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Jeans Warneth

MATTHEW, X.

of Persecution. immediately "the coming of the Son of man," "the day of vengeance of our God" (ch. 16. 28; 24. 27. 31: with Hebrews, 10. 25: James, 5. 7-9)--but only as being such a lively anticipation of His Second Coming for vengeance and deliverance. So understood, it is parallel with ch. 24. 14 (on which see). Directions for the Srvice of Christ in its widest sense (v. 24-42). 24. The disciple is not above his masterteacher,' nor the servant above his lord-another maxim which our Lord repeats in various connections (Luke, 6. 40; John, 13, 16: 15. 20). 25. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub. All the Greek MSS. write "Beelzebul." which undoubtedly is the right form of this word. The other reading came in no doubt from the Old Testament "Baalzebub," the god of Ekron (2 Kings, 1. 2), which it was designed to express. As all idolatry was regarded as devil-worship Leviticus, 17. 7; Deuteronomy, 32. 17; Psalm 106. 37; 1 Corinthians, 10. 20), so there seems to have been something peculiarly Satanic about the worship of this hateful god. which caused his name to be a synonym of Satan. Though we nowhere read that our Lord was actually called "Beelzebul." He was charged with being in league with Satan under that hateful name (ch. 12. 24. 26), and more than once Himself was charged with "having a devil" or "demon" Mark, 3, 30; John, 7. 20; 8. 48). Here it is used to denote the most opprobrious language which could be applied by one to another. how much more (shall they call them of his household?-'the inmates.' Three relations in which Christ stands to His people are here mentioned: He is their Teacher-they His disciples; He is their Lord to-they His servants; He is the Master of the household-they its inmates. In all these relations, He says here. He and they are so bound up together that they cannot look to fare better than He, and should think it enough if they are no worse. 26. Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered. that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known:-q.d., 'There is no use, and no need, of concealing anything; right and wrong, truth and error, are about to come into open and deadly collision; and the day is coming when all hidden things shall be disclosed. everything seen as it is, and every one have his due' (1 Corinthians, 4. 5). 27. What I tell you in darknessin the privacy of a teaching for which men are not yet ripe-that speak ye in the light-for when ye go forth all will be ready-and what ye hear in the ear. that preach ye upon the house-tops:-Give free and fearless utterance to all that I have taught you while yet with you. Objection: But this may cost us our life? Answer: It may, but there their power ends: 28. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to

to stand. 17. But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the councils-the local courts, used here for civil magistrates in general. and they will scourge you in their synagogues. By this is meant persecution at the hands of the ecclesiastics. 18. And ye shall be brought before governors-or provincial rulers, and kings-the highest tribunals-for my sake, for a testimony against them-rather, to them,' in order to bear testimony to the truth and its glorious effects-and [to] the Gentiles-a hint that their message would not long be confined to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Acts of the Apostles are the best commentary on these warnings. 19. But when they deliver you up. take no thought-'be not solicitous' or 'anxious.' (See on ch. 6. 25.) how or what ye shall speak-i.e., either in what manner ye shall make your defence. or of what matter it shall consist-for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. (See Exodus, 4. 12; Jeremiah, 1. 7.) 20. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. How remarkably this has been verified, the whole history of persecution thrillingly proclaims-from the Acts of the Apostles to the latest martyrology. 21. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death -for example, by lodging informations against them with the authorities. The deep and virulent hostility of the old nature and life to the new-as of Belial to Christ-was to issue in awful wrenches of the dearest ties; and the disciples, in the prospect of their cause and themselves being launched upon society, are here prepared for the worst. 22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. The universality of this hatred would make it evident them, that since it would not be owing to any temporary excitement, local virulence, or personal prejudice, on the part of their enemies, so no amount of discretion on their part, consistent with entire fidelity to the truth, would avail to stifle that enmitythough it might soften its violence, and in some cases avert the outward manifestations of it. but he that endureth to the end shall be saved-a great saying, repeated, in connection with similar warnings, in the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem (ch. 24. 13); and often reiterated by the apostle as a warning against drawing back unto perdition." (Hebrews, 3. 6, 13; 6. 4-6; 10. 23, 26-29, 38, 39; &c.) As "drawing back unto perdition" is merely the palpable evidence of the want of "root" from the first in the Christian profession (Luke, 8. 13), so "enduring to the end" is just the proper evidence of its reality and solidity. 23. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another-into the other.' This, though applicable to all time, and exemplified by our Lord Himself once and again, had special reference to the brief oppor-kill the soul. In Luke, 12. 4. and after that have no tunities which Israel was to have of "knowing the time of his visitation." for verily I say unto you-what will startle you, but at the same time show you the solemnity of your mission, and the need of economizing the time for it-Ye shall not have gone over-Ye shall in nowise have completed' the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. To understand this-as LANGE and others do-in the first instance, of Christ's own peregrinations, as if He had said, Waste not your time upon hostile places, for I myself will be after you ere your work be over'-seems almost trifling. The coming of the Son of man" has a fixed doctrinal sense, here referring inmediately to the crisis of Israel's history as the visible kingdom of God, when Christ was to come and judge it; when "the wrath would come upon it to the uttermost:" and when, on the ruins of Jerusalem and the old economy. He would establish His own kingdom. This, in the uniform language of Scripture, is more

