Discovery BoxMark 3:7-19
Context3:7 Then 1 Jesus went away with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him. 2 And from Judea, 3:8 Jerusalem, 3 Idumea, beyond the Jordan River, 4 and around Tyre 5 and Sidon 6 a great multitude came to him when they heard about the things he had done. 3:9 Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd 7 would not press toward him. 3:10 For he had healed many, so that all who were afflicted with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him. 3:11 And whenever the unclean spirits 8 saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 3:12 But 9 he sternly ordered them not to make him known. 10
3:13 Now 11 Jesus went up the mountain 12 and called for those he wanted, and they came to him. 3:14 He 13 appointed twelve (whom he named apostles 14 ), 15 so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach 3:15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 3:16 He appointed twelve: 16 To Simon 17 he gave the name Peter; 3:17 to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, 18 he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); 3:18 and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, 19 Matthew, Thomas, 20 James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, 21 Simon the Zealot, 22 3:19 and Judas Iscariot, 23 who betrayed him. 24
[3:7] 1 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
[3:7] 2 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
[3:8] 3 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[3:8] 4 tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity. The region referred to here is sometimes known as Transjordan (i.e., “across the Jordan”).
[3:8] 5 map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
[3:8] 6 sn These last two locations, Tyre and Sidon, represented an expansion outside of traditional Jewish territory. Jesus’ reputation continued to expand into new regions.
[3:9] 7 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[3:11] 8 sn Unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.
[3:12] 9 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
[3:12] 10 sn Jesus did not permit the demons to make him known because the time for such disclosure was not yet at hand, and such a revelation would have certainly been misunderstood by the people. In all likelihood, if the people had understood him early on to be the Son of God, or Messiah, they would have reduced his mission to one of political deliverance from Roman oppression (cf. John 6:15). Jesus wanted to avoid, as much as possible, any premature misunderstanding about who he was and what he was doing. However, at the end of his ministry, he did not deny such a title when the high priest asked him (14:61-62).
[3:13] 11 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
[3:13] 12 tn Or “up a mountain” (εἰς τὸ ὅρος, eis to Joro").
[3:14] 14 sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only here and Mark 6:30, Matt 10:2, and six more times in Luke (6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).
[3:14] 15 tc The phrase “whom he named apostles” is lacking in the majority of
[3:16] 16 tc The phrase “he appointed twelve” is lacking in the majority of manuscripts (A C2 D L Θ Ë1 33 2427 Ï lat sy bo). Some important witnesses include the phrase (א B C* Δ 565 579 pc), but perhaps the best explanation for the omission of the clause in the majority of witnesses is haplography in combination with homoioarcton: The first word of the clause in question is καί (kai), and the first word after the clause in question is also καί. And the first two letters of the second word, in each instance, are επ (ep). Early scribes most likely jumped accidentally from the first καί to the second, omitting the intervening material. Thus the clause was most likely in the original text. (See 3:14 above for a related textual problem.)
[3:16] 17 sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (see also Matt 10:1-4; Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.
[3:17] 18 tn Grk “to James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James.”
[3:18] 19 sn Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.
[3:18] 20 sn This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29.
[3:18] 21 tc This disciple is called Λεββαῖον (Lebbaion, “Lebbaeus”) in D it; see the discussion of the parallel text in Matt 10:3 where conflation occurs among other witnesses as well.
[3:18] 22 tn Grk “the Cananean,” but according to both BDAG 507 s.v. Καναναῖος and L&N 11.88, this term has no relation at all to the geographical terms for Cana or Canaan, but is derived from the Aramaic term for “enthusiast, zealot” (see Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), possibly because of an earlier affiliation with the party of the Zealots. He may not have been technically a member of the particular Jewish nationalistic party known as “Zealots” (since according to some scholars this party had not been organized at that time), but simply someone who was zealous for Jewish independence from Rome, in which case the term would refer to his temperament.
[3:19] 23 sn There is some debate about what the name Iscariot means. It probably alludes to a region in Judea and thus might make Judas the only non-Galilean in the group. Several explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). For further discussion see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1:546; also D. A. Carson, John, 304.
