Kata Markon

[Khbonnell AT aol.com]

"Mark:  "The Backstory,"  Part 3


16.  Mark 14:12-15 – 12.And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lambs, his disciples said to him, "Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"   13. And he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you, follow him, 14. And wherever he enters, say to the householder, "The teacher says, ‘Where is my guest room, where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?' 15. And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready; there prepare for us."  16.  And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

    What ties this to the theme is the man carrying a jar of water. This would mark him as a temple servant, and implies Jesus' acquaintance with his master.  This is at odds with the enmity Jesus had shown toward temple servants a few days earlier in the temple.

17.  Mark 14:43-52 – 43.  And immediately, while he was sill speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve; and with him a crowd with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, 44.  Now the deliverer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him and lead him away safely."  45.   And when he came, he went up to him at once, and said, "Master!"  And he kissed him.. 46.  And they laid hands on him and seized him.  47.  But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48. And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and staves to capture me?  49. Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.  But let the scriptures be fulfilled."  50.  And they all let go of him and fled.
    51.  And a young man came behind him, and cast a linen cloth about his body, and they seized him. 52.   And he left the linen cloth and ran away naked..  53a. And they led Jesus to the high priest . . . 

    The crowd consisted of temple servants, identified as such by two things: They came from the chief priests, their bosses; and they carried "swords," in Greek "blades," knives for the slaughtering and dismemberment of sacrificial animals and staves, pieces of wood cut for the sacrificial fire on the altar. Among them was the personal slave of the high priest.  The man probably had his ear pierced in accordance with the Law (Exodus 21:6).  The Greek translated as "cut off" is "lifted off," indicating that the barbaric commandment may have been replaced in mercy by a clay ear on a cord around the man's neck.  Mark makes no more of it, so that a bodily injury may not have occurred.  Jesus says that he had been with them in the temple day after day, as he would have been if they had been temple servants.
    The next line is taken to be the action of his disciples, but the disciples cannot have been the antecedent of "they" in it.  The word translated as "forsook" means "let go off." So what the story is saying is that those who had laid their hands on him in verse 46 had released him and backed away.  A young man who had a linen cloth, perhaps an altar cloth, threw this around Jesus' body so that the temple servants could take hold of him again.

18.  Mark 14:53b, 55-64 – 53b.  And all the chief priests and elders and scribes were assembled.  55.  Now the chief priests and the whole council sought testimony against Jesus to put him to death; but they found none.  56.  For many bore false witness against him, and their witness did not agree.  57.  And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying 58.  "We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with h hands.' " 59. Yet not even so did their testimony agree.  60.  And the high pries stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, "Have you no answer to make.  What is it that these men testify against you?"  61.  But he was silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed?" 62.  And Jesus said, "I am. And you shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."  63.  And the high priest tore his cloak and said, "Why do we still need witnesses?  You have heard his blasphemy.  What is your decision?"  And they all condemned his as deserving death. 

    The pool from whom they drew the witnesses probably was the crowd that had brought Jesus to them, the temple servants.  Since they weren't Jews, any testimony that they would give would be considered unreliable and "false."  The statement attributed to Jesus about destroying the temple and building another in three days is very like that in John 2:19, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Mark does not include Jesus' anything like this.  So there is a question about its origin that needs to be answered.
    In Jesus' response, the "son of man . . . coming with the clouds of heaven" is the figure of Baal Hadad, rider of the Clouds, of the Canaanite religion.   The high priest of Yahvism would have considered a prediction of the ascendency of the Canaanite god to be blasphemous. This ties with the Danielian figure, Daniel 7:13-14 – Vision of Belshazzar: "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient (Ensign) of Days and was presented before him.  And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." and implies that the kingdom will be that of Baal Hadad and not of Yahveh.   If that is the case, the   high priest was justified in saying that Jesus has blasphemed.                                             
    From here to the end of the Mark's story, 9:8, there are no more Canaanite references or allusions.  I have saved the choice tidbit for the end. Here we go back to the beginning, in which Jesus is given his identity and sent on his mission, at the baptism, Mark 1:9-14:

19.  Mark 1:10-12 – 10. "And immediately going up from the water, he saw the heaven parting and the spirit as a dove descending upon him.  11. And a voice came out of the heavens,'You are my son, the beloved, in whom I have found delight.  12.  And immediately the spirit drives him out into the wilderness."
    Although the "spirit" is seen in the other gospels differently.  Matthew (3:16) has it specifically being seen by Jesus  "the spirit of God descending like a dove."  Luke (3:22) has "the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form as a dove."  John (1:32) puts it as a report in the mouth of the Baptist, as a sign to him: "And John bore witness, ‘I saw the spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.' 33.  ‘I myself did not know him; ut he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptized with the Holy Spirit."  And I have seen and have bone witness that this is the son of God.'"
    In Mark this identity is not so clear.  It is not the descent that is dovelike, as in Matthew and John.  It is "the spirit as a dove."  Another possibility is  that this "spirit" represents the Canaanite goddess Anat, sister-consort of Baal Hadad, to whom doves were sacred. The temple sacrifice of doves (Luke 2:24, Leviticus 12:6-8) .  Anat, besides controlling fertility, was warlike.  It is this attribute that would account for the spirit driving Jesus into the wilderness.  In transforming her, the other writers toned down her action so that Jesus was "led" into the wilderness.  (Robert Graves (*The White Goddess*, 1966, p. 125): "The dove was sacred to the Love-goddess o Greece and Syria . . . ")
    In this context, the voice from heaven would be that of Baal Hadad, known for his loud voice and as "the mighty man."  This would be the "man" in Jesus' term "the son of [the] man."  The Greek for this term is *ho vious tou anthropou* in which *tou* is the definite article.