CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Matthew 9 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/matthew/9.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/matthew/9-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Matthew 9</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../matthew/8.htm" title="Matthew 8">◄</a> Matthew 9 <a href="../matthew/10.htm" title="Matthew 10">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-1.htm">Matthew 9:1</a></div><div class="verse">And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 1-8.</span> - <span class="accented">The</span> <span class="accented">paralytic forgiven and healed.</span> Parallel passages: <a href="/mark/2-1.htm">Mark 2:1-12</a>; <a href="/luke/5-17.htm">Luke 5:17-26</a>. (For connexion of thought, cf. <a href="/matthew/8-18.htm">Matthew 8:18</a>, note.) In the parallel passages this narrative follows our <a href="/matthew/8-1.htm">Matthew 8:1-4</a>. Matthew's account is shorter, as usual. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And he entered into a ship</span>; <span class="accented">boat</span> (Revised Version). So completely did he grant the request of the Gadarenes. Observe that this expression is not an original phrase of the writer of the First Gospel, but is a reminiscence of the source that he has just used (cf. <a href="/mark/5-18.htm">Mark 5:18</a>; <a href="/luke/8-37.htm">Luke 8:37</a>; in both of which it now forms part of the preceding narrative). <span class="cmt_word">And</span> <span class="cmt_word">passed over</span>; <span class="accented">crossed over</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">διεπέρασεν</span>, also in the source (cf. <a href="/mark/5-21.htm">Mark 5:21</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And came into his own city</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> Capernaum, where Mark says that the following miracle took place. The thought is that of <a href="/john/1-11.htm">John 1:11</a>. Yet observe the contrast with <a href="/matthew/8-34.htm">Matthew 8:34</a>. There "all the city" rejected him; here some of the leaders reject him, but the multitudes fear and glorify God (ver. 8). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-2.htm">Matthew 9:2</a></div><div class="verse">And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And, behold, they brought to him</span> (<span class="greek">προσέφερον αὐτῷ</span>). Bengel's remark, "<span class="accented">Offerebant -</span> Tales oblationes factae sunt Salvatori plurimae, gratae," though very beautiful, is, from its undue insistence on the sacrificial use of <span class="greek">προσφέρω</span>, hardly exegesis. Matthew omits the difficulty that was experienced in bringing him to our Lord (see parallel passages), yet this alone accounts for the special commendation of their faith. <span class="cmt_word">A man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed.</span> Probably a mat or quilt (ver. 6). Professor Marshall, in the <span class="accented">Expositor</span> for March, 1891, p. 215, has a most interesting note showing that the differences between "lying on a bed" (Matthew)and "carried by four" (Mark), and even "they sought to bring him in, and to place him before him" (Luke, who has already mentioned "on a bed" ), may be explained by being different translations of an original Aramaic sentence. <span class="cmt_word">And Jesus seeing their faith</span>. Including that of the paralytic, who, as we may gather from the obedience he afterwards shows, had agreed to and had encouraged the special efforts of his bearers. <span class="cmt_word">Said unto the sick of the palsy; Son,</span> <span class="cmt_word">be of good cheer</span> (<span class="greek">Θάρσει τέκνον</span>). <span class="accented">Son.</span> So Mark, but Luke has "man" (<span class="greek">ἄνθρωπε</span>), which, though more usual in Greek (though still Hebraic, for <span class="greek">ἀνέρ</span> would have been in accordance with classical usage), is much more colourless. <span class="greek">Τέκνον</span>, as a term of address, is elsewhere in the New Testament used only where there is relationship physical (<a href="/matthew/21-28.htm">Matthew 21:28</a>; <a href="/luke/2-48.htm">Luke 2:48</a>; <a href="/luke/15-31.htm">Luke 15:31</a>; even Luke 16:25) or moral, especially that of pupil and teacher (<a href="/mark/10-24.htm">Mark 10:24</a>; cf <a href="/1_timothy/1-18.htm">1 Timothy 1:18</a>; <a href="/2_timothy/2-1.htm">2 Timothy 2:1</a>). It therefore implies that there is both sympathy and much common ground between the speaker and him whom he addresses. It is the antithesis of <a href="/matthew/8-29.htm">Matthew 8:29</a> (cf. further, <span class="accented">infra</span>, ver. 22). Thus it here served affectionately to encourage the sufferer in soul and body, preparing him to receive the announcement following. Matthew emphasizes its purpose by prefixing <span class="greek">θάρσει</span>. <span class="cmt_word">Thy sins be</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">are</span>; expressing clearly that the words are the statement of a fact, not merely the expression of a command. <span class="cmt_word">Forgiven thee</span>; Revised Version omits "thee" (genuine in Luke), with <span class="accented">manuscripts</span> (<span class="greek">ἀφίενταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι</span>). Matthew and Mark use the present of general statement, Luke the perfect (<span class="greek">ἀφέωνται</span>, Doric; Winer, 14:3. a), to express a past fact of permanent significance. Observe the order of the Lord's assurance, as recorded in the true text. Courage, sympathy, forgiveness, and, only after all else, recalling individual sins. As the assurance of forgiveness is delightful to the soul, so is it often helpful to the body. Hence possibly our Lord's method in this case, for the man "inter spem metumque dubius pendebat" (Wetstein). Compare for the conjunction of the two, <a href="/james/5-15.htm">James 5:15</a>, and, as a still closer parallel to our passage, Talm. Bab., 'Nedarim,' 41<span class="accented">a</span>. "R. Hija bar Abba said, The sick doth not recover from his sickness until all his sins be forgiven him, for it is said, 'Who pardoneth all thy iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases.'" So also Qimbi (on <a href="/psalms/41-5.htm">Psalm 41:5</a>, "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee" ): "He does not say, Heal my body," for it is his sins that are the cause of his sickness, but if God heal his soul from its sickness, viz. by making atonement for his sins, then his body is healed." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-3.htm">Matthew 9:3</a></div><div class="verse">And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This <i>man</i> blasphemeth.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And certain of the scribes</span>. From St. Luke's account (ver. 17) we learn that the miracle took place before a large assembly of "Pharisees and teachers of the Law, who had come out of every village of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem." 'Yet even among these there was a division (<span class="greek">τινές</span>). <span class="cmt_word">Said within themselves</span>. So Mark, "reasoning in their hearts." <span class="cmt_word">This man</span> (<span class="greek">οῦτος</span>). The word seems to convey a notion of contempt and of vindictive joy that they have caught him (cf. Mark, <span class="greek">τί οῦτος οὕτως</span> <span class="greek">λαλεῖ</span>; and perhaps <a href="/matthew/12-24.htm">Matthew 12:24</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Blasphemeth</span> (<span class="greek">βλασφημεῖ</span>). In its fullest meaning; through assumption of Divine authority (so also <a href="/matthew/26-65.htm">Matthew 26:65</a>; <a href="/john/10-33.htm">John 10:33, 36</a>). "No passage of the Old Testament affirms that the Messiah himself will forgive sins. Thus Jesus ascribes to himself what even the highest Old Testament prophecies of the Messianic time had reserved to God; <span class="accented">e.g.</span> <a href="/jeremiah/31-34.htm">Jeremiah 31:34</a>; <a href="/isaiah/43-25.htm">Isaiah 43:25</a>" (Kubel). Observe that Mark lays more stress upon the process of their thoughts, Matthew and Luke on the conclusion at which they arrived, Luke also indicating that the supposed sin had many parts (<span class="greek">λαλεῖ</span> <span class="greek">βλασφημίας</span>) - they thought, "Every word he has uttered is blasphemy." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-4.htm">Matthew 9:4</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Jesus knowing</span>; <span class="greek">εἰδώς</span> (but Textus Receptus, with margin of Westcott and Hort, and of Revised Version, <span class="greek">ἰδών</span>, "seeing" ); parallel passages, <span class="greek">ἐπιγνούς</span>. The difference of form with agreement in sense points to varying translations of <span class="hebrew">ידע</span> (so Peshito, in each place). Perhaps the same cause may also account for the difference in the next words, <span class="greek">ἐνθυμήσεις ἐνθυμεῖσθε</span>, but in the parallel passages, <span class="greek">διαλογίζονται</span>, <span class="greek">διαλογισμούς διαλογίζεσθε</span> (cf. also ver. 8). (For similar instances of our Lord's knowledge, cf. <a href="/matthew/12-25.htm">Matthew 12:25</a>; <a href="/luke/6-8.htm">Luke 6:8</a>; <a href="/luke/9-47.htm">Luke 9:47John 2:25</a>; cf. further, <span class="accented">supra</span>, <a href="/matthew/8-10.htm">Matthew 8:10</a>, note.) <span class="cmt_word">Their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?