Gospel of Mark Chapter 4

Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark

Chapter 4

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Mark 4:1-20

1: Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2: And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4: And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5: Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; 6: and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. 7: Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8: And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." 9: And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 10: And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. 11: And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside

everything is in parables; 12: so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven." 13: And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14: The sower sows the word. 15: And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. 16: And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17: and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18: And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, 19: but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.20: But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

NOTES

v1-2: Redactional from the author of Mark. No historical content. This is generally recognized as the first parable in Mark.

2. And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

v2: Myers (1988, p172) is among a number of exegetes who argue that the writer of Mark appears to have adopted his parable (which Myers interprets as political criticism) from Ezekiel's use of the term parable (mashal) in Ezekiel 17:2:

"Son of man, set forth an allegory and tell the house of Israel a parable." (NIV)

Additional parable verses in Exekiel include 20:49:

Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD ! They are saying of me, 'Isn't he just telling parables?' " (NIV)

and 24:3:

Tell this rebellious house a parable and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: (NIV)

v2: Stephen Moore (1992) has a beautiful description of the function of parables in Mark:

"Parabolai in Mark are a partition, screen, or membrane designed to keep insiders on one side, outsiders on the other. Outsiders are those for whom 'everything comes in parables,' parables that they find incomprehensible (4:11-12). At the same time, parabolai are what rupture that membrane, render it permeable, infect the opposition with contradiction: those who should be on the inside find themselves repeatedly put out by Jesus' parabolic words and deeds. Appointed to allow insiders in and to keep outsiders out, parables unexpectedly begin to threaten everyone with exclusion in Mark, even disciples seeking entry. Deranged doormen, parables threaten to make outsiders of us all" (p21-2)

v2: Mary Ann Tolbert (1989) points out:

"...the primary interest of that scholarship in parables as parables of Jesus rather than as parables of the Gospels inhibited perceiving how each Gospel writer was employing the material."(p128)

Tolbert (1989, p125-131) argues that the function of parables in Mark is to reveal the "fundamental typologies of the story"(p129). In her reading, the Sower parable is the guide to the other parables, and to understanding the Gospel of Mark, which she divides into two parts, the first ten chapters corresponding to the first part, and the last six to the second part.

3: "Listen! A sower went out to sow.

v3-8: whether the parables are historical to Jesus is debatable. Walter Schmithals (1997) writes:

"If the existence of an oral tradition of the parabolic teachings of Jesus can nowhere be demonstrated, however, and if we encounter the parables exclusively in literary forms, one must reckon in the main with their literary origin. The old conception that the synoptic parables, because of their originality in form and content, could have derived only from an extraordinary genius, namely Jesus, is for good reason no longer repeated today."

Commenting specifically on this parable, he points out:

"In reality, however, we have to do with an original literary exposition that does not disdain allegorical methods and employs well known metaphors of seed, sower, soil, and fruit, but which discloses no traces of secondary reworking in the story and its interpretation. The subject of the parabolic teaching also locates this in the time of the later community, which already knows tribulation and persecution "on account of the word" and in which the "secularization" is gaining ground. To determine the occasion and intention of the parable of the four soils more precisely, of course, would require disclosure and analysis of the literary context in which it originally belonged, which has been carried out in another connection. Such an analysis shows that the parable has in view all the members of the Christian community, including the catechumens. It holds up a mirror before the eyes of them all, urging them to be like the fruitful soil, and at the same time lets the catechumens know what they are in for if they become full members of the community."

v3-8: this may be suggested by Isaiah 40:24, where God appears as the sower, though in a different context:

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

v3-8: May also be a reference to Isaiah 61:11, a chapter in the background to many of the healings in Mark.

11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. (NIV)

v3-8: Hoskyns and Davey (1931) discuss the relationship between the OT and Jesus' parables:

"This Christological penetration of the parables renders them everywhere less illustrations of moral or spiritual truths that are easy of understanding than an integral element in the revelation of God that is taking place in Palestine with the advent of the messiah in his humiliation. Their understanding therefore depends upon the recognition of Jesus as the messiah and upon the recognition of the kingdom of God that is breaking forth in his words and actions. As a result of this particular historical situation, the Greek word parabole escapes from its Greek context, escapes also from the meaning which the Rabbis attached to its Hebrew equivalent, mashal, and acquires the meaning, which mashal, translated by parabole, possessed in certain important Old Testament passages. There the word was used to denote Israel as a surprise or a byword, a scandal or an enigma to the nations, because the chosen people composed the concrete sphere of God's revelation to the world. In their captivity they revealed His judgement upon disobedience:

