CHAPTER FIVE OF MARK'S GOSPEL

[1] And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 

-Mark 4:35= Jesus suggests: “We should go through [διελθωμεν] to the other side [το περαν].”

-Mark 5:1= “They came to the other side of the sea [εις το περαν της θαλασσης]”

-Deuteronomy 30:13 = God says none should ask about his will, no one should find it necessary to seek further concerning his law: “Who will pass through [διαπερασει] for us to the other side of the sea [εις το περαν της θαλασσης] to retrieve it for us?” (=Mark’s answer appears to be: ‘Jesus!’)

-There is an interesting parallel to the stories of the storm on the lake followed by the demon possessed where in both stories Psalm 107 is used. 

-Mark 5:1= and Joshua 3:10= Γεργεσαιον (cf Luke 8:26f) 

-in rewriting this pericope, Matt 8:29-34 has “two demoniacs” —though Matthew has an odd tendency to do this a lot= see how he twins the messenger at the cave-tomb, making a single youth into two explicitly titled ‘angels’ and instead of the blind man seeing double Matthew 20:29-34 doubles the blind man of Mark 10:46f (=something Luke 18:35-43 does not do) and also deletes his name, Bartimaios. 

[2] And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, [3] Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, not even with chains.

-as late as the time of emperor Julian (see Contra Galilaeos 340A) Jews were associated with ‘sleeping among tombs’ to have ‘dream-visions’ by conversing with spirits. Julian calls this ‘witch-craft.’

-the judge Samson is not able to be bound by ropes, since they “melted like hemp when touched by fire” because of his holy strength=  

-Judges 16:9= “he pulled apart” [διασπαται] his bonds by means of “strength” [ισχυς]

-Mark 5:4a= “been bound [δεδεσθαι] … shackles [πεδαις] pulled apart [διεσπασθαι]…”

-Mark 5:4b= “no one was strong [ισκυε] enough to tame him [δαμασαι].”
-Judges 16:21= “tied up [εδησαν] … shackles [πεδαις]…”

[4] Because that he had been often bound with restraints and chains, and the chains had been pulled asunder by him, and the shackles broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 

-Luke 8:29 = “ [διερρησσων τα δεσμα]

In Luke’s version of this story he changes the words used in Greek here, instead carefully matching his vocabulary to Psalm 107=

-Psalm 107:14 = “their bonds … he tore up” [δεσμους … διερρηξεν] and in verse 16: “For he broke [οτι συνετριψε] … iron [σιδηρους] bars in pieces.” 

-this part of Psalm 107 is itself based on the a segment from Psalm 2=

Psalm 2:3 = The impudent Gentile kings boast: “We will tear up their bonds!” [διερρηξωμεν τους δεσμους] (=meaning here that non-Jews won’t ever have to obey the Torah that Israel’s God has imposed on humans). But they are sorely mistaken, for in verse 10 the Lord “breaks” [συνεριψεις] them like a clay vase getting smashed with “an iron [σιδηρα] rod.”  

[5] And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 

-Mark 5:5 = “cutting himself with stones [κατακοπτων εαυτον λιθοις] = a negative way of referring to circumcision? 

-LXX Isaiah 27:9 = “all [παντας] the stones [λιθους] (of pagan idol shrines) will be “cut in pieces” [κατακεκομμενους]; in same line there is “sin removed from Jacob”

[6] But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran up and worshipped him, 

-Mark 15:46 = “having run” [δραμων]

-Mark 5:6 = running up [εδραμεν]

-Mark 15:40 = “looking on from afar” [μακροθεν θεωρουσαι]

-Mark 5:6 = “having seen him from afar” [ιδων … μακροθεν]

-Mark 15:19 = the centurions “did obeisance” [προσεκυνουν]

-Mark 5:6 = connects to Isaiah 27:13 where gentiles shall “do obeisance” [προσκυνησουσι] to the Lord “on the mountain” [επι το ορος]

-Isaiah 27:10=  mention of ‘flock’ [ποιμνιον] and “much time for pasture” [πολυν χρονον βοσκημα] then verse 10’s “crying out” [βοηονται] which matches Isaiah 27:5 = Mark 5:5 = κραζων

-Isaiah 27:3 = “She will be captured indeed, night and day.” [αλωσεται γαρ νυκτος ημερας] 

-notice that Mark 5 uses the word 3 times = αλυσεσε

-Mark 5:5 = “always, night and day” [διαπαντας νυκτος και ημερας

 [7] And cried with a loud voice, and said, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.” [8] For he had said unto him, “Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit!”

-Mark 1:24 = Mark 5:7-8 which is taken ultimately from 1 Kings 17:18-19.

[9] And he asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion—for we are many.” [10] And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. [11] Now nearby on some mountains there was a large herd of pigs grazing. 

-Mark 5:10 = “outside the place” [εξω της χωρας] connected to “into the swine” [εις τους χοιρους] so here it is choras/choirous juxtaposition: don’t send us ‘out of this place’ but ‘into some pigs’

-’Fear, anomaly, and uncertainty in the gospel of Mark’ by Douglas W Geyer (Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland and London 2002) (page 157 footnote 59) = on Mark 5:12 where Legion chooses to go into ‘swine’ instead of ‘the countryside’ [verse 10]. 