</span> <span class="accented">Evil</span> (<span class="greek">πονηρά</span>). Does the plural point to stages in their reasoning? or is it merely used because he was addressing more than one person? </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-5.htm">Matthew 9:5</a></div><div class="verse">For whether is easier, to say, <i>Thy</i> sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For</span>. The expansion of his rebuke of their accusation, by his question and the command connected with it. <span class="cmt_word">Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee</span> (Revised Version, <span class="accented">are forgiven</span>, omitting "thee"); <span class="cmt_word">or to say, Arise, and walk?</span> The former, because the truth or otherwise of the latter is at once visible. Observe that the two alternatives cover the two realms of influence, the spiritual and the physical. Men will not believe profession in the former realm if it be unaccompanied by visible results in the latter. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-6.htm">Matthew 9:6</a></div><div class="verse">But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But that ye may know</span>. From his authority in the physical world they may have direct knowledge (<span class="greek">εἰδῆτε</span>) of his authority in the spiritual world. Observe that the claim is even in the so-called "Triple Tradition." <span class="cmt_word">That the Son of man hath power</span> (better, <span class="accented">authority</span>, with Revised Version margin, and the American Committee) on earth to forgive sins (<span class="greek">ὅτι ἐξουσίαν</span> <span class="greek">ἔχει ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας</span>). Observe <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> that our Lord does not say "I," but "the Son of man" ; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> that the emphatic words in the sentence are "hath authority," and "on earth." It would therefore appear as though our Lord wished to call the attention of those present to a phrase which they already knew, but did not rightly understand. He seems to point them to <a href="/daniel/7-13.htm">Daniel 7:13</a>, and reminding them that even there "one like unto a son of man" (cf. <span class="accented">supra</span>, <a href="/matthew/8-20.htm">Matthew 8:20</a>, note) receives authority (<span class="greek">ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ ἐξουσία αἰώνιος</span>, ver. 14), tells them that this authority includes forgiving sins, and that this may be exercised not only in the future and in "the clouds of heaven," but now (<span class="greek">ἔχει</span>) and "on earth." Further, if, as seems likely,. the phrase was understood to symbolize the nation, he desired them to see in himself the great means whereby the nation should rise to its ideal. If, as is possible, though hardly probable, this saying of our Lord's is chronologically earlier than <a href="/matthew/8-20.htm">Matthew 8:20</a>, and there,-fore the earliest occasion on which he used the phrase, the almost direct reference to <a href="/daniel/7-13.htm">Daniel 7:13</a> makes it the more interesting. <span class="cmt_word">(Then saith he to the sick of the palsy). </span> The thought of the sentence is continued, but as he now turns directly to the sick man, its form is altered. <span class="cmt_word">Arise, take up</span>. The Revised Version, retaining the wrong reading, <span class="greek">ἐγερθείς</span>, inserts "and." <span class="cmt_word">Thy bed</span> (ver. 9, note), <span class="cmt_word">and go unto thine house</span>. Thus avoiding publicity. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-7.htm">Matthew 9:7</a></div><div class="verse">And he arose, and departed to his house.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And he arose, and departed to his house</span>. Three stages, rising, leaving the crowded court, home-coming. Healed in soul as in body, he is fully obedient. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-8.htm">Matthew 9:8</a></div><div class="verse">But when the multitudes saw <i>it</i>, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled</span>; <span class="accented">were afraid</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">ἐφοβήθησαν</span>. A more solely physical effect than the <span class="greek">ἐθαύμασαν</span> of the Textus Receptus. (For a similar instance of fear at miraculous events, cf. <a href="/mark/5-15.htm">Mark 5:15</a>.) Resch's supposition ('Agrapha,' p. 62), that the difference of words here and in the parallel passages is due to various translations of the Aramaic, or rather of the Hebrew according to his theory, is in this case not improbable (cf. <span class="accented">supra</span>, ver. 4, and Introduction, p. 14.). <span class="cmt_word">And glorified God</span> (cf <a href="/matthew/15-31.htm">Matthew 15:31</a>), <span class="cmt_word">which had given such power</span> (<span class="accented">authority</span>, as ver. 6) unto men (<span class="greek">τοῖς ἀνθρώποις</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the human race. Observe that though the phrase recalls ver. 6, there is here no mention of forgiving sins: the multitudes appear to have thought only of authority to perform the miracle; further, that although the multitudes seem to have heard Christ's words, they did not understand his expression to refer to Messiah. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-9.htm">Matthew 9:9</a></div><div class="verse">And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 9-17.</span> - 3. THE LIBERTY OF THE GOSPEL AS SHOWN BY CHRIST'S TREATMENT OF THE OUTCAST, AND HIS ANSWER TO THOSE WHO INSISTED ON FASTING. (cf. <a href="/matthew/8.htm">Matthew 8</a>. l, note.) <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> The call of a publican to be a personal follower (ver. 9). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> His kindly treatment of publicans and sinners, and his apology for showing it (vers. 10-13). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> His care for the freedom of his disciples from ceremonial bondage (vers. 14-17). Observe in this section the signs of opposition <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> from the high-Judaic party, on a question of moral defilement (ver. 11); <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> from those who were professedly waiting for Messiah, on a question of ceremonial observance (ver. 14). <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> <span class="accented">- The call of Matthew.</span> Parallel passages: <a href="/mark/2-13.htm">Mark 2:13, 14</a>; <a href="/luke/5-27.htm">Luke 5:27, 28</a>. All three evangelists connect this with the preceding miracle, but in the parallel passages the name is given as" Levi," St. Mark adding, "the <span class="accented">son</span> of Alphaeus." If the First Gospel were not written, in either Greek or Aramaic, by St. Matthew himself, but by a catechist of the Matthean cycle (<span class="accented">vide</span> Introduction, pp. 6, 17.), it is possible that "Levi," as found in the source, may have seemed to the catechist disrespectful, and that he altered it to the title by which he had been accustomed to hear his master called. If, on the other hand, and as seems more probable, this Gospel was written by St. Matthew, his preference for "Matthew" rather than "<span class="accented">Levi"</span> may be due to its meaning (<span class="accented">vide</span> Introduction, p. 21.). <span class="cmt_word">And as Jesus passed forth</span> (Revised Version, <span class="accented">by</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>from thence</span>. <a href="/mark/2-13.htm">Mark 2:13</a> says that our Lord went out along the seaside, where "the receipt of custom" (<span class="accented">vide infra</span>) would naturally be. <span class="cmt_word">He saw a man, named</span> (Revised Version, <span class="accented">called</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>Matthew</span> (<span class="accented">vide</span> Introduction, p. 20.). In the Greek "a man" is closely joined to "sitting at the receipt of custom," the words <span class="greek">Μαθθαῖον λεγόμενον</span> appearing to be almost an afterthought. Not the name, but the man's occupation, was the important thing. <span class="cmt_word">Sitting</span>. Still plying his irreligious trade. <span class="cmt_word">At the receipt of custom</span>; <span class="accented">at the place of toll</span> (Revised Version). Perhaps a mere booth by the roadside for collecting the <span class="accented">octroi-duty</span> on food, etc., carried past. At the present day in Palestine" a booth of branches, or a more substantial hut, is erected at every entrance into the city or village, and there, both day and night, sits a man at ' the receipt of custom.' He taxes all the produce, piercing with a long, sharp iron rod the large camel-bags of wheat or cotton, in order to discover concealed copper wire, or other contraband" (Van Lennep, in Exell, <span class="accented">in lot.</span>). Schurer (1. 