Markchapter 5
43 verses · Mark · AD 55 to 65 · The Gospels
And he begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of that region.
Introduction
Mark, The Gospels, Mark Overview.
Mark tells three rescues here, and he places the second inside the third, so the reader waits with a father while another story unfolds. He wrote for believers in Rome, and the first scene takes place in Gentile country across the lake. Each person Jesus meets is beyond ordinary help, and each is cut off from normal life in a different way. Listen for what the people who are helped are told to do afterward, since it differs from scene to scene. Listen also for fear, which appears where a reader might expect joy. Read it as a chapter about power over what no one else could touch.
Context
- Who
- Roman readers who understood military words and knew what a legion was
- What
- Three accounts of Jesus' power, over a legion of demons, over a long illness and over the death of a young girl.
- Where
- The region of the Gerasenes on the eastern shore of the lake, then the western shore and the house of Jairus.
- When
- The Galilean ministry, about AD 29.
- Why
- To show that no bondage, disease or death stands outside the authority of Jesus, and to show the place of faith in receiving His help.
Historical context
The eastern shore was Gentile country, part of the Decapolis league of Greek cities, which is why a herd of two thousand pigs was grazing there, no Jewish community would have kept them. The precise town is uncertain; ancient manuscripts vary between Gerasa, Gadara, and Gergesa, all names in that same region.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The tombs where the man lived were rock-cut chambers in the hillsides, and living among them put a person outside the community in every sense. Mark's description of the chains and shackles being torn apart is the language of someone reporting what the locals had repeatedly tried.
The name the spirit gives is a Roman military term, and Mark's readers knew its weight exactly: a legion was a formation of some five to six thousand soldiers. Nothing in the ancient world sounded more like organised, overwhelming force.
Back across the lake, Jairus is called a ruler of the synagogue, an actual office, attested on inscriptions across the Mediterranean world, responsible for the building and the ordering of worship. He was the local establishment, on his knees in public. The woman who interrupts had spent everything on physicians, which Mark says bluntly left her worse; and her twelve-year flow of blood made her ritually unclean, so every person she pressed through in that crowd was defiled by the contact.
Significance
Mark gives Roman readers three impossibilities in a row, a man no chain could hold, an illness no doctor could touch, and a girl already dead, and shows the same authority ending each.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The Aramaic words Mark keeps and translates, talitha koum, are the sound of the room as someone remembered it. For a church that had never seen Galilee, that was the voice of an eyewitness reaching them across the sea.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Legion Cast Out Among the Tombs
Mark 5:1-5
they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes: Mark's portrait of the man runs five verses where Matthew gives one. He lived among the tombs and kept crying out and cutting himself with stones, and the tombs made him unclean under the law.
Mark 5:1
“And they came over unto the other side of the sea,.... Of Galilee, or Tiberias; into the country of the Gadarenes: in the Evangelist Matthew it is called, "the country of the Gergesenes", as it is here in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions. The Vulgate Latin reads, "of the Gerasenes", and so some copies, from Gerasa, a place in the same country; but the Syriac and Persic versions read, "Gadarenes", as do most copies; so called from Gadara, a city either adjacent to, or within the country of the Gergesenes; which was called by both names, from these different places.”
coming from the tombs: Matthew 8:28 has two men; Mark and Luke name one. Augustine reads the one as the better known of the pair, whose condition troubled the whole country. John Chrysostom adds that Mark tells at length the case most worthy of pity.
Mark 5:2
“And when he was come out of the ship,.... As soon as he was landed, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.”
3 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:2
“And when he was come out of the ship, immediately--(see Mr 5:6). there met him a man with an unclean spirit--"which had devils [demons] long time" (Lu 8:27).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 5:2
“Here again the demoniac is the people of the Gentiles, in a most hopeless case, bound neither by the law of nature, nor of God, nor by human fear. Or they are choked in hell without any touch of mercy by the rushing on of an early death; which evils many persons thus avoid, for by the scourging of the fool, the wise is made more prudent.”
Pseudo-Jerome · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Mark 5:2
“A man with an unclean spirit - There are two mentioned by Matthew, who are termed demoniacs. See on Mar 1:23 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
could no longer be restrained: Matthew Henry reads the man as a picture of the soul in which the devil has dominion. All sinners need holding in like the horse and the mule, he says, but some are like the wild ass beyond all holding. Human restraint had come to its end.
Mark 5:3
“Who had his dwelling among the tombs - See Mat 8:28.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:3
“Behold where is he, who was promised all the glories of this world, found to dwell—where?—in the tombs! Compassed about with the putrid rottenness of dead bodies.”
Peter Chrysologus · written before 450 · SERMONS 17patristic
Mark 5:3
“This sets forth the sad condition of those souls in which the devil has dominion; those children of disobedience, in whom that unclean spirit works. Some notoriously wilful sinners are like this madman; all are herein like the horse and the mule, that they need to be held in with bit and bridle; but some are like the wild ass, that will not be so held.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Mark 5:3
“Then a man bereft of reason, dwelling in sepulchral caves, Bound with cruel and grinding fetters and with raging frenzy torn, Rushes forth and kneels in worship, as the saving Christ draws near.”
