Matthew 9 - Introduction
CHAPTER 9. THE HEALING MINISTRY CONTINUED.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 9. THE HEALING MINISTRY CONTINUED.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐμβὰς : Jesus complied with the request of the men of Gerasa, who had intimated so plainly that they did not want any more of His company. Whatever His purpose in crossing over to the eastern shore may have been, it was frustrated by an event which in some respects was an unexpected disaster. Was it... [ Continue Reading ]
_The palsied man_ (Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26).... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἰδοὺ : usual formula for introducing an important incident. προσέφερον, the imperfect, implying a process, the details of which, extremely interesting, the evangelist does not give. By comparison with Mark and Luke the narrative is meagre, and defective even for the purpose of bringing out the f... [ Continue Reading ]
τινὲς τ. γραμματέων : some _scribes_ present on this occasion. Ominous fact duly introduced by ἰδοὺ; its significance still more distinctly recognised by Luke, who gives it prominent mention at the beginning of his narrative (Matthew 9:17). Sure sign of the extent, depth, and quality of Christ's inf... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐνθυμήσεις : Jesus intuitively read their thoughts as He read the mental state of the sick man. ἵνα τί : elliptical for ἵνα τί γένηται understood = in order that what may happen, do you, etc. (_vide_ Bäumlein, _Schul. Gram._, § 696, and Goodwin's _Syn._, § 331).... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐκοπώτερον (from εὖ and κόπος, whence εὔκοπος; in N.T. (Gospels) only the comparative neuter is found, as here). The question as to ability, δύναμις, is first disposed of; which is _easier_ εἰπεῖν : they are both alike easy to _say_; the vital matter is saying with effect. Saying here stands for do... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα δὲ εἰδῆτε : transition to the other aspect, that of ἐξουσία, the point raised by the scribes when they _looked_ a charge of blasphemy. ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀν., ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς : these two phrases point at supposed disabilities for forgiving. “Forgiveness takes place in heaven, and is the exclusive prerogativ... [ Continue Reading ]
aid, done; a convincing _argumentum ad hominem_. Who would dispute the right to forgive to one who could do that, or persist in the charge of blasphemy against Him? At least those who do will get little sympathy from the mass of spectators.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδόντες οἱ ὄχλοι. The people are free from the petty jealousies and pedantic theories of the professional class; broad facts settle the matter for them. They probably had no scruples about the forgiving, but if they, had the miracle would put an end to them: the _manifest_ authority and power a witn... [ Continue Reading ]
παράγων ἐκεῖθεν : passing along from the scene of the last incident, Jesus arrives at the custom-house of Capernaum (τελώνιον). εἶδεν … Ματθαῖον λεγ.: there He saw a man named _Matthew_. (On the identity of Matthew with Levi in Mark and Luke, _vide_ Mark.) Capernaum being near the boundary and on th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The publican feast_ (Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32). The point of interest for the evangelist in this narrative is not the _call_ of the publican disciple, but the feast which followed, a feast of publicans and “sinners” at which Jesus was present proclaiming by action what He formerly proclaimed by w... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἐγένετο, etc. The narrative of this incident in all three Synoptists is condensed, and the situation not clear. What house is meant (ἐν τῇ οἰκ.), and why so _many_ (πολλοὶ)? “There were many,” Mark remarks, emphatically (Matthew 2:15), and the ἰδοὺ here implies that something important took plac... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδόντες οἱ φαρ. Here was a good chance for the critics, really a scandalous affair! τοῖς μαθηταῖς. They spoke to the disciples, possibly, as Euthy. Zig. suggests, to alienate them from the Master, possibly lacking courage to attack Him face to face.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ δὲ α. εἶπεν : to whom? Were the fault-finders present to hear? οὐ χρείαν, etc.: something similar can be cited from classic authors, _vide_ instances in Grotius, Elsner, and Wetstein. The originality lies in the application = the physician goes where he is needed, therefore, I am here among the pe... [ Continue Reading ]
πορευθέντες μάθετε : a common expression among the Rabbis, but they never sent men to learn the particular lesson that God prefers mercy to sacrifice. καὶ οὐ, does not imply that sacrifice is of _no_ account. ἔλεος (ἔλεον in T. R., a correction by the scribes), accusative neuter. Masculine nouns of... [ Continue Reading ]
_The fast-question_ (Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39). Τότε. Our evangelist makes a temporal connection out of what in Mark is merely topical, another of the group of incidents showing Jesus in conflict with current opinion and practice. Where it happened cannot be determined, but it is brought in apposi... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ εἶπεν : The question drew from Jesus three pregnant parabolic sayings: bright, genial, felicitous impromptus; the first a happy apology for His disciples, the other two the statement of a general principle. οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ νυμφῶνος. The mere suggestion of this name for the disciples explains all. Pa... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:16, οὐδεὶς … παλαιῷ. No one putteth a patch of an unfulled, raw piece of cloth (ῥάκος from ῥήγνυμι) on an old garment. τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτοῦ, the filling, the patch which fills; of it, _i.e._, the old garment, not of the unfulled cloth (Euthy., Grotius, De W., etc.). αἴρει ἀπὸ, taketh from = te... [ Continue Reading ]
The substitution of νησ. τεύουσιν for πενθεῖν, in the close of Matthew 9:15, implicitly suggested a principle which is now explicitly stated in parabolic form: the great law of _congruity_; practice must conform to mood; the spirit must determine the form. These sayings, apparently simple, are somew... [ Continue Reading ]
