Friday, July 13, 2018

CHAPTER SIXTEEN OF MARK'S GOSPEL

[1] And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices so they might come and anoint him.

-Mark 16:1= “they had bought/shopped for” [ηγορασαν]
-is this a reference the princess/fiancee/daughter of Song-of-songs? At Canticles 3:2 has her going out to “the markets/shops” [ταις αγοραις] where she “seeks” but “does not find” her intended beloved. Like the misguided women here whose intentions are thwarted so shockingly? Songs 4:16 and the next line 5:1 also mention αρωματα.
-Mark 16:1= the women bringing “spices” [αρωματα] to “anoint” [αλειψωσι] clearly calls back to 14:3 where the unnamed female pours out “perfume” [μυρου]
-It may even be possible somehow that the author intends this Salome to either be the same person as was at Simon the leper’s party or the polar opposite example of someone similar yet inverse in actions. 
-Deut 19:15= 2 or 3 witnesses needed to establish whether ‘a word be true’
= reason why 3 women at tomb? 

[2a] And very early in the morning on the first day of the week, 

Mark 16:2= it was early on day one of the week [λιαν πρωι της μιας σαββατων
-Psalm 23:1 LXX24:1= της μιας σαββατων
-spurious Jeremiah citation in Iraeneus Adv. Haer. 4.22.1 and Justin’s Dialogue 72:4 = “the Lord remembered” those ‘fallen asleep” and “went down” to “preach salvation” 

[2b] they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

Mark 4:6 = ανατειλεν ο ηλιος
-Mark 16:2 = ανατειλαντος του ηλιου

 [3] And they said among themselves, “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”

-Gen 29:8= “roll away the stone” [αποκυλισωσιν τον λιθον]
-Mark 16:3 “roll away the stone”[αποκυλισει … τον λιθον]
-the stone covering the mouth of the well in Genesis 29 is also described as “large” [σϕοδρα], though the ‘exceedlingly’ detail is taken from Absalom’s burial.
-Genesis 29 is behind a number of odd allusions at the end of Mark. Verses 9-11 might be connected to Mark 14:43-45 where “having come forward, Judas kisses him” just as Jacob “having come forward” then kisses Rachel. Both sections begin with the exact phrase “while he was still speaking”, which is interrupted by a sudden appearance, whether of Rachel or Judas. The rolling away the rock theme in both might also explain why there are three women just as are there 3 herds of sheep at Gen 29. Later Luke 2 will take some of the grand language of the ‘Magnificat’ from Gen 29:2-3, 13; the imagery of ‘fruit of the womb’ and ‘Behold, the handmaiden…’ plus Leah’s phrase when she births Asher (’all the women shall call me blessed’) is reversed by Luke (into ‘blessed are you among women’) and Elizabeth at Luke 1:25 echoes Rachel at Genesis 30:23= "My God has removed my reproach." [αϕειλεν ο θεος μου το ονειδος]

[4] When they looked up, they saw that the stone was rolled away—and it was really enormous! 

-Mark 16:4 = the stone [λιθος] is already “rolled away” [αποκεκυλισται]; “for it was really big” [ην γαρ μεγας σϕοδρα]
-notice that Absalom, who was metaphorically crucified, had “heaped upon his cave-tomb stones that were exceedingly very large. [μεγαν σϕοδρα].” At 1Samuel 18:17 (cf 19:9)=in the same sentence “all Israel fled, each to their tent.” Just as the women are about to in Mark and the disciples did at the arrest. The next several lines in 1Sam have David ironically discussing whether the death of this ‘Son of David’ is “good news” or not (=one of only a handful of references in scripture to this rare word). Also notice the irony of 1Sam 19:2 =  “That day of deliverance became one of mourning.” 
-Mark 16:4 = door-sealing stone is “very great” (μεγας σϕοδρα) as in 2Chron 16:14 where King Asa has a “very great” mount of spices burnt at his burial, which includes ‘aromata’ and ‘muro’, 2Chron 16:14 calls the tomb “his own” which is how Matthew embellishes the detail about it being owned by Joseph of Arimathia. 
-see Isaiah 33:16 for a "round stone"
[5] And entering into the sepulchre, they glimpsed a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were scared. 

-Mark 16:4 = “Lifted their eyes and viewed… a man … being clothed in a white cloak…” (none of the same words in Greek as Daniel, but same idea)
-Daniel 10:5 = “I lifted my eyes and looked and beheld a man clothed in …”
-Both the demoniac and the youth evoke fear 5:15 = 16:8 and amazement 5:20 = 16:5
-Mark 16:6’s admonishment to “not be scared” hearkens back to Mark 6:50-51 where the disciples are frightened by Jesus’ water-walking. 
though later gospels make this messenger an angel, it is likely only to emphasize what they already perceived about this story. It is likely this "young man" is an angel in the same way the "young men" at 2 Maccabees 3:26 and 33 or Antiquities 5.8.2 are. 

[6] And he saith unto them, “Don’t be alarmed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one? He is risen; he is not here— behold the place where they laid him!

-Mark 16:6= “You seek [ζητειτε] Jesus… He is not here [ουκ εστιν ωδε]!”
-1Kings 18:10= Obadiah tells Elijah he won’t report where he is: “Is there a nation of kingdom that my master (Ahab) has not hired (=a bounty-hunter) to seek [ζητειν σε] you? And if they said, ‘He is not here’ [ουκ εστι] then they swore it was because they couldn’t find you…”
-1Kings 18:11= “Now you say, ‘Go announce to your master: ‘Behold Elijah!’” (=but Obadiah is afraid if Ahab comes back to the place where Elijah was and he isn’t there then the king will kill him, thinking he is lying)
-Mark 16:7a= “But go, say to the disciples…”
-see also Mark 16:6b= “Behold, the place where…”
-Mark 16:7= “He goes before [προαγει] unto Galilee, there you shall see [εκει αυτον οψεσθε] him…”
-1Kings 18:15= Elijah swears to Obadiah: “As the Lord lives, He of the heavenly army (of/in) which I stand [ενωπιον] before him, (I promise) that today I shall appear to [οϕθησομαι αυτω] him.” (=i.e. not hide from Ahab)
-1Kings 18:16= after being told where Elijah is, Ahab “ran forth” [εξεδραμεν] to find him. 
-Mark 16:8= the women “come forth, quickly” [εξελθουσαι ταχυ]

[7] “But go, and tell his disciples and Peter that he went before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.”

-Is it possible Isaiah 40:2-6 is meant to be detailing a processional triumph? Notice how the prophet is commanded to “yell” that ‘All flesh is grass.’, like the servant of the general in Roman triumphs who’s function was to remind the victor audibly that ‘thou art mortal’! Would then, by quoting this in Mark 1, is this both Jesus funeral and triumphal procession? What about Paul’s description of his leading captive every power? 
-see S.E. Porter and B.W.R. Pearson, ‘Isaiah through Greek eyes’ (1998 p 542) for the LXX translator referring to Alex the Great’s funeral procession. 
-LXX Psalm 139:2 “You know my rising (egersis)” and Zephaniah 3:8 = “the day of my anastasis”

 [8a] And they made an exit from that tomb, as fast as they were able, shaking and shivering with shock;

-Daniel 10:7 "those with me didn’t see [ουκ ειδον] the apparition, but a change [εκστασις] great fell upon them and they fled [εϕυγον] in terror. [εν ϕοβω]” 
-Mark 16:8 = εϕυγον … εκστασις … εϕοβουντο
-Daniel 10:11 = “rising up in trembling” [ανεστην εν τρομος]
-Mark 16:8 = τρομος
-Daniel 10:12 = “don’t fear!” [μη ϕοβον]
-Mark 16:6 = “be not alarmed!” [μη εκθαμβεισθε]
--Isaiah 54:14= “and you won’t be fearful and trembling shall not approach you.” [και ου ϕοβηθηση και τρομος ουκ εγγιει σοι] This seems to be what is be alluding to with harsh irony in the last sentence of Mark, where “took hold of them trembling and a sudden change, and nothing said them for afraid they were.” [ειχε δε αυτας τρομος και εκστασις και ουδεν ειπον εϕοβουντο γαρ] The reference to “change of state” [εκστασις] might reference also Isaiah 54:11’s use of the word ακαταστατος (‘confused’)

[8b] and they never said any thing to anyone [about this]— for they were afraid! 

