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The Feeding of the Four Thousand<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">1</span>. <span class="ital">the multitude being very great</span>] The effect of these miraculous cures on the inhabitants of the half-pagan district of Decapolis was very great. So widely was the fame of them spread abroad, that great multitudes brought their sick unto the Lord (<a href="/matthew/15-30.htm" title="And great multitudes came to him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them:">Matthew 15:30</a>), and upwards of four thousand, without counting women and children (<a href="/matthew/15-38.htm" title="And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.">Matthew 15:38</a>), gathered round Him and His Apostles, and continued with Him upwards of three days (<a href="/mark/8-2.htm" title="I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:">Mark 8:2</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-2.htm">Mark 8:2</a></div><div class="verse">I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:</div><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-3.htm">Mark 8:3</a></div><div class="verse">And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.</div><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-4.htm">Mark 8:4</a></div><div class="verse">And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these <i>men</i> with bread here in the wilderness?</div><span class="bld">4</span>. <span class="ital">And his disciples answered him</span>] Though the Apostles are the writers, they do not conceal from us their own shortcomings, or the fact that they had so soon forgotten so great a miracle.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">From whence can a man satisfy</span>] It has been suggested that “it is evermore thus in times of difficulty and distress. All former deliverances are in danger of being forgotten; the mighty interpositions of God’s hand in former passages of men’s lives fall out of their memories. Each new difficulty appears insurmountable; as one from which there is no extrication; at each recurring necessity it seems as though the wonders of God’s grace are exhausted and had come to an end.” Comp. (<span class="ital">a</span>) <a href="/context/exodus/17-1.htm" title="And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink....">Exodus 17:1-7</a>, and (<span class="ital">b</span>) <a href="/exodus/16-13.htm" title="And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.">Exodus 16:13</a> with <a href="/numbers/11-21.htm" title="And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and you have said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.">Numbers 11:21</a>; <a href="/numbers/11-23.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, Is the LORD's hand waxed short? you shall see now whether my word shall come to pass to you or not.">Numbers 11:23</a>. Trench <span class="ital">on the Miracles</span>, p. 356. Still it has also been well observed that “many and many a time had the Apostles been with multitudes before, and yet on one occasion only had He fed them. Further, to suggest to Him a repetition of the feeding of the Five Thousand would be a presumption which their ever-deepening reverence forbade, and forbade more than ever as they recalled how persistently He had refused to work a sign, such as this was, at the bidding of others.” Farrar’s <span class="ital">Life of Christ</span>, i. p. 480.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-5.htm">Mark 8:5</a></div><div class="verse">And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.</div><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-6.htm">Mark 8:6</a></div><div class="verse">And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before <i>them</i>; and they did set <i>them</i> before the people.</div><span class="bld">6</span>. <span class="ital">to sit down</span>] <span class="ital">Where</span> is not distinctly specified. All we can certainly gather is that it was on the eastern side of the Lake, and in a <span class="ital">desert spot</span> (<a href="/matthew/15-33.htm" title="And his disciples say to him, From where should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?">Matthew 15:33</a>), possibly about the middle or southern end of the Lake.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-7.htm">Mark 8:7</a></div><div class="verse">And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before <i>them</i>.</div><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-8.htm">Mark 8:8</a></div><div class="verse">So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken <i>meat</i> that was left seven baskets.</div><span class="bld">8</span>. <span class="ital">seven baskets</span>] Not the small wicker <span class="ital">cophinoi</span> of the former miracle, but large baskets of rope, such as that in which St Paul was lowered from the wall of Damascus (<a href="/acts/9-25.htm" title="Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.">Acts 9:25</a>). We notice at once the difference between this and the Miracle of the Five Thousand:<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(<span class="ital">a</span>) The people had been with the Lord upwards of three days, a point not noted on the other occasion;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(<span class="ital">b</span>) Seven loaves are now distributed and a few fishes, then five loaves and two fishes;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(<span class="ital">c</span>) Five thousand were fed then, four thousand are fed now;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(<span class="ital">d</span>) On this occasion seven large rope-baskets are filled with fragments, on the other twelve small wicker baskets.