Chapter 3:1-6.
1AND he entered again into the synagogue, and there was there a man having his hand dried up. 2And they were watching him whether he would heal him on the sabbath (day), that they might accuse him. 3And he saith to the man that had his hand dried, Rise up into the midst. 4And he saith to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath (days) to do good or to do ill, to save life, or to kill? 5 And when he (had) looked round (about) on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart (s), he saith to the man, Stretch out thy hand. And he stretched [it] out, and his hand was restored (whole as the other). 6And the Pharisees, having gone out, immediately were deliberating with the Herodians against him how they might destroy him.
Notes and Suggestions.
Verse 1.— Again. There appear to have been seven miraculous cures wrought by the Lord on the Sabbath: —
Mark 1:21-27. Casting out a demon.
Mark 1:29-31. Healing Peter’s mother-in-law.
Mark 3:1-6. Restoring the withered hand.
Luke 13:11-17. Restoring infirm woman.
Luke 14:1-4. Healing man with dropsy.
John 5:1-16. Healing impotent man.
John 9:1-41. Opening blind man’s eyes.
There were others performed (Mark 1:34), but details of these only are recorded in the four Gospels.
Synagogue. Of the above cures, the demon was cast out (Mark 1:21-27), the withered hand restored, and the infirm woman healed (Luke 13:11-17). publicly in the synagogue.
Dried up. The hand was shrunk and wasted, so that it was quite useless. By natural means this was incurable.
Verse 2. — Were watching. They were eyeing Him with evil intent; as in Luke 14 1; 20:20. See also Acts 9:24.
On the Sabbath. Immediately before this, Mark gives a work of necessity on the Sabbath (2:23-28), here a work of mercy. Luke says it occurred upon “another” Sabbath, perhaps the week following the incident in the cornfields.
The Lord’s action on the Sabbath, which was the particular sign of Judaism, is highly significant that it was to be set aside. “One cannot but see how the old system, based on what man ought to be for God, is being set aside for what God is for man. But the former [the law] having been established by God, nothing but the words and works of Jesus would have justified the Jews in giving it up.” But they resisted both His words and His works (John 15:22, 24).
Verse 3. — Rise up into the midst. The miracle was to be performed publicly in the sight of all.
Verse 4. — Is it lawful? They had asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? “that they might accuse Him. He turns their question upon themselves, bringing the light to bear upon their crooked words, — Is it lawful to do good or ill, to save or to destroy life? This question would admit of but one honest reply; and that reply would quash every objection they might raise against the Lord’s healing the afflicted man.
Verse 5. — Anger, being grieved. Righteous and holy indignation at their willful resistance and wicked opposition to the truth. “The presence of grief and anger in the same heart at the same time is no contradiction. Indeed, with Him Who was at once perfect love and perfect holiness, grief for the sinner must ever go hand in hand with anger against the sin; and this anger—which with us is in danger of becoming a turbid thing, of passing into anger against the man who is God’s creature, instead of being anger against the sin, which is the devil’s corruption of God’s creature—with Him was perfectly pure; for it is not the agitation of the waters, but the sediment at the bottom, which troubles and defiles them; and where no sediment is, no impurity will follow on their agitation.” “Though we read of His looking round in anger, yet we soon learn, that this was not the anger of one who has taken the seat of judgment, but of Him Who was grieved at heart for the hardness and unbelief of men. It was the sensitiveness of the spirit of holiness.”
Whole as the other. This phrase is found in Matthew 12:13, but is an unwarranted addition here, and so omitted in the revised translation above.
Verse 6. — Herodians. The Herodians appear to have been a political rather than a religious party among the Jews. They are also referred to in Matthew 22:16 and Mark 12:13, and in each case they are conferred with by the Pharisees with a view to the apprehension of the Lord.
Destroy Him. Those who complained of the Lord restoring the man’s withered hand on the Sabbath had no compunction in plotting against the Lord’s life on that day. Compare the Lord’s words above, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to kill?” Though boasting of the law, they broke its spirit and dishonored God (Rom. 2:23). They could not save life, but they meant to destroy life as soon as they had opportunity.