The new parable of the wine and wine-skins is introduced, not merely because the Speaker is full of matter, but because it enables Him aptly to show both sides of the question, the twofold application of the principle. οὐδὲ βάλλουσιν : nobody puts new wine into old skins; νέος applied to wine, καινό... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδοὺ … λέγων : exactly the same formula as in Matthew 8:2. ἄρχων, an important person, a ruler of synagogue, according to Mark. εἷς : peculiar here, but taken from Mark where it is intelligible, the suppliant being there described as _one_ of the rulers of the synagogue. The word puzzled the scribes... [ Continue Reading ]
_The daughter of Jairus, with interlude_ (Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56). Given by Matthew in immediate connection with the discourse on fasting, but by Mark, and Luke following him, in connection with the return from the eastern shore, after the story of the demoniac.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγερθεὶς apparently refers back to Matthew 9:10, implying close sequence feasting, fasting, dying; such is life indeed.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:20, καὶ ἰδού : a new applicant for help appears on the scene, on the way to Jairus' house. γυνὴ … ἔτη, a woman who had suffered for twelve years from some kind of bloody flux. ὄπισθεν : realistic feature; from womanly shame or the morbid shrinking of chronic ill-health, or out of regard to... [ Continue Reading ]
The story is suspended at this point by an interlude.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:23, ἐλθὼν … καὶ ἰδὼν, circumstantial participles leading up to what Jesus said, the main fact. τοὺς αὐλητὰς, etc.: the girl was only just dead, yet already a crowd had gathered about the house, brought together by various motives, sympathy, money, desire to share in the meat and drink goin... [ Continue Reading ]
The narrative returns to the case of Jairus' daughter.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναχωρεῖτε, retire! Hired mourners distasteful to Jesus, who gladly avails Himself of this opportunity of dismissing them. οὐ γὰρ ἀπέθανε : no need of you yet, for the maid (κοράσιον, dim. for κόρη, but = puella in late Greek) is not dead. A welcome word to naturalistic commentators, giving a plausi... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 9:26, ἐξῆλθεν ἡ φ., against the wish of Jesus, who did not desire raising the dead to be regarded as a part of His ordinary work. Perhaps that was why He said: “she sleepeth” (Weiss, L. J., Marcus-Evang.). τὴν γῆν ἐκείνην : Weiss thinks the expression implies that the evangelist is a strange... [ Continue Reading ]
τυφλοὶ : blindness common from limestone dust in the air and changing temperature. υἱὸς Δ., Messianic appellation, first time addressed to Jesus, a point of interest for the evangelist; not welcome to Jesus, who feared the awakening of false expectations. Therefore He took no notice of them on the w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Two blind men_. This miracle-narrative and the next paratively colourless and uninteresting. They bring under notice two new types of disease, blindness and possession accompanied with dumbness. The interest in both cases, however, lies not so much in the cures as in the words spoken.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐλθόντι εἰς τ. ο. προσῆλθον : they follow, and Jesus at last takes notice of them, asking if they have faith in His power. His previous conduct might throw doubt on His willingness, but that is dispelled by speaking to them. ναί : a prompt glad “yes” is their answer.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἠνεῴχθησαν, a Hebraism. The Jews thought of blind eyes as shut, and of seeing eyes as open. ἐνεβριμήθη, sternly enjoined (_vide_ Mark 1:43). The paraphrase of Euthy. Zig. gives a vivid idea of the meaning, “looked severely, contracting His eyebrows, and shaking His head at them, as they are wont to... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ὅλῃ τ. γ. ἐκ. (_vide_ remarks on Matthew 9:26).... [ Continue Reading ]
Αὐτῶν ἐξερχομένων : while the two blind men are going out they bring another sufferer to the great Healer; an incessant stream of applicants for aid flowing towards His door. κωφὸν : dumbness the apparent symptom. The word literally means blunt, and in Homer (_Il._, ii. 390) is applied to a weapon.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The dumb demoniac_ (Luke 11:14). A slight narrative, very meagre in comparison with the story of the Gerasene demoniac, the interest centring in the conflicting comments of spectators which probably secured for it a place in the _Logia_ of Matthew.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐλάλησεν : that cured, speech followed. ἐθαύμασαν : the crowd present wondered, hearing one speak whom they had so long known to be dumb. οὐδέποτε ἐφάνη, etc.: thus they expressed their surprise; the like was never seen in Israel. ἐφάνη is impersonal, the reference being to the change in the man; th... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ δὲ φαρ. ἔλεγον. The multitude admired, _but_ the _Pharisees_ said. They are watching closely the words and acts of Jesus and forming their theories. They have got one for the cures of demoniacs. ἐν τῷ ἄρχοντι τ. δ : He casts out demons in the power of the prince of demons. Probably they did not b... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses look both backwards and forwards, winding up the preceding narrative of words and deeds from chap. 5 onwards, and introducing a new aspect of Christ's work and experience. The connection with what follows is strongest, and the verses might, with advantage, have formed the commencement o... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδὼν δὲ τοὺς ὄχλους : in the course of His wanderings Jesus had opportunities of observing the condition of the people, and at length arrived at a clear, definite view as to the _moral and religious situation_. It was very sombre, such as to move His compassion (ἐσπλαγ · χνίσθη, post classical, in G... [ Continue Reading ]
θερισμὸς : a new figure coming in abruptly in the narrative, but not necessarily so close together in Christ's mind. The one figure suits the mood of passive sympathy; the other, that of the harvest, suits the mood of active purpose to help. It would not be long in the case of Jesus before the one m... [ Continue Reading ]