2. p, 67) shows that the customs raised at Capernaum in the time of Christ undoubtedly went, not into the imperial <span class="accented">fiscus</span>, but into the treasury of Herod Antipas. On the other band, in Judaea at that time the customs were raised in the interests of the imperial <span class="accented">fiscus.</span> (On "publicans" generally, see ch. 5:46, note; and for further details, Edersheim, 'Life,' 1. 515.) <span class="cmt_word">And he saith unto him,</span> <span class="cmt_word">Follow me</span>. No promise is given corresponding to that in ch. 4:19. <span class="cmt_word">And he arose, and followed him.</span> Perhaps the day's work was just over, or he may have left some assistant there. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-10.htm">Matthew 9:10</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 10-13.</span> <span class="accented">- The feast with publicans and sinners</span>, <span class="accented">and Christ's apology.</span> Parallel passages: <a href="/mark/2-15.htm">Mark 2:15-17</a>; <a href="/luke/5-29.htm">Luke 5:29-32</a>. All three evangelists give the essential features of the section, but Mark and Luke show more clearly that the feast was in the house of the new disciple, and Matthew alone gives the reference to Hosea. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And it</span> <span class="cmt_word">came to pass, as Jesus</span> (<span class="accented">he</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">sat at meat;</span> "Gr. <span class="accented">reclined</span>: and so always" (Revised Version margin); cf. ch. 26:20. <span class="cmt_word">In the house;</span> Luke, "And Levi made him a great feast in his house." Whether or not this was the same as the <span class="greek">τελώνιον</span>, we have no means of knowing, but presumably it was not. <span class="cmt_word">Behold, many publicans</span> (<a href="/matthew/5-46.htm">Matthew 5:46</a>, note) <span class="cmt_word">and sinners</span>. The second term seems to include all who openly impugned or neglected the Law. It is, therefore, sometimes used with special reference to Gentiles (<a href="/matthew/26-45.htm">Matthew 26:45</a>; cf <a href="/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Came and sat down with him</span> (Revised Version, <span class="accented">Jesus</span>, emphatic) <span class="cmt_word">and his disciples.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-11.htm">Matthew 9:11</a></div><div class="verse">And when the Pharisees saw <i>it</i>, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And</span> <span class="cmt_word">when the Pharisees.</span> Mentioned thus far only in <a href="/matthew/3-7.htm">Matthew 3:7</a> and Matthew 5:20. This is, therefore, the first time that Matthew speaks of them as coming into direct contact with Jesus. Although Mark (cf. Luke) says that the objection was raised by those among the Pharisees who were also scribes (<span class="greek">οἱ γραμματεῖς τῶν Φαρισαίων</span>), yet the difference of expression from that in ver. 3 must not be overlooked. There the fact that they were scribes, accustomed to weigh the statements of the Law about blasphemy, etc., was prominent in the mind of the narrator; here it is rather the fact that they were Pharisees, men who by their very name professed to hold aloof from those who neglected the Law. <span class="cmt_word">Saw it</span>. They could freely come into the court of the house, and when there could both see and hear what was passing in the rooms that opened into it. <span class="cmt_word">They</span> said; <span class="greek">ἔλεγον</span>: <span class="accented">dieebaat</span> (Vulgate); "were saying." Their eager talk is brought vividly before us. <span class="cmt_word">Unto</span> <span class="cmt_word">his disciples.</span> Probably these were nearer to the Pharisees than Jesus himself was, or perhaps the Pharisees thought it easier to attack Jesus through them. On the naturalness of this remark in the mouth of Pharisees, <span class="accented">vide</span> Schurer, II. 2. p. 25. <span class="cmt_word">Why eateth your Master</span> (<span class="greek">διδάσκαλος</span>); <span class="accented">Teacher</span> (Revised Version margin) is preferable, for both Pharisees and disciples realized that even Jesus' actions were intended to instruct his followers. But the reason for this action (<span class="accented">why</span>, cf. also ver. 14) they did not understand. It is possible that the order of the Greek points to irony on the part of the Pharisees. The man who presumes to be called <span class="accented">Teacher</span>, and whom the disciples accept as such, sets at defiance the primary rules of right and wrong. Professor Marshall (<span class="accented">Expositor</span>, IV. 4. p. 222) explains the variants "teacher" (here) and "drink" (parallel passages) by the original Aramaic word for "drink" (<span class="hebrew">רוא</span>) having been written here with the peculiar spelling of the Samaritan Targum (<span class="hebrew">רבא</span>). <span class="cmt_word">With</span> (<span class="accented">the</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">publicans and sinners?</span> Who form but one class (<span class="greek">τῶν τελωνῶν καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν</span>). (For the thought, cf. <a href="/matthew/11-19.htm">Matthew 11:19</a>; <a href="/luke/15-2.htm">Luke 15:2</a>; also <a href="/psalms/101-5.htm">Psalm 101:5</a> [LXX.]. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-12.htm">Matthew 9:12</a></div><div class="verse">But when Jesus heard <i>that</i>, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But when Jesus heard that,</span> <span class="cmt_word">he said unto them, They that be whole.</span> <span class="greek">Οἱ ἰσχύοντες</span> (so also Mark) may include an <span class="accented">arriere-pensee</span> of moral <span class="accented">self-assertion</span> which St. Luke entirely loses by his alteration to <span class="greek">οἱ ὑγιαίνοντες</span>: cf. <a href="/1_corinthians/4-10.htm">1 Corinthians 4:10</a>. <span class="cmt_word">Need not;</span> <span class="accented">have no need of</span> (Revised Version). These are the emphatic words in the sentence. Christ takes the Pharisees at their own estimate of themselves, and, without entering into the question of whether this was right or wrong, shows them that on their own showing he would be useless to them<span class="cmt_word">. A physician, but they that are sick</span>. "Sed ubi dolores sunt, air, illic festinat medicns," Ephr. Syr., in his exposition of Tatian's 'Diatess.' (Resch, 'Agrapha,' p. 443). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-13.htm">Matthew 9:13</a></div><div class="verse">But go ye and learn what <i>that</i> meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - The first half of the verse comes in Matthew only<span class="cmt_word">. But go ye and learn</span>. A common rabbinic phrase based on the fact that the disputants would not always have the cumbrous rolls of Scripture actually with them. These Pharisees pro-reseed to be students of Scripture, but had not yet learned the principle taught in this passage<span class="cmt_word">. What that meaneth, I will</span> <span class="cmt_word">have</span> (I <span class="accented">desire</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">mercy,</span> <span class="cmt_word">and not sacrifice</span>. <span class="accented">Mercy</span> (<span class="greek">ἔλεος</span>). In the original connexion of this quotation (<a href="/hosea/6-6.htm">Hosea 6:6</a>) the words are without doubt (but cf. Dr. Taylor's 'Gospel in the Law,' p. 10) an expression of God's desire that his people should show mercy rather than only perform external sacrifices, and this meaning is probably intended by our Lord here also. The connexion will then be either <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> "<span class="accented">I</span> wish you to show mercy rather than perform external actions, for only thus will you resemble me in my coming to call sinners;" or <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> "I wish you to show this mercy, and therefore I practise it myself." The former seems the more natural. It is, however, possible that our Lord disregards the original context of the words, and uses them only as a summary of an important truth, that God prefers to show mercy rather than to insist on sacrifice. This would make excellent sense here, viz. "Learn the true principle by which God acts, free grace, for it is on this that I have acted in coming to call sinners." (So nearly Dr. Taylor, op. c<span class="accented">it.</span>, p. 3.) The sentence is quoted again in <a href="/matthew/12-7.htm">Matthew 12:7</a>, where the original thought of the words seems more certainly applicable. <span class="cmt_word">For I</span> <span class="cmt_word">am not come;</span> <span class="accented">for I came not</span> (Revised Version). Christ refers to his historic coming in the Incarnation rather than to his abiding presence (cf. also <a href="/matthew/5-17.htm">Matthew 5:17</a>). <span class="cmt_word">To call the righteous, but sinners</span> (<span class="greek">καλέσαι</span> <span class="greek">δικαίους ἀλλ ἁμαρτωλούς</span>). The English generic article in the first term spoils the anarthrous expression of the Greek by lessening the contrast between the two classes. Dr. Taylor suggests the rendering, "not <span class="accented">saints</span>, <span class="accented">but sinners"</span> (<span class="accented">op. cit.