more that they can do." but rather fear him-in Luke this is peculiarly solemn, "I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear," even Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. A decisive proof this that there is a hell for the body as well as the soul in the eternal world; in other words, that the torment that awaits the lost will have elements of suffering adapted to the material as well as the spiritual part of our nature, both of which, we are assured, will exist for ever. In the corresponding warning contained in Luke, Jesus calls His disciples "My friends," as if He had felt that such sufferings constituted a bond of peculiar tenderness between Him and them. 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? In Luke (12. 6) it is "Five sparrows for two farthings;" so that, if the purchaser took two farthings' worth, he got one in addition-of such small value were they. and one of them shall not fall on the ground-exhausted or killedwithout your Father-"Not one of them is forgotten

Directions for the

MATTHEW, XI.

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Service of Christ. sake and love to his Master. (See 2 Kings, 4. 9, 10.) shall receive a prophet's reward. What an encouragement to those who are not prophets! (See 3 John, 5-8.) and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man-from sympathy with his character and esteem for himself as such, shall receive a righteous man's reward-for he must himself have the seed of righteousness who has any real sympathy with it and complacency in him who possesses it. 42. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones. Beautiful epithet! originally taken from Zechariah, 13. 7. The reference is to their lowliness in spirit, their littleness in the eyes of an undiscerning world, while high in Heaven's esteem. a cup of cold water only-meaning, the smallest service, in the name of a disciple-or, as it is in Mark (9. 41), because ye are Christ's: from love to Me, and to him from his connection with Me, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. There is here a descending climax-"a prophet." "a righteous man," "a little one;" signifying that however low we come down in our services to those that are Christ's, all that is done for His sake, and that bears the stamp of love to His blessed name, shall be divinely appreciated and owned and rewarded.

CHAPTER XI.

before God," as it is in Luke. 30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. See Luke, 21. 18 (and ef for the language 1 Samuel, 14. 45; Acts, 27. 34). 31. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Was ever language of such simplicity felt to carry such weight as this does? But here lies much of the charm and power of our Lord's teaching. 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before mendespising the shame," him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven-I will not be ashamed of him, but will own him before the most august of all assemblies. 33. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in besven-before that same assembly: 'He shall have from Me his own treatment of Me on the earth.' But see on ch. 16. 27. 34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword -strife, discord, conflict; deadly opposition between eternally hostile principles, penetrating into and reading asunder the dearest ties. 35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the taghter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. See on Luke, 12. 51-53. 36. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. This saying, which is quoted, as is the whole verse, from Micah, 7. 6, is but an extension of the Psalmist's complaint, Psalm 41. 9; 55. 12-14, which had its most afecting illustration in the treason of Judas against sar Lord Himself (John, 13. 18; Matthew, 26. 48-50). Hence would arise the necessity of a choice between Christ and the nearest relations, which would put thera to the severest test. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. Cf Deuteronomy, 33. 9. As the preference of the one would, in the case supposed, necessitate the abandonment of the other, our Lord here, with a sublime, yet awful self-respect, asserts His own claims to supreme affection. 38. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me-a saving which our Lord once and again emphatically reiterates (ch. 16. 24; Luke, 9. 23; 14. 27). We have become so accustomed to this expression-"taking up one's cross”-in the sense of being prepared for trials in general for Christ's sake,' that we are apt to lose sight of its primary and proper sense here-a preparedness to go forth even to crucifixion,' as when our Lord had to bear His own cross on His way to Calvary—a saying the more remarkable as our Lord had not as yet given a hint that He would die this death, nor was crucifixion a Jewish mode of capital Funshment. 39. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it another of those pregnant sayings which our Lord so oñen reiterates (ch. 16. 25; Luke, 17. 33; John, 12. 25). The path of such paradoxical maxims depends on the denble sense attached to the word "life"-a lower and a higher, the natural and the spiritual, the temporal and eternal An entire sacrifice of the lower, with all its relationships and interests-or, which is the same thing, a willingness to make it-is indispensable to the preservation of the higher life; and he who cannot bring himself to surrender the one for the sake of the other shall eventually lose both. 40. He that receiveth-or 'entertaineth' you, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. As the treatment which an ambassador receives is understood and regarded as expressing the light in which he that sends him is viewed, so, says our Lord here. Your authority is mine, as mine is my Father's.' 41. He that receiveth a prophet-one divinely commis-hensive series of reflections in the same strain. 20. aloned to deliver a message from heaven. Predicting future events was no necessary part of a prophet's office, especially as the word is used in the New Testament in the name of a prophet-for his office'