“These two options have a remarkable similarity in sound between them. A reader may legitimately wonder if a link between these two seem kingly unrelated choices (“into the swine” or “out of the area”) is forged primarily through alliteration.” 

• it is interesting that in Josephus, Antiquities 6.8.2 (lines 166) King Saul is “demon possessed to the extant that they choked [πνιγμους] him” and a few lines later it says that David’s “harp-playing was the only thing that returned Saul to his right-mind.” After that Saul writes to David’s father Jesse, appealing that the king “desired the boy be with him and stay by him.” All these details are present in the Legion demoniac story as well. 

-1Samuel 15:19, 21 = Saul has illegally “advanced [ωρμησας] upon the spoils!” and “taken the herds []” which were to be totally destroyed and dedicated as ‘cherem’ sacrifice to YHWH. Because of his failure to obliterate Amalek, sparing it’s king and livestock, Saul is removed form his office. 

[12] And all the devils begged him, saying, “Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.” [13] And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits departed, and entered into the pigs. Then the herd violently charged forward, off a steep cliff into the sea; and were drowned (there were about two thousand of them).  

-Derrett, J. Duncan M. (JSNT 3 1979 p 5ff) = says in ancient Rome the word ‘αγελε’ (a swineherd) in Mark 5:11 was a nickname for new military recruits. He goes on to ascribe similar significance to other terms utilized in Mark 5= cf “he dismissed them” [επετρεσεν] has overtones of something a sergeant would command, while the pigs’ “charge” [ωρμησεν] in 5:13 sounds like some kind of army manoevre. 

-Antiquities 14:15.10 = Galileans drown Herodian nobility in lake

-Josephus, War 4.9.1 = Vespasian sends Lucius Annius to Gerasa with cavalry and footsoldiers to murder indiscriminately and burn villages.

-Exodus 15:4 = “elite officers are sunk in the Red Sea.”

-Psalm 106= verse 9 mentions the Red Sea  “he guided them through the Deep as if navigating a desert. … [verse 11=] “He covered with water the ones afflicting them, not one was left behind.” Verse 15  is meant to be ironic: “And He gave them their request and sent fullness into their souls.” (meaning the meat curse in Numbers) the psalm mentions Dathan and Abiram , and “they tested God in a waterless place.” 

-Is there any connection between the swine of Mark 5:13 who “choked” [επνιγξαν (the literal way of saying ‘drowned’ in Greek)] and the seed sown among thorns that “choked” [επνιξαν] in chapter 4? And are those thorns related to the ones made into a crown at Mark 15:17, right before Jesus “chokes” [=the actual cause of death during crucifixion, the lungs being suffocated]?

-Mark 5:10 = Legion pleads to not be “sent out [αποστειλη] of the place.” [χωρας] In doing so it is implied they don’t want to be made into the scapegoat, perhaps mirroring obliquely Jesus prayer at Getsemane that the cup be passed from him and then having it happen anyway. The echo is from Leviticus 16:10 says: “So as to send him out as a scapegoat” [εξαποστειλαι αυτον εις την αποπομπην] Mark 5:12 reverses everything and the demons say: “Send us [πεμψον ημας (=same word as Leviticus above)] forth” into the pigs. 

[14] Those that fed the swine fled, reporting the event in the city and the countryside. People went out to see what was going on. [15] They went to Jesus and—seeing the possessed guy who’d had the ‘Legion’ was in his right mind, seated and clothed — they were afraid.

-the gospel of Mark parodies the Red Sea Crossing twice, here and at the end of chapter 6. Exodus 14:10 has the Egyptians encamp behind the Israelites at the shore, cutting off any escape route. Seeing this, the fleeing slaves “feared [και εϕοβηθησαν] greatly.” In Mark 5, the pigs, a legion-like army of them, are drowned in the water—clearly meant to mirror the Pharaoh’s “tribunes” at Exodus 15. At Mark 5:14 the demoniac’s neighbors “feared” [και εϕοβηθησαν] what had happened. One notices that 5:1, 3, and 5 all mention how the deranged man dwelt “among tombs,” repeating this word almost obsessively. This may hearken back to Exodus 14:11 where the sarcastic Jewish multitude ask Moses if “it is because there were no tombs in Egypt that you’ve led us out here to die in desert?” Tough crowd! Also the demoniac being able to “throw off his shackles” might have something to do with newly-freed Israelites. 

-Luke 8:29 version of this pericope has the unique detail that the possessed youth was “driven/compelled … into the wilderness” [ηλαυνετο … εις τας ερημους] by the demon. This seems to be a conscious echo and reversal of Mark 1:12 where the holy spirit “suddenly … cast him (Jesus) into the wilderness.” [ευθυς … εκβαλλει εις την ερημον]. So this exorcised boy is possessed, compelled, sitting by a tomb and telling others of Jesus’ exploits— perhaps Luke perceived that Mark meant his readers to compare and contrast this character with the angelic youth who proclaims the resurrection at Mark 16, making the 3 women witnesses as upset as the demoniac’s exasperated neighbors. Both the demoniac and the anonymous announcer evoke fear (5:15 = 16:8) and amazement (5:20 = 16:5). Both have their clothes singled out by the narrator as being somehow distinctive.

[16] And they that saw it told them how it happened to him that was possessed by devils, and also concerning the swine. [17] And they began to beg Jesus to depart out of their coasts.  

