Historical Commentary A short six verses, this pericope is perhaps the most difficult to assess, historically, in the Gospel. A number of exegetes, such as Ludemann (2001) have argued that the phrase "Son of Mary," in Mk 6:3, which implies Jesus is a bastard, is too offensive to have been made up. For many exegetes the idea that Jesus was rejected by his family must stem from deep in the historical tradition. For others, such as Bultmann, the whole pericope has been constructed out of the saying in v4. The pericope thus offers a tension between the manifest existence of someone named a "brother of Jesus," in other documents, James, and a mother, which he naturally must have, and the fact that v4 is another saying for which historicity is dubious at best. Some exegetes have pointed to the fact that this pericope occurs in all four canonical gospels as evidence in favor of historicity, but the writers themselves treat it as if it were a flexible and unhistorical unit. For example, while in Mark this tale appears well into Jesus' ministry, Luke moves it to the outset of Jesus' ministry and even has the outraged denizens of Nazareth gather to toss the Son of God off a local cliff, from which he miraculously escapes. Another problem is the allusion to the Maccabees in the names and number of Jesus' family. The writer of Mark not only compares Jesus to Simon Maccabee here, but also at least three other times in this gospel. In other words, though the names and numbers look innocuous, they are part of a larger program in Mark and thus may also be unhistorical. Let's return to Mark 3:20-30 for a moment. Once again, many exegetes interpret this gospel as a handbook on how to be a disciple. Here again perhaps Jesus acts as the model for Christian discipleship, showing that one is not only likely to be misunderstood, but also rejected. To buttress this the writer of Mark then reaches for one of his usual practices, riffling through the popular philosophy of his time for a supporting idea. Thus it is not necessary to postulate a historical basis for this pericope. However one interprets it, the fact remains that this pericope is studded with Markan invention. The saying itself cannot be located in the tradition as it was a commonality in antiquity. As observed in the notes to v3, v2 must be sarcastic in intention, which explains the "offense" in the next verse. The writer has simply returned to a common theme: those closest to Jesus fail to understand him. The first verse offers the cryptic phrase "his home country" whose meaning does not become clear until Jesus utters his apothegm in v4. In other words, it looks like v1 exists only to set up v4. The structure of the pericope itself takes the typical chreia form. First, the setting: Jesus' hometown, which the writer, with his usual indifference to geographical minutiae, does not even name. Then comes the challenge: What! Who does this bum think he is? This is followed by Jesus' utterance of a common saying in riposte: "See? A real prophet doesn't get recognized in his hometown."  The author of Mark then returns to two recurrent themes: (1) no faith, no miracles; and (2) Jesus teaching. In addition to the chreia, Mark 6:1-6 features a typical Markan chiastic structure: A He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him. B  And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; C and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" D And they took offense at him. D And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." C And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them. B And he marveled because of their unbelief. A And he went about among the villages teaching. Due to the controlling presence of literary structures, the way the pericope pivots around the saying, the presence of the supernatural in v5, the presence of Markan themes of rejection by those close to him, faith and miracles, and the Markan theme of Jesus teaching in the countryside, nothing in this pericope can be construed as supporting historicity.

Historical Commentary The structure is simple: A And he went about among the villages teaching. B And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. B And he said to them, "Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them." A So they went out and preached that men should repent. Weeden (1971, p27) points out that in 6:13 the writer of Mark confirms that Jesus successfully transferred his powers to the disciples. So how is it that at later points in the narrative they misunderstand who and what he is, and doubt his powers? They themselves have wielded them! This passage cannot reflect anything historical. The mission charge parallels the appointing of the disciples in Mark 3. Whatever its source, Q or Mark, it appears to be derived entirely from then-current ideas of how itinerant philosophers should look. Due to the omnipresence of popular Cynicism throughout, nothing in this pericope can be construed to support historicity.