</span>, p. 4). <span class="cmt_word">To repentance</span>. Omitted by the Revised Version and Westcott and Herr. From the parallel passage in Luke. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-14.htm">Matthew 9:14</a></div><div class="verse">Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 14-17.</span> <span class="accented">- Christ's care for the free-dora of his disciples from ceremonial bondage.</span> He teaches that the standpoint of the Baptist was preparatory (ch. 3.), and was not intended to be a permanent resting-place. Observe that of the three accounts St. Matthew's points out the most clearly that the objection originated with the disciples of John the Baptist. Perhaps St. Matthew found these possessing special influence in the part for which his Gospel was primarily intended. So also St. John thought it desirable to recall the teaching of the Master, that while he himself was the Bridegroom, the Baptist was only subordinate (<a href="/john/3-29.htm">John 3:29</a>). On the survival of the teaching of John the Baptist, and the greater importance of its professed adherents during the apostolic age than is usually supposed, <span class="accented">vide</span> Bishop Lightfoot, 'Colossians,' p. 163, edit. 1875. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Then</span> (<span class="greek">τότε</span>). In this case the close chronological connexion with the preceding incident is confirmed by the parallel passages (especially Luke). <span class="cmt_word">Came</span> (<span class="accented">come</span>, Revised Version) to him. They move forward among the crowd, and draw near to him (<span class="greek">προσέρχονται αὐτῷ</span>)<span class="accented">. <span class="cmt_word"></span>The disciples of John</span> (<span class="accented">vide supra</span>), <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>saying, Why</span> (cf. ver. 11) <span class="cmt_word">do we and the Pharisees fast?</span> (cf. <a href="/matthew/6-16.htm">Matthew 6:16</a>, note, Schurer, II. 2. p. 118). Oft (<span class="greek">πολλά</span>); Textus Receptus, and Westcott and Hort margin, with all the versions and the great mass of the authorities. Yet probably to be omitted, with Westcott and Host, on the evidence of the Vatican manuscript, and the original hand of the Sinaitic. It may have arisen from a gloss on the <span class="greek">πυκνά</span> of Luke. <span class="cmt_word">But thy disciples fast not</span>. The feast given by St. Matthew was evidently at the time of some fast observed by the stricter Jews. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-15.htm">Matthew 9:15</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Jesus said unto them, Can.</span> It is a moral impossibility (ch. 6:24). <span class="cmt_word">The children</span> (sons, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">of the bride-chamber</span> (<span class="greek">οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ νυμφῶνος</span>). Edersheim ('Life,' etc., 1:663) points out that these are not the <span class="accented">shoshbenim</span>, the friends of the bridegroom, who conducted the bride with music, etc., to the house of her parents-in-law, and to the bride-chamber, and who naturally remained to take part in the wedding feast; for <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> the custom of having <span class="accented">shoshbenim</span> prevailed in Judaea, but not in Galilee; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> Talm. Jeremiah, 'Succah,' § 2:5, expressly distinguishes between the two terms: "Those who are <span class="accented">shoshbenim</span>, and all the sons of the bride-chamber, are free from the obligation of booths (<span class="hebrew">חופה פטורין סן סוכה שושבינן וכל בני</span>)." They appear to be those, invited by either party, who come to take part in the wedding festivities. They are, therefore, in full sympathy with bridegroom and bride, and, like them, cannot but rejoice. <span class="cmt_word">Mourn</span>; parallel passages, "fast," but Matthew's word, as less closely connected with the cause of the objection raised, seems the more original. <span class="cmt_word">As long as the bridegroom is with them?</span> Nosgen sees in this a claim to be the expected Bridegroom of Israel (<a href="/hosea/2-19.htm">Hosea 2:19, 20</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/3-1.htm">Jeremiah 3:1-14</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/16-8.htm">Ezekiel 16:8</a>). <span class="cmt_word">But the days will come</span>. Christ speaks with prophetic assurance of the coming of such a time (<span class="greek">ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι</span>). Observe his consciousness alike of his position and of what is coming upon him. <span class="cmt_word">When the bridegroom shall be taken</span> (<span class="accented">away</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">from them</span>. His removal shall be effected, not by his own action, but by external agents (<span class="greek">ἀπαρθῇ</span>). In these unsettled times, with their frequent though mostly unimportant popular risings, it cannot have been a very unusual thing for the bridegroom to be carried off, not indeed before the consummation of the marriage, but before the end of the week of festivities. <span class="cmt_word">And then shall</span> (<span class="accented">will</span>, Revised Version; there is no trace of a command, Christ is but stating a fact) <span class="cmt_word">they fast</span>. Christ here endorses the principle of Christian fasts (cf. <a href="/matthew/6-16.htm">Matthew 6:16</a>), but regards them as springing; not from any legal obligation, but flora personal grief, in this case at his absence (cf. <a href="/john/16-20.htm">John 16:20</a>). The only later passages in the New Testament where Christian fasting is mentioned, are <a href="/acts/13-2.htm">Acts 13:2, 3</a>; <a href="/acts/14-23.htm">Acts 14:23</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/6-5.htm">2 Corinthians 6:5</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/11-27.htm">2 Corinthians 11:27</a>. In the 'Didache,' § 8, we have the earliest formal recognition or' it as a practice. It is there forbidden to fast on the same days as the Pharisees. Observe that this verse was understood in Tertullian's time as expressly commanding a fast during the forty hours in which our Lord was in the grave ('De Jejun.,' § 2), and that, from Irenseus's expression in Eusebius ('Ch. Hist.,' 5:24), this fast had been kept almost from apostolic times. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-16.htm">Matthew 9:16</a></div><div class="verse">No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">No man</span>; <span class="accented">and no man</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">οὐδεὶς δέ</span>. "And" is slightly adversative. They will indeed fast then, yet fasting does not belong to the essence of my teaching. To insist on fasting would only be right if my teaching came merely into mechanical connexion with the religion of the day. But this is not the case. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> Treated as an addition, it injures the religion of the day (ver. 16). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> Treated as something to be accepted by all Jews, regardless of their moral fitness for it, it is itself wasted, and also ruins those who so accept it (ver. 17). The verses thus <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> answer the disciples of John the Baptist, that fasting must not be made compulsory for Christ's disciples; and <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> warn them solemnly that they themselves must become morally fitted to receive Christ's teaching. <span class="accented">No man</span>; emphatic. Christ wants to show them the irrationality of what they want him to do - enjoin fasting on his disciples. <span class="cmt_word">Putteth a piece</span> <span class="accented">- patcheth a patch</span> (<span class="greek">ἐπιβάλλει</span> <span class="greek">ἐπίβλημα</span>) - <span class="cmt_word">of new</span> (<span class="accented">undressed</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">cloth unto</span> (<span class="accented">upon</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up</span> (<span class="accented">that which should fill it up</span>, Revised Version; <span class="greek">τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτοῦ</span>) <span class="cmt_word">taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse</span> (<span class="accented">and a worse rent is made</span>, Revised Version). My teaching is intended to be more than a patch (however good a patch) sewn on to the religion of the day. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-17.htm">Matthew 9:17</a></div><div class="verse">Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Neither do men put new wine into old bottles</span>; <span class="accented">wine-skins</span> (Revised Version); cf. <a href="/job/32-19.htm">Job 32:19</a>. (For rabbinic comparisons of the Law to wine, cf. Dr. Taylor, 'Aboth,' 4:29.) <span class="cmt_word">Else</span> (<a href="/matthew/6-1.htm">Matthew 6:1</a>, note) <span class="cmt_word">the bottles</span> (<span class="accented">skins</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">burst</span>. The stress is on "burst;" the thought is therefore not yet of the bottles, but of the fate of the wine. <span class="cmt_word">And the wine runneth out</span> (is <span class="accented">spilled</span>, Revised Version; <span class="greek">ἐκχεῖται</span>), <span class="cmt_word">and the bottles</span> (<span class="accented">skins</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">perish</span>. It ruins the vessels in which it is placed (ver. 16, note). <span class="cmt_word">But they put new wins into new</span>; <span class="accented">fresh</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">καινούς</span>. The change from <span class="greek">νέος</span> of the wine to <span class="greek">καινός</span> of the skins is maintained in all three accounts, <span class="greek">νέος</span> suggesting the latest vintage, <span class="greek">καινός</span> that the skins are absolutely unimpaired (cf. Trench, 'Syn.,' § 60.). <span class="cmt_word">Bottles</span> (<span class="accented">wine-skins</span>, Revised Version), <span class="cmt_word">and both are preserved.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-18.htm">Matthew 9:18</a></div><div class="verse">While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 18-34.</span> ? 4. THE COMPLETENESS OF HIS HEALING POWER. (Cf. <a href="/matthew/8-1.htm">Matthew 8:1</a>, note.) <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> As regards restoration to life and life-strength generally (vers. 18-26). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> As regards the restoration of separate bodily powers (vers. 27-34): <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(a)</span> sight (vers. 27-31); <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(b)</span> speech, though, in this case, the dumbness was the work of an evil spirit (vers. 32 - 34). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Observe also in this section the reference to the effect of his work upon outsiders. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> The spread of the fame of his work and himself (vers. 26, 31). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> The wonder of the multitudes (ver. 33) [and the accusation of the Pharisees (ver. 34)]. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 18-26.</span> - The <span class="accented">raising of the daughter of a ruler</span> (<span class="accented">Jairus</span>, in the parallel <span class="accented">passages</span>), <span class="accented">and the healing of the woman with an issue.</span> Parallel passages: <a href="/mark/5-21.htm">Mark 5:21-43</a>; <a href="/luke/8-40.htm">Luke 8:40-56</a>. Matthew's account is much the shortest. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">While he spake these things unto them</span>. Matthew only. All the accounts represent our Lord as teaching when Jairus came to him; but in the parallel passages he was on the seashore (equivalent to our <a href="/matthew/8-34.htm">Matthew 8:34</a>; <a href="/matthew/9-1.htm">Matthew 9:1</a>). Matthew alone places his coming just after the question of the Baptist's disciples. Probably the words, "while he spake these things unto them," are not in their original connexion. <span class="cmt_word">Behold, there came a certain</span>; a (Revised Version); <span class="greek">ἄρχων</span> [<span class="greek">εῖς</span>] <span class="greek">προσελθών</span> (for <span class="greek">εῖς</span>, cf. <a href="/matthew/8-19.htm">Matthew 8:19</a>, note). <span class="cmt_word">Ruler</span> (<span class="greek">ἄρχων</span>). From this expression alone we should understand Jairus to have been head of the board of elders for the general affairs of the congregation; but Mark's expression, <span class="greek">εῖς τῶν ἀρχισυναγώγων</span> (cf. Luke, <span class="greek">ἄρχων τῆς συναγωγῆς</span>), compels us to regard him as that elder who was appointed to care specially for the public worship, Mark's language probably meaning that he was one of the class of those who held this appointment. Sometimes the offices of <span class="greek">ἄρχων</span> and <span class="greek">ἀρχισυνάγωγος</span> were held by the same person, and this may, perhaps, have been the case with Jairus (cf Schurer, II. it. p. 64). <span class="cmt_word">and worshipped him</span> (<a href="/matthew/8-2.htm">Matthew 8:2</a>, note). <span class="cmt_word">Saying, My daughter is even now dead</span>. Matthew, by compression, indicates what had happened before the interview was over. <span class="cmt_word">But come and lay thy hand upon her</span>; in sign of personal relation and life-communication. Kubel (in <span class="accented">loc.</span>) <span class="accented">has</span> an interesting note on the laying-on of hands in the New Testament (cf. also Bishop Westcott, on <a href="/hebrews/6-2.htm">Hebrews 6:2</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And she shall live</span>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-19.htm">Matthew 9:19</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus arose, and followed him, and <i>so did</i> his disciples.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Jesus arose</span>, Matthew only. From the table, if Matthew's connexion is to be followed; from his seat by the seashore, if Mark's. <span class="cmt_word">And followed him</span>. As he led the way to his house. The tense (<span class="greek">ἠκολούθει</span>) shows that our Lord had already started when the next incident took place. <span class="cmt_word">And so did his disciples</span>. Mark substitutes "a great multitude," and adds that "they thronged him" (cf. also Luke). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-20.htm">Matthew 9:20</a></div><div class="verse">And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind <i>him</i>, and touched the hem of his garment:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 20.</span> - (<span class="cmt_word">And, behold,... that hour</span>). The Revised Version and the ordinary editions of the Authorized Version omit the brackets, as unnecessary. <span class="cmt_word">And, behold, a woman which was diseased with</span> (<span class="accented">who had</span>, Revised Version) an issue of blood (<span class="greek">αἱμοῥῤοοῦσα</span>). Physically and (<a href="/leviticus/15-25.htm">Leviticus 15:25</a>) ceremonially unclean. <span class="cmt_word">Twelve years</span>. The age of Jairus' daughter as recorded in the parallel passages. The coincidence led to its being remembered, and the number itself was the more noticeable as it seems to have symbolized the presence of God in nature (3 x 4). <span class="cmt_word">Came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment</span>. <span class="accented">Hem</span>; <span class="accented">border</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">τοῦ κρασπέδου</span>: <span class="accented">fimbriam</span> (Vulgate). The <span class="accented">zizith</span>," tassels or fringes of hyacinth blue m-white Wool, which every Israelite, by reason of the prescription (<a href="/numbers/15-37.htm">Numbers 15:37</a>, <span class="accented">sqq.</span>; <a href="/deuteronomy/22-12.htm">Deuteronomy 22:12</a>), had to wear at the four corners of his upper garment," Schurer (II. it. p. 112), who adds in a note, "The colour of the zizith is now white, while originally it was to be of hyacinth blue. The Mishna, <span class="accented">Menachoth</span>, 4:1, already presupposes that both are allowed. They are also not now worn, as the Pentateuch directs, and as was still the custom in the time of Christ, on the upper garment (<span class="hebrew">טַלִּית</span> <span class="greek">ἱμάτιον</span>), but on the two square woollen shawls, one of which is always worn on the body, while the other is only wound round the head during prayer Both these shawls are also called Tallith." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-21.htm">Matthew 9:21</a></div><div class="verse">For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For she said within herself, If I may</span>; <span class="accented">do</span> (Revised Version). There is no thought of permission (<span class="greek">ἐὰν μόνον ἅψωμαι</span>). <span class="cmt_word">But touch his garment, I shall be whole;</span> <span class="accented">saved</span> (Revised Version margin). The threefold <span class="greek">σώζειν</span> is suggestive. Observe that she is "saved" in spite of her superstition; God "<span class="accented">pitieth</span> the blind that would gladly <span class="accented">see"</span> (Hooker, 'Serm.,' 2. § 38). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-22.htm">Matthew 9:22</a></div><div class="verse">But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But Jesus turned him about</span>. The order of the words shows that the thought centres, not on the action, but on the Person. It marks the transition of the narrative from the woman to Christ. Further, "to understand the greatness of Jesus' love, consider how a Pharisee might have treated one ceremonially so unclean" (Kubel). <span class="cmt_word">And when he saw her</span>. The parallel passages show that this was after his inquiry who it was, etc. <span class="cmt_word">He said, Daughter, be of good comfort</span>; <span class="accented">good cheer</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">Θάρσει θύγατερ</span>. <span class="accented">Daughter</span> contains the same thought as "son" in ver. 2. St. Matthew alone, as there, expands its purpose by prefixing <span class="greek">θάρει. Θυγατέρα δὲ αὐτὴν καλεῖ ἐπειδὴ ἡ πίστις αὐτῆς θυγατέρα αὐτὴν ἐποίησεν</span> (Chrysostom, <span class="accented">in loc.