I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb (mashal-parabole), a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them; (Jer.xxiv.9) in their possession of the law they displayed the righteousness which he demanded: And thou (Israel) shalt become an astonishment, a proverb (mashal-parabole), and a byword, among all the peoples whither the Lord shall lead thee away. (Deut.xxviii.37)

It is therefore not in the least surprising to find Mark recording that the parables of Jesus were the means by which he presented to his disciples 'the mystery of the kingdom' (Mk.iv.11), and that he expected his disciples to perceive this meaning."

v3-8: the use of parables by Jews long predates Jesus; see, for example, Judges 9:7-15 or 2 Sam 12:1-4.

v3-8: Many scholars see the parable discourses as having a fixed pattern found elsewhere in other Jewish writings, that of public teaching, questioning by disciples, and private explanation (Beavis 1989, p135).

v3-8: Marvin Meyer (1992) writes:

"Stories similar to the parable are known from Jewish and Greek literature. Thus Sirach 6:19 says, 'Come to her (that is, Wisdom) like one who plows and sows, and wait for her good crops. For in her work you will toil a little, and soon you will eat of her produce.' In his Oratorical Instruction 5.11.24, Quintilian writes, 'For instance, if you would say that the mind needs to be cultivated, you would use a comparison to the soil, which if neglected produces thorns and brambles but if cultivated produces a crop. . . .'" (p72-73)

v3-8: Gerd Ludemann (2001) observes:

"The comparison between the versions of Mark and Thomas indicates that there is a far-reaching agreement, with two exceptions: first, the conclusion differs in that Mark speaks of fruit thirtyfold and sixtyfold and one hundredfold, while Thomas speaks of sixty and one hundred and twenty measures. Secondly, in mentioning the rocky ground on which the seed fell Mark additionally writes that the rising sun contributed to the withering (Mark 4.6), whereas Thomas is silent about this. On the whole we must regard the version of Thomas as older than that of Mark, because it is simpler." (p28)

One could point out on those same grounds that the Cliff's Notes version of War and Peace must be older than Tolstoy's version, for it is simpler. It is high time that the idea of "simpler=older" was given up. "Simpler" means "simpler." Nothing else.

v3-8: Instruction as sowing of seeds was a stock metaphor in Hellenistic culture, and there are many exemplars. Seneca, for example, wrote:

"Words should be scattered like seed; no matter how small the seed may be, if it once has found favorable ground, it unfolds its strength, and from an insigificant thing spreads to its greatest growth."(Epistles, 38:2, cited in Mack 1988,p159)

5: Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil;

v5: Donahue (1995) notes that phrase "rocky ground" may be wordplay on the nickname of Peter. Mary Ann Tolbert (1989) develops this into one of the major themes of the Gospel of Mark:

"...Mark has also implicitly developed a kind of etiological legend for the origin of Simon's nickname: Jesus names him "Rock" because of his hardness; he typifies hard and rocky ground, where seed has little chance of growing deep roots"(p146).

For Tolbert the disciples are the rocky ground on which the seed falls, sprouts, appears to do well, but when the tough times come, it fades and dies.

v5: Peter's faithlessness, a theme of the Gospel of Mark, is also seen in Paul's Letter to the Galatians, where Peter is roasted for being a hypocrite and dishonest (2:11-14). One can regard both Galatians and Mark as evidence that not everyone in the Christian community accepted the disciples as the authentic representatives of Jesus, at least on some issues.

9: And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

v9: Ludemann sees this phrase as a floating call that could be attached anywhere (2001, p26). It may be a creation off of Psalm 135:17, Proverbs 20:12, or Isaiah 30:21 or other, similar passages, but the most likely candidate is Isaiah 32:3

Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen (NIV).

...which occurs in the context of Isaiah's description of the "Kingdom of Righteousness." The motif of ears, hearing, and the Lord's message is a common one in the OT.

v9: Note the bit of Markan irony -- Jesus no sooner says "He who has ears, let him hear!" then the disciples ask about the parables. The author of Mark denigrates them by showing they did not understand Jesus. The cluelessness of the disciples is a common Markan theme, indicating that the situation is an ahistorical creation of the writer of Mark.

v9: Some exegetes have pointed to a minor "common sense" argument against historicity, arguing that the situation is historically absurd as presented, for this is Jesus' first parable. Therefore how could the disciples be asking about "parables?" But that is a very weak argument, as the writer indicates Jesus taught in parables in v1.

v9: Mack (1988) notes:

The imageries of the field, sowing seeds, miscarriage, and harvest are standard metaphors for God's dealing with Israel in Jewish apocalyptic, wisdom, and prophetic literatures."(p155)

10: And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables.

	v10-12: The pattern here is that of a typical chreia of the type well known in antiquity. Beavis (1989, p140-1) lists several examples of chreia that follow the model of setting and response. For example, the King Eumenes visits Rome, where he was welcomed by the highest men of the city. Cato, however, looked upon him with suspicion. Someone remarks that the King must be an excellent fellow, and a friend of Rome (setting). Cato agrees, but adds that "the animal known as king is by nature carnivorous."(response). Beavis warns, however, that the writer of Mark has gone one better: 4:11-12 contains an oracle.
	v10-12: Philip Sellow (1989) describes how the teaching scenes in Mark were composed. They typically begin with public instruction from Jesus, which is followed by a change of location, in which his close followers question him privately, triggering a sarcastic complaint from the Teacher, and concluding with a decisive explanation from Jesus. A number of exegetes have pointed out how the disciples function as foils who draw out explanations from Jesus, presumably so the reader or hearer could understand.
	v10: the only time in Mark when he uses the phrase "those who were about him" (Gundry 1993, p199).
	v10: As Michael Goulder (1999) points out, this location is ambiguous. Are they still in the boats?

11: And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; 12: so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven."

v11-12: Koester (1990, p279) points out that both Matt and Luke have "To you is given to know the mysteries...." in their respective parallel passages. Koester argues that Matt and Luke preserve the more original version of the passage, which contained to know and the plural mysteries. The fact that Matt and Luke agree against Mark in parallel passages seems to indicate that our modern version of Mark is not the same one that Matt and Luke used.

v11-12: is based on Isaiah 6:9-10 from the Septuagint:

Isa 6:9,10 LXX: 'You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' / 10 This people's heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes (NIV)

The modern Bible has the following for Isa 6:9-10:

9 He said, "Go and tell this people: " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." (NIV)

v11-12: are probably from the writer of Mark, although Koester (1990, p53) is among the numerous commentators who have argued argued they are based on a source or even interpolated. This is unlikely, since the writer of Mark quotes Isa 6:9 in v12 in the usual Markan style. Chilton (1984, p91) has drawn attention to the fact that the quote resembles a targum on Isaiah more than it does the verse itself. Weeden (1971) argues that this passage is Markan polemic, and that the first half of Mark is aimed at parodying the positions of the inner circle of the Church, which maintained it had a secret doctrine. In this view, the messianic secret, which is constantly contrasted with crowds around Jesus, is thus parody whose function is to deny that the inner circle has a secret teaching by showing how silly it must have been in the context of a public mission by Jesus. Others (Price 2003, p53) argue that this may be a reference to Jesus as the member of a sect, the Nazarenes, who possessed esoteric knowledge. However they are interpreted, Mk 4:11-12 are among the most controversial verses in the gospel, generating, as Beavis (1989) noted in her book-length study of these two verses, more secondary literature than any other two verses in Mark:

"...[because] it contains a number of theologically 'objectionable' ideas: that Jesus distinguished between 'insiders' and 'outsiders'; that he gave private explanations of his teaching ('the mystery of the Kingdom of God') to some, but not to others; that parables are not clear teaching but obscure riddles which Jesus used in order to confound outsiders and prevent them from repenting (the so-called 'parable theory' or 'hardening theory')."(p69)

Donald Juel (2002) notes of the multitude of attempted interpretations of 4:11-12:

"The efforts of interpreters to bring these verses under control border on desperation."

v11-12: the reference to Isa 6 is another example of the Temple focus of Mark's hypertextuality, for the voice is heard in the Temple.

Isa 6:4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.(RSV)

v11: While scholars have emphasized the link between Jesus' teachings and previous Jewish literature, A. E. Harvey has pointed out that the word "secret" here (better translated as "mystery") is used exactly the same way it is in Hellenistic circles for the centuries prior to the Gospel of Mark. For the centuries leading up to the Gospel of Mark "Mystery" is invariably used to express a secret only a few are qualified to know. It is never used in the sense we know it today, of a puzzle needing to be solved, until the first century CE. Further, the phrase here "the mystery of the Kingdom of God" has a verb inserted between the noun "mystery" and the modifier "of the kingdom of God" in Greek, an idiom impossible in a Semitic language. The writer must have been thinking in Greek. In other words, the use of the word "mystery" conjures up the vision of initiates learning esoteric knowledge familiar to any educated Hellene, while Jesus could never have uttered the words as the writer of Mark reports them (Harvey 1983).

