Hello, welcome to the podcast, Bible Wisdom Today. My name is Stan Watkins.

The Bible has always been an important foundation for my personal faith, leading me to complete a Bible degree and enter Christian ministry, ultimately going with my wife and family to Europe for 6 years. There I served in the areas of Bible teaching and music. Since returning to the states, I have supported my local church as I have had opportunity, but now I would like a more regular outlet for teaching God’s word.

Understanding the Bible is not simply a matter of belief that it is God’s word. The Bible was written long ago, in a foreign language, within an alien culture, using unfamiliar literary styles. Today’s Bible student must overcome each of these obstacles. This podcast is for those willing to do the hard work to discover God's wisdom for life today.

As we move into Mark chapter 11, we begin the final major section of Mark’s gospel. As you may recall, the first portion of Mark’s gospel revolved around ministry in Galilee, up to the middle of chapter 8. From there through the end of chapter 10 we traveled with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, as he intentionally, progressively revealed his mission and plan to suffer and die to redeem humanity. We now begin the third section which takes place in and around Jerusalem. In addition to this geographic movement, the ministry of Jesus also passes through various phases, from the initial phase of secrecy, through the phase of schooling, to the final phase of suffering, where we find ourselves now. Today we come to Episode 16, which I have entitled “Jesus overturns the religious establishment.” 

All the remaining events, fully 1/3 of Mark’s gospel, are set in Jesus’ final 7 days. This signals the importance of his final week. The fast pace of the gospel, which we experienced in chapters 1-3, returns, as events quickly climax in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The events of chapters 11-13, part of which we cover in this episode, are all set in the temple or are directly related to it. Mark wants to show that Jesus supersedes the temple as the place where people can draw near to God. Jesus did not come to reform the temple but to replace it. His death on the cross offered the perfect atonement for sin, surpassing the inadequate worship in the temple. At his death, the curtain in the temple protecting the most holy place was torn in two from top to bottom. God himself dramatically desecrated his own temple to replace it with his son.

Mark begins the final act of God’s drama of salvation with…

Jesus’ triumphal arrival at the temple, 11:1-11

Let’s read beginning in Mark 11, verse 1.

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go
 Mark 11:1-6

Jesus approached Jerusalem from the East, taking the road from Jericho up the steep climb to the top of the Mount of Olives. From there he descended only 300 feet to Jerusalem. Many have found issue with the geographical placenames here, saying that a traveler actually reaches Bethany before Bethphage, and Mark has his geography wrong. That would be true by today’s route, but the old Roman road lay north of the modern road, arriving at Bethphage at or near the summit of the Mount of Olives. From there one could continue west to Jerusalem, as Jesus did, or take a different road back down the steep hill to Bethany, a short distance to the south. Mark mentions Bethany, not because it was on the way, but to identify it as the place where Jesus would spend his nights while in Jerusalem.

Jesus sends his two emissaries to the village ahead, which probably means Bethphage, but Mark is a bit vague about which village, which two disciples, and which kind of animal they were to find, since “colt” can mean a young donkey or a young horse.   It also is a bit unclear whether this assignment from Jesus demonstrates prior planning, which is likely due to the detailed instructions, or whether it shows supernatural knowledge. In either case it shows that Jesus is in total control. 

Mark goes into detail regarding the preliminary plans, apparently to emphasize Jesus’ absolute authority as the Messiah. Commandeering a beast of burden was the prerogative of a king in the ancient world. Jesus specifies that the colt should not ever have been ridden. This could be understood as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, which says,

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! 
 Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
 See, your king comes to you, 
 righteous and victorious, 
 lowly and riding on a donkey, 
 on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
 Zechariah 9:9

Matthew and John specifically cite this quote as fulfilled prophecy, but Mark prefers to include subtle Messianic imagery rather than openly proclaim prophetic fulfillment.

Jesus statement that “the Lord needs it” raises an interesting issue. We tend to use “the Lord” as simply a synonym for God, but “lord” does have its own meaning. It literally means “master.” We use the word that way in English when we use “lord of the manor” or “master of the house” as equivalents. There are other places in Mark where Jesus refers to himself as “lord.” For example, he told the demoniac whom he had freed, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.” The delivered man obviously understood the meaning for he went away and began to tell how much Jesus had done for him. Even though the word “lord” is not a direct synonym for God, Jews in Jesus day often substituted “lord” for the name of God to avoid any possibility of profaning his name. By using “lord,” here, Jesus presumes to take the authority of the divine master.