Prudentius · written before 410 · HYMN 9patristic
no one with the strength to subdue him: Albert Barnes explains the broken fetters by a strength his malady had increased, as madness often does. Adam Clarke calls the strength supernatural. Lactantius looks ahead to verse 15: the man no one could tame, the Lord makes as gentle as a lamb.
Mark 5:4
“See this account of the demoniacs fully explained in the notes at Mat 8:28-34. Mar 5:4 He had been often bound with fetters and chains - Efforts had been made to confine him, but his great strength - his strength increased by his malady - had prevented it. There often appears to be a great increase of strength produced by insanity, and what is here stated in regard to this maniac often occurs in Palestine and elsewhere now.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:4
"Neither could anyone tame him." Give me a reprobate who is impetuous, foul-mouthed and overbearing. With few words the Lord will render him as gentle as a lamb. Give me one who is covetous, avaricious, grasping. The Lord will restore him to liberality, and he will dispose of his resources bountifully of his own hand. Show me one who trembles at the idea of pain and of death, and soon I will show you one who has learned to disdain crosses, flames and the bull of Perillus.
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius · written before 325 · Divine Institutes 3.26.4patristic
cutting himself with stones: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown observe that the man who terrified others suffered most himself, seeking relief in tears and self-inflicted pain. Matthew Henry sets him beside the worshippers of Baal, who also cut themselves in their fury (1 Kings 18:28). In self-harm Henry hears Satan's voice.
Mark 5:5
“Crying and cutting himself with stones - In this person’s case we see a specimen of what Satan could do in all the wicked, if God should permit him; but even the devil himself has his chain; and he who often binds others, is always bound himself.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:5
“Men in frenzies often wound and destroy themselves; what is a man, when reason is de throned and Satan en throned? The worshippers of Baal in their fury cut themselves, like this madman in his. The voice of God is, Do thyself no harm; the voice of Satan is, Do thyself all the harm thou canst; yet God's word is despised, and Satan's regarded.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Mark 5:6-10
When the man saw Jesus from a distance: Asked his name, the spirit answers My name is Legion and adds for we are many. Legion is the Roman word for a force of thousands.
Mark 5:6
“But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him--not with the spontaneous alacrity which says to Jesus, "Draw me, we will run after thee," but inwardly compelled, with terrific rapidity, before the Judge, to receive sentence of expulsion.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown point to the irony of a tormentor begging to be spared torment. Matthew 8:29 shows the demons feared judgment before its appointed time, and John Chrysostom explains that they know a final punishment awaits them. Being cast out felt like that judgment arriving early.
Mark 5:7
“And cried with a loud voice,.... The man possessed with the devil; or the devil in him, making use of his voice, expressing great fear, dread, and horror, at the appearance of Christ in these parts: and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? The devils in the man, own the being of a God, and his supreme government over all, under the title of the Most High.”
3 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:7
“Obviously he would not be expelling evil spirits and pillaging idols if he were impotent, for the evil spirits would not obey one who was impotent. If, on the other hand, the very naming of him drives them forth, he clearly is not powerless. The spirits especially see through what is unseen by human eyes. They could tell if Christ was vulnerable and refuse him any obedience at all. As it is, what human disbelief doubts, the evil spirits see clearly: that he is God.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · On the Incarnation of the Word 32.4.5patristic
Mark 5:7
“What have I to do with thee - Or, What is it to thee and me, or why dost thou trouble thyself with me? See on Mar 1:24 (note), and Mat 8:29 (note), where the idiom and meaning are explained. Jesus - This is omitted by four MSS., and by several in Luk 8:28, and by many of the first authority in Mat 8:29 (note). See the note on this latter place.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 5:7
“I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not--or, as in Mt 8:29, "Art Thou come to torment us before the time?" (See on Mr 1:24). Behold the tormentor anticipating, dreading, and entreating exemption from torment! In Christ they discern their destined Tormentor; the time, they know, is fixed, and they feel as if it were come already!”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark explains the outcry of verse 7 after the fact. John Gill takes the command as spoken when the man arrived, drawing out the demon's confession. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that obedience usually came at once, but here a delay was allowed to show Christ's power more clearly.
Mark 5:8
“For he said unto him,.... Or he had said unto him, as soon as he came up to him, and fell before him; even before he had confessed, and adjured him; and which indeed drew out the confession from him, that he was superior to him, and therefore became his supplicant: come out of the man, thou unclean spirit; which was said with so much authority and power, that there was no withstanding it: the devil knew he was not a match for him; that he must, at his command, quit his possession, and therefore fell to confession and entreaty.”
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:8
“For he said unto him--that is, before the unclean spirit cried out. Come out of the man, unclean spirit!--Ordinarily, obedience to a command of this nature was immediate. But here, a certain delay is permitted, the more signally to manifest the power of Christ and accomplish His purposes.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 5:8
“Here is an instance of the power and authority with which Christ commanded the unclean spirits, and they obeyed him, ch. i. He said, Come out of the man. The design of Christ's gospel is to expel unclean spirits out of the souls of people; " Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit, that the Holy Spirit may enter, may take possession of the heart, and have dominion in it." IV.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say the question was asked to show how strong a hold the demons had. Adam Clarke asks whether a disease could have spoken so. Matthew Henry takes the military name as a warning of an organized enemy that believers must resist, as in Ephesians 6.
