Mark 15:29

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,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Ah.—The interjection, which in its Greek form expresses a kind of inarticulate scorn, is peculiar to St. Mark, and may be noted as another instance of his habit of reproducing the very sounds that had been uttered.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:22-32 The place where our Lord Jesus was crucified, was called the place of a scull; it was the common place of execution; for he was in all respects numbered with the transgressors. Whenever we look unto Christ crucified, we must remember what was written over his head; he is a King, and we must give up ourselves to be his subjects, as Israelites indeed. They crucified two thieves with him, and him in the midst; they thereby intended him great dishonour. But it was foretold that he should be numbered with the transgressors, because he was made sin for us. Even those who passed by railed at him. They told him to come down from the cross, and they would believe; but they did not believe, though he gave them a more convincing sign when he came up from the grave. With what earnestness will the man who firmly believes the truth, as made known by the sufferings of Christ, seek for salvation! With what gratitude will he receive the dawning hope of forgiveness and eternal life, as purchased for him by the sufferings and death of the Son of God! and with what godly sorrow will he mourn over the sins which crucified the Lord of glory!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the scripture was fulfilled ... - This passage of Scripture is found in Isaiah 53:12. 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 who were 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."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 15:21-37. Crucifixion and Death of the Lord Jesus. ( = Mt 27:32-50; Lu 23:26-46; Joh 19:17-30).

See on [1519]Joh 19:17-30.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 15:21"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they that passed by,.... In the road, and went by the cross. The Arabic version adds, "before him", Christ, as he hung on the cross:

railed on him, wagging their heads; gave him opprobrious language, and used indecent gestures;

and saying, ah! thou that destroyest the temple; the Vulgate Latin version adds, "of God":

and buildest it in three days; thou poor vain miserable creature, that boasted of thy power, where art thou now? and what dost thou think of thyself?

Geneva Study Bible

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,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Mark 15:29-41. See on Matthew 27:39-56. Comp. Luke 23:35-49.

οὐά] the Latin vah! an exclamation of (here ironical) amazement. Dio Cass. lxiii. 20; Arrian, Epict. iii. 23. 24; Wetstein in loc.

ὁ καταλύων κ.τ.λ.] gives us a glimpse of the original affirmation of the witnesses, as it is preserved in Matthew 26:61 (not in Mark 14:58).

Mark 15:31. πρὸς ἀλλήλ., inter se invicem, belongs to ἐμπαίζ.

Mark 15:32. Let the Messiah the King of Israel come down now, etc.,—a bitter mockery! The ὁ Χριστός applies to the confession before the supreme council, Mark 14:61 f., and ὁ βασιλ. τ. Ἰσρ. to that before Pilate, Mark 15:2. Moreover, we may attach either the two forms of address (Lachmann, Tischendorf), or the first of them (Ewald), to what precedes. But the customary mode of apprehending it as a double address at the head of what follows is more in keeping with the malicious triumph.

πιστεύσ.] namely, that He is the Messiah, the King of Israel. καὶ οἱ συνεσταυρ.] agrees with Matthew, but not with Luke. See on Matthew 27:44. It is to be assumed that Mark had no knowledge of the narrative of Luke 23:39 ff., and that the scene related by Luke belongs to a later tradition, in which had been preserved more special traits of the great event of the crucifixion, but with which the historical character of the exceedingly characteristic scene is not lost. See on Luke, l.c.

Mark 15:34.[176] ἐλωΐ] the Syriac form for אֵלִי (Matthew), which latter appears to have been what Jesus uttered, as is to be inferred from the scoff: ἨΛΊΑΝ ΦΩΝΕῖ.

Mark 15:36. ΛΈΓΩΝ,] a difference from Matthew 27:49, whose account is more original (in opposition to Holtzmann), because to remove the aspect of friendliness must appear more in keeping with the later development. In consequence of this difference, moreover, ἄφετε is to be understood quite otherwise than ἄφες in Matthew, namely, allow it, what I am doing, let me have my way,—which has reference to the scoffing conception, as though the proffered draught would preserve the life till Elias should come. The view that in Mark 15:35 f. friends of Jesus are meant who misunderstood His cry of ἘΛΩΐ, and one of whom had wished still to cheer Him as regards the possible coming of Elias (Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 490), is in itself improbable even on account of the well-known cry of the Psalm, as indeed the ἄφετε, ἴδωμεν κ.τ.λ., comp. Mark 15:30, sounds only like malicious mockery.

Mark 15:37. ἘΞΈΠΝΕΥΣΕ] He breathed out, i.e. He died. It is often used in this meaning absolutely in the Greek writers (Soph. Aj. 1025; Plut. Arist. 20).

