Matthew 11:8

_AND SAID UNTO HIM, ART THOU HE THAT SHOULD COME, OR DO WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

8._Clothed with soft garments _Those who think that Christ here condemns the extravagance of a court are mistaken. There are many other passages in which luxury of dress, and excessive attention to outward appearance, are censured. But this passage simply means, that there was nothing in the wilderness to attract the people from every quarter; that every thing there was rude and unpolished, and fitted only to inspire disgust; and that such elegance of dress as delights the eyes is rather to be looked for in the courts of kings. (13)...

7-15 What Christ said concerning John, was not only for his praise, but for the people's profit. Those who attend on the word will be called to give an account of their improvements. Do we think when the sermon is done, the care is over? No, then the greatest of the care begins. John was a self-denying man, dead to all the pomps of the world and the pleasures of sense. It becomes people, in all their appearances, to be consistent with their character and their situation. John was a great and good man, yet not perfect; therefore he came short of glorified saints. The least in heaven knows more, loves more, and does more in praising God, and receives more from him, than the greatest in this world. But by the kingdom of heaven here, is rather to be understood the kingdom of grace, the gospel dispensation in its power and purity. What reason we have to be thankful that our lot is cast in th...

Verse Matthew 11:8. _A MAN CLOTHED IN SOFT RAIMENT?_] A _second excellency_ in John was, his sober and mortified life. A preacher of the Gospel should have nothing about him which savours of _effeminacy_ and _worldly pomp_: he is awfully mistaken who thinks to prevail on the world to hear him and receive the truth, by conforming himself to its _fashions_ and _manners_. Excepting the mere colour of his clothes, we can scarcely now distinguish a preacher of the Gospel, whether in the establishment of the country, or out of it, from the merest worldly man. Ruffles, powder, and fribble seem universally to prevail. Thus the Church and the world begin to shake hands, the latter still retaining its enmity to God. How can those who profess to preach the doctrine of the cross act in this way? Is not a worldly-minded preacher, in the most peculiar sense, an abominat...

CLOTHED IN SOFT RAIMENT - The kind of raiment here denoted was the light, thin clothing worn by effeminate persons. It was made commonly of fine linen, and was worn chiefly for ornament. Christ asks them whether they were attracted by anything like that. He says that the desert was not the place to expect it. In the palaces of kings, in the court of Herod, it might be expected, but not in the place where John was. This kind of clothing was an emblem of riches, splendor, effeminacy, feebleness of character. He meant to say that John was a man of a different stamp - coarse in his exterior, hardy in his character, firm in his virtue, suited to endure trials and privations, and thus qualified to be the forerunner of the toiling and suffering Messiah....

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 11:1 Matthew only. AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN JESUS HAD MADE AN END. The same formula recurs in Matthew 7:28; Matthew 13:53; Matthew 19:1; Matthew 26:1. In all five cases it marks the end of important speeches. (1) The sermon on the mount (Mt 5-7:27); (2) the charge to the disciples (Matthew 10:5); (3) the parables ...

BUT WHAT WENT YE OUT FOR TO SEE?.... Since it cannot be thought it was to see the reeds in the wilderness blow to and fro by the wind, or a man like one of them, either in gesture or doctrine; was it to see A MAN CLOTHED IN SOFT RAIMENT? In raiment made of soft materials, as fine wool, cotton, silk, c. such as Mecaenos wore, and who was therefore called Malacinus y: one finely dressed, and richly apparelled, draws the eyes of persons to him but such an one is not to be expected in a wilderness: and if the Jews went to see such a person, they were greatly disappointed; for John's raiment was of camel's hair, undressed, and he had a leathern girdle about his loins; and as for his diet, it was locusts and wild honey: no, BEHOLD THEY THAT WEAR SOFT CLOTHING, or, as Luke says, are "gorgeously apparelled"; to which he adds, AND LIVE DELICATELY, ARE IN KINGS' HOUSES, or "courts"; not in a de...

Matthew 11:1. _And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities._ Whatever he commanded, he himself did. He was always the example as well as the legislator of his people. How well it will be for us who are called upon to teach others, if we can teach them as much by what we do as by what we say! «When Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.» Matthew 11:2. _Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples. And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?_ Poor John! His spirit was brave enough amid the wilds when he was by the riversi

8. THE FORERUNNER IN PRISON. THE KINGDOM PREACHING REJECTED. CHAPTER 11 _ 1. John Imprisoned Sends his Disciples. (Matthew 11:1 .) 2. The King's Testimony Concerning John. (Matthew 11:7 .) 3. The King Announces Judgment. (Matthew 11:20 .) 4. The Greater Invitation. (Matthew 11:25 .)_ The first verse of this chapter belongs to the sending forth of the twelve, and should be put to the previous chapter. “And it came to pass when Jesus had finished commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and preach in their cities.” He took the work upon Himself once more, and with the disciples He had

JOHN THE BAPTIST (Luke 7:18). In place of Mk.'s narrative of John, deferred to ch. 14, Mt. gives material from Q. MATTHEW 11:2. JOHN'S PERPLEXITY. It is a question whether doubt was supervening upon the Baptist's first faith, or whether Matthew 3:14 f. is unhistorical, and John had all along been uncertain. In 2 Cod. Bezæ reads the works of Jesus. In Matthew 11:5 we have to decide whether Jesus refers the embassy to a series of physical miracles ending with the preaching of good tidings to the poor (Harnack, Plummer), or metaphorically (_cf._ Isai