Mark 15:36

Mar_15:36

A sponge full of vinegar.

The acids of life

They go to a cup of vinegar, and soak a sponge in it, and put it on a stick of hyssop, and then press it against the hot lips of Christ. You say the wine was all anesthetic, and intended to relieve or deaden the pain. But the vinegar was an insult. I am disposed to adopt the theory of the old English commentators, who believed that instead of its being an opiate to soothe, it was vinegar to insult. Malaga and Burgundy for grand dukes and duchesses, and costly wines from royal vats for bloated imperials-but stinging acids for a dying Christ. He took the vinegar! In some lives the saccharine seems to predominate. Life is sunshine on a bank of flowers. A thousand hands to clap approval. In December or in January, looking across their table, they see all their family present. Health rubicund. Skies flamboyant. Days resilient. But in a great many cases there are not so many sugars as acids. The annoyances, and the vexations, and the disappointments of life overpower the successes. There is a gravel in almost every shoe. An Arabian legend says that there was a worm in Solomons staff, gnawing its strength away; and there is a weak spot in every earthly support that a man leans on. King George of England forgot all the grandeurs of his throne because, one day in an interview, Beau Brummell called him by his first name, and addressed him as a servant, crying: George, ring the bell! Miss Langdon, honoured all the world over for her poetic genius, is so worried with the evil reports set afloat regarding her that she is found dead with an empty bottle of prussic acid in her hand. Goldsmith said that his life was a wretched being, and that all that want and discontent could bring to it had been brought and cries out: What, then, is there formidable in a gaol? Corregios fine painting is hung up for a tavern sign. Hogarth cannot sell his best paintings, except through a raffle. Andrew Delsart makes the great fresco in the Church of the Annunciata at Florence, and gets for pay a sack of corn; and there are annoyances and vexations in high places as well as in low places, showing that in a great many lives the sours are greater than the sweets. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar. It is absurd to suppose that a man who has always been well can sympathize with those who are sick, or that one who has always been honoured can appreciate the sorrow of those who are despised, or that one who has been born to a great fortune can understand the distress and the straits of those who are destitute. The fact that Christ Himself took the vinegar makes Him able to sympathize today and forever with all those whose cup is filled with sharp acids of this life. (Dr. Talmage.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 15:36 . δραμὼν δὲ : if the wits were heartless mockers, then δὲ will imply that this person who offered the sufferer a sponge saturated with posca ( vide Mt.) was a friendly person touched by compassion. For the credit of human nature one is very willing to be convinced of this. ἐπότιζεν might, like ἐδίδουν (Mar 15:23 ), be viewed as a conative imperfect = offered Him a drink, but John’s narrative indicates that Jesus accepted the drink (Joh 19:30 ). λέγων refers to the man who brought the drink. In Mt. it is others who speak (Mat 27:49 ), and the sense of what was said varies accordingly ἄφες in Mt. naturally, though not necessarily, means: stop, don’t give Him the drink ( vide on Mt.) ἄφετε in Mk., spoken by the man to the bystanders, means naturally: allow me (to give Him the drink), the idea being that thereby the life of the sufferer would be prolonged, and so as it were give time for Elijah to come ( ἴδωμεν εἰ ἔρ . Ἠ .) to work an effectual deliverance by taking Him down from the cross ( καθελεῖν α .). εἰ ἔρ .: εἰ with the present indicative instead of the more usual ἐὰν with subjunctive in a future supposition with probability ( vide Burton, M. and T. in N. T., § 251).

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

36. full of vinegar] Burning thirst is the most painful aggravation of death by crucifixion, and it was as He uttered the words, “I thirst,” that the soldier ran and filled a sponge with vinegar, or the sour wine-and-water called posca, the ordinary drink of the Roman soldiers.

and put it on a reed] i. e. on the short stem of a hyssop-plant (Joh_19:29).

Let alone] According to St Mark, the man himself cries “Let be;” according to St Matthew, the others cry out thus to him as he offers the drink; according to St John, several filled the sponge with the sour wine. Combining the statements, together we have a natural and accurate picture of the excitement caused by the loud cry.

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.

There were also women looking on afar off,.... At some distance from the cross, observing what was said and done;

among whom was Mary Magdalene; who had received great favours from Christ:

and Mary the mother of James the less; or "little", so called to distinguish him from James the son of Zebedee, and because he might be little of stature: nor was it unusual with the Jews to distinguish persons after this manner: so we read (z) of R. Jesa, "the little", and of Samuel, "the little" (a), which some have thought to be the Apostle Paul, so called from the littleness of his stature:

and of Joses; or "Joseph", as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read;

and Salome; the mother of Zebedee's children, James and John; See Gill on Mat 27:56. This was a common name among the Jews; Herod had a sister and a daughter of this name; and the daughter of Herodias, who demanded the head of John, the Baptist, was of this name; and it is the same with Shalom: we read (b) of one Imme Shalom, or mother Shalom, wife of R. Eliezer, and sister to Rabban Gamaliel. Salome, with the Ethiopians (c), is said to be Mary's midwife, and to accompany Christ, with Mary, and Joseph, when they fled into Egypt.

