Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 14:58
We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
58. We heard him say ] The statements now made are given with more detail by St Mark than any other of the Evangelists. He alone tells us they said that they had heard our Lord declare, “He would destroy the Temple made with hands and in three days build another made without hands.” In the opposition made with hands and made without hands we have proof of the falseness of the accusation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
58. We heard him say, I will destroythis temple that is made with hands, and within three days I willbuild another made without handsOn this charge, observe,first, that eager as His enemies were to find criminal matter againstour Lord, they had to go back to the outset of His ministry, Hisfirst visit to Jerusalem, more than three years before this. In allthat He said and did after that, though ever increasing in boldness,they could find nothing. Next, that even then, they fix only on onespeech, of two or three words, which they dared to adduce againstHim. Further, they most manifestly pervert the speech of our Lord. Wesay not this because in Mark’s form of it, it differs from the reportof the words given by the Fourth Evangelist (Joh2:18-22) the only one of the Evangelists who reports it all,or mentions even any visit paid by our Lord to Jerusalem before Hislastbut because the one report bears truth, and the otherfalsehood, on its face. When our Lord said on that occasion, “Destroythis temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” they might,for a moment, have understood Him to refer to the temple out of whosecourts He had swept the buyers and sellers. But after they hadexpressed their astonishment at His words, in that sense of them, andreasoned upon the time it had taken to rear the temple as it thenstood, since no answer to this appears to have been given byour Lord, it is hardly conceivable that they should continue in thepersuasion that this was really His meaning. But finally, even if themore ignorant among them had done so, it is next to certain that theecclesiastics, who were the prosecutors in this case, didnot believe that this was His meaning. For in less than threedays after this they went to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we rememberthat that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three daysI will rise again” (Mt27:63). Now what utterance of Christ known to His enemies, couldthis refer to, if not to this very saying about destroying andrearing up the temple? And if so, it puts it beyond a doubt that bythis time, at least, they were perfectly aware that our Lord’s wordsreferred to His death by their hands and His resurrection by Hisown. But this is confirmed by Mr14:59.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
We heard him say,…. In a discourse of his, recorded in Joh 2:19:
I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands; which was a very false testimony; for Christ did not say be would destroy any temple at all, only put the Jews on doing it; much less did he point at, or design the temple of Jerusalem, but his own body; nor did he use the distinction of a temple, made with and without hands; nor did he affirm that he would build another; only said, he would raise up in three days, that which they should destroy. By this testimony these witnesses would suggest, that Christ had a design upon their temple to demolish it, and that he must be a sorcerer, or a magician, to pretend to build a temple without hands in three days time;
[See comments on Mt 26:61].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Made with hands (). In Mark alone. An old Greek word. The negative form here occurs elsewhere only in 2Cor 5:1; Col 2:11. In Heb 9:11 the negative is used with the positive form. It is possible that a real of Jesus underlies the perversion of it here. Mark and Matthew do not quote the witnesses precisely alike. Perhaps they quoted Jesus differently and therein is shown part of the disagreement, for Mark adds verse 59 (not in Matthew). “And not even so did their witness agree together,” repeating the point of verse 57. Swete observes that Jesus, as a matter of fact, did do what he is quoted as saying in Mark: “He said what the event has proved to be true; His death destroyed the old order, and His resurrection created the new.” But these witnesses did not mean that by what they said. The only saying of Jesus at all like this preserved to us is that in Joh 2:19, when he referred not to the temple in Jerusalem, but to the temple of his body, though no one understood it at the time.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Made with hands. Mark adds this detail; also made without hands, and the following sentence.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “We heard Him say, I will destroy this temple,” (hoti hemeis ekousamen autou legontos hoti kataluso ton, naon touton) “We heard Him repeatedly saying, I will overthrow this shrine,” Mat 26:61. At no time, in no place, did Jesus state that He would destroy the Jewish temple.
2) “That is made with hands,” (ton cheiropoieton) “The one that is handmade,” a thing He never said. His message was deliberately taken from its contextual setting, used to condemn Him, Joh 2:18-22; Mat 26:61.
3) “And within three days,” (kai dia trion hemeron) “And through (after) a period of three days,” accusations, false though they were, that were repeated to Him in derision as He hung on the cross, Mat 27:40.
4) “I will build another made without hands.” (allon acheiropoieton oikodomeso) “I will build another that is not handmade;” The Pharisees and high priests knew the charges were false, or fictitious, as verified by their testimony after His death, Mat 27:62-64. This was a farcical claim, wholly in the nature of perjury.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(58) This temple.The word here, as in Mat. 26:61 and Joh. 2:19, is that which indicates generally the sanctuary or shrine, and here the Holy Place of the Temple.
Made with hands . . . made without hands.The antithesis is peculiar to St. Mark, but we may, perhaps, trace an echo of it in the more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, of Heb. 9:11.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
58. ] and are emphatic. Some have imagined (De Wette, Meyer) that they find in these words . and . traces of later Christian tradition, and an allusion to Heb 9:11 ; Act 7:48 ; but such conjectures are at best very unsafe, and the words are quite as likely to have been uttered by the Lord as they here stand. The allusion is probably to Dan 2:34 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 14:58 . , etc.: Mk.’s version of the testimony borne by the witnesses differs in important respects from that of Mt.; viz. , by the insertion of the words and . Mt.’s form doubtless comes nearest to what the witnesses actually said. Mk.’s puts into their mouths, to a certain extent, the sense in which he and his fellow-Christians understood Christ’s saying, viz. , as a prophecy that the material temple would be superseded by a spiritual temple = the community of believers in Jesus. If they had really spoken, as here reported, the falsehood would have lain rather in the animus of their statement than in its meaning: the animus of men who regarded it as impious to speak of the temple of God being destroyed, as contemptuous to characterise it as hand-made, and as blasphemous to suggest that another could take its place.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Temple. Greek. naos. See Mat 23:16.
made with hands . . . made without hands. A Divine supplement, here.
within. Greek. dia. App-104. Mar 14:1. Not the same word as in Mar 14:4.
another. Greek. allos. See App-124.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
58.] and are emphatic. Some have imagined (De Wette, Meyer) that they find in these words . and . traces of later Christian tradition, and an allusion to Heb 9:11; Act 7:48; but such conjectures are at best very unsafe, and the words are quite as likely to have been uttered by the Lord as they here stand. The allusion is probably to Dan 2:34.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Dan 2:34, Dan 2:45, Act 7:48, 2Co 5:1, Heb 9:11, Heb 9:24
Reciprocal: Zec 6:12 – he shall build Mar 15:29 – Ah Joh 2:19 – Destroy Act 6:14 – that Act 7:1 – Are Col 2:11 – without
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8
A look at Joh 2:19 will show how grossly these men falsified.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 14:58. We…. I. These words are emphatic.
Made with hands…. made without hands. Probably our Lord had used these expressions, since, as we now understand them, they express so plainly the correct meaning of the saying mentioned in Joh 2:19, etc. An allusion to Dan 2:34, is possible.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 58
Jesus had used language like this, (John 2:19,) referring, however not to the temple, but to his own body