-Genesis 18:15 LXX Sarah claims she “didn’t laugh”: “for she was afraid” [εϕοβηθη γαρ], what Mark is likely quoting in the last two words of his gospel at Mark 16:8.
-Hosea 6:3 = “He rises, surely as the morning dawn…” 
-Hosea 6:4-5 = Ephraim’s loyalty is “fleeting like morning dew … so … I’ll kill them with my own words!”
-=more threats!!!
-Mark 14:30 =Jesus tells Peter that this night “three times you’ll reject me.” 
-2Kings 2 = three times Elisha swears, ‘as the Lord lives’ that he wouldn’t abandon him. The ‘sons of the prophets’ ask: “don’t you know that today [οτι σημερον] the Lord takes your lord (=master) from above [επανωθεν] your head?” He says: “I know, shut up!” [σιωπατε]
-Mark 14:30 = Jesus tells Peter: Amen I say to you, “that today” [οτι σημερον] before rooster crows he’ll deny 3 times
-2 Kings 2:7 = 50 ‘sons of the prophets’ witness Elijah’s magical parting of the Jordan= “they stood right opposite, far off.” [εστησαν εξεναντιας μακροθεν] (partially paralleled again in verse 15)
-Mark 15:39 = a centurion: “standing opposite” [παρεστηκως εξ εναντιας], then in tandem with this in the next line the women witnesses viewing this “from far off” [μακροθεν]
Later, after a chariot of fire elevates the Elijah skyward, his sheepskin mantle falls down and “on top of” [ανωθεν]  Elisha. 
-The temple veil is split “top [ανωθεν] to bottom” the word for above is same as top and also again, which the gospel of John’s author makes good use of in having Jesus confuse Nicodemus about being ‘born again.’ This may be way ‘out there’, but there might be remote chance that here the author is interpreting Isaiah 6’s vision of the prophet seeing “God’s train fill the entire temple”, meaning that from his throne in heaven his impossibly long robes trail down into the earthly sanctuary below. If these are tacitly deemed equivalent, then the curtain being invisibly scissored in half might intend to convey that God has torn his clothes in anguish over his son’s execution? Like the high priests previously or Queen Athaliah shocked at treason, the heavenly father has ripped his shirt while looking upon “him whom they have pierced” as the Zechariah text underlying some of these passion narratives puts it). 
-2Kings 2:2 = Because the senior prophet is soon departing elsewhere, Elijah directs Elisha: “sit down here, indeed!” [καθου δη ενταυθα]. In Mark 14:32 Jesus directs disciples to: “Sit here!” [καθισατε ωδε] while he himself chooses to go pray alone. In both stories the lord/master instructs his students to remain while he leaves.
2Kings 2 = Elisha swears “as your soul lives” [ζη η ψυχη σου] which reversed by Mark 14:34 into Jesus admitting to students that “grieved is my soul, even unto death” [η ψυχη μου εως θανατου]. Mark has changed ‘as your soul lives’ into ‘my soul, as if dying.’ Reading the 2 Kings tale has really stimulated Mark’s imagination into a novel use of transposed details. 
But this phrase seems to be using language from Jonah 4:9 = God asks Jonah if he is so upset about the gourd that shaded him dying so suddenly. The prophet answers: “Exceedlingly grieved, even unto death.” [σϕοδρα λελυπημαι εγω εως θανατου]
-Mark 10:35 = two disciples James and Johns, sons of Zebedee, say to Jesus that they “wish/want that whatever we should ask [αιτησωμεν] of you you should do for us [ποιησης ημιν].” 
-2 Kings 2:9 = Elijah says to his disciple Elisha: “Ask [αιτησαι] what I shall do for you [τι ποιησω σοι]” before his taken up. 
-Elisha’s asking for a “double/two-portion” of his master’s spirit may have given Mark the idea to split the disciple into “two” from the 2Kings story. 
-2 Kings 2:12 Elisha rends his garments “in two” as mourning sign, then in verse 14 the author of Kings clearly makes a connection between this and the waters of river Jordan being “torn apart, from here to here.” Meaning this likely where Mark got his ‘heavens being ripped’ at his gospels beginning in order to twin it with the temple curtain tearing. Also 2 Kings 2:15 has the ‘sons of the prophets’ admit that “the spirit [πνευμα] of Elijah rests upon [επι] Elisha” which could very well have inspired Mark’s detail of the holy “spirit” [πνευμα] descending “upon” [επ’] Jesus at his baptism.  At 2Kings 2:16 these prophets demand they a search party be sent about for his master’s body, and they reason that the holy spirit could have “tossed him into the hills/mountains”. The equivalent to this idea in Mark is at 1:12 where, after this receiving of the Holy Spirit at baptism, Jesus is (=Adoptionist sonship possession by the logos?) immediately “cast into the wilderness”, a perfect parallel to “tossed into hills/mountains” as in 2Kings.  And it cannot fail to give one pause that 2Kings 2:17 has the prophets’ sons send out a search party for “three days, search but did not find.” This has enough resonance with the surprise ending of Mark’s gospel one need not say more. 
   But there is one more slight thing: 2Kings 2:18 has Elisha chide the men who (like the gospel women, after three days) sought the missing body of the righteous man saved from death: “Did I not say to you, don’t go?” This matches up with the details of Mark’s ending where the male at the tomb tells the women to “go” to Galilee where Jesus will be: “just as he’d said to you.”  
-Acts 1:9-11 (Jesus is ‘lifted up before their eyes’ then two mysterious men/angels remark on the incident) copies 2Kings 2:9-15 where Elijah tells Elisha if he sees him while he’s ‘lifted up’ then he’ll get his request and the other prophetic disciples are nearby and speak to him about it. But no such vision is ever granted to the disciples in Mark! On the contrary, the entire finale is centered on the fact they miss this very important thing. 
-Isaiah 58:2 = God complains: “they ask of me just judgement!” compare John 19:13 (=though because of syntax it is unclear who is doing what in that passage!) and Gospel of Peter 3:7 on Jews putting Jesus on the judgement seat of Pilate in mockery.
-Justin Martyr, Apologia 1.35.6 = “As the prophet had foretold—having dragged him along (diasyrein) they sat him on the judge's-chair (bema), saying ‘Judge us!’”
-Genesis 22:3 = “Abraham rose up early [αναστας τοπρωι], and saddled his donkey [επεσαξε την ονον αυτου].” (with Isaac and two servants) 
-Numbers 22:21 Balaam “rose up early [αναστας τοπρωι] and saddled his donkey [επεσαξε την ονον αυτου] (to travel with the rulers of Moab)
-Numbers 22:29 Balaam says to his donkey: “If I had a sword in my hands, I’d stab you right now!” 
-compare how in Genesis 22:10 Abraham is about to have a knife/sword in his hand and then he’s interrupted unexpectedly, like Balaam, by an angelic messenger. 
-2Kings 22:20 where God kills Josiah to spare him the sigh of Jerusalem’s destruction! = “Your eyes won’t gaze upon the bad things I bring against this place.” 
-the irony of Solomon’s prayer in 1Kings 8:32 that judgement fall only upon the guilty is contrasted with verse 46 “No man is without sin” 
-Exodus 33:1-3 a reiteration of 23:20-26 and later 34:10-16 = YHWH sends an angel because His own angry impatience would cause annihilation immediately if he were present, see also Deut 11:25-26 for YHWH’s ‘terror’

- Robert Fowler, ‘Let the reader understand’ (p. 262) = “Could not the very last word of the Gospel (the awkwardly placed conjunction gar) be analogous to the musical notation of a coda, which signals the musician to return to a marked passage and to keep on playing? Thus, the awkward gar at Mark 16:8 coupled with the ambiguous allusion to Galilee in 16:7, signals the reader to return to the beginning of the Gospel, to begin reading all over again."


