(8) From Idumæa.—The only passage in the New Testament in which this country is named. It had acquired a considerably wider range than the Edom of the Old Testament, and included the whole country between the Arabah and the Mediterranean. It was at this time under the government of Aretas (2Corinthians 11:32), the father of the wife whom Herod Antipas had divorced, and this had probably brought about a more frequent intercourse between its inhabitants and those of Galilee and Peræa.

They about Tyre and Sidon.—The fact is interesting in its connection with the history of the Syro-Phœnician woman (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24) as showing how it was that our Lord’s appearance in that region was welcomed as that of one whose fame had travelled thither before Him.

3:6-12 All our sicknesses and calamities spring from the anger of God against our sins. Their removal, or the making them blessings to us, was purchased to us by the blood of Christ. But the plagues and diseases of our souls, of our hearts, are chiefly to be dreaded; and He can heal them also by a word. May more and more press to Christ to be healed of these plagues, and to be delivered from the enemies of their souls.To the sea - The Sea of Galilee, or to the lonely regions which surrounded the sea, where he might be in obscurity, and avoid their designs against his life. His time had not yet come, and he prudently took care of his life, thus showing that we are not needlessly to throw ourselves into danger.

Galilee - See the notes at Matthew 2:22.

Judea - The southern division of the land of Palestine.

Jerusalem - Jerusalem was "in" Judea. It is mentioned particularly to show that not only the people of the surrounding country came, but also many from the capital, the place of wealth, and honor, and power.

Idumea - The country formerly inhabited by the "Edomites." In the time of the Saviour it was embraced in the country belonging to the Jews. It was south of Judea proper. The word "Idumea" is a Greek word made from the Hebrew "Edom." It signifies the land of Edom, a name given to Esau, one of the sons of Isaac, Genesis 25:30. The word signifies "red," and the name was given to him because he sought of Jacob red pottage as the price of his birthright. He settled in Mount Seir Deuteronomy 2:5, on the south of the land of Canaan, and the country of Idumea was bounded by Palestine on the north. During the Babylonian captivity the Edomites spread themselves into the country of Judea, and occupied a considerable part of the south of Palestine. They had, however, submitted to the rite of circumcision, and were incorporated with the Jews. From them sprang Herod the Great.

From beyond Jordan - From the region lying east of the river Jordan. The sacred writers lived on the west side of Jordan, and by the country "beyond Jordan" they meant that on the east side.

Tyre and Sidon - See the notes at Matthew 11:21.

CHAPTER 3

Mr 3:1-12. The Healing of a Withered Hand on the Sabbath Day, and Retirement of Jesus to Avoid Danger. ( = Mt 12:9-21; Lu 6:6-11).

See on [1411]Mt 12:9-21.

Ver. 8. See Poole on "Mark 3:6"

And from Jerusalem,.... The metropolis of the country of Judea;

and from Idumea, or Edom, as the Syriac version reads it; a country that lay on the south of Judea, formerly inhabited by the sons of Edom, but now by Jews; or at least the inhabitants of it were proselytes to the Jewish religion. Mention is made of the plains of Idumea, along with Gazera, Azotus, and Jamnia, as in 1:Maccabees:

"Howbeit all the hindmost of them were slain with the sword: for they pursued them unto Gazera, and unto the plains of Idumea, and Azotus, and Jamnia, so that there were slain of them upon a three thousand men.'' (1 Maccabees 4:15)

Pliny (t) speaks of Idumea and Judea together, as a part of Syria; and Ptolemy says (u), this country lies on the west of the river Jordan; and it is here added,

and from beyond Jordan; the country of Peraea, on the east of Jordan:

and they about Tyre and Sidon; either the inhabitants of these places, as the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions favour, reading "a great company from Tyre and Sidon"; or those that lived near the borders, and upon the confines of these cities of Phoenicia:

a great multitude; when all met together, from these several parts; who

when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him: for his fame went through all the countries, for the miracles he wrought; which drew this vast concourse of people after him; and who, inquiring where he was, came to him at the sea of Galilee.

(t) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 12. (u) Geograph. l. 5. c. 16.

And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from {f} beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.

(f) Which Josephus called stony or rocky.