.

14.

28 The scripture was fulfilled, &c. This passage of Scripture is found in Isaiah liii. 12. This does not mean that he was a transgressor, but simply that, in dying, he had a place with transgressors. Nor does it mean that God regarded him as a sinner; but that, at his death, in popular estimation, or by the sentence of the judge, he was regarded as a transgressor. and was

treated in the same manner as the others put to death for their transgressions. Jesus died the just for the unjust, and in his death, as well as in his life, he was holy, harmless, undefiled.”— Barnes.

42. Even. The first evening; commencing at the ninth hour, or three o'clock.

44. Pilate marvelled. It was seldom that those who were crucified died so soon. He seems to have suspected a

46 And he bought fine linen, | chre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.

47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

CHAPTER XVI.

6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth be

AND when the sabbath was fore you into Galilee; there shall

passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Saome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun :

3 And they said among them- | selves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 (And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away,) for it was very great.

5 And entering into the sepul

deception; for he would not deliver the body, until he had first ascertained from the centurion that death had actually taken place.

47. Beheld where he was laid. The constancy and devotion of the females, who followed Jesus to the cross and to the sepulchre, while strong men were so panic-struck that they fled, has been often and deservedly noticed. The same trait in the female character is still visible.

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ye see him, as he said unto you.

8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled, and were amazed neither said they any thing to an man; for they were afraid.

9 Now, when Jesus was risen early, the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

11 And they, when they had

Sitting on the right side. On the right-hand side of the sepulchre, as they entered; probably in the same niche in which the body of Jesus had been placed. See note on Matt. xxviii. 6. 7. And Peter. See note on Matt. xxviii. 7.

9. He appeared first to Mary Magdalene. See note on Matt. xxvii. 9. There seems to be a striking propriety in this first appearance. It was proper, that she who had never forsaken Jesus, but had wept at the foot of the cross and followed his body to the sepulchre, should he cheered by a sight of her risen Master before he showed himself to his faint-hearted disciples, who deserd him in the hour of trial.

1). Told them, &c. She told the disheartened and disconsolate disciples, that she had seen the Lord, and that he had risen from the dead.

11. Believed not. They had no expectation that Jesus would rise again. Strange as it may seem to us, notwithstanding his express and repeated predictions of his death and resurrection

heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

12 After that, he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.

13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

14 Afterward he appeared unthey did not understand and believe. And even after the first part of the prediction was verified, they had no faith in the other; but each for himself required personal and ocular demonstration before he would believe. See notes at the end of Matthew's Gospel.

12. He appeared unto two of them. This appearance is much more fully and circumstantially related, Luke xxiv.

13-35.

to the eleven, as they sat at mea, and upbraided them with their unbelief, and hardness of heart, be cause they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he nacy. The belief and the salvation exist simultaneously; and so also the unbelief and the condemnation. In other words, while men remain in unbelief, whether in this life or the next, they remain also in condemnation; when they shall helieve, whether in this life or the next, they shall also receive salvation. This, I doubt not, is true, as a general explanation of the passage. Yet, from ver. 17, 18, the language manifestly had a peculiar application to the apostles and primitive believers. 15. Go ye into all the world. They while miraculous powers were contin were formerly sent to the lost sheep of ued. Hence it has been explained thus: the house of Israel, but forbidden to "The truth is, that the salvation here preach to Gentiles, or even to the Sa- spoken of is not the salvation of a future maritans. Matt. x. 5, 6. Now their life, the final recompense of virtue. but commission was extended, and they exemption from the wrath to come upon were required to go into all the world- a large part of that present generation to carry the joyful news to every nation of the Jewish people, for their unbelief. on the earth. See note on Matt. xxviii. It has no relation to moral merit, and is 19. And preach the gospel to every addressed to the people of that age, and creature. That is, preach the good of that religion only. It was a dispennews of the kingdom, proclaim the joy-sation of the Mosaic economy. ful tidings of salvation, to all men.