We will continue our reading, beginning in Mark 11:4.

When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
 “Hosanna!”
 “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 
 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
 “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
 Mark 11:7-10

Since the colt had never been broken, there was no saddle for Jesus, so the disciples threw their cloaks over it. The crowd also honored him by spreading their cloaks and branches on the road. This demonstration strengthens the coronation motif. It may have been a deliberate reminder of Solomon’s ride into Jerusalem on his father David’s mule following his secret coronation, but it also was an echo of the more recent entrance of Simon Maccabeus with a chorus of praise and waving palm branches (1 Maccabees 13:51) after his triumph over Israel’s Greek oppressors some 170 years earlier.

The Messianic expectations of the crowd are clear from their cries. They first shouted “Hosanna,” which literally means “save us now.” Originally this was a prayer for God’s kingdom to come but by the first century the word had become simply a general acclamation of praise. Second, they cried “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” This, along with the previous “Hosanna,” is from Psalm 118, which was regularly recited at the Passover celebration. The crowd repurposes it as a celebration of Jesus’ arrival as Messiah. Thirdly they said, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.” This is not from Psalm 118 or any other Psalm, but it is explicitly Messianic. It also reveals a certain confusion on the part of the crowd, as it would have been more Messianic if the reference were to the son of David rather than “our father David.” Finally, they cried “Hosanna in the highest heaven.” Mark demonstrates his author’s pedigree by arranging these shouts of the crowd into a simple chiastic structure with two halves that repeat exactly in reverse order: “Hosanna,” “Blessed,” “Blessed,” “Hosanna.”

This public display was a deliberate prophetic act. Jesus reverses the messianic secret of his early ministry. Now is the time to reveal his identity to all.

Mark 11:11,

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
 Mark 11:11

The temple had always been the object of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, not the city itself. “He looked around at everything.” After all the shouting voices, waving palms, and spread out cloaks, this seems like an anticlimax. So, it would be if the story ended there, but this entrance was simply a survey. The next day he will take decisive action. He has not come to reform temple worship or bring it back to its original design; he has come to replace temple worship with himself. For now, though, he stands at the center of Israel’s faith and finds that this is not his home.

Jesus took his retinue and went out to Bethany, where he apparently stayed with his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus each evening until Thursday.

Jesus’ prophetic judgment against the temple, 11:12-25

Let’s continue reading, Mark 11:12-14.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
 Mark 11:12-14

This story of the cursed fig tree has caused much head scratching and heartburn for Bible interpreters. Why would Jesus fall into a vindictive fury over a tree that did not produce figs when it wasn’t even the right season? Bertrand Russell, the celebrated British philosopher of the early 20th century, gave this story as one example of Jesus’ imperfection in his famous pamphlet, “Why I am not a Christian” (1927). 

As is so often the case, the problems become answerable when you understand the larger context; specifically, when you see that this is another Mark sandwich. We have seen this writing technique on several occasions in Mark, where one story is interrupted with a second story. The middle story may seem totally unrelated to the outer story, but closer examination shows that the center element is the interpretive key for the whole. That is the case here, where Mark combines the story of the barren fig tree with the story of Jesus throwing the merchants out of the temple in order to create a theological narrative of Jesus prophetic judgment against the temple

Let me continue to read the entire context before I comment further. 

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” 
 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 
 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. 
 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
 Mark 11:15-21

We will first examine the center story about Jesus’ actions in the temple, since that will provide the clue to the meaning of the whole story sandwich. This episode is commonly called “the cleansing of the temple,” as if Jesus was restoring the temple to its rightful worship practice, but it might better be called “the condemnation of the temple.” Jesus clears the temple, which is fruitless, withered at the roots, to replace it with himself.