Historical Commentary: The overall story frame is simple. Mark Goodacre (2002, p39) points out that the writer of Mark has aligned this story with that of Elijah, Ahab, and Jezebel in 2 Kings 17-22. Just as Jezebel wanted to kill Elijah, so Herodias wants to kill John the Baptist.  According to a number of scholars (see discussion in Gundry 1993, p313, and Meier 1994, p228-9), the intermediate level frame and many of the details are drawn from the story of Esther as it was told both in the Bible and in stories that circulated among the Jews and were preserved in the various rabbinical texts. I have worked out some of the parallels in the table below.  Parallels that are out of order are indicated with a parentheses. Be advised: the rabbincal texts all date from later than Mark, so whether and to what extent the stories they record would have been known to the writer of Mark is debatable. Book of Esther Gospel of Mark Vashti, wife of the Persian King, is granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar Herodias, wife of Herod, is granddaughter of Herod the Great Vashti is commanded to appear before the Court wearing her crown (seen by later Jews as wearing only the crown). In Talmud Megillah 12B she is to appear only wearing royal crown (Herodias' daughter dances lasciviously before Herod) Esther marries the King of Persians, displacing Vashti Herod has taken his brother's wife as his own, setting aside his own wife Haman suggests Vashti be killed (Midrash) (Herodias suggests John be killed) Vashti's head is brought before the King on a platter (Midrash) (John's head is brought before Herod on a platter) Esther wants to stop Haman from destroying the Jews Herodias wants John dead for criticizing her marriage The enemy of Esther, Haman, is the king's favorite. Herodias' enemy, John, is thought to be a "righteous and holy man" by Herod, who "kept him safe" and "heard him gladly." Haman goes home to get the advice of Zeresh his wife and his friends (twice) (Herodias' daughter asks her mother what to ask for.) Esther and the King are at a banquet arranged by her for herself and Haman Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and the leading men of Galilee. "And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre." "For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests" "And the king said to Esther' Whatever thy petition, it shall be granted thee; and whatever thy request,"  the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will grant it."  "...even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be performed.' 23: And he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom."  Note that in the last two parallels, the author of Mark even preserves the doublet from Esther in which the King first promises to fulfill any wish, and then reiterates the promise reinforced with the offer of half his kingdom. One could add an inverted parallel as well: Vashti makes the King lose face in front of his court by refusing his command to appear before his courtiers, naked. Herod is forced to keep his promise to the daughter to prevent a loss of face in front of his court. Jean Crain (1999) sees parallels to Judges 11, where Jephthah makes a similarly rash promise that forces him into killing someone he does not want to kill. However, the parallels to the Esther story are much richer, more extensive, and more detailed. The writer of Mark's preservation of the doublet from Esther clearly establishes the origin of the story. There is a parallel from Roman history, however, in which a woman requests a potentate to execute someone at a dinner party: Lucius Lucius Quinctius Flaminius, consul in 192 BCE, did just that. The tale may be found in Plutarch, Cicero, and Livy. Meier (1994) writes: "In fact, Herodias, the sister of Herod Agrippa I and the granddaughter of Herod the Great, first married a half-brother of Antipas known simply as Herod (a son of Herod the Great by his wife Miriamme II; Antipas was Herod the Great's son by the Samaritan woman Malthace). Herod (i.e. Antipas' half brother) and Herodias had a daughter named Salome; it was this Salome who married another half-brother of Antipas named Philip (a son of Herod the Great by his wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem). To try to save Mark from a glaring historical error, Christian commentators have traditionally spoken of "Herod Philip" (salvation by conflation), but such a Herodian poltergeist never existed outside the minds of conservative exegetes" (p172). In other words, in the real world, if Antipas had married Philip's wife, his wife would have been named Salome, not Herodias. The author of Mark has made a "glaring historical error." Herodias married a son named Herod before she married Antipas. Whatever the real story behind John the Baptist and Jesus, this pericope is unhistorical. On page 91-92 of The Jesus the Jews Never Knew Frank Zindler makes an "argument" for the interpolation of the passage in which Herod beheads JBap. This "argument" actually depends on a single thread, Zindler's claim that there is a seam between 6:13 and 6:30. That is too weak a peg to hang an interpolation on. I was bothered by the JBap passage for a couple of months until one day, in a web debate, the underlying problems with it surfaced. Here are the largely literary and stylistic reasons I've come up with for this passage being interpolated: 1. The author of Mark nowhere else mentions the Book of Esther, which is odd because he has a habit of citing a book which he parallels elsewhere in the Gospel. 