EXTRA HYPOMNEMATA FOR THE GOSPEL OF MARK= 

-legends about Moses also involved a disappearing body as evidence of ascension. [=Josephus AJ 4.326; see also Plutarch Romulus where he gives four examples of legends of Romulus ascension and says there are many more. 
-through 1Cor 15:36 Paul draws on the Genesis narrative, i.e. Gen 1:11-12; it is left unsaid by him, but there as here= “on the third day” God gives each seed its own body, as Paul says it here. 
-Philo, Migratio Abraham 2-39= Philo interprets Exodus flight from Egypt as the soul’s escape form the body, into the heavenly realm of paradise [=14], notice how Christ dies on Passover weekend, a holiday centered on this Exodus narrative.
-Testament of Moses 8:1f= on the crucifixions of martyrs refusing to renounce Judaism "during the tribulation:; see ibid 10:1 for Taxo and his sons’ somehow “defeating the Devil” by their executions.
-John has learned form Mark how to do briefly and articulate allusion. He weaves Exodus 32 into his novelized resurrection appearance=
Exodus 32:23 = the people beg Aaron to make a statue for them to pray to because Moses is gone “and we don’t know [ουκ οιδαμεν] what happened to him [τι γεγονεν αυτω]!” 
John 20:2 = Mary tells Simon and the beloved disciple that “they took the Lord … we don’t know [ουκ οιδαμεν] where they put him [που εθηκαν αυτον].” 
Exodus 32:30 = Moses tells the people they have “majorly sinned” and “now I will ascend [αναβησομαι] to God [προς τον θεον] to make atonement”
John 20:17 = Jesus informs the Magdalene he has not yet “ascended [αναβεβηκα] … unto my God and your God [προς τονθεον].”
-the “sunrise” motif here may be drawing on Psalm 110:3= with the kingly/Davidic figure having “the dew of youth” coming forth from “the womb of Dawn.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN OF MARK'S GOSPEL

[1] And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

-the “morning” [πρωιι] and the crowd at verse 8 speaking as one with emphasis on “doing” seems to echo Exodus 24:3 and 7 where the people “answer as one” to Moses and swear “to do” all he’s entailed. The prophet “rose early in the morning” [τοπρωιι] (Exod 24:4) for all this. Later Matthew parodies this to monstrous effect where the people collectively shout together in an ironic oath accept metaphysical blood “upon themselves” in an attempt to emulate Exodus 24 where the people accept gracefully as Moses splashes/dashes blood “upon them.”
-Josephus, War 6.5.3 (303f) Jesus ben Ananias is “led” (αναγειν) to the Roman eparch. He like, our gospel character of the same name, uses Jeremiad imagery of “voice of the bridegroom: etc to prophesy the fall of the Temple. For his pains he is, again like Mark’s Jesus, “scourged” for his pains and also “silent before his interlocutors.”
-LXX of Hosea 10:6 = “having bound/tied him/it they brought him/it to Assyria as a gift for king Joreb.”
-Luke 23:7 = Having bound Jesus = Cyril of Jerusalem, Tertullian and Iranaeus mention this verse in this odd Hosean context! 

[2] And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And the answer [from Jesus ]was: “You say so.” [3] And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he made no response. [4] And Pilate asked him again, saying, “You answer nothing? Look how much testimony is damning to you.” [5] But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate wondered about it. 

-Pilate “marvels” [θαυμαζειν] at Jesus silence, just as the tyrant Antiochus IV “marvels” [εθαυμασαν] at the fortitude of the tortured priest Eleazar at 4Mac 17:16-17. 

[6] Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. [7] And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. 

-Mark 15:7 Barabbas had “done murder” [ϕονον] then in verse 10 Pilate know the high priests turned him over “due to envy” [ϕθονον], an interesting quasi-anagram.  
-Genesis 49:6= Israel tells how his sons Simeon and Levi: “completed injustice by their sects. May their counsel [βουλην] not be in my life, nor their conspiracies [συστασει]… for in a rage they have committed murder [απεκτειναν]…”
-Mark 15:1, 7 = while  “in counsel” [συμβουλιον] (chambers) there is mentioned another defendant who is charged with “conspiracy” [συστασιαστων] to commit “murder.”

[8] And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. [9] But Pilate answered them, saying, “Would you prefer that I release unto you the King of the Jews?” [10] For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. 

-Book of Wisdom 2:24  = “Through the envy [ϕθονος] of the devil, death entered the world and those who belong to him experience it.” 

[11] But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. 

  • like two goats on the day of Atonement, one is be the ‘escaped goat’ and is released. Otherwise there is no logical reason why an obviously guilty person would be released except to fulfill this mythical typology.
[12] And Pilate answered and said again unto them, “What then shall I do to him whom you call ‘ King of the Jews?’” [13] And they cried out again, “Crucify him!”

-Esther 7:9 = and the king said “Let him be crucified” [σταυροθητω]  
-Matthew 27:22 = and the crowd said: “Let him be crucified” [σταυροθητω]  

 [14] Then Pilate said unto them, “Why, what evil hath he done?” And they cried out the more exceedingly, “Crucify him!”

-Mark 15:12, 14= “responding [αποκριθεις] … he said [ειπεν] … ‘What [τι] … has he done?’ [εποιησεν]”
-1Samuel 20:32-33 = like Pilate here with the lynch mob, prince Jonathan doesn’t understand why Saul is so murderously incensed at David= “Responding [αποκριθεις] … he said [ειπεν] … ‘Why should he die? What has he done?’ [τι πεποιηκε].” He realizes his father plans “evil” [κακια] against his friend.
-Esther 5:14 = wife of Haman wants Mordecai hanged
-Pilate’s question at Mark 15:14 “what evil has he done?” [τι γαρ εποιησεν κακον] vaguely connects to Torah stipulations about animals with who are to be without defect= see Leviticus 22:18-25 and Deuteronomy 15:21.

[15] And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. 

-compare Mark 15:6-7 “Due to the holiday he (=Pilate) released to them one prisoner, whoever they asked for.” with Esther 2:18 where Artaxerxes makes a banquet and then seemingly declares some kind of ‘general amnesty’ in his realm. 
-Psalm 73:14 = the speaker is whipped in the morning, as here (it seems to be about 9 am at this point in the Passion Narrative)
-Matthew 27:24= Pilate's sarcastic handwashing gesture is meant to parody the "red heifer" ritual of Deuteronomy 21:1-9 where the elder "wash their hands" after breaking the neck of a cow—verses 7-8 mention "innocent blood", just as Pilate states he is "innocent" of this "blood."
-2Samuel 1:16= David tells Amelekite "Your blood be on your head ... since you've killed the Lord's Christ"   = is this where Matthew 27:25 is drawn from? 

[16] And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. 