Ver. 1-19. THE IMPRISONED BAPTIST'S MESSAGE TO HIS MASTER-THE REPLY, AND DISCOURSE, ON THE DEPARTURE OF THE MESSENGERS, REGARDING JOHN AND HIS MISSION. (=Luke, 7. 18-35.) 1. And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his-rather, 'the' twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. This was scarcely a fourth circuit-if we may judge from the less formal way in which it is expressed-but, perhaps, a set of visits paid to certain places, either not reached at all, or too rapidly passed through before, in order to fill up the time till the return of the Twelve. As to their labours, nothing is said of them by our Evangelist. But Luke (9. 6) says, "They departed, and went through the towns," or villages,' "preaching the Gospel, and healing everywhere." Mark (6. 12, 13), as usual, is more explicit: "And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils (or 'demons'), and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them." Though this "anointing with oil" was not mentioned in our Lord's instructions-at least in any of the records of them-we know it to have been practised long after this in the apostolic Church (see James, 5. 14, and cf. Mark, 6. 12, 13)-not medicinally, but as a sign of the healing virtue which was communicated by their hands, and a symbol of something still more precious. It was unction, indeed, but, as BENGEL remarks, it was something very different from what Romanists call extreme unction. He adds, what is very probable, that they do not appear to have carried the oil about with them, but, as the Jews used oil as a medicine, to have employed it just as they found it with the sick, in their own higher way. 2. Now when John had heard in the prison. For the account of this imprisonment, see on Mark, 6. 17-20. the works of Christ, he sent, &c. On the whole passage, see on Luke, 7. 18-35.

20-30. OUTBURST OF FEELING, SUGGESTED TO THE MIND OF JESUS BY THE RESULT OF HIS LABOURS IN GALILEE. The connection of this with what goes before it, and the similarity of its tone, makes it evident, we think, that it was delivered on the same occasion, and that it is but a new and more compre

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. 21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin!-not elsewhere mentioned, but it must have lain near Capernaum. woe unto

Christ Upbraideth the

MATTHEW, XI.

Impenitence of Capernaum.