-Mark 5:17= “they appealed [παρακαλειν] for him to “go forth” [απελθειν]

-the neighbors' odd request may be in echo of the Egyptians finally asking the Jews to leave after getting tired of all the plagues at Exodus 12:31= “Pharaoh called [εκαλεσε] Moses and Aaron in the middle of the night … and told them: ‘Go forth [εξελθετε] from my people [εκ λαου].” Compare Mark 5:21 “passed across to other side” [διαπερασαντος] to Exod 12:37 “having departed” [απαραντες]. The scene at Mark 5:21 of a “great multitude … by the sea [παρα την θαλασσαν]” is evocative of the Israelites trapped by the Red Sea, blocked in by the Egyptian army (Exod 14:9= παρα την θαλασσαν). Also Mark 5:14 presents us with “swineherds” (=some anti-Semitic playfulness here on Mark’s part?) who “fled [εϕυγον] and reported [ανεγγειλαν] (events) in the city…” perhaps written in parody of Exodus 14:5 = “it was announced [ανηγγελη] to the Egyptian king that the people had fled [πεϕευγεν].” Mark 5:15, where the people who witnessed the pigs drown then “viewed” [θεωρουσι] the demoniac and then “they feared” [εϕοβηθησαν] is in homage to Exod 14:31 where the Israelites “saw” [ειδε] how the Egyptians “drowned” and then they “feared” [εϕοβηθη] the Lord due to it. Truly some profound literary artistry! In reading this in Greek one gets a sense of the wonder the first hearers of all this must have felt, in recognizing the fan fiction—one wants to shout "Alleluia!" at the witness to ingenuity of thought meant to mimic holy logic. This gospel called Mark is  Torah in miniature, totally encapsulated in a 101-type manual probably intended for proselytes or the general edification of the already faithful. 

[18] As he was getting into the boat, the demon-possessed guy ask for a favor—that he might be with him. 

-Mark 3:13 = Jesus “calls on [προσαλειται] whom he likes,” then in verse 14 he appoints the 12 disciples “that they might be with him” [ινα ωσι μετ’ αυτου] which of course connects to that man who after he is healed in 5:18 “the demoniac begged him (=Jesus) that he might be with him.” [παρεκαλει αυτον ο δαιμονισθεις ινα η μετ’ αυτου]. The same phrase exactly. 
-some echoes of chapter 3 here?=

-Mark 3:13 εις το ορος = 5:5 = εν τοις ορεσι

-Mark 5:3 = ουδεις ηδυνατο … δησαι

 = Mark 3:27 = ισχυρον δησαι see also 3:26 = ου δυναται

[19] Yet Jesus would not allow him, but instead told him, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord has done on you behalf, how he had mercy on you.” 

-Psalm 107:15 = “Let them make acknowledgement of the Lord’s mercies [ελεη], his wonders among the sons of men.” 

There may be other places where this psalm may be underlying a detail=

-Mark 15:36 = they “gave him to drink” [εποτιζεν] a “vinegar sponge” [σπογγον νξους] on top of a “reed” [καλαμω]

-Psalm 107:27 = “we shake as if intoxicated [μεθυων], all wisdom was swallowed down [κατεποθη]

-a far stretch for this one, but there is Luke 23:25 where Pilate “delivered up Jesus to their will” [παρεδωκε τω θεληματι]

-Psalm 107:30 = He guided them to the harbor they wished for/wanted.” [ωδηγησεν … επι λιμενα θεληματος αυτων] 

[20] And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. 

-here Mark quotes himself: “began to publish [ηρξατο κηρυσσειν] … how great [οσα] things” repeats vocabulary from Mark 1:45= “he started to proclaim [ηρξατο κηρυσσειν] many things [πολλα]…”

[21] And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was near to the sea. 

-Mark 5:20 = when demoniac tells his miracle story to the population of the Decapolis: “They all marveled.” [παντες εθαυμαζον] 

-Psalm 107:8 = proclaim the “wonders” [θαυμασια] of the Lord (same word is repeated in verse 24). Verse 10 speaks of those “sitting down” [καθημενους] in the darkness of the shadow of death” [εν σκοτει και σκια θανατου], while Mark 5:15 the demoniac is also “sitting down.” Psalm 107:11 has: “the plans of God most high” [βουλην του υψιστου του θεου] and Mark 5:7 has the same phrase “God most high” [του θεου υψιστου].

-Mark 5:4 “the shackles had been broken” [πεδας συντετριϕθαι]

-Psalm 107:14 = “their bonds … he tore up” [δεσμους … διερρηξεν] verse 16: “For he broke…” [οτι συνετριψε]. 

-Mark 5:4 = he “pulled apart” [διεσπασθαι] the chains and none was “strong” [ισχυε] enough to “tame him.” [δαμασαι]

-Mark 5:19 = “announce to your own” [αναγγειλον τους σους]

-Psalm 107:22 = “Announce [εξαγγειλατωσαν] to them going down into the sea [καταβαινοντες εις θαλασσαν] in ship/boats [εν πλοιοις], working/doing…” [ποιουντες] 

-Mark 5:21 = “in the boat [εν τω πλοιω] … by the sea [παρα την θαλασσαν]; while previous verse mentions ‘doing’: “as much as Jesus did for him” [οσα εποιησεν αυτω Ιησους]

-Mark’s sense of irony might have encouraged him to be inspired to kill the pigs by Psalm 107:39’s note that “their livestock did not diminish.” 