v11-12: Several scholars have suggested that these verses can be read ironically, something like "...lest they turn and be saved (and they wouldn't want that to happen, would they?)" or sacastically "lest they turn and be saved (and we wouldn't want that to happen, would we?)."

v11-12: Tate (1995) points out that thematically this may also be linked with Moses, for while the Lord speaks to other prophets in riddles ("dark speech") Moses hears the Lord's word clearly:

Numbers 12:6: And he said, "Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream.
7: Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house.
8: With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the LORD.(RSV)

v11-12: Paul writes of a "mystery" in 1 Cor 2:6-7:

6: Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
7: But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. .(RSV)

13: And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

v13-20: contains vocabulary found nowhere else in the Synoptic gospels, but are present in other NT writings. These include "sow" as a metaphor for preaching (1 Cor. 9:11), "root" as a metaphor for inner steadfastness (Col 2:7, Eph. 3:17) and above all, the "word" which grows and spreads, found in many places in 1 & 2 Thess, II Tim, and other early Christian writings (Ludemann 2001, p 27).

v13: Note that although 4:11-12 emphasizes that the disciples are getting the inside story, the writer makes it clear throughout the Gospel that the disciples just don't get it. This pattern will be repeated throughout the Gospel.

v13: Thomas L. Thompson observes:

"Mark is not as interested in his figure of Jesus as in the disciples and their understanding. They bear the greater burden of the reiteration. Their lack of understanding and perception echoes the Bible's never-ending story of ignorance in the face of enlightenment, a theme that continues into the story of the transfiguration and beyond."(p69).

Historical Commentary

The context of this parable, v1-2 and v9-20, is clearly invention of the writer of Mark. The most important verses are 4:11-12. However one interprets the controversial verses 11 and 12, they are clearly not historical. The hypertextual habits of the writer of Mark are strongly Temple-focused, meaning that often in Mark when an OT reference occurs and the reader returns to the OT to view the context, the passage will either take place in, or be about, the Temple in Jerusalem. In this case, the words in Isa 6:9-10 are uttered by a voice in the Temple. This is a signature habit of the writer of Mark.

Another sign of the hand of the writer of Mark is the signal of a later date. Verses 9-20 appear to refer to a much later time "when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away." There were no persecutions during Jesus' lifetime. Additionally, those verses contain vocabulary found nowhere else in the Synoptic gospels, but present in other NT writings. These include "sow" as a metaphor for preaching (1 Cor. 9:11), "root" as a metaphor for inner steadfastness (Col 2:7, Eph. 3:17) and above all, the "word" which grows and spreads, found in many places in 1 & 2 Thess, II Tim, and other early Christian writings (Ludemann 2001, p 27). This interpretation of the context as much later is widely agreed-upon (Kee 1990, 68-9).

Yet another problem with the parable is that it appears to discuss the Jesus movement from a later perspective. The parable assumes that the hearer knows about Christianity as a movement.

The final, and by far the most important, reason this parable is from Mark's hand is that the author of Mark used it as the key literary structure for the first half of his Gospel. Mary Ann Tolbert (1989) has give the richest and most detailed reading of the way the parable functions as an introduction to the first division of the Gospel, which in her interpretation runs from 1:14 to 10:52. In her reading, the key focus in Mark is not on the seed, but on the kind of ground onto which it falls. Thus, the Parable of the Sower introduces the typology for each of the major groups in the story:

Typological Functions of the Parable of the Sower (adapted from Tobert 1989, p171)
Parable of the Sower	Interpretation	Gospel of Mark

seed sown along the way, eaten by birds	those in whom the word is immediately removed by Satan	scribes, Pharisees, Jewish leaders
seed sown in rocky ground, comes up quickly, but has no roots, withers in the sun	those who accept the word immediately, endure for a time, but fall away when tribulation comes	disciples, especially Peter, James, and John.
seed sown among thorns, thorns choke it and it produces no fruit	others in whom the word is choked by the cares of the world, desire for riches, and desire for other things	Herod, rich man of Mk 10:17-22
seed sown on good earth, brings forth grain in triple abundance	those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit in triple abundance	one healed (or saved) by their faith

In addition, the Parable functions as a synopsis of the next section, a common structure in Hellenistic popular literature, a genre which has much influenced the Gospel of Mark. Because the parable and the context seem to be tightly linked in more than one way, it appears likely that the writer of Mark invented this parable. However, this parable is found without interpretation or Markan redaction in the Gospel of Thomas, and some scholars believe that the author of Mark used Thomas as a source. Given the way the parable is used in the Gospel of Mark, as well as the signals of Markan style, it seems that the writer of Mark invented this parable, and that Thomas has somehow taken it from Mark (see Excursus: Mark and the Gospel of Thomas at the end of Chapter 12).