Mark 4:18 = “among thorns sown” [ακανθας σπειρομενοι]
-Mark 15:16 = the centurions of the “cohort” [σπειρω] make Jesus a crown of “thorns” [ακανθινον] 

[17] And they clothed him with purple,

-Josephus, Antiq 11.6.10f (255) King tells Haman to give Mordecai “mark of honor” [χρηστος συμβουλος]. Just as in the first sentence of LXX Psalm 107, this Greek word ‘chrestos’ here cannot have failed to grab the notice of Gospel-minded interpreter, as this phrase could easily be metaphorically read as saying ‘the symbol of the cross.’ This might explain this possible use of another detail from Josephus’ embellishment of the Esther story in Jesus’ mocking as a mock-king.
Mark 15:17= ενδυουσιν αυτον πορϕυραν (they put him in purple), v 20 ενεπαιξαν (=they mocked/jested)
-Josephus, Antiq 11.6.10f (256)= Haman bids Mordecai to “put on some purple” [ενδυσασθαι την πορϕυραν…] v257 Mordecai thinks this is “in jest” [χλευαζεσθαι].
-Sirach 40:4= Fear of death is always bothering the imaginations of all men: "from them that wear purple and a crown [υακινθινον και στεϕανον] to a regular linen shirt."
-2Sam 1:24= David sings a lament: “Daughters of Israel, cry for Saul, the one dressing you [] in scarlet [/////] apparel…”
-Matthew 27: = “they undressed [////] him and put on him a scarlet [] cloak.”
-1Sam 29:6-8= King Achish tells David: “I didn’t find anything bad [/////] against you, but in the opinion of my counsellors you’re no good. If you get out of here without a fuss then in no way will you do evil [//////] in their sight.” David replies: “What did I do [////] to you?”

 and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, 



-Psalm 89:38b the psalmist accuses his hearers of “treating with contempt your own Anointed One, raising him up (=? in MT this is “you’ve spurned the Messiah [=meaning either ‘priest’ or ‘king’ in the context—note how this “raising” might suggest crucifixion])… profaning his sanctuary [αγιασμα]” (in Hebrew of the MT this is “you dashed his crown [noru] to the dust”)= note how the “nezer” theme may here be present again, echoed from the mysterious ‘Nazareth' from chapter 1.

[18] And began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

-in Philo’s “Pro Flacco’ the beggar ‘Carabas’ is “hailed as ‘Maran’” which is explained as being what Syrians called their king. The author of this work suggests the reader find other commentaries with a discussion of this odd episode and it’s possible influence on the Passion Narrative. 

[19] And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. 

-Ascension of Isaiah 5:1-2 = after Isaiah sentenced to death, the fake prophets who accused him also mock him. 
-1Kings 22:16 Ahab put Micaiah “under oath” to tell the truth and in 1Kings22:24 Zedekiah the false prophet ‘slaps’ Micaiah. At this point in the story Micaiah stops being coy and presages the exact doom of Israel’s king. Might there be a connection to how Jesus refuses to answer at first in his trial but at a certain point responds with a sentence that clearly is meant to be a poetical image of justice coming violently upon his accusers at some point in the future. 

[20a] And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, 

-Mark 15:20= “took off [εξεδυσαν] … put on [ενεδυσαν] … they led him out [εξαγουσιν].”
-again, Mark seems to parodying Temple rituals! This and the next line are obviously meant to mirror Leviticus 6:11, where the high priest making an atonement on behalf of a man who has sworn falsely (=much like Simon a few hours before?) is instructed to: “take off his clothes [εκδυσεται] and put on [ενδυσεται] some other apparel and he shall bring forth [εξοισει] the burnt remains outside [εξω] the camp unto a clean place [τοπον].” =Note also how Mark 15:22 has “they brought him to a place [τοπον] called … Skull.” (=so this, like so many details here, is a typological reversal—the opposite of ‘clean’ as prescribed by the Torah). Even perhaps Leviticus 6:12 could have been of interest to Mark, the priest “taking up wood to place it” might be read as related to crucifixion somehow.

////////

[20b] and led him out to crucify him. 

-1 Kings 21:13 = Naboth = “They bore (false) witness against him and then led him [εξηγαγον] outside the city to stone him.”
-note that it is people who have been paid specifically to “eat” at the table on a fast day with Naboth, who betray with false testimony. Just as in Mark 2 we saw Jesus not fasting and now in 14-15 the pseudo-recounting of “speaking against” something, “God and king” for Naboth and the Temple for Jesus.
-Mark 15:20 = “They led him out [εξαγουσιν] to crucify him [σταυρωσωσιν].” 

[21] And they compelled one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. 

-this one is complex and a wild guess. Does the naming of two sons here suggest Jacob/Israel and Esau/Edom? The name “Alexander” means “man [andros] of struggle [alex]” (=compare how Isaac’s twin sons ‘struggled in the womb’) and Rufus means “red” in Greek, the color Genesis 25:25 says Esau was born “completely fire-red [πυρρακης].” The detail here of their father “coming in from a field [αγρου]” resembles Jacob’s father mistaking him for his brother Edom (which also means ‘red’) because he smells like “ a field” [αγρου]. Genesis 25:27 calls Esau a “man-of-the-country/outdoorsman” [αγροικος] and several times referred to as being ‘in the plain’ [πεδιου] hunting. 

[22] And they brought him unto the place called Golgotha (which is, being interpreted: ‘The place of a skull’) 
-Gilgal? 

[23] They tried to give him wine to drink, mixed with myrrh—but he wouldn’t accept it. 

-Leviticus 10:8-9= “Because you have the Lord’s anointing ointment [χρισεως] upon you… wine [οινον] you shall not drink [ου πιεσθε]
-Mark 15:23= “gave wine [οινον] to drink [πιειν] which he did not [ουκ] take.”
-Proverbs 31:6-7= on how women of Jerusalem were expected to give criminals on their way to executions some "drugged wine" out of mercy. 

 [24] And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.

–Matthew has embroidered some non-retaliatory ideas couched in the terms he’s taken from Mark’s passion story. Matthew 5:39-41 has Jesus say: “Whoever slaps [ραπιζει] … (then counsels that whoever wants to sue for your shirt) give them your coat [το ιματιον] and the one (Roman soldier) who conscripts you [αγγαρευσει],” go for him the extra mile. Matthew has drawn all this from the following:
-Mark 14:65 = they spit at and “slap” [ραπισμασιν] Jesus at his trial
-Mark 15:20 = the Roman soldiers “conscript” [αγγαρευουσιν] Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross, then they gamble over the prisoner’s “coat” [τα ιματια]
-Matthew has very likely known and studied Mark’s text so well that he has been able to creatively draw upon every last bit he can use for his inventive adventure, to correct and overtake and likely replace Mark as THE Christian scripture about the Christ. 

[25] And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. 

-Jeremiah 10:3-5 = a wooden idol set up like a scarecrow in a cucumber field. (inspiration for the medieval Abd Al-Jabbar saying Jesus executed in field of “vegetables and melons.”)
-is the sedile of this cross meant to be an ironic "throne"? See Psalm 96:1, 10= "The Lord reigns from the tree." 

 [26] And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

-Mark 15:26= “the inscription [επιραϕη] was spelled out [επιγεγραμμενη]”
-this is a very faint parody of the first version of the “two tablets [πλακες] with writing” [η γραϕη] that have “engraved inscription” [γεγραμμεναι] of law-codes from Exodus 32:15-16 that Moses breaks in anger after discovering Aaron’s golden calf idol. He ceremonial mixes the dust of the smashed stone-tablets with water. In an excellent example of the intertextuality of the Torah, this scene itself is obviously a parody of the ‘suspected adultress’ sotah ordeal from the book of Numbers. The people have been ‘unfaithful’ to their spouse YHWH, leaving aside the semantics of the gold calf being meant to represent him.
-Colossians 2:14 has Christ nailing to the cross “the ordinances” [χειρογραφον] against us, something possibly alluded to in Mark 15:26= a ‘superscription’ [επιγραφη] (presumably nailed to the cross) marking the condemned man as ‘King of Jews.’ Both of these words used have the connotation of the kind of negative symbology given to the law/Torah by Paul. These Christian writer/theologians are comparing the Pentateuch to a written death sentence. This is a very Hellenistic viewpoint.
-Antiquities 14.31 (line 36f) = cites a lost work of the Greek geographer Strabo on how a golden grapevine inscribed “From Alexander, King of the Jews” was displayed at the Capitoline temple of Jupiter in imperial Rome. It seems to have been seized as booty by Pompey’s invasion in 63 BCE. This would have been a common sight then, in the largest city in the world. (=Is this inspiration for the gospels fictional detail about a  ‘King of the Jews’ inscription affixed to Christ’s crucifix for whatever reason?)  
-Esther 3:14= the decree that Jews are to be killed = “Copies [αντιγραϕα] of this decree [επιστολων] were (publicly) displayed [εξετιθετο] everywhere.” (the words used give the impression of something ‘affixed’ in place) 
-Jeremiah 17:1 = “The sin  of Judah with a stylus of iron … carved and written upon the plaque of their heart.” Verses 19-20 of that chapter have the phrase “king of the Jews” twice. Jeremiah’s main concern is “not lifting a burden” on the Sabbath—is this connected to Simon “lifting” the beam of the cross?

