Dalmanutha

Exactly where Dalmanutha, or Magdala (Magadan KJV mg.), was located is difficult to determine. Most commentators see them as two closely related places, some placing them on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, others on the south-east of the lake. However, although the geographical and socio-economic data may be of interest, it is the spiritual reception that the Lord received that will occupy us in this short article.

The context, Mark 8. 1-9

Both Matthew and Mark tell us that the event preceding the Lord’s visit to Dalmanutha was the feeding of the 4, 000. What that remarkable miracle demonstrates is the Lord’s compassion for the multitude that followed Him, ‘I have compassion on the multitude’, v. 2. He had assessed the situation - ‘they will faint by the way’ - and was clear as to what needed to be done. The multitude must be fed! Although the disciples appreciated the need, they could not conceive how that need might be met.

Thinking of the events that followed in Dalmanutha, it is interesting to see the interest of the multitude. Some, says the Lord, ‘came from far’, v. 3. They had all been with the Lord Jesus for three days, in the wilderness, possibly with little shelter, and without food. It would seem clear that they listened to the Lord’s words for, when commanded, they obeyed and were blessed - ‘they did eat, and were filled’, v. 8. This was certainly the best meal that they had been given in three days!

But the order of events is equally important. As that multitude followed the Lord, He could have fed them on the first or second day. Why did He wait for the third day? Apart from the fact that this miracle in feeding them was in the Lord’s timing and a revelation of His power and glory, it emphasizes the Lord’s priorities. The spiritual need of the multitude was met first. The Lord was mindful of their physical need - He appreciated and reacted to that need rather than the disciples - but their spiritual welfare was paramount.

The contrast, vv. 10-13

Following the feeding of the 4, 000, the Lord makes His way to Dalmanutha.

He was not in Dalmanutha long before the Pharisees sought Him out. Matthew adds that the Pharisees were accompanied by the Sadducees. They had come some distance, travelling from Jerusalem, as Nicoll observes, ‘the Pharisees went out, from their seat in the Holy Land into the heathen Decapolis, otherwise carefully shunned, in their zeal against Jesus’.¹ But their motivation was wholly different from the 4, 000. They had followed the Lord to learn of Him whereas the Pharisees came with altogether different objectives.

Their approach to the Lord was with questions - they ‘began to question’, v. 11. This was a continual questioning, ‘they began at once and kept it up’,² not necessarily seeking answers but disputing and debating with the Lord in an attempt to catch Him out. The disciples were ignored. They singled out the Lord for their attention in order that they might scrutinize His authority and authenticity.

What were they seeking? - ‘seeking of him a sign’, v. 11. The immediate context, had they known and considered it, provided all the proof of His claimed identity. But they also ignored all the other miracles that the Lord had performed, as well as the words of grace and power that He spoke. With some insatiable desire, they wanted a sign! In another context, the Lord said, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas’, Matt. 12. 39; 16. 4. Behind their search for a sign, they were tempting the Lord, as Wuest comments, ‘to put to the test to see what good or evil is in a thing or person … the context here decides for the first meaning. The Pharisees were attempting to put our Lord to the test to see whether He was an imposter or what He claimed to be, the Messiah of Israel’.³

But let us also appreciate that the Lord felt the pressure and the malignity of their unbelief. He ‘sighed deeply in his spirit’, v. 12. This phrase is peculiar to Mark’s Gospel and indicates the Lord’s sadness at their rejection of the opportunities they had been given. A. T. Robertson, quoting Swete, states, ‘The sigh seemed to come, as we say, from the bottom of his heart, the Lord’s human spirit was stirred to its depths’.⁴

Thus, the Lord departed from Dalmanutha and with some abruptness. He had not stayed there long but the intensity of what He had experienced and the ferocity of their rejection of Him led Him to new parts and away from Galilee.

There may be times when our presentation of Christ in the gospel meets with similar questioning and rejection from people we meet. Remember Dalmanutha! As many rejected the Lord, so they will reject us and the message of Him that we bring!