Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 10:19
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother.
19. Thou knowest the commandments ] The young man is referred to the Commandments of the Second Table only, and they are cited generally from Exo 20:12-17. A striking instance of the free mode of quotation from the Old Testament even in such a case as the Ten Commandments.
Defraud not ] The word thus rendered occurs in 1Co 6:7-8; 1Co 7:5; 1Ti 6:5; Jas 5:4. It means deprive none of what is theirs, and has been thought to sum up the four Commandments which precede.
Honour thy father and mother ] Rendered by Wyclif “ worschippe pi fadir and modir,” which illustrates the meaning of the word as used in the Marriage Service, “with my body I thee worship ” = honour. St Mark places this commandment at the end.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That is, in that latitude to which the doctors of the Jewish church at that time expounded them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Thou knowest the commandments,…. Which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai; these the Jews taught their children; so that this young man might reasonably be thought to know what, and how many they were, though he was ignorant of the extent and spirituality of them;
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honour thy father and mother. In which may be observed, that the strict order in which the commandments stood is not kept; the seventh commandment, “thou shalt not commit adultery”, is set before the sixth, “thou shalt not kill”; though the Arabic version places them in their order; and the fifth command, “honour thy father and thy mother”, is placed last of all: but a Jew has no reason to object to this, when it is a rule with them, that
c, there is no first nor last in the law; that is, order is not strictly attended to; but sometimes, that which is first is mentioned last, and the last first. There is one precept, “defraud not”, wrong no man of his property, either by force or fraud, which none of the other evangelists have. Dr. Hammond, and others, think, that it is an explanation of the tenth command, “thou shalt not covet”; signifying, that a man should be so satisfied with his own condition, as not to desire another’s goods, or, by any means, seek to lessen them to enlarge his own. A certain Jew d objects against our Lord Jesus, that he did not mention the other precepts in Ex 20:3, by which he seems to mean the precepts of the first table, which respect the unity of God, and his worship, which are of greater moment; to which may be replied, that our Lord does suggest the unity of the Divine Being, and his essential, infinite, and independent goodness, which are the ground and foundation of his fear and worship in the preceding verse; and besides, as Bishop Kidder observes e, nothing is more common than to put some precepts for the whole; see Mic 6:8; yea, that Jesus may be justified from the Old Testament in this method, as from Ps 15:1, where a question, very like this of the young man, is put; and yet in answer to it we find nothing mentioned but obedience to the second table: to which reply of the learned prelate, may be added, that Christ instances in the commandments of the second table, as being more known, and better understood by this young man; “thou knowest the commandments”; that is, the following ones he mentions: and besides the argument runs strong from the lesser to the greater, which is implied, that if the commands of the second table, which respect the neighbour, are necessary to be observed, then much more those which concern God himself; and if men fail short in keeping the lesser commands, it can hardly be thought they should be perfect in the observance of greater ones; and so consequently, and which is our Lord’s drift, eternal life is never to be obtained by the works of the law.
c T. Bab. Yesachim, fol. 6. 2. d R. Jacob Aben Amram, Porta Verit. num. 1026. Apud Kidder’s Demonstr. of the Messiah, par. 3. p. 50. e Demonstrat. ib. p. 50, 51.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) ”Thou knowest the commandments,” (tas entolas oidas) “You know (perceive) the commandments,” what they are, don’t you, as a ruler? As given Exo 20:12-16, and relating to your fellow man, and in Deu 5:16-20.
2) “Do not commit adultery,” (me moicheuses) ”Do not commit adultery,” the act of adultery, or engage in sex relations with one to whom you are not joined in marriage, Exo 20:14.
3) ”Do not kill,” (me phoneuses) ”Do not kill,” engage in taking a life in malice aforethought, by impulsive action, or carelessness, Exo 20:13; Gen 9:6.
4) ”Do not steal,” (me klepses) ”Do not covetously take something that belongs to another,” in the way of property, person, or influence, Exo 20:15.
5) ”Do not bear false witness,” (me pseudomarturses) ”Do not bear a pergured, false, or lying testimony,” to or about anyone or anything at all,” Exo 20:16.
6) “Defraud not,” (me apostereses) “Do not defraud, deceive, or cheat anyone,” secure anything by deception, Deu 24:14-15; Jas 5:4.
7) “Honor thy father and mother.” (tima ton patera sou kai ten matera) “Honor your father and your mother,” Exo 20:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(19) Defraud not.Peculiar to St. Mark. It seems as if intended to be a special application of the Tenth Commandment. One who had great possessions, gathered in the usual ways by which men gain wealth, needed to examine himself specially by that text. Were there no ill-gotten gains in his treasure? Had no wages of the reaper been kept back; no sharp bargains driven with widows or orphans or the poor?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“You know the commandments. Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honour your father and mother.”
Jesus began by putting before him something of the standards God required of man. The requirements outlined follow the second part of the ten commandments, the part that could be actually demonstrated before men. ‘Do not defraud’ may well have been intended as a warning against covetousness, thus making up the last six commandments. But here, interpreted in the way in which the young man interpreted them, they were all things that a respectably brought up, wealthy Jewish young man of authority would on the surface feel that he had refrained from, unless he had been put to extreme temptation or had read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and that was precisely what he was. Matthew tells us that Jesus added, ‘and you shall love your neighbour as yourself ’ and there is no reason why it should not have been included by Jesus for it was a favourite requirement of His (Mar 12:31; Mat 19:19; Mat 22:39; Luk 10:27), and got to the heart of all these commandments.
