CHRONOLOGY. Matthew inserts this group of events here; Mark and Luke at a later point. We accept the chronology of Mark, who explicitly says that Jesus crossed the sea on the evening of the day the parable of the sower was delivered. The events of this day are recorded more fully than those of any o... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:1. AND HE ENTERED, etc. This verse belongs to chap. 8. It is disconnected in time with what follows. HIS OWN CITY, _i.e.,_ Capernaum. Luke (Luke 8:40): ‘The multitude welcomed him; for they were all waiting for him.' The feast at the house of Matthew was the next event in order of time ... [ Continue Reading ]
CHRONOLOGY AND CONNECTION. Three Evangelists join together the events we group in this section. Mark and Luke, however, place them immediately after the healing of the leper near Capernaum. We agree with most harmonists in placing the miracle wrought on the paralytic and the calling of Matthew toget... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:2. The accounts of Mark and Luke are more particular. AND, merely resumes the narrative, without implying connection with what precedes. BEHOLD. A remarkable miracle. Luke intimates that many other cures were performed just before, and both he and Mark mention the crowd. The account of... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:3. CERTAIN OF THE SCRIBES. Many ‘Pharisees and doctors of the law' were present, from all parts of the land (Luke 5:17). SAID WITHIN THEMSELVES, _i.e.,_ in their hearts, as is plain from Mark 2:6. THIS MAN, not necessarily a term of contempt BLASPHEMETH. The parallel passages base th... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:4. KNOWING, by divine insight, rather than from the expression of their countenances. WHEREFORE THINK YE EVIL IN YOUR HEARTS. A rebuke of the substance and the secrecy of their opposition. Bold language; it assumes, that opposition to Christ's power to forgive sins is in itself wicked. Ou... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:5. FOR, as a proof that the thoughts were evil. WHICH IS EASIER, etc. Archbishop Trench correctly sets forth the argument: ‘In our Lord's argument it must be carefully noted that He does not ask,” Which is easiest, to forgive sins, or to raise a sick man?” for it could not be affirmed th... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:6. Application of the argument, stated by all three Evangelists in the same terms. THE SON OF MAN, here equivalent to the Messiah. HATH AUTHORITY. ‘Power' is not so exact ON EARTH. Christ claimed and exercised this ‘authority' as the _incarnate_ Son of God, or as ‘the Son of man on e... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:7. AND HE AROSE, AND DEPARTED TO HIS HOUSE. The test was successfully applied. The intervening moment must have been one of suspense to all, save the Healer and the healed; the one serene in the consciousness of power, the other strong in faith. His walk was truly ‘by faith,' and he went ‘... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:8. THEY WERE AFRAID (according to the best authorities). Either a religious awe, awakened by the higher character in which Jesus had presented Himself, or a spiritual conflict echoing that between Christ and the scribes. The result was they GLORIFIED GOD, WHO HAD GIVEN SUCH POWER, or ‘auth... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:9. FROM THENCE. According to all three accounts, immediately after the miracle just mentioned. MATTHEW, the Apostle and Evangelist ‘A publican named Levi' (Luke 5:27); ‘Levi the son of Alpheus' (Mark 2:14). Undoubtedly the same person; the accounts agree closely. The formal call seems pec... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:10. AND IT CAME TO PASS. All three accounts are indefinite as to the length of the interval. As already intimated, the arrangement of Matthew's narrative seems to have been occasioned by the fact that Jairus came to his house, where the Pharisees were objecting to the keeping company with... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:11. AND WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT. Our Lord had just returned from Gadara, and they would be on the watch for Him; or hearing that He was at the publican's feast, they pressed in. They were not at the feast; the conversation took place after dinner. THEY SAID UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, not to H... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:12. Our Lord, in figurative language, lays down a principle, applicable to the case, on their own estimate of themselves, and the publicans and sinners.' THEY THAT ARE WHOLE HAVE NO NEED OF PHYSICIAN, BUT THEY THAT ARE SICK. He is the Physician; the two classes are, the objectors and tho... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:13. GO YE AND LEARN. The citation is peculiar to Matthew. ‘You are students of the Scriptures, yet do not know the meaning of the passage I quote; instead of finding fault, go and learn what you ought to know already.' The Rabbins used such a form. I DESIRE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE (Hosea... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:14. THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN. Luke puts the question in the mouth of the Pharisees, but by this time all the spiritual disciples of John must have become followers of Christ; the rest would lean toward Pharisaism. WHY DO WE AND THE PHARISEES FAST OFT? Some authorities omit ‘oft,' but it is b... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:15. CAN THE SONS OF THE BRIDECHAMBER. The companions of the bridegroom, as the bride was brought to his father's house. The festive procession was usually in the evening, with torches, music, and dancing, and the marriage feast lasted seven days. The application is of course to the discipl... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:16. Two illustrations follow, naturally associated with a wedding feast NO ONE PUTTETH A PATCH OF UNDRESSED, or, ‘unfulled' CLOTH UPON AN OLD GARMENT. The patch of cloth that would shrink, placed on a worn garment, would tear the weaker fibre; AND A WORSE RENT TAKES PLACE, since the new... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:17. NEITHER DO MEN PUT NEW WINE INTO OLD SKINS, etc. The skin-bottles common in the East Old ones would burst from the fermenting of the new wine, which would distend new ones without injury. This figure, representing an internal operation, is stronger than the previous one. The living pri... [ Continue Reading ]