Burton Mack (1988) points out that the parable has a nice trifold structure:

Structure of the Parable of the Sower (adapted from Mack 1988, p153)
some seed fell along the path	and the birds came	and devoured it.
Other seed fell on rocky ground	where it had not much soil,and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil;	and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away.
Other seed fell among thorns	and the thorns grew up	and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold	and sixtyfold	and a hundredfold."

This pericope contains two separate chiastic structures.

A	Again he began to teach beside the sea.
	B	And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea;
		C	and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.
		C	And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
	B	And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
A	And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables.

Although it looks like there is no relationship here, the first three brackets all revolve around the sea, the second three brackets, around parables. The writer appears to be making a connection between the Sea of Galilee and parables.

As many scholars have pointed out, the Parable of the Sower draws on images of planting, harvesting, and education, that were common in both Hellenistic culture and in Judaism. Given that, the Parable of the Sower and its explanation are most likely from the hand of Mark. Nothing in this pericope may be used to support historicity.

Mark 4:21-25

21: And he said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22: For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. 23: If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."

24: And he said to them, "Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. 25: For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

NOTES

21: And he said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand?

v21: The parable of the lamp may well be a reference back to 2 Kings 8:19 (as well as several other passages in which the promise to David is presented in lamp terminology, such as 2 Chron 21:7):

19 Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever. (NIV)

Jesus is perhaps making a subtle self-reference, by claiming that he is the Lamp that God gave to David. The verse occurs in the middle of the Elijah-Elisha Cycle, an important one for creation in Mark. In any case, it was originally a common proverb with parallels in Jewish wisdom literature (Ludemann 2001, p30). Sayings about light in dark places are found in ancient Judaism.

22: For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

v22: Note the miniature parallels (Dart, 2003). The Gospel of Mark is full of such structures:

A: For there is nothing hid
B: except to be made manifest.
A': nor is anything secret
B': except to come to light.

23: If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."

v23: It may be a creation off of Psalm 135:17, Proverbs 20:12, or Isaiah 30:21 or other, similar passages, but the most likely candidate is Isaiah 32:3

Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen (NIV).

which occurs in the context of Isaiah's description of the "Kingdom of Righteousness." The motif of ears, hearing, and the Lord's message is a common one in the OT.

24: And he said to them, "Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.

v24: A common Jewish saying (Ludemann 2001, p30, Chilton 1984, p123). No way to demonstrate historical content.

25: For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

v25: A common Jewish saying (Ludemann 2001, p30). No way to demonstrate historical content.

v25: Joanna Dewey (2004) writes:

"...the Gospel of Mark works well as oral literature. It is of an appropriate length for oral performance. A storyteller could learn it from simply hearing it performed. As I and others have argued elsewhere, its composition consists of oral composition techniques. Briefly, the story consists of happenings that can be easily visualized and thus readily remembered. It consists of short episodes connected paratactically. The narrative is additive and aggregative. Teaching is not gathered into discourses according to topic but rather embedded in short narratives, which is the way oral cultures remember teaching. Indeed, I would suggest that it is the lack of a more literate chronological and topical order that Papias had in mind when he said Mark's story was "not in order," ou mentoi taxei (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.39.15). It followed oral ordering procedures, not proper rhetorical form."

v25: Vernon Robbins (1991) notes:

"If we wonder why the Synoptic Gospels contain so much variation in settings of so much verbatim agreement, the answer surely lies here. These authors are working in close relation to one another or to common sources, yet they continually recast the material by adding to it, substracting from it, rearranging it, and rewording it. To posit an 'oral source' for these variations is wrong, because it merges the literary-historical approach associated with text and source criticism directly with oral transmission without bringing into view the kind of culture in which oral and written speech interact closely with one another."

Historical Commentary

This short pericope offers a dense grouping of sayings that are paralleled either in the Old Testament or in Jewish tradition. For example, v24-5 are both common Jewish sayings for which there is no way to demonstrate historical content. Because of this relationship, there is no support for the historicity of these sayings.

Mark 4:26-29

26: And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27: and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how.

