Sons of the Land (Mark 3:7-12)

Throughout this gospel we have already seen several miracles, such as the cleansing of the leper, the lifting of the paralytic, and most recently, the restoration of a man’s withered hand, and these have all been types in one form or another for the bruises and breaches of Israel being healed through the reconciliation of the Christ. In the previous passage, we explored how the rejuvenation of a dried-up hand foreshadowed the gradual restoration of the dry olive tree of Israel, and now as we continue, we see several branches of that tree from across the Jordan, Tyre and Sidon, and elsewhere, coming to reach out and be healed the same. We will take time in this commentary to discuss those places, because just as it is beneficial to understand the backdrop of Judaean politics and the sons of Herod, it is also important to understand Judaean geography and the Israelite sons of the land.

Continuing with Mark:

3:7 And Yahshua withdrew to the sea with His students, and a great multitude from Galilaia followed, and from Judaea 8 and from Jerusalem and from Idumaia and across the Jordan and around Turos and Sidon a great multitude hearing what things He does came to Him. 9 And He spoke to His students in order that a boat should be waiting ready for Him, for reason that the crowd would crush Him. 10 For He had healed many, so as to fall upon Him as many as had afflictions in order that they may touch Him. 11 And the unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell before Him and cried out, saying that "You are the Son of Yahweh!" 12 And He admonished them often that they should not make Him known.

This account is also recorded at Matthew 12:15-21 and Luke 6:17-19. It could possibly be argued that Matthew’s account of this is at 4:25, as it there adjoins the Sermon on the Mount, just as the account does in Luke 6, but it seems unlikely. Matthew's gospel is more thematically organized than those of Mark and Luke.

This pericope is quite simple, but has some slight differences in thematic intention between each gospel. In Matthew, the healing of the multitude is briefly glanced over, with the focus being on the fulfillment of the words of Isaiah the prophet, a citation which is not made in the other gospels. Then, while Luke and Mark share many similarities, Luke’s account is comparatively concise and economic with its wording compared to the oral gospel of Mark, where it is longest and (unsurprisingly) most evocative, with a handful of unique details as well. Mark has around 103 words in the Greek of the NA28. Matthew has 86. Luke has 63.

We will now examine the account one verse at a time:

3:7 And Yahshua withdrew to the sea with His students, and a great multitude from Galilaia followed, and from Judaea

We can logically assume that Yahshua withdrew for reason that His enemies had intentions to harm Him (Mark 3:6), and this rationale is confirmed in Matthew’s gospel where the apostle writes “But knowing it Yahshua withdrew from there, and many followed Him, and He healed them all.” (Matthew 12:15) It is not evident whether or not the Pharisees and Herodians were even capable of immediately fulfilling their murderous counsel, but the threat was apparently enough for Yahshua to depart from the town, or at least that was the perception of the apostles who witnessed these things. 

A regular lesson of the gospel accounts is that Yahshua’s enemies were never able to seize Him until the hour came, when He willingly gave Himself up as a ransom for His people, because as He said, “No one takes it from Me. Rather I lay it down by Myself.” (John 10:18) One example of a failed seizure is in the gospel of John, where we read “Then they sought to seize Him, yet no one laid a hand upon Him, because His hour had not yet come.” (John 7:30) The counsel of the Pharisees and Herodians in Capernaum recorded at Mark 3:6 was vanity, for Yahshua still had work to do, confirming the covenant with many for one week, just as Daniel prophesied (Daniel 9:27), and performing the works for which He was sent. (John 4:34, 9:4, et al)

The departure from Capernaum to the sea of Galilee would have been a short journey, five to ten minutes if the modern identification of Capernaum is correct. With such a modest withdrawal, it might appear that Yahshua was barely leaving the reach of His enemies, but it is possible that He continued down the coast for some distance, since there is no telling how far distant from Capernaum the mountain was where He named His apostles (Mark 3:13). Regardless, the crowds which followed Him would have served as a considerable buffer against any foes attempting an arrest, and there is a record of such a situation later in the gospels, where Matthew writes “And seeking to seize Him they feared the crowds, since they esteemed Him to be a prophet.” (Matthew 21:46) Why else would the crowds have followed Yahshua out of Capernaum, unless they thought similarly? We could imagine that this multitude would have willingly defended Yahshua from the Pharisees and Herodians, if the need arose.

Speaking of crowds, Mark alone takes time to note that a multitude from Galilee followed Him out of Capernaum. This might seem unnecessary to mention, since Capernaum was in Galilee, but these Galileans would have of course exceeded the residents of that town, since Yahshua had already made extensive travels throughout Galilee by this time, with reports of His deeds preceding Him wherever He went. (Mark 1:14, 28, 39, 45) In Yahshua's visit to Capernaum recorded at Mark 2:1, the evangelist Luke informs that men had gathered from every town of Galilee (Luke 5:17).

It might appear in the English that a multitude from Galilee and Judaea and elsewhere followed Yahshua out of Capernaum, but the Greek grammar appears to imply a distinction between those from Galilee who followed Yahshua out of Capernaum (singular - ἠκολούθησεν #G575 - Mark 3:7), and the broader multitude coming to Him afterwards from other regions (plural - ἦλθον #G575 - Mark 3:8). This could be expressed with a sentence division in the English, “And Yahshua withdrew to the sea with His students, and a great multitude from Galilaia followed. And from Judaea […]” Perhaps then, it would have been better if the medieval verse division placed the clause, “And from Judaea”, in the eighth verse. This also makes it evident that the wider multitude had come out to Yahshua after His departure from Capernaum, which seems to line up with the contexts of the other gospel accounts.