-Psalm 107:2 = “From out of the places he gathered them” [εκ των χωρων συνηγαγεν]

-Mark 5:21 = “there gathered a multitude great” [συνηχθη οχλος πολυς] 

-Psalm 107:20 = “He sent this word of his and healed them.” [απαστειλε τον λογον αυτο και ιασατο] 

-Psalm 107:33-34 = “he put rivers into a wilderness, waterless areas into lakes.”  Bizarre as it may at first appear, here truly may be the possibility here that Mark with his magical sense of mythic irony and mastery of miraculous scriptural reversals, got the idea of creating a “sea” of Galilee when there plainly is no such thing or place. Here the psalm gives precedent for there suddenly being a large body of water where previously there was none! One must be open to understanding and perceiving the hermeneutical intent that goes into the composition of these gospel materials. In ancient times the philosopher Porphyry, commenting on Christian myths, wrote: “There is no ‘sea of Galilee’, only a small lake.” And he goes on to suggest that Mark’s changing of these details makes him (=Porphyry) “think the gospel is a woven curtain, each thread needing some careful examination.”  

-Psalm 107:40a “contempt was poured out on the rulers” [εξεχυθη εξουδενωσις επ’ αρχοντας αυτων]

Are these ‘archons’ the demons who are sent into the swine? Is this is Mark intention, it might make the ‘enemy’ mentioned at this poem’s beginning into a demon or the devil, at least by Mark reckoning. Line 2 of the psalm has: “He has ransomed [ελυτρωσατο] from out of the hand of the enemy.” [εχθρου] The Lukan author later does make such a connection, as we will show later.  

-Psalm 107:40b = “he caused them to be lost in an uncharted abyss” [επλανησεν αυτους εν αβατω]. Luke has recognized Mark’s source here and pulled for it: Luke 8:31 has demons beg to be sent “into the abyss” [εις την αβυσσον] in a pointed reference to Psalm 107: ‘s εως των αβυσσον

-Psalm 107 begins: “Extol the Lord, for he is gracious.” [οτι χρηστος]. One can immediately guess, without much hesitation, that any early Christian reader would have taken pause at this. The word ‘gracious’ (chrestos) is uncannily similar to Christos (meaning the messiah) One could willfully mishear this as an audible homonym when said out loud in Greek to mean: “Christ is Lord!”

-Mark 6:50 = “they were disturbed” [εταραχθησαν]

-Psalm 107:27 = “they were disturbed” [εταραχθησαν]

-also two lines later (verse 29) the psalm mentions the “gale” [καιγιδι] and “breeze” [αυραν], while Mark in 6:51 has the “wind”[ανεμος] 

-Psalm 107:40b = “he made them wander in trackless wastes (or ‘untrodden places’)” [επλανησεν αυτους εν αβατω]

-Isaiah 53:6b = “A man wandered in his way [τη οδω αυτου επλανηθη] and so the Lord delivered him up for our sins.”

-Leviticus 16:22 = “and a kid/he-goat [οχιμαρος]: he shall take upon himself [ληψεται … εϕ εαυτω] this lawlessness of theirs [τας ανομιας αυτων], into a land untrodden [εις γην αβατου].” 

-Psalm 107:42 = “All lawlessness shall stop its mouth.” [πασα ανομια εμϕραξει το στομα αυτης]

-Isaiah 53:7 = “He didn’t open his mouth [ουκ ηνοιξε το στομα αυτου] … (verse 9=) no lawlessness did he commit nor was treachery in his mouth.” [ανομιαν ουκ εποιησεν ουδε δολος εν τω στοματι αυτον]

[22] And, behold, there arrived one of the leaders of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, 

-Psalm 132:7 is where people ‘doing obeisance to Jesus’ and grabbing his feet etc might be sourced from, for here the ‘place where the Lord stands’ is where we should ‘kneel and worship’ etc

[23] And besought him greatly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death: I beg you, come and lay your hands on her, that she may be healed and live.” [24] And Jesus went with him; many people followed and crowded around him. 

-there may be some slight association with Judges 11:7, where Jephthah asks those begging for his military assistance why they’ve only come to him “now that you are afflicted?” [εθλιβητε] (=Mark uses this word of the crowd “squeezing” [συνεθλιβον] Jesus at 5:23)  Also, Jephthah notes how his petitioners “cast me out of my father’s house.” (=as in Mark 5:40 Jesus “casts out everyone from the house, except the father and mother etc). Judges 11:6= the ‘elders’ want Jephthah to be their “ruler” [ηγουμενον]. (=just as Jairus is a ‘ruler’ over the synagogue elders?)

[25] And a certain woman, who’d had an issue of blood twelve years, [26] And had suffered much things from many physicians, having spent all that she had, yet to no benefit, but instead becoming rather worse.

-it does not seem to be known in biblical scholarship that Mark is alluding to Jeremiah here= 
-Mark 5:25 = “She suffered much under many medical doctors … but to no benefit.” (πολλα παθουσα υπο πολλων ιατρων … μηδεν ωϕεληθεισα)

-Jeremiah 30:13 = “For a painful state you were medically treated, but a benefit to you there is none.” (εις αλγηρον ιατρευθης, ωϕελεια σοι ουκ εστι)

-Jer 30:12, 14, 17 mention a “wound” (πληγης) for which the Lord shall “treat” (ιατρευσω) Israel.”

