Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 1:25
And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
25. rebuked him ] Though he had borne testimony to Christ, yet his testimony is not accepted, for it was probably intended only to do harm, “to anticipate and mar His great purpose and plan.” Compare the conduct of St Paul in reference to the girl possessed with the spirit of Apollo (Act 16:16-18).
Hold thy peace ] lit. Be muzzled. The same word is used by our Lord in rebuking the storm on the Lake, “Peace, be still ” (Mar 4:39). Wyclif translates it “wexe doumbe.” The word means (1) “ to close the mouth with a muzzle, comp. 1Co 9:9, “Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn,” cited here and in 1Ti 5:18 from Deu 25:4; (2) to reduce to silence, as in Mat 22:34, “But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence,” and 1Pe 2:15, “so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” It is also used in reference to the man who had not on the wedding garment, “ he was speechless ” (Mat 22:12).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 25. 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is both here and in many other places observable, that when the devils made a confession of Christ, yet neither Christ nor his apostles would ever take any notice of it. Truth is never advantaged from the confession of known liars, as the devil was from the beginning. Christ needed not the devils testimony, either to his holiness, or his being the Son of God, nor would he have people allow the least faith to the devils words. Nor was he to be imposed upon by the devils good words; he was to make no truce with him, but to destroy him and his works, he therefore charges him to hold his peace, and to come out.
And when the unclean spirit had torn him. The Greek word here, , is ill translated torn, as appears by Luk 4:35, where it is said it did him no hurt: the word signifies no more than a violent convulsion, or shaking; and it is observed that those possessed by devils had only their members made use of by the devils, but without any wounding or laceration of them.
He cried out with a loud voice, and came out of him. Oh how loth is the devil to part with his possession! But possibly also Christ would have him cry out with a loud voice, that his miraculous operation might be the more taken notice of.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. And Jesus rebuked him, saying,Hold thy peace, and come out of himA glorious word of command.BENGEL remarks that it wasonly the testimony borne to Himself which our Lord meant to silence.That he should afterwards cry out for fear or rage (Mr1:26) He would right willingly permit.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jesus rebuked him,…. Checking his insolence, despising his flattery, and refusing to receive a testimony from him; and which he wanted not, lest it should be thought he had a familiarity and confederacy with him:
saying, hold thy peace; stop thy mouth, I need no such witness as thine, nor thy praises; I am not to be soothed by thy flattery, nor is my mouth to be stopped, or power restrained, by such methods: wherefore he adds,
and come out of him: I will not let thee alone, thy encomiums of me shall not prevail upon me to leave thee in the quiet possession of the man; I will give a testimony of who I am, by the dispossessing of thee out of this man. In imitation of this authoritative power of Christ, the Jewish exorcists, in their pretensions to cast out devils, use a like form: so they tell us q, that R. Simeon ben Jochai, cast a devil out of Caesar’s daughter, saying, “Ben Talmion” (which was the name of the devil) , “come out, Ben Talmion come out”; and he came out of her; [See comments on Mt 12:27].
q T. Bab. Meilab, fol. 17. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Hold thy peace (). First aorist passive imperative of . “Be quiet,” Moffatt translates it. But it is a more vigorous word, “Be muzzled” like an ox. So literally in Deut 25:4; 1Cor 9:9; 1Tim 5:18. It is common in Josephus, Lucian, and the LXX. See Matt 22:12; Matt 22:34. Gould renders it “Shut up.” “Shut your mouth” would be too colloquial. Vincent suggests “gagged,” but that is more the idea of in Tit 1:11, to stop the mouth.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Hold thy peace ()
Lit., be muzzled or gagged See on Mat 22:12.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And Jesus rebuked him, saying,” (kai epetimesen auto ho lesous legon) “And Jesus rebuked or chided him repeatedly saying,” saying again and again, as in Mar 1:34; Mar 3:12; Mar 4:41.
2) “Hold thy peace,” (phimotheti) “Be quiet,” or be muzzled, be under control of thyself, keep your voice or cry down, Mat 22:12; Rom 3:19. Be muzzled like an ox, 1Ti 5:18.
3) “And come out of him.” (kai ekseltheeks autou) “And come out of him,” much as He did to the demons of the demon-obsessed man of Gadara, Luk 8:29.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(25) Hold thy peace.Literally, be still, be gagged. The same verb is used in the calming of the winds and waves in Mar. 4:39.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Hold thy peace Jesus was careful to guard himself and his own cause from every token of sympathy with the infernal beings, and so drew a most palpable line of hostility between them and himself. This he did probably to prevent all colouring for the Jews to say that there was collusion between him and them; or that he cast out devils through diabolical confederacy and power. Yet our Lord did not veil himself from their perception, nor prevent their expressing their first recognition of him; knowing their language concerning him would be of such a character as to indicate that they feared and dreaded him as their worst enemy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Jesus rebuked him saying, “Be quiet and come out of him.” And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.’
Jesus rejected the testimony of the evil spirit. He did not want testimony from such sources, although He would later point to His power over evil spirits as evidence that He was from God and that God’s Kingly Rule had come (Mar 3:21-30; compare Mat 12:28). But that was only because of necessity at the accusations levelled against Him. The word for ‘be quiet’ means literally, ‘Be muzzled.’ He then commanded the spirit to come out, and the immediate result was that, convulsing the man, and crying with a loud voice, it came out.