28: The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29: But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

NOTES

26: And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground,

v26-29: This parable is not found in either Matthew or Luke and may be a later interpolation (Koester 1990, p276)

v26-29: Hoskyns and Davey (1931) observe that this parable appears to be related to Hosea, 2:21-23 and other OT passages:

Hos 21 "In that day I will respond," declares the LORD - "I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; 22 and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. 23 I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one. ' I will say to those called 'Not my people, ' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.' " (NIV)

Jezreel means "God plants." Jeremiah 31:27 is also suggested:

"The days are coming," declares the LORD , "when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals. (NIV)

and Psalm 126:5-6:

5 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. (NIV)

28: The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

v28: Wilker (2004, p99) points out that the phrase "full grain in the ear" is unstable in the text tradition and that there must have been an original phrase containing an unusual term, now gone, that spawned all the variants.

29: But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

v29: is taken from Joel 3:13 (Davies & Johnson, 1996). The harvest has eschatological overtones in Joel.

Historical Commentary

After laying out the typology of the Gospel, dividing its characters into 4 groups, Jesus next utters a group of parables on the theme of the Kingdom of God. It should be noted that not only is sowing a metaphor for instructing, but seed may have a double meaning. It may refer to the message, but in both Jewish and early Christian discourse, it also referred to the resurrection, through analogy. For example, one ancient rabbi noted:

"If a kernel of wheat is buried naked and will sprout forth in many robes, how much more so the righteous." (b. Sanh. 90b).

Funk et al (1997) note:

"The question of what the parable is about has puzzled many readers, possibly including Matthew and Luke. It may be about the seed, perhaps the process of growth, or the parable as a whole may be about God's domain."(p59)

Perhaps this is because the parable describes the resurrection, and not any process of growth or the kingdom of God. In that case, the double meanings encoded here are due to the author's hand, not the voice of Jesus.

The tight relationship of this parable to to the previous parable and similar passages in the OT indicates that there is no support for historicity for this parable.

Mark 4:30-34

30: And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31: It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32: yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air

can make nests in its shade." 33: With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34: he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

NOTES

30: And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?

v30: The language here, which echoes rabbinical sayings (Donahue and Harrington 2002, p151), is similar to Isaiah 40:18:

To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? (NIV)

The writer of Mark refers to this passage several times in his gospel.

31: It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

v31: Price (2000), observes that it also has Cynic parallels. Seneca wrote:

These words should be scattered like seeds. However small a seed is, once it's sown in suitable ground, its potential unfolds, and from something tiny it spreads out to its maximum size...I'd say brief precepts and seeds have much in common. Great results come from small beginnings (Price 2000, p159).

v31: Crossan (1991) writes:

"The point, in other words, is not just that the mustard plant starts as a proverbially small seed and grows into a shrub of three or four feet, or even higher, it is that it tends to take over where it is not wanted, that it tends to get out of control, and that it tends to attract birds within cultivated areas where they are not particularly desired. And that, said Jesus, was what the Kingdom was like: not like the mighty cedar of Lebanon and not quite like a common weed, like a pungent shrub with dangerous takeover properties. Something you would want in only small and carefully controlled doses. If you could control it."

v31: Funk (1997), recording the Jesus Seminar's conclusions, notes:

"The mustard seed is an unlikely figure of speech for God's domain in Jesus' original parable. His listeners would probably have expected God's domain to be compared to something great, not something small and insignificant. As the tradition was passed on, it fell under the influence of two figures: that of the mighty cedar of Lebanon as a metaphor for a towering empire (Ezek 17:22-23); and that of the apocalyptic tree of Dan 4:12, 20-22. In Daniel, the crown of the tree reaches to heaven and its branches cover the earth; under it dwell the beasts of the field and in its branches nest the birds of the sky. These well-known figures undoubtedly influenced the transmission and reshaping of the original parable." (p. 484)

Note the underlying assumption that colors the Seminar's methodology: whenever there is anything interesting in a parable, it must somehow go back to Jesus. The source-critical tradition depends on some highly questionable assumptions about the intelligence and creativity of the Gospel writers. Dumbing down the creativity of the writer of Mark is essentially a move made to favor an historical apologetic.

32: yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

v32: Compare Ezekiel 17:23

On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. (NIV)

Ezekiel 17 contains similar themes, including a tree that represents the kingdom,

22 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. 24 All the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.(NIV)

and the injunction to the prophet in Ezekiel 17:1-2:

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, set forth an allegory and tell the house of Israel a parable. (NIV)

v32: Compare also Dan 4:

19: Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshaz'zar, was dismayed for a moment, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king said, "Belteshaz'zar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you." Belteshaz'zar answered, "My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies! 20: The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth; 21: whose leaves were fair and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all; under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the air dwelt -- (RSV)

33: With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34: he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

	v33-34: Redactional from the writer of Mark, containing his themes of secrecy.
	v33-34: Note the irony of "he explained everything to his disciples" in conjunction with the author's presentation of the Twelve as confused, ignorant, hard-hearted, and anxious for personal aggrandizement.
	v33-34: Numerous exegetes have argued that v34 is an insertion (Sellew 1990).