Herod’s temple was the largest religious structure in the Roman world. It covered an area of 35 football fields.[1] This was Israel’s second temple. After Solomon’s first glorious temple was destroyed when the Babylonians took most of the nation into exile, Zerubbabel, the leader of the first wave of returning Jews, built a second utilitarian building. This simple structure was substantially enlarged and beautified by Herod the Great, beginning in 2 BC, and it was still under construction in Jesus’ day.

The largest part was the court of the Gentiles, an open-air rectangle covering 35 acres. It was enclosed around the perimeter by porches featuring ornamented wood-carved ceilings supported by massive columns with Corinthian capitals. Here, merchants sold sheep and doves for sacrifices and exchanged foreign currency into the silver shekel coin of Tyre, which was the only available coin adequately similar to the Hebrew shekel commanded in Exodus (30:13-16), being pure metal with no divine image. This trade was essential for the maintenance of temple worship and for the financial gain of the Sadducees who oversaw this commerce. The enormous volume of the temple trade can be appreciated from the comment by the historian Josephus that in AD 66, the year temple construction was completed, worshippers sacrificed 255,600 lambs for Passover[2]

It was this livestock bazaar that drew Jesus’ condemnation, overturning the traders’ tables and benches and driving the merchants out. Mark reports that he “would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.” This is a puzzling expression. The word “merchandise” was used consistently by the Greek translation of the Old Testament as well as in the history of Josephus as a reference to objects of worship. If the same is true here, then Jesus essentially stopped the flow of sacrifices and seriously impeded temple worship. This meaning is consistent with the context. [3]

In his teaching, Jesus used two quotations from the Old Testament prophets. First is the promise in Isaiah 56 that God-fearing gentiles would come to the temple in the Messianic age and their sacrifices would be accepted, “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7). In popular conception, the Messiah would purge the temple of all Gentiles and aliens, but they seriously misunderstood God’s purposes. The temple and covenant were not exclusively intended for Israel but all peoples. It was no accident that this action took place in the court of the Gentiles. Jesus purged the temple for the benefit of all people, including Gentiles and aliens, in a radical reversal of what the people expected.

Secondly, Jesus quotes the warning of Jeremiah 7:11,

Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.
 Jeremiah 7:11

The Jewish leaders thought that they could blatantly demean God’s temple and still find shelter in God’s mercy. They had turned the temple into a den of robbers, not only because they were taking financial advantage of the people, but because they had done so in the very courts of God, robbing the temple of its sanctity 

“The whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.” This is the identical wording as found in Jesus’ first conflict with an impure spirit in the synagogue of Capernaum, recorded in Mark 1:22. Jesus’ authority was greater than the scribes, both in the synagogue, at the periphery of Judaism, and at its heart in the temple. No wonder the chief priests and teachers of the law feared him and began looking for a way to kill him.

When the events of the day concluded, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. While this appears to be a simple report of fact, it also carries a symbolic effect. Jesus separates himself from the temple worship and the holy city.

We now can turn back to the story of the fig tree, which forms the outer sections of Mark’s sandwich. We see that the cursing of the fig tree was not an act of momentary rage, but a planned, symbolic act. Like the prophets before him who occasionally dramatized their message, Jesus delivers his message about the end of the temple through this enacted parable. The leafy fig tree with no fruit is as deceptive as the temple which, despite its promise of religious fruitfulness, is really a hideout for outlaws. The earliest commentary on Mark by Victor of Antioch in the 5th century understands the event in this way.[4]

When Jesus first approached the fig tree, he expected to find figs, since the tree was in full leaf. Fig trees begin to produce immature figs before they leaf out in the Spring. Once they are in leaf, Jesus should have found immature figs which may be eaten, even if they were not very tasty. Mark confirms this understanding when he tells us that it was not the season for figs. Ripe figs would appear in May, but it was the season for early figs. This tree had the appearance of health but produced no fruit, just like the temple which had the appearance of a bustling religious practice, but at its heart was spiritually barren.