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(<span class="ital">e</span>) The more excitable inhabitants of the coast-villages of the North would have taken and made Him a king (<a href="/john/6-15.htm" title="When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.">John 6:15</a>); the men of Decapolis and the Eastern shores permit Him to leave them without any demonstration.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-9.htm">Mark 8:9</a></div><div class="verse">And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.</div><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-10.htm">Mark 8:10</a></div><div class="verse">And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.</div><span class="bld">10–21</span>. The Leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">10</span>. <span class="ital">the parts of Dalmanutha</span>] or as St Matthew says, <span class="ital">into the coasts of Magdala</span> (<a href="/mark/15-39.htm" title="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.">Mark 15:39</a>), or according to some MSS. <span class="ital">Magadan</span>. Nothing is known of Dalmanutha. It must clearly have been near to Magdala, which may have been the Greek name of one of the many <span class="ital">Migdols</span> (i. e. watch-towers) to be found in the Holy Land, possibly the <span class="ital">Migdal-el</span> of <a href="/joshua/19-38.htm" title="And Iron, and Migdalel, Horem, and Bethanath, and Bethshemesh; nineteen cities with their villages.">Joshua 19:38</a>, and its place may now be occupied by a miserable collection of hovels known as <span class="ital">el-Mejdel</span> on the western side of the Lake, and at the S. E. corner of the Plain of Gennesaret. “Just before reaching Mejdel, we crossed a little open valley, the Ain-el-Barideh, with a few rich cornfields and gardens straggling among the ruins of a village, and some large and more ancient foundations by several, copious fountains, and probably identical with the Dalmanutha of the New Testament.” Tristram’s <span class="ital">Land of Israel</span>, p. 425. If the reading <span class="ital">Magadan</span> in <a href="/matthew/15-39.htm" title="And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.">Matthew 15:39</a> stands, we may conjecture either (a) that it and Dalmanutha were different names for the same place, or (<span class="ital">b</span>) that they denoted contiguous spots, either of which might give its name to the same region.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-11.htm">Mark 8:11</a></div><div class="verse">And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.</div><span class="bld">11</span>. <span class="ital">And the Pharisees</span>] Our Lord seems purposely to have avoided sailing to Bethsaida or Capernaum, which lay a little north of Magdala, and which had become the head-quarters of the Pharisees; but they had apparently watched for His arrival, and now “<span class="ital">came forth</span>” to meet Him accompanied for the first time by the Sadducees (<a href="/matthew/16-1.htm" title="The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven.">Matthew 16:1</a>), their rivals and enemies.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">began</span>] They had made their arrangements for a decisive contest, which began with a demand for a sign.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">a sign from heaven</span>] The same request had already been twice proffered. (1) After the first cleansing of the Temple (<a href="/john/2-18.htm" title="Then answered the Jews and said to him, What sign show you to us, seeing that you do these things?">John 2:18</a>); (2) after the feeding of the Five Thousand (<a href="/john/6-30.htm" title="They said therefore to him, What sign show you then, that we may see, and believe you? what do you work?">John 6:30</a>); and (3) again shortly after the walking through the cornfields (<a href="/matthew/12-38.htm" title="Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you.">Matthew 12:38</a>). By such a “sign” was meant an outward and visible luminous appearance in the sky or some visible manifestation of the <span class="ital">Shechînah</span>, the credentials of a prophet. They asked in effect, “Give us bread from heaven, as Moses did, or signs in the sun and moon like Joshua, or call down thunder and hail like Samuel, or fire and rain like Elijah, or make the sun turn back on the dial like Isaiah, or let us hear the <span class="ital">Bath-Kôl</span>, the ‘daughter of the Voice,’ that we may believe Thee.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-12.htm">Mark 8:12</a></div><div class="verse">And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.</div><span class="bld">12</span>. <span class="ital">he sighed deeply in his spirit</span>] Not merely, we may conclude, at their hardened disbelief, but also with the feeling that the decisive crisis of the severance from the ruling powers had come. “For the demand for a sign from heaven was a demand that He should, as the Messiah of their expectation, accredit Himself by a great overmastering miracle; thus it was fundamentally similar to the temptation in the wilderness, which He had repelled and overcome.” Lange.