</span>)<span class="accented">. <span class="cmt_word"></span>Thy faith hath made thee whole</span>; <span class="accented">hath saved thee</span> (Revised Version). It is possible that the additional words recorded in the parallel passages, "Go in peace," point to more than only physical restoration. <span class="cmt_word">And the woman was made whole</span> (<span class="accented">saved</span>, Revised Version margin) from that hour. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-23.htm">Matthew 9:23</a></div><div class="verse">And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 23.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And</span>. During the incident of the healing of the woman news had come (parallel passages) to the ruler that his daughter was actually dead, and that it was useless to trouble the Teacher any more. But man's extremity is ever Christ's opportunity<span class="cmt_word">. When Jesus came into the ruler's house.</span> Accompanied by only Peter, James, and John (parallel passages), and the parents (Luke). <span class="cmt_word">And saw</span>. Apparently from outside the room (cf. ver. 25). <span class="cmt_word">The minstrels</span>; <span class="accented">flute-players</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">τοὺς αὐλητάς</span>. For musicians as mourners, cf. <a href="/2_chronicles/35-25.htm">2 Chronicles 35:25</a>. The Mishna ('Kethub.,' 4:4: <span class="accented">vide</span> Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.,' <span class="accented">in loc.</span>) says, "Even the poorest among the Israelites [his wife being dead] will afford her not less than two pipes, and one woman to make lamentation." <span class="cmt_word">And the people</span> - a mere <span class="accented">crowd</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">ὄχλος</span> - <span class="cmt_word">making a noise</span>; <span class="accented">tumult</span> (Revised Version). There was confusion as well as sound, as Mark indicates still more dearly. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-24.htm">Matthew 9:24</a></div><div class="verse">He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 24.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He said unto them, Give place</span>; <span class="accented">withdraw</span> (<span class="greek">ἀναχωρεῖτε</span>). This is no room for mourners (cf. <a href="/acts/9-40.htm">Acts 9:40</a>). <span class="cmt_word">For the maid</span>; <span class="accented">damsel</span> (Revised Version). to assimilate this and ver. 25 to the other passages where <span class="greek">κοράσιον</span> is found. <span class="cmt_word">Is not dead, but</span> <span class="cmt_word">sleepeth.</span> Our Lord looks forward to the result of his coming. So also probably <a href="/acts/20-10.htm">Acts 20:10</a>. To take our Lord's words here as a literal statement of a present fact, meaning that she was only in a trance, is to contradict the words of the messenger (parallel passages), our next succeeding clause, and Luke's addition to it, "knowing that she was dead." <span class="cmt_word">And they laughed him to scorn</span>. Bengel suggests that they were afraid of losing the payment for their work. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-25.htm">Matthew 9:25</a></div><div class="verse">But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 25.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But when the people</span> (<span class="accented">crowd</span>, Revised Version; cf. ver. 23) <span class="cmt_word">were put forth, he went in.</span> Till they were cast out he would not enter. They with their hired sorrow would disturb the reverential feelings essential to the performance of such a miracle. And took her by the hand, and the maid (ver. 24, note) arose. Matthew omits all mention of Christ's words to her, but his <span class="greek">ἠγέρθη</span> is, perhaps, a reminiscence of the command <span class="greek">ἔγειρε</span>. Ver 26. - Matthew only. <span class="cmt_word">And the fame hereof</span> (<span class="greek">ἡ φήμη αὕτη</span>) <span class="cmt_word">went abroad into all that land</span>. Of no one miracle is this elsewhere affirmed. (For the fame of him generally, cf. ver. 31 and <a href="/matthew/4-24.htm">Matthew 4:24</a>.) <span class="cmt_word">That land</span>. Doubtless Northern Palestine. It marks the Jerusalem standpoint of the writer (Nosgen); <span class="accented">vide</span> Introduction, p. 19. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-26.htm">Matthew 9:26</a></div><div class="verse">And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-27.htm">Matthew 9:27</a></div><div class="verse">And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, <i>Thou</i> Son of David, have mercy on us.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 27-31.</span> <span class="accented">- Two blind men restored to sight.</span> Matthew only. (For the connexion, <span class="accented">vide ver.</span> 18, note.) Weiss (see Rushbrooke, p. 75, A; and 'Life,' 3:221) compares the incident at Jericho, ch. 20:29-34 (parallel passages: <a href="/mark/10-46.htm">Mark 10:46-52</a>; <a href="/luke/18-35.htm">Luke 18:35-43</a>). The points of <span class="accented">similarity</span> are: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> The number, two, but in the parallel passages only one; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> the expression that Jesus was <span class="accented">passing by</span> (ver. 27; <a href="/matthew/20-30.htm">Matthew 20:30</a>); <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> they cry out and say, "Have mercy on us, O Son of David;" <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(4)</span> our Lord, in his question, asks about what he should <span class="accented">do</span>; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(5)</span> lays stress on their faith (Mark and Luke); <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(6)</span> and touches their eyes (<a href="/matthew/20-34.htm">Matthew 20:34</a>). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The points of <span class="accented">difference</span>: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> The place, here in Galilee, there by Jericho; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> here in the house, there in the road, but even here they begin to address him in the road; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> no mention here that he stopped when addressed, as there (ch. 20:32); <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(4)</span> our Lord here asks about their faith, there about their wish. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(5)</span> Observe also that both his charge, "See that no man know it" (ver. 30), and the statement that they spread abroad the fame of him, would be quite inconsistent with the late date of the miracle recorded in ch. 20. From a consideration of these details, the conclusion seems inevitable that we have, in fact, narratives of two distinct occurrences, but it is quite consistent with tiffs conclusion to suppose that during the oral transmission of the narratives a certain amount of assimilation took place. Upon this supposition, it further appears probable that, as the narrative in ch. 20. was the better known, for it was in the Petrine cycle, our narrative became assimilated to it rather than the reverse. On the other hand, the number recorded in ch. 20. (not Mark or Luke) looks much like an assimilation to that of our incident (cf. the notes on the section <a href="/matthew/8-28.htm">Matthew 8:28-34</a>, ver. 31, and the section vers. 32-34). <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 27.</span>- <span class="cmt_word">And when</span> <span class="cmt_word">Jesus departed thence.</span> As he was passing along on his way <span class="accented">thence</span>, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> from the house of Jairus, if the context be pressed. It should be noticed that "thence" (<span class="greek">ἐκεῖθεν</span>) is found also in <a href="/mark/6-1.htm">Mark 6:1</a>, immediately after the healing of Jairus' daughter. There it refers to the neighbourhood generally. Possibly its presence in Matthew is ultimately due to his remembering it in the next succeeding section of the oral framework. <span class="cmt_word">Two blind men followed him, crying</span> (<span class="accented">out</span>, Revised Version; <span class="greek">κράζοντες</span>, so also <a href="/matthew/20-30.htm">Matthew 20:30</a>), <span class="cmt_word">and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.</span> The Revised Version rightly reverses the order of the two last clauses; the stress is on their own needs, not on their faith in giving him such a title. The words are identical in <a href="/matthew/20-30.htm">Matthew 20:30</a>. <span class="accented">Thou Son of David.</span> The thought has been brought out in the genealogy (<a href="/matthew/1-17.htm">Matthew 1:17</a>), and our Lord lays stress upon it in <a href="/matthew/22-42.htm">Matthew 22:42</a>, <span class="accented">sqq.