Yahshua’s ministry was a phenomenon from its earliest days, and was continuously growing as the influence of others steadily shrank. At least most of the portion of this multitude which witnessed the work of power in Capernaum, apparently followed Yahshua out from the town, and did not go after the Pharisees, which illustrates the words of the Prince we quoted in the previous commentary “When all of his own go out, he goes before them and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. Yet they shall not follow another, but flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:4-5)

Continuing with Mark:

3:8 and from Jerusalem and from Idumaia and across the Jordan and around Turos and Sidon a great multitude hearing what things He does came to Him.

The mention of Idumaia and across the Jordan are unique to Mark.

The word translated as came (ἔρχομαι #2064) is in the aorist tense, which implies an action which began in the past and has continuing effects into the future. It is not immediately clear how long it took for this assemblage to gather, but the distances would infer that it was at least a somewhat considerable time, unless they had already set out sometime ahead.

These people would have been brought on by the plethora of reports which were spreading concerning the things (plural) which Yahshua was doing (imperfect) in His ministry. Mark in using the plural, refers to the quantity of reports that were spread, and thus far in the gospel we have already seen the healing of the possessed man, at which time “the report of it went out at once everywhere in the whole surrounding region of Galilaia.” (Mark 1:28); and also the cleansing of the leper, who going off “began to proclaim many things and to spread the account” (Mark 1:45). There are other miracles which appear to have happened by this time in Yahshua’s ministry, but which are not recorded in this gospel, such as one unique to Matthew where two blind men’s eyes were opened, and “they having departed made it known in all that land.” (Matthew 9:31) Of course, there would have been reports spreading of many deeds not recorded in the Gospel, because as John wrote, “there are also many other things Yahshua had done, which if each one were written, I suppose that Society itself would not have space for the books which would be written.” (John 21:25)

The miracles in Mark 1 and the miracle from Matthew appear to have been centered around Galilee, but reports of Yahshua had spread into the borders of other regions even in the earliest days of His ministry, where after departing from Nazareth and settling in Capernaum we read from Matthew:

Matthew 4:24 And the report of Him had gone out into all of Suria, […] 25 And many crowds followed Him from Galilaia and Dekapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and beyond the Jordan. [Luke 4:14]

Therefore, near the dawn of His ministry, there were already crowds following Yahshua from beyond the Jordan, as so here at Mark 3:8, and it is even strongly suggested in John’s gospel that Yahshua was immersed in the Jordan on its other side (John 1:28, John 10:40 - cf. to Mark 1:9). As for Judaea, we of course must not forget that Yahshua traveled through Judaea at least two or three times a year to present Himself in Jerusalem for the required feasts, and it is logical to assume that His visits were more regular than just that, likely traveling for every feast. 

It is evident that both Judaeans and Galileans quickly became acquainted with Yahshua in the early period of His ministry, as He had even cast out bankers in Jerusalem by this time in Mark:

John 4:45 Therefore when He came into Galilaia, the Galilaians all welcomed Him, who had seen how many things He had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also had come to the feast.

And then later, Yahshua’s deeds in Galilee and Judaea were brought up by the wicked high priests during His trial before Pontus Pilate, where they said "He agitates the people teaching throughout all of Judaea, even beginning from Galilaia as far as here." (Luke 23:5) So while it may not be immediately evident here in Mark, or even in the other synoptic gospels, Yahshua was by this time already well-known throughout Palestine, and even much of Syria (as seen at Matthew 4:24), which was quite north of Galilee. [I had originally made a comment here concerning Yahshua's journey to the region of the Gadarenes, as it is placed within Matthew's timeline, but it has since become more abundantly evident to me just how much Matthew arranged his gospel thematically and not chronologically] 

These matters of chronology might not always be transparent in the narrative, as the gospels are abbreviated and their accounts largely thematically arranged. Regardless, what we are seeing here in Mark are the effects of a famous and phenomenal ministry, with reports of His deeds being heard of far and wide.

The considerable handful of regions being named in Mark 3:7-8 are a demonstration of how the Light of Yahshua shined brighter than John the Baptist, as after all, He was the Christ for whom John the Baptist prepared the people. The description of John’s ministry in the opening of Mark's gospel is comparatively tame to the crowds being gathered to Christ in Mark 3:7-8, where we read “And all the land of Judaea and all those in Jerusalem went out to him” (Mark 1:5), and Matthew adds “all the region around the Jordan” (Matthew 3:5). As the Baptist said concerning Christ, “It is necessary for Him to be augmented, and for me to be diminished” (John 3:30). The fact that Yahshua’s ministry was greater than John the Baptist’s is recorded by the apostle John, where he writes the early observation of the Pharisees in Judaea that Yahshua’s popularity was exceeding John’s: “Therefore as Yahshua had become aware that the Pharisees heard that "Yahshua makes and immerses more students than Iohannes" (even though Yahshua Himself has not immersed, but His students), He left Judaea, and departed again for Galilaia.” (John 4:1-3)

To discuss something which can be gleaned from so many people coming to Christ here, at the ending of what is now the first chapter of Mark (1:45), we read that after cleansing the leper, Yahshua was unable to enter openly into the city on account of the report, and “He was outside in the desert places, and they came to Him from everywhere.” The word translated as everywhere is πανταχόθεν (#G3836), which implies from all quarters, and here at Mark 3:7-8, we have multitudes being drawn to Christ from all four directions. The land across the Jordan was to the southeast of Capernaum, and then the breadth of Galilee to the west, Judaea, Jerusalem and Idumea [once southern Judah] were to the south of Capernaum, and then Tyre and Sidon to the north. 