Historical Commentary

The "sowing" metaphors recall Paul's comments in 1 Corinthians about being "sown in weakness" and "raised in power."

After laying out the typology of the Gospel, dividing its characters into 4 groups, Jesus next utters a group of parables on the theme of the Kingdom of God.

The chiastic structure for the parable section must be regarded as tentative. The exterior AB - BA brackets are sound, but the center brackets cover areas with many textual variants, and suspected interpolations, including whole parables (for example, 4:26-9). I have divided them into brackets simply to illustrate the divisions. The center, however, seems to work nicely, suggesting that 4:26-9 has been reworked rather than inserted.

A	And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables.
	B	And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven."
		C	And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
			D	And he said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.
				E	If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."
				E	And he said to them, "Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
			D	And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
		C	And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
	B	With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
A	On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.

Many exegetes argue that these parables go back the historical Jesus. Sellew (1990) notes that parabolic material with "sowing" as a metaphor is found in several different ancient texts, and the Parable of Sower is known from the Gospel of Thomas as well as the Dialogues of Justin Martyr. Sellew also notes that it is found in 1 Clement, and perhaps Hermas as well. The first three retain the pattern of the seed falling on three unproductive soils, while 1 Clement gives an abbreviated form of the Parable of the Sower. Much scholarly attention has been focused on identifying "Markan" expansions of the original material, although no reliable metholodogy exists for doing that. Sellew (1990), discussing one of the sayings, gives a good example of how a tradition of transmission for such sayings can be constructed out of reasonable-sounding speculation:

"Though some differentiation could be expected depending on the emphasis applied, the point would be focussed initially on the surprising contrast in size, out of all proportion to normal expectation. As time passes, the saying's reference to resting birds attracts a greater assimilation to known biblical references to nesting birds (=incorporation of gentiles into God's kingdom, the eschatological Israel)."(p249)

Needless to say, there is no evidence for such a pattern of transmission. Sellew's account is entirely speculative and imaginative. Rather, the proven habits of the writer of Mark in developing material out of the Old Testament and Hellenistic thought most likely account entirely for the presence of the parables in this section.

The tight relationship of this parable to the previous parable and similar passages in the OT, as well as the presence of themes from both the OT, Pauline letters, and Hellenistic tradition, indicates that there is no support for historicity for this pericope.

Mark 4:35-41

35: On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36: And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37: And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38: But he was in the stern, asleep

on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" 39: And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40: He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" 41: And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"

NOTES

v35-36: is Markan redaction, appearing to connect to previous events, and contains Markan motifs of lakes, crowds, and boats.

37: And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

v37: Jonah 1.4 "There arose a great storm on the sea."

38: But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?"

	v38: Jonah 1.5. Jesus, like Jonah, sleeps. The Greek word for "rebukes" mimics the Greek of the Septaugint Psalm 105:9 (107 in modern bibles), showing a clear affinity. The writer's hand is also evident in the disciple's rude remark to Jesus; "Hey, don't you care if we die?" showing how quickly they lost their faith and became cross with Jesus.
	v38: Tolbert (1989) observes that in Mark the opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear.
	v38: If they do not have faith that Jesus can still the storm, why did they wake him? Camery-Hoggat (1992, p131) argues, based on Synoptic parallels, that the disciples awakened him because they wanted him to do something mundane, like help bail out the boat.

39: And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

v39: Supernatural and therefore not historical. Ludemann is among several exegetes who argue that this is actually a form of exorcism, where the wind is implied to be driven by demons (2001, p33).

40: He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?"

v40: Markan redaction, containing motif of disciples' inability to understand. Another common Markan theme is that of faith.

41: And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"

v41: Markan redaction. The witnesses are filled with awe. Note that the disciples do not know who Jesus is, although the demons have identified him several times.

Historical Commentary

This miracle is entirely based on source creation and is not historical.