-Jer 8:11 = “They dress my people’s wounds without concern.”

-Jer 8:21 = “The wound of the daughter of my people wounds me too.” 

-Jer 8:22 = “Aren’t there (well-known) doctors in Gilead? Why then does the cure make no progress?”

-for ‘therapeio’ meaning ‘to treat medically’ see Wisdom of Solomon 16:12, Ben Sira 38:7

-=Mark uses an awkward phrase, possibly inspired by the Septuagint of the book of Joshua=

-Joshua 6:17= Joshua orders his soldiers that when they attack Jericho they should spare and protect Rahab and her family, literally: “all that is as much of hers is” [παντα οσα εστιν αυτης]

- Mark 5:26= having spent “all the things of hers” [τα παρ’ εαυτης παντα]

[27] When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. [28] For she thought: “If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be well.”

-one is forced to assume Mark means to imply that this woman is wealthy or was previously—why else mention how tragic it is that she has wasted all her previous money? 

[29] And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

-Mark 5:29b= “she was healed [ιαται] of the plague [μαστιγος].”

=as with the leper of chapter 1, there is a brief allusion here to Isaiah 53:5= “By his stripes we are healed [ιαθημεν].” =the stripes here are the punishing whip-wounds borne by Isaiah’s servant figure. It is no exegetical coincidence that Mark chooses a word for ‘medical problem’ that has the secondary meaning of ‘whipping.’ 

-Joshua 2:10-11= Rahab tells the two spies from Joshua that the news of how: “totally dried” [κατεξηρανε] was “the Red Sea” [θαλασσαν την ερυθραν] and her people heard of it and they were “amazed” [εξεστημεν]. In verse 12  she mentions a “true” [αληθινον] sign. 

-Mark 5:29= “Suddenly dried up the spring of blood [εξηρανθη η πηγη του αιματος]” then in verse 33 she told him “the truth” [αληθειαν], later at verse 42 = they were “amazed” [εξεστησαν] (though that is another pericope drawn from Elijah/Elisha)

-the ancient Greek poet Pindar’s 4^th Pythian ode puns on the name Jason as meaning ‘healer.’ As is evidenced from the pre-Maccabean era high priestly crisis, the name Jason was considered the Hellenistic equivalent to Joshua. 

-at Mark 5:29-30 the verb heal [ιαο, ιασω] and the name Jesus are linked subtly. It is quite striking that the Tetragrammaton, YHWH's name, seems to have been transliterated into Greek as ‘IAO’ which by coincidence [or not?] is the root of the verb ‘to heal’ and explains why later magical texts use this word as an incantation.

 [30] And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that power had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, “Who touched my cloak?” 

      

-At LXX Exodus 4 Moses is traveling along to the road to an inn and is attacked by a hostile angel. To prevent her husband’s demise, his wife quickly grabs a sharp stone and circumcises their infant son. At verse 26 it’s related that the angry angel “went forth” [απηλθεν απ’ αυτου] due to this operation and Zipporah proclaims: “The blood is stopped” [εστη το αιμα] or alternately “The blood stopped (it)!” This is turned by our gospel author into a woman along the road whose blood(-flow) is also stopped and due to her “touching” Jesus (in parallel to how Moses’ spouse “throws/touches the foreskin at his (=whose? Moses’?) feet” in MT) some (angelic?) power “went forth [εξελθουσαν] from him [εξ αυτου].” What finally makes the borrowing from the Pentateuch obvious is how Zipporah “falls at [προσεπεσε] his feet” at Exod 4:25 just as the hemorrhaging lady at Mark 5:33= προσεπεσεν! 

-is there also some connection between the disciples remark “You see the crowd squeezing [συνθλιβοντα] you.” (=literally ‘afflicting you’) and Exodus 4:31's notice on the Lord “seeing the people’s affliction” [θλιπσιν]? Is Jesus at line 32 “looking all about” [περιεβλεπετο] to see “who’d done this thing [την τουτο ποιησασαν]” somehow inspired as a reversal of Moses “looking everywhere around [περιβλεπσαμενος]” to make sure no one observes him murdering the slave-overseer at Exodus 2:12? Notice how at Exod 2:14 Moses “feared [εϕοβηθη δε] that this thing [το ρημα τουτο]” had become [γεγονεν] common knowledge., just as at Mark 5:33 the woman “fearfully [η δε ϕοβηθεισα]” admits to her act, “knowing what had happened” [ο γεγονεν] = it is not obvious in English but Mark has used the same word in the same tense, as always in an entirely new refurbished literary situation—the consummate sacred scribe! What a novelist! 

[31] And his disciples said unto him, “You can see the multitude thronging thee, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” [32] And he looked round about to see who that had done this thing. 

Leviticus 15:31 links the man or woman with a ‘flow’ (menstrual or seminal), and declares that if they bring the correct sin offering: “they will not die!” [ουκ αποθανουνται]

A bridegroom who “went out” or “having come forth from” his marriage-bed [τινι εξελθη εξ αυτο] counts even as a man with seminal emission by the rule of Leviticus 15:32. This is echoed in the beginning of Chapter 5 of Mark where in verse 2= Jesus “got out of” [εξελθοντος αυτου εκ] the boat and then again after the woman with flow touches him his power “went out” of him [εξελθουσαν] (verse 30).

