Matthew 9:25

‘But when the crowd was put forth, he entered in, and took her by the hand, and the damsel arose.'

Matthew tells the story briefly in order to bring out the main point. The crowd were put out, Jesus went in, and then He took her by the hand and she arose. Here we have a simple depiction of the resurrection. Resurrection was an important part of the expectancy of the coming age. The Messianic banquet would be accompanied by the defeat of death (Isaiah 25:6). The defeat of death and the raising of the dead was a part of the coming future triumph (Isaiah 26:19). God's victory would be evidenced by those who ‘slept' being ‘awoken' (Daniel 12:2). It may well be because Jesus saw those whom He raised from the dead as forerunners and illustrations of the Resurrection, that He emphasised that they but ‘slept' (Matthew 9:24; John 11:11). Note Jesus' emphasis in the case of Lazarus that He was going to ‘awaken him out of sleep' (compare Daniel 12:2), and the great similarity between His raising of Lazarus (John 11:43) and His description of the resurrection in John 5:28. Thus His raising of the Ruler's daughter may be seen as a forerunner of the triumph of the Kingly Rule of Heaven (compare Matthew 11:5), as well as a picture of the spiritual life that He was offering to men and women (Matthew 7:14; Matthew 19:29; John 5:24).

To touch a dead body was to incur defilement (as with the leper in Matthew 8:3) but there was no doubt an exception for Someone Who raised the dead person to life.