Mark 1:43

And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(43) He straitly charged him.—The word is the same as that in Matthew 9:30 (where see Note).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:40-45 We have here Christ's cleansing of a leper. It teaches us to apply to the Saviour with great humility, and with full submission to his will, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, without any doubt of Christ's readiness to help the distressed. See also what to expect from Christ; that according to our faith it shall be to us. The poor leper said, If thou wilt. Christ readily wills favours to those who readily refer themselves to his will. Christ would have nothing done that looked like seeking praise of the people. But no reasons now exist why we should hesitate to spread the praises of Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And there came a leper ... - See the notes at Matthew 8:1-4.

Kneeling down to him - He kneeled and inclined his face to the ground, in token of deep humiliation and earnest entreaty. Compare Luke 5:12.

If thou wilt - This was an acknowledgment of the almighty power of Jesus, and an appeal to his benevolence.

Make me clean - You (Jesus) can heal me of this loathsome and offensive disease, in the eye of the law justly regarded as "unclean," and render me "legally" clean, and restore me to the privileges of the congregation.

And Jesus ...touched him - It was by the law considered as unclean to touch a leprous man. See Numbers 5:2. The fact that Jesus touched him was evidence that the requisite power had been already put forth to heal him; that Jesus regarded him as already clean.

I will - Here was a most manifest proof of his divine power. None but God can work a miracle; yet Jesus does it by his "own will" - by an exertion of his own power. Therefore, Jesus is divine.

See thou say nothing to any man - The law of Moses required that a man who was healed of the leprosy should be pronounced clean by the priest before he could be admitted again to the privileges of the congregation, Leviticus 14. Christ, though he had cleansed him, yet required him to be obedient to the law of the land - to go at once to the priest, and not to make delay by stopping to converse about his being healed. It was also possible that, if he did not go at once, evil-minded men would go before him and prejudice the priest, and prevent his declaring the healing to be thorough because it was done by Jesus. It was of further importance that "the priest" should pronounce it to be a genuine cure, that there might be no cavils among the Jews against its being a real miracle.

Offer for thy cleansing those things ... - Two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop; and after eight days, two he-lambs, without blemish, and one ewe-lamb, and fine flour, and oil, Leviticus 14:4, Leviticus 14:10.

For a testimony unto them - Not to the priest, but to the people, that they may have evidence that it is a real cure. The testimony of the priest on the subject would be decisive.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 1:40-45. Healing of a Leper. ( = Mt 8:1-4; Lu 5:12-16).

See on [1405]Mt 8:1-4.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 1:40"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he straitly charged him;.... Either with the sin which had been the cause of this leprosy, and to take care that he sinned that sin no more, lest a worse evil should befall him; for sin was usually the cause of leprosy, as the cases of Miriam, Gehazi, and Uzziah show. It is said to come upon men for seven things. The seven abominations mentioned in Proverbs 6:16, are said, by the Jewish writers (t), to be the reasons of persons being stricken with leprosy: "a proud look"; as appears from the instance of the daughters of Zion, Isaiah 3:16, the crowns of whose heads were smitten with a scab, and who were attended with a stink, boldness, and burning. "A lying tongue"; as in the case of Miriam, who, with Aaron, spoke against Moses; upon which the cloud departed from the tabernacle, and Miriam became leprous, white as snow, Numbers 12:1. "And hands that shed innocent blood"; which is proved from Joab, on whose head the blood of Abner and Amasa returned; and on account of which a leper was not to fail from his house; see 1 Kings 2:31, compared with 2 Samuel 3:29. "An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations"; which was fulfilled in Uzziah, who sought to bring the high priesthood into contempt, and therefore was smitten with leprosy, which arose in his forehead, while he had the censer in his hands, and was contending with the priests; and he continued a leper to his death, 2 Chronicles 26:18. "Feet that be swift in running to mischief"; which was true of Gehazi, who ran after Naaman the Syrian, and took a gift of him which he should not; for which, the leprosy, Naaman was cured of, seized him, and cleaved unto him, 2 Kings 5:20. "A false witness that speaketh lies"; of this no instance is given. "And him that soweth discord among brethren"; as Pharaoh between Abraham and Sarah; wherefore the Lord plagued Pharaoh, &c. Genesis 12:17, which the Jews understand of the plague of leprosy. These seven things are, in another place (u), said to be an evil tongue, shedding of blood, a vain oath, uncleanness, a proud spirit, theft, and envy. Elsewhere it is said (w), that for eleven things leprosy cometh; for cursing God, for uncleanness, for murder, for saying of a neighbour a thing that there is nothing in it, for pride, for entering into a border which is not a man's own, for a lying tongue, for theft, for a false oath, for profaning the name of God, for idolatry: and R. Isaac says, for an evil eye; and the Rabbins also say, it comes upon him who despises the words of the law: the first is proved from Goliath, 1 Samuel 17:26; the second from the daughters of Jerusalem, Isaiah 3:16; the third from Cain, Genesis 4:15 and from Joab, 2 Samuel 3:29; the fourth from Moses, Exodus 4:5; the fifth from Naaman, 2 Kings 5:1; the sixth from Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:16; the seventh from Miriam, Numbers 12:10; the eighth and ninth from Zechariah 5:4, compared with Leviticus 14:45; the tenth from Gehazi, 2 Kings 5:20; the eleventh from the children of Israel when they made the calf, Exodus 32:25, compared with Numbers 5:2. But whether this man's sin was either of these, or what it was, is not certain: however, he was, by this cure, laid under an obligation, for the future, to avoid it, and all other sins: or rather the charge was to tell no man of his cure, before he came to the priest: nor to him, or any other, how he came by it, and by whom he was healed;