-the Markan author makes clear the allusion in presenting this, a simple phrase “woman… with blood-flow” [γυνη … ρυσει αιματος] (Mark 5:25)

-Leviticus 15:25= “woman… with a flow of blood”[γυνη … ρυσιν αιματος]

Leviticus 15:27 says of such a person: “all touching her [πας απτομενος αυτης]… their garment [ιματια] shall be unclean.” While Leviticus 15:5 declares about the man with seminal emission: “Whoever should touch [αψηται] his bed should wash [πλυνει] his garments [ιματια].” Mark 5:27 says the menstruant “touched his garment” [ηψατο τον ιματιου] (same noun and verb) 

-saliva of man whose had seminal emission is a pollutant in Leviticus 15:8 

-Lev. 15:11 = “as many as should touch on having seminal emission and his hands haven’t been washed shall be unclean til evening.” (verse 12=) “any earthenware item which has touched a zav must be smashed.”

[33] But the woman, with fear and trembling, fully aware what had just happened to her, came and bowed down before him, and told him the whole truth. [34] He said to her: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of this plague.”

   

-Isaiah 32:9 exhorts “rich women” to “rise up and hear [ακουσατε] my voice” just as Mark 5:27 has the woman “having heard [ακουσασα] about Jesus” goes out to meet him. Isa 32:4 has “speak peace” [λαλειν ειρηνην] like Mark 5:33 has Jesus speaking about ‘peace.’ Isa 32:9-10 urges “daughters of faith” (=compare Mark 5:33’s “Daughter, your faith” etc) to “make mention of past years of grief with hope.” (=just as the woman was grieved for 12 years yet was optimistic about this miracle rabbi?)

-Lamentations 4:14 = “they were tainted with blood [αιματι] in their powerlessness [δυνασθαι]; they touched [ηψαντο] their garments [ενδυματων] with it.”

-Lamentations 4:8 = after Jerusalem was attacked, Nazirites are so sunburned from being homeless that they “are not recognized [επεγνωσθησαν] in the streets … they’re dried up [εξηρανθησαν]…”

-Mark 5:30 = Jesus “recognizes” [επιγνους] that some of his “power” [δυναμιν] has “gone out of him” and asks “Who touched [ηψατο] my garments?”

-Mark 5:29 = her “blood(-gush)” [αιματος] “dried up” [εξηρανθη]

-Lamentations 4:12-13 = “An enemy, one afflicting/squeezing [εκθλιβων], shall go in through the gates of Jerusalem … because of the ones pouring our righteous blood  [αιμα] in her midst.”

-Mark 5:31 = “the crowd afflicting/squeezing [συνθλιβοντα] you…”

-Lamentations 4:16 = the Lord “shall not proceed to look upon [επιβλεψαι] them.”

-Mark 5:32 = “He looked round about [περιεβλεπετο] …”

-Lamentations 4:15 = “Separate from the unclean! Separate, separate and do not touch!”

-Mark 5:34 = Jesus calls the woman ‘daughter’, a word used pointedly several times in Lam. chapter 4—at verses 3, 6, 10, 21, and twice in 22.

-Mark mixes in some earlier parts of the Threnoi= 

-Lament 2:13 = “Daughter of Jerusalem, who shall save [σωσει] you? …who shall heal [ιασεται] you?” 

Mark 5:34 = “Daughter, your belief has saved [σεσωκε] you. …be in health!”

Mark 5:29 = “She was healed [ιαται]…”

-Lament 2:14 = “Your prophets forsaw (only) vain things… (but nothing to) turn back [επιστρεψαι] your future captivity, they beheld [ειδοσαν] for you (only) trifling situations.”

Mark 5:30, 32 = Jesus “turned back around” [επιστρεϕεις] to “behold” [ιδειν] who did this.

[35] While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house some who said, “Your daughter has died: why inconvenience the master further?”

-Mark 5:35= “Your daughter [θυγατηρ σου] died, why be any more of an impediment [σκυλλεις] to this rabbi?”

-Judges 11:35= “My daughter [θυγατηρ μου] you have become an impediment [σκωλον] to me…” (=Jephthah’s girl is destined to meet with the Lord as is Jairus?)

-Mark 5:23 = a leader “besought” that Jesus place “his hands” on his girl so she would “be saved” just as Judges 12:1-3 has the people beseech their leader Jephtha to assist them, but he rejects their plea since they “didn’t offer to help save” him “out of the hands of the Ammonites.”

-Is it meant to be ironic that the people who interrupt Jesus here do so to tell their master that he should stop bothering Jesus? Isaiah 32:5 predicts that during the reign of a truly “righteous king” that “no longer will they tell a moron to rule nor will their attendants say: ‘Shut up!’” =this line might be why Mark presents the officers of this ‘ruler’ [αρχων] as needlessly silencing two people. 

-there may here be some vague parody of the brothers of the betrothed Shullamite of Song of Songs who try to convince her future husband she is not desirable, with a 'flat chest' and 'skinny as a twig' etc.