[27] And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.

-later on Luke adds an extra bit here, based on Joseph in Genesis=
-Genesis 40:14= Joseph implores Pharaoh’s wine-taster, one of two people he is in prison with, to: “Remember me [μνησθητι μου] … whenever [οταν] good happens to you (=i.e. you are freed and restored to position).”
-one of the two ‘convicts’ being crucified along side Jesus in Luke 23, begs him in verse 42: “Remember me [μνησθητι μου] Lord, whenever [οταν] you get to your Kingdom.”
 [28] And the scripture was fulfilled, which says” ‘And he was counted among transgressors.’

-this explicit quoting of Isaiah seems out of character for Mark, and has been suspected by other scholars of being inserted. At any rate, he is as usual more laconic here than his later imitators. He needs 'malefactors’ to be executed along with the ‘servant’ just as Isaiah’s enigmatic poetry seems to suggest. Later Matthew picks up on this and parallels the ‘rich’ theme that Mark here ignores and makes Joseph of Arimathea unwittingly fulfill the other half of that prophecy about the righteous sufferer making his grave with the wealth, which in Hebrew poetry is meant to twin the ‘transgressors’ in the same verse.

[29] And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, [30] Save thyself, and come down from the cross.” 

-Mark 15:29 references both= 
Lamentations 2:15= “All them who pass by in the way whistle and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Isn’t she the city that is a crown of glory?…’
Lamentations 3:30= “He will give to the one hitting him his cheek.”
-LXX Isaiah 27:7 = “who struck others [επαταξε] … shall be stricken” [πληγησεται]
-Mark 15:19 = “they beat [ετυπτον] … and spat [ενπτυον] (anagrams!)
-Psalm 107:12 = the heart of theirs was “humbled” [εταπεινωθη]
-Mark 15:32 = those crucified with him “berated him” [ωνειδιζον]
-Isaiah 27:8 = “berating” [ωνειδιζων]

 [31] Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, “He saved others; himself he cannot save. 

-the martyrs of 4Maccabees are often offered the chance to “save themselves”; Eleazar at 5:6 and 6:15, 27 and the 7 brothers at 10:1, 13 and 10:13 (see also 15:26-27).
-Matthew 27:43 (=”He relied upon God—let Him rescue [ρυσασθω] him now! For he said: ‘I am God’s son!”) is based on Wisdom 2:18= “If he’s the righteous [δικαιος] son of God let him be delivered [ρυσεται] out of the   (cf. verses 13, 16). It is also from this verse we can see why the guard at Mark 15 declares Jesus ‘truly son of God’ while the same figure at Luke 23:47 calls him ‘surely a righteous man!’ Wisdom 2 makes clear they are one and the same as biblical concepts. 
-Although never stated yet heavily implied, Mark’s Jesus could save himself at anytime. His ‘self-righteous suicide’ is not unlike that of Socrates in Greece centuries before: both are ‘gadflies’ to the establishment who allow themselves to be done in as a curse upon those who kill, thus he defeats them and shows himself justified in martyrdom. Plato, like Mark in his secretive yet in-your-face jokes, presents his master’s death as his whole body going numb from poison, lingering on a description of his rigor-mortis erect virile member, a figurative flipping of the bird to his enemies. That the gospel author is doing something similar, though soto voce, is quite likely. Suicide in order ‘unleash a fury’ (=in Hellenistic parlance) was not unknown even in Asia. Cicero (de Divinatione 1:47) tells how the Indian guru Calanus was captured by Alexander the Great and commanded to slavishly perform a ‘sacred song’ in honor of ‘flames’ before the conqueror’s court. Instead the Hindu holy-man lit himself on fire, calling out to the king in a curse: “See you soon!” as he jumped onto his own funeral pyre, an immolation emulated again during the Vietnam era near our own times. Josephus’ defensive polemical tract ‘Against Apion’ 19 quotes the Greek writer Clearchus as claiming that Aristotle had opined that the Jews are descended from “Indian philosophers” called the “Calani.” Perhaps Josephus himself believed something such, or meant to present others as believing so; for at War 7.351-357, the famous Masada mass-suicide, the leader Eleazar (=Lazarus?) ben Yair (=Jairus?) pleads with his comrades to in their deaths try to “imitate the Indian philosophers.”  =Truly an extraordinary bit of evidence of Jewish identity politics! Note how strange it is that Plato’s Republic (2.361e – 262a) says that  the hypothetical and ideal ‘just man/righteous one’ may often “have to endure crucifixion, due to the jealousy of the unjust.” How peculiar! Though Plato is referring to impalement or hanging not Roman style execution, the parallel is telling as to how ancient moral and ethical speculations might unfold. In the same way Jesus can foresee the temple’s destruction right before he is arrested, so too Socrates at Plato’s Apology 39c where he quips: “on the point of death, I am now in the state where men are wont to prophesy.”

[32] ‘Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ And they that were crucified with him reviled him. 

-Mark 15:32 = “That we should know [ινα ιδωμεν] and believe. [και πιστευσωμεν]” 
-Isaiah 53:1 LXX = “who has believed? [επιστευσε]” … verse 2 “We beheld him” [ειδομεν αυτον] (here the Greek word for beheld is homonym of know) 
-Psalm 35:17-21 "My smirking foes say of me (viewing my torture): 'God, how we relish this sight!'"

[33] And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 

-Jeremiah 15:9 = warns Jerusalem that “her sun is set in the middle hour of the day” 
-Exodus 10:22 sun blotted out for three days in Egypt.
-Mark 15:33 = σκοτος εγενετο εϕ’ ολην την γην
-Amos 8:9 = “The sun shall set at midday and over the land [επι της γης] shall be darkness [συσκοτασει].”

[34] And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? (which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?)”

-1Kings 18:27-28  = At “midday” [μεσημβρια] Elijah mocks the prophets of Baal, saying their ‘god’ [θεος in verse 24] can’t hear them, maybe they should “cry out with a loud(er) voice [ϕωνη μεγαλη].”
-Mark has rescued Elijah’s story in an extremely eccentric way here. Just like the author of 1Kings, Mark also mentions a time of day, then Jesus' yelling with "a loud voice [ϕωνην μεγαλην]" and also "crying out [εβοησεν]"(=paralleled by Elijah's dare to "yell out [βοατε] in the name of your God" at 1Kings 18:24) to a God who (seemingly) doesn’t listen, or at least ironically doesn’t appear to, though Mark’s mention of Psalm 22 would make it clear from the overall vibe of that prayer that everything goes right ultimately for the righteous sufferer. Note also the reversal of Elijah "sneering" [εμυκτηρισεν] at the failed Baal devotees at 1Kings 18: being turned into onlookers mocking Jesus and along with mention of Elijah and expectation of a miracle, these side-characters who function like a Greek chorus act almost as if they have read 1Kings—but of course it is their creator Mark who has done so and expects us to recognize this. The reader, the audience, was intended to respond by remembering, just as the hearers of Deuteronomy are exhorted to.

-Luke 23:34's “Forgive them for they know not” is exact quote from Psalm 108:4. 
-Luke //////= “Father into your hands I commend my spirit” is an exact word-for-word quote of Psalm 31:5 = [εις χειρας σου παραθησομαι το πνευμα μου] (=also the 18th line has δικαιος)
-Wisdom 3:1= the souls of the just [δικαιος] are in God’s hand.” 
-2 Samuel 15:26 = David remarks: “If God is not with me, then let him do whatever he pleases with me.” 