6:14-29 is big, and it would be unusual for a structure of this size not to pop up somewhere else. This may be wrong, as at least one scholar claims to have found Esther 2:18-23 parallels Mark 15:6-7 (I couldn't see any parallels myself, but I haven't read the argument, just the statement). 2. The story is intercalated between the two halves of the sending of the disciples but not in the writer's usual deft way in which one story comments on the other when they are sandwiched together. A good example of the typical style is Peter's denial, in the A-B-A' format. While Jesus affirms who he is Peter is out in the courtyard, denying who Jesus is. Then even as the soldiers mock Jesus and tell him to "Prophesy!" as if he can't, his prophecy of Peter's denial is coming true out in the courtyard. There just doesn't seem to be that same structure here where one part speaks to the other. The sending out of the disciples doesn't appear, at least to this writer, to reflect back to John the Baptist's death in any meaningful way. Moloney (2001), has argued otherwise, saying that the pericope forms a bridge between the initial part of the Gospel, where the disciples hear Jesus' message accompanied by positive signs, and the second part, where they begin to show their failure to understand Jesus. However, the disciples' incompetence is on display throughout Mark 4 and in Mark 5 as well, and may extend all the way back to Mk 2:23-28. 3. Another strike here is that while Mark often writes off the OT, and sometimes off Jewish legends and stories, it is rare that a passage of such length is entirely without allusions to OT verses in the details. For example, in the Cleansing of the Temple, the story frame is Jehu's cleansing of the Temple of Ba'al, but the verses themselves are not taken from 2 Kings, but from Zechariah, Nehemiah, and Jeremiah. Similarly, in the Anointing of Jesus at the house of Simon the Leper, the frame is again the Elijah-Elisha cycle, but the structure of the story is from Samuel, and there are cites of Deut and other texts in the verses. The writer of Mark likes citing the Psalms, Prophets, and Daniel, and these are nowhere in evidence in this story of Herod. On the other hand, the healing of Jairus' daughter follows this pattern of OT-free details, and just like 6:14-29, cites the source near the end. 4. The writer of Mark does not use the novelistic Jewish literature like Esther at all, except perhaps a bit of Tobit in Mark 16. 5. Mark 6 is an inverted parallel of Mark 3 as the table below shows. Guess what story is not paralleled in Mark 3? You guessed it: JBap's death. Mark 3 Mark 6 3:7-12 by the sea, 6:31-34 go to lonely place by boat, crowd from many towns, crowd from all the towns boat ready so as not to be crushed, heals many teaches crowd 3:13-19 6:7-13,30 calls and appoints twelve calls and sends out twelve twelve to be sent out to preach and have authority over demons gives them mission instructions and authority over demons 3:19-35 6:1-6 seized by those near him as "beside himself." teaches in his native place, rejected by relatives and neighbors Against this, note that when Herod asks who men say Jesus is, he gets the same answer that the disciples give when Jesus asks them the same question in Mark 8:27-33: John, Elijah, or one of the prophets. Further, the intercalation seems necessary to give the disciples time to go out and do their thing, and then report back to Jesus. Some exegetes have made a link between the outer and inner parts of the pericope, as well. Here is a chiasm for this pericope. I believe that the passage to "For Herod had sent and seized John,..." is Markan. Beyond that, someone has expanded what the original writer wrote. The center of the chiasm is a doublet that is too simpleminded to be Markan. Somewhere around "When his disciples heard of it,..." the hand of the original writer resumes, but the overwriting is too thorough for certainty. A So they went out and preached that men should repent. B And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. C King Herod heard of it; for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; that is why these powers are at work in him." But others said, "It is Eli'jah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old."  But when Herod heard of it he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." D For Herod had sent and seized John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Hero'di-as, his brother Philip's wife; because he had married her. E For John said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." F And Hero'di-as had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he was much perplexed; and yet he heard him gladly. G But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and the leading men of Galilee. H For when Hero'di-as' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; I and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will grant it." I And he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom." H And she went out, and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?" G And she said, "The head of John the baptizer." F And she came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." E And the king was exceedingly sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. D And immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard and gave orders to bring his head. C He went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. B When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. A The apostles returned to Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. Whatever its origin, other than its reference to the bare fact of the death of John the Baptist, it is entirely dependent on the OT and Jewish traditions for its story. No support for historicity may be found in this pericope.

