Mark 12:19

12:19 The Sadducees based their views only on the books of Moses. • Like the Pharisees (12:14), they addressed Jesus as Teacher. The Sadducees were fond of debating with religious teachers (see Josephus, Antiquities 18.1.4).

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

Mar 12:19. Ἔγραψεν, wrote) The Sadducees, though sceptics, acknowledged Moses to be the writer of the law.—ὅτι—ἵνα) A rare phraseology; comp. ch. Mar 5:23.

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

Mar 12:19 . The case is awkwardly stated here as compared with Mt., though Lk. retains the awkwardness = if the brother of any one die, and leave a wife, and leave not children, let his (the brother’s) brother take his wife and raise up seed to his brother. Mk. avoids the word ἐπιγαμβρεύσει (in Mt.).

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

19. Moses wrote] The Law concerning the Levirate marriage is found in Deu_25:5. It was ordained for the preservation of families, that if a man died without male issue, his brother should marry his widow, and that the firstborn son should be held in the registers to be the son of the dead brother.

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.

The second took her,.... To wife, married her, as the next eldest brother, by the above law was obliged to: and so the Jewish (l) canon upon it runs thus;

"the command is, "for the eldest" to marry his brother's wife: if he will not, they go to all the brethren; if they will not, they return to the eldest, and say, the command is upon thee, either pluck off the shoe, or marry.''

Maimonides (m) relates it in this manner;

"if a man dies, and leaves many brethren, the command is upon the eldest to marry, or pull off the shoe; as it is said, Deu 25:6, "and it shall be the firstborn which she beareth". From tradition, it is learned that it does not speak but of the firstborn among the brethren; and it is all one as if it was said, the eldest of the brethren shall succeed in the name of his brother that is dead; and this is what is said, "which she beareth": the sense is, which the mother has borne, and not which the brother's wife beareth; if the eldest will not marry her, they go round to all the brethren; and if they will not, they return to the eldest, and say, upon thee is the command, either pluck off the shoe, or marry; and they do not compel him to marry, but they compel him to pluck off the shoe;''

i.e. in case he will not marry.

And died, neither left he any, seed, and the third likewise; married her, and died without issue, as the second did. The Persic version adds, "and the fourth, and fifth"; for so they all did to the seventh.

(l) Misn. Yebamot, c. 4. sect. 5. & T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 39. 1. (m) Hilch. Yebum Uchalitza, c. 2, sect. 6, 7. Vid. Jarchium in Deut. xxv. 6.

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

19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

Ver. 19. {See Trapp on "Mat 22:24"}

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 true question about the resurrection was: Whether the bodies of the dead shall rise or not? Not whether they shall arise with the same qualities, affections, powers, &c. They are sown natural, but they shall rise spiritual, bodies, without affections and qualities disposing them to actions only necessary for the supporting the natural life, such as hunger and thirst, &c.; or for the upholding the world, that while one generation passeth it might be supplied by another, such as an appetite to marriage, &c.: what needs this when all generations shall be determined in the everlasting world? So as in truth these learned men showed themselves dunces, wholly ignorant of what they came to argue upon. They should first have proved that there would be any need of wives, or any such thing as marriage, after the world should have an end. In the mean time our Saviour proveth the resurrection out of the writings of Moses, owned by themselves for holy writ. Without a resurrection Abraham would not be Abraham, nor Isaac Isaac, nor Jacob Jacob. See the notes on this part of the history: See Poole on "Mat 22:24", and following verses to Mat 22:32.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Deut. xxv, 5.

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

19. Ἐάν τινος ἀδελφός. The allusion is to Deu 25:5, but the exact words are not quoted; nor do the Synoptists agree in their wording.

μὴ ἀφῇ τέκνον. Deu 25:5 says “have no son,” but in LXX. σπέρμα is used, and the Talmud says that the deceased brother must have no child. Here all three say childless. Lev 18:16; Lev 20:21 forbids marriage with a brother’s wife, and this is sometimes interpreted to mean that such marriage is forbidden during the brother’s life. But would it be necessary to forbid such a union? More probably Lev. gives the rule, and Deut. states an exception to it. Driver on Deu 25:5-10. The Levirate law is still widely prevalent in certain tribes in Asia, America and Polynesia. Among the Jews it does not seem to have been liked, and Deut. allows the surviving brother to refuse to take the widow. It would be of more importance to Sadducees than to others. Those who deny individual immortality find a kind of substitute for it in the continuation of the family; but to them the dying out of the family means absolute extinction. See D.C.G. art. “Levirate Law.”

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.

19. ἔγραψεν … ἵνα] This is one of the cases where purpose and purport are mingled in the ἵνα. See on 1Co 14:13. It is better to take it so than with Meyer to suppose ἵνα dependent on volo understood.

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

19. καὶ μὴ ἀφῇ τέκνον, ἵνα λάβῃ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ τὴν γυναῖκα—and leave no child, that his brother take the woman.

τέκνον, instead of τέκνα, Tisch. Treg. marg. WH. RV. א ca BL Δ 1, 18, 241, 299, mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. Omit αὐτοῦ after τὴν γυναῖκα, Tisch. Treg. WH. א BCL Δ 1, 61, 209, one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph.

This quotation is from Deu 25:5, Deu 25:6. It is introduced in order to show that the law itself provides for these successive marriages, thus expressly legalizing these successive relations, which the resurrection would make simultaneous. Their question is, therefore, whether the same Scriptures teach this, and the resurrection, which is inconsistent with it. The quotation does not attempt to reproduce the language.

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