These multitudes being gathered from four quarters is certainly a foreshadow of the great gathering from the four winds which will occur at the Second Coming, as promised in the prophets, and also by Christ in the Gospel, where He says “And then He shall send the messengers and they shall gather His elect [Israel - Isaiah 45:4] out of the four winds.” (Mark 13:27, cf. Matthew 24:31) 

At that time, all of the children of Israel will be gathered for a meeting with the Prince (1 Thessalonaisn 4:14-17), one by one (Isaiah 27:12-13), and without any exceptions. Even the dead will come with Yahshua when He returns. As for here in Mark, many might try to argue that racially alien crowds from Idumea and the cities of Tyre and Sidon were coming and being healed by Christ, but history certainly indicates that there were Israelites in these lands. To best understand what is happening, we will summarize these places much how we summarized the sects in the previous commentary, keeping up with its historical focus.

Galilee

The region of Galilee was the base of Yahshua’s ministry, and from where He called all of His apostles (apart from the Edomite Judas Iscariot), and so His deeds would have of course been more intimately known in Galilee than anywhere else. At this time, both Galilee and Perea were the tetrarchy under the control of the tetrarch (ruler of a fourth) Herod Antipas, who answered to Rome, but had a good measure of autonomy in how he governed. Crowds like these mentioned in Mark, would have certainly troubled Herod, as he is later recorded in the Gospel as fearing that John the Baptist whom he killed had risen from the dead. (Mark 6:14)

Judaea

Judaea was different from Galilee in the fact that it was not a tetrarchy, but under the direct governance of Rome as a province, either through a prefect or proconsol, such as Pontus Pilate during the ministry of Christ. The high priests who were once appointed by the Herods were in these days being appointed and regulated by the Romans, and the Sanhedrin (council) often conducted themselves in fear of that heavy Roman shadow (John 11:48). The province encompassed the regions of Samaria, Judaea, and Idumea.

Jerusalem

Jerusalem was the center of religious life, one reason being that the men of Israel were required to present themselves before Yahweh at the temple three times a year, and this is not well understood, but the temple was expressly rebuilt so that the Messiah would be able to fulfill those laws, among others, during His earthly life. This is evident in Daniel 9, which also prophesied of the temple’s destruction, being accomplished by the kinsman avenging Romans given that the temple's existence was no longer necessary after Yahshua’s victory. Any Judaized-Christian who praises the idea of another temple being built spits on the temple of Christ and His body. 

Jerusalem was also where sacrifices were regularly offered and conducted by the “priests” (many of whom were illegitimate and not actually Levites - see Yahshua’s distinction at Luke 10:31-32). The city was heavily mixed, and that is implied in the terror of its denizens when they heard that the Messiah was born (Matthew 2:3), and later at its destruction Josephus noted that it was filled with some of the most contemptible kinds (Wars 5.10.5). There is a reason why Yahshua concentrated His ministry in the countryside, as that is where most genuine Israelites were to be found, and so is the case today. Of course, being a massive city, there were also genuine Israelites in Jerusalem.

Idumea

Idumea was south of Judaea, and should not be confused with the location of the land of Edom in the Old Testament, as Edom's borders began to gradually move northward into Judaea after the Babylonian deportations and through the Persian period. This absorption was prophesied of in the 34th and 35th chapters of Ezekiel, and at the time of the Maccabees, many formerly Judahite cities actually had to be won back from the Edomites, such as Dora (Dor) and Marissa (Mareshah) (Antiquities 13.257). By Mark’s time, the regional boundaries of Idumea were fully absorbed into what was formerly southern Judah, and so the reference to Idumea in Mark should not be confused with ancient Edom. The northernmost boundaries of Idumea (Edom) in ancient times was south of the Dead Sea’s southernmost border - and yet Idumea’s southernmost border in the 1st century was north of the Dead Sea’s southernmost! 

Mark is poetically illustrating how many multitudes of Israel were being gathered to Christ, from as far as the southernmost point of Judaea, and then as far north as Tyre and Sidon.

A higher concentration of Edomite serpents in Idumea is evident in the pages of Josephus and surely lent to that name being retained for the region, and it is a good hypothesis as to why there is no reference of Christ ever ministering in Idumea (as far as I am aware of). But we have to remember, that the demographics of shifting nations can rarely ever be weighed in absolutes, and that pockets of genuine unadulterated Israelites would have remained in the land which was once southern Judah, (not to mention that Israelite families would at times move). These children of Israel from what was once southern Judah, now called Idumea, would be those who were gathering themselves to, and being healed by Christ, Whom expressly came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, as He Himself said, and He routinely exposed the Edomites as the race of vipers which they are. The betrayer Judas Iscariot was also an Edomite vessel of destruction, and we will discuss him later in our commentary on the gospel of Mark.