The prophets had often used the fig tree as a symbol for Israel. Hosea, for example, said,

When I found Israel,
 it was like finding grapes in the desert;
 when I saw your ancestors,
 it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.
 Hosea 9:10

Jeremiah, in chapter 8 of his prophecy, uses the same imagery as a metaphor for judgment,

Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
 No, they have no shame at all;
 they do not even know how to blush.
 So…“‘I will take away their harvest,
 declares the LORD.
 There will be no grapes on the vine. 
 There will be no figs on the tree,
 and their leaves will wither.
 Jeremiah 8:12-13

The fig tree, then, was a natural image for Jesus to use to communicate God’s judgment and the coming destruction of the temple under the Roman general, Titus, in AD 70. Like the fig tree, the temple establishment had withered from the roots.

After the disciples find the withered fig tree, Mark includes a short section of Jesus’ teaching which seem like random statements. A closer study, however, shows that they actually are an appropriate application of the message of the withered fig tree. Listen to Jesus teaching, beginning in 11:22.

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
 Mark 11:22-27

Jesus encourages his disciples to have faith, not in the temple, with its sacrifices and rituals, but in God himself. Jesus invites his followers to share in the authority he has just demonstrated through cleansing the temple and cursing the fig tree. Jesus reference to “this mountain” may be a reference to the temple mount that they were facing as they walked back into Jerusalem. This fits the larger context of Jesus’ prophetic condemnation of the temple and his coming prediction of its destruction in chapter 13. The idea of moving a mountain may have suggested itself to Jesus because of another mountain which could be seen on the southern horizon from the Mount of Olives. This was the fortress palace, the Herodium, built on a mountain artificially raised by Herod the Great by transferring earth from a nearby hill. Herod’s architectural ambitions may have changed the face of Judea, but whoever has faith in God, says Jesus, can do greater things. They can command a mountain to throw itself into the sea.

This is hyperbolic metaphor for the power of prayer continues the theme of prayer Jesus had introduced earlier when he condemned the temple for not being “a house of prayer.” Jesus’ instruction that “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours,” cannot mean that by our faith we can tell God what to do. That would remove God from his place of sovereignty; God is not obligated to say “yes” to every request. Rather, like the proverbs, this is a wisdom saying that we apply to our prayer life in light of all scriptural teaching. 

We also can notice a communal dimension to our prayer life. The verbs throughout this teaching are plural, and the collective aspect of prayer comes to the fore in Jesus’ words about forgiveness. The prayer power of the church is dependent on unity in spirit. Much of our puzzle over unanswered prayer might be resolved by remembering this instruction.

So far we have seen Jesus carry out three prophetic acts: his triumphal arrival to the temple, his parabolic cursing of the fig tree, and his decisive condemnation of the temple. We now witness …

Jesus’ definitive authority over the temple leadership, 11:27-12:12

Mark 11:27,

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”
 Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”
 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) 
 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
 Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
 Mark 11:27-33

It is now Tuesday of his final week. As before, Jesus’ destination was not Jerusalem but the temple at its heart. He returned to the temple where only yesterday he had condemned the temple commerce. 

Mark mentions three groups of leaders who come to him, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders. Together they made up the Sanhedrin, a buffer organization between Rome and Israel. They had nearly complete freedom in religious matters and restricted power in political matters. Sending this delegation shows that Jesus’ authority had not only made an impression on the Jewish crowd but was a concern to the Jewish religious establishment also. The issue was not just what He did, but His authority to do so. 

“By what authority are you doing these things” they asked. Most directly, this was a reference to Jesus’ clearing the temple the day before, but that was not a deviation from Jesus’ character. It was only the latest example of a career of provocation, including the presumption to forgive sins, accepting sinners, calling tax collectors into fellowship, redefining the Sabbath, and condemning oral tradition. Now, in the most authoritative place in Judaism, Jesus was called upon to explain his authority.

No one possessed authority on his own to do what Jesus did. They were thinking of human authority, like themselves, and ignored the possibility of Jesus true authority from God.

Aware that they were seeking ammunition to turn the people against him, Jesus responded accordingly. “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” Jesus met the religious leaders on their own terms. Rabbis often answered one question with another question, but Jesus’ question was not simply diversionary. He knew that everything they needed to know about his authority was wrapped up in one event, John’s baptism, so he asked them, “Was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” 

If they said that John’s ministry was of God, then Jesus also was from God, for John claimed that his purpose was to prepare the way for one who was more powerful. All Jesus’ actions and words were based on the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus at his baptism and God’s declaration of his sonship. If this was true, the function of the temple was obsolete. If, on the other hand, John’s baptism was of human origins, then the Sanhedrin had good reason to question Jesus’ authority. In posing this counter question, Jesus gave evidence of the very authority that they questioned.

