There is a safety in fasting and fear is often afraid of joy. Good advice will often ensure we do not get involved in controversial situations and we maintain the importance of being earnest . Jerome H. Neyrey, in The Social Sciences and New Testament Interpretation , 159-82. R. L. Rohrbaugh, ed. The Interface of Rhetoric and Culture in Mark's Gospel.
Questions score points, draw blood, and shame opponents.
The same interpretation applies equally to the phenomenon of answering a question with a counter-question, which also is an aggressive weapon. And by observing who is reduced to silence, we have narrative clues about who triumphed in the question game and who lost. Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen, at CrossMarks . Capernaum, as a center of commerce, and as a border town between the territories of Herod Antipas and Herod Philip, may have had a high number of merchants bringing in their goods, and paying the toll, so Levi may have been wealthier than the average toll-collector even though he was probably working for a chief tax collector. Capharnaum , featuring information and images from 19 seasons of excavations conducted by the late Fr.