Mark 3:2

And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-5 This man's case was piteous; he had a withered hand, which disabled him from working for his living; and those that are so, are the most proper objects of charity. Let those be helped that cannot help themselves. But stubborn infidels, when they can say nothing against the truth, yet will not yield. We hear what is said amiss, and see what is done amiss; but Christ looks at the root of bitterness in the heart, the blindness and hardness of that, and is grieved. Let hard-hearted sinners tremble to think of the anger with which he will look upon them shortly, when the day of his wrath comes. The great healing day now is the sabbath, and the healing place the house of prayer; but the healing power is of Christ. The gospel command is like that recorded here: though our hands are withered, yet, if we will not stretch them out, it is our own fault that we are not healed. But if we are healed, Christ, his power and grace, must have all the glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this explained in Matthew 12:9-13.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 3

Mr 3:1-12. The Healing of a Withered Hand on the Sabbath Day, and Retirement of Jesus to Avoid Danger. ( = Mt 12:9-21; Lu 6:6-11).

See on [1411]Mt 12:9-21.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 2. See Poole on "Mark 3:1"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they watched him,.... The ruler of the synagogue, and the principal men in it; particularly the Scribes and Pharisees, who followed him wherever he went; they observed him diligently, and kept their eyes upon him; this lame man being in the synagogue, to see

whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; which, knowing his readiness to do good, they might expect he would:

that they might accuse him; as they had accused his disciples before, of the violation of the sabbath: according to the Evangelist Matthew, they put a question to him, whether it was lawful to heal on the sabbath day? with this view, that they might, one way or another, have something to accuse him of, either to the people, or to the sanhedrim; See Gill on Matthew 12:10.

Geneva Study Bible

And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 3:2. παρετήρουν, they were watching Him; who, goes without saying: the same parties, i.e., men of the same class, as those who figure in the last section. This time bent on finding Jesus Himself at fault in re the Sabbath, instinctively perceiving that His thoughts on the subject must be wholly diverse from theirs.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. they watched him] The same company of Scribes and Pharisees had gathered together from Judæa, Jerusalem, and Galilee itself (Luke 5:17), to find matter of accusation against Him. They watched Him with no friendly purpose. The word itself signifies stratagem and hostility: comp. Luke 20:20, “And they watched Him and sent forth spies:” Acts 9:24, “And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.”

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 3:2. Παρετήρουν, they were watching) Obliquely and secretly. On the immediately preceding Sabbath they had heard His doctrine concerning the Sabbath.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - The scribes had already the evidence that our Lord had permitted his disciples to rub the ears of corn on the sabbath day. But this was the act of the disciple, not his. What he was now preparing to do was an act of miraculous power. And here the ease was stronger, because work, which was prohibited under pain of death by the Law (Exodus 31:14), was understood to include every act not absolutely necessary. Mark 3:2

Vincent's Word Studies

They watched (παρετήρουν)

Imperfect tense. They kept watching. The compound verb, with παρά, by the side of, means to watch carefully or closely, as one who dogs another's steps, keeping beside or near him. Wyc., They aspieden him: i.e., played the spy. On τηρέω, to watch, see on John 17:12.

He would heal (θεραπεύσει)

Future tense: whether he will heal, the reader being placed at the time of the watching, and looking forward to the future.