‘Jesus rebuked it.’ The word for rebuke is the equivalent of that used for the divine rebuke in the Old Testament, a rebuke which was powerfully effective (2Sa 22:16; Job 26:11; Psa 80:16; Psa 104:7; Psa 106:9). It is especially used when YHWH rebukes Satan in Zec 3:2, after which no more is heard from him. Thus we are to see in this rebuke the power of the Lord. It carried divine authority. In this case it was addressed to the evil spirit.
‘Be quiet.’ Jesus never accepts the testimony of evil spirits. This is not on a parallel with His attempt to prevent people spreading the idea that He was the Messiah. He did that when on Jewish territory because the Jews had the wrong idea about Messiahship, seeking a military leader against the Romans (see Joh 6:15). But He was quite happy to tell a Samaritan woman in Samaria that He was the Messiah (Joh 4:25-26), and content that she should inform her fellow Samaritans. And He would later tell a man in Gentile Decapolis to go and tell what the Lord had done for Him and how He had had compassion on him (Mar 5:19). But He wanted no testimony from evil spirits which might give men the wrong ideas about Him. He did not want to be seen as associated with them in any way.
‘And come out of him.’ The command was clear. It must relinquish its hold on the man.
‘And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.’ To the awe of the watchers there was a terrible cry and the man was clearly visibly distressed and convulsed, and then the spirit was gone. The man was in his right mind. This is a regular description of release from genuine spirit possession.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mar 1:25 f. ] to the demon , who had spoken out of the man. [56]
The demon, before he goes forth, once more gives vent to his whole fury on the man by tearing ( ) him. Comp. Mar 9:26 ; Luk 9:42 .
[56] To refer , with Strauss, II. p. 21, following older expositors, merely to the demon’s declaration of the Messiahship of Jesus, is, in view of the general character of the word, arbitrary. It is the command of the victor in general: Be silent and go out! Strauss appeals to i. 34, iii. 12. But these prohibitions refer to the time after the going out.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
Ver. 25. Hold thy peace ] capistrator, be thou haltered up, or muzzled. Christ would not hear good words from an evil mouth. High words become not a fool, saith Solomon. The leper’s lips should be covered, according to the law.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mar 1:25 . : vide at Mat 22:12 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Hold thy peace. Be silent. Compare Mat 22:12. out of. Greek. ek. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mar 1:25. , He rebuked) So ch. Mar 3:12. Hence it is evident that the hidden excellency of Jesus is far greater than Socinians suppose. It belongs to THE LORD as His prerogative to rebuke, Jud 1:9.-, be silenced) This prohibition did not prevent the cry of the unclean spirit when going out of the man, but merely the utterance of articulate words, such as are mentioned at Mar 1:24.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
rebuked: Mar 1:34, Mar 3:11, Mar 3:12, Mar 9:25, Psa 50:16, Luk 4:35, Luk 4:41, Act 16:17
Reciprocal: Psa 44:4 – command Zec 3:2 – The Lord rebuke Mat 8:8 – but Mat 8:16 – and he Mar 5:8 – General Act 16:18 – being
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5
Jesus rebuked him and not the man, for the being possessed with a devil was an affliction and not a. fault. The devil not only was commanded to come out of the man, but to make no remarks about the situation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 1:25. Rebuked him. Our Lord refuses the testimony of demons to His Person.
Hold thy peace. Lit., be thou muzzled, silenced. A command joined with enforcing power.
Come out of him. Two distinct personalities are spoken of, the demon and the possessed man.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Jesus did not need a magical formula to exorcize this demon, as other exorcists of His day did. [Note: Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8:2:5.] He simply ordered it to be quiet and to leave the man. Jesus probably commanded the demon to "be muzzled" (Gr. phimotheti) because He desired to maintain control as He revealed His identity. The Jews might have mobbed Jesus because He fed and healed them. The Romans might have concluded that He was mobilizing an insurrection to overthrow the government and could have arrested Him prematurely.
"At his trial we discover why Jesus hides his identity. Upon openly declaring who he is, the authorities condemn him to death for blasphemy. The dilemma for Jesus is this: how can he inaugurate God’s rule, yet evade the efforts of the authorities to trap him? Many aspects of the secrecy motif are related to this problem." [Note: Rhoads and Michie, p. 84.]
The malignant nature of the demon is evident in its treatment of the man.
Jesus’ authority over demons showed that He had power as God’s Servant to destroy the devil and his agents. Mark continued to stress Jesus’ continuing conflict with demonic forces and power over them in his Gospel. This emphasis would have given his original suffering readers encouragement that Jesus’ power could overcome any enemy that might assail them.
"We expect a servant to be under authority and to take orders, but God’s Servant exercises authority and gives orders-even to demons-and His orders are obeyed." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:111.]
"To have allowed the defensive utterance of the demon to go unrebuked would have been to compromise the purpose for which Jesus came into the world, to confront Satan and strip him of his power. As such, this initial act of exorcism in the ministry of Jesus is programmatic of the sustained conflict with the demons which is a marked characteristic in the Marcan presentation of the gospel." [Note: Lane, p. 75.]