Mark 15:39. According to Mark, the centurion concluded from the fact of Jesus dying after having cried out in such a manner, i.e. with so loud a voice (Mark 15:37), that He was a hero. The extraordinary power (ΟὝΤΩ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΙΚῶς ἘΞΈΠΝΕΥΣΕ, Theophylact, comp. Victor Antiochenus: ΜΕΤʼ ἘΞΟΥΣΊΑς ἈΠΈΘΑΝΕ) which the Crucified One manifested in His very departing, made on the Gentile this impression—in which his judgment was naturally guided by the circumstance that he had heard (Matthew 27:40) of the charge brought against Jesus, that He claimed to be Son of God. According to others (as Michaelis, Kuinoel, de Wette), the unexpectedly speedy dying of Jesus, who had just before emitted a vigorous cry, made that impression, upon the Gentile, who saw in it a favour of the gods. But in order to express this, there would have been necessary under the circumstances before ἘΞΈΠΝ. an accompanying definition, such as ἬΔΗ or ΕὐΘΈΩς. Baur, Markusev. p. 108 f., illustrates the remark even from the crying out of the demons as they went forth (Mark 1:26, Mark 5:7, Mark 9:26); holding that Mark correspondingly conceived of the forcible separation of the higher spirit, through which Jesus had been the Son of God,—therefore after a Gnostic manner. Comp. also Hilgenfeld and Köstlin. Wrongly; because opposed to the doctrine of the entire N. T. regarding Christ the born Son of God, as indeed the heathen centurion, according to the measure of his conception of sons of God, could not conceive of Him otherwise. We may add that the circumstantial and plain statement of motive, as given by Matthew and Luke for the centurion’s judgment, betrays the later manipulators (Zeller in Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschr. 1865, p. 385 ff., gives a contrary opinion), to whom Mark in this place seemed obscure or unsatisfactory.

ἦν] in His life.

Mark 15:40. ἮΣΑΝ] aderant; comp. Mark 8:1.

καὶ Μαρ.] among others also Mary.

ΤΟῦ ΜΙΚΡΟῦ] cannot according to the meaning of the word be without arbitrariness explained as: the younger, although the James designated is the so-called Younger, but as: the little (of stature, comp. Luke 19:3). Hom. Il. v. 801: Τυδεύς τοι μικρὸς μὲν ἔην δέμας, Xen. Cyr. viii. 4. 20. An appeal is wrongly made to Jdg 6:15, where in fact ΜΙΚΡΌς is not the youngest, but the least, that is, the weakest in warlike aptitude.

Mark does not name Salome, but he indicates her. According to John 19:25, she was the sister of the mother of Jesus. Comp. also Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 171. Thus there are three women here recorded by Mark. So also Matthew 27:56. To distinguish the Mary of James from the mother of Joses, so that four should be adduced (Ewald, l.c. p. 324), there appears to be no sufficient ground (comp. the Remark after Mark 15:47); on the contrary, Mark and Matthew would have here expressed themselves in a way very liable to be misunderstood; comp. on Matthew.

Mark 15:41. αἳ καὶ κ.τ.λ.] as they were now in the company around Jesus, so also they were, while He was in Galilee, in His train, ΑἽ applies, we may add, to the three who were named. Beside these there were among the women present yet many others, who had gone up with Him to Jerusalem.

[176] Mark has only this one of the sayings of Jesus on the cross, and Schenkel regards only this one as absolutely undoubted,—in which opinion he does great injustice specially to John. Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 451, takes offence at this very saying, and only finds it conceivable as a reference to the whole twenty-second Psalm.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 15:29-32. Taunts of spectators (Matthew 27:39-44, Luke 23:35; Luke 23:37; Luke 23:39).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. railed on him] The instincts of ordinary pity were quenched in the fierceness of malignant hatred and religious bigotry.

Ah] “Fyz,” Wyclif. It is an exclamation of exultant derision = the Latin Vah.

that destroyest the temple] This saying of our Lord at His first cleansing of the Temple was never forgotten. Perhaps some of the false witnesses of the previous night were now present.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 15:29. Οὐὰ, Ah!) An interjection and exclamation, having the force of expressing astonishment, as Franc. Bernardinus Ferrarius, L. 3. de Acclam. Vet. c. 15, shows at large. In this passage, it has the force of expressing wonder along with irony.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 29, 30. - And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads. Here was another fulfillment of prophecy, and other aggravation of the misery of Christ. "All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him" (Psalm 22:7, 8). The torment of crucifixion itself was terrible; but it was a still greater torment to the Crucified to be insulted in his agony. Our Lord may well have had these words in his mind, '"They persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded" (Psalm 69:26). They that passed by. Calvary was probably near to one of the thoroughfares leading to the city; so that there would be a continual stream of persons passing to and fro; more especially at this time, when Jerusalem was thronged with visitors. And no doubt the words of the accusation against him in its incorrect form would pass freely from mouth to mouth, Ha! thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If you could make such a boast as this, show your power by coming down from the cross. Mark 15:29

Vincent's Word Studies

Ah! (οὐὰ)

The Latin vah!

Destroyest

The same word as at Mark 13:2.