On a larger level, it is the first in a double series of 5 miracle stories. Paul Achtemeier (1970) has argued that there are two sets of 5 miracle stories in Mark 4:35-8:26. In each a sea miracle is followed by three cures involving one exorcism and two healings, and is concluded by a feeding miracle (table follows Crossan 1991):

Mark4:35-6:34	Mark 6:45-8:26
Walking on Water (4:35-41)	Walking on Water (6:45-52)
Gerasene Demoniac (5:1-20)	Blind Man Healed (8:22-6)
Two Women Cured (5:21-24,35-43)	Distant Girl Cured (7:24-3)
Two Women Cured (5:24--34)	Deaf Mute Cured (7:31-7)
Bread and Fish (6:33-44)	Bread and Fish (8:1-10)

Randel Helms points out that this miracle is based on the story of Jonah, which in turn is based on Psalm 107: 25-30, which has many close parallels with it (1988, p78). Dennis MacDonald has argued in The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark that this passage is originally based on Odyesseus' experience with the bag of winds, with which it has several parallels . Whatever its origin, it is clearly not historical. Hoskyns and Davey (1931) also note parallels in the ancient Jewish literature, writing:

It was, perhaps, familiarity with this metaphor, which led the priestly historian to elaborate the story of Noah as a type of Israel overwhelmed, as it were, in their captivity, by the 'great floods' of Gentile oppression. (Test. Naph.vi.) And it certainly inspired a later writer to picture the dispersion of the Jews in the same fashion. In the Testament of Naphthali, Naphthali and his brother patriarchs enter a boat. And suddenly there come a storm and a great whirlwind, and their father Jacob is whirled away from the helm and separated from them. The boat fills, is smashed by the waves, and the patriarchs are scattered on planks to the ends of the earth. Then Levi puts on sackcloth and prays to the Lord. Immediately the storm ceases, and the boat, now once more seaworthy, makes the land in peace. And there they find Jacob and rejoice together. So a simple hope that God will cause the stormy dispersion of Israel among the nations to cease, and will gather all the tribes together once more, finds expression in this same metaphor of a storm. The sequence is precisely that of the Psalms. Tumult and oppression pictured as a storm intervention by God's peace. Exactly the same sequence occurs in Mark in two consecutive miracles.

As they note of this miracle and the following one of the Gerasene Demoniac:

Mark is not here arguing about the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy; he is simply setting down in writing a material which itself contains the answer to the question of the disciples: 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?' But the answer is intelligible only if the Old Testament context be recognized, and the conjunction of these two episodes makes this possible.

The chiastic structure of this pericope is quite straightforward and the pericopes clear.

A	On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.
	B	And other boats were with him.
		C	And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.
			D	But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?"
			D	And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!"
		C	And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
	B	And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"
A	They came to the other side of the sea,

Due to the presence of the supernatural, the rich array of motifs common to the writer of Mark, such as the disciples' inability to understand Jesus, boats, the sea, and crowds, and the presence of numerous allusions and links to the OT, there is no support for historicity in this pericope.

Excursus: Are the Miracles Historical?
Although many scholars have viewed Jesus' healing miracles as having an underlying historical kernel, Randel Helms notes that they too are the result of fiction-construction based on the Old Testament. Helms (1998, p62-3) argues that Mark has based his miracle accounts on the prediction in Isaiah 35:

Then opened are eyes of the blind, And ears of the deaf are unstopped, Then leap as a hart doth the lame, And sing doth the tongue of the dumb.(NIV)

which the writer cites later in the Gospel, as well as Isaiah 26:19,

Isa 26:19 But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. (NIV)

As numerous scholars have noted, many of Jesus' miracles appear to be drawn from the Elijah-Elisha cycle in the Old Testament. Several other miracles appear to parallel Numbers 5. "Narratives about Jesus performing miracles were virtual requirements," writes Helms (1988, p62), "given first-century Christianity's understanding of the Old Testament." Helms points out that Matthew 11:2-5 cites these passages, as does the writer of Mark later on.

The historical question of whether Jesus actually performed magical healings and exorcisms cannot be answered from Mark. First, at every level, Jesus' miracles appear to be created from examples and ideas in the Old Testament. Second, history offers no consistent guide for comparison. Some individuals (Rebbe Schneerson, Mother Teresa) accreted miracles stories after their deaths, others, (Sai Baba, Hong Xiu-quan, Wovoka), acquired reputations as miracle workers in their own lifetime. Given the problems with the historical criterion of analogy, and the obvious creation off the OT, no support for the historicity of the miracle tradition can be derived from the Gospel of Mark.

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Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark
Chapter 1	Chapter 9	Home
Chapter 2	Chapter 10	Home
Chapter 3	Chapter 11	Topical Index
Chapter 4	Chapter 12	Topical Index
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Chapter 6	Chapter 14	References
Chapter 7	Chapter 15
Chapter 8	Chapter 16