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">There shall no sign be given</span>] Literally, <span class="bld">If a sign shall be given to this generation</span>, a Hebrew form of strong abjuration. Comp. <a href="/hebrews/3-11.htm" title="So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)">Hebrews 3:11</a>, where see the margin; <a href="/mark/4-3.htm" title="Listen; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:">Mark 4:3</a>; <a href="/mark/4-5.htm" title="And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:">Mark 4:5</a>; <a href="/genesis/14-23.htm" title="That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich:">Genesis 14:23</a>; <a href="/numbers/14-30.htm" title="Doubtless you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.">Numbers 14:30</a>. St Mark does not mention the sign of “Jonah the prophet” mentioned by St Matthew (<a href="/matthew/16-4.htm" title="A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.">Matthew 16:4</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-13.htm">Mark 8:13</a></div><div class="verse">And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.</div><span class="bld">13</span>. <span class="ital">he left them</span>] “Justa severitas,” Bengel. “It was His final rejection on the very spot where He had laboured most, and He was leaving it, to return, indeed, for a passing visit, but never to appear again publicly, or to teach, or work miracles.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the other side</span>] i. e. the eastern side of the Lake.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-14.htm">Mark 8:14</a></div><div class="verse">Now <i>the disciples</i> had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.</div><span class="bld">14</span>. <span class="ital">had forgotten</span>] In the hurry of their unexpected re-embarkation they had altogether omitted to make provision for their own personal wants.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-15.htm">Mark 8:15</a></div><div class="verse">And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and <i>of</i> the leaven of Herod.</div><span class="bld">15</span>. <span class="ital">the leaven of the Pharisees</span>] Leaven in Scripture, with the single exception of the Parable (<a href="/matthew/13-33.htm" title="Another parable spoke he to them; The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.">Matthew 13:33</a>; <a href="/context/luke/13-20.htm" title="And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?...">Luke 13:20-21</a>), is always a symbol of evil (comp. <a href="/context/1_corinthians/5-6.htm" title="Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?...">1 Corinthians 5:6-8</a>; <a href="/galatians/5-9.htm" title="A little leaven leavens the whole lump.">Galatians 5:9</a>), especially insidious evil, as it is for the most part also in the Rabbinical writers. See Lightfoot on <a href="/matthew/16-6.htm" title="Then Jesus said to them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.">Matthew 16:6</a>. The strict command to the children of Israel that they should carefully put away every particle of leaven out of their houses during the Passover-week, rests on this view of it as evil.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the leaven of Herod</span>] “and,” as it is in St Matthew’s Gospel, “<span class="ital">of the Sadducees</span>.” The leaven of the Pharisees was <span class="ital">hypocrisy</span> (<a href="/luke/12-1.htm" title="In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, so that they stepped one on another, he began to say to his disciples first of all, Beware you of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.">Luke 12:1</a>), of the Sadducees, <span class="ital">unbelief</span>, of Herod, <span class="ital">worldliness;</span> all which working in secrecy and silence, and spreading with terrible certainty, cause that in the end “the whole man is leavened,” and his whole nature transformed.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-16.htm">Mark 8:16</a></div><div class="verse">And they reasoned among themselves, saying, <i>It is</i> because we have no bread.</div><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-17.htm">Mark 8:17</a></div><div class="verse">And when Jesus knew <i>it</i>, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?</div><span class="bld">17</span>. <span class="ital">yet hardened</span>] as on the former occasion, the walking on the sea (<a href="/mark/6-52.htm" title="For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.">Mark 6:52</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-18.htm">Mark 8:18</a></div><div class="verse">Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?</div><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-19.htm">Mark 8:19</a></div><div class="verse">When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.</div><span class="bld">19</span>. <span class="ital">how many baskets</span>] Observe how our Lord reproduces in this allusion to the putting forth of His miraculous power not only the precise number but the precise kind of baskets taken up on each occasion. See above, on <a href="/mark/6-43.htm" title="And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.">Mark 6:43</a>. Wyclif brings out this in his translation: “Whanne I brak fyue looues among fyve pousand, and hou many <span class="ital">coffyns</span> ful of brokene mete ye token up?… whanne also seuene looues among foure thousand, how many <span class="ital">leepis</span> of brokene mete se token up?”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-20.htm">Mark 8:20</a></div><div class="verse">And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.</div><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-21.htm">Mark 8:21</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?