(z) Zohar in Exod. fol. 63. 2. & passim. (a) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 28. 2. & 29. 1. (b) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 116. 1. (c) Ludolph. Lex. Ethiop. p. 525, & Castell. Lex. Polyglot, col. 3767.

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

36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.

Ver. 36. {See Trapp on "Mat 27:48"}

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.

There is a slight difference here in the narratives. St. Matthew (Mat_27:49) says, "And the rest said, Let be; let us see whether Elijah cometh to save him." Here in St. Mark the words are recorded as having been spoken by him alone who offered our Lord the vinegar. According to St. John, (Joh_21:23) the offering of the vinegar followed immediately upon the words of our Lord, I thirst." This drink was not the stupefying potion given to criminals before their crucifixion, to lull the sense of pain, but the sour wine, the ordinary drink of the soldiers, called posen. The reed was most probably the long stalk of the hyssop plant. Dr. J. Forbes Royle, in an elaborate article on the subject, quoted in Smith"s "Dictionary of the Bible" (vol. 1 p. 846), arrives at the conclusion that the hyssop is none other than the caper plant, the Arabic name of which, asuf, bears a strong resemblance to the Hebrew. The plant is the Capparis spinosa of Linnaeus. The apparent difference between the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Mark may be reconciled by weaving in the narrative of St. John with those of the synoptists the "Let be" of the soldiers in the one case being intended to restrain the individual from offering the wine; and the "Let be" of the individual, corresponding to our "Wait a moment," while he answered our Savior"s cry, "I thirst."

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

sour wine

"vinegar"

reed staff

"stick." This was a staff made from a reed.

gave it to him

"gave it to Jesus." The man held up the staff so that Jesus could drink wine from the sponge. AT: "held it up to Jesus" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

The curtain of the temple was split in two

Mark is showing that God himself split the temple curtain. This can be translated in active form. AT: "God split the curtain of the temple in two" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

wine

staff

Elijah

Jesus

cry

temple

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

36. γεμίσας σπόγγον ὄξους. Lk. omits this, having mentioned at an earlier stage that the soldiers mocked Him by offering Him ὄξος, i.e. the posca or sour wine provided for them, and possibly for the sufferers. The sponge and the stalk may have been ready for the latter purpose, or the sponge may have been a stopper for the jar. Sponge is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible, but its use is often mentioned elsewhere, and it would be common in places near the sea. Jn says that it was Christ’s “I thirst” which led to this incident, and again he has the definiteness of an eyewitness. He remembers the jar of wine and that the “reed” was a stalk of “hyssop,” which was not our Hyssopus officinalis, for that does not grow in Palestine. A stalk of two or three feet long would suffice. Pictures with the feet of the Crucified above the heads of the spectators are misleading. So tall a cross would be troublesome to carry and difficult to fix upright.

The accumulation of participles is characteristic (see on Mar 1:15) and περιθείς is exact, the sponge being round the top of the stalk and crowning it (Mar 15:17; cf. Mar 12:1). Psa 69:22 perhaps suggested ἐπότιζεν, which is the conative imperf., like ἐδίδουν in Mar 15:23. Mt. here retains the imperf.

λέγων Ἄφετε ἴδωμεν. Here Mt. differs completely. He says that it was the companions of the giver of the wine who cried, Ἄφες ἴδωμεν, i.e. “Let Him alone”; or “Leave off; let us see whether Elijah is coming to save Him.” Apparently Mt. had some authority which he preferred to Mk. In each case there is a doubt as to Ἄφετε or Ἄφες, whether it means “Let be” (A.V., R.V.), or coalesces with ἴδωμεν, as in ἄφες ἐκβάλω (Mat 7:4). Ἄφετε might mean, “Let me alone,” “Don’t stop me.” But, whatever rendering we adopt, it is evident that Mk and Mt. follow different traditions as to what took place. Ἄφες ἴδω occurs Epict. Dis. iii. 12 sub fin.

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.

36.] On the difference in Matt., see notes there.

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

36. Δραμὼν δέ τις, γεμίσας σπόγγον ὄξους, περιθεὶς καλάμῳ, ἐπότιζεν αὐτόν, λέγων, Ἄφετε, etc.—And one ran, and filled a sponge with sour wine,2 which he put on a reed, and gave him drink, saying, Let be; etc. This is evidently a merciful act, and the Ἄφετε indicates that there was some opposition to it offered or expected, which this supposed call upon Elijah gave the man a pretext for setting aside. He said virtually, Let me give him this, and so prolong his life, and then we shall get an opportunity to see whether Elijah comes to help him or not. As Mt. tells it,3 these are probably the words with which the bystanders try to restrain his gracious act. They say virtually, Don’t interfere; let Elijah help him.

τις, instead of εἷς, the indef., instead of the numeral one, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BL Δ. Omit καὶ, and, before γεμίσας, WH. RV. BL, one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph. Omit τε after περιθείς, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BDgr. L 33, 67, Memph.

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

Vinegar. See on Mt 27:48.

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