 [35] And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he calls Elijah!” [36] And one ran and filled a sponge with of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying “Leave off; let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”’

-Mark 15:36 those looking on command “Let him be!” [αϕετε] which echoes a word in the next line, where Jesus “lets go” [αϕιες] a loud cry. 
-is it meant to be ironic that in 15: 36 the bystanders wonder whether Elijah will “lower him” [καθελων] while not much later Joseph comes to “lower him” [καθελειν]

 [37] And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 

-Lamentations 2:17 = God rends his garments in grief. Isaiah 6 implies the Temple curtain is the bottom hem of God’s robes. Does Mark mean for us to imaging his tearing a cloak to mark his son’s death?
-2Kings 2:11 = Elijah is taken up by chariot of fire with “a lot of rumbling” [συσσεισμω] = this detail may have inspired Matthew 27:51’s adding of a sudden “earthquake” [εσεισθη] which leads to his also borrowing (in verse 52) from Ezekiel’s “dry bones” chapter 37.
-Matthew was aware of Mark’s use of the Elijah/Elisha cycle, and adds/borrow accordingly; see=
-Matt 27:51a= curtain rent “in two” [εις δυο]
-2Kings 2:12 = in grief Elisha rips his clothes “in two” [εις δυο]
-

 [38] Just then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 

-1 Maccabees 1:22 and Antiquities 12.5.4 (250) Antiochus IV took away the veil in 169 BCE.  = Pausanias Description of Greece 5.12.4 = the parapetasma wool veil in Olympian temple in Greece donated by one “Antiochus, king of Syria.” [could this indeed be the legendary pre-Maccabean cloth stolen long before]
-Bellum 5.5.4 (213-214) the temple veil had 4 colors with a panorama of the heavens displayed 
-Sirach 50:5-7 = high priest Simon coming out of the veil, is compared to a star, the sun, moon, rainbow. 
-Bavli, Gittin 56b = Titus rent veil with sword and blood flowed out 
-Testament of Benjamin 9:4 = the curtain (απλομα) of the sanctuary is rent and God’s spirit is “poured upon the Gentiles, like fire.”
-R. Brown, ‘Death of the Messiah’ (vol 2 page 1108-1113) = thinks the rending of the veil is negative, or at least not positive. 

[39] When the centurion, who stood over against him, beholding how he’d breathed his last, and gave up the ghost, he said: “Truly this man was the Son of God!”  

-in another incredible reuse of phrasing from an older scripture, the centurion’s confession is likely based on 1Kings 18:39 where those who witness Elijah calling down fire from heaven confess: “Truly [αληθως] the Lord is God, he is God!” 
-this matches exactly the crucifixion guard’s use of “indeed/certainly” [αληθως] and Mark has exchanged the LXX “he is” [αυτος] for it’s Greek homonym “this here (man)” [ουτος]. He's changes 'autos theos' [=he is God] into 'outos ... uios' [this one is God's ... (son)] and makes 'esti' into 'en.' Very clever use of puns and homonyms. 
-2 Samuel 18:9 = after Absalom is riding a mule through a very thick forest, he gets his head stuck between a great gnarled oak tree (“caught between heaven and earth” is how the text puts it). In verse 10, a “certain man”—presumably a centurion since verse 1 mentioned David appointing such figures for this battle—reports to Joab that he saw [ειδεν] the thing happen, telling [ειπεν] him how he saw the king’s son ‘hanging’ in a tree. When he is asked why he didn’t “strike him dead” right there, he replies that nothing, not even being bribed by silver, could make him “harm the lad.” The man instructs Joab to “stand right opposite” [στηση εξεναντιας] him as he goes to tell the king.   
-Mark 15:39 = The guard who “stood right opposite” [παρεστηκως εξ εναντιας] Jesus saw [ειδων] him" die from crucifixion. This same centurion is “asked” by Pilate about whether Jesus “had died earlier”, just as Joab asked his man about Absalom’s being somewhat impaled yet not expired. The men in Mark and 1Samuel recognize somehow that the person they view is the “son of” someone important and that this fact makes their status different from other 'rebels.' It is possible some Kabbalistic reading of Absalom being a ‘crucified Son of David’ is here implied. 
-Mark 3:11= the unclean spirits, when they “viewed” him [εθεωρει], “cried out” [εκραζε] saying that [λεγοντα οτι] ‘You are the son of God!’” [συ ει ο υιος του θεου] 
-Mark 15:39= “Beholding [ιδων] how Jesus cried out [κραξας] he said [ειπεν] ‘This was the son of God!’” [υιος ην θεου]
-Mark 5:6 = the 'Legion' demoniac “beholds” [ιδων] Jesus and in next verse “cries out” [κραξας] and calls him “son of God” [υιε του θεου] 
-Is there in all this some reference to Daniel 3, where King Nebuchadnezzer “saw” [ορω] the three men in the execution furnace, then “declares” [ειπεν] that now it appears there are four and one looks like a “son of God” [υιω θεου] (=this being an Aramaic euphemism for an angel)
-Robert Fowler, ‘Let the reader understand’ page 207=  “Virtually every comment uttered by every character in Mark’s passion narrative is an oblique, indirect comment, either ironic, metaphorical, paradoxical, or ambiguous, or a combination of these. … We cannot just say that the centurion vow he is speaking ‘truly’ (alethos) and therefore we may trust him. Insincerity masks itself in claims to truthfulness, just as the Pharisees and Herodians tried to mask their ulterior motive back in Mark 12:14 (‘Teacher, we know that you are true…’).”

[40] There were also women looking on from afar: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;

-Former friends looking on ‘from a distance’ = Psalm 38:12 and 88:9 mentions “they’ve made me an abomination to themselves.”
-later tradition claimed the Salome here (whose name may have caused the deletion  by scribes from chapter 6 of the name of the Herodian princess who strips for her stepfather in order for readers not to think they are the same) was also called ‘Mary/Miriam.’ If this is so, then there is the bizarre circumstance, mirrored at the end of the gospel of John, of three Marias “viewing from afar” [μακροθεν] what transpires. One is not surprised if one follows our way of reading this novel, for Moses’ sister Maria/Miriam waits by the Nile and “spies out from afar [μακροθεν]” what happens to the baby in a basket. 

[41] (Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem. [42] And now when the evening arrived, because it was the preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath)

-interestingly, a 2nd century addition to Luke 23 (verse 48 on) in OS sin. Cur. And the OL (St-Germain manuscript g) has the crowd here admit aloud: “Woe to us! What has happened because of our sins? The end of Jerusalem has approached.” Similarly in Ephraem the Syrian’s Commentary on the Diatesseron 20:28 (=SC 121.362) and Gospel of Peter 7:25. The Syriac version of 1 Maccabees 2:7 (preserved in a 5th century account of legendary martyrdoms) has Matthias say: “woe to us! What has befallen us? To look upon the misery of our people and the ruins of the holy city!” [for more on this see J.R. Harris p 9 of ‘The origin of a famous Lucan gloss’ in ExpTim 35 (1923-24) pp 7-10]

 [43] Then there arrived Joseph of Arimathaea, a decent counselor (who was also waited for the kingdom of God) and went in boldly unto Pilate to ask for [custody of] Jesus’ body. 