</div><span class="bld">21</span>. <span class="ital">ye do not understand</span>] They seem to have thought that He was warning them against buying leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-22.htm">Mark 8:22</a></div><div class="verse">And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.</div><span class="bld">22–26</span>. The Blind Man in Eastern Bethsaida<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">22</span>. <span class="ital">Bethsaida</span>] i. e. <span class="ital">Bethsaida Julias</span>, which lay upon the northeastern coast of the Sea of Tiberias.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="23"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-23.htm">Mark 8:23</a></div><div class="verse">And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.</div><span class="bld">23</span>. <span class="ital">he took the blind man</span>] Even as He did with the other sufferer, whose case came before us in <a href="/mark/7-33.htm" title="And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;">Mark 7:33</a>. As then, so now, the Lord was pleased to work gradually and with external signs: (i) He leads the man out of the town; (ii) anoints his eyes with the moisture of His mouth; (iii) lays His hands upon him twice (<a href="/mark/8-23.htm" title="And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands on him, he asked him if he saw ought.">Mark 8:23</a>; <a href="/mark/8-25.htm" title="After that he put his hands again on his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.">Mark 8:25</a>); (iv) inquires of the progress of his restoration.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="24"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-24.htm">Mark 8:24</a></div><div class="verse">And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.</div><span class="bld">24</span>. <span class="ital">as trees, walking</span>] He had not been <span class="ital">born</span> blind. He remembered the appearance of natural objects, and in the haze of his brightening vision he saw certain moving forms about him, “trees he should have accounted them from their height, but men from their motion.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="25"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-25.htm">Mark 8:25</a></div><div class="verse">After that he put <i>his</i> hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.</div><span class="bld">25</span>. <span class="ital">saw every man clearly</span>] or rather, <span class="ital">began to see all things clearly</span>, “So that he syy clerely alle thingis,” Wyclif. The word translated “clearly” literally = “far-shining,” “far-beaming.” The man meant that he could now see clearly <span class="ital">far and near</span>. This is one of the few instances of a strictly <span class="ital">progressive</span> cure recorded in the Gospels. “His friends asked that He would touch him. To this demand for an instant act followed by an instant cure, the Lord opposed His own slow and circumstantial method of procedure.” Lange. Comp. the cure of Naaman, <a href="/context/2_kings/5-10.htm" title="And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean....">2 Kings 5:10-11</a>; <a href="/2_kings/5-14.htm" title="Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like to the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.">2 Kings 5:14</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="26"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-26.htm">Mark 8:26</a></div><div class="verse">And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell <i>it</i> to any in the town.</div><span class="bld">26</span>. <span class="ital">to his house</span>] Bethsaida, therefore, was not the place of his residence; he was to go immediately from the place to his own home—not even to the village to which he had already come, and he was not to mention it to any one dwelling in that village, or whom he might meet by the way.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="27"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-27.htm">Mark 8:27</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?</div><span class="bld">27–9:1</span>. Cæsarea Philippi. The Confession of St Peter<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">27</span>. <span class="ital">And Jesus went out</span>] The Redeemer and His Apostles now set out in a northerly direction, and travelled some 25 or 30 miles along the eastern banks of the Jordan and beyond the waters of Merom, seeking the deepest solitude among the mountains, for an important crisis in His Life was at hand. The solitude of the beautiful district, whither the Saviour now journeyed, is illustrated by the fact that it is the only district of Palestine where a recent traveller found <span class="ital">the pelican of the wilderness</span> (<a href="/psalms/102-6.htm" title="I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.">Psalm 102:6</a>). See Thomson’s <span class="ital">Land and the Book</span>, pp. 260, 261; Caspari’s <span class="ital">Introduction</span>, p. 163, n.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">into the towns</span>] The little company at length reached the “<span class="ital">villages</span>,” as it is literally, or the “<span class="ital">parts</span>” or “<span class="ital">regions</span>” (<a href="/matthew/16-13.htm" title="When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?">Matthew 16:13</a>) of the remote city of Cæsarea Philippi, near which it is possible He may have passed in His circuit from Sidon a very few weeks before. See above, <a href="/mark/7-24.htm" title="And from there he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.">Mark 7:24</a>, n., Bishop Ellicott’s <span class="ital">Lectures</span>, p. 225.