Mar 12:4 And again he sent unto them another servant...
Mar 12:4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded [him] in the head, and sent [him] away shamefully handled.'
Alternative: And he sent back to them another slave; and in this case they pelted him with stones, and made their point and sent [him] away punished.'
Wordplay: This verse is a play on the words in the previous verse as that one was of its previous verse) both of which reversed the verbs for "sent" and "received." Here the back and forth nature of this battle is highlighted again by eliminating the "received," beginning and ending with both sides simply "sending" the slave. This is made clear by use of the word palin, which actually means back, with the first use of the sent.
Hidden meaning: First, the word translated as "wounded in the head" is only translated that way in this verse. The word used kephalaioô means "to sum up," in the sense of to make a key point. It has nothing to do with wounding The word is a verb based on kephalaios, which means "of the head." Greek uses "head" to mean, as we do, "chief," but not only as a leader, but as the chief point to be made.
As in the previous verses in this parable, Christ uses the symbolic pattern of three plus one. "Stoning" is the physical aspect. "wounded in the head" represents the mental aspect. "Sent away" is the emotional/relationship aspect. For obvious reason, this event doesn't have a spiritual aspect.
Thematically and Linguistically Related Verse(s): Mat 21:35 is the parallel verse from Matthew but this is one of those rare occasions where the related verses are very different.
Vocabulary:
"Again" is from palin (palin), which means "back," "backward," "contradiction," "again,' "once more," and "in turn."
"Sent " and "sent away" are from apostellô (apostello), which means "to send off," "to send away," or "to dispatch." It is our source of the word "apostle."
"Another" is from allos (allos), which means "another."
"Servant" is from doulos (doulos), which means a "slave," a "born bondsman," or "one made a slave."
"And at him" is from ekeinos (kakeinos), which means "the person there," "that person," "that thing," "in that case," "in that way," "at that place," and "in that manner."
"They cast stones" is from lithoboleô (lithoboleo), which means "to pelt with stones."
"Wounded him in the head" is from kephalaioô (kephalioo), which means "bring under heads," "sum up," and "to characterize generally." Only in this verse is it translated as "wound in the head." The word is from kephalaios, which means "of the head," "chief," "main point," "sum," "gist of the matter," "the head," "capital," "topic," "crown," "completion," and "chapter."
"Shamefully handled" is from atimoô (atimoo), which means "to dishonor," "to suffer indignity," and "to punish with."