Mark 5:9
I THINK the text suggests to us something about Satan, something about self and also something about sin and the Savior I. Without any preface, let us at once seek to find in the text SOMETHING ABOUT SATAN. Although an unclean spirit, Legion, like his master, Satan, is very apt to lie. There is no doubt that here, in the Presence of Christ, he spoke the truth when he said, "My name is Legion: for we are many."
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3306: “Satan, Self, Sin and the Savior” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:9
“Military powers; a legion is a number of soldiers in arms. The devils war against God and his glory, Christ and his gospel, men and their holiness and happiness. They are such as we are to resist and wrestle against, Eph. vi.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Mark 5:9
“Legion: for we are many - Could a disease have spoken so? “No, there was no devil in the case; the man spoke according to the prejudice of his countrymen.” And do you think that the Spirit of God could employ himself in retailing such ridiculous and nonsensical prejudices? “But the evangelist gives these as this madman’s words, and it was necessary that, as a faithful historian, he should mention these circumstances.””
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
not to send them out of that region: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that one spirit makes the request on behalf of many, matching the we of verse 9. Luke 8:31 names the abyss as what they dreaded. Adam Clarke suggests the demons felt at home in a heathen district, where they could act with less restraint.
Mark 5:10
“Out of the country - Strange that these accursed spirits should find it any mitigation of their misery to be permitted to exercise their malevolence in a particular district! But as this is supposed to have been a heathen district, therefore the demons might consider themselves in their own territories; and probably they could act there with less restraint than they could do in a country where the worship of God was established. See on Mar 5:1 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 5:11-14
a large herd of pigs was feeding: At His permission the herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, a number Mark alone gives. The pigs, unclean under the law, show at scale the destruction that had lived in one man.
Mark 5:11
“In Mt 8:30, they are said to have been "a good way off." But these expressions, far from being inconsistent, only confirm, by their precision, the minute accuracy of the narrative. a great herd of swine feeding--There can hardly be any doubt that the owners of these were Jews, since to them our Lord had now come to proffer His services.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:11
“Now there was there, nigh unto the mountains,.... Where this man often was, Mar 5:5 according to Beza, the mountains of Galaad, which ran through that country, or the mountains that surrounded Tiberias. Some copies, as the Alexandrian copy and others, read "at", or "about the mountain", in the singular number. The Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions read, "about the mountain".”
Even the demons must ask. John Gill notes that they come as suppliants out of fear and still bent on doing harm. Tertullian draws the comfort: if the legion had no power over pigs until God gave it, it has far less over the sheep of God.
Mark 5:12
“And all the devils besought him,.... The whole legion of them, not only their chief, in the name of the rest, but all of them earnestly entreated him; they were all humble supplicants, not from love, but fear, and with a view to do mischief: though the word "all" is omitted in some copies, as it is in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions; neither has the Ethiopic the word devils, but both are retained in the Arabic version: saying, send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:12
“The devils entered not into the swine of their own will, but their asking for this concession, was, that it might be shown that they cannot hurt men without Divine permission. They did not ask to be sent into men, because they saw that He, by whose power they were tortured, bore a human form. Nor did they desire to be sent into the flocks, for they are clean animals offered up in the temple of God.”
Remigius of Rheims · written before 533 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
He gave them permission: John Chrysostom reads the permission as a lesson: the demons would have done to the man what they did to the herd. Matthew Henry adds that the Gadarenes were shown how spiteful these enemies are, so that they might make Christ their friend. Only Christ, Henry says, could master them.
Mark 5:13
“Was it just that two thousand swine perished so one soul might be saved? One seeking purity of heart had best not become preoccupied with the natural prerogative of the demonic legion or animals. It is better that each single reader reflect upon his own soul, his own way of life, and the rarity of true excellence. Remember when the whole of Judea was led into captivity when Nebuchadneser came, and thousands were displaced into Babylonia as prisoners—Jeremiah alone was left praising God. And they threw him into a muddy cistern.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary (church-history corpus)patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:13
“And forthwith Jesus gave them leave--In Matthew (Mt 8:32) this is given with majestic brevity--"Go!" The owners, if Jews, drove an illegal trade; if heathens, they insulted the national religion: in either case the permission was just.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
went out to see what had happened: The herdsmen's flight brought the district out as witnesses. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the people now had two kinds of evidence, the herdsmen's report and their own eyes. Both miracles, the healing and the drowning, were open to inspection.
Mark 5:14
“And they that fed the swine fled, and told it--"told everything, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils" (Mt 8:33). in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done--Thus had they the evidence, both of the herdsmen and of their own senses, to the reality of both miracles.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:14
“The swine - Instead of τους χοιρους, BCDL, three others, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Vulgate, and Itala, read αυτους, them - And they that fed Them fled. Griesbach has adopted this reading.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 5:15-17
sitting there, clothed and in his right mind: They saw the man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, answering verses 3 to 5 point for point. The onlookers were afraid, and the people began to beg Jesus to leave their region.