-see also Pseudo-Philo 40 where the “untimely death” of Jephthah’s daughter is sung about

[36] As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he said unto the ruler of the synagogue, “Be not afraid, only believe.” [37] And he allowed no man to follow him except Peter—and James, along with his brother John. [38] He arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, and viewed the tumult, and them that wept and wailed loudly. 

-Mark 5:38 = after Jairus’ daughter’s death his household “make a tumult” [θορυβον]

-Mark 14:2 = the priests/scribes consult about not arresting Jesus during the holiday, lest there be a “tumult” [θορυβος] among the people. 

[39] When he got there, he asked, “Why make ye much ado and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleeps.” [40a] And they laughed at him as (if he were) ridiculous. 

-like Lot’s girls, the 12 year old and the woman with menstrual problems for 12 years would in theory (by the story-logic) have ‘never known a man”: making these two “daughters” (as they are called respectively in Mark 5:23 and verse 34) just like Lot’s 2 daughters!

-Mark 5:40 = “they ridiculed/laughed at him” [κατεγελων]

-Genesis 19:14 = Lot tells his sons-in-law to escape, but they think he’s “joking around” [γελοιαζειν]

Gen 19:16= “he was disturbed” [εταραχθησαν] and an angel “held his hand” [εκρατησαν…της χειρος] 

-Mark 5:41 = Jesus “holds the hand” [κρατησας της χειρος] of the daughter.

[40b] But after he’d thrown them all out, he took the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entered in where the damsel was lying. [41] And he took the damsel by the hand, saying, “Talitha koumi” (which is, being interpreted (from Aramaic), ‘Little girl, I say to thee, arise’). 

-J Duncan M. Derrit. ‘The Making of Mark: the scriptural bases of the earliest gospel’ (Warwickshire, England: P. Drinkwater,: 1985) page 107 (elipsis mine)= “The two females collectively constitute Daughters of Jerusalem and this is the first time this biblical character has come within our range, a character proper to […] Lamentations and Canticles. […] she is really one person, for the woman shares characteristics of the girl, and vice versa. The joy at the end of the passage speaks of salvation come to the house of Israel. […] Here Jesus very nearly concludes a betrothal with the girl at 5:40, which is highly ironical.” 

-considering that it’s obvious Mark had Leviticus 15 on his mind while composing this chapter, there is in there a reference to the “bridegroom going to bed” with his new wife and whether his supposed emission in that instance would make him the cultic equivalent to one who has gonorhea. The reason this odd issue would be of note here is that it’s vaguely possible Mark means for this young maiden to somehow represent a marriage prospect for Jesus/the Lord, whose bride is Israel in his/her incarnation as the ‘daughter of Abraham’ in many OT prophets like Hosea and Ezekiel, though there she is disobedient. 

-Canticles 2:10= the daughter of Jerusalem describes how her beloved spoke to her, saying [λεγει]: “Arise!” [αναστα] [=in Hebrew (qumi) [קומי]; the same word Mark goes out of his way to sound out in its Semetic form! Also at 1:10 and elsewhere ‘gazelles’ are mentioned, which in Aramaic is not only a circumlocution for teen girls but a homonym of the word for them, talitha/tabitha; an easy elision to make. Mark 5:41 ’s vocabulary matches Canticles= “I say” [λεγω], “she arose” [ανεστη]. Such allusions make the possibility that somehow this offers us a shadowy glimpse of a hieros gamos kind of scenario, which one suspects appears again briefly with the Syro-Phoenician’s daughter “lying on the bed” at chapter 7 of Mark. But beyond this we are unable to speculate. 

[42a] And straightway the damsel arose, and walked—she was twelve years old. 

• A large portion of the details given in this story are a midrash on Genesis 21, the eviction of Hagar=

-Genesis 21:15-16= Ejected (evicted?) by Abraham, a homeless Hagar abandons her thirsty baby Ishmael to die under a bush. He beings to loudly “cry” [εκλαυσεν].

-Gen 21:17-18 =  An angel appears and asks: “What [τι] is it, Hagar? Fear not! Rise up [αναστηθι] and take the child [παιδιον] and hold it in your hands [κρατησον τη χειρι σου].” 

-Mark 5:39 = Jesus asks: “What [τι] are you crying [κλαιετε] so wildly about? The child [παιδιον] is not dead.”  Then in verse 41 he “holds her hand [κρατησας της χειρος]” and speaks Aramaic. In verse 42 the girl “rose up” [ανεστη]. The word ‘koumi’ spoken here is exactly same in Hebrew as what the angel says Genesis 21:18.

-Mark 5:40 has the aside that Jesus entered “into where the place where the child was” [οπου ην το παιδιον] 

-Genesis 21:17 twice repeats the angel’s news that God has heard “the voice of your child [του παιδιου] from out of the place where it was [εκ του οπου ου ην].” 

-Genesis 21:10 = Just as Sarah “throws out” [εκβαλε] Hagar because she saw young Ishmael “playing with” [παιζοντα] with Isaac in some mocking (incestuous? menacing?) way, so does Jesus at Mark 5:40= he “throws out” [εκβαλων] everybody from Jairus’ house because they “ridiculed him” [κατεγελων] for stating the dead daughter was merely asleep. 

[42b] And they were astonished with a great astonishment. 

