AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT AS THE PEOPLE PRESSED UPON HIM,.... As Christ went through Galilee, and preached in the synagogues there, great crowds of people attended on him, and they followed him wherever he went; and so large were their numbers, and so very eager were they to see him, and hear him, t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAW TWO SHIPS STANDING BY THE LAKE,.... Or two fishing boats; which were, as the Arabic version renders it, "detained by anchors at the shore of the lake"; the one belonging to Peter and Andrew, and the other to Zebedee, and his two sons, James and John: BUT THE FISHERMEN WERE GONE OUT OF THEM;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE ENTERED INTO ONE OF THE SHIPS, WHICH WAS SIMON'S,.... Simon Peter's, and Andrew his brother's, who were both together at this time, though the last is not here mentioned: AND PRAYED HIM THAT HE WOULD THRUST OUT A LITTLE FROM THE LAND: as Simon was the owner of the vessel, Christ desired him;... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WHEN HE HAD LEFT SPEAKING,.... Teaching the people, and preaching the word of God unto them out of the ship, as they stood on the shore before him. HE SAID UNTO SIMON, LAUNCH OUT INTO THE DEEP; he spoke to Simon Peter, being the master of the vessel, to thrust it out, or put it off further into... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SIMON ANSWERING SAID UNTO HIM, MASTER,.... Or Rabbi, as the Syriac version renders it: he knew him to be the Messiah, the king of Israel, and a teacher sent from God: WE HAVE TOILED ALL THE NIGHT, AND HAVE TAKEN NOTHING; which carries in it an objection to what Christ advised and directed to: t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD DONE THIS,.... Had put the ship out further to sea, and had let down their net: THEY ENCLOSED A GREAT MULTITUDE OF FISH; in their net, which by the secret divine power of Christ, were gathered together just in that place, where by his order they cast the net: AND THEIR NET BRAKE;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY BECKONED UNTO THEIR PARTNERS,.... Zebedee, and his two sons, James and John; Luke 5:10 who were at some distance from them, probably lay at anchor near the shore, not having put out to sea when the other vessel did, and so were not within call; but they were obliged to make signs to them, a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN SIMON PETER SAW IT,.... The multitude of fish that was taken, and both vessels filled with them, and the danger they were in of sinking, HE FELL DOWN AT JESUS' KNEES. The Arabic and Persic versions read, "at" his "feet": he fell on his knees before him, and threw himself prostrate at his feet,... [ Continue Reading ]
FAR HE WAS ASTONISHED, AND ALL THAT WERE WITH HIM,.... His brother Andrew, and the servants they had with them to manage the vessel, and cast the nets: AT THE DRAUGHT OF THE FISHES THEY HAD TAKEN; being so large and numerous, as the like was never seen, nor known by them before.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SO WAS ALSO JAMES AND JOHN, THE SONS OF ZEBEDEE,.... Who were in the other ship, and had been beckoned to them to come and help them, and did come, and were witnesses of the miracle: WHICH WERE PARTNERS WITH SIMON; were sharers with him in loss and gain in the fishing trade; these were equally... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD BROUGHT THEIR SHIPS TO LAND,.... Both Simon Peter's, and the other in which his partners were, and which were laden with fish: THEY FORSOOK ALL; even all their fish, which they doubtless might have made much money of, and their nets, and their ships, and their servants, and their... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN HE WAS IN A CERTAIN CITY,.... Or near it, hard by it, very probably Capernaum; Matthew 8:1 Behold a man full of leprosy; a disease to which the Jews were very incident, and concerning which, many laws and rules are given, in Leviticus 13:1. The symptoms of the ancient "lep... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE PUT FORTH HIS HAND AND TOUCHED HIM,.... Having compassion on him, and commiserating his sad case: SAYING, I WILL, BE THOU CLEAN; AND IMMEDIATELY THE LEPROSY DEPARTED FROM HIM; Matthew 8:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CHARGED HIM TO TELL NO MAN,.... Of his cure, and by whom he received it; BUT GO SHOW THYSELF TO THE PRIEST. The Syriac and Persic versions read, "to the priests: and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses has commanded, for a testimony unto them"; Matthew 8:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SO MUCH THE MORE WENT THERE A FAME ABROAD OF HIM,.... For the more he charged the man to keep silence, the more he blazed it abroad, being elated with the cure he received, and filled with gratitude to his benefactor; Mark 1:45. AND GREAT MULTITUDES CAME TOGETHER TO HEAR: him, or from him, as t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WITHDREW HIMSELF INTO THE WILDERNESS,.... Into a desert place, that he might have rest from the fatigues of preaching and healing diseases; and being alone, and free from company, might have an opportunity for private prayer to God, for so it lows: AND PRAYED; this is to be understood of Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS ON A CERTAIN DAY,.... When he was at Capernaum, as appears from Mark 2:1 AS HE WAS TEACHING: in the house where such numbers were gathered together, to hear the word of God preached by him, that there was not room for them, neither within the house, nor about the door, Mark 2:2... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BEHOLD, MEN BROUGHT IN A BED A MAN WHICH WAS TAKEN WITH A PALSY,.... Four men brought him, as Mark says, Mark 2:3 and which the Ethiopic version expresses here: "and they sought means to bring him in": into the house where Jesus was: AND TO LAY HIM BEFORE HIM; at his feet, in hope of moving his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY COULD NOT FIND BY WHAT WAY,.... As by the door, or in at a window of the house: THEY MIGHT BRING HIM IN; to Jesus, in the house: BECAUSE OF THE MULTITUDE; which was about the door, and all the fore part of the house: THEY WENT UPON THE HOUSETOP; by a ladder, or pair of stairs, which... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE SAW THEIR FAITH,.... That is, Jesus, as the Syriac and Persic versions express it; when he saw the faith both of the paralytic man, and of the men that brought him, which was shown in the pains they took, and trouble they were at, in getting him to him; HE SAID UNTO HIM. The Vulgate Lat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES BEGAN TO REASON,.... To think and say within themselves, and it may be to one another, in a private manner: SAYING, WHO IS THIS WHICH SPEAKETH BLASPHEMIES? what vain boaster, and blaspheming creature is this, who assumes that to himself, which is the prerogative of... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN JESUS PERCEIVED THEIR THOUGHTS,.... Being God omniscient; HE ANSWERING SAID UNTO THEM, WHAT REASON YE IN YOUR HEARTS? This he said, not as being ignorant what their reasonings were, for it is before said he perceived their thoughts, but to expose the wickedness of them; in one exemplar of... [ Continue Reading ]