To summarize: it is the geographical location of Idumea being referred to, which was once southern Judah, and not the actual race of Idumeans, who were not even distinguished as Idumeans ever since they were circumcised by Hyrcanus, and accounted as Judaeans in the apostate eyes of the people several generations earlier.

Across The Jordan

The Jordan flows from the Sea of Galilee to the north, and empties into the Dead Sea at the south, and on its east were the regions of the Dekapolis (ten cities) and Perea (literally across - related to the word here in Mark for across, πέραν #G4008). Much of this area was inhabited by Israelites in ancient times, such as Gad and Reuben in Moab and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan and Gilead. Yahshua is recorded as having done works in the land across the Jordan, such as when He healed the dumb man in Dekapolis, one of the very few miracles which are unique to Mark’s gospel (Mark 7:31). 

Christ is also recorded as having traveled through Jericho in Perea near the end of His ministry, where He opened the eyes of Bartimaeus the blind beggar and his companion (Mark 10:46-52, cf. Matthew 20:30), and also dined with Zaccheus the God-fearing tax collector, whom He identified as a descendant of Abraham (Luke 19:1-10). Zacchaeus is just a sample of the larger picture of Judaeans who would have spread back into these lands over the generations after the return from exile, especially during the Maccabean period when they waxed strong. The people would have also simply spread back out given their accessible means of movement as a unified Roman province. 

The 42,000 which returned from Babylon had swelled into a very large population, as evidenced in the writings of Josephus, and there is no doubt that they had spread back throughout these lands. The miracles and signs which Christ performed in these places confirm an Israelite presence, because He indeed only came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24).

Tyre and Sidon

The final two locations mentioned here in Mark are the cities of Tyre and Sidon, which were described as Phoenician by the Greeks, but no such word is found in the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament, since the very word Phoenician is of Greek origin, and reflective of a Hellenistic perspective. It was not an ethnic description, but a geographical one, much like the label Syrian. This is why Mark (having a Latin or Greek audience for his gospel) later identifies the Canaanite woman geographically, as a Syro-Phoenician, as she dwelled in the land which the Greeks called Phoenicia (Mark 7:26), Matthew meanwhile uses the more accurate racial designation Canaanite in his Hebrew-oriented gospel (Matthew 15:22), but that was a word unfamiliar to most Greeks.

The testimony of Scripture as it is compared with other historical records, is that the people of ancient times whom the Greeks called Phoenicians were in fact Israelites. The cities of Tyre and Sidon are treated as Israelite cities in the Old Testament, such as where they are included in David’s census of Israel, and distinguished apart from “the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites” (2 Samuel 24:6-7), such a distinction confirming their identity. We also read later in the Scriptures concerning David's son, that “Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt.” (1 Kings 8:65) The entering in of Hamath was where the Orontes river met the Mediterranean, so therefore it is evident that the entirety of Phoenicia was in the possession of Israel during the reign of Solomon. Speaking of Solomon, Hiram king of Tyre worked faithfully with both him and his father David, and Hiram was described by Josephus as an Israelite on both sides of his family tree. (Antiquities 8.3.4)

The identity of the Phoenicians is also attested to throughout the prophets, such as in the oracle against Tyre and Sidon beginning at the 23rd chapter of Isaiah, and proceeding through several of the following. Within that scroll are exhortations for repentance and announcements of judgement which are only applicable to the wife of Israel, who alone was given the law of the Husband at Sinai (Psalm 149:19-20). If Tyre and Sidon were not Israelite cities, then they would not have received such judgement, for “sin is not imputed when there is no law.” (Romans 5:13) There are many prophecies in those chapters of Isaiah, which are certainly only relevant to Israel, both implicitly and explicitly.

Now, it is plain in the words of the book of Joshua, that the tribe of Asher inherited the cities of Tyre and Sidon (Joshua 19:24-31), and we know from other historical records that the Asherites of Tyre were never completely expelled by the Assyrians or Babylonians, or even by the Greeks who had later destroyed the island city (Tyre had a mainland and island city - the latter of which survived longer than the former). When it happened that Alexander came to destroy the island city, it is evident that many of the inhabitants had returned and spread back throughout the land during the Persian period. The endurance of the Asherites of Palestine is indicative of how Anna, the widowed prophetess who spent most of her life in the temple and who saw the Christ child, was able to retain the knowledge of her ancestry as an Asherite (Luke 2:36-38). 

Now, if there was an Asherite woman in Jerusalem when Christ was an infant, how many more would be in Tyre and Sidon? Much later in His earthly life, Yahshua Christ would during His ministry, journey into the area of those cities on at least one occasion. We should not expect vain effort from our Prince. Just as we said before, Christ would not have traveled somewhere unless there were Israelites to proclaim to. 

With these historical matters being plainly evident, it is not surprising at all to see people from Tyre and Sidon gathering to see Yahshua, an interesting detail which is only found in this passage of the gospels (Mark 3:8, Luke 6:17).