The four miracles mentioned in this section seem to have occurred in immediate succession. On the way to the house of the ruler, the woman with an issue of blood is cured; the ruler's daughter is raised; then two blind men receive their sight, and immediately after a demon is cast out of a dumb man,... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:18. WHILE HE SPAKE THESE THINGS. Either in the house after the feast, or ‘nigh unto the sea' (Mark 5:21), where the conversation with John's disciples may have taken place. There came. According to some authorities, ‘came in.' The character of the man who came in heightens the contrast A... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:19. JESUS AROSE AND FOLLOWED HIM. Jairus may have hastened, yet our Lord must have proceeded leisurely if HIS DISCIPLES, as well as the great crowd, which the other Evangelists speak of, accompanied Him. Crowds usually attended Him, but the presence of the chief man of the city would excit... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:21. IF I DO BUT TOUCH, etc. ‘May' should be omitted; she was timid, not doubtful. It is implied that she wished only to touch some part of His clothes, no matter which. She may have looked for some magical influence, but twelve years in the hands of physicians in those days would certainly... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:22. Comp, the fuller accounts of Mark and Luke. She was healed at once; our Lord asked, ‘Who touched me?' and thus constrained her to make public confession, sealed and strengthened her faith, presenting her to the world as healed and clean. DAUGHTER, BE OF GOOD CHEER; THY FAITH HATH MAD... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:23. Matthew passes over the message, that the damsel was dead; the faith of the ruler already strengthened by the miracle was further encouraged by the words, ‘Be not afraid, only believe' (Mark 5:36). Only Peter, James, and John (Mark and Luke) were allowed to follow Jesus into the ruler'... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:24. GIVE PLACE. A request for the crowd to retire. FOR THE DAMSEL IS NOT DEAD, BUT SLEEPETH. A direct reference to the miracle, which He was about to perform. She did not die, as others die; but she is as one who sleepeth, for I am about to raise her, as one is wakened from a sleep. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:25. THE CROWD WAS PUT FORTH. They were put out of the house, as the next clause intimates that this putting forth took place before the Lord went into the chamber of death. The believing ruler exercised his authority in his own house, though it may have been a work of difficulty, for peopl... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:26. AND THE FAME HEREOF, lit, ‘this fame,' or ‘report,' WENT FORTH INTO ALL THAT LAND. Many who had seen the girl dead, must afterwards have seen her alive.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:27. AND AS JESUS PASSED BY FROM THENCE. Probably as He left the house of the ruler, certainly while on a journey. TWO BLIND MEN FOLLOWED HIM. Peculiar to Matthew. Blindness was common in the East, and it was natural that the sufferers consorted. To follow Him, they need only let the crow... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:28. INTO THE HOUSE. Our Lord allowed them to cry on until He reached ‘the house' (wherever it was), in order to draw out the expression of their faith. Possibly He would avoid a public response to the title ‘Son of David.' The blessing is granted in such a way as to gain their faith and th... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:29. THEN TOUCHED HE THEIR EYES. As an outward sign of His power. ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH, etc. Faith is the hand which takes what God offers, the spiritual organ of appropriation, the conducting link between emptiness and God's fullness.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:30. AND THEIR EYES WERE OPENED. A figurative but natural expression for restoration to sight. AND JESUS SOLEMNLY CHARGED THEM, almost equivalent to ‘sternly threatened them.' These men had already shouted their belief in His Messiahship, in the public street, and their over-ready zeal mi... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:31. Their disobedience was undoubtedly _wrong._ They brought Him no glory (His fame was already spread abroad, Matthew 9:26), but tarnished their faith. Zeal which is not according to knowledge, fails to keep silent, even when authoritatively told to do so. They doubtless helped to arouse... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:32. AS THEY WENT FORTH, _i.e.,_ the blind men. This miracle must, therefore, have immediately followed the last. BEHOLD. Another remarkable case, mentioned by Matthew alone. Both he (Matthew 12:22 ff.) and Luke (Luke 6:14 ff.) mention a similar case. Still another is mentioned by Mark (M... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:33. AND WHEN THE DEMON WAS CAST OUT, or, ‘the demon having been cast out,' as a result, THE DUMB MAN SPAKE, AND THE MULTITUDES MARVELLED. The crowds collected on this eventful day had not yet dispersed. IT WAS NEVER SO SEEN, lit, ‘Never did it thus appear,' IN ISRAEL. The double cure was... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:34. BUT THE PHARISEES SAID. Many of them were probably attracted by the fact that Jairus had called upon Jesus for help. If they had understood the saying mentioned in the last verse, as referring to the Messiah, it would provoke some such expression as is here recorded. BY, lit ‘in,' in... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:35. AND JESUS WENT ABOUT, etc. An appropriate introduction to what follows, as well as a fitting close to this account of the leading miracles performed by our Lord; almost identical with Matthew 4:23, which precedes the Sermon on the Mount, describing (as the tense in the original shows)... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:36. BUT WHEN HE SAW THE MULTITUDES. The original indicates that this was on a particular occasion. HE WAS MOVED WITH COMPASSION. Popularity called forth pity. Our Lord's sympathy, like ours, was called forth by particular, passing events. BECAUSE THEY WERE DISTRESSED AND SCATTERED, AS... [ Continue Reading ]
CONNECTION. The concluding verses of chap. 9, referring to a definite occasion, form a fit introduction to an account of the formal sending out of the Apostles. Matthew has already mentioned the first call of some of the Twelve. Mark and Luke tell how they had been chosen as a body some time before,... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:37. HIS DISCIPLES. Probably including more than the twelve. THE HARVEST, etc. The people were ready to hear; but could not, if more did not enter into the work. As yet, He was the only laborer. Our weak faith denies the harvest as much as it diminishes the number of laborers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:38. BESEECH YE. A strong word. THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, _i.e.,_ God. The harvest included the Gentile nations, for the laborers sent forth at this time afterwards preached to them also. THAT HE SEND FORTH LABORERS INTO HIS HARVEST. Real laborers are needed, but only such as God sends f... [ Continue Reading ]