--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 246 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/246/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 246. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/246/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2. ## 246. Mark · 2 of 22 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/246/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/246/#p-N ### Verse 12 [¶1] The Spirit driveth him - Εκβαλλει, putteth him forth. St. Matthew says, [Mat 4:1], ανηχθη, was brought up. See this important subject of our Lord's temptation explained at large, [Mat 4:1-11] (note). ### Verse 13 [¶3] With the wild beasts - This is a curious circumstance, which is mentioned by none of the other evangelists; and seems to intimate that he was in the most remote, unfrequented, and savage part of the desert; which, together with the diabolic influence, tended to render the whole scene the more horrid. Perhaps this very circumstance is mentioned, as emblematical of that savage and brutal cruelty with which he was persecuted to death by the Jews and Gentiles, instigated thereto by the malice of Satan. ### Verse 14 [¶5] Preaching the Gospel of the kingdom - See the notes on [Mat 3:2]; and on the office of the preacher, or herald, at the end of that chapter. ### Verse 15 [¶7] The time is fulfilled - That is, the time appointed for sending the Messiah; and particularly the time specified by Daniel, [Dan 9:24-27]. Here are four points worthy of deep attention, in the preaching of the Son of God. [¶8] 1. Every thing that is done is according to a plan laid by the Divine wisdom, and never performed till the time appointed was filled up. [¶9] 2. That the kingdom and reign of sin are to be destroyed, and the kingdom of grace and heaven established in their place. [¶10] 3. That the kingdom of God, and his reign by grace, begins with repentance for past sins. [¶11] 4. That this reign of grace is at hand; and that nothing but an obstinate perseverance in sin and impenitence can keep any soul out of it; and that now is the accepted time to enter in. ### Verse 16 [¶13] As he walked by the sea, etc. - See on [Mat 4:18-22] (note). [¶14] Andrew his brother - Instead of the common reading, αδελφον αυτου, his brother, the best MSS. and versions have αδελφου του Σιμωνος, the brother of Simon, which should be received into the text. The most eminent critics approve of this reading. ### Verse 21 [¶16] Capernaum - See [Mat 4:13]. [¶17] He entered into the synagogue - Their synagogues - εν ταις συναγωγαις αυτων, according to the Syriac, which has the word in the plural. ### Verse 22 [¶19] As one that had authority - From God, to do what he was doing; and to teach a pure and beneficent system of truth. [¶20] And not as the scribes - Who had no such authority, and whose teaching was not accompanied by the power of God to the souls of the people: [¶21] 1. because the matter of the teaching did not come from God; and [¶22] 2. because the teachers themselves were not commissioned by the Most High. See the note on [Mat 7:28]. ### Verse 23 [¶24] A man with an unclean spirit - This demoniac is only mentioned by Mark and Luke, [Luk 4:33]. It seems the man had lucid intervals; else he could not have been admitted into the synagogue. Unclean or impure spirit - a common epithet for those fallen spirits: but here it may mean, one who filled the heart of him he possessed with Lascivious thoughts, images, desires, and propensities. By giving way to the first attacks of such a spirit, he may soon get in, and take full possession of the whole soul. ### Verse 24 [¶26] What have we to do with thee - Or, What is it to us and to thee? or, What business hast thou with us? That this is the meaning of the original, τι ἡμιν και σοι, Kypke has sufficiently shown. There is a phrase exactly like it in [2Sam 16:10]. What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? מה לי ולכם בני צרויה ma li v'lacem beney Tseruiah, What business have ye with me, or, Why do ye trouble me, ye sons of Tseruiah? The Septuagint translate the Hebrew just as the evangelist does here, τι εμοι και ὑμιν; it is the same idiom in both places, as there can be no doubt that the demoniac spoke in Hebrew, or in the Chaldeo-Syriac dialect of that language, which was then common in Judea. See on [Mat 8:29] (note). [¶27] Art thou come to destroy us? - We may suppose this spirit to have felt and spoken thus: "Is this the time of which it hath been predicted, that in it the Messiah should destroy all that power which we have usurped and exercised over the bodies and souls of men? Alas! it is so. I now plainly see who thou art - the Holy One of God, who art come to destroy unholiness, in which we have our residence, and through which we have our reign in the souls of men." An unholy spirit is the only place where Satan can have his full operation, and show forth the plenitude of his destroying power. ### Verse 25 [¶29] And Jesus rebuked him - A spirit of this cast will only yield to the sovereign power of the Son of God. All watchings, fasting, and mortifications, considered in themselves, will do little or no good. Uncleanness, of every description, will only yield to the rebuke of God. ### Verse 26 [¶31] And when the unclean spirit had torn him - And had thrown him down in the midst, [Luk 4:35], και σπαραξαν, and convulsed him. Never was there a person possessed by an unclean spirit who did not suffer a convulsion, perhaps a total ruin of nature by it. Sins of uncleanness, as the apostle intimates, are against the body; they sap the foundation of life, so that there are very few of this class, whether male or female, that live out half their days: they generally die martyrs to their lusts. When the propensities of the flesh are most violent in a person who is determined to serve God, it is often a proof that these are the last efforts of the impure spirit, who has great rages because he knows his time is but short. ### Verse 27 [¶33] What thing is this? - Words of surprise and astonishment. [¶34] And what new doctrine - I have added the particle and, from the Syriac, as it helps the better to distinguish the members of the sentence; but there is a vast diversity in the MSS. on this verse. See Griesbach. [¶35] For with authority - They had never heard such a gracious doctrine, and never saw any teaching supported by miracles before. How much must this person be superior to men! - they are brought into subjection by unclean spirits; this person subjects unclean spirits to himself. ### Verse 28 [¶37] And immediately his fame spread abroad - The miracle which he had performed was - [¶38] 1. great; [¶39] 2. evidenced much benevolence in the worker of it; and [¶40] 3. was very public, being wrought in the synagogue. [¶41] The many who saw it published it wherever they went; and thus the fame of Christ, as an incomparable teacher, and unparalleled worker of miracles, became soon spread abroad through the land. [¶42] The word, ευθεως, immediately, occurs more frequently in this evangelist than in any other writer of the new covenant: it is very often superfluous, and may often be omitted in the translation, without any prejudice to the sense of the passage in which it is found. It seems to be used by St. Mark, as our ancient writers used forsooth, and such like words. ### Verse 29 [¶44] See this account of the healing of Peter's mother-in-law explained at large, [Mat 8:14-17] (note).