Five-minute study · Day 312 · Mark 4
Mark 4:39
A word worth stopping on: be still φιμόω phimoo
'And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.' The Greek phrase translated 'be still' is pephimoso. It means 'be muzzled.' The same word appears in Mark 1:25 when Jesus silenced an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum: 'Hold thy peace, and come out of him.' Mark uses identical language for the demon and the storm. The Sea of Galilee sits 700 feet below sea level in a basin surrounded by hills. Cool air from the Mediterranean funnels through the valleys and collides with warm air rising from the water, producing sudden, violent squalls. The disciples were experienced fishermen. They had survived storms before. This one terrified them. And Jesus spoke to it the way he spoke to a demon. One word. Muzzled.
Word study: be still
- Greek
- φιμόω
- Pronounced
- phimoo
- Strong's
- G5392
- Definition
- To muzzle, to silence, to put to silence, to render speechless. Used of muzzling an ox (1 Timothy 5:18, 1 Corinthians 9:9) and silencing opponents (Matthew 22:34). In Mark, it carries the force of commanding submission.
Phimoo appears 7 times in the New Testament. BDAG defines it as 'to muzzle, to silence.' The word comes from phimos (a muzzle), the leather strap placed over an animal's mouth to prevent biting or eating. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 25:4 ('Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn') in 1 Corinthians 9:9 and 1 Timothy 5:18 using this verb. Matthew 22:34 uses it when the Sadducees heard that Jesus 'had put the Sadducees to silence (ephimosen).'
Lane's commentary on Mark draws attention to the parallel between Mark 1:25 and 4:39. In both passages, Jesus issues a command using phimoo. In 1:25, the target is a demon. In 4:39, the target is the sea. Lane argues that Mark's use of the same verb is deliberate. The evangelist presents the storm as a hostile force that responds to the same authority Jesus exercises over unclean spirits. The sea in ancient Near Eastern mythology was a chaos power. Psalm 74:13-14 describes God breaking the heads of the sea monsters. Psalm 89:9 says 'Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.' Isaiah 51:9-10 connects the taming of the sea with the arm of the LORD. When Mark puts the exorcism verb in Jesus' mouth directed at the sea, he is making a claim about who Jesus is. The disciples' question in verse 41 ('What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?') is the intended response. They are beginning to recognize that the one in the boat with them exercises the authority that the Old Testament reserves for God alone.
Historical context · c. AD 28-30
Storms on the Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee (also called Gennesaret, Kinneret, and Tiberias) is a freshwater lake 13 miles long and 8 miles wide, sitting approximately 700 feet below sea level. The surrounding topography creates a natural wind tunnel. The Arbel cliffs rise 1,200 feet on the western shore. Cool Mediterranean air pours through the mountain passes from the west, and the Golan Heights channel wind from the north and east. When these air masses collide with warm air rising from the lake's surface, the result is sudden, severe squalls. Modern meteorological studies have recorded wind gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour on the lake, with waves reaching 10 feet.
Lane notes that the disciples in the boat included at least four professional fishermen: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. These men had worked the lake for years. Their fear in this storm (verse 38: 'Master, carest thou not that we perish?') indicates conditions beyond their experience. The boat described in Mark 4:37 was likely a wooden fishing vessel roughly 26 feet long. In 1986, a first-century fishing boat was discovered in the mud along the lake's northwestern shore during a drought that lowered water levels. The 'Ancient Galilee Boat,' now housed at Kibbutz Ginosar, matches the type of vessel Jesus and the disciples would have used. It could carry about 15 people and had a small deck at the stern where a passenger could sleep, precisely the detail Mark records in verse 38: 'he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow.'
For reflection
Think of a situation in your life right now that feels chaotic, something that seems to have its own destructive momentum. What would it mean for you to believe that the same voice that muzzled the sea has authority over this?
The disciples' mistake was not being afraid. Their mistake was assuming Jesus was indifferent to the storm while he was in the boat with them.
Sources: BDAG; Lane, "Mark" (NICNT)