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Cæsarea Philippi</span>] “Sezarie of Philip” (Wyclif) lay on the north-east of the reedy and marshy plain of <span class="ital">El Huleh</span>, close to Dan, the extreme north of the boundaries of ancient Israel, (i) Its earliest name according to some was Baal-Gad (<a href="/joshua/11-17.htm" title="Even from the mount Halak, that goes up to Seir, even to Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them.">Joshua 11:17</a>; <a href="/joshua/12-7.htm" title="And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even to the mount Halak, that goes up to Seir; which Joshua gave to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions;">Joshua 12:7</a>; <a href="/joshua/13-5.htm" title="And the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sun rise, from Baalgad under mount Hermon to the entering into Hamath.">Joshua 13:5</a>) or Baal-Hermon (<a href="/judges/3-3.htm" title="Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelled in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon to the entering in of Hamath.">Jdg 3:3</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/5-23.htm" title="And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelled in the land: they increased from Bashan to Baalhermon and Senir, and to mount Hermon.">1 Chronicles 5:23</a>), when it was a Phœnician or Canaanite sanctuary of Baal under the aspect of “Gad,” or the god of good fortune, (ii) In later times it was known as Panium or <span class="ital">Paneas</span>, a name which it derived from a cavern near the town, “abrupt, prodigiously deep, and full of still water,” adopted by the Greeks of the Macedonian kingdom of Antioch, as the nearest likeness that Syria afforded of the beautiful limestone grottoes, which in their own country were inseparably associated with the worship of the sylvan <span class="ital">Pan</span>, and dedicated to that deity. Hence its modern appellation <span class="ital">Baneas</span>. (iii) The town retained this name under Herod the Great, who built here a splendid temple, of the whitest marble, which he dedicated to Augustus Cæsar, (iv) It afterwards became part of the territory of Herod Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, who enlarged and embellished it, and called it <span class="ital">Cæsarea Philippi</span>, partly after his own name, and partly after that of the Emperor Tiberius. Jos. <span class="ital">Ant</span>. xv. 10. 3; <span class="ital">Bel. Jud</span>. i 21. 3. It was called Cæsarea <span class="ital">Philippi</span> to distinguish it from Cæsarea <span class="ital">Palestinæ</span>, or Cæsarea “<span class="ital">on the sea</span>.” Dean Stanley calls it a Syrian Tivoli, and “certainly there is much in the rocks, caverns, cascades, and the natural beauty of the scenery to recall the Roman Tibur. Behind the village, in front of a great natural cavern, a river bursts forth from the earth, the ‘upper source’ of the Jordan. Inscriptions and niches in the face of the cliffs tell of the old idol worship of Baal and of Pan.” Tristram, <span class="ital">Land of Israel</span>, p. 581.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">he asked his disciples</span>] It was in this desert region that the Apostles on one occasion found Him engaged in solitary prayer (<a href="/luke/9-18.htm" title="And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?">Luke 9:18</a>), a significant action which had preceded several important events in His life, as (<span class="ital">a</span>) the Baptism, (<span class="ital">b</span>) the election of the Twelve, and (<span class="ital">c</span>) the discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum. It was now the precursor of a solemn and momentous question. Hitherto He is not recorded to have asked the Twelve any question respecting Himself, and He would seem to have forborne to press His Apostles for an explicit avowal of faith in His full Divinity. But on this occasion He wished to ascertain from them, the special witnesses as they had been of His life and daily words, the results of those labours, which were now drawing in one sense to a close, before He went on to communicate to them other and more painful truths.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="28"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-28.htm">Mark 8:28</a></div><div class="verse">And they answered, John the Baptist: but some <i>say</i>, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.</div><span class="bld">28</span>. <span class="ital">they answered</span>] In this answer we have the explanation, which common rumour, in His own days, offered of His marvellous works. (1) Some, like the guilty Herod, said He was John the Baptist risen from the dead; (2) others that He was Elijah, who, like Enoch, had never died, but was taken up bodily to heaven and had now returned as Malachi predicted (<a href="/mark/4-5.htm" title="And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:">Mark 4:5</a>); (3) others that He was Jeremiah (<a href="/matthew/16-14.htm" title="And they said, Some say that you are John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.">Matthew 16:14</a>), who was expected to inaugurate the reign of the Messiah; (4) others again that He was one of the “old prophets” (<a href="/luke/9-19.htm" title="They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.">Luke 9:19</a>). But they did not add that any regarded Him as the Messiah.