Mark 5:15
“After this, let the deacon say: Go out, catechumens, in peace. And after they have gone out, let him say: You energumens, afflicted with unclean spirits, pray, and let us all earnestly pray for them, that God, the lover of humankind, through Christ, may rebuke the unclean and wicked spirits, and deliver the faithful from the dominion of the adversary. May he that rebuked the legion of demons, and the devil, the prince of wickedness, even now rebuke these demons which have turned away from piety.”
Apostolic Constitutions · written before 380 · Constitutions of the Holy Apostles 8.2.6patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:15
“That - had the legion - This is omitted by D, and two others, Ethiopic, Persic, Vulgate, and all the Itala but one. Mill, Bengel, and Griesbach, think it should be omitted.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 5:15
“This is a striking case of what are called Undesigned Coincidences amongst the different Evangelists; one of them taking a thing for granted, as familiarly known at the time, but which we should never have known but for one or more of the others, and without the knowledge of which some of their statements would be unintelligible.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
described what had happened to the demon-possessed man: The eyewitnesses told two stories together, the man's cure and the pigs' loss. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call this a double testimony, and Titus of Bostra says the people learned partly by sight and partly by words. Verse 17 shows which part weighed more.
Mark 5:16
“And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil--("the demonized person"). and also concerning the swine--Thus had they the double testimony of the herdsmen and their own senses.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:16
“This miracle then they find out partly by sight, partly by words; wherefore there follows: And they that saw it told them.”
Titus of Bostra · written before 378 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
leave their region: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown ask whether only the owners of the lost herd made this request. Luke 8:37 answers that the whole district asked, gripped by great fear. The evil spirits, they conclude, had gained their end.
Mark 5:17
“And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts--Was it the owners only of the valuable property now lost to them that did this? For Luke (Lu 8:37) says, "Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought Him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear." The evil spirits had thus, alas! their object.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 5:18-20
begged to go with Him: The healed man begged to go with Him, the only request in this chapter that Jesus refuses. He is sent instead to speak, Go home to your own people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.
Mark 5:18
“Those that are freed from the evil spirit, cannot but covet acquaintance and fellowship with Christ. Christ would not suffer him to go with him, lest it should savour of ostentation, and to let him know that he could both protect and instruct him at a distance.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain the refusal by the man's history. Among people who had long dreaded him, his changed life would testify more than it could among strangers. Gregory the Dialogist draws a wider lesson, that the Lord first sets the healed to work and gives rest afterward.
Mark 5:19
“Suffered him not - Ὁ δε Ιησους, Howbeit Jesus, is omitted by ABKLM, twenty-seven others, both the Syriac, both the Persic, Coptic, Gothic, Vulgate, and one of the Itala. Mill and Bengel approve of the omission, and Griesbach leaves it out of the text. Go home to thy friends, etc. - This was the cause why Jesus would not permit him to follow him now, because he would not have the happiness of his relatives deferred, who must exceedingly rejoice at seeing the wonders which the Lord had wrought.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:19
“Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not, &c.--To be a missionary for Christ, in the region where he was so well known and so long dreaded, was a far nobler calling than to follow Him where nobody had ever heard of him, and where other trophies not less illustrious could be raised by the same power and grace.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
throughout the Decapolis: Jesus told him to report what the Lord had done, and he reported what Jesus had done. Theophylact of Ohrid sees in the first wording the Savior's freedom from boasting. Matthew Henry warns that many wonder yet never follow.
Mark 5:20
“But the man who is healed preached in Decapolis, where the Jews, who hang on the letter of the Decalogue, are being turned away from the Roman rule.”
Pseudo-Jerome · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:20
“Many that cannot but wonder at the works of Christ, yet do not, as they ought, wonder after him. The Healing of the Bloody Issue. 21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Mark 5:20
“He therefore began to proclaim it, and all wonder, which is that which follows: And he began to publish.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
The Woman Who Touched His Garment
Mark 5:21-24
had again crossed by boat to the other side: Mark sets the woman's story inside the story of Jairus, pairing twelve years of a girl's life with twelve years of a woman's disease. The pairing sets a public plea beside a hidden touch.
Mark 5:21
“After the miracle of the demoniac, the Lord works another miracle, namely, in raising up the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue; the Evangelist, before narrating this miracle, says, And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:21
“Perhaps they witnessed at a distance the sudden calming of the tempest. The tide of our Lord's popularity was now fast rising. and he was nigh unto the sea.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
A synagogue leader named Jairus: Matthew Henry describes a synagogue ruler as one who presided over its worship, or, as some think, a judge in the city's court of twenty-three. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that Jairus is the Old Testament name Jair (Numbers 32:41). A man of rank falls at the feet of Jesus.
Mark 5:22
“And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue,.... Having heard of his return, and where he was; See Gill on Mat 9:18. Jairus by name; in Hebrew יאיר, "Jair": and Jerom says (n), it signifies "enlightening", or "enlightened": deriving it from אור, "to be light": and it is no doubt a Jewish name, since he was a ruler of the synagogue; and besides, it is often mentioned in the Old Testament, and particularly in Est 2:5, where, in the Septuagint, it is read, Ιαιρος, Jairus.”