WHETHER IS IT EASIER TO SAY,.... Mark adds, "to the sick of the palsy"; to whom Christ had said that his sins were forgiven him, which had given offence to the Scribes and Pharisees, imagining that he had assumed too much to himself: wherefore he proposes the following case to them, which they thoug... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THAT YE MAY KNOW, THAT THE SON OF MAN,.... Whom the Scribes and Pharisees took for a mere man, in which they were mistaken; for though he was really a man, and the son of man, yet he was God as well as man; he was God manifest in the flesh: HATH POWER UPON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS; even in the day... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IMMEDIATELY HE ROSE UP BEFORE THEM,.... As soon as ever these words were spoken by Christ, the man, before sick of the palsy, finding himself perfectly well, got off of his couch, and stood up on his feet before the Scribes and Pharisees, and all the people: AND TOOK UP THAT WHEREON HE LAY; his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY WERE ALL AMAZED, AND THEY GLORIFIED GOD,.... Not the Pharisees, and doctors of the law, but the common people: AND WERE FILLED WITH FEAR; of the Divine Being, whose presence and power they were sensible must be in this case: SAYING, WE HAVE SEEN STRANGE THINGS TODAY; paradoxes, things won... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AFTER THESE THINGS HE WENT FORTH,.... After his discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees, and his healing of the man, sick with the palsy, he went forth from the city of Capernaum, to the sea side; not only for retirement and recreation, after the work of the day hitherto, but in order to meet w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE LEFT ALL,.... His company, his business, and all the profits of it: ROSE UP; directly; such power went along with the words of Christ, that he could not withstand it: AND FOLLOWED HIM; not only in a literal, but in a spiritual sense, and became a disciple of his.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LEVI MADE HIM A GREAT FEAST IN HIS OWN HOUSE,.... At Capernaum, which, very likely, was made some time after his call, though recorded here; for it is not reasonable to think there could be time enough that day to get ready so great a feast, as this is said to be Levi, it should seem, was a rich... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEIR SCRIBES AND PHARISEES,.... Not the Scribes of the publicans and sinners that sat down, but the Scribes of the people in general; the Scribes of the Jewish nation: all the eastern versions leave out the word "their": MURMURED AGAINST HIS DISCIPLES, SAYING; or, "murmured, and said unto his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS ANSWERING, SAID UNTO THEM,.... Knowing that they aimed at him; though, according to this evangelist, they only mentioned his disciples, however, he takes up the cause, and vindicates both himself and them, by observing to them the following proverb; THEY THAT ARE WHOLE NEED NOT A PHYSICIA... [ Continue Reading ]
I CAME NOT TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS,.... Such as the Scribes and Pharisees were in their own apprehension, and in the esteem of others, who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and submitted not to the righteousness of Christ: these Christ came not to call by his grace, and therefore did no... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAY UNTO HIM,.... The Scribes and Pharisees, or the disciples of John; see Matthew 9:14 WHY DO THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN FAST OFTEN, AND MAKE PRAYERS? set times apart frequently for fasting and prayer. The Ethiopic version reads, "why do the disciples of John baptize frequently, fast, and make... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM,.... The disciples of John, or the Scribes and Pharisees: CAN YE MAKE THE CHILDREN OF THE BRIDE CHAMBER FAST, WHILE THE BRIDEGROOM IS WITH THEM? signifying, that he was the bridegroom, and his disciples the children of the bride chamber; and that as it is unreasonable to expec... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE DAYS WILL COME,.... And that in a very little time, as they did: WHEN THE BRIDEGROOM SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM: as their master, John, was taken away from them, and now in prison, and therefore it was no wonder they mourned and fasted; signifying, that in a short time he, the bridegroom... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SPAKE ALSO A PARABLE UNTO THEM,.... The Scribes and Pharisees; illustrating what he had just now said: NO MAN PUTTETH A PIECE OF A NEW GARMENT UPON AN OLD; by "a piece of a new garment" meaning the new and upstart notions and traditions of the elders, which were so in comparison of the law o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NO MAN PUTTETH NEW WINE INTO OLD BOTTLES,.... To which the Scribes and Pharisees are here compared, into whose hearts the new wine of Gospel grace was not put; or to whom was not made known the love of God Comparable to new wine; nor the blessings of the new covenant of grace, now exhibited; nor... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NEW WINE MUST BE PUT INTO NEW BOTTLES,.... Such as the disciples of Christ were, and sinners called to repentance are, who are renewed by the Spirit and grace of God: and these are filled with spiritual joy and comfort, as with new wine, arising from discoveries of the love of God, a view of int... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN ALSO HAVING DRUNK OLD WINE,.... "Wine", though not in the text, is rightly supplied by our translators, as it is by the Syriac and Persic versions: STRAIGHTWAY DESIRETH NEW; new wine: FOR HE SAITH, THE OLD IS BETTER; old wine is more grateful, more generous, and more reviving to the spirits,... [ Continue Reading ]