thee, Bethsaida! [('hunting' or 'fishing-house'-'a fish- (see on Luke, 10. 21), probably He did the same now. ing station'-on the western side of the sea of Gali- though not recorded. O Father, Lord of heaven and lee, and to the north of Capernaum; the birth-place earth. He so styles His Father here, to signify that of three of the apostles-the brothers Andrew and from Him of right emanate all such high arrangePeter, and Philip. These two cities appear to be ments. because thou hast hid these things-the knowsingled out to denote the whole region in which they ledge of these saving truths-from the wise and prudent. lay-a region favoured with the Redeemer's pres- The former of these terms points to the men who ence, teaching, and works above every other, for if pride themselves upon their speculative or philosothe mighty works-'the miracles' which were done in phical attainments; the latter to the men of worldly you had been done in Tyre and Sidon-ancient and cele- shrewdness-the clever, the sharp-witted, the men of brated commercial cities, on the north-eastern shores affairs. The distinction is a natural one, and was of the Mediterranean sea, lying north of Palestine, well understood. (See 1 Corinthians, 1. 19; &c.) But and the latter the northern-most. As their wealth why had the Father hid from such the things that and prosperity engendered luxury and its concomi- belonged to their peace, and why did Jesus so tant evils-irreligion and moral degeneracy-their emphatically set His seal to this arrangement? Beoverthrow was repeatedly foretold in ancient pro- cause it is not for the offending and revolted to speak phecy, and once and again fulfilled by victorious or to speculate, but to listen to Him from whom we enemies. Yet they were rebuilt, and at this time have broken loose, that we may learn whether there were in a flourishing condition. they would have be any recovery for us at all; and if there be, on repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Remarkable what principles-of what nature-to what ends. To language, showing that they had done less violence to bring our own "wisdom and prudence" to such conscience, and so, in God's sight, were less criminal questions is impertinent and presumptuous; and if than the region here spoken of. 22. But I say unto the truth regarding them, or the glory of it, be "hid" you, It shall be more tolerable-more 'endurable,' for from us, it is but a fitting retribution, to which all Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. the right-minded will set their seal along with Jesus. 23. And thou, Capernaum (see on ch. 4. 13), which art But, Thou hast revealed them unto babes-to babe-like exalted unto heaven. Not even of Chorazin and Beth- men; men of unassuming docility, men who, consaida is this said. For since at Capernaum Jesus scious that they know nothing, and have no right to had His stated abode during the whole period of His sit in judgment on the things that belong to their public life which He spent in Galilee, it was the most peace, determine simply to hear what God the Lord Javoured spot upon earth, the most exalted in privi- will speak." Such are well called " babes." (See lege. shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty Hebrews, 5. 13; 1 Corinthians, 13. 11; 14. 20; &c.) 26. works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Even so. Father; for so it seemed good-the emphatic and Sodom-destroyed for its pollutions, it would have chosen term for expressing any object of divine comremained until this day-having done no such violence placency; whether Christ Himself (see on ch. 3. 17) or to conscience, and so incurred unspeakably less guilt. God's gracious eternal arrangements (see on Philip24. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable pians, 2. 13)-in thy sight. This is just a sublime echo for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for of the foregoing words; as if Jesus, when He uttered thee. It has been indeed,' says Dr. STANLEY, 'more them, had paused to reflect on it, and as if the glory tolerable, in one sense, in the day of its earthly judg- of it-not so much in the light of its own reasonablement, for the land of Sodom than for Capernaum: ness as of God's absolute will that so it should befor the name, and perhaps even the remains, of had filled His soul. 27. All things are delivered unto Sodom are still to be found on the shores of the Dead me of my Father. He does not say, They are revealedSea; whilst that of Capernaum has, on the Lake of as to one who knew them not, and was an entire Gennesareth, been utterly lost.' But the judgment stranger to them save as they were discovered to him of which our Lord here speaks is still future; a-but. They are 'delivered over,' or 'committed, to judgment not on material cities, but their respon- me of my Father; meaning the whole administration sible inhabitants-a judgment final and irretrievable. of the kingdom of grace. So in John, 3. 35, The 25. At that time Jesus answered and said. We are not Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into to understand by this, that the previous discourse His hand" (see on that verse). But though the "all had been concluded; and that this is a record only of things" in both these passages refer properly to the something said about the same period. For the con- kingdom of grace, they of course include all things nection is most close, and the word "answered"- necessary to the full execution of that trust-that is, which, when there is no one to answer, refers to unlimited power. (So ch. 28. 18; John, 17. 2; Ephesians, something just before said, or rising in the mind of 1. 22.) and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; the speaker in consequence of something said-con- neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and firms this. What Jesus here "answered" evidently he to whomsoever the Son will-or 'willeth to reveal was the melancholy results of His ministry, lamented him. What a saying is this, that the Father and the over in the foregoing verses. It is as if He had said, Son are mutually and exclusively known to each Yes; but there is a brighter side of the picture: even other!' A higher claim to equality with the Father in those who have rejected the message of eternal life, cannot be conceived. Either, then, we have here one it is the pride of their own hearts only which has of the most revolting assumptions ever uttered, or blinded them, and the glory of the truth does but the the proper Divinity of Christ should to Christians be more appear in their inability to receive it: Nor have beyond dispute. But alas for me!' may some burall rejected it even here; souls thirsting for salvation dened soul, sighing for relief, here exclaim. If it be have drawn water with joy from the wells of salva- thus with us, what can any poor creature do but lie tion; the weary have found rest; the hungry have been down in passive despair, unless he could dare to hope filled with good things, while the rich have been sent that he may be one of the favoured class 'to whom empty away.' I thank thee-rather, I assent to thee.' the Son is willing to reveal the Father?' But nay. But this is not strong enough. The idea of 'full' or This testimony to the sovereignity of that gracious 'cordial' concurrence is conveyed by the preposition."will," on which alone men's salvation depends, is The thing expressed is adoring acquiescence, holy designed but to reveal the source and enhance the satisfaction with that law of the divine procedure glory of it when once imparted-not to paralyse or about to be mentioned. And as, when He after- shut the soul up in despair. Hear, accordingly, what wards uttered the same words, He "exulted in spirit" follows: 28. Come unto me, all ve that labour and are