-LXX Job 2:6= the devil dares God to test Job by hurting him. God replies: "Behold I give him over [παραδιδοναι] to you, (but) only preserve his life [την ψυχην αυτον]!" = the later 'Testament of Job' changes this to (=at 20:1-3)= (when the devil is unable to tempt Job, he departs in a huff. Job explains: "After he left, he asked [αιτησαι] (permission) for (power over) my body [σωμα] from the Lord, to be given over [παραδιδοναι] to his hand to be used as he wished, but he didn't give him any authority over my soul [ψυχη]."  = this tradition appears to be present in the mind of Mark when he tells of how Joseph of Arimathea "asked for" [//////////] permission to get possession of the "body" [σωμα] of Jesus. 
-Mark 1:5 has ‘repentance’ while line 15 has Jesus say “repent, for the kingdom of God etc’ which matches up with the end where Joseph is awaiting the Kingdom of God at Mark 15:44-45.
-Luke 23:50 = a man, Joseph by name [ανηρ ονοματι Ιωσηϕ]
-in Luke 1:27 Luke has the virgin Mary espoused “to a man whose name was Joseph” [ανδρι ω ονομα Ιωσηϕ] 
-Raymond Brown, ‘Death of the Messiah’ (page 1228 volume 2 note 58)= “So in this architectonic arrangement where at the end of the story Luke has Joseph of Arimathea resemble pious Jews at the beginning of the story, is he also meant to remind us of his namesake or is the similarity accidental?”  
-more evidence, if any were necessary, of Luke’s learning by example from Mark.
-does Mark intend some vague association with patriarch of the same moniker? The introduction of this guest-starring character who is called a ‘competent judge’ [ευσχημων βουλευτης] resembles Genesis’ namesake: Josephus’ Antiq 2.91 explains the new title of ‘Zaphenath-Paneach’ that Pharaoh bestows upon his vizier (Gen 41:45) as “meaning ‘Discoverer of Secrets’ due to his amazing [παραδοξον] intelligence [συνεσεως].” (the Targums have this reason as well, plus see Bereshith Rabbah 90:4= “The name denotes ‘He who reveals things hidden and easily explains them.”)
-At any rate, the epithet ‘euschemon’ may be intended to hint that this Joseph is wealthy, which one probably would have to be in order to have a seat among the Sanhedrin. Mark never calls him ‘rich’, but Matthew later adds this detail explicitly in his version to make more clear the parallel to Isaiah 53’s “he shall make his grave with lawbreakers… with the rich.”, yet another OT Hebrew poetic nuance the Hellenistic gospel writers have purposefully misunderstood in order to create their parable. And yet they are following the rabidly illogical rabbinic method of the Targumim and other Midrash materials. 

[44a] And Pilate marvelled that he was already dead: 

-the Roman procurator/prefect was “amazed” [θαυμαζω] that the accused had expired, a detail perhaps colored by Isaiah 52:15a (LXX but not MT)= “Many Gentiles shall wonder [θαυμασονται] about him.” Could the centurion’s earlier strange insight into Jesus’ special status also have something to do with Isa 52:15b’s “Those to whom it (=the Servant’s appearance) was not announced, shall see.” 

[44b] and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead [45] And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 

-Mark 15:43 = Joseph, a “member of the council”, “having boldness dared [=ητησατο] to ask” [πολμησας] which the author has mirrored with the earlier story in Mark    where Jesus actually agrees with a scribe for once, then after that no one “dared question him.” [ετολμα … επερωτησαι]
-Mark 15:46 = Joseph “took him down” [κατεθηκεν], in reverse parallel to John’s disciples who “take up [ηραν] his corpse” [το πτωμα αυτου] and “put him” [εθηκαν] in a tomb [μνεμειω]. The word ‘disciples’ may be mean to be the echo of Joseph’s moniker Arimathia. Mark 6:29 John’s “disciples come” [οι μαθηταηλθον] and 15:43 “of Arimathea came” [ηλθεν … Αριμαθαιας]. 
-Joshua 24:32ff they take Joseph’s bones and bury them in a field he owned already, like the Joseph of Mark 15= so here we have the motif of a Joseph who owns an area where a body can conveniently be placed.
-more negativity??? = compare Joseph of Arimathea ‘expecting the kingdom’ with Mark 12:34 scribe who Jesus admits is ‘not far from the kingdom.’ Yet ‘not far’ is still nowhere near! Four lines later in verse 38 Jesus warns: “Beware the scribes!” —Sarcasm again? Does Acts 1:17 have a reference to Mark’s brief section on Joseph of Arimathia? Acts mentions how Judas was “numbered among” [κατηριθμημενος] the disciples [μαθηται]. The word for numbers is a quasi-anagram of Arimathia, itself a word which could easily be misread as a description meaning ‘the best disciple’ or ‘superior student.’ What is important to point out is that in Acts 1:18 Judas is described as buying a “plot of land” (literally ‘place’) with his snitch money and somehow accidentally dying there. After this Luke describes the election to replace him where the two candidates are “Joseph Barsabbas called Justus” and one Matthias, the latter of whom wins. This connects up inversely with the note at Acts 4:36-37 where the loser in this lottery is reintroduced thus: “Joseph, called by the apostles Barnabas, a Levite of Cyprus” had a field, which “having sold he brought the proceeds” to donate communally to the apostles. Some kind of negative example to Judas is meant here, but one must wonder about the similarity between Matthias’ name and the Greek term for disciple and why this Joseph’s name changes from Barsabbas to Barnabas and what if anything that might have to do with the robber Barabbas from Mark’s narrative. 

[46a] And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, 
-Clement of Alexandria, Excerpta ex Theotodio 38= "A river goes from under the throne od Space [=topos] and flows into the Void of Creation which is Gehenna, it is never filled, ... And Space itself is fiery.... It has a veil in order that the things may not be destroyed by the sight of it. And only the archangel enters it—and to typify this the high priest every year enters the Holy of Holies..."  

-MIshnah Kilayim 9.4 states a corpse may be buried with a shroud containing a forbidden mixture of fibers [=sha'atnez]. Talmud Bavli Niddah 61b gives the explanation: "Once a person is dead, he is free of all commandments." The prooftext cited is Psalm 88:5= "free among the dead."  

[46b] and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone over the door of the sepulchre. 

-Isaiah 22:15= a certain Somnan (‘Shebna’ in the MT) is, like Joseph here, an ‘administrator’ of the temple. Isaiah’s text sarcastically asks of him, concerning the temple: “Why did you quarry [ελατομησας] for yourself this … tomb [μνημειον] and depict yourself dwelling in rock [εν πετρα].” Mark at 15:46 has compressed this into: “tomb [μνημειω] having been carved [λελατομημενον] out of rock” [εκ πετρας]. -MT Isaiah 36:3 Shebna is a court officer, but in LXX 22:18 he is made into a ‘iereus’ wearing a ‘stephanon’ (see Sirach 45:12 and Targum Isaiah 22:15 passim) =Matthew 16:19 – Isaiah 22:22 = keys, open/shut, none shall open/shut, though none of the same words are used, being mediator and steward of the temple is what is being discussed here. A few verses earlier is the strange metaphor of the temple being “fancy tomb” built to aggrandize the wealthy of Jerusalem, the detail of it being ‘hewn/dug out’ from a ‘rock’ as ‘memorial’ are all details used by Mark and Matthew to describe Jesus’ tomb—a place which, like the temple, was once God’s/Jesus’ place but now it has been abandoned. Notice the angel/man’s laconic statement to the women at the end of Mark: ‘he is not here!’ This seems like an underhanded way of proclaiming the Jew’s God has abandoned his tomb/temple; if one is willing to see the negative metaphor being applied by the rabidly anti-Semitic evangelists. 
-translation note= at MT Isa 36:3= Shebna is officer of the court but OG makes his a priest in Isa 22:18 wearing a crown ; see Sirach 45:12 and Targum Isa 22:15 
-Mark 15:46= Joseph “rolled” [προσκυλιω] a stone over the grave-cave. This Greek word (only occurring elsewhere in parallels of Matt 28:2 and Luke 24:2) is the same used in Genesis 29:8 where Jacob meets his future bride Rachel. It’s implied that he gets so excited by her appearance that he briefly gains sufficient superhuman strength to “roll” back the stone blocking the mouth of a well.  He then, uninvited, runs over to force a “kiss” on the pretty shepherdess. Compare how Judas used such an action as a signal earlier. 
-Numbers 21:18= the well which “was quarried [εξαλατομησαν] by gentile kings” –like the tomb in Mark 15:46= “quarried” [λελατομημενον]. This well in Numbers is often interpreted in Rabbinical musings and even the Dead Sea Scrolls as a occult reference to a messianic-type figure.
-Daniel 6 and that prophet’s escape from a den of lions is a good prototype for Jesus trial in general. Mark has only let it’s full presence intrude fleetingly here. Daniel 6:13 is the key to noticing the motif of “supplication” present in this spot. Just as at Mark 15:42-43 a “counsellor” [βουλευτης] waits “until evening” [οψιας] to “come forward” [εισηλθη] and dare “to ask/petition” [ητησατο] for permission to take custody of Jesus’ body = compare to Daniel 6:7 where Daniel’s political enemies “took counsel” [συνεβουλευσαντο] against him to create an anti-Jewish law to entrap him. It forbids anyone to “ask/petition” [/////] a god (=i.e. pray) without the king’s permission. Ignoring this, Daniel (like Jesus in Mark 14) both prays 3 times and is in an “upper-room.” At 6:12 where the jealous courtiers “come forward” [προσελθοντες] to point out to King Darius that Daniel has broken the decree, and in the line 14 the monarch “was struggling [αγωνιζομενος] to rescue him until evening” [/////]. Then the king “wakes early in the morning” to find the prophet “delivered” from death, like the women in chapter 16 who get introduced in the next sentence. Pilate’s surprise at Jesus quick death is a reversal of Darius shock at finding Daniel “unhurt” [διαϕθορα ουχ]. 