[The identity of the Phoenicians has been expounded on at length by William Finck of Christogenea, and we recommend his papers on the subject matter for any reader who is interested in learning further]

With all of these regions being expounded upon, there is no doubt that at least the majority of the people traveling to see Christ in this instance were Israelites, and if there were any dogs among them, then their peering in was vanity, for “it is not good to take the bread of the children and cast it to the little dogs!" (Mark 7:27)

Continuing with Mark:

3:9 And He spoke to His students in order that a boat should be waiting ready for Him, for reason that the crowd would crush Him.

This verse is unique to Mark.

The crowd knew that touching Christ would heal them of their ailments, and so they anxiously pressed upon the beacon of their hope. This is implied in the following verse at Mark 3:10, but it is more explicit in Luke, where we read “And all the crowd sought to touch Him, because power comes out from Him and heals all.” (Luke 6:19) To witness someone be miraculously healed with a mere touch, would compel all those watching to reach out towards Yahshua with a swelling fervor of desperation. We are all aware of how quickly a crowd can become electrified with excitement. Luke’s language in his account of what is recorded here in Mark, is quite reminiscent of how he later describes the woman with the flow of blood:

Luke 8:45-46 And Yahshua said "Who has grabbed Me?" Then all denying, Petros said "Master, the crowd constrains and presses upon You!" Then Yahshua said "Someone has grabbed Me, for I know that power has gone out from Me."

Returning to Mark, the word translated as crush here is θλίβω (#G2346), which is literally to compress or straiten. With so many needy hands reaching out from the crowd to touch even the fringe of His garment, it would have been difficult (in an earthly sense) for Yahshua to slip away and prepare the boat Himself, and so He commands His students to have one ready for Him. The pressing in of the crowd is again seen later in the gospel of Mark, in his account of the woman having the flow of blood, where she seeks to touch the fringe of Yahshua’s garment while a crowd presses upon Him (Mark 5:24). 

With at least six to nine of the apostles being fishermen, we can imagine that they would have been quite experienced with preparing and maneuvering boats. Christ and His company would at times ferry themselves across the sea of Galilee, such as in what is now the next chapter of Mark, where we read “He was in the vessel, and other vessels were with His.” (Mark 4:36)

The word translated as boat here at Mark 3:9 is πλοιάριον (#G4142), and is a presumed derivative of πλοῖον (#G4143). The latter is often translated as vessel in the Christogenea New Testament, as the word has no specificity towards size, and boat would probably not do the word enough justice in an English-speaking mind, given that the πλοῖον (#G4143) in the account recorded at Acts 27, held 276 men (Acts 27:37). The apostles are recorded as having fished in a πλοῖον (#G4143), and a 2,000 year old vessel likely very similar to the ones they employed was discovered in Galilee. It is discussed in the September-October 2004 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, and was measured as being approximately 27 feet long, 7-and-a-half feet wide, and over 4 feet high. 

But this word in Mark, πλοιάριον, is a diminutive form of πλοῖον, and seems to infer a smaller vessel, Liddell and Scott providing the interpretation of a skiff or boat. Therefore, in two out of its six appearances in the CNT it is translated as boat.

Now this is not the only record of Yahshua requesting a boat or vessel for reason of a pressing crowd, because again we can read from Luke:

Luke 5:1-3 And it came to pass with the crowd pressing upon Him then to hear the Word of Yahweh, that He was standing by the lake Gennesaret [a Greek derivation of the Hebrew Chinnereth - the ancient Hebrew name for the Sea of Galilee], and He saw two vessels (#G4143) stationed by the lake, and the fishermen disembarked from them washing the nets. And boarding one of the vessels, which was Simon's, He asked him to set out a little from the land, and sitting He taught the crowds from the vessel. (#G4143)

The vessel in that instance recorded at Luke 5, served two purposes: it allowed Yahshua to not be thronged upon by the crowd, while also providing a secure and visible place from which to teach them. Yahshua's practice of teaching from boats is also evident in the next chapter of Mark’s gospel, where we read “And again He began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd gathers to Him, so as for Him boarding into a vessel to sit in the sea, and all the crowd was by the sea upon the land.” (Mark 4:1, cf. Matthew 13:1-2) It was not uncommon for Yahshua to teach from a vessel, and it is hard to imagine that Christ entered the boat here at Mark 3:9 and then silently sat as the crowds gazed earnestly upon Him.

Having been accustomed to teaching by the sea, this might also have contributed to why Yahshua departed in this direction to the east from Capernaum, and did not go west instead, especially if this all transpired on the same Sabbath day (the people were eager to hear the expounding of Scripture on the Sabbaths. Such a habit for teaching from vessels might have even been subtly suggested in the previous chapter of Mark, where again leaving Capernaum we read, “And He went out again by the sea, and all the crowd came with Him, and He taught them.” (Mark 2:13) We briefly mentioned the possibility in our commentary on that passage.

As for teaching the multitudes in general, Yahshua was accustomed to teaching the crowds which came out to Him, as we read in Mark’s tenth chapter, where he writes “And arising from there He goes into the borders of Judaea and on the other side of the Jordan, and the crowds again come together to Him, and as He is accustomed, again He taught them.” (Mark 10:1) The nourishing teachings which they received, can be understood to have been a reward for seeking Him (Hebrews 11:6, John 7:37). 