3 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:22
“Jairus by name--or "Jaeirus." It is the same name as Jair, in the Old Testament (Nu 32:41; Es 2:5). and when he saw him, he fell at his feet--in Matthew (Mt 9:18), "worshipped Him." The meaning is the same in both.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 5:22
“Let our opponents-that is, they who speak against their own salvation-inform us [as to this point]: The deceased daughter of the high priest; the widow's dead son, who was being carded out [to burial] near the gate [of the city]; and Lazarus, who had lain four days in the tomb, -in what bodies did they rise again? In those same, no doubt, in which they had also died. For if it were not in the very same, then certainly those same individuals who had died did not rise again.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies 5.13.1patristic
Mark 5:22
“Now among the many that applied themselves to him, I. Here is one, that comes openly to beg a cure for a sick child; and it is no less a person than one of the rulers of the synagogue, one that presided in the synagogue-worship or, as some think, one of the judges of the consistory court, which was in every city, consisting of twenty-three.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Adam Clarke notes that the Greek word is a diminutive, that little daughter of mine, spoken with tenderness. Luke 8:42 adds that she was his only daughter. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown observe that such faith meant more in a synagogue ruler, whose class was steeped in prejudice.
Mark 5:23
“My little daughter - Το θυγατριον μου, that little daughter of mine. The words express much tenderness and concern. Luke observes, Luk 8:42, that she was his only daughter, and was about twelve years of age. At the point of death - Εσχατως εχει, in the last extremity, the last gasp. See on Mat 9:18 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:23
“In one of the class to which this man belonged, so steeped in prejudice, such faith would imply more than in others. The Woman with an Issue of Blood Healed (Mr 5:24-34).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
a large crowd followed and pressed around Him: John Gill notes that Jesus went at once without faulting the weakness of the ruler's faith. The crowd, eager for a miracle, slowed the way. Matthew Henry observes that Jesus lost none of the time, for the next cure happens on the road.
Mark 5:24
“Here is another, that comes clandestinely to steal a cure (if I may so say) for herself; and she got the relief she came for. This cure was wrought by the way, as he was going to raise the ruler's daughter, and was followed by a crowd. See how Christ improved his time, and lost none of the precious moments of it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Mark 5:25-29
suffered from bleeding for twelve years: The woman had suffered from bleeding for twelve years, which made her unclean under Leviticus 15:25-27. Mark adds a detail Luke softens: She had borne much agony under the care of many physicians and had spent all she had.
Mark 5:25
“BRIEFLY consider this poor woman's case. She was afflicted with a disease of exceedingly long standing which not only wasted her strength and threatened to bring her speedily to the grave, but rendered her, according to the Jewish ceremonial Law, unclean, and therefore unable to mix in company. Thus she was doomed to be a poor, suffering, desponding, desolate woman. The physicians of those days were bold enough to attempt impossible cures, but their skill was not at all commensurate with their courage. They tormented their patients, but seldom relieved them of anything but their money.”
Mark 5:26
had spent all she had: Adam Clarke says no one will wonder that she grew worse who reads the remedies the rabbis prescribed for such bleeding. John Gill notes that the Talmud records many of these prescriptions. Her money was gone and her disease remained.
Mark 5:26
“And had suffered many things of many physicians,.... She took many a nauseous medicine, and had gone through courses of physic with different physicians; for there were many among the Jews that pretended to the cure of fluxes; and various are the prescriptions the Jewish doctors give for such a disorder, as may be seen in their Talmud (q); and many of which Dr. Lightfoot (r) has transcribed: and among the rest, they direct to the use of gum of Alexandria, alum, saffron, Persian onions, cummin, and "faenum graecum", put into wine and drank.”
Mark 5:27
“The woman with the hemorrhage had spent all that she had on doctors. Hungering and thirsting, her spirit had died within her. Having lost everything she possessed, because her life was wasting away within her, she cried out to the Lord in anguish. Her touch on the hem of his garment was the cry of a believing heart. In this she is the figure of the assembly of God gathered from all nations.”
Jerome · written before 420 · HOMILY 33patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:27
“But there was an instinct in the faith which brought her to Jesus, which taught her, that if that touch could set her free from the defiling disease itself, it was impossible to communicate defilement to Him, and that this wondrous Healer must be above such laws.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Matthew Henry reads her plan as a high view of Christ. She believed the power to heal lived in him as the Son of God, where a prophet only borrows it from God. Her illness was one she could not modestly describe in public, so she sought a private cure.
Mark 5:28
“She believed that he cured, not as a prophet, by virtue derived from God, but as the Son of God, by a virtue inherent in himself. Her case was such as she could not in modesty tell him publicly, as others did their grievances, and therefore a private cure was what she wished for, and her faith was suited to her case.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
she sensed in her body that she was healed: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the cause of the illness was removed along with the bleeding. She knew it by what she felt. Matthew Henry applies the verse to sin: those whom Christ heals of it feel a change for the better in the whole person.