13, 14. See notes ver. 11, and at the end of Matthew's Gospel.

That condemnation to which this salvation has reference, was a temporal and national punishment for the violation of the law of Moses, and of the positive requisitions of God, made by the prophets of that institution. It is to faith that this salvation is promised; on unbelief, that this condemnation is denounced."-Cappe. This, perhaps.

For

16. He that believeth, &c. "He who shall believe, and be baptized, shall be saved; but he who will not believe shall be condemned."-Campbell. Some have understood our Lord to mean, that those who believe in this world shall be happy in the next, and those who do not believe in this world shall be endlessly miserable in the next. If this had been his meaning, I suppose he would have expressed that meaning definitely. But he has done no such thing. And, surely, the general spirit of his language and conduct does not justify us in forcing a harsh interpreta-pel. Nevertheless, "the sanctions with tion of his words. The evident meaning of the passage is similar to John iii. 18, namely, that a living faith in Jesus delivers men from the power of sin and moral death; while a wilful rejection of him leaves the soul in its corruption, and incurs the condemnation of obsti

may be considered as pushing the matter to an unnecessary extremity. though the language may have had direct application to the men of that age, still the principle is equally true, in regard to all men who hear the gos

which our Lord enforces the precept of faith in him, though generally applied to a future judgment, do not appear to have any relation to it; but only to the admission of Christian converts into the Christian church, after Christ's ascension, upon the same terms as he

that believeth not, sall be damned.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

19 So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat o' the right hand of God.

20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

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13. Take up serpents. See Acts xxviii. 3-6. Any deadly thing. Poisonous, usually producing death. Why should they drink any deadly thing? Not as a miracle, one should suppose. Perhaps, as poisoning was at this time carried to a great height, and often used in executing criminals, the apostles might be exposed to it by their secret enemies."-Gilpin. They shal lay hands on the sick, &c. See Acts iii. 6, 7; v. 15, 16; ix. 17, 18; xxviii. 8.

admitted them himself. Jesus here, upon leaving the world, gives his apostles the same power which he himself had exercised, and orders them to use it in the same manner : He that believeth not shall be condemned, or accountable for his sins."-Horne. In my judgment, nothing in the passage, except the word damned, has induced the mass of Christians to suppose it alludes to endless happiness or endless misery. And that this word ought never to have found a place in the text, s acknowledged by one of the most 19. Was received up into heaven, &c. eminent critics; Shall be damned, he Our Lord ascended from the mount of says, "is not a just version of the Greek Olives, while his disciples were standword. The term damned, with us, re-ing around him. See a more particula lates solely to the doom which shall account of his ascension, Luke xxiv. 50 be pronounced upon the wicked at the 51; Acts i. 1-11. Right hand o last day. This cannot be affirmed, with God. See Acts vii. 56; Heb. i. 3. truth, of the Greek katakrinō, (xata- 20. Preached every where, &c. xoivo,) which corresponds exactly to the suitable illustration of this verse, the English verb condemn.”—Campbell. I whole book of the Acts of the Apostles add, the same word occurs in Matt. xx. may be consulted. The labors, the 18; xxvii. 3; Mark xiv. 64; John viii. faithfulness, the miracles, and the man10, 11; where it is rendered condemnifest divine assistance, of the apostles, and condemned, and no person ever dreamed that it implied a sentence to endless misery.

17. These signs, &c. What follows in this and the next verse clearly demonstrates that the language in ver. 16 had special application to the men of that age during which miraculous power was bestowed upon believers. Cast out devils. See Acts xvi. 1618. Speak with new tongues. See

Acts ii. 4.

34*

с

As a

are there exhibited. Amen. This word is here regarded as spurious by almost all critics, and is omitted by Knapp and Griesbach.

Thus closes the Gospel according to Mark. It is more brief than the others yet it contains some facts which too others omit. It is of equal author t with the other three; and its doctrinse precepts, and promises, deserve the most serious and devout consideration.

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