Mark 12:39

39. the chief seats] The seats of honour for the elders of the synagogue were placed in front of the ark containing the Law, in the uppermost part, where they sat with their faces to the people. In the synagogue at Alexandria there were seventy-one golden chairs, according to the number of the members of the Great Sanhedrim.

the uppermost rooms] Rather, the chief seats, “Þe first sitting places in soperis,” Wyclif. The highest place on the divan, as amongst the Greeks. Amongst the Romans, when a party consisted of more than three persons, it was the custom to arrange three of the couches on which they reclined round a table, so that the whole formed three sides of a square, leaving the bottom of it open for the approach of the attendants. These couches were then respectively designated lectus medius, summus, and imus. The middle place in the triclinium was considered the most dignified. At a large feast there would be many such triclinia.

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 there came a certain poor widow,.... Among the many that came to offer their gifts freely, there came one that was particularly taken notice of by Christ; and she was a "widow", had no husband to provide for her, and was a "poor" one; had no substance left her by her husband to support her with; very likely she was an inhabitant of Jerusalem:

and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing; a "quadrant", which was the fourth part of the Roman assis, or farthing; which seems to be much the same with the of the Greeks, which is said (g) to be,

"the fourth part of an obolus (the least Athenian coin), that is, two brass pieces.''

These mites seem to be the same with the "prutas", the Jews often speak of; who say (h), that a "pruta" is the eighth part of an Italian farthing; though some make it to be the sixth: hence the Syriac version here renders it, "two menin, that is, eighths"; and the Jerusalem Talmud expressly says (i), that, , "two prutas make a quadrant", the very word here used: and that the Jews took the freewill offerings of the poor as well as the rich, though ever so little, is clear from this canon of theirs (k);

"a poor man that gives a "pruta", or mite, into the alms dish, or a "pruta" into the poor's chest, they take it of him; but if he does not give, they do not oblige him to give.''

Nor were they obliged to cast into the treasury; but if they did, they received it, be it less or more: and indeed, the rich might throw in as little as they pleased: as for instance; into the chest for gold, they might throw in as little as the weight of a barley corn of gold; and into the chest for frankincense, as little as the weight of a barley corn of frankincense (l). The Persic version here, different from all others, instead of "two mites", renders it, "two bottoms of thread", or "yarn".

(g) Harpocratian. Lexic. p. 281. (h) Misn. Kiddushin, c. 1. sect. 1. T. Hieros. Kiddushin, fol. 58. 4. T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 12. 1. Bava Metzin, fol. 44. 2. Maimon. Hilch. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 3. (i) Kiddushi, fol. 58. 4. (k) Maimon. Hilch. Mattanot Anayim, c. 9. sect. 19. (l) Maimon. & Battenora in. Misn. Shekalim, c. 6. sect. 6.

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

39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:

Ver. 39. {See Trapp on "Mat 23:6"}

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.

39. πρωτοκαθεδρίας. These seem to have been at one end of the synagogue, in the centre, facing the congregation. Cf. Luk 11:43. Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, p. 263.

πρωτοκλισίας. Chief places (R.V.), not “uppermost rooms” (A.V.). We cannot be sure which these were in our Lord’s time, when Jewish customs had been modified by Greek, Roman, and Persian influences. The Talmud says that, in a couch which held three, the middle place is for the worthiest. Greeks commonly had two on a couch, but both Greeks and Romans sometimes had four. Dict. of Ant. artt. “Cena,” “Symposium,” “Triclinium.” Becker, Charicles, Sc. vi., Gallus, Sc. ix.

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.

39. πρωτοκαθεδρίας4—first seats.

πρωτοκλισίας1—chief (reclining) places, not rooms, AV. What this chief place at table was, the varying custom prevents our saying.

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

Uppermost rooms [πρωτοκλισιας] . More correctly, the chief couches. So Rev., chief places.

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