Mark 11:16

11:16 from using the Temple as a marketplace: Or from carrying merchandise through the Temple. The Temple was also defiled by its use as a shortcut for carrying things from one part of the city to another. Other rabbis also forbade this practice (see Mishnah Berakhot 9.5; see Josephus, Against Apion 2.8).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 11:16. Διὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, through the temple) As if through a street.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 11:16 . ἤφιεν : vide Mar 1:34 . The statement that Jesus did not allow any one to carry anything ( σκεῦος , Luk 8:16 ) through the temple court is peculiar to Mk. It does not point to any attempt at violent prohibition, but simply to His feeling as to the sacredness of the place. He could not bear to see the temple court made a bypath or short cut, not to speak of the graver abominations of the mercenary traffic He had sternly interrupted. In this feeling Jesus was at one with the Rabbis, at least in their theory. “What reverence is due to the temple? That no one go into the mountain of the house (the court of the Gentiles) with his staff, shoes, purse, or dust on his feet. Let no one make a crossing through it, or degrade it into a place of spitting” (Babyl. Jevamoth, in Lightfoot, ad loc. ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, any profane instrument, of which those fellows had a number, that made the court of the Temple a marketplace.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 16. Should carry any vessel] Among the Jews the word keli, vessel, had a vast latitude of meaning; it signified arms, Jer 21:4; Eze 9:1; clothes, De 22:5, and instruments of music, Ps 71:22. It is likely that the evangelist uses the Greek word σκευος in the same sense, and by it points out any of the things which were bought and sold in the temple.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) And would not suffer that any man.—Peculiar to St. Mark. The vessels referred to included, probably, the baskets and other common implements of traffic. Men were using the courts of the Temple as a short cut from one part of the city to another.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. any vessel] i. e. a pail or basket. He would not allow laden porters and others to desecrate the honour due to His Father’s house by crossing the Temple courts as though they were public streets, “quasi per plateam.” Bengel. This particular is peculiar to St Mark.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And would not suffer that any man,.... He was more strict and severe than the day before; and gave orders, that they should be so far from being allowed to sit and trade in that sacred place, that no man

should carry any vessel through the temple; should make a, thoroughfare of it, by carrying through to any other place, any vessel that was for common use, or any sort of burden whatever: and this they could not well find fault with, nor complain of, since it was agreeable to one of their own canons; for they say (h),

"a man may not go into the mountain of the house, with his staff (in his hands); nor with shoes (on his feet); nor with his girdle, and his money in it; nor with a bag thrown over his shoulders; nor with dust upon his feet; nor might he make it, "a thoroughfare", and much less spit in it.''

(h) Misn. Beracot, c. 9. sect. 5. Vid. T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 62. 2. & Yebamot, fol. 6. 2. & Midrash Kohelet, fol. 70. 3. & Maimon. Hilch. Beth Habbechira, c. 7. sect. 1, 2, 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

Ver. 16. And would not suffer] This is one of those things recorded by St Mark only.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The vessels here spoken of as not allowed to be carried through the temple, were not any belonging to the temple, but only such as were brought by those who were buying and selling. Origen asserts, that our Saviour’s driving so many thousands out of the temple, poor and humble as he appeared, was a more astonishing miracle than even his giving sight to the blind. So divine an effulgency flashed form his eyes and whole countenance, as affected every beholder with astonishment and awful terror. (Origen in Dionysius) --- If Christ could not bear to see his Father’s house profaned, even with those things which in another place were not unbecoming, how indignant must he be to see the temple of God defiled with blasphemous and heretical doctrines, and with that levity and inattention observed in thougthtless giddy Christians, who thus scandalize and pervert his devoted children. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

16. Carry any vessel — The word vessel here signifies any utensil or instrument of any kind, including working tools or military arms. According to the rabbinical writers it was forbidden to carry a staff or burden through the sacred place.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he would not suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. It was a great temptation to make the temple, at least the great court of the Gentiles, a thoroughfare. It was so extensive that a long and tedious circuit would be avoided, in going from one part of the city to another, by passing through it. To those, for example, who were passing from the sheep market, Bethesda, into the upper part of the city, the shortest cut was through this court and by Solomon"s Porch. The distance would be greatly increased if they went round it. So the priests permitted servants and laborers, laden with anything, to take this shorter way through the great court of the temple. But our Lord hindered them, forbidding them with the voice of one that had authority, and restraining them with his hand, and compelling them to go back. He would have the whole of his Father"s House regarded as sacred.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He suffered not that any should carry a vessel through the temple - So strong notions had our Lord, of even relative holiness! And of the regard due to those places (as well as times) that are peculiarly dedicated to God.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

16. οὐκ ἤφιεν ἵνα. Cf. Mar 6:25, Mar 9:30, Mar 15:36. This detail, peculiar to Mk, may be one of Peter’s recollections. Making the Temple a thoroughfare seems not to have been formally permitted, but the hierarchy could easily have stopped it, and did not do so.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. οὐκ ἤφιεν ἵνα] “Observa, ἵνα et ὄφρα a recentioribus poëtis frequentari post verba jubendi.” Herm. ad Viger., p. 849. See note on 1Co 14:13.

This was the court of the Gentiles, which was used as a thoroughfare; which desecration our Lord forbade.

σκεῦος is any vessel,—e.g. a pail or basket,—used for common life.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. Καὶ οὐκ ἤφιεν3 ἵνα τις διενέγκῃ σκεῦος διὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ—and would not allow any one to carry a vessel through the temple.4

σκεῦος—vessel. Used generally for utensils or gear of any kind, even the sails of vessels. The outer Court, and especially the Court of the Gentiles, where this traffic went on, was looked on as a kind of common ground which men might use as a short cut, carrying across it various σκεύη.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vessel [σκευος] . See on Mt 12:29; Mr 3:27.

Temple [ιερου] . See on Mt 4:5. The temple enclosure, not the naov, or sanctuary. People would be tempted to carry vessels, etc., through this, in order to save a long circuit. The court of the Gentiles, moreover, was not regarded by the Jews as entitled to the respect due to the other part of the enclosure. This our Lord rebukes.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.