_CHRIST REPROVETH THE BLINDNESS OF THE PHARISEES CONCERNING THE BREACH OF THE SABBATH, BY SCRIPTURES, BY REASON, AND BY A MIRACLE: HE HEALETH THE MAN POSSESSED, WHO WAS BLIND AND DUMB. BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST SHALL NEVER BE FORGIVEN. ACCOUNT SHALL BE MADE OF IDLE WORDS: HE REBUKETH THE UNFA... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE SABBATH-DAY— See the note on Luke 6:1 where the Evangelist points out the sabbath and day whereon this happened, _Through the corn_ means through the paths that were in the corn. The word σταχυας may indifferently signify ears of any kind of grain; but it most probably was barley, which was r... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT, THEY SAID, &C.— The Jews were allowed by the law, when they came into the standing corn of their neighbours, to pluck some ears, and eat them, Deuteronomy 23:25. But as they were by the same law forbid to _reap_ on the sabbath-day, the Pharisees, perversely enough, account... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE SAID UNTO THEM, &C.— Concerning this transaction see the note on Mark 2:25. By the _house of God_ is not meant the _temple,_ for it was not then built; but the court of the tabernacle, which was at that time pitched at Nob, one of the priests' cities in the tribe of Benjamin.... [ Continue Reading ]
OR HAVE YE NOT READ IN THE LAW, &C.— He did not mean that these words were to be found in the law, but that they might read in the law, that the priests were obliged on the sabbath-day to perform such servile work in the temple, as, considered separately from the end of it, was a profanation of the... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT IN THIS PLACE, &C.— "If you reply, that the priests were not culpable in those actions, because they were undertaken for the temple service, I acknowledge it; but at the same time it should be observed, that if the temple, with its service, be of such importance as to demand... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL HAVE MERCY, &C.— _I delight in mercy_ (so θελειν signifies, ch. Matthew 27:43.), _more than sacrifice;_ for this is the Hebrew form of comparison. See the note on ch. Matthew 9:13. Works of mercy, acts of kindness and beneficence, are essential duties, and preferable to all the ceremonial law... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SON OF MAN IS LORD, &C.— See on Mark 2:27. The expression _even of the sabbath-day,_ και του σαββατου, certainly implies, that the sabbath was an institution of great and distinguished importance. It may perhaps also refer to that signal act of authority which Christ afterwards, by the minis... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE WAS DEPARTED THENCE— There can be no doubt as to the connection of this history with the preceding, in which all the Evangelists agree; and indeed, had not St. Luke told us, that it was on _another sabbath,_ the words of St. Matthew would have led us to imagine it had been the same day. Perh... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY ASKED HIM, &C.— That is, the Pharisees, Matthew 12:14 who, when they saw Jesus going to perform the cure, put this question to him, _Is it lawful,_ &c.? by which they declared in the strongest terms their opinion of its unlawfulness: but in so doing they had no intention to prevent the acti... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT SHALL HAVE ONE SHEEP— _Who, if he have but one sheep that on the sabbath-day should fall into a pit, will not,_ &c. The stress is not here to be laid upon a man's having only one sheep, but upon one only falling into a pit. The following Jewish saying is mentioned by some writers: "It is unlawf... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW THEY MIGHT DESTROY HIM— This is the first time that mention is made of a design onour Saviour's life. It is natural to think that the historian would acquaint us of their concurring in the design, before he would speak of their consulting about the means. See Campbell.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN JESUS KNEW IT— _But Jesus knowing it withdrew._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CHARGED THEM, &C.— To what we have observed concerning the reasons why our Lord desired to conceal his mighty works in the note on ch. Matthew 8:4 we would add the following remarks: This concealment of himself may seem strange in one who was come to bring light into the world, and was to suffer... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED, &C.— Concerning this prophesy, we refer the reader to the notes on Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:25 just observing, that it is not quoted here exactly according to the Hebrew original, the Evangelist having contracted it.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SMOKING FLAX, &C.— _And a dimly burning taper he will not extinguish, till he render his laws victorious;_ or, _till he hath made justice victorious._ It is said at Matthew 12:18 that he shall teach the _nations judgment;_ by which I understand, says Dr. Heylin, in nearly these words, that self-... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN HIS NAME, &C.— St. Matthew has here followed the LXX. In Isaiah it is, _and the isles shall wait for his law:_ but the meaning of both passages is the same; for the Evangelists use the _name_ of God with that latitude which it has in the Hebrew language, wherein it denotes the Deity himself;... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE POSSESSED, &C.— _A demoniac._... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS FELLOW DOTH NOT CAST OUT, &C.— The Pharisees affirmed, that Jesus performed his miracles, particularly on possessed persons, by the assistance of Beelzebub, for two reasons; _first_, Jesus had all along been at great pains to oppose those superstitions which most of the teachers and people of t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS KNEW THEIR THOUGHTS, &C.— It frequently happens that, through ignorance or weakness, men form wrong judgments of things; a misfortune which, because it necessarily springs from the imperfection of human nature, does not deserve the very harshest censure; but when wrong judgments proceed fr... [ Continue Reading ]
