Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 5:41
And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
41. Talitha cumi ] = “ Little Maid, arise. ” Doubtless St Peter, who was now present, often recalled the actual words used on this memorable occasion by our Lord, and told them to his friend and kinsman St Mark. So it is the same Evangelist, who preserves the very word, which our Lord used, when He opened the ears of the deaf man, Ephphatha (Mar 7:34). The mention of these words goes to prove that in ordinary life our Lord availed Himself of the popular Aramaic dialect.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 41. Talitha cumi] [Syriac], This is mere Syriac, the proper translation of which the evangelist has given. The Codex Bezae has a very odd and unaccountable reading here, , My master. Damsel arise. Suidas quotes this place under the word thus . is the reading of several ancient MSS., but it is certainly a faulty one.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
41. And he took the damsel by thehandas He did Peter’s mother-in-law (Mr1:31).
and said unto her, TalithacumiThe words are Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldaic, thethen language of Palestine. Mark loves to give such wonderful wordsjust as they were spoken. See Mar 7:34;Mar 14:36.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he took the damsel by the hand,….
[See comments on Mt 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 Ac 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. The phrase, “I say unto thee”, is no part of the interpretation of the above Syriac words; but is added, by the evangelist, as being what was expressed by Christ at the same time, signifying his authority and power over death; only “damsel arise”, is the interpretation of them, , “Tali”, signifies a “boy”, and , “Talitha”, a “girl”; and so they are often used in the Targums w, and in the Talmud: the one is used for a boy of seventeen years of age x, and the other for a girl of sixteen or seventeen years of age y; so that this child might well be called by this name, since she was but twelve years of age; and , “Cumi”, is the imperative , “to arise”.
w Targum Hieres in Deut. xxii. 21. & Targum Sheni in Esther ii. 9. x T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 142. 2. Gloss. in ib. y lb. fol. 91. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Talitha cumi . These precious Aramaic words, spoken by Jesus to the child, Peter heard and remembered so that Mark gives them to us. Mark interprets the simple words into Greek for those who did not know Aramaic ( , ), that is,
Damsel, arise . Mark uses the diminutive , a little girl, from , girl. Braid Scots has it: “Lassie, wauken.” Lu 8:5-9 has it H , ,
Maiden, arise . All three Gospels mention the fact that Jesus took her by the hand, a touch of life ( ), giving confidence and help.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Maid (korasion). Not a classical word, but used also by Matthew.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And He took the damsel by the hand,” (kai kratesas tes cheiros) ”And taking hold of the hand of the child,” the young girl, as Peter did to the lame man, Act 3:7-8.
2) “And said unto her, Talitha cumi,” (legei aute talitha kourn) “He says directly to her, Talitha koum. This is the first instance in which Mark recounts Jesus’ speaking Aramaic.
3) ”Which is being interpreted,” (ho estin methereneuomenon) “Which is (means when) interpreted.
4) ”Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” (to korasion soi lego egeire) “Maid, or my child, I direct you to arise,” or get up. Jesus was evidently bi-lingual, using the vernacular Aramaic on this traumatic occasion with the beautiful meaning “Rise, my child.”
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
41. And he took hold of her hand, and said to her Luk 8:54. And he took hold of her hand, and cried Though naturally this cry was of no avail for recalling the senses of the deceased young woman, yet Christ intended to give a magnificent display of the power of his voice, that he might more fully accustom men to listen to his doctrine. It is easy to learn from this the great efficacy of the voice of Christ, which reaches even to the dead, and exerts a quickening influence on death itself. Accordingly, Luke says that her spirit returned, or, in other words, that immediately on being called, it obeyed the command of Christ.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(41) Talitha cumi.Here, as in the Ephphatha of Mar. 7:34, the Evangelist gives the very syllables which had fallen from the lips of the Healer, and been proved to be words of power. It would probably be too wide an inference to assume from this that our Lord commonly spoke to His disciples and others in Greek, but we know that that language was then current throughout Palestine, and the stress laid on the Aramaic words in these instances, as in the Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani on the cross, shows that they attracted a special notice.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
41. Talitha cumi This is in the Syro-Chaldaic language, which our Lord usually spoke. Mark alone gives the express words as a memorable reminiscence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
Ver. 41. Tabitha cumi ] The Syriac was then the vernacular or common tongue; for the Jews had lost their ancient language, in that seventy years’ continuance in Babylon.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
41.] . (or ) = .
is added in the translation .