-to the Shunamite woman, whose dead son he later resurrects, Elisha says “you startled us all with this change of state” [εξεστησας … εκστασιν ταυτην] (=2Kings 4:13 LXX); this odd phrase is reused in Mark 5:42 when Jairus and his wife are “ecstatic with great ecstasy” [εξεστησαν εκστασει μεγαλη]. 

-one begins to suspects that artistry of the type Mark is utilizing here was part of some way of showing off one’s prowess to other scribes.

-in a very similar way, Luke also alludes to a single sentence from the Elijah/Elisha story-cycle to end another of his fan-fiction additions to Mark’s novel; see=

-Luke 7:15= Jesus and son of widow of Nain: “he gave him to his mother” [εδωκεν αυτον τη μητρι αυτου]  

-1Kings 17:23= Elijah and son of widow of Sarepta: “he gave him to his mother” [εδωκεν αυτο τη μητρι αυτου]

-not to bring up the mess that is chapter 6, but there is a possible allusion at 6:28 “she gave him/it to her mother” [εδωκεν αυτην τη μητρι αυτης] when stripper Salome delivers the severed-head laden platter to Herodias. 

-the widow of Nain tale in Luke 7 mixes together Mark’s fables about Jairus’ daughter and the epileptic of chapter 9. He adds some more Elijah/Elisha stuff too.

[43] And he ordered them harshly that no one should know about this; and commanded that they give her something to eat.

-the ‘Messianic secret again’ = like with the leper at chapter 1 and the epileptic at chapter 9, Jesus intends for his miracles to stay hidden.

-Luke sometimes borrows from himself in a Markan way, as in these following details compared between the story of Stephen’s stoning and Peter’s healing of the widow Tabitha at Lydda. 

-Acts 9:40 = “and casting them outside” (=the widows with Tabitha)

-Acts 7:60 = “kneeling” [θεις δε τα γονατα]

-Acts 9:40 = “kneeling” [θεις τα γονατα]

-Acts 7: 58 = “the witness took off their garments” [μαρτυρες απεθεντο τα ιματια αυτων] (to give to Saul)

For seemingly no reason, the deceased’s acquaintances show Peter some clothes they sewed when Tabitha was alive: Acts 9:39 = “the widows … presented their garments [χηραι … επιδεικνυμεναι … ιματια αυτων]” (those sewn by Tabitha with her widow friends)

-Mark 5:43 = of the recent of raising of Jairus’ daughter, Jesus “ordered emphatically (=much) that no one should know of this” [πολλα ινα μηδεις γνοι τουτο] while Acts 9:42 reverses this into Peter’s miraculous raising of widow Tabitha “becoming known throughout all of Jaffa.” [γνωστον δε εγενετο καθ’ ολης της Ιοππης].  And then last and most surprising of all, Luke makes an Aramaic pun without quoting any of that language; in describing Peter’s words to the resurrected widow: “Tabitha arise!” [Ταβιθα αναστηθι]. This is in obvious parody of Jesus’ incantatory phrase spoken to Jairus' daughter at Mark 5:41 “Talitha koumi” [Ταλιθα κουμι] which the author explains [=μεθερμηνευομενον] as meaning “little girl, arise”. Just as Peter does at Acts 9:41, Jesus “takes her hand” (Mark 5:41) after the miracle. Acts doesn’t put any of this in a middle eastern language, but does explain Tabitha’s name “as meaning” [διερμηνευομενη] “gazelle” [Δορκας] = that is Dorkas/Dorcus. So Luke has purposefully moved the translating form the magic words causing the healing to the name of the recipient. It is likely this is a hidden reference to the figure called in Josephus who presents himself as the ‘Taheb,’ the Samaritan Messiah at this time, whose named is given variously in the different sources as Dositheus or Dortus or Dorkas/Dorcus. It is important to note the name Dositheus ‘gift of God’ is a different form of the name “Theudas” another of these characters Josephus calls ‘deceivers’, not to mention the disciple Thaddeus.  

-Canticles 4:7 quoted by Paul at Ephesians 5:27 on church being a “bride without blemish”= both the 12 year  old girl and the woman healed from 12 year affliction would in theory now be marriageable and eligible—to be brides of Christ? Admittedly this is a very late medieval idea, but Mark has many meanings hidden in plain sight. 

-Luke has mimicked Mark twinning of themes with the 12 year old girl and woman afflicted with menorrhagia 12 years. Luke 13:4 mentions the “eighteen” [δεκαοκτω] upon whom the collapsing tower of Siloam fell, then soon after there is a woman who spine has been bent “eighteen” [δεκαοκτω] years. Luke has learned well from his predecessor in more than one way though: when Luke 13 tells of “18 Israelites crushed” it is in probable parody of Judges 10:8 where the Philistines and Ammonites “crushed the sons of Israel for 18 years” due to “their sins” but when they forsake and destroy their graven idols they are again looked upon kindly by God. This matches Jesus telling his audience that “unless they repent” they will be next. 

Mark’s reason for his story order is partially revealed here. Chapter five has the ‘raising’ of a child then the next chapter has a miraculous feeding where there is leftovers. It is obvious this has been influenced by 2Kings 4, where Elisha resurrects the Shunammite’s son then cleanses some poisonous food, dividing it among his prophetic disciples with extra to spare. The theme of ‘cleansing’ foods appears also in Mark 7!