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="29"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-29.htm">Mark 8:29</a></div><div class="verse">And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.</div><span class="bld">29</span>. <span class="ital">Thou art the Christ</span>] To the momentous question, <span class="ital">But whom say ye that I am?</span> St Peter, as the ready spokesman of the rest of the Apostles, made the ever-memorable reply, <span class="ital">Thou art the Christ, the Messiah</span> (<a href="/matthew/16-16.htm" title="And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.">Matthew 16:16</a>; <a href="/luke/9-20.htm" title="He said to them, But whom say you that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.">Luke 9:20</a>), <span class="ital">the Son of the living God</span> (<a href="/matthew/16-16.htm" title="And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.">Matthew 16:16</a>), but in the Gospel written under his eye the great announcement respecting his own memorable confession and the promise of peculiar dignity in the Church the Lord was about to establish, find no place.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="30"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-30.htm">Mark 8:30</a></div><div class="verse">And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.</div><A name="31"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-31.htm">Mark 8:31</a></div><div class="verse">And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and <i>of</i> the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.</div><span class="bld">31</span>. <span class="ital">And he began to teach them</span>] The question and the answer it called forth were alike preparatory to strange and mournful tidings, which He now began to reveal distinctly to the Apostles respecting Himself, for clear and full before His eyes was the whole history of His coming sufferings, the agents through whom they would be brought about, the form they would take, the place where He would undergo them, and their issue, a mysterious resurrection after three days.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="32"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-32.htm">Mark 8:32</a></div><div class="verse">And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.</div><span class="bld">32</span>. <span class="ital">openly</span>] i. e. not publicly, but “<span class="ital">plainly</span>” (“<span class="ital">pleinli</span>,” Wyclif) and “<span class="ital">without disguise</span>” Comp. <a href="/john/11-14.htm" title="Then said Jesus to them plainly, Lazarus is dead.">John 11:14</a>, “Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” Before this there had been intimations of the End, but then they had been dark and enigmatical. (<span class="ital">a</span>) The Baptist had twice pointed Him out <span class="ital">as the Lamb of God destined to take away the sin of the world</span> (<a href="/john/1-29.htm" title="The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.">John 1:29</a>). (<span class="ital">b</span>) At the first Passover of His public ministry He Himself had spoken to the Jews <span class="ital">of a Temple to be destroyed and rebuilt in three days</span> (<a href="/john/2-19.htm" title="Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.">John 2:19</a>), and to Nicodemus of a <span class="ital">lifting up of the Son of Man, even as Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness</span> (<a href="/context/john/3-12.htm" title="If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?...">John 3:12-16</a>); (<span class="ital">c</span>) He had intimated moreover to the Apostles that a day would come when <span class="ital">the Bridegroom should be taken from them</span> (<a href="/matthew/9-15.htm" title="And Jesus said to them, Can the children of the bridal chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.">Matthew 9:15</a>), and (<span class="ital">d</span>) in the synagogue at Capernaum He had declared that He was about <span class="ital">to give</span> His <span class="ital">flesh for the Life of the world</span> (<a href="/context/john/6-47.htm" title="Truly, truly, I say to you, He that believes on me has everlasting life....">John 6:47-51</a>). Now for the first time He dwelt on His awful Future distinctly, and with complete freedom of speech.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">And Peter</span>] The selfsame Peter, who a moment before had witnessed so noble and outspoken a confession to his Lord’s Divinity.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">took him</span>] i. e. <span class="ital">took Him aside</span> (and so Tyndale and Cranmer render it), by the hand or by the robe, and began earnestly and lovingly to remonstrate with Him. The idea of a suffering Messiah was abhorrent to him and to all the Twelve.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="33"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-33.htm">Mark 8:33</a></div><div class="verse">But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.</div><span class="bld">33</span>. <span class="ital">when he had turned about and looked on his disciples</span>] Observe the graphic touches of St Mark. The Apostle who had restrained the Evangelist from preserving the record of that which redounded to his highest honour, suppresses the record neither of his own mistaken zeal, nor of the terrible rebuke it called forth.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Get thee behind me</span>] The very words which He had used to the Tempter in the wilderness (<a href="/matthew/4-10.htm" title="Then said Jesus to him, Get you hence, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.">Matthew 4:10</a>), for in truth the Apostle was adopting the very argument which the great Enemy had adopted there.