The accuracy of Mark’s reports, not, as has been strangely suggested (see Webst. and Wilk. p. 174), the wish to indicate that our Lord did not use mystic magical language on such occasions, often gives occasion to the insertion of the actual Syriac and Aramaic words spoken by the Lord: see ch. Mar 7:11 ; Mar 7:34 ; Mar 14:36 . Talitha, in the ordinary dialect of the people, is a word of endearment addressed to a young maiden: = . So that the words are equivalent to Rise, my child. On the nom. with the article standing as a vocative, see Winer, 29. 2. Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 67, remarks that the idiom had originally something harsh in it, being used only in emphatically imperative addresses. This however it lost, as the present use and that in Luke and Luk 12:32 sufficiently shew.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 5:41 . , , maiden, rise! first instance in which the words of Jesus, as spoken in Aramaic, are given. Jesus may have been a bilingual, sometimes using Greek, sometimes Syriac. He would use the vernacular on a pathetic occasion like this. The word , feminine of Teli ( ), is found in the Hebrew only in the plural ( ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Talitha cumi. Aramaic (App-94.) Talitha = Aramaic talitha (= maid Latin puella) kumi (Imperat. of kum) = arise. Occurs only here. Not “got from Peter”, but from the Holy Spirit. App-94.
Damsel, Greek. korasion. Found only here, and Mar 5:42; Mar 6:22, Mar 6:28, and Mat 9:24, Mat 9:25; Mat 14:11. Not the same word as in verses: Mar 5:39, Mar 5:40, Mar 5:40 -. See App-108.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
41.] . (or ) = .
is added in the translation.
The accuracy of Marks reports,-not, as has been strangely suggested (see Webst. and Wilk. p. 174), the wish to indicate that our Lord did not use mystic magical language on such occasions,-often gives occasion to the insertion of the actual Syriac and Aramaic words spoken by the Lord: see ch. Mar 7:11; Mar 7:34; Mar 14:36. Talitha, in the ordinary dialect of the people, is a word of endearment addressed to a young maiden: = . So that the words are equivalent to Rise, my child. On the nom. with the article standing as a vocative, see Winer, 29. 2. Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 67, remarks that the idiom had originally something harsh in it, being used only in emphatically imperative addresses. This however it lost, as the present use and that in Luke and Luk 12:32 sufficiently shew.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 5:41. , Talitha Cumi) Peter had remembered the precise words used by the Saviour; and it was from his mouth [dictation] that Mark is said to have written. Talitha was used but once; for Jesus, in raising the dead, did not employ Epizeuxis [repetition of the same word; see Append.], Luk 7:14; Joh 11:43. For His power was always instantaneous in its effect; comp. Num 20:11.- , I say unto thee) This is not contained in Talitha Cumi, and yet it is with truth added.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
took: Mar 1:31, Act 9:40, Act 9:41
Talitha cumi: , which is pure Syriac, the same as in the Syriac version, the proper translation of which is given by the evangelist.
Damsel: Mar 1:41, Gen 1:3, Psa 33:9, Luk 7:14, Luk 7:15, Luk 8:54, Luk 8:55, Joh 5:28, Joh 5:29, Joh 11:43, Joh 11:44, Rom 4:17, Phi 3:21
Reciprocal: Mat 8:3 – I will Mat 9:25 – and took Mat 14:31 – stretched Mar 7:34 – Ephphatha Mar 9:27 – General Joh 5:9 – immediately Act 3:7 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN
And He took the damsel by the hand.
Mar 5:41
This is the earliest miracle of raising the dead recounted in the Gospels. Two others follow, but the one was a growing youth, the other was a man of mature age. The young woman was Christs first miracle of resurrection. On her was wrought first this stupendous miracle. For her was won this earliest triumph over death and hell.
I. The fundamental principle of the Gospel charter.Is not this a significant fact in itself, for it proclaims the fundamental principle of the Gospel charter? It announces that the weak and the helpless in years, in sex, in social status, are especially Christs care. It declares emphatically that in Him is neither male nor female. It is a call to women to do a sisters part to their sisters. Christs action in this miracle is a foreshadowing of His action in the Church. The Master found woman deposed from her proper social position. A moral resurrection was needed for womanhood. It might seem to the looker-on like a social death, from which there was no awakening; but it was only the suspension of her proper faculties and opportunities, a long sleep, from which a revival must come sooner or later. It was for Him, and Him alone, Who was the Vanquisher of death, Who has the keys of Hades, for Him alone to open the door of her sepulchral prison and resuscitate her dormant life and restore her to her ordinary place in society. When all hope was gone, He took her by the hand and bid her arise, and at the sound of His voice and the touch of His hand she arose and walked, and the world was astonished with a great astonishment.
II. A social revolution.We ourselves are so familiar with the results, the position of woman is so fully recognised by us, it is bearing so abundant fruit every day and everywhere, that we overlook the magnitude of the change itself. Only then when we turn to the harem and the zenana do we learn to estimate what the Gospel has achieved, and has still to achieve, in the emancipation of woman, and her restitution to her lawful place in the social order. To ourselves the large place which woman occupies in the Gospel and in the early apostolic history seems only natural. To contemporaries it must have appeared in the light of a social revolution. Women attend our Lord everywhere during His earthly ministry, and as it was in Christs personal ministry, so it is in all the Apostolic Church.