</span> Observe that although the excited multitudes at Jerusalem shout out the title at the triumphal entry (<a href="/matthew/21-9.htm">Matthew 21:9</a>; cf. also 15), yet the multitudes in Galilee only suggest the possibility of his having a right to it (<a href="/matthew/12-23.htm">Matthew 12:23</a>), and the only persons who use it when directly addressing him are a heathen woman (<a href="/matthew/15-22.htm">Matthew 15:22</a>), and three, or perhaps four, blind men (here and <a href="/matthew/20-30.htm">Matthew 20:30, 31</a>). With the remembrance of what was promised to take place in Messianic days (<a href="/isaiah/35-5.htm">Isaiah 35:5</a>), the blind would be especially likely to accord him a Messianic title (cf. also <a href="/matthew/11-5.htm">Matthew 11:5</a>, note). <span class="accented">Have mercy</span> (<a href="/matthew/5-9.htm">Matthew 5:9</a>, note). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-28.htm">Matthew 9:28</a></div><div class="verse">And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 28.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And when he was come into the house</span>. Where he would be undisturbed (cf. <a href="/matthew/13-36.htm">Matthew 13:36</a>). On the later occasion (<a href="/matthew/20-32.htm">Matthew 20:32</a>) Jesus stood still in the road. The blind men came to him. Close (<span class="greek">προσῆλθαν</span> <span class="greek">αὐτῷ</span>)<span class="accented">. <span class="cmt_word"></span>And Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this?</span> They had professed faith in him, yet their after-conduct (ver. 31) shows that it was none too perfect. <span class="cmt_word">They said unto him, Yea, Lord</span>. <span class="accented">Said</span>; <span class="accented">say</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">λέγουσιν</span>. The evangelist uses the more vivid present whenever he can. So in <a href="/matthew/20-33.htm">Matthew 20:33</a> (though not in the parallel passages). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-29.htm">Matthew 9:29</a></div><div class="verse">Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 29.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Then</span> <span class="cmt_word">touched he their eyes.</span> So also <a href="/matthew/20-34.htm">Matthew 20:34</a>, showing his sympathy and helping their faith (<a href="/matthew/8-3.htm">Matthew 8:3</a>); cf. also <a href="/john/9-6.htm">John 9:6</a>, and <span class="accented">supra</span>, ver. 18, note. Saying, <span class="cmt_word">According to your faith</span> (<a href="/matthew/8-13.htm">Matthew 8:13</a>, note) <span class="cmt_word">be it</span> (<span class="accented">done</span>, Revised Version; <span class="greek">γενηθήτω</span>) unto <span class="cmt_word">you.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-30.htm">Matthew 9:30</a></div><div class="verse">And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See <i>that</i> no man know <i>it</i>.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 30.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them</span> (<span class="greek">ἐνεβριμήθη</span> <span class="greek">αὐτοῖς</span>). The notion is of "coercion springing out of displeasure. The feeling is called out by something seen in another which moves to anger rather than to sorrow" (Bishop Westcott, on <a href="/john/11-33.htm">John 11:33</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Saying, See that no man know it.</span> Partly to avoid publicity for himself, partly for their own sake, for even the recital of the Lord's mercies towards us often becomes an occasion of spiritual harm, since it is apt to degenerate into "display" with its attendant evils. <span class="greek"> ῾ημᾶς διδάσκει</span> <span class="greek">φεύγειν τὸ ἐπιδεικτικὸν ὡς αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν</span> (Origen, in Cromer's 'Catena'). The other occasions (<span class="accented">vide</span> ch. 8:4, note) on which a similar command was given seem all to belong, with this, to the earlier part of his ministry. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-31.htm">Matthew 9:31</a></div><div class="verse">But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 31.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But they, when they were</span> <span class="cmt_word">departed;</span> <span class="accented">but they went forth and</span> (Revised Version). The very moment that they left the house (cf, ver. 32) they disobeyed him. Observe that the phrases used in this verso are possibly due to a reminiscence of the similar phrases found in <a href="/mark/1-45.htm">Mark 1:45</a> of the leper. <span class="cmt_word">Spread abroad his fame in all that country</span>; <span class="accented">land</span> (Revised Version); ver. 26, note. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-32.htm">Matthew 9:32</a></div><div class="verse">As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 32-34.</span> <span class="accented">- The demon cast out of the dumb man. The astonishment of the multitudes and their confession.</span> [<span class="accented">The accusation by the Pharisees.</span>] The whole narrative greatly resembles the cure of the blind and dumb man possessed with a devil (<a href="/matthew/12-22.htm">Matthew 12:22-24</a>; <a href="/luke/11-14.htm">Luke 11:14, 15</a>), as may be seen from the fact that the following words are common to both passages, the brackets indicating a want of exact correspondence in the original. "They brought to him one possessed with a devil, dumb, and the [dumb spake]. And the multitudes [said.]... But the Pharisees, He casteth out the devils by... the prince of the devils." One explanation is that the two narratives are taken kern different sources, but represent the same incident; another, that as in vers. 27-31, so also here, the narratives of two similar incidents have become assimilated. At any rate, in the case of ver. 34 there has probably been assimilation, and that since the writing of the Gospel. For: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> Ver. 34 is wanting in D, the Old Latin manuscripts <span class="accented">a</span> and <span class="accented">k</span>, Hilary and Juvencns, and is therefore rightly bracketed by Westcott and Hort as perhaps "<span class="accented">a</span> Western non-interpolation" (2. § 240). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> The verse seems to be hardly in complete accordance with the aim of the whole section, which ends much more suitably with the effect on the multitudes. In <a href="/matthew/12-24.htm">Matthew 12:24</a> the verse forms a climax (cf. <a href="/matthew/12-2.htm">Matthew 12:2, 10, 14</a>). But here there has been no opposition mentioned since the very beginning of the chapter (for the disobedience of the blind men cannot be so called), so that the monstrous accusation comes in quite unexpectedly. Observe that this is not a case in which subjective difficulties are in themselves a <span class="accented">prima facie</span> argument for the genuineness of a phrase, for the early copyists troubled themselves very little about questions of the internal arrangement and the general aim of the sections. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 32.</span> <span class="accented">-</span> (<span class="accented">And</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">as they went out</span> (<span class="accented">forth</span>, Revised Version; ver. 31). They were still on the threshold (<span class="greek">αὐτὼν δὲ</span> <span class="greek">ἐξερχομένων</span>)<span class="accented">. <span class="cmt_word"></span>Behold, they brought to him</span>. The rendering of the Revised Version, "<span class="accented">there</span> was brought to him," is awkward, but avoids the implication that the blind men brought him this fresh case. <span class="cmt_word">A dumb man possessed with a devil</span>. In <a href="/matthew/12-22.htm">Matthew 12:22</a> the man was blind also. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-33.htm">Matthew 9:33</a></div><div class="verse">And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 33.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel</span>. In <a href="/matthew/12-23.htm">Matthew 12:23</a> they have advanced a stage further, and suggest that Jesus is Messiah (" the Son of David;" cf. <span class="accented">supra</span>, <span class="accented">ver.</span> 27). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-34.htm">Matthew 9:34</a></div><div class="verse">But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 34.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But the Pharisees said</span> (<span class="accented">vide supra</span>). If the verse be genuine here, the thought, of course, is that the only effect of Christ's miracles upon the Pharisees was to drive them to open blasphemy and wanton opposition to the evidence of plain facts, as is brought out at length in <a href="/matthew/12-24.htm">Matthew 12:24-32</a>. <span class="cmt_word">He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils</span>; <span class="accented">by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils</span> (Revised Version); which indicates the true order of the words in the Greek. <span class="accented">Through.</span> The Revised Version margin, <span class="accented">in</span>, is more literal. The Pharisees assert not only that Jesus effected this cure by the instrumentality of Satan, but by means of union with him. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-35.htm">Matthew 9:35</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 35.