Mark 15:23 And they tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. The one act of sympathy given to a crucified man was to give him a concoction of wine mixed with myrrh which would deaden some of the pain. It has been taught that Yeshua refused this so that He might have a clear mind during this experience. This[1] stupefying drink was made available to crucified criminals by the women of Jerusalem in order to deaden the pain somewhat. Jesus refuses the drink, choosing to encounter whatever He must meet and experience with a clear mind. Note from Believers Study Bible Mark 15:23 However, that is not the reason Yeshua refused the drink. He refused it because He took the Nazirite vow earlier.

Mark 14:48 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as against a robber? Mark 14:49 "Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did ot seize Me; but this has happened that the Scriptures might be fulfilled." Yeshua wants to know why they have swords and clubs. They know He is not a robber or killer. He tells them He was with them daily in the Temple and they could have grabbed Him then. If the Pharisees and other enemies of Yeshua could have had Him arrested at any time, why did they hire the likes of Judas to help them? The answer is that since one of His own betrayed Him, it gave credence to their demands for His death.

Mark 12:1 And He began to speak to them in parables: "A man PLANTED A VINEYARD, AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. The vineyard is the nation of Israel. This parable is a quote from the Tanakh. Isaiah 5:1-7 Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well- beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2And He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it, And hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. 3“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. 4“What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? 5“So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. 6“And I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.” 7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. The "certain man" who planted the vineyard is the Father. The vinedressers are the religious rulers who are to spiritually care for the nation of Israel.

Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you. Have faithfulness in the Father and He will answer all your prayers. Matt.7:7-11 However, there is a condition you must meet to get your prayers answered..... Mark 11:25 "And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions. Mark 11:26 "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions." Verse 26 is not in the oldest manuscripts. But it states in the prayer Yeshua taught us to pray also, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." If we do not forgive others, Elohim will not forgive us. Now we have the chief priests coming out to try to trap Yeshua.

Mark 10:26 And they were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" Mark 10:27 Looking upon them, Jesus said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." Only Elohim can bring man into the Kingdom of Heaven. Men are impotent to save themselves. If we are His, then we are to follow Yeshua and obey the will of our Father in heaven. This disturbed the disciples and prompted Peter to say the following... Mark 10:28 Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." Matthews account is more complete in Peters statement (Matt. 19:27). Peter is wondering if there will be anything for them since they left everything behind and followed Yeshua.

Mark 9:20 And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth. Mark 9:21 And He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. Mark 9:22 "And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" This was an extremely bad case. This was almost as bad as the man possessed in Gadara. If this spirit had stayed in the boy for many more years, this may have been a worse condition that the man from Gadara. Mark 9:23 And Jesus said to him, "'If You can!' All things are possible to him who believes." All things are possible to him who believes. What does it mean to "believe?" It means to entrust Him and obey His Word (Psalm 37:3-7, 119:42-48, 2 Chron. 20:20). Mark 9:24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, "I do believe; help my unbelief." Mark 9:25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again." Mark 9:26 And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, "He is dead!" Mark 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. This is probably another case of Yeshua raising someone from the dead. He is giving them another example of His mission before He explains it to them once again. Mark 9:28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" Mark 9:29 And He said to them, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer." Yeshua said this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer. Plus, it needs to be the will of the Father, not just our will. Mark 9:30 And from there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He was unwilling for anyone to know about it. Mark 9:31 For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later." Yeshua always mentions His death and resurrection together. Mark 9:32 But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him. Yeshua not only has announced His death and resurrection to them, but He has illustrated it through the demon possessed boy. The disciples still don't understand. They think this statement can mean anything but what He says.

Mark 8:5 And He was asking them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven." They sound doubtful by asking how they can satisfy everyone out here in the middle of nowhere. But notice how they were ready with an answer when Yeshua asked how much bread they had available. Mark 8:6 And He directed the multitude to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the multitude. This was later in the year. They sat down on the ground instead of the green grass. This incident and the feeding of the five thousand is similar to Elisha feeding one hundred men with not enough food. 2 Kings 4:42-44 Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat.” 43And his attendant said, “What, shall I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’” 44So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD. Mark 8:7 They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. Mark 8:8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. This was another miracle of creation that only comes from Elohim Himself. With the feeding of the five thousand there were twelve baskets gathered up after they were done eating. The number twelve is always representative of Israel in Scripture. This designated to the people that yeshua would gather up the nation of Israel. The number seven stands for completeness. Yeshua is telling the people that when He gathers them, it will be complete. Not one will be left behind.

Mark 7:15 there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. Mark 7:16 "If any man has ears to hear, let him hear." Keeping this in context, Yeshua is not saying that man can eat rats and pig flesh. He is speaking of the handwashing rituals of Judaism. Those handwashing rituals do nothing to purify a man. It was the vile traditional teachings proceeding out of the mouths of the Pharisees that defiled them.

Mark 5:18 And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was entreating Him that he might accompany Him. Mark 5:19 And He did not let him, but He said^ to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." Mark 5:20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone marveled. This man was apparently not from that area, but was from Decapolis. Why didn't Jesus let the man be one of His disciples? This man wanted to glorify Elohim. Yeshua knew the best way to glorify the Father was for him to display himself as being cured to those in his hometown.

Mark 4:20 "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." The seed that was sown on the good soil (those chosen of the Father) bear fruit. The seed bears good works in those who are chosen to be His. Those good works are fruits. The numbers used by Yeshua are very interesting: a hundred, sixty, and thirty. The Greek term used for "hundredfold" actually means a "hundred." This should actually read "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." It probably is a reference to the age they will start bearing good fruit. We are told that Abraham bore Isaac at the age of 100. Gen. 21:5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Isaac bore Jacob at age 60. Gen. 25:26 And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. While we may think that Jacob bore Rueben (or Joseph) at age 30, but that is not the case. The age of Jacob is not given at that time, but it appears that he was much older than 30. He was probably between the ages of 74 and 91. The significance of bearing fruit at age 30 is likely referring to the age of the service of a Levite. Num. 4:2-3 “Take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households, 3from thirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting. Or Yeshua could be referring to Himself. Luke 3:23 And when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, River Valley Torah Assembly

Mark 3:25 "And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. Abraham Lincoln quoted Yeshua during the Civl War. He stated that, "A house divided against itself can not stand. I believe this government can not endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. Yeshua is saying that demons cannot be casting each other out. That would defeat their whole purpose. It makes perfect sense. But to the Scribes, they consider their religious power to be the power over the people. If even Elohim Himself is against their religion, they will fight against Him.

Mark 2:14 And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He said^ to him, "Follow Me!" And he rose and followed Him. Once again we have a hand-picked disciple. The Father does the choosing, we do not. This one is the tax collector named Matthew. The reaction of all these men so far was immediate.