III. The order of deaconess.But it was not only desultory, unrecognised service, however frequent, however great, that women rendered to the spread of the Gospel in its earliest days. The Apostolic Church had its organised ministrations of women, its order of deaconesses, its order of widows. Women had their definite place in the ecclesiastical system of those early times, and in our own age and country again the awakened activity of the Church is once more demanding the recognition of the female ministry. The Church feels herself maimed of one of her hands. No longer she fails to employ, to organise, to consecrate to the service of Christ, the love, the sympathy, the tact, the self-devotion of women. Hence the revival of the female diaconate in its multiplication of sisterhoods. But these, though the most definite, are not the most extensive developments of this revival. Everywhere institutions are springing up, manifold in form and purpose, for the organisation of womens work. It is the province of the Church, when acting by the Spirit and in the name of Christ, to develop the power of women, to take by the hand and raise from its torpor that which seemed a death, but which is only a sleep; and now, as then, revived life and beneficent work will amaze the looker-onthey were astonished with a great astonishment.
IV. The secret of effective work.Do you ask how womens work may be truly effective? I answer you in the words of the text, He took the damsel by the hand. There must be
(a) An intensity of human sympathy; and,
(b) An indwelling of Divine power.
Bishop Westcott.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1
Jesus took the damsel by the hand because it was his ‘plan in this case. However, that fact alone was not the power that was to bring the dead to life, otherwise any man could bring a dead person to life again.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
[Talitha kumi.] “Rabbi Jochanan saith, We remember when boys and girls of sixteen and seventeen years old played in the streets, and nobody was offended with them.” Where the Gloss is, Tali and Talitha is a boy and a girl.
[Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.] Talitha kumi signifies only Maid, arise. How comes that clause then, I say unto thee; to be inserted?
I. You may recollect here, and perhaps not without profit, that which was alleged before; namely, that it was customary among the Jews, that, when they applied physic to the profluvious woman, they said, “Arise from thy flux”; which very probably they used in other diseases also.
II. Christ said nothing else than what sounded all one with, Maid, arise; but in the pronouncing and uttering those words that authority and commanding power shined forth, that they sounded no less than if he had said, “Maid, I say to thee, or I command thee, arise.” They said, “Arise from thy disease”; that is, “I wish thou wouldst arise”: but Christ saith, Maid, arise; that is, “I command thee, arise.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mar 5:41. Talitha cumi. These were the words used, in the dialect of the country. Mark cites such Aramaic expressions a number of times (Mar 3:17; Mar 7:11; Mar 7:34; Mar 14:36). The addition of an interpretation shows that he wrote for other than Jewish readers, but the insertion of the very words is a mark of accuracy, and of the strong impression made upon the eye-witness.
Damsel (I say to thee) arise. Damsel is a word of endearment, as if it were: Rise, my child, and Talitha has precisely that sense. I say to thee, is inserted so that the meaning shall be as plain as possible. Some suggest that it was to show that the words used were not a magical formula, but an actual address or command; but this is not probable.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 41
Talitha-cumi; words of a Hebrew dialect, spoken at this time in Judea. Why the original words are quoted in this and on some other particular occasions, as Mark 15:34, does not appear.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Apparently Jesus took the hand of the dead girl to associate His power with her healing in the witnesses’ minds. He did not need to touch her to raise her. Elijah (1Ki 17:17-23) and Elisha (2Ki 4:18-37) had both raised children to life, but they had to exert considerably more effort and spend more time doing so than Jesus did. It was probably this healing that led many of the people to identify Jesus with Elijah (Mar 6:15). Touching a dead person resulted in ceremonial defilement, but Jesus overcame this with His power.
Mark alone recorded Jesus’ command in Aramaic and translated it for his Roman readers.
"Mark gives the translation as a contrast with magical formulas so esoteric and nonsensical that they mock would-be translators . . ." [Note: Robert H. Gundry, Mark, p. 274.]
In every instance of Jesus raising the dead in the Gospels, He addressed the dead person directly (cf. Luk 7:14; Joh 11:43).
"It has been suggested that His very words were those used by the mother each morning to arouse her daughter from sleep." [Note: Hiebert, p. 136.]
There is only one letter difference between Jesus’ command here and the one Peter uttered when he restored Dorcas to life (Act 9:40). Peter said, "Tabitha kum!" This shows that Jesus continued to exercise His power through Peter after His ascension (cf. Act 1:1-2).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER 4:39, 5:15, 5:31, 5:41 (Mar 4:39; Mar 5:15; Mar 5:31; Mar 5:41)
FOUR MIRACLES
“And there was a great calm.” Mar 4:39 (R.V.)
