<p>8:30 <i>And he ordered them that they should tell no one about him</i>- The Greek word is used five times in Mark, but never in the other Gospels. This has the ring of truth to it- a group of people observing one man would each be struck by different things He did, and their records would reflect that. And that's just what we see in the Gospels.&nbsp;&quot;Tell&quot; translates&nbsp;<i>epo</i>, to say, and it has just been used in recording how Peter&nbsp;<i>said</i>&nbsp;that Jesus was the Christ. The Lord is progressing with the revised plan of operation which He began to make public at the end of Matthew 12. He was effectively giving up on the masses, and instead focusing upon the disciples as the method through which He would after His death be able to appeal to the masses. In order to not be distracted, to spent time more intensely with them, He asks them not to fuel the kind of Messianic speculation which was then rife in Palestine.&nbsp;</p><p>Matthew has: &quot;That he was the Christ&quot;, or as AV &quot;Jesusthe Christ&quot;- an unusual phrase. 'Jesus' was one of the most common names in Palestine at the time. The Lord's idea was perhaps that they were not to tell people that He, the man named with the common name 'Jesus', was in very truth the Christ. They were allow people to continue to merely see 'Jesus' rather than 'the Christ'. By the very silence of the disciples about what they firmly believed and so wanted to share, they would have been driven to discuss the Messiahship of&nbsp;Jesus&nbsp;<i>amongst</i>&nbsp;<i>themselves</i>&nbsp;and also to reflect personally within themselves about the Lord's Messiahship.</p>