With all these multitudes hearing about Yahshua and traveling far to see Him, we see that Luke in his gospel records Yahshua as having given the Sermon on the Plain (perhaps the Sermon on the Mount) around this time, that sermon being given on or near the base of the mountain which Yahshua ascends and names His apostles in the next passage, at Mark 3:13-19. It is certain that these multitudes heard the Sermon, for Luke writes concerning those who listened, “a great multitude of people from all of Judaea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Turos and Sidon, who had come to hear Him” (Luke 6:17-18) And so in reward for having traveled so far, they were blessed with having heard what could easily be considered Yahsua's most famous Sermon. 

Before ascending the mountain and thereafter giving that Sermon, it is likely that Yahshua proceeded to teach from this vessel which He summoned. The mountain which Yahshua shortly later ascends was in Galilee (Matthew 28:16, cf. to Mark 3:13-14), suggesting that the requested boat was not for a departure away from the region (such as in situations like Matthew 8:18), but for teaching. 

Having healed many before proceeding to instruct the crowds from the vessel, we see that unlike the hired hands which left the sheep ignorant and bruised, the Good Shepherd nourished the flock with both teachings and deeds. Mark does not touch upon any teachings here, but he does touch upon the deeds. Continuing with Mark:

3:10 For He had healed many, so as to fall upon Him as many as had afflictions in order that they may touch Him.

These people were falling upon Yahshua with hopes to touch Him and be healed - much like the man with the withered hand from before who reached out towards the True Vine (Christ), and was restored. It is always interesting to see the thematic parallels in how certain accounts are paired together in the gospels, as there is usually always something new to find. Could we ever touch the bottom of a well of wisdom so deep? We can conjecture that at least some of these people being healed were among the Galileans who followed Christ out of the assembly hall (Mark 3:7), likely being filled with an eager desire to be lifted from their infirmities, having witnessed the restoration of the withered hand.

This begs the question, of how many of these wondrous healings of individuals among the crowds took place on that same Sabbath day as the one where the man with the withered hand was healed. Even if it were only a handful, a possibility which is in no way at conflict with the text, then what an awesome and authoritative show of power to His enemies! The Pharisees and Herodians groaned over one single miracle, the healing of a withered hand, and then Yahshua went on to unleash a wave of spectacular signs. This is strength. 

The strength of our Prince is also demonstrated in an account which Luke records from nearer to the end of His ministry:

Luke 13:31-33 At that hour some Pharisees came forward saying to him "Depart, and go thence, because Herodas desires to slay you!" And He said to them "Going you say to that fox 'Behold, I cast out demons and shall accomplish cures today and tomorrow and on the third day I am finished!' But it is necessary for Me today and tomorrow and on the following to proceed, because it is not allowed that a prophet is to be slain outside of Jerusalem!

At that time recorded in Luke 13, Yahshua valiantly continued on in His march to accomplish cures for His people, despite the gnashing of that fox Herod Antipas’ teeth, and here in Mark, He also continued to heal the flock, despite the gnashing of the pack of Herodians (Mark 3:6). What an interesting parallel. 

This is why Yahweh is a rock that His children can rely on - there is no enemy that could ever take away His love from us or cause His promises to fail. The Pharisees and Herodians did not slow Him down or even perturb Him, as He is the Almighty God, and He victoriously continued on for the sake of His people. As Paul said most eloquently according to the wisdom given to him, “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor messengers, nor magistrates, nor present, nor future, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation will be able to separate us from the love of Yahweh, which is in Christ Yahshua our Prince.” (Romans 8:38-39)

To compound on how as many who touched Yahshua were saved, we have already cited the account of the woman with the flow of blood who reached out to grasp the hem of Yahshua’s garment, but we did not cite the account of Yahshua’s works in Genessaret:

Mark 6:56 And wherever He entered into a village or into a city or into the farms, in the marketplaces they set down those who are sick and they exhorted Him in order that if they could even touch the border of His garment, and as many as touched Him were saved. (Matthew 14:36)

As we discussed in our commentary concerning the man with the withered hand, I am convinced that these testimonies of crowds being healed by merely touching Christ, are symbolically compounded with the words of Yahweh in Genesis. “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” (Genesis 3:22). Christ is the True Vine, as He Himself stated. (John 15:1)

Now, there is an important distinction in language between this verse of Mark and the next, where we will read at Mark 3:11 that those with unclean spirits “fell before” Him (προσπίπτω #G4363), which is defined by Liddell and Scott among other things as to fall before or supplicate. It might seem identical to how the crowds fall in this verse, but the word at Mark 3:10 is ἐπιπίπτω (#G1968), which has a meaning more inclined towards to falling upon or over. The distinction is subtle yet literally accurate in the CNT, where ἐπιπίπτω is fall upon at verse 10 (some translations render the word as pressed here), and then προσπίπτω at verse 11 is fall before. 

Mark 3:10 demonstrates how the crowds sought to fall upon and touch Yahshua, as opposed to the unclean spirits which fell before Him and made supplication at Mark 3:11. It would have been easy to miss this subtle distinction without consulting the Greek.

The people among the multitude falling upon Yahshua is also, yet again, more evocative language from Mark, as the word can often imply a degree of passion or eagerness (see Thucydides 7.84).

