Matthew 8:20

Matthew 8:20. And Jesus saith unto him. The answer alone reveals an improper motive in the proposal.

Foxes have holes, etc., caves, dens.

Birds of the heaven have nests, more literally, ‘lodging places.' The two represent the lower order of animals.

The Son of Man. A term applied to no one else, and often applied by our Lord to himself; used in Daniel 7:13, in reference to the Messiah seen in a vision. The prominent idea is that of the second Adam, but it also implies that Jesus was the Messiah. The thought here is of His real humanity, His capability of suffering and privation, in opposition to the carnal expectation of the Jews, shared no doubt by this scribe. The prophecy of Isaiah (Matthew 8:17) seems to have led Matthew to introduce this similar thought in the midst of a series of miracles.

Hath not where to lay his head. He did not own a dwelling, as even the foxes and birds do; but we have no reason to believe that He ever suffered from want of a lodging. Immediately after we are told how He slept in the cabinless boat on the lake. Overdrawn portrayals of our Lord's poverty are always out of place, yet He who as ‘Son of man' was ‘the crown of creation,' did not possess what the humbler animals claim, a home.

Matthew 8:21. And another of the disciples. Certainly one who had already attended our Lord's teachings. The conversation, according to Luke (Luke 9:59), began with the formal request of our Lord: ‘Follow me.' This verse sounds like a response to such a command. Tradition says it was Philip; but our Lord had said, ‘Follow me' to him first of all Apostles (John 1:43). As wavering is implied, it may have been Thomas (Lange).

Suffer me first to go away and bury my father. The father was already dead, and the disciple wanted to go home and attend to all the funeral ceremonies, intending to return and follow Christ.