<p>17:12&nbsp;<em>But I say unto you, that Elijah came already and they knew him not, but did to him-&nbsp;</em>Christ accused the Jews of rejecting John the Baptist (Mt. 17:12; Lk. 7:32&ndash;35), and on other occasions He commented on the fact that they had accepted his teaching, with the result that spiritually their house was swept and garnished (Mt. 12:44; Jn. 5:35). We can conclude from this that their&nbsp;<em>appearance</em>&nbsp;of accepting John&rsquo;s message was spoken of by Jesus as if they had accepted it. Likewise Christ called the Jews both children of hell (Mt. 23:15) and children of the Kingdom (Mt. 8:12); the latter was how they perceived themselves. The things &ldquo;done&rdquo; to John surely include his death for the Lord goes on to say that He will &ldquo;likewise suffer of them&rdquo;, &ldquo;of this generation&rdquo; (Lk. 17:25). But it was the despised Herod who had John murdered. And yet Jesus here says that that generation had done that to John- despite the fact that he remained, it seems, immensely popular amongst that generation. Again the Lord is stressing that all the apparent response to John had not been sincere- the Jews who had seemingly responded to him were in fact as bad as apostate Herod and it was effectively&nbsp;<em>they</em>&nbsp;who had killed him. Naturally such language begged the response that no, it was Herod and his courtiers who killed John, not the mass of people. But the Lord is saying that effectively, it was that generation who had locked John up and killed him.</p>
<p>Mk. 9:12 adds more detail to the Lord&rsquo;s words: &ldquo;Elijah indeed comes first and restores all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be set at nothing?&rdquo;. His question was (as so often with Him) in answer and response to their unexpressed question- that surely Elijah is to have a successful ministry and then the Messiah would begin His Kingdom in glory. The Lord was asking them the question about the prophesied sufferings and rejection of Messiah in order to answer the question He could see in their minds. So often &ldquo;He answered and said&hellip;&rdquo; something, when no question was verbalized. But He perceived the question in the minds of His audience, such was His sensitivity. Only a week or so ago He had told them how messiah must &ldquo;suffer many things&rdquo; (Mt. 16:21) and now he uses the same phrase again- although it seems they had forgotten or not appreciated what He had then told them.</p>
<p><em>Whatever they would</em>- Mk. 9:12 adds: &ldquo;As it is written of him&rdquo;. There seems no specific prophecy stating that the Elijah prophet would be unsuccessful, unless one really reads between the lines of Malachi&rsquo;s prophecy about the Elijah prophet. More likely is that the &ldquo;him&rdquo; refers to the historical Elijah. All that was written of&nbsp;<em>him</em>&nbsp;had come true of John the Baptist, in that the alliance between Ahab and the manipulative Jezebel which led to Elijah&rsquo;s persecution was mirrored in that between Herod and the equally manipulative Herodias, which led to John&rsquo;s demise.</p>
<p><em>Likewise shall the Son of Man suffer by their hands</em>- Mk. 9:12 extends this in saying that He would likewise &ldquo;suffer many things and be set at nought&rdquo;. Significantly, the same Greek word is used in Lk. 23:11 to describe how Herod &ldquo;set at nought&rdquo; Jesus at His trial; and it was the same Herod who had John the Baptist murdered.</p>