“Behold, him that was possessed with devils, sitting, clothed and in his right mind, even him that had the legion.” Mar 5:15 (R.V.)
“Who touched Me?” Mar 5:31 (R.V.)
“Talitha cumi.” Mar 5:41 (R.V.)
THERE are two ways, equally useful, of studying Scripture, as there are of regarding the other book of God, the face of Nature. We may bend over a wild flower, or gaze across a landscape; and it will happen that a naturalist, pursuing a moth, loses sight of a mountain range. It is a well-known proverb, that one may fail to see the wood for the trees, losing in details the general effect. And so the careful student of isolated texts may never perceive the force and cohesion of a connected passage.
The reader of a Gospel narrative thinks, that by pondering it as a whole, he secures himself against any such misfortune. But a narrative dislocated, often loses as much as a detached verse. The actions of our Lord are often exquisitely grouped, as becometh Him Who hath made everything not beautiful only, but especially beautiful in its season. And we should not be content without combining the two ways of reading Scripture, the detailed and the rapid, — lingering at times to apprehend the marvelous force of a solitary verse, and again sweeping over a broad expanse, like a surveyor, who, to map a country, stretches his triangle from mountain peak to peak.
We have reached a point at which St. Mark records a special outshining of miraculous power. Four striking works follow each other without a break, and it must not for a moment be supposed that the narrative is thus constructed, certain intermediate discourses and events being sacrificed for the purpose, without a deliberate and a truthful intention. That intention is to represent the effect, intense and exalting, produced by such a cycle of wonders on the minds of His disciples. They saw them come close upon each other: we should lose the impression as we read, if other incidents were allowed to interpose themselves. It is one more example of St. Mark’s desire to throw light, above all things, upon the energy and power of the sacred life.
We have to observe therefore the bearing of these four miracles on each other, and upon what precedes, before studying them one by one.
It was a time of trial. The Pharisees had decided that He had a devil. His relatives had said He was beside Himself. His manner of teaching had changed, because the people should see without perceiving, and hear without understanding. They who understood His parables heard much of seed that failed, of success a great way off, of a kingdom which would indeed be great at last, but for the present weak and small. And it is certain that there must have been heavy hearts among those who left, with Him, the populous side of the lake, to cross over into remote and semi-pagan retirement. To encourage them, and as if in protest against His rejection by the authorities, Jesus enters upon this great cycle of miracles.
They find themselves, as the Church has often since been placed, and as every human soul has had to feel itself, far from shore, and tempest-beaten. The rage of human foes is not so deaf, so implacable, as that of wind and wave. It is the stress of adverse circumstances in the direst form. But Jesus proves Himself to be Master of the forces of nature which would overwhelm them.
Nay, they learn that His seeming indifference is no proof that they are neglected, by the rebuke He speaks to their over-importunate appeals, Why are ye so fearful? have ye not yet faith? And they, who might have been shaken by the infidelity of other men, fear exceedingly as they behold the obedience of the wind and the sea, and ask, Who then is this?
But in their mission as His disciples, a worse danger than the enmity of man or convulsions of nature awaits them. On landing, they are at once confronted by one whom an evil spirit has made exceeding fierce, so that no man could pass by that way. It is their way nevertheless, and they must tread it. And the demoniac adores, and the evil spirits themselves are abject in supplication, and at the word of Jesus are expelled. Even the inhabitants, who will not receive Him, are awe-struck and deprecatory, and if at their bidding Jesus turns away again, His followers may judge whether the habitual meekness of such a one is due to feebleness or to a noble self-command.
Landing once more, they are soon accosted by a ruler of the synagogue, whom sorrow has purified from the prejudices of his class. And Jesus is about to heal the daughter of Jairus, when another form of need is brought to light. A slow and secret decline, wasting the vital powers, a silent woe, speechless, stealthily approaching the Healer–over this grief also He is Lord. And it is seen that neither the visible actions of Jesus nor the audible praises of His petitioners can measure the power that goes out of Him, the physical benefits which encompass the Teacher as a halo envelopes flame.
Circumstances, and the fiends of the pit, and the woes that waste the lives of men, over these He has been seen to triumph. But behind all that we strive with here, there lurks the last enemy, and he also shall be subdued. And now first an example is recorded of what we know to have already taken place, the conquest of death by his predicted Spoiler. Youth and gentle maidenhood, high hope and prosperous circumstances have been wasted, but the call of Jesus is heard by the ear that was stopped with dust, and the spirit obeys Him in the far off realm of the departed, and they who have just seen such other marvels, are nevertheless amazed with a great amazement.
No cycle of miracles could be more rounded, symmetrical and exhaustive; none could better vindicate to His disciples his impugned authority, or brace their endangered faith, or fit them for what almost immediately followed, their own commission, and the first journey upon which they too cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.