On the topic of the Greek: the word translated as afflictions here at Mark 3:10 is μάστιξ (#G3148), which is literally a whip or a scourge, but metaphorically an affliction or a plague. This word and its Hebrew equivalents are often used to represent chastisement from Yahweh God (Job 21:9, Psalm 32:10 - see also LXX). Its verbal form is used by Paul of Tarsus in his epistle to the Hebrews, where he cites Proverbs 3:11-12:

Hebrews 12:5-6 and you have utterly forgotten the exhortation which with you, as sons He converses: "My son, do not esteem lightly the discipline of Yahweh, nor faint being censured by Him. For whom Yahweh loves He disciplines, and He scourges (μαστιγόω #3146) every son whom He receives."

With scourging and stripes often representing chastisement from Yahweh God for transgression, perhaps the healing of these afflictions (scourges) among the people is an evocative type, which using the intimately physical element of their falling upon Him, symbolically illustrates how Yahshua carried their errors on His body upon the cross (1 Peter 2:24). As we read in the famous 53rd chapter of Isaiah from which Peter quoted:

Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

Scourging is chastisement, and the purpose of chastisement is to bring one to repentance, which is obedience to the law - and obedience to the law brings peace. Therefore “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him” - symbolized by those with scourges (a type for chastisement), touching Christ here at Mark 3:10. Where it is written, “and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” - this is symbolized in the crowds falling upon Yahshua.

As David wrote in the Psalms, where the same word found here in Mark is used in the Septuagint translation:

Psalm 39:10-11 (LXX) Remove thy scourges (#G3148) from me: I have fainted by reason of the strength of thine hand. Thou chastenest man with rebukes for iniquity, and thou makest his life to consume away like a spider's web; nay, every man is disquieted in vain. Pause. 

As we discussed in our commentary on Mark titled, Plastering the Bruises, Yahshua came to heal the wounds of His people Israel, and we again see a figure for that here. But the lifting away of the permanent stripes of death from the wife of Israel’s body should not be taken to mean that her members were not to receive temporal blows thereafter. The curse of the law was that no man could keep it perfectly, and the Husband (Christ) redeemed the wife (Israel) from that curse and all its penalties through His sacrifice on the cross, since Yahweh’s death nullified the marriage and all its contracts (Fasting for the Bridegroom). However, just because we are released from the penalty of death in letters, does not mean that we are not anymore chastised in temporal ways for our sins, through the fiery trials of life which Christ described as Gehenna (Matthew 5:21-30, 10:28 [Mark 9:42-50], 18:7-9, Luke 12:4-7, 1 Timothy 6:10, James 3:6, et al). This is why Paul’s quotation of the Proverbs was still relevant even after Yahshua’s sacrifice, where he wrote “For whom Yahweh loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives”. The Prince later upheld the eternal truth of those words where He warned in His Revelation, “I as many as I should love I censure and I discipline, therefore be zealous and repent!” (Revelation 3:19) The permanent stripes of death upon the race of Israel were healed without exception, but many of the unrepentant individuals among her will still be battered and bruised with fiery trials by the Master, and that is the lot they have chosen.

We should also emphasize, that only sons are chastised, because only the sons of Israel were given the law, as Paul said in that same passage of Hebrews which we have now twice cited, “But if you are without discipline, of which you all have become partakers, then you are bastards, and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:8) If we take that into account, then there is a symbolic juxtaposition being established here in the gospel of Mark: the sons of Israel with the scourges they received fell upon Yahshua for the healing of their bruises, but the bastard spirits have no right nor capacity to fall upon Yahshua. There is no hope or consolation for an unrighteous race, and all they can do is fall before Him in terrified supplication (Wisdom 3:18-19)

3:11 And the unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell before Him and cried out, saying that "You are the Son of Yahweh!"

We discussed unclean spirits at great length in our commentary on Mark, titled Perturbing the Devils, where we substantiated the testimonies of the Enoch fragments among the Dead Sea Scrolls with the body of Scripture, and demonstrated that the other races do not have the Adamic Spirit on account of their different and corrupt flesh. Bastards are unclean vessels, as Scripture informs us, and therefore bastardization is the only source of unclean spirits in a world where everything Yahweh made is good. The pragmatic truth which this conveys, is that the bastard races are embodied demons, and that demons are disembodied bastards. The origin of unclean spirits should not be perplexing to those who understand that the mystery of iniquity is rooted in racial corruption.

[A digression: sometimes the only way to tell the spirits apart is through their fruits, which is why John wrote “Beloved, do not have trust in every spirit, but scrutinize whether the spirits are from of Yahweh, because many false prophets have gone out into Society.” (1 John 4:1) A family tree is known by its fruits, and the gift of being able to discern someone’s racial origin through their behavior is what Paul described as “the dissolution of spirits”. (1 Corinthians 12:10)]

These unclean spirits being rooted in corruption, have no hope before the God who has promised to uproot every plant which He did not plant (Matthew 15:13, 13:30, Jude 1:12, Malachi 4:1, Isaiah 17:10-11, Wisdom 4:3-6, et al). 

