Mark 8:16

Mar_8:16-21

And they reasoned among themselves.

Nine sharp and pointed questions, turning the minds of the disciples back upon their own experience

Their reasonings very plainly and painfully proved how very little real benefit they had yet derived from intercourse with Christ. What a display of ignorance, forgetfulness, and unbelief! So it always has been in the history of Gods dealings with men. And so it is now, among ourselves, notwithstanding all the superior advantages we enjoy. How often do all of us misunderstand the meaning of our Masters words! How often do we distrust His Providence! And why is this? The main reason is that we are forgetful of the lessons of experience. Like the first disciples, we do not thoughtfully and prayerfully ponder what He has taught us, and what He has done for us. Consider the days of old. Remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee. Gather up into the basket of memory all the fragments of the past, carry them along with you, and make use of them day by day as occasion may require. (A. Thomson.)

Seeing, hearing, and understanding

The first time I went to a Christian missionary, said a Chinese evangelist, I took my eyes. I stared at his hat, his umbrella, his coat, his shoes, the shape of his nose, and the colour of his skin and hair; but I heard not a word. The next time I took my ears as well as my eyes, and was astonished to hear the foreigner talk Chinese. The third time, with eyes and ears intent, God touched my heart, and I understood the gospel.

How is it that ye do not understand?-

Understanding prevented

With the disciples, as with the rich youth, it was things that prevented the Lord from being understood. Because of possession the young man had not a suspicion of the grandeur of the call with which Jesus honoured him. He thought he was hardly dealt with to be offered a patent of heavens nobility-he was so very rich! Things filled his heart; things blocked up his windows; things barricaded his door; so that the very God could not enter. His soul was not empty, swept, and garnished, but crowded with meanest idols, among which his spirit crept about upon its knees, wasting on them the gazes that belonged to his fellows and his Master. The disciples were a little further on than he; they left all and followed the Lord; but neither had they yet got rid of things. The paltry solitariness of a loaf was enough to hide the Lord from them, to make them unable to understand Him. Why, having forgotten, could they not trust? Surely if He had told them that for His sake they must go all day without food, they would not have minded! but they lost sight of God, and were as if either He did not see, or did not care for them. In the former case it was the possession of wealth, in the latter the not having more than a loaf, that rendered incapable of receiving the Word of the Lord: the evil principle was precisely the same. If it be things that slay you, what matter whether things you have, or things you have not? The youth, not trusting in God, the source of his riches, cannot brook the word of His Son, offering him better riches, more direct from the heart of the Father. The disciples, forgetting who is Lord of the harvests of the earth, cannot understand His Word, because filled with the fear of a days hunger. He did not trust in God as having given; they did not trust in God as ready to give. We are like them when, in any trouble, we do not trust Him. It is hard on God, when His children will not let Him give; when they carry themselves so that He must withhold His hand, lest He harm them. To take no care that they acknowledge whence their help comes, would be to leave them worshippers of idols, trusters in that which is not. (G. Macdonald, LL. D.)

The lessons of trivial loss

Let me suggest some possible parallels between ourselves and the disciples, maundering over their one loaf-with the Bread of Life at their side in the boat. We, too, dull our understandings with trifles, fill the heavenly spaces with phantoms, waste the heavenly time with hurry. To those who possess their souls in patience come the heavenly visions. When I trouble myself over a trifle, even a trifle confessed-the loss of some little article, say-spurring my memory, and hunting the house, not from immediate need, but from dislike of loss; when a book has been borrowed of me and not returned, and I have forgotten the borrower, and fret over the missing volume, while there are thousands on my shelves, from which the moments thus lost might gather treasures, holding relation with neither moth, nor rust, nor thief; am I not like the disciples? Am I not a fool whenever loss troubles me more than recovery would gladden? God would have me wise, and smile at the trifle. Is it not time I lost a few things when I care for them so unreasonably? This losing of things is of the mercy of God; it comes to teach us to let them go. Or have I forgotten a thought that came to me, which seemed of the truth, and a revealment to my heart? I wanted to keep it, to have it, to use it by and by, and it is gone! I keep trying and trying to call it back, feeling a poor man till that thought be recovered-to be far more lost, perhaps in a notebook, into which I shall never look again to find it! I forget that it is live things God cares about-live truths, not things set down in a book, or in a memory, or embalmed in the joy of knowledge, but things lifting up the heart, things active in an active will. True, my lost thought might have so worked; but had I faith in God, the Maker of thought and memory, I should know that, if the thought was a truth, and so alone worth anything, it must come again; for it is in God-so, like the dead, not beyond my reach; kept for me, I shall have it again. (G. Macdonald, LL. D.)

