Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 2 Study # 3
February 25, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(146)
1901 ASV
12 that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them.
- I. The "Lest" Phrase.
- A. Though the phrase itself is not linguistically difficult, the concept is.
- 1. The linguistic issues.
- a. "Lest". This word is used in only 20 texts of the entire New Testament. Mark only uses it twice.
- 1) In Mark's usage, the meaning, derived from the major issues of the context, is that there is a "potential" on the horizon that is not desired so that those viewing it take action to keep it from developing (4:12 and 14:2).
- 2) In the remaining texts of the New Testament the idea of a "potential" that is undesired remains intact in Matthew's 7 uses, but the idea of someone taking certain actions to attempt to block it is not as clear (as in Matthew 18:14). In Luke's 5 uses, he does not strictly adhere to "an unwanted potential" in 3:15, but does in the other 4 uses. In Acts, Luke uses the word twice and the notion of "an unwanted potential" is retained. In 2 Timothy 2:25 Paul upsets this "an unwanted potential" by referring to "a wanted potential". The author of Hebrews uses it in two places with "an unwanted potential" in place, but he uses it once in 9:17 where the issue is not so much "an unwanted potential" as it is a declaration of a certain "potential" always being denied.
- 3) The large majority of uses indicates that we should see Jesus' words in our text as putting forth a "possible" result that is to be kept from happening.
- b. "Return". Mark uses this word in three "literal" physical settings where it means "to turn one's body around in order to attempt to resolve a problem" (5:30; 8:33; 13:16) and in one case (our current text) uses the word as a metaphor rooted in the physical realm to define a non-physical action: "return", in this case, refers to the non-physical action of "repenting" so as to obtain the "forgiveness" that is promised in John's and Jesus' message of "Repent and God will forgive you". However, Acts 3:19, in the record of Peter's call to the nation, and Acts 26:20, in Paul's testimony before Agrippa, both use the word "repent" as well as the word "turn", clearly indicating some degree of difference, but also indicating a sufficiently close sense as to make the outcome (forgiveness) occur on the weight of either action. Acts 11:21 does a similar thing by tying "believing" to "turning". Paul said, in Acts 14:15 that the purpose of the Gospel is to "turn" people from "vain things" to "a living God". Acts 26:18 indicates that the "opening of the eyes" results in "turning from darkness to light so that "forgiveness" results. Acts 28:27 says that the "closing of the eyes" is the deliberate action of those in opposition who will not be forgiven. The remaining uses in the New Testament follow these examples.
- c. "Forgiven". Mark uses this word in 34 of the texts in his Gospel in both physical realm situations (as in "leaving their nets, they followed...") and in non-physical realm situations where the issue is "sins being forgiven" as God "leaves off His wrath toward sins and walks away with the "forgiven" into "mercy" (2:5-10). The noun (afesis) and the verb (afiem) are the primary terms in Mark for "forgiveness".
- 2. The phrase in light of its origin: Isaiah 6:9-10.
- a. In both Matthew 13:15 and Acts 28:27, the Greek text follows the Septuagint which lays the blame of the condition upon the people themselves in that Isaiah 6:10 says "...they have closed their eyes...". Mark does not quote that portion of the Isaiah text and jumps over it from the declaration regarding their hearing and not grasping the meaning to the "lest..." concept. Interestingly, the NASB translation of Isaiah 6:10 does not mention this "blame" clause. Instead, it contains the command, "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim...". It seems clear that the overall use of this text in the Bible is to the "point" that "seeing" and "hearing" what one does not wish to "see" or "hear" just makes the insensitivity greater upon each "sight" and "hearing".
- b. In this text/context, Isaiah has recorded his vision of the Lord at the point in time of Uzziah's death.
- 1) Uzziah was set upon the throne of Judah in his 16th year and he reigned 52 years (2 Chronicles 25:3).
- 2) This man, made exceptionally strong by the Lord, became so proud that he entered the temple to burn incense on the altar and, after being confronted by the priests and becoming enraged at them, he was smitten with leprosy and it remained upon him to his death (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). This is the "highlight" of Scripture on this man; a sad record of the depravity of extreme arrogance.
- 3) In the prophecy of Isaiah, the first five chapters are overshadowed by the extreme rebellion of a nation of hypocrites who are identified as inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (1:9-10) and, couched in the context in chapter two of the promises of a coming of Messiah's Reign of Peace, is the appeal to God, "Do not forgive them" (2:9).
- 4) Then, as chapter six opens, Isaiah records his absolute dismay at seeing the Lord in His glory because he is a terribly sinful man.
- 5) But, after his purging and being forgiven (6:7), he is commissioned to go to the house of Judah and proclaim their position under the wrath of God without remedy. This is where our text in Mark comes from.
- c. This text/context declares to us that there actually is an end to the compassion and tolerance of God.
- 2. The phrase in the light of Daniel's prophecies: 70 Weeks have been decreed for Daniel's people.
- a. Prophecy, once given, is inevitable in its fulfillment: "decreed" means "determined to be realized in history".
- b. God is "Holy" (all attributes in complete harmony) and "wrath" is just as much a part of His character as "mercy" so that we err greatly when we over-balance one at the expense of the other (2 Timothy 2:25 says that God's willingness to grant knowledge of the truth is an "if perhaps" matter, not guaranteed by any method of reasoning).
- c. At the end of the 69th week, the "cutting off of Messiah" guaranteed the cataclysmic events of 70 A.D.
- 3. The phrase in the light of past biblical records regarding God's responses to the sinfulness of men: the Flood; the Dispersion; the Restriction of Revelation to the "Chosen Nation"; the disastrous judgments upon both individuals and groups whose perception of God was that He would tolerate anything, etc.
- 4. The phrase in the light of Jesus' own ministry as a kind of "reincarnation" of Isaiah's in which Judah was to be treated as Isaiah 2:9 declares: no forgiveness except for the preservation of a "remnant" as Isaiah 1:9 indicates.