Perhaps had the young man considered the words further he might have hesitated in his claim to goodness, especially if he had heard the parable of the good Samaritan (Luk 10:29-36), but he was young and constrained by the standards he knew, and perhaps a little self-righteous, and so he thought that he had not failed as regards the commandments. And yet in spite of that he knew that he lacked something, although he was not sure what. It was in fact because in his heart he did fail, because he had a failing which controlled him without his realising it, the deceitfulness of riches.
It is interesting that Jesus did not directly cite the commandment that had so struck Paul (Rom 7:7-8), “You shall not covet”. He stated it as “do not defraud”. For as will be seen the equivalent of covetousness for a rich man was in fact the young man’s weak point, and possibly Jesus did not want to bring its impact home too early. It was not that the young man coveted what others had, he owned too much for that, but that he loved what he had to such an extent that it gripped his life and prevented him from being totally outgoing towards God. And that was what Jesus was building up to.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Ver. 19. Defraud not ] Do no man injury either by force or fraud. This seems to be an abstract of all the other afore mentioned commandments.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
19. ] Mark here takes exactly the commandments of the second table, . standing for the tenth. Matt. adds their summary ( . . .), omitting (with Luke) ., perhaps on account of . having gone before.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 10:19 . The commandments of the second table enumerated are expressed by subjunctives with , instead of future indicatives with . While Mt. has the supernumerary, “love thy neighbour,” Mk. has , which probably has in view the humane law in Deu 24:14-15 , against oppressing or withholding wages from a hired servant; a more specific form of the precept: love thy neighbour as thyself, and a most apposite reminder of duty as addressed to a wealthy man, doubtless an extensive employer of labour. It should be rung in the ears of all would-be Christians, in similar social position, in our time: defraud not, underpay not.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
knowest. App-132.
the commandments, &c. If it is a matter of doing, ALL most be done. Jam 2:10, Jam 2:11. The Lord cites only some, and these not in order, to convict the questioner more readily: the seventh, sixth, eighth, ninth, and fifth.
Do not, &c. Quoted from Deu 5:17-20.
Defraud not. This is a summary of what precedes. Compare Rom 13:7-10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
19.] Mark here takes exactly the commandments of the second table,- . standing for the tenth. Matt. adds their summary (. . .), omitting (with Luke) ., perhaps on account of . having gone before.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 10:19. , thou knowest) Why dost thou ask, What shall I do?- , defraud not) by covetousness, Exo 20:17.[13] The same verb occurs, 1Co 6:8 : see note.
[13] Otherwise this command would not differ from the previous, Do not steal.-ED. and TRANSL.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
knowest: Mar 12:28-34, Isa 8:20, Mat 5:17-20, Mat 19:17-19, Luk 10:26-28, Luk 18:20, Rom 3:20, Gal 4:21
commit: Exo 20:12-17, Deu 5:16-24, Rom 13:9, Gal 5:14, Jam 2:11
Defraud: 1Co 6:7-9, 1Th 4:6
Reciprocal: Lev 19:13 – shalt not Deu 24:15 – At his Mal 1:6 – son Mat 19:18 – Thou shalt do Mar 7:10 – Honour 1Co 6:8 – General 1Ti 4:8 – having
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9
These six commandments of the Decalogue are the ones that pertain to man’s dealing with man. Jesus knew that in this man’s case the extra law he would give would also be in that class.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 10:19. Do not defraud. This probably answers to the tenth commandment Matthew gives the sum of the second table of the law. See on Mat 19:18-19.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, That the duties which our Saviour instances in, are the duties of the second table, which hypocrites are most failing in. But nothing is better evidence of our unfeigned love to God than the sincere performance of our duty to our neighbours. Love to man is a fruit and testimony of our love to God; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 1Jn 4:20.
Learn hence, that such as are defective in the duties of the second table, charity and justice, do make but a counterfeit show of religion, though they pretend to the highest measures and degrees of love to God.
Here note, That there are two ways of injuring our neighbour, which ought to be avoided, namely,
1. By theft: and this either privately and clandestinely, without the knowledge of the owner; or openly and by force, against the consent of the owner; both these are forbidden in the eighth commandment.
2. By secret and cunning devises, where the law and a picture of right is made use of to cover the injury. This is forbidden in the tenth commandment, and here expressed by, Thou shalt not defraud. And surely all such endeavours to defraud, must show a very covetous mind, inclining a person, against the dictates of his own conscience, to defraud another of his right.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, {d} Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
(d) Neither by force nor deceit, nor any other means at all.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Old Testament taught that if a person kept the Mosaic Law he would live (Deu 30:15-16). This was theoretically possible but practically impossible. Jesus reminded the man of what the law required by citing five commands in the second table of the Decalogue. The commands Jesus mentioned are easily verifiable in conduct. Mark alone recorded the prohibition against defrauding, which was evidently a particular expression of stealing appropriate to the wealthy. [Note: Plummer, p. 239.]