Historical Commentary:  Edgar Goodspeed (1937, p125-6) observed "Much closer parallels to the Gospel of Mark, at least, are afforded by the Elijah and Elisha cycles of the Books of Kings: I Kings, chapter 17-II Kings, chapter 2; and I Kings 19:19, II Kings chapters 2-13. It is a striking fact that almost everything Jesus is reported as doing in Mark has parallels in these cycles, which it is plain had a great influence on the writer. Indeed, the shadow of Elijah or Elisha falls on almost every page of the Gospel of Mark, and it would seem that for some reason the selective memory of the early church instinctively recorded about Jesus anything that recalled the doings of these great prophets. Of course, the idea that John was Elijah come back to earth as Forerunner of the Messenger of the Covenant, Mal. 3:1; 4:5, had a good deal to do with this." As Donahue and Harrington (2002, p211) note, the writer (or perhaps redactor) of Mark has juxtaposed his story of Jesus' miraculous banquet that gives life with Herod's banquet that brings death.  This pericope is a creation based on 2 Kings and the Elijah-Elisha Cycle:  Mark 6:30-44 2 Kings 4:38-44 a desert with no food available a place with a famine people who recognize Jesus come from all over Elisha is meeting the prophets two kinds of food inadequate (loaves and fish) two kinds of food inadequate (loaves and grain) disciples protest food is not enough protests food is not enough Jesus insists over objections of disciples Elisha insists over objections of his servant Jesus blesses the food Elisha relates the word of the lord And they all ate and had 12 baskets of leftovers they ate and had some left over,  feeds 100 feeds 5000 Also present are numerous motifs and stories from Jewish literature that discuss "bread" in the wilderness in the context of miraculous feedings, such as Exodus 16, Deut 8:3-16, Psalm 78:24-25, Psalm 105:40, and Wisdom 16:20-21. For example, Psalm 78 describes: 23: Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven; 24: and he rained down upon them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven. 25: Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. 26: He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind; 27: he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas; 28: he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations. 29: And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved. (RSV) This pericope consists of two chiastic structures. The center of the major chiastic structure is very unMarkan, and the brackets do not speak to each other like typical Markan brackets. There is no reason to think that this is a construction of Mark. A The apostles returned to Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. B And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while." B For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. A And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves. A And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves. B Now many saw them going, and knew them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns, and got there ahead of them. C As he went ashore he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; D and he began to teach them many things. E And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late; send them away, to go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat." F But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." G And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?" H And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." H And when they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." G Then he commanded them all to sit down by companies upon the green grass. F So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. E And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. D And they all ate and were satisfied. C And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. B And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. A Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Beth-sa'ida, while he dismissed the crowd. The presence of the supernatural and creation off of the Old Testament signal that nothing in this pericope can be used to support historicity.