Mark 12:20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Mark 12:18-27

The Sadducees, who were the deists of that age, here attack our Lord Jesus, it should seem, not as the scribes, and Pharisees, and chief-priests, with any malicious design upon his person; they were not bigots and persecutors, but sceptics and infidels, and their design was upon his doctrine, to hinder the spreading of that: they denied that there was any resurrection, and world of spirits, any state of rewards and punishments on the other side of death: now those great and fundamental truths... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Mark 12:18-27

12:18-27 There came to Jesus Sadducees, who are a party who say that the resurrection of the dead does not exist. They put the following problem to him. "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote the law for us, that, if a man's brother dies and leaves behind him a wife, and does not leave a family, the law is that the brother should take his wife, and should raise up a family to his brother. There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died, and left no family. The second took her, and he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Mark 12:20

Now there were seven brethren ,.... In a certain family, at a certain place; perhaps at Jerusalem, who were brethren by the father's side; for such only were reckoned so, and such only did this law oblige: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed : no child: hence it is clear that the ancient Jews used the word seed, of a single person, as these Sadducees did; though modern ones deny such an use of it in our present controversies with them about the sense of Genesis 3:15 ; See... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 12:18-23

And there come unto him Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection. Josephus states that in the time of Judas Maceabaeus there were three sects of the Jews, differing amongst themselves, namely, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. The Hebrew word Zadoc , from which the Sadducees derive their name, means "just." or" righteous." These Sadducees accepted the Pentateuch, and probably more than the Pentateuch; but they rejected any oral tradition. They were known in the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 12:18-27

Sadducees confuted. Of all the subjects which awaken the speculative curiosity and inquiry of men, none approaches, in dignity and importance, the future life. The nobler spirits, in every civilized and cultured community, have either held as an article of faith, or have cherished with fondest hope, the prospect of immortality. Annihilation is a prospect which none but the degraded and sinful can consent to accept without shuddering horror. It has often been observed as very remarkable,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 12:18-27

The puzzle of the Sadducees. I. THE CASE STATED . An extreme one; and probably a locus classicus in the works of the rabbins. It was supposed to be a reductio ad absurdum of all theories of resurrection or immortality. "In the resurrection" is used apparently in a pregnant sense, as including the judgment, when all questions would be decided, and the conditions of the future state settled. The case as stated referred only to legal and external conditions, questions of sentiment... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 12:18-27

The resurrection from the dead. A new class of antagonists now assail the great "Master" with a case of casuistry, designed evidently to bring the doctrine of the resurrection into contempt. "In the resurrection whose wife shall she be of them?" Was this one of the flimsy, difficulties on which they relied for a defense of their position, as so often men screen their scepticism behind a mere veil of difficulty? And did they depend in any real degree upon an imaginary inconsistency to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 12:18-27

Sadducean error. I. DIFFICULTIES OF RELIEF ARE OFTEN IDLE LUXURIES OF THE MIND . One cannot suppose that these men were really troubled by such a question as they raised. It was sheer idleness, bred of useless school life. And so with many theoretical questions pretended to be of serious importance: pressing into what is inaccessible and kept in reserve by God. They are "solved by walking." Act—act rightly here and now, and the question will solve itself, or cease to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 12:18-27

Parallel passages: Matthew 22:23-33 ; Luke 20:27-40 .— Question of the Sadducees touching the resurrection. I. IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION . Though the question propounded in this section was proposed for a captious purpose, and in order to entangle, yet, divested of its technicalities, it is a most important one. There is no subject more closely connected with the immortal hopes of man than that to which the above section refers. The doctrine of the resurrection is implied,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Mark 12:18-27

See this passage fully explained in the notes at Matthew 22:23-33.Mark 12:25Are as the angels - That is, as the angels in respect to connections and relations. What those connections and relations may be we know not, but this passage teaches that the special relation of “marriage” will not exist. It does not affirm, however, that there will be no recollection of former marriages, or no recognition of each other as having existed in this tender relation.Mark 12:26How in the bush - At the burning... read more

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