_Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn_ The cornfields near Jerusalem, attended by his disciples and some of the Pharisees, whose curiosity, it is probable, prompted them to mix with the crowd on this occasion, in expectation of seeing more miracles. _His disciples began to pluck_ [and rub... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Pharisees said, Thy disciples do what is not lawful_ The law of Moses so expressly allowed the plucking ears of corn as one passed through a field, that, malignant as they were, they pretended not to find fault with the action itself, (see Deuteronomy 23:25,) but they were perverse enough to th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Have ye not read in the law_, &c. He does not mean that the words following were to be found in the law, but only that they might read in the law, how the priests were obliged, on the sabbath days, to perform such servile work in the temple as, considered separately from the end of it, would have b... [ Continue Reading ]
_But if ye had known what that meaneth_ If ye had known the intent of that scripture, Hosea 6:6, _I will have mercy_, &c. That is, I always prefer acts of mercy before matters of positive institution, when in any instance they interfere with each other; and even before all ceremonial institutions wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_There was a man which had his hand withered_ The nerves and sinews of it being shrunk up, so that it was entirely useless. _And they _ Namely, the scribes and Pharisees, who had either mixed with the crowd that followed Jesus, or were in the synagogue before he came; _asked him, saying, Is it lawfu... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said_ That he might show their unreasonableness, and confute them by their own practice: _What man that shall have_ Or, _Who, if he have but one sheep, that on the sabbath day shall fall into a pit_, and it be in danger of perishing there, _will not lay hold on it_, &c. The stress of the qu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him_ They were so incensed at the affront which they imagined they had received, in our Lord's neglecting their censure, and intimating his knowledge of the evil purposes of their hearts, (Luke 6:8,) that they were no longer able to bear the p... [ Continue Reading ]
_And charged them that they should not make him known_ Partly that he might avoid the envy and rage of his persecutors, and partly because the time was not yet come for him to declare himself openly to be the Messiah. _That it might be fulfilled_, &c. Here the evangelist assigns another reason why t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then was brought unto him_ Namely, By the person's friends, _one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb_ Many, no doubt, supposed these defects to be merely natural: but the Spirit of God saw otherwise, and gives the true account, both of the disorder and the cure. How many other disorders, seeming... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Jesus knew their thoughts_ “It often happens, that through ignorance or weakness men form wrong judgments of things;” a conduct which, though censurable, admits of some excuse: “but when wrong judgments proceed from evil dispositions, then, indeed, do they become highly culpable. Therefore, to... [ Continue Reading ]
_And if I by Beelzebub_, &c. This is the second argument made use of by Jesus for confuting the calumny of the Pharisees; _by whom do your children cast them out?_ As if he had said, “For the same reason that you attribute my miracles to the devil, you may attribute all the miracles that ever were w... [ Continue Reading ]
_How can one enter_, &c. How could I cast out Satan, and destroy his works, if I did not first overcome him? “The house of the _strong man_ (or, _strong one_, as του ισχυρου should rather be rendered) into which Christ entered, was the world, fitly called Beelzebub's house, or palace, because there... [ Continue Reading ]
_All manner of sin and blasphemy_ The word rendered _blasphemy:_ denotes injurious expressions, whether against God or man. When God is the object, it is properly rendered _blasphemy._ It is evident that, in this passage, both are included, as the different kinds are compared together: consequently... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man_ In any other respect, _it shall be forgiven him_ Upon his true repentance: _But whosoever speaketh_, namely, in this manner, _against the Holy Ghost_ and most unreasonably ascribes his extraordinary and beneficent operations to the grand enemy of Go... [ Continue Reading ]
_Either make the tree good, and his fruit good_, &c. That is, you must allow they are both good, or both bad: for if the fruit be good, so is the tree; if the fruit be evil, so is the tree also. “Judge, therefore, by my works, of the power by which I work: if it be not a good work to heal the sick,... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I say unto you_ You may perhaps think God does not much regard your words, but I assure you, that not only for blasphemous and profane, malicious, false, slanderous, and reviling words, but _for every idle word which men shall speak:_ for all light, vain, trifling expressions; for all useless,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then certain of the scribes_, &c. Now present, upon hearing how plainly Christ admonished, and how severely he rebuked them, _answered_ Probably with a view to divert the discourse to another topic, _We would see a sign from thee_ As if they had said, Otherwise we will not believe this doctrine. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The men of Nineveh_, &c. “The Ninevites being judged at the same time with the men of that generation, and their behaviour being compared with theirs, should make their guilt appear in its true colour and condemn them. For though they were idolaters, they repented at the preaching of Jonah, a stran... [ Continue Reading ]
_The queen of the south_, &c. Of this queen, see note on 1 Kings 10:1. _She came from the uttermost parts of the earth_ That part of Arabia from which she came was the uttermost part of the earth that way, being bounded by the sea. _A greater than Solomon is here_ “Our Lord speaks of himself in this... [ Continue Reading ]
_When the unclean spirit_, &c. In these verses, with a view to show how dreadful the state of the Jewish people would be, if they continued to reject him and his gospel, our Lord introduces a parable, borrowed from the late subject of his dispute with the Pharisees. He compares their condition to th... [ Continue Reading ]
_While he yet talked with the people_ While he was uttering these solemn truths, and giving these awful warnings, in the audience of the vast multitudes that were gathered around him: _behold, his mother and his brethren_ Or near kinsmen, (namely, the sons of Mary the wife of Cleopas, or Alpheus, hi... [ Continue Reading ]