Mark 5:29
“Or else, by the woman, who had a bloody flux, understand human nature; for sin rushed in upon it, which since it killed the soul, might be said to spill its blood. It could not be cured by many physicians, that is, by the wise men of this world, and of the Law and the Prophets; but the moment that it touched the hem of Christ's garment, that is, His flesh, it was healed, for whosoever believes the Son of man to be Incarnate is he who touches the hem of His garment.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:29
“And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up--Not only was her issue of blood stanched (Lu 8:44), but the cause of it was thoroughly removed, insomuch that by her bodily sensations she immediately knew herself perfectly cured.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 5:30-34
Jesus was aware that power had gone out from Him: Jesus asked Who touched My garments, though the disciples could see the crowd pressing in on Him. Many pressed and one touched, and He calls her Daughter, the only woman He so addresses in the Gospels.
Mark 5:30
“And Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue--or "efficacy." had gone out of him--He was conscious of the forthgoing of His healing power, which was not--as in prophets and apostles--something foreign to Himself and imparted merely, but what He had dwelling within Him as "His own fulness." turned him about in the press--crowd. and said, Who touched my clothes?”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
John Gill, following Luke 8:45, notes that Peter spoke for the disciples after everyone near denied touching him. Adam Clarke applies the scene to worship: many come near Jesus and go away unhealed because they come without faith. Faith, he says, carries Christ's power into the soul.
Mark 5:31
“Thou seest the multitude thronging then, etc. - Many touch Jesus who are not healed by him: the reason is, they do it not by faith, through a sense of their wants, and a conviction of his ability and willingness to save them. Faith conveys the virtue of Christ into the soul, and spiritual health is the immediate consequence of this received virtue.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:31
“They further maintain that the passion which took place in the case of the twelfth Aeon is pointed at by the apostasy of Judas, who was the twelfth apostle, and also by the fact that Christ suffered in the twelfth month. For their opinion is, that He continued to preach for one year only after His baptism. The same thing is also most clearly indicated by the case of the woman who suffered from an issue of blood.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Ipatristic
Mark 5:31
“He needed not that any should inform him, for he had presently his eye upon her. Note, As secret acts of sin, so secret acts of faith, are known to the Lord Jesus, and are under his eye. If believers derive virtue from Christ ever so closely, he knows it, and is pleased with it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
kept looking around: John Gill holds that Jesus already knew where she stood, and looked to see whether her face would give her away. Matthew Henry adds that secret acts of faith are under the Lord's eye. He is pleased when believers draw on him.
Mark 5:32
“And he looked round about,.... The press and throng of people, on every side of him; though he knew very well where she stood, who had done the thing, and had received the cure: to see her that had done this thing; how she looked, and whether her countenance, and the confusion she was thrown into by the question, would not betray her; though he himself wanted no such signs, by which to discover her.”
trembling in fear: John Gill lists her likely fears: rebuke for appearing in public while unclean under Leviticus 15:25, or the loss of her cure. Matthew Henry notes that Christ's patients often tremble when they have reason to rejoice. Jerome marks her progress from hiding to his feet.
Mark 5:33
“Note the separate stages; mark the progress. As long as she was hemorrhaging, she could not come into his presence. She was healed by faith and then came before him. She fell at his feet. Even then she did not yet dare to look up into his face. As long as she had been cured, it was enough for her to cling to his feet. She "told him all the truth." Christ himself is the truth. She was giving praise to the truth. She had been healed by the truth.”
Jerome · written before 420 · HOMILY 77patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:33
“But the woman fearing and trembling,.... Lest she should be reproved, and suffer the penalties of the law, for appearing in public during the time of her uncleanness, Lev 15:25, or that Christ was displeased with her, for her taking an improper method to obtain her cure; or lest he should recall it, or was angry with her for concealing it, and attempting to go away undiscovered, and without so much as thanking him for it.”
Mark 5:33
“JESUS was pressing through the throng to the house of Jairus to raise the ruler's dead daughter. But He is so profuse in goodness that He works another miracle while upon the road. While yet this rod of Aaron bears the blossom of an unaccomplished wonder, it yields the ripe almonds of a perfect work of mercy. It is enough for us, if we have some purpose, straightway to go and accomplish it. It were imprudent to expend our energies by the way.”
Adam Clarke reads the closing words as a promise, since she was already healed. Her illness would not return. Matthew Henry gives the reason Jesus credits her faith: Christ puts honour upon faith, because faith gives honour to Christ.
Mark 5:34
“For to those who were righteous according to the law, faith was wanting. Wherefore also the Lord, in healing them, said, "Thy faith hath saved thee." But to those that were righteous according to philosophy, not only faith in the Lord, but also the abandonment of idolatry, were necessary. Straightway, on the revelation of the truth, they also repented of their previous conduct.”
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 6patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:34
“Jesus therefore sets His royal seal upon it. But what a glorious dismissal from the lips of Him who is "our Peace" is that, "Go in peace!" Jairus' Daughter Raised to Life (Mr 5:35-43).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 5:34
“And he said unto her, daughter,.... Instead of reproving her, or showing any anger, or resentment at her, as she feared, he speaks to her in a very soft, kind, and tender manner, and called her "daughter", which was not only an expression of affection and civility, this being an affable, courteous way of speaking used by the Jews; but might signify her spiritual relation through him, being a child of God by adopting grace.”