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heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Incomparable, ravishing sounds these-if ever such were heard in this weary, groaning world! What gentleness, what sweetness is there in the very style of the invitation -Hither to Me:' and in the words. All ye that toil and are burdened,' the universal wretchedness of man is depicted, on both its sides-the active and the pace forms of it. 29. Take my yoke upon you-the yoke of subjection to Jesus-and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soais. As Christ's willingness to empty Himself to the uttermost of His Father's requirements was the spring of ineffable repose to His own spirit, so in the same track does He invite all to follow Him, with the assurance of the same experience. 30. For my yake is easy, and my burden is light. Matchless paradox, even amongst the paradoxically couched maxims in which our Lord delights! That rest which the soul experiences, when once safe under Christ's wing, makes all yokes easy, all burdens light. CHAPTER XIL

on the Sabbath Day.

the priests? No example could be more apposite than this. The man after God's own heart, of whom the Jews ever boasted, when suffering in God's cause and straitened for provisions, asked and obtained from the high priest what, according to the law, it was illegal for any one save the priests to touch. Mark (2. 26) says this occurred "in the days of Abiathar the high priest." But this means not during his high priesthood-for it was under that of his father Ahimelech-but simply, in his time. Ahimelech was soon succeeded by Abiathar, whose connection with David, and prominence during his reign, may account for his name, rather than his father's, being here introduced. Yet there is not a little confusion in what is said of these priests in different parts of the Old Testament. Thus he is called both the son and the father of Ahimelech (1 Samuel, 22, 20; 2 Samuel, 8. 17); and Ahimelech is called Ahiah (1 Samuel, 14. 3), and Abimelech (1 Chronicles, 18. 16). 5. Or have ye not read in the Law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath-by doing "servile work," and are blameless? The double offerings required on the sabbath day (Numbers, 28. 9) could not be presented, and the new-baked showbread (Leviticus, 24. 5; 1 Chronicles, 9. 32) could not be prepared and presented every sabbath morning, without a good deal of servile work on the part of the priests; not to speak of circumcision, which, when the child's eighth day happened to fall on a sabbath, had to be performed by the priests on that day. (See on John, 7. 22, 23.) 6. But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple-or rather, according to the reading which is best supported, something greater.' The argument stands thus: The ordinary rules for the observance of the sabbath give way before the requirements of the temple; but there are rights here before which the temple itself must give way.' Thus indirectly, but not the less decidedly, does our Lord put in His own claims to consideration in this question-claims to be presently put in even more nakedly. 7. But if ye had known what [this] meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice (Hosea, 6. 6; Micah, 6. 6-8, &c.). See on ch. 9. 13. ye would not have condemned the guiltless:q.d., Had ye understood the great principle of all religion, which the Scripture everywhere recognises