BY WHOM DO YOUR CHILDREN, &C.— _Your sons,_ υιοι. Dr. Chandler paraphrases the verse thus: "You do not impute the miracles of your prophets to Beelzebub, but, on the evidence of these miracles, you receive them as the messengers of God; nevertheless you reject _me,_ who work greater and more numerou... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME UNTO YOU— That is, "You may thereby discover that I am the Messiah, or that king who was promised to the Jews." The miracles of our Lord, and the manner in which he performed them, were manifest demonstrations of his having been sent from God (see John 3:2.), and cons... [ Continue Reading ]
A STRONG MAN'S HOUSE— _The house of the strong one._ See Isaiah 49:24. The _strong one_ is the same as the _evil one,_ and the _prince of this world._ The argument supposes, that the strong one is actually present to guard his house; and indeed the case in question proves the presence of Satan. The... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT IS NOT WITH ME, &C.— "If, according to the maxims of the world, those are reckoned enemies who do not assist us against our foes; I, who am so deeply engaged in the opposition to Satan, ought much rather to be reckoned his enemy; and he who does not set himself, according to his ability, to... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BE FORGIVEN UNTO MEN— It is evidently our Lord's meaning here, not that every such sin shall actually be pardoned, but that it is, in the divine economy, capable of being pardoned, or _is pardonable._ Dr. Campbell renders the passage, _in men is_ pardonable. _MATTHEW 12:31_. The inference in t... [ Continue Reading ]
EITHER MAKE THE TREE GOOD, &C.— "If you make my miracles _Beelzebub's,_ you must make my doctrine his also: all the good I do, you must say is his work; all the exhortations by which I excite sinners to repentance are his; the knowledge which I give you of the way of life, and the motives I offer fo... [ Continue Reading ]
O GENERATION OF VIPERS, &C.— Without attending to the context, and our Saviour's general argument, which he is here closely pursuing, interpreters have been strangely perplexed with the phrase _every idle word,_ in Matthew 12:36., which many of them have considered as a distinct and separate injunct... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CERTAIN OF THE SCRIBES, &C.— Though our Saviour's reasoning was clear and unanswerable, yet some of the Scribes and Pharisees, desirous to divert the discourse to another topic, and fully demonstrating the hardness of their hearts, required _a sign from heaven;_ as much as to say, "Master, thou... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS JONAS WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS— See the note on Jonah 1:17. Instead of _the whale's,_ we should read _the fish's belly._ It is no where in the Old Testament said that it was a _whale,_ and κητος signifies any _large fish_ in general. See Mintert on the word. The _heart of the earth_ is... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEN OF NINEVEH, &C.— The _Ninevites_ being judged at the same time with the men of that generation, and their behaviour being compared together, should make the guilt of the latter appear in its true colours, and condemn them: for though they were idolaters, they repented at the preaching of Jon... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT, &C.— Our Lord here finishes his defence, alluding to the occasion of the dispute, Matthew 12:22 with a parable of a possessed person who, having had a devilor demon expelled out of him, received him back again, with many others, or was taken possession of by them, and thereb... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, HIS MOTHER AND HIS BRETHREN— See ch. Matthew 13:55. Mary was attended by her sister's children, who were the _cousins,_ or, according to the Hebrew dialect, the _brethren_ of Christ, (see on ch. Matthew 10:2.) and who waited on her during her stay in Capernaum; a piece of respect which her b... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS MY MOTHER? &C.— To suppose that our Lord here intends to put any slight on his mother, would be very absurd. He only took the opportunity of expressing his affection to his obedient disciples in a peculiarly endearing manner, which could not but be a very great comfort to them, and would be t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SAME IS MY BROTHER, AND SISTER, AND MOTHER— _He is my brother, or sister, or mother._ Doddridge. This short speech of our Lord, related by the evangelist with great simplicity, is, without his seeming to design it, one of the finest encomiums imaginable. Could the most elaborate panegyric have d... [ Continue Reading ]