Mark 5:34
“Be whole of thy plague - Rather, continue whole, not, be whole, for she was already healed: but this contains a promise, necessary to her encouragement, that her disorder should afflict her no more.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Talitha Cumi: Jairus' Daughter Raised
Mark 5:35-40
Messengers arrived with the word Your daughter is dead, and the delay in the crowd has cost, humanly speaking, everything. Jesus said to Jairus Do not be afraid, and He asks for the faith the woman had just shown.
Mark 5:35
“A great miracle is recorded in these verses. A dead girl is restored to life. Mighty as the "King of terrors" is, there is One mightier than he. The keys of death are in our Lord Jesus Christ's hands. He will one day "swallow up death in victory." (Isaiah 25:8.) Let us learn from these verses, that rank places no man beyond the reach of sorrow . Jairus was a "ruler;" yet sickness and trouble came to his house.”
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:35
“Be not afraid, only believe. We may suppose Jairus at a pause, whether he should ask Christ to go on or no; but have we not as much occasion for the grace of God, and his consolations, and consequently of the prayers of our ministers and Christian friends, when death is in the house, as when sickness is?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Mark 5:35
“Why troublest thou the Master - These people seem to have had no other notion of our Lord than that of an eminent physician, who might be useful while there was life, but afterwards could do nothing.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Augustine observes that Mark records no agreement from Jairus with the messengers who wanted to stop the Master. The word of Jesus strengthens a faith Jairus already had. Aphrahat pairs it with the promise to Martha before Lazarus was raised in John 11.
Mark 5:36
“When the chief of the synagogue asked him about his daughter, Jesus said to him: "Only firmly believe and your daughter shall live." He believed and so his daughter lived and arose. Similarly when Lazarus died, our Lord said to Martha, "If you believe, your brother shall rise." Martha said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe." And he raised him after four days.… So let us draw near then, my beloved, to faith, since its powers are so many. For faith raised up [Enoch] to the heavens and conquered the deluge. Faith causes the barren to sprout forth.”
Aphrahat the Persian Sage · written before 345 · DEMONSTRATION 4.17-19patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:36
“Jesus - saith - These words were spoken by our Lord to the afflicted father, immediately on his hearing of the death of his child, to prevent that distress which he otherwise must have felt on finding that the case was now, humanly speaking, hopeless.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
except Peter, James, and John: Jerome notes that the same three were chosen again at the Transfiguration. Theophylact of Ohrid gives a reason for the small company: in his humility Jesus did nothing for show. Only these three and the parents would see the raising.
Mark 5:37
“Someone may wonder or ask: Why are these three apostles always chosen and the others sent away? Even when he was transfigured on the mountain, these three were with him. Yes, these three were chosen: Peter, James and John. But why only three? First there is the mystery of the Trinity embedded in this number, a number sacred in itself. Second, according to Moses, Jacob set three peeled branches in the watering troughs. Finally, it is written: "A three-ply cord is not easily broken." Peter is chosen as one upon whom the church would be built.”
Jerome · written before 420 · HOMILY 77patristic
weeping and wailing loudly: Ambrose notes that the funeral had already begun, with mourners weeping and flute players piping. Such rites showed that everyone was convinced she had died. John Gill counts relations, friends, neighbours and acquaintances in the crowd at the house.
Mark 5:38
“And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue,.... Along with him, and the three disciples above mentioned; and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read, "and they came", the above persons: and seeing the tumult; the throng and crowd of people, of relations, friends, neighbours, and acquaintance, on this occasion, all in a hurry, and in one motion or another, expressing their concern by words and gestures.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:38
“He cometh - But ερχονται, they come, is the reading of ABCDF, four others, and several versions. Wept and wailed - See on Mat 9:23 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Augustine explains the saying: she was asleep in respect of him, by whom she could be awakened. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that her death would be so brief as to be more like a short sleep. The word looks ahead to verse 41.
Mark 5:39
“And what shall I say of the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, at whose death multitudes were weeping and the flute-players piping? For the funeral solemnities were being performed because of the conviction of death. How quickly at the word of the Lord does the spirit return, the reviving body rise up, and food is taken, that the evidence of life may be believed!”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus, Book 2patristic
father and mother: Adam Clarke says prudence required the parents to be present as witnesses of the miracle. John Chrysostom sees two aims in the small company: to avoid display, and still to leave witnesses of divine power. The mockers were left outside.
Mark 5:40
“The father and the mother - Prudence required that they should be present, and be witnesses of the miracle. And them that were with him - That is, Peter, James, and John, Mar 5:37. It is remarkable that our Lord gave a particular preference to these three disciples, beyond all the rest, on three very important occasions: 1. They were present at the transfiguration. 2. At the raising of Jairus’s daughter. 3. At his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Where the damsel was lying - Ανακειμενον, lying. This word is very doubtful.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 5:40
“And they laughed him to scorn--rather, simply, "laughed at Him"--"knowing that she was dead" (Lu 8:53); an important testimony this to the reality of her death.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 5:41-43
Jesus said, “Talitha koum!”: Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and Mark keeps the words and translates them, Little girl, I say to you, get up. It is a homely address, close to little lamb.