Ver. 1-8. PLUCKING CORN-EARS ON THE SABBATH DAY. Mark, 2. 23-28; Luke, 6. 1-5.) The season of the year when this occurred is determined by the event itself. Ripe corn-ears are only found in the felds just before harvest. The barley harvest seems clearly intended here, at the close of our March and beginning of our April. It coincided with the Passover-season, as the wheat harvest with Pentecost. But in Luke (6. 1) we have a still more definite note of time, if we could be certain of the meaning of the peculiar term which he employs to express it. "It came to pass (he says) on the sabbath, which was the Brit-second"-for that is the proper rendering of the word, and not the second sabbath after the first" as in our version. Of the various conjectures what this may mean, that of SCALIGER is the most approved, and, as we think, the freest from difficulty, , the first sabbath after the second day of the Passover; ie, the first of the seven sabbaths which were to be reckoned from the second day of the Passover, which was itself a sabbath, until the next feast, the feast of Pentecost (Leviticus, 23. 15, 16; Deuteronomy. 16. 9. 10. In this case, the day meant by the Evangelist is the first of those seven sabbaths intervening between Passover and Pentecost. And if we are right in regarding the "feast" mentioned in John, that ceremonial observances must give way before & 1 as a Passover, and consequently the second during moral duties, and particularly the necessities of our Lord's public ministry (see on that passage), this nature-ye would have refrained from these captious plucking of the ears of corn must have occurred complaints against men who in this matter are blameimmediately after the scene and the Discourse re- less.' But our Lord added a specific application of corded in John, 5, which, doubtless, would induce this great principle to the law of the sabbath, preour Lord to hasten His departure for the north, to served only in Mark: "And he said unto them, the avoid the wrath of the Pharisees, which He had sabbath was made for man, and not man for the kadied at Jerusalem. Here, accordingly, we find sabbath" (Mark, 2. 27). A glorious and far-reaching Hun in the fields-on His way probably to Galilee. maxim, alike for the permanent establishment of the 1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through sabbath and the true freedom of its observance. 8. the curn-"the corn fields" (Mark, 2. 23; Luke, 6. 1). For the Son of man is Lord (even) of the sabbath day. In and his disciples were an hungered-not as one may be what sense now is the Son of man Lord of the sabbefore his regular meals; but evidently from short-bath day? Not surely to abolish it-that surely new of provisions; for Jesus defends their plucking were a strange lordship, especially just after saying the corn ears and eating them on the plea of necessity. that it was made or instituted for MAN-but to own and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat-"rubbing it, to interpret it, to preside over it, and to ennoble it. them in their hands" (Luke, 6. 1). 2. But when the by merging it in "the Lord's Day" (Revelation, 1. 10), Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples breathing into it an air of liberty and love necessarily do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. unknown before, and thus making it the nearest The act itself was expressly permitted (Deuteronomy, resemblance to the eternal sabbatism. 9-21. THE HEALING OF A WITHERED HAND ON THE SABBATH DAY, AND RETIREMENT OF JESUS TO AVOID DANGER. (=Mark, 3. 1-12; Luke, 6. 6-11.) Healing of a Withered Hand (v. 9-14). 9. And when he was departed thence-but "on another sabbath" (Luke, 6.6), he went into their synagogue- and taught." He had now, no doubt, arrived in Galilee; but this, it would appear, did not occur at Capernaum, for after

But as being "servile work," which was prohibited on the sabbath day, it was regarded as sinful. But he said unto them, Have ye not read-or as Mark has it, "Have ye never read"-what David did (1 Samuel, 214, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; 4. How he entered into the house of God, and did at the showbread, which was not lawful for him to ext, neither for them which were with him, but only for

Christ Heals the Withered Hand,

MATTHEW, XII.

