Mark 3:10

Mar_3:10

They pressed upon Him for to touch Him.

Crowding to touch the Saviour

I. The parallel between the present times and those of the text. Jesus had healed many. These have been thoroughly and effectually restored. So far the parallel exists, but here is the marvel-that those who know this do not throng to Christ to obtain the self-same blessing.

II. What are the sins which prevent the carrying out of this parallel? Ignorance. Insensibility. Indifference. Procrastination. They really love the disease.

III. The grace which invites us to complete the parallel of the text. You are spared in this world. Spared to hear the gospel.

IV. Two cautions which seek to be needful. Never be content with merely pressing upon Christ. Do not be content with touching them who are healed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The desire for healing an instinct of humanity

As many as had plagues came to Jesus, that they might touch Him and be healed. Tell of the annual pilgrimages to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, where thousands gathered from all parts of England, believing that their needs could be supplied and their diseases healed at the shrine of the saint. It is their needs that today take so many to Lourdes and Knock. Two centuries ago-and the superstition is not dead yet-it was believed that the touch of a king could heal a certain painful disorder; how eagerly people sought for that touch is seen in the case of Charles II. of England, who, in his reign, touched over a hundred thousand persons for the healing of the kings evil. During the recent famines in India and in Turkey, the houses of the missionaries were besieged by crowds of hungry people seeking relief. When a medical missionary first appears in a new district, and his mission is made known to the people, the sick are brought to him from all the country around. It was therefore one of the commonest instincts of humanity that brought the needy to Jesus, in whom only they could find all that they sought.

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

3:10 Jesus healed many people that day; perhaps he healed all the sick (cp. Matt 12:15).

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

Mar 3:10. Ἐπιπίπτειν, pressed upon) Illustrating the admirable patience and benignity of our Lord.

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

Mar 3:10 . ὥστε ἐπιπίπτειν : so that they knocked against Him; one of Mk.’s vivid touches. They hoped to obtain a cure by contact anyhow brought about, even by rude collision. μάστιγας , from μάστιξ , a scourge, hence tropically in Sept [19] and N. T., a providential scourge, a disease; again in Mar 5:29 ; Mar 5:34 .

[19]Septuagint.

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

Diseases wherewith God scourgeth men as it were with whips.

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

Verse 10. They pressed upon him] Rushed upon him, επιπιπτειν - through eagerness to have their spiritual and bodily maladies immediately removed.

Plagues.] Rather disorders, μαστιγας; properly such disorders as were inflicted by the Lord. The word plague also tends to mislead.

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

(10) As many as had plagues.—Literally, scourges; the same word as in Act_22:24, Heb_11:36.

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

10. plagues] The word thus rendered denotes (1) a whip or scourge, and is used in this sense in Act_22:24; Heb_11:36; (2) a plague or disease of the body. Comp. Mar_5:29; Mar_5:34; Luk_7:21.

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.

For he had healed many,.... Of various diseases, and the fame of this brought more still to him:

insomuch that they pressed upon him; or pushed upon him, with great eagerness and violence. The Arabic version renders it, "they rushed upon him, so that they fell": they pushed on, and pressed so hard to get to him, that they fell upon one another, and on him: the Persic version renders it, "they cast themselves on him, for the sake of touching him"; which must be very troublesome indeed. Though some think the phrase signifies no more, than that they fell down before him at his feet, in a submissive and petitionary way, entreating they might have the favour

for to touch him; either any part of his body, or his garments, even the hem of them: and so the Ethiopic version translates the words; "they prayed him that they might touch him"; see Mar 6:56.

As many as had plagues; of leprosy, and other diseases, which were inflicted on them by God, as scourges and chastisements for their sins, as the word signifies, and which answers to "Negaim"; concerning which, there is a whole treatise in the Misna; and which bears that name, and particularly regards the plagues of leprosy. Some versions join this with the beginning of the next verse. The Syriac version reads thus, "who had plagues of unclean spirits"; as if these plagues were their being possessed by unclean spirits. The Persic version thus, "having plagues from unclean spirits"; as if these plagues were inflicted upon them by them, and which was sometimes the case. The Arabic version after this manner, "who had diseases and unclean spirits"; both the one and the other.

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

10 For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.

Ver. 10. As many as had plagues] Gr. μαστιγας, stripes, scourgings. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth with lesser and lighter afflictions, and scourgeth every son, &c., with hard and heavy judgments, as plagues, banishments, persecutions. Oh, the bloody wales that God hath left on the back of his best children! Heb 12:6. Non vulgares morbi sed saeviores, et inustulati, qui quasi clamitant de ira et poena divina.

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.

As many as had plagues - As many as had diseases or maladies of body or mind. The word plague, now confined to the pestilence, does not express the meaning of the original, and tends to mislead.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Plagues — Diseases recognized by the evangelist as the result of sin. Such is, in truth, the source of all disease.

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

As many as had plagues the Greek word is mastigav ; literally, scourges, painful disorderspressed upon him (wste epipiptein autw); literally, fell upon him, clung to him, hoping that the very contact with him might heal them. This expression, "scourges," reminds us that diseases are a punishment on account of our sins.

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

Plagues or scourges (so the Greek word properly means) seem to be those very painful or afflictive disorders which were frequently sent, or at least permitted of God, as a scourge or punishment of sin.

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

10. Very graphic. He healed many by word or touch, so that those near Him were falling upon Him, and those at a distance were frantic to get near Him. Those on the outskirts would press forward all who were between them and Him. Like the woman with the issue (Mar 5:28), they believed that their laying hold of Him would be as efficacious as His laying His hands on them. Mt. and Lk. say that all were healed, Mt. repeating Mk’s ἐθεράπευσεν, while the physician has his characteristic ἰᾶτο. See on Mar 1:34. Field quotes Thuc. vii. 84. 3 in illustration.

μάστιγας. Distressing bodily diseases are meant (Mar 5:29; Luk 7:21), and the word implies Divine chastisement; ἀλλὰ Διὸς μάστιγι κακῇ ἐδάμημεν Ἀχαιοί (Hom. Il. xiii. 812; cf. Aesch. Prom. 682). In LXX. it is not used specially of disease.

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.

10.] Luk 6:19.

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

10. ὥστε ἐπιπίτειν αὐτῷ—so that they were falling upon him. Not in a hostile sense, but the verb is a strong word, like προσκαρτερῇ and θλίβωσιν, and is intended to bring before us vividly the turbulent eagerness and excitement of the crowd. ἅψωνται—touch him. They believed that there was some virtue in his touch, and that it made no difference whether he touched them, or they him. See 6:19. μάστιγας—scourges, a strong figurative term for diseases.

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

Pressed upon [επιπιπτειν] . Lit., fell upon.

Plagues [μαστιγας] . Lit., scourges. Compare Act 22:24; Heb 11:36. Our word plague is from plhgh, Latin plaga, meaning a blow. Pestilence or disease is thus regarded as a stroke from a divine hand. Plhgh is used in classical Greek in this metaphorical sense. Thus Sophocles, "Ajax," 279 : "I fear that a calamity [πληγη] is really come from heaven (qeou, God)." So of war. Aeschylus, "Persae," 251 : " O Persian land, how hath the abundant prosperity been destroyed by a single blow [εν μια πληγη] . The word here, scourges, carries the same idea.

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