“They discussed it among themselves” (v. 31). Surely, the Sanhedrin must have had some suspicions about the authority of John, as well as Jesus, but they were unwilling to consider the eye-opening possibilities of the question. Jesus placed the leaders in the same trap they had intended for him. They knew that the crowd fully believed that John was a prophet, and since they feared losing their base of support they replied, “We don’t know.” Many today will take a similar approach when confronted with the claims of Jesus. “I’m keeping an open mind,” they reply, because they are afraid of the consequences of a commitment.

Even though the religious leaders had not answered his question, Jesus still answered their question about the source of his authority. He did so indirectly, however, in a parable.

Mark chapter 12, verse 1,

Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:
 “‘The stone the builders rejected
 has become the cornerstone; 
 the Lord has done this,
 and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 
 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.
 Mark 12:1-12

This is the only major parable in Mark outside chapter 4. Its placement here should telegraph its significance. Jesus’ parable is clearly built on Isaiah chapter 5 where Isaiah tells a story of God planting a vineyard, preparing for the harvest by constructing walls and a wine press, but then receiving only bad fruit. Isaiah clearly identifies the symbolism when he says,

The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
 is the nation of Israel,
 and the people of Judah
 are the vines he delighted in.
 Isaiah 5:7

In Isaiah’s story, the vineyard owner tears down the protective walls and allows the vineyard to be overrun with briers, which was his picture of the coming conquest and exile of the nation. 

Jesus takes his story in a different direction, placing the story in the historical context of his day, where tenant farming was common. The tenant farmer typically gave the land owner half of the crop value as rent. When I was a child, my father rented farmland on the very same basis. The farmers in Jesus’ story, however, were unprincipled. They did not pay up when the harvest came. They went so far as beating and killing every messenger the owner sent, including his son.

This parable pictured Israel’s long history of rejecting God’s messengers. In sending his servants, the land-owner had appealed to the tenants’ integrity; in sending his son he appealed to the right of law. The son had legal claim over the vineyard. “They will respect my son,” the owner said.

The description of the son as the one “whom he loved,” recalls the voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism, “this is my beloved son.” What land-owner would send his only son to such tenants? This is the longsuffering love of God. But the tenant farmers were not impressed by the legal claim of the son standing before them. They killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard. This brief sentence is a summary description of humanity’s long rebellion against God.

The retribution is swift and final. The owner of the vineyard comes quickly, kills the tenants and gives the vineyard to others. Notice that the owner focuses his wrath on the farmers, which picture the religious leaders, not the vineyard, which symbolizes Israel. Jesus again prefigures the coming destruction of the temple. The vineyard being given to others likely refers to the church, which contains both believing Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus then follows up with another quotation of Psalm 118, the same Passover Psalm that the crowd had quoted earlier. Here, the Psalm recalls the story of a rejected stone which became the cornerstone of the temple. Jesus claims to be the cornerstone of God’s new temple, the church. The leaders’ rejection of God’s cornerstone ultimately contributed to God’s marvelous glory. 

The meaning of the story was obvious to the chief priests, teachers, and elders. They realized that Jesus was unmasking them before the people and looked for a way to arrest him. In so doing, they acted exactly like the tenant farmers in the parable, rejecting the beloved son standing right in front of them.

Closing Comments

Today we have seen Jesus overturn the religious establishment and prepare the way to replace the inadequate worship of the temple with his satisfactory atonement through his death. Jesus would be the new meeting place between God and estranged people like us. In our next episode we will continue this theme as Jesus engages in a series of contests with the religious authorities, as they try to trap him with their questions.

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[1] Osborne, G. R., Strauss, M., & Walton, J. (2014). Mark (teach the text commentary series). Baker Publishing Group.
[2] Josephus (War 6.422-27) cited by Edwards, James R. The gospel according to Mark. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016.
[3] Edwards.
[4] Edwards.