Mark 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains the "Markan Apocalypse":Tuckett, C. M., 58. Mark in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary, archived on 2 November 2017, p. 912 Jesus' predictions of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and disaster for Judea, as well as Mark's version of Jesus' eschatological discourse.Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), Meyer's NT Commentary on Mark 13, translated from the German sixth edition, accessed 8 April 2020 Theologian William Barclay described this chapter as "one of the most difficult chapters in the New Testament for a modern reader to understand".Barclay, W. (1956-59), Barclay's Daily Study Bible: Mark 13, accessed 21 March 2023
Text The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 37 verses.
Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (325-350; complete) Codex Sinaiticus (330-360; complete) Codex Bezae (~400; complete) Codex Alexandrinus (400-440; complete) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 20–37)
New Testament parallels : ; Berean Study Bible, Mark 13, accessed 21 March 2023
The Temple's destruction (13:1–23)
After his teachings in the previous chapter, all set in the Temple courts, Jesus finishes his teaching in the Second Temple for the day and leaves. On his way out of the Temple an unnamed disciple remarks how extensive the Temple (Herod's Temple) is. The buildings might have reached up to 150 feet (45.72 m) in height and they were adorned with gold, silver and other precious items.Kilgallen 245 In Mark, the scale of the Temple is emphasised: the phrase "what manner of stones" (in the King James Version) is treated as referring to the size of the stones in the New International Version and the New Revised Standard Version.BibleGateway.com, Various translations of Mark 13:1, accessed 2 July 2021 In Luke's gospel, the beauty of the stonework is highlighted.
"Do you see (all) these great buildings?" replies Jesus. The word "all" is added in the Vulgate (omnes), the Ethiopic version Gill's Exposition of the New Testament on Mark 13, accessed 7 December 2017 and the New International Version. Jesus acknowledges their greatness, but predicts that "not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down". This is the last reference made by Jesus to the Temple in Mark's narrative. Jesus seems to anticipate that it will be destroyed, although he does not say when or how.
Jesus then returns to the Mount of Olives. Mark recounts that Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Jesus privately, as he was sitting opposite the Temple on the mountain, "Tell us, when will these things (plural) happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" Henry Alford argues that the use of the plural, these things, "implies that they viewed the destruction of the temple as part of a great series of events, which had now by frequent prophecy become familiar to them".Alford, H., Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford on Mark 13, accessed 21 March 2023 Some translations revert to the singular: when will this happen?, for example the New Living Translation.: New Living Translation
Jesus replies, "beginning to tell them" (ἤρξατο λέγειν,: WHNU ērxato legein):
Verses 5–8 Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. (5-8 KJV)
The "beginning of sorrows" is a traditional translation, used in the Geneva Bible and the King James Version. Its literal meaning, reflected in texts like the New Revised Standard Version, is "the beginning of birth pangs".Strong's Concordance, 5604. ódin, accessed 6 April 2020: NRSV It was the general belief that if the Messiah had arrived in Jerusalem, the final Messianic victory and the kingdom of God were close at hand. Jesus, however, seems to set up many additional things that will occur before his final triumph.
Verses 9-13
Jesus then predicts that they will be harassed (beaten) by various councils and synagogues, rulers and kings; that they are to say whatever comes to mind, as it will be God speaking through them, and that Jesus' message will be given to every nation. Families will be torn apart, that "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."
and also make reference to beating or scourging taking place within synagogues.
Verses 14–23 Jesus then predicts a disastrous event in Judea:
"When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong — let the reader understand — then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now— and never to be equaled again. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. (14-23 NIV)
The warnings about false Christs are thought by some scholars to be warnings against others claiming to be the messiah or Christian teachers who claimed to actually be the reincarnation of Jesus.Brown et al. 623 Acts of the Apostles 5:36-37 contains a description given by Gamaliel about Theudas and Judas the Galilean, both also mentioned by Josephus, who also claimed to be leaders of new movements.
Mark inserts his own comments to the reader about the abomination, suggesting the phrase was some kind of code between him and his audience. It is a quote from the Book of Daniel where it appears in 9:27 as part of a prophecy that the book claims was given to the prophet Daniel by Gabriel during the Babylonian captivity about Jerusalem's future. An "Anointed One" would come, be "cut off", and then another people would come and destroy Jerusalem and set up the abomination in the Temple. 11:31 speaks of it in context of a great battle of Kings, and 12:11 uses it as part of Daniel's end time vision. Many modern scholars, who believe Daniel was pseudepigraphically written in the mid-2nd century BC, believe that these references really refer to the shrine to Zeus set up by Antiochus IV Epiphanes with a Pagan altar on the Altar of Holocausts in the Second Temple in 168 BC.Brown et al. 624 and Miller 44
What exactly it meant to the Early Christians and Mark's audience is unknown, with some thinking it refers to Titus' destruction of the Temple, others that it might be a reference to Caligula's attempt to have a statue of himself put in the Temple.Brown 144 Others have seen the abomination as the Antichrist. It is unclear whether this refers to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, but many Christians after that event certainly have seen it that way. More recently it has been suggested that the abomination in Mark is a reference to the crucifixion itself.Peter G. Bolt, The Cross from a Distance: Atonement in Mark’s Gospel, New Studies in Biblical Theology, 18. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2004.
According to Mark, Jesus made this prediction years before the Temple was actually destroyed in 70. Acts 6:14 states that Stephen, the first Christian martyr (unless one counts Jesus), was falsely accused of claiming Jesus would destroy Israel and the Mosaic law before he was stoned to death, an event Acts claims Paul observed. Predictions of Jerusalem's destruction are also found in Micah 3:12. Scholars use this section to date Mark, and all works believed to have copied from it, slightly before or after the year 70.Jesus in a World of Colliding Empires, Volume One: Introduction and Mark 1:1--8:29: Mark's Jesus from the Perspective of Power and Expectations, Mark J. Keown, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 20 Mar 2018 see page 8
In Mark 15:29 Jesus is mocked as having claimed that he would destroy the Temple and raise it again in three days, a statement of Jesus that Mark does not record in the narrative, although he is falsely accused of claiming he would destroy the man made Temple and replace it in three days in 14:57. This gives rise to the interpretation of the Temple's destruction as the death of Jesus' body, the body of God, and his resurrection three days later. That Jesus predicted the Temple's destruction and his rebuilding of it in three days is stated in John 2:19 and is used as evidence against him in Matthew 26:61.
Olivet Discourse (13:24–37)
After the destruction of the Temple and the event in Judea, Jesus seems to predict a universe shaking event and his great triumph:
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (24-31 KJV)
He then tells them that no one except the "Father", God, knows when this will all happen, not even the "Son", Jesus himself, see also Kenosis. He then uses the parable of the Man Going On a Far Journey to describe his followers as his servants watching their master's house waiting for him to return.
Jesus thus ends with two parables, the parable of the Leafing Fig Tree and the parable of the man on a journey. The fig tree, which Jesus cursed in Mark 11:14 for being barren, is now used as a metaphor. Whereas it is barren now, when it is summer it will be about to bear its fruit, like these signs signal that God's plan is about to be fulfilled. The parable of the man on the journey cautions the disciples that they should always be on watch, as he could return at any moment and would want the house well cared for.