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38. The healing of the withered hand

MATTHEW.

CH. XII. 9-14.

MARK.

CH. III. 1-6.

AND he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And 2 And they watched him, whether they asked him, saying, Is it lawful he would heal him on the sabbathto heal on the sabbath-days? that day; that they might accuse him. they might accuse him.

11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath-day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath-days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

12 How much then is a man better 5 And when he had looked round than a sheep? wherefore it is lawful about on them with anger, being to do well on the sabbath-days. grieved for the hardness of their 13 Then saith he to the man, hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch Stretch forth thy hand. And he forth thy hand. And he stretched stretched it forth; and it was restored it out and his hand was restored whole, like as the other. whole as the other.

14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

39. Jesus arrives at the sea of Tiberias,

CH. XII. 15-21.

15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.

16 And charged them that they should not make him known:

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.

19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.

20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax, shall he not

CH. III. 7-12.

7 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea,

8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.

9 And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him, because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.

10 For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.

11 And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

a Is. xlii. 1, seq.; Is. xi. 10.

Matth. xii. 20, smoking flax.] There may be an allusion, in these words of the prophet, to an Eastern custom, for those who were grievously afflicted to come to the sovereign for relief or redress, having pots of fire, or of burning straw, or other com

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CH. VI. 6 – 11.

also on

6 And it came to pass another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue, and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered:

7 And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath-day; that they might| find an accusation against him.

8 But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose, and stood forth.

9 Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath-days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?

10 And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so and his hand was restored whole as the other.

11 And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another

what they might do to Jesus.

and is followed by multitudes. Lake of Galilee.

bustible on their heads, in token of their extreme trouble. Not one of these, the prophet seems to intimate, should go away without redress; he will certainly remove the cause of their complaints, and render truth and justice victorious over falsehood and

oppression. 3 CALM. 394.

39. Jesus arrives at the sea of Tiberias,

MATTHEW.

CH. XII. 15-21.

MARK.

12 And he straitly charged them,

quench, till he send forth judgment that they should not make him known. unto victory.

21 And in his name shall the Gen

tiles trust.

40. Jesus withdraws to the Mountain and chooses the Twelve ;

CH. X. 2-4.

2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus; 4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

CH. 111. 13-19.

13 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.

14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.

15 And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.

16 And Simon he surnamed Peter. 17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, (and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder,)

18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite,

19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into a house.

Matth. x. 3, Thomas and Matthew.] It appears from Mark vi. 7, that the apostles were sent forth by two and two to preach; and this accounts for their being here and in the parallel places named in couples. Luke mentions Matthew first, as being regarded as the senior of Thomas, his companion; but Matthew modestly places his own name last. Mark is less observant of the order of the names, but he alone states that they were thus associated. The others give the names in couples, but state no reason for it. This is not the method of false witnesses; such incidental corroborations belong only to the narratives of truth.

Matth. x. 3, Lebbeus.] Thaddeus, Theudas and Judas (or Jude) are probably names of the same signification, the Greek termination being added to different forms of a Hebrew verb. "The Canaanite," Matth. x. 4, is the same with "Zelotes" in Luke. "Cognomen erat Chald. quod Lucas reddidit Zelotem," Wetstein. Thus, Thomas is rendered Didymus, or, the twin; Cephas, Peter; and Silas, Tertius. Some suppose that this name had been given to Simon on account of his religious zeal; or, because he had been of a Jewish sect called Zealots, who were addicted to the Pharisees, and justified themselves by the example of Phinehas, for punishing offenders without waiting for the sentence of the magistrate. NEWCOME.

"Between Matthew (x. 2,) and Mark (iii. 16,) we observe a strict correspondence, but the catalogue in St. Luke (vi. 14,) differs from both the first-mentioned writers, in two particulars. 1, 'Simon the Canaanite,' of Matthew and Mark is introduced as 'Simon called Zelotes.' Now if any difference was admitted in this place, we might expect it to extend no farther than to the order of the names, or the addition of a surname; as, for instance, Matthew calls the Thaddeus' of Mark also 'Lebbeus;' but here we have one surname changed for another. It is indeed easy to conceive, that Simon might have been commonly distinguished by either appellative, but this we can

and is followed by multitudes. Lake of Galilee.

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CH. VI. 12 – 19.

12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named Apostles;

14 Simon (whom he also named Peter) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,

15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotes,

16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.

17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain; and the company of his disciples, and a great mul

only conjecture; neither Evangelist adds a word to explain the point. 2, The other discrepancy, however, appears more serious. The Lebbeus or Thaddeus of St. Matthew and Mark, is entirely omitted in the list of St. Luke, who substitutes 'Judas the brother of James.' Here is certainly a marked difference, for it would not seem very probable, that the Apostle in question, passed by three distinct names. Nor could this be a mere oversight in St. Luke, for, in Acts i. 13, where a catalogue of the eleven is inserted, he mentions this individual in exactly the same manner. Are we to suppose then that the Evangelist commits a deliberate error in this particular? We have distinct and satisfactory witnesses to prove that there really was an Apostle, besides Iscariot, who bore the name of Judas. Both Matthew (xiii. 55,) and Mark (vi. 3,) concur in speaking of James and Jude as the near relations of Christ, and part of this statement is incidentally confirmed by St. Paul, who calls James 'the Lord's brother.' (Gal. i. 19.) But farther, St. John (xiv. 22,) presents us with a remark made by 'Judas not Iscariot;' evidently one of the Apostles; and St. Jude himself, in the first verse of his Epistle, styles himself 'the brother of James.' There is thus amply sufficient evidence, that all the Gospel writers acknowledge an Apostle of this name, though St. Matthew, with his usual simplicity, familiarly mentions him by two of his appellations, omitting that of Judas, and St. Mark sees no occasion to depart from his language, in a matter of such general notoriety. Luke, on the other hand, usually studious of accuracy, distinguishes this Apostle by the name generally current in the Church, when his Gospel was written. This variation then may, upon the whole, convince us how undesignedly the writers of Scripture confirm each other's statements; yet can this only be the result of a minute examination upon our part, and upon the probability of this, a cautious writer would hardly stake his reputation for truth or exactness." See ROBERTS's "Light shining out of Darkness," p. 91-93.

40. Jesus withdraws to the Mountain and chooses the Twelve;

MATTHEW.

MARK.

CH. V. VI. VII. VIII. 1.

41. The Sermon

AND seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him.

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted.

:

5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peace-makers : for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matth. v. 1, into a mountain.] It may be objected that Matthew, in saying that this discourse was delivered sitting on a mountain, is contradicted by Luke, who says, that Jesus was standing on a plain. Luke vi. 17. But Dr. Clarke, on this latter place, has suggested that Jesus "being pressed with great multitudes of people, might retire from them again to the top of the hill." And Dr. Priestley observes that " Matthew's saying that Jesus was sat down after he had gone up the mountain, and Luke's saying that he stood on the plain, when he healed the sick before the discourse, are no inconsistencies." Harm. p. 83.

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