and forthwith sent him away; to the priest, in all haste; and it looks as if the man was unwilling to have gone from him, but chose rather to have continued with his kind benefactor: for the word signifies, he cast him out; he drove him from him; he obliged him to go without delay.

(t) Vajikra Rabba, sect. 16. fol. 158. 1, 2.((u) T. Bab. Eracin, fol. 16. 1. Vid. Abarbinel. in 2 Kings 27. (w) Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 7. fol. 188. 2, 3.

Geneva Study Bible

And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 1:43. ἐμβριμησάμενος, etc.: assuming a severe aspect, vide notes on the word at Matthew 9:30, especially the quotation from Euthy. Zig.—ἐξέβαλεν α., thrust him out of the synagogue or the crowd. It is not quite certain that the incident happened in a synagogue, though the inference is natural from the connection with Mark 1:39. Lepers were not interdicted from entering the synagogue. These particulars are peculiar to Mk., and belong to his character-sketching. He does not mean to impute real anger to Jesus, but only a masterful manner dictated by a desire that the benefit should be complete = away out of this, to the priest; do what the law requires, that you may be not only clean but recognised as such by the authorities, and so received by the people as a leper no longer.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

43. And he straitly charged him] The word thus rendered occurs in four other places; (1) Matthew 9:30, “Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it;” (2) Mark 14:5, “And they murmured against her,” said of the Apostles in their indignation against Mary; (3) John 11:33; John 11:38, “And He groaned in spirit,” said of our Lord at the grave of Lazarus. It denotes (1) to be very angry or indignant, (2) to charge or command with sternness.

straitly = strictly. Comp. Genesis 43:7, “The man asked us straitly of our state;” Joshua 6:1, “Now Jericho was straitly shut up.” Comp. also Shakespeare, Richard III. i. i. 85, 86,

“His majesty hath straitly given in charge

That no man shall have private conference.”

sent him away] or put him forth. “He would allow no lingering, but required him to hasten on his errand, lest the report of what had been done should outrun him.” It is the same word in the original as in Mark 1:12.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 1:43.[15] Εὐθέως, forthwith) lest Jesus should seem to countenance anything derogatory to the law.—ἐξέβαλεν, made him go away) The man, when healed, was ready to remain with Jesus, and to stay away from his relatives. Adversities have the effect of transferring our affections from natural objects of affection to Christ.

[15] Mark 1:41. σπλαγχνισθεὶς, moved with compassion) Mark exercises especial assiduity in observing the holy movements of feeling, and so the gestures also of Jesus. Whoever will pay marked attention to this characteristic of Mark in reading his Gospel, will derive from it no little delight.—V. g.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 43. - And he straitly charged him. The Greek verb here (ἐμβριμησάμενος) has a tinge of severity in it, "he strictly [or sternly] charged him." Both word and action are severe. He straightway sent him out (ἐξεβάλεν αὐτὸν). It may be that he had incurred this rebuke by coming so near with his defilement to the holy Saviour. Christ thus showed not only his respect for the ordinances of the Jewish Law, but also how hateful sin is to the most holy God. Mark 1:43

Vincent's Word Studies

Strictly charged (ἐμβριμησάμενος)

Rev., sternly, in margin. The word is originally to snort, as of mettlesome horses. Hence, to fret, or chafe, or be otherwise strongly moved; and then, as a result of this feeling, to admonish or rebuke urgently. The Lord evidently spoke to him peremptorily. Compare sent him out (ἐξέβαλεν); lit., drove or cast him out. The reason for this charge and dismissal lay in the desire of Jesus not to thwart his ministry by awaking the premature violence of his enemies; who, if they should see the leper and hear his story before he had been officially pronounced clean by the priest, might deny either that he had been a leper or had been truly cleansed.