</span> - Parallel passages: <a href="/mark/6-6.htm">Mark 6:6</a> (<a href="/luke/13-22.htm">Luke 13:22</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And Jesus went about all the cities and</span> (<span class="accented">the</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">villages</span>. The Revised Version rightly restricts the "all" to the cities (<span class="greek">τὰς πόλεις πάσας καὶ τὰς</span> <span class="greek">κώμας</span>). It would have been impossible to visit all the villages. A village was distinguished from a city by being <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> unwalled (though occasionally towns were themselves unwalled); <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> dependent on the cities (cf. Schurer, II. 1. p. 154, <span class="accented">seq.</span>)<span class="accented">. <span class="cmt_word"></span>Teaching</span>, etc. From this point the verse is identical with <a href="/matthew/4-23.htm">Matthew 4:23</a> (where see notes), except that the end of that verse, "among the people," is not found in the true text of our passage, but has been inserted thence. Its omission here and the alteration of the words," in all Galilee," to "all the cities and the villages," are both due to the wider scope of what follows. Observe that in <a href="/matthew/4-23.htm">Matthew 4:23</a> our Lord's circuit is the occasion of crowds resorting to him, and serves as an introduction to a full account of his personal teaching, while here it is the occasion of his sending representatives, and serves as an introduction to his commission to them. As to the phrase, "healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness," notice that the recurrence of terminology (<a href="/matthew/4-23.htm">Matthew 4:23</a>; <a href="/matthew/10-1.htm">Matthew 10:1</a>) falls in with the oral theory, especially in its catechetical form (cf. 'Introduction,' p. 9.). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-36.htm">Matthew 9:36</a></div><div class="verse">But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 36.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But when he saw the multitudes</span>. The substance of this verse is found in <a href="/mark/6-34.htm">Mark 6:34</a> on the <span class="accented">return</span> of the apostles, equivalent to our <a href="/matthew/14-13.htm">Matthew 14:13</a>, <span class="accented">seq.</span> (cf. <span class="accented">supra</span>). According to the context, <span class="accented">the multitudes</span> here spoken of are those of the various cities and villages through which he had passed. <span class="cmt_word">He was moved with compassion on</span> (<span class="accented">for</span>, Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">them</span> (<span class="greek">ἐσπλαγχνίσθη περὶ αὐτῶν</span>). After the vivid Hebrew metaphor (<a href="/genesis/43-30.htm">Genesis 43:30</a>), which the LXX. seldom ventured to translate literally, but which is common in the New Testament writings. <span class="cmt_word">Because they fainted</span>. So the Received Text (<span class="greek">ἐκλελυμένοι</span>, cf. <a href="/matthew/15-32.htm">Matthew 15:32</a>), but the Revised Version, with manuscripts, "were distressed" (<span class="greek">ἐσκυλμένοι</span>). <span class="greek">Σκύλλω</span>, which in the classics is equivalent, to <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> "flay," <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> "mangle," is found only in the sense of <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> "trouble or harass," in the New Testament (<a href="/mark/5-35.htm">Mark 5:35</a> [parallel passage: <a href="/luke/8-49.htm">Luke 8:49</a>]; <a href="/luke/7-6.htm">Luke 7:6</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And were scattered abroad</span>; Revised Version simply, <span class="accented">and scattered.</span> (For the thought, cf. <a href="/ezekiel/34-5.htm">Ezekiel 34:5</a>; also <a href="/numbers/27-17.htm">Numbers 27:17</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/18-16.htm">2 Chronicles 18:16</a>; and its parallel passage, <a href="/1_kings/22-17.htm">1 Kings 22:17</a>.) The two participles express different aspects of their now normal and continuous state (<span class="greek">η΅σαν ἐσκυλμένοι καὶ ἐριμμένοι</span>). Yet the Authorized Version margin, "and lay down," is probably nearer the meaning of <span class="greek">ἐριμμένοι</span> here than the Authorized Version and Revised Version; cf. 1 Macc. 11:4 (" They showed him the temple of Dagon burnt... and the bodies cast out" ); <a href="/jeremiah/14-16.htm">Jeremiah 14:16</a> (" The people... shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem... and they shall have none to bury them" ), whine the thought is hardly "scattered," but "cast out and lying prostrate." So here the people are pictured as sheep harassed and prostrated by fatigue, etc.; cf. Vulgate, <span class="accented">vexati et jacentes. <span class="cmt_word"></span>As sheep having no shepherd</span>; <span class="accented">not having a shepherd</span> (Revised Version); cf. the Old Testament passages just referred to. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-37.htm">Matthew 9:37</a></div><div class="verse">Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly <i>is</i> plenteous, but the labourers <i>are</i> few;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 37, 38.</span> - The utterance is given word for word (except one transposition) at the beginning of the address to the seventy in <a href="/luke/10-2.htm">Luke 10:2</a>. But while serving there as an introduction to the rest of the speech, the reason for it is so much more self-evident here that St. Matthew seems to have recorded it in its original connexion. Our Lord himself, feeling the shepherdless condition of the people, desires to call out the interest of his disciples in it. He wants them to realize both the need of the people and the possibility that lay before the workmen. Changing the metaphor, he bids them pray him, who alone has the right and power, to send more workmen to reap these fields. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 37.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest</span> - of human souls (<a href="/john/4-35.htm">John 4:35-38</a>). Truly. So also the Revised Version; too strong a rendering of <span class="greek">μέν</span>. <span class="cmt_word">Is</span> <span class="cmt_word">plenteous</span> (cf. <a href="/matthew/10-23.htm">Matthew 10:23</a>; Bengel), <span class="cmt_word">but the labourers are few</span>. Who besides himself? John the Baptist, some who had been healed, <span class="accented">e.g.</span> the Gadarene demoniac (<a href="/mark/5-20.htm">Mark 5:20</a>, possibly also the blind men of ver. 31), and perhaps a few unknown true believers. Not the twelve, for these are evidently distinguished, and only to be included under the labourers spoken of in the end of the next verse. If, however, the utterance was originally spoken to the seventy (<span class="accented">vide supra</span>), the reference would be to the twelve. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/9-38.htm">Matthew 9:38</a></div><div class="verse">Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 38.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Pray ye</span>. Express it as your personal need (<span class="greek">δεήθητε</span>, here only in the New Testament outside the writings of St. Luke and St. Paul). <span class="cmt_word">Therefore</span>. Since more workers are so greatly needed. <span class="cmt_word">The Lord of</span> <span class="cmt_word">the harvest;</span> cf. Clem. Romans, § 34, who illustrates the thought by a most interesting composite quotation of <a href="/isaiah/40-10.htm">Isaiah 40:10</a> (<a href="/isaiah/62-11.htm">Isaiah 62:11</a>; <a href="/proverbs/24-12.htm">Proverbs 24:12</a>)and <a href="/revelation/22-12.htm">Revelation 22:12</a>. <span class="cmt_word">That he will</span> (omit with the Revised Version) <span class="cmt_word">send forth</span>. (<span class="greek">Ὅπως ἐκβάλῃ</span>; <span class="accented">ut ejieiat</span>, Vulgate [Wordsworth and White], <span class="accented">ut mittat</span>, Vulgate [ordinary edition].) The verb suggests alike his constraining power and their separation from their previous position (cf. <a href="/matthew/7-4.htm">Matthew 7:4</a>). Mr. J. A. Robinson's note, however, in the Cambridge 'Texts and Studies,' I. 3:124, shows that one must not lay much stress on the thought of constraint. <span class="cmt_word">Labourers into his harvest.</span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010 by <a href="//biblesoft.com">BibleSoft, inc.</a>, Used by permission<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../matthew/8.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Matthew 8"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Matthew 8" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../matthew/10.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Matthew 10"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Matthew 10" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/matthew/9-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><br /><br /></td></tr></table></div></div></div> <div id="bot"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhpar.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></body></html>