Ver. 1. THE BEGINNING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST,.... Not that the Gospel first began to be preached at this time, for it was preached by Isaiah, and other prophets before; and long before that, was preached unto Abraham; yea, it was preached as early as the times of our first parents, in Eden's... [ Continue Reading ]
AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS,.... Malachi and Isaiah; for passages out of both follow; though the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions read, "as it is written in the prophet Isaias"; and so it is in some Greek copies: but the former seems to be the better reading, since two prophets are ci... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,.... This is the other testimony in proof of the same, and may be read in Isaiah 40:3. Matthew 3:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
JOHN DID BAPTIZE IN THE WILDERNESS,.... Of Judea, Matthew 3:1, where he first appeared as a preacher; and is the same wilderness Isaiah has respect to in the above prophecy, Isaiah 40:3. The words are best rendered in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions; "John was in the wilderness, baptizing and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WENT OUT UNTO HIM ALL THE LAND OF JUDEA,.... The people of the land, a great number of them: AND THEY OF JERUSALEM; the inhabitants of Jerusalem, hearing of this new preacher, the new doctrine that he taught, and the new ordinance that he administered: AND WERE ALL BAPTIZED OF HIM IN THE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOHN WAS CLOTHED WITH CAMEL'S HAIR,.... This is a description of John by his clothes; Matthew 3:4, to which may be added, that it was usual for penitents, and men of austere lives, and of the first class for holiness and religion, to live in deserts, to fare hard, and wear coarse apparel. Mentio... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PREACHED, SAYING, THERE COMETH ONE MIGHTIER THAN I AFTER ME,.... From whence it appears, that John was a preacher of Jesus Christ; of the dignity of his person, the excellency of his office, and the nature and importance of his work: THE LATCHET OF WHOSE SHOES I AM NOT WORTHY TO STOOP DOWN AND... [ Continue Reading ]
I INDEED HAVE BAPTIZED YOU WITH WATER,.... This was spoken to the baptized persons, partly to take off their dependence upon him and his baptism; and partly to direct their views to Christ, from whom the gifts and graces of the Spirit are alone to be had: BUT HE SHALL BAPTIZE YOU WITH THE HOLY GHOS... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DAYS,.... Whilst John was preaching and baptizing in the wilderness, and had large crowds of people flocking to him, to see his person, hear his doctrine, and to be baptized by him; some for one thing, and some another; JESUS CAME FROM NAZARETH OF GALILEE; the place whe... [ Continue Reading ]
AND STRAIGHTWAY COMING UP OUT OF THE WATER,.... Not John, as many think; though it was true of him, that he came up out of the water, as the administrator of the ordinance of baptism to Christ, but Christ himself; who having descended into the water, the river of Jordan, and being baptized by immers... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE CAME A VOICE FROM HEAVEN,.... What the Jews call "Bath Kol", saying, THOU ART MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED: it is in Matthew, "this is my beloved Son", Matthew 3:17; as if the words were spoken to others, to John, the administrator of baptism to him, and to those that were sp... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IMMEDIATELY,.... As soon as he was baptized, and this testimony had been given of his divine sonship, the very selfsame day, THE SPIRIT DRIVETH HIM INTO THE WILDERNESS: into a more remote and desolate part of it; for it was in the wilderness John was baptizing and preaching, when Christ came to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WAS THERE IN THE WILDERNESS FORTY DAYS,.... The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions add, "and forty nights": for so long was he there, TEMPTED OF SATAN: the several temptations of Satan, and how they were overcome by Christ, are particularly related by the Evangelist Matthew, Matthe... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW AFTER THAT JOHN WAS PUT IN PRISON,.... In the castle of Macherus, by Herod, for reproving him for taking his brother Philip's wife: JESUS CAME INTO GALILEE: again, from whence he came to be baptized of John: PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: the good news and glad tidings of the king... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAYING, THE TIME IS FULFILLED,.... Either that which was fixed for the end of the law and prophets, the legal and Mosaic dispensation, and the Jewish church state; or the fulness of time for the Messiah's appearance in the world; which was agreed upon between the Father and the Son, was predicte... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW AS HE WALKED BY THE SEA OF GALILEE,.... The same with the sea of Tiberias, John 6:1, HE SAW SIMON: whose surname was Peter, the son of Jonas: AND ANDREW HIS BROTHER; the brother of Simon, CASTING A NET INTO THE SEA; of Galilee, in order to catch fish: FOR THEY WERE FISHERS: by occupation, th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, COME YE AFTER ME,.... Leave your worldly employments, and become my disciples, AND I WILL MAKE YOU TO BECOME FISHERS OF MEN: which will be a much more excellent and honourable employment, as men, and the souls of men, are more excellent, and of more worth than fishes; Mat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND STRAIGHTWAY THEY FORSOOK THEIR NETS,.... Which perhaps were their all; see Matthew 19:27. AND FOLLOWED HIM; both in a corporeal and spiritual sense; Matthew 4:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD GONE A LITTLE FURTHER THENCE,.... From the place where Simon and Andrew were casting their nets, though still by the sea side; HE SAW JAMES THE SON OF ZEBEDEE, AND JOHN HIS BROTHER. The former was be whom afterwards Herod killed with the sword, and the latter the beloved disciple; t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND STRAIGHTWAY HE CALLED THEM,.... As soon as he saw them; for he was looking out for them, having appointed them long before to the service he now called them to; AND THEY LEFT THEIR FATHER ZEBEDEE WITH THE HIRED SERVANTS, AND WENT AFTER HIM. It might seem unnatural, had they left their father al... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY WENT INTO CAPERNAUM,.... Jesus and his four disciples he had just called, Simon and Andrew, James and John; though the Arabic and Persic versions read, "he went"; that is, Christ; and so Beza says it was read in a certain copy: AND STRAIGHTWAY ON THE SABBATH DAY HE ENTERED INTO THE SYNAGOG... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY WERE ASTONISHED AT HIS DOCTRINE,.... The nature and importance of it, it being what they had not been used to hear; only at best the doctrine of the law, and sometimes only the traditions of the elders, or an allegorical and traditional sense of the Scriptures, and things very trifling and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WAS IN THEIR SYNAGOGUE,.... In the synagogue of the Capernaites, at the same time that Jesus was teaching there, A MAN WITH AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT: not with an unclean heart, for there were doubtless many such there, but that had a devil; for in Luke 4:33, it is said, "he had a spirit of an un... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING, LET US ALONE, C.] MEANING WITH HIMSELF, THE REST OF THE UNCLEAN SPIRITS, THAT HAD POSSESSED THE BODIES OF MEN IN GALILEE, AND IN ALL JUDEA KNOWING THAT CHRIST HAD POWER TO DISLODGE THEM, AND FEARING HE WOULD, ENTREATS HIM HE WOULD LET THEM ALONE, QUIETLY TO DWELL IN THEIR BELOVED HABITATIONS... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS REBUKED HIM,.... Checking his insolence, despising his flattery, and refusing to receive a testimony from him; and which he wanted not, lest it should be thought he had a familiarity and confederacy with him: SAYING, HOLD THY PEACE; stop thy mouth, I need no such witness as thine, nor thy... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT HAD TORN HIM,.... Not that he had torn any limb from him, or had made any wound in any part of his body; for Luke says, Luke 4:35, that he "hurt him not", but he shook him; and as Luke there says, "threw him in the midst", of the people, or synagogue; and so the Syriac, P... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY WERE ALL AMAZED,.... The people that were in the synagogue, who were met together for divine worship, were astonished, not only at his doctrine, as before, but at this miracle and power of his in casting out devils: INSOMUCH THAT THEY QUESTIONED AMONG THEMSELVES, SAYING, WHAT THING IS THIS... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IMMEDIATELY HIS FAME SPREAD ABROAD,.... Not only in the city of Capernaum, where these things were done, and where his fame was first spread, but also THROUGHOUT ALL THE REGION ROUND ABOUT GALILEE: and not only throughout Galilee, but throughout all the country that was bordering upon it, and a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FORTHWITH, WHEN THEY WERE COME OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE,.... Christ having wrought this miracle, and finished his sermon, and the whole synagogue service being over, when it was usual for every one to repair to their own houses, or their friends, for refreshment; he, and they that were with him, dep... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SIMON'S WIFE'S MOTHER LAY SICK OF A FEVER,.... "A great fever", Luke says, Luke 4:38; a very violent one, which threatened with death, and must be very dangerous to an old person; Matthew 8:14, AND ANON THEY TELL HIM OR HER; for it seems, that not as soon as he came into the house, but some ti... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CAME AND TOOK HER BY THE HAND,.... He went into the room where she lay, and took hold of her hand; not to feel her pulse, and thereby judge of the nature and strength of her disorder, as physicians do; nor merely in a friendly manner, as is customary, but in order to restore her: AND LIFT HE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AT EVEN, WHEN THE SUN DID SET,.... At which time the Jews' sabbath was ended; Matthew 8:16, for this was a sabbath day, Mark 1:21, when according to them, it was not lawful to heal; nor did they offer to bring their sick to him on that day; but the last of the two evening days being come, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE CITY WAS GATHERED TOGETHER AT THE DOOR.] That is, the inhabitants of the city of Capernaum, a very great number of them at least, who having either heard of, or seen the dispossession of the unclean spirit in the synagogue in the daytime; and being willing to see what miraculous cures mi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE HEALED MANY THAT WERE SICK OF DIVERS DISEASES,.... Not that there were some, who had some sorts of diseases, whom he did not heal; but he healed all that came, or were brought to him, which were many, of every sort of disease, which were divers, with which they were afflicted: AND CAST MANY... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE MORNING, RISING UP A GREAT WHITE BEFORE DAY,.... On the morrow after the sabbath, on the first day in the morning, notwithstanding the fatigue of the former day, through preaching and working miracles; yet he rose up very early while it was very much within the night, as the light and day... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SIMON, AND THEY THAT WERE WITH HIM,.... Peter, and his brother Andrew, together with James and John, FOLLOWED AFTER HIM; some time after he was gone; for he privately withdrew from them, so that they might not be aware when he went, nor apprized of his departure, for some considerable time; whi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD FOUND HIM,.... In the desert and solitary place, where he had been praying: THEY SAID UNTO HIM; in order to engage him to go with them, and as the reason why they sought him with so much eagerness and diligence, ALL MEN SEEK FOR THEE; not all the men in the world, nor, it may be,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, LET US GO INTO THE NEXT TOWNS,.... Instead of returning with his disciples to Capernaum, as they expected he would, and especially since there was such a concourse of people got together, he proposes to go to "the next towns"; or "village cities"; towns that were neither villa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE PREACHED IN THEIR SYNAGOGUES,.... Which were in the next towns, in the village cities, and THROUGHOUT ALL GALILEE: taking every town and city in his circuit, he continued preaching the Gospel of the kingdom in one place and another, until he had gone over the whole country: AND CAST OUT DEV... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE CAME A LEPER TO HIM,.... After he was come down from a certain mountain, in Galilee, where he had been preaching to the people, Matthew 8:1, and when be was in a certain city, Luke 5:12, either Capernaum, or some other city of Galilee. This man was full of leprosy, as Luke says, and very p... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS, MOVED WITH COMPASSION,.... At the sad and deplorable case the poor man was in, being a merciful high priest, and not with a desire of popular applause, and vain glory: PUT FORTH HIS HAND AND TOUCHED HIM; though the leprosy was spread all over him, and there was no place clean, and touchi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS SOON AS HE HAD SPOKEN,.... The above words, IMMEDIATELY THE LEPROSY DEPARTED FROM HIM, AND HE WAS CLEANSED; from it, and which seems to be done not by touching him, but by the words spoken, which were accompanied with such power, as to effect the cure in an instant; Matthew 8:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE STRAITLY CHARGED HIM;.... Either with the sin which had been the cause of this leprosy, and to take care that he sinned that sin no more, lest a worse evil should befall him; for sin was usually the cause of leprosy, as the cases of Miriam, Gehazi, and Uzziah show. It is said to come upon men... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAITH UNTO HIM, SEE THOU SAY NOTHING TO ANY MAN,.... By the way, till he came to the priest; BUT GO THY WAY, SHOW THYSELF TO THE PRIEST: the Syriac and Persic versions read, "to the priests"; and the Vulgate Latin renders it, "to the chief priest"; but any priest might judge of the cleansing of... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE WENT OUT,.... Either out of the synagogue; for in Mark 1:39, it is said, that Christ preached in their synagogues, c. and in Mark 1:40, "there came a leper to him" and Luke very, plainly suggests, that he was in the city, Luke 5:12, and he might be in the synagogue: and this was allowed a lep... [ Continue Reading ]