[47] And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

-Leviticus 16:23b = “he shall put it aside there” [αποθησει αυτην εκει] (the high priest inside the sanctuary)
-possible slight allusion in Mark 16:6b = youth at tomb invites women to view “the place where they put him” [τοπος οπου εθηκαν αυτον]
-Joshua 8:29= King of Ai= they “lowered” [καθειλον] his “body” [σωμα] from the cross/tree [ξυλου] and set over him a a “heap of big stones” [λιθων μεγαν]
-Mark 15:45= Joseph is given Jesus’ “body” [σωμα] and having “lowered” him [καθελων] in verse 46 he rolls a stone over tomb-door.
-Joshua 10:27= repeats the details of King of Ai’s death in the description of the crucifixion of the 5 Canaanite kings killed by Joshua.
-Mark 16 seems like Joshua 8 in miniature and backwards in narrative chronology, each involving crucifixion and caves. 
-Josh 8:1 the Lord tells Joshua not to “fear or be timid.” Then in verses 5-6 the words ‘come forth’ and ‘flee’ are each repeated twice and in verse 10 Jesus/Joshua “rises early in the morning.” While in verses 18-19 the phrase “quickly [] out of their place” occurs twice.
-Joshua 10 bizarrely repeats many details of Joshua 8, in fact Joshua 10:25 quotes 8:1! But in chapter 10 it is 5 kings who are crucified instead of one, and where as AI’s king had his corpse thrown into a waterless pit in front of the city which is then sealed by big rocks here instead these 5 kings flee from Joshua by hiding in a cave and he has large stones brought to lock them in before crucifying them. The phrases in both these chapter about the Lord promising Joshua “spoils” [] should be compared with Pauline letters like  where he speaks of Christ’s crucifixion as a “triumph”, literally: a Romanesque parade where the victorious messiah “has taken captive every power” [] and leads them in procession [] = the author of this letter, whether Paul or not, has taken these ideas from a misreading of the LXX’s misreading of Psalm.
-An extraordinarily complex and subversive system of imposing a new hermeneutic on scripture is behind Paul’s deceptively simple theological pronouncements about how Christ has “nailed the ordinances [of Torah] to the cross.” It can be suspected that whatever Paul’s pesher/proof-text method is quite radical. It we are to guess at where to start, it’d be best with the book of Joshua where the hero crucifies various Canaanite kings. These must have been seen , by Paul’s logic, as symbols of ‘stoicheia’ or ‘powers’
-Joshua 4:5= he commanded the 12 to each carry/lift away a stone [αρατω… λιθον]
-Joshua 4:7= these stones [λιθοι] are to you a memorial [μνημοσυνον]
-Joshua 4:19-20=  Γαλγαλοις
-is this why in Mark 16:3 the women ask who’ll lift away the stone, because the 12 should’ve done it?
-Joshua 4:9= the priests “lifting the ark” [αιροντων την κιβωτον]
-Mark 8:2= Jesus says to the crowd: ‘already three days’ [ηδη ημερας τρεις] they’ve remained with me and have nothing to eat. 
-Joshua 18:16= the borders of Joseph and Judah “go down to Gehenna” [καταβησεται επι Γαιωνναμ] 
-is Joseph of Arimathea meant to be Joseph of Genesis? He is identified only as  “pretty decent counselor”, an adequate description of Joseph in his capacity as Pharaoh’s advisor.  
-is this Joseph based on the anonymous character from 1Kings 13:29-31 who, unlike others who are afraid of the lion near his body, dares to bury the dead prophet and “places him” in his own tomb, or at least plans to eventual be buried with the prophet as well. 
-Joshua 2:16= hidden there three days
-at Joshua 24:32ff they take Joseph’s bones and bury them in a field he owned already, like the Joseph of Mark 15

-Joshua 1:11= "In three days you’ll pass over the Jordan."

=extra hypomnemata for chapter fifteen= 
-For some reason the Epistle of Barnabas 12:9 quotes Exodus 17:14 wrong as if the phrase ‘put it in the ears of Joshua’ should be translated ‘by the means of the Son of God.’ Yet this does seem to be more circumstantial evidence that the OT figure of Joshua was somehow perceived to be ‘Jesus/Joshua.’
-is it possible the evangelists somehow intended the image of Aaron and Hur “on either side” of Moses (holding his hands up so he can effect the magic of the staff “until the descent of the sun” =Exodus 17:12) as related the two thieves/terrorists on either side of Jesus cross—a person who coincidentally or not expires at sunset?
-Vergil, Georgics 1:463f says at Caesar’s assassination on the Ides of March, there was a solar eclipse from noon until nightfall, though Vergil is so obtusely poetic here the meaning can be obscured (=eclipsed?)
-Exodus 34:25 seems to have resonance for the entire Passion= 
“You shall not slay with yeast the blood of my sacrifices, and there shall not remain all night into morning anything offered for the holiday of Passover.”  
-1Samuel 8:19= “the people didn’t want [ουκ εβουλετο ο λαος] to listen to” Samuel’s advice.
-Mark 15:15= Pilate “wanted [βουλομενος] to do what was fitting for the crowd [τω οχλω].” 
-1Sam 12:19-20= because of the populace “asking for a king” [αιτησαντες εαυτοις βασιλεα], Samuel remarks about himself: “I’ve done [πεποιηκατε] badly…” (=compare Mark 15:14= “He’s done what bad thing?”)
-1Sam 12:17= Samuel says: “Great is the evil you did [κακια ην εποιησατε] in wishing for a monarch.”
-Mark 15:7= Barabbas: “committed [πεποιηκεισαν] murder”
-1Samuel 12:25= “If you commit evil [κακοποιησητε] your king will added to your dead!” 
-1Sam 8:8= God tells Samuel not to take the Israelites rejection of him personally, since the Jews: “As they do to me, so they also do to you.” [ουτως αυτου ποιουσι και σοι]
-Mark 15:8= the populace “asked” [αιτεισθαι] that Pilate grant pardon a prisoner “as he continually did for them.” [καθως αει εποιει αυτοις]
-1Sam 8:9= “only that testifying” [πλην οτι διαμαρτυρομενος]
Mark 15:4= “again [παλιν] … how much against you [ποσα σου] they testify [καταμαρτυρουσιν]!”
-Samuel predicts that once they have leadership of a king the Israelites will “yell out” [βοησεσθε] for help and “the Lord will not listen!”
-Mark 15:8= the crowd “yells out” [αναβοησας] to the Roman governor
-Mark 15:6= “whomever they asked for” [ονπερ ητουντο