Mark 6:15
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Others were saying, “He is Elijah,” and still others, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
THE SYROPHœNICIAN WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTER--A DEAF AND DUMB MAN HEALED. ( = Mat 15:21-31). (Mar 7:24-37) And from thence he arose, and went into the borders--or "unto the borders." of Tyre and Sidon--the two great Phœnician seaports, but here denoting the territory generally, to the frontiers of which Jesus now came. But did Jesus actually enter this heathen territory? The whole narrative, we think, proceeds upon the supposition that He did. His immediate object seems to have been to avoid the wrath of the Pharisees at the withering exposure He had just made of their traditional religion. and entered into an house, and would have no man know it--because He had not come there to minister to heathens. But though not "sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mat 15:24), He hindered not the lost sheep of the vast Gentile world from coming to Him, nor put them away when they did come--as this incident was designed to show. but he could not be hid--Christ's fame had early spread from Galilee to this very region (Mar 3:8; Luk 6:17).
Open source ↗A great variety of observable passages we have, in this chapter, concerning our Lord Jesus, the substance of all which we had before in Matthew, but divers circumstances we have, which we did not there meet with. Here is, I. Christ contemned by his countrymen, because he was one of them, and they knew, or thought they knew, his original (Mar 6:1-6). II. The just power he gave his apostles over unclean spirits, and an account given of their negotiation (Mar 6:7-13). III. A strange notion which Herod and others had of Christ, upon which occasion we have the story of the martyrdom of John Baptist (v. 14-29). IV. Christ's retirement into a desert place with his disciples; the crowds that followed him thither to receive instruction from him; and his feeding five thousand of them with five loaves and two fishes (Mar 6:30-44). V. Christ's walking upon the sea to his disciples, and the abundance of cures he wrought on the other side of the water (Mar 6:45-56).
Open source ↗6:15 The return of the prophet Elijah had been prophesied in Mal 3:1; 4:5-6 (cp. Mark 9:11-13).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
The crowds replied, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him—for she is a sinner!”
A sense of awe swept over all of them, and they glorified God. “A great prophet has appeared among us!” they said. “God has visited His people!”
So once again they asked the man who had been blind, “What do you say about Him, since it was your eyes He opened?” “He is a prophet,” the man replied.
others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that a prophet of old had arisen.
asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”