Now as we have discussed, (προσπίπτω #G4363) is defined by Liddell and Scott among other things as to fall upon or supplicate; and later in the gospel of Mark, we will see another enemy of God falling before Him and making supplication, that is, the Canaanite woman, where it reads “but immediately a woman hearing about Him, of whom her daughter had an unclean spirit, having come fell (προσπίπτω) to His feet” (Mark 7:25). Matthew in his account uses a related yet stronger word to describe the dog’s supplication, προσκυνέω (#G4352), which is essentially to lie prostrate. We will explore the topic of supplication in the ancient world once we reach that relevant portion of this Mark commentary, Yahweh willing. For now it should suffice to say that the role of the suppliant in the ancient world was for a weaker individual to recognize the authority of another to whom they were subject, and to entreat them for mercy, and with the substantiation of the Greek, this was the evident objective of these unclean spirits who fell before Christ, crying out and begging to be spared from their promised destruction. 

Luke’s account of the legion among the Gadarenes is a good example:

Luke 8:28 And seeing Yahshua, crying out he fell down (προσπίπτω) before Him and in a loud voice he said "What is there with me and with You, Yahshua Son of Yahweh the Highest? I beg You, do not torment me!"

They beg, but Yahweh cannot and will not act outside of the boundaries which He Himself has set in His law and promises. The destruction of the unclean spirits (both disembodied and embodied) at the end of the age is a certainty, which Yahweh will not relent of. There is no forgiveness for bastard spirits (both disembodied and embodied), as we see later in this chapter of Mark (3:29-30).

The unclean spirits recognized that Yahshua was the prophesied Son of Yahweh. As James wrote, “You believe that there is one God, you do well; even the demons believe it, and they shudder!” (James 2:19), but in all the accounts of the Gospel where the unclean spirits recognized and feared Him, it was meaningless, and Christ never pitied them just because they acknowledged His authority. There is no place for these wicked corruptions in His order apart from being temporary tools of chastisement upon His sons whom He loves, and their supplications will be vain at the consummation of the age.

Continuing with Mark:

3:12 And He admonished them often that they should not make Him known.

This verse is unique to Mark.

There have been two accounts thus far in the gospel of Mark recording Yahshua admonishing the unclean spirits to be silent, whenever they cried out that He is the Christ.

Mark 1:25 And Yahshua admonished him, saying "Be silent and come out from him!"

Mark 1:34 And He healed many being ill with various diseases, and He cast out many demons, yet He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.

This pattern of unclean spirits and their interactions with Yahshua is quite consistent throughout the Gospel. It seems that they would always immediately recognize that Yahshua was the Christ upon seeing Him, and then would cry out in terror, sometimes after first running up and making obeisance. They would adjure Yahshua to have mercy on them, or simply lament coming woes, testifying to His authority and identity, to which He would then admonish them to be silent, as He does here. The interactions were clockwork, and thus Mark notes that “He admonished them often”.

Such admonishment is a display of how Yahshua’s sovereign authority reaches even as far as to the elements of this world which He did not create. As we read in the opening chapter of Mark, “And He commands the unclean spirits, and they obey Him!" (Mark 1:27); and then in Luke’s parallel account, “What an account this is! For that with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they depart!” (Luke 4:36) Yahweh certainly has authority and power over all things, which is why the key to the bottomless pit is illustrated in the Revelation as coming from Him. (Revelation 20:1)

As for why Yahshua ordered the unclean spirits to be silent, we will repeat some of what we said in our commentary on Mark, titled Perturbing the Devils. It is evident in the gospels that Yahshua did not want the people at this time to publicly know that He was the Christ, such as where we read in the first chapter of Mark “and He cast out many demons, yet He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.” (Mark 1:34) The Prince even urged His apostles to keep His identity a secret, such as when He “ordered the students in order that they would tell no one that He is the Anointed One” (Matthew 16:20) The reason behind His admonitions is for example made evident in Yahshua’s withdrawal to the mountain after the feeding of the five thousand, where the apostle John writes in his record of that event “Then the men, seeing the sign which He had made, said that "this is truly the Prophet [Deuteronomy 18:15] who is coming into the Society!" Yahshua, knowing that they were going to come and to seize Him in order that they would make Him king, He alone withdrew back into the mountain.” (John 6:14-15)

The plain matter is this: if the people became abundantly aware that Yahshua was the Christ, then they would have sought to make Him king, and such widespread and zealous approval would have prevented His necessary crucifixion at the hands of the high priests. It was necessary that His identity not become publicly known, so that the children of Israel could be saved from their errors, and even some of their hearts were hardened so that by enclosing them in disobedience the merciful preservation of the nations of Israel could be achieved (Romans 11). Christ kept His identity a secret, and so Paul wrote to the Philippians, “yet He made Himself of no account”. (Philippians 2:7)

That concludes this commentary, and looking forward to the next passage, we can see how this account of Christ healing ailments and casting out demons precedes the naming of His ambassadors on the mountain, and to keep up with the thematic organization of the gospels, this could be interpreted as foreshadowing how Yahshua would send off His apostles to do the very same things. As we read from Yahshua’s instructions to His apostles in Matthew, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely you must give.” (Matthew 10:8)

In our next commentary, Yahweh willing, we will begin to discuss the apostles and the purpose they had in this ongoing story of life. Thank you for reading, and praise Yahweh the God of Israel.