Markus 5:21

HEROD THINKS JESUS A RESURRECTION OF THE MURDERED BAPTIST--ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH. ( = Mat 14:1-12; Luk 9:7-9). (Mark 6:14-29) And King Herod--that is, Herod Antipas, one of the three sons of Herod the Great, and own brother of Archelaus (Mat 2:22), who ruled as ethnarch over Galilee and Perea. heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad); and he said--"unto his servants" (Mat 14:2), his councillors or court ministers. That John the Baptist was risen from the dead--The murdered prophet haunted his guilty breast like a specter, and seemed to him alive again and clothed with unearthly powers, in the person of Jesus.

The Gadarenes having desired Christ to leave their country, he did not stay to trouble them long, but presently went by water, as he came, back to the other side (Mar 5:21), and there much people gathered to him. Note, If there be some that reject Christ, yet there are others that receive him, and bid him welcome. A despised gospel will cross the water, and go where it will have better entertainment. Now among the many that applied themselves to him, I. Here is one, that comes openly to beg a cure for a sick child; and it is no less a person than one of the rulers of the synagogue, one that presided in the synagogue-worship or, as some think, one of the judges of the consistory court, which was in every city, consisting of twenty-three. He was not named in Matthew, he is here, Jairus, or Jair, Jdg 10:3. He addressed himself to Christ, though a ruler, with great humility and reverence; When he saw him, he fell at his feet, giving honour to him as one really greater than he appeared to be; and with great importunity, he besought him greatly, as one in earnest, as one that not only valued the mercy he came for, but that knew he could obtain it no where else. The case is this, He has a little daughter, about twelve years old, the darling of the family, and she lies a dying; but he believes that if Christ will but come, and lay his hands upon her, she will return even from the gates of the grave. He said, at first, when he came, She lies a dying (so Mark); but afterward, upon fresh information sent him, he saith, She is even now dead (so Matthew); but he still prosecutes his suit; see Luk 8:42-49. Christ readily agreed, and went with him, Mar 5:24. II. Here is another, that comes clandestinely to steal a cure (if I may so say) for herself; and she got the relief she came for…

5:21-43 Two healing miracles are connected by the need for faith (5:34, 36). The story of Jairus’s daughter brackets the story of the healing of the woman who had constant bleeding (5:25-34; see Mark Book Introduction, “Literary Features”), during which Jairus’s sick daughter died (5:35-43). 5:21-22 As Jesus arrived in Galilee on the other (i.e., west) side of the lake, . . . a leader of the local synagogue named Jairus approached him. Jairus organized the worship services at the synagogue (cp. Acts 13:15) and represented the Jewish community to the outside world.