and Retireth to Avoid Danger. interesting details: "A great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto Him. And he spake to His disciples, that a small ship"-or 'wherry'-"should wait on Him because of the multitude, lest they should throng Him. For He had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon Him for to touch Him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying. Thou art the Son of God. And He straitly charged them that they should not make Him known" (Mark, 3. 7-12). How glorious this extorted homage to the Son of God! But as this was not the time, so neither were they the fitting preachers, as BENGEL says. (See on Mark, 1. 25, and cf. James, 2. 19.) Coming back now to our Evangelist: after saying " He healed them all," he continues, 16. And charged them-the healed-that they should not make him known. (See on ch. 8. 4.) 17. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying (Isaiah, 42. 1), 18. Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. 19. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. 20. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory-" unto truth," says the Hebrew original, and the LXX. also. But our Evangelist merely seizes the spirit, instead of the letter of the prediction in this point. The grandeur and completeness of Messiah's victories would prove, it seems, not more wonderful than the unobtrusive noiselessness with which they were to be achieved. And whereas one rough touch will break a bruised reed, and quench the flickering, smoking flax, His it should be, with matchless tenderness, love, and skill, to lift up the meek, to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, to comfort all that mourn, to say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. 21. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust. Part of His present audience were Gentiles-from Tyre and Sidon-first-fruits of the great Gentile harvest, contemplated in the prophecy. 22-37. A BLIND AND DUMB DEMONIAC HEALED, AND REPLY TO THE MALIGNANT EXPLANATION PUT UPON IT. (=Mark, 3. 20-30; Luke, 11. 14-23.) The precise time of this Section is uncertain. Judging from the statements with which Mark introduces it. we should conclude that it was when our Lord's popularity was approaching its zenith, and so, before the feeding of the five thousand. But, on the other hand, the advanced state of the charges brought against our Lord, and the plainness of His warnings and denunciations in reply, seem to favour the later period at which Luke introduces it. "And the mul titude," says Mark (3. 20, 21), "cometh together again," referring back to the immense gathering which Mark had before recorded (ch. 2. 2)-"so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when His friends"

it was over He "withdrew Himself," it is said, "to | the sea" (Mark, 3. 7), whereas Capernaum was at the sea. 10. And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered-disabled by paralysis (as 1 Kings, 13. 4). It was his right hand, as Luke graphically notes. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. Matthew and Luke say they "watched Him whether He would heal on the sabbath day." They were now come the length of dogging His steps, to collect materials for a charge of inpiety against Him. It is probable that it was to their thoughts rather than their words that Jesus addressed Himself in what follows. 11. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out! 12. How much then is a man better than a sheep? Resistless appeal! "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast" (Proverbs, 12. 10), and would instinctively rescue it from death or suffering on the sabbath day: how much more his nobler fellow-man. But the reasoning, as given in the other two Gospels, is singularly striking: " But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life or to destroy it?" (Luke, 6. 8, 9) or as in Mark (3. 4) to kill?" He thus shuts them up to this startling alternative: Not to do good, when it is in the power of our hand to do it. is to do evil; not to save life, when we can, is to kill' -and must the letter of the sabbath-rest be kept at this expense? This unexpected thrust shut their mouths. By this great ethical principle our Lord, we see, held Himself bound, as Man. But here we must turn to Mark, whose graphic details make the second Gospel so exceedingly precious. "When He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He saith unto the man" (Mark, 3. 5). This is one of the very few passages in the Gospel History which reveal our Lord's feelings. How holy this anger was, appears from the "grief" which mingled with it at "the hardness of their hearts." 13. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth -the power to obey going forth with the word of command. and it was restored whole, like as the other. The poor man, having faith in this wonderful Healer -which no doubt the whole scene would singularly help to strengthen-disregarded the proud and venomous Pharisees, and thus gloriously put them to shame. 14. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. This is the first explicit mention of their murderous designs against our Lord. Luke (6. 11) says "they were filled with madness, and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus." But their doubt was not, whether to get rid of Him, but how to compass it. Mark (3. 6), as usual, is more definite: "The Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy-or rather, 'relatives,' as appears from v. 31, and see Him." These Herodians were supporters of Herod's dynasty, created by Cæsar-a political rather than religious party. The Pharisees regarded them as untrue to their religion and country. But here we see them combining together against Christ, as a common enemy. So on a subsequent occasion, ch. 22, 15, 16. Jesus Retires to Avoid Danger (v. 15-21). 15. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thencewhither, our Evangelist says not; but Mark (3. 7) says "it was to the sea"-to some distance, no doubt, from the scene of the miracle, the madness, and the plotting just recorded. and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all. Mark gives the following

on ch. 12. 46-"heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him; for they said. He is beside Himself." Cf. 2 Corinthians, 5. 13, " For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God." 22. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil-or a demonized person'blind and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and the dumb both spake and saw. 23. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? The form of the interrogative requires this to be rendered, 'Is this the Son of David? And as questions put in this form (in Greek) suppose doubt, and expect rather a negative answer, the meaning is, *Can it possibly be?-the people thus indicating their

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