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

8:16 The disciples completely missed the point of Jesus’ warning (8:15) and forgot that because Jesus was with them, their supply of bread was irrelevant.

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

Mar 8:16 . πρὸς ἀλλήλους . Mt. has ἐν ἑαυτοῖς . The mind of Jesus was profoundly preoccupied with the ominous demand of the sign-seekers, and the disciples might talk quietly to each other unnoticed by Him.

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

They that have their minds fixed on earthly things, are utterly blind in heavenly things, although they be never so plainly set forth unto them.

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

And they reasoned among themselves,.... Upon Christ's giving this caution, and recollecting with themselves, that they had forgot to buy any provisions, and take with them:

saying, it is because we have no bread; that he says these words; tacitly chiding and reproving us, for our want of thought and care; See Gill on Mat 16:7.

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

16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.

Ver. 16. {See Trapp on "Mat 16:7"}

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.

According to the most approved readings, this verse should be read thus: And they reasoned one with another, saying, We have no bread. There is something very artless and simple in this narrative. Our Lord speaks of" leaven;" and the mention of this word reminds the disciples that they had forgotten to bring bread with them in the boat; and fearing lest Christ should direct them, according to his wont, to land on some desert shore, they were in some anxiety how they might obtain what they would need; and so they disputed among themselves; one, it may be, throwing the blame upon another.

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

It is because we have no bread

In this statement, it may be helpful to state that "it" refers to what Jesus had said. AT: "He must have said that because we have no bread" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

no bread

The word "no" is an exaggeration. The disciples did have one loaf of bread (Mark 8:14), but that was not much different from having no bread at all. AT: "very little bread" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

Why are you reasoning about not having bread?

Here Jesus is mildly rebuking his disciples because they should have understood what he had been talking about. This can be written as a statement. AT: "You should not be thinking that I am talking about actual bread." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Do you not yet perceive? Do you not understand?

These questions have the same meaning and are used together to emphasize that they do not understand. This can be written as one question or as a statement. AT: "Do you not yet understand?" or "You should perceive and understand by now the things I say and do." (See: Parallelism and Rhetorical Question)

Have your hearts become so dull?

Here "hearts" is a metonym for a person's mind. The phrase "hearts become so dull" is a metaphor for not being able or willing to understand something. Jesus uses a question to scold the disciples. This can be written as a statement. AT: "Your thinking has become so dull!" or "You are so slow to understand what I mean!" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor and Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

disciple

bread

Jesus

understand

heart

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

16. [1641][1642][1643][1644] omit λέγοντες after ἀλλήλους.

[1641] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[1642] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[1643] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[1644] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

16. διελογίζοντο πρὸς ἀλλ. ὅτι. Cf. Mar 11:31. The ὅτι is recitative not causal. See crit. note.

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. Καὶ διελογίζοντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους, Ὅτι ἄρτους οὐκ ἔχομεν (ἔχουσιν)—And they reasoned with each other, (it is) because we have (or they have) no bread. Probably, with either ἔχομεν or ἔχουσιν, ὅτι is causal, and there is an ellipsis of the principal clause.

Omit λέγοντες, saying, after πρὸς ἀλλήλους, Tisch. Treg. WH. א BD 1, 28, 209, mss. Lat. Vet. ἔχουσιν, instead of ἔχομεν, Treg. WH. RV.marg. B 1, 28, 209, two mss. Lat. Vet. Memph., also D mss. Lat. Vet. (quod panes non haberent).

The disciples were themselves so blind spiritually, that they attributed a material sense to Christ’s spiritual sayings. They thought that he was warning them, in the very spirit of the Pharisees themselves, against food contaminated by them. Their thoughts were on their neglect to take bread, and so leaven, or yeast, suggested to them bread.

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