‘And he entered again into the Synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. And they watched him whether he will heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.'
We are not told who brought the man, or where he came from. But that he was seen by the Pharisees as a test case was apparent. For knowing of the man and his expected presence in the Synagogue they had come to watch what Jesus would do. The Rabbis had strict rules about healing on the Sabbath. When there was an emergency case and life was threatened healing activity was allowed, but where that was not the case, and it could well await another day, healing was not allowed. Thus a woman in childbirth could be helped on the Sabbath. An affection of the throat could be treated for that was seen as possibly life threatening. But a fracture or sprain could not, for that could await another day. A cut could be bandaged (it could lead to death if uncovered) but it must then not have further treatment until after the Sabbath. These were the interpretations of the Rabbis and they were strictly enforced.
Any Rabbis and other prominent Pharisees who were in the Synagogue would sit in the ‘chief seats' (Matthew 23:6; James 2:2-3), which were those nearest to the reading desk where the scrolls of the Scriptures were placed to be read. There was also a special seat there, either for the most distinguished present, or to contain the scrolls of the Torah, which was called ‘Moses' Seat' (Matthew 23:2). They thus had a good view of what was happening, while they awaited further events. It is worthy of note that the fact that they had come as they had, is testimony to the fact that they did believe that Jesus could heal the man. They had already seen what He could do and were not in any doubt about it. But they simply dismissed such healings as having no relevance because they were so prejudiced by their own ideas and had convinced themselves that some trickery or demon activity was involved. And yet what better testimony could we have to the Lord's ability to work miracles, than that these His enemies came expecting Him to do so even though they did not want Him to be able to do so? And it gains the greater force in that it is not the main purpose of the recording of the incident.
‘And He entered again into the Synagogue.' It was His usual habit to attend the Synagogue on the Sabbath, for He respected both the Synagogue and the Sabbath.
‘A man with a withered hand.' This was probably caused by some kind of paralysis. He was thus unable to move it which was why it had withered. But it was not life threatening. He had had it for a long time. Yet such a withered hand contained in it much symbolism. As we have seen, the passages that we have been examining all contained references back to Old Testament ideas. What then of the withered hand?
We should note firstly that the hand was the means by which men exercised their power. We can compare with this how God's activity was often described as being done by ‘the hand (or arm) of the Lord'. It was by the use of their hands that men accomplished their daily tasks. This man, in contrast, had lost his ability to do things because his hand was withered. And in that he was like Israel. In the Old Testament there were two prominent references to what was withered. The first concerned vegetation and fruit trees, which were often seen as a picture of Israel. This term ‘withered' (or dried up) was regularly applied in LXX to vegetation and fruit trees when seen as a picture of Israel (Hosea 9:16; Isaiah 27:11; Isaiah 40:24; Jeremiah 23:10; Lamentations 4:8; Ezekiel 17:9-10; Ezekiel 17:24; Joel 1:12; Joel 1:17; Joel 1:20; Amos 1:2; Amos 4:7; Nahum 1:4; Zechariah 10:2; compare Mark 11:20-21; John 15:6). The second well known application was to the dry (withered) bones in Ezekiel's valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:2; Ezekiel 37:4). These too represented Israel. And in both cases it was God's promise that one day these things that were dried up would be restored. So the withered hand of this man could be seen, and probably was by Mark, as like the withered hand of Israel which was dead and unable to bear fruit.