Mark 5:41
“And he took the damsel by the hand,.... See Gill on Mat 9:25. And said unto her; in the Syriac language, which was then commonly spoken by the Jews, and well understood: hence the Syriac version expresses the following words without an interpretation, Talitha Cumi. The Ethiopic version reads it, "Tabitha Cumi"; and so do some Greek copies, and Latin versions, taking it to be the same word as in Act 9:36 whereas that signifies "Dorcas, a roe"; but this word is of another signification, as here explained, which is, being interpreted, damsel (I say unto thee) arise.”
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:41
“And he took the damsel by the hand--as He did Peter's mother-in-law (Mr 1:31). and said unto her, Talitha cumi--The words are Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldaic, the then language of Palestine.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 5:41
“Talitha cumi - , This is mere Syriac, the proper translation of which the evangelist has given. The Codex Bezae has a very odd and unaccountable reading here, ῥαββι. θαβιτα κουμι, My master. Damsel arise. Suidas quotes this place under the word Αββακουμ thus ταληθα κουμ. Κουμ is the reading of several ancient MSS., but it is certainly a faulty one.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
She was twelve years old: The Glossa Ordinaria reads the age as the reason she could walk, and the walking as proof of a full cure. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call the detail a vivid touch from an eyewitness. The words for the amazement, they add, are the strongest.
Mark 5:42
“And straightway the damsel--The word here is different from that in Mr 5:39-41, and signifies "young maiden," or "little girl." arose, and walked--a vivid touch evidently from an eye-witness. And they were astonished with a great astonishment--The language here is the strongest.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
give her something to eat: Jerome notes that food proved a raising real, as Lazarus later sat at the feast with the Lord (John 12:2). Adam Clarke draws a rule: God used extraordinary power to restore her life and ordinary means to sustain it. Daily bread still had its place.
Mark 5:43
“For whenever he raised anyone from the dead he ordered that food should be given him to eat, lest the resurrection should be thought a delusion. And this is why Lazarus after his resurrection is described as being at the feast with our Lord.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Against Jovinianus 2.17patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 5:43
“Something should be given her to eat - For though he had employed an extraordinary power to bring her to life, he wills that she should be continued in existence by the use of ordinary means. The advice of the heathen is a good one: - Nec Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit. Horat “When the miraculous power of God is necessary, let it be resorted to: when it is not necessary, let the ordinary means be used.” To act otherwise would be to tempt God.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 5:43
“He charged them that no man should know it - That he might avoid every appearance of vain glory, might prevent too great a concourse of people, and might not further enrage the scribes and Pharisees against him; the time for his death, and for the full manifestation of his glory, being not yet come.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Three rescues, with the healing of the woman set inside the raising of Jairus's daughter so that each story reads the other, as 24 classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| One story set inside another | Jairus asks for help at verses 22 and 23, and the story stops while the woman is healed in verses 25 to 34. It resumes at verse 35 with the news that the girl has died. The site's published exposition of verses 21 to 24 reads the two stories as each explaining the other: a synagogue leader and an unclean woman, a public plea and a hidden touch, and one word, faith, spoken to both.This site's published exposition of Mark 5:21 to 24, The exposition_notes row on Mark 5:21 to 24, citing Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Mark, 1904 to 1910, and John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament, 1746 to 1748. | Mark 5:22, Mark 5:25, Mark 5:34, Mark 5:35 |
| Twelve years | The woman has suffered for twelve years at verse 25, and verse 42 gives the girl's age as twelve. The site's published exposition of verses 41 to 43 reads the shared number as the tie that binds the two stories together.This site's published exposition of Mark 5:41 to 43, The exposition_notes row on Mark 5:41 to 43, citing John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament, 1746 to 1748, and Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Mark, 1904 to 1910. | Mark 5:25, Mark 5:42 |
How this chapter is built
1 more paragraph on the patterns
The chapter tells three rescues in two places. The first, on the eastern shore, is told whole in verses 1 to 20. The second and third are woven together: Jairus pleads for his daughter, the walk to his house stops while a woman is healed, and the account resumes with news of the girl's death. The delay that seems to cost the girl her life becomes the setting for the word Jesus speaks to her father at verse 36. The number twelve, the years of the illness and the age of the girl, ties the two stories to each other.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
This site's published exposition of Mark 5:21 to 24, The exposition_notes row on Mark 5:21 to 24, citing Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Mark, 1904 to 1910, and John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament, 1746 to 1748.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Mark; Ambrose of Milan, On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus, Book 2; Aphrahat the Persian Sage, DEMONSTRATION 4.17-19; Augustine of Hippo; Glossa Ordinaria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Gregory the Dialogist, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Mark; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome; John Chrysostom; John Gill; John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae; Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, DIVINE INSTITUTES 3.26.4; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, ON FLIGHT DURING PERSECUTION; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark and Titus of Bostra, Catena Aurea by Aquinas.