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">thou savourest not</span>] Thou art <span class="bld">thinking of</span>, thy <span class="bld">thoughts centre on.</span> This rendering of the Greek word for “<span class="ital">to think</span>” is suggested by the Latin <span class="ital">sapere</span>, which is found in the Vulgate and retained from Wyclif’s Version. It is derived directly from the substantive <span class="ital">savour</span>, Fr. <span class="ital">saveur</span>, Lat. <span class="ital">sapor</span>, from <span class="ital">sapere</span>. Thus Latimer quoting <a href="/1_corinthians/13-11.htm" title="When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.">1 Corinthians 13:11</a> writes, “When I was a child I <span class="ital">savoured</span> as a child.” “In confusion of them that so <span class="ital">saveren</span> earthely thinges.” Chaucer, <span class="ital">Parson’s Tale</span>. “Thy words shew,” our Lord would say to the Apostle, “that in these things thou enterest not into the thoughts and plans of God, but considerest all things only from the ideas of men. This attempt of thine to dissuade Me from My ‘baptism of death’ is a sin against the purposes of God.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="34"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-34.htm">Mark 8:34</a></div><div class="verse">And when he had called the people <i>unto him</i> with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.</div><span class="bld">34</span>. <span class="ital">he had called</span>] Even in these lonely regions considerable numbers would seem to have followed Him, apparently at some little distance. These He now <span class="ital">called to Him</span>, and addressed to them, as well as to His Apostles, some of His deepest teaching, making them sharers in this part of His instruction.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">will</span>] i. e. whosoever <span class="ital">is resolved</span>. “Will” here is not the will simply of the future tense, but the will of real <span class="ital">desire</span> and <span class="ital">resolution</span>. Comp. <a href="/john/7-17.htm" title="If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.">John 7:17</a>, <span class="ital">if any man will do His will</span> (i. e. <span class="ital">is resolved at all costs to do it</span>), <span class="ital">he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">take up his cross</span>] The first intimation of His own suffering upon the cross.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="35"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-35.htm">Mark 8:35</a></div><div class="verse">For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.</div><span class="bld">35</span>. <span class="ital">shall lose it</span>] This solemn saying our Lord is found to have uttered on no less than <span class="ital">four</span> several occasions: (<span class="ital">a</span>) here, which corresponds with <a href="/matthew/16-25.htm" title="For whoever will save his life shall lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.">Matthew 16:25</a>, <a href="/luke/9-24.htm" title="For whoever will save his life shall lose it: but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.">Luke 9:24</a>; (<span class="ital">b</span>) <a href="/matthew/10-39.htm" title="He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it.">Matthew 10:39</a>; (<span class="ital">c</span>) <a href="/luke/17-33.htm" title="Whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.">Luke 17:33</a>; (<span class="ital">d</span>) <a href="/john/12-25.htm" title="He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.">John 12:25</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="36"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-36.htm">Mark 8:36</a></div><div class="verse">For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?</div><A name="37"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-37.htm">Mark 8:37</a></div><div class="verse">Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?</div><span class="bld">37</span>. <span class="ital">in exchange</span>] i. e. to <span class="ital">purchase back</span>. By soul here is meant “life” in the higher sense. The “price” which the earthly-minded man gives for the world is his soul. But after having laid that down as the price, what has he for a “ransom-price,” to purchase it again? The LXX. use the original word in <a href="/ruth/4-7.htm" title="Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel.">Ruth 4:7</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/15-13.htm" title="Your substance and your treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.">Jeremiah 15:13</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="38"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/mark/8-38.htm">Mark 8:38</a></div><div class="verse">Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.</div><span class="bld">38</span>. <span class="ital">adulterous</span>] The generation is called “adulterous,” because its heart was estranged from God. Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/31-32.htm" title="Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was an husband to them, said the LORD:">Jeremiah 31:32</a>; <a href="/isaiah/54-5.htm" title="For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.">Isaiah 54:5</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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