be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, 22 he said: Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.-And 23 when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels, and the people making a noise, he said unto them: Give place; for the 24 maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But 25 cious charm to remove her disor- the Jews nevertheless followed the der. heathen in many respects in their funeral rites. They hired mourners to lament and sing dirges, and play mournful tunes over the dead. See Jer. ix. 17-20. Amos v. 16. A report having been made at Jerusalem that Josephus was dead, he mentions that many persons "hired mourners with their pipes, who should begin the melancholy ditties for them." It was said, "the poorest Jew would afford his wife at her funeral not less than two pipes, and one woman to lament." With those hired to mourn, the friends and neighbors would also join in the dirge with their voices, and beat their breasts, according to what was played by the instruments. Acts ix. 39. 22. Him. Should be the reciprocal pronoun, himself. Mark and Luke are more minute, and mention that Jesus made inquiry who had touched him, and that after a pause, in which the disciples, with Peter at their head, endeavored to answer the question by referring to the dense throng around him, the woman came, trembling, and fell down before him, and confessed the whole truth. It was at this moment he said, Daughter, be of good comfort. In which words the tenderness of his address is fitted to soothe her fears, whilst he proceeds to pronounce a blessing upon her faith, which, as it had brought her to the feet of Jesus, was the primary cause of the cure.-Thy faith hath made thee whole. Or, well. It was her confidence that saved her, as it placed her within the reach of Christ's healing power. That power was the efficient cause, whilst the faith of the woman was the essential condition of the cure.Whole from that hour. Showing that the restoration was miraculous. 23. Minstrels, and the people making a noise. It was the custom, both among the Jews, and heathen and semi-barbarous nations, to express grief upon the death of friends and relatives in a violent and boisterous manner. Gen. 1. 10. Numb. xx. 29. Deut. xxxiv. 8. So great was this tendency, that prohibitions were put upon it by Moses. Lev. xix. 28. Deut. xiv. 1. But The funeral rites of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and other nations, and of Ireland, and many other countries in modern times, are distinguished by tumult and excess. But the Christian doctrine of immortality has blunted the edge of human sorrow, and the gentle spirit of the Gospel has rebuked the violence and heartless hired lamentations, which once prevailed almost universally at funeral occasions. 24. The maid is not dead, but sleepeth. Sleep has been called the brother of death. The figure of calling death sleep is frequent in the Bible. Dan. xii. 2. John xi. 11, 13. Acts vii. 60. 1 Cor. xv. 6, 18. 1 Thes. iv. 13-15. 2 Peter iii. 4. Jesus did not deny that she was actually dead, but he would when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the 26 hand; and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into 27 all that land. And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, 28 crying, and saying: Thou son of David, have mercy on us. 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 29 said unto him: Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying: Ac convey the idea that she would be restored again to life; that she would revive, as one from sleep. The extinction of life was only temporary. They laughed him to scorn, i. e. they derided, ridiculed him. Their sudden change from violent lamentation to levity shows them to have been hired mourners. 25. He went in. The advantage of comparing the different Evangelists together is apparent here. It might at first seem from Matthew that no one was present in the room when Jesus performed the miracle. But from Mark and Luke we learn that the parents of the girl, and three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, witnessed the act. These were witnesses enough to testify to the reality of the miracle. The crowd were put forth from the apartment to afford that stillness and quietness necessary to uninterrupted and distinct observation. It also seems to have been desired by Jesus that his miracles might be wrought under a variety of circumstances; sometimes in the presence of few, and sometimes before many, that their genuineness might be more clearly established. Took her by the hand. Indicating the connection between the agent and the result. The words he used are recorded in Mark and Luke. The latter also mentions another fact of interest; that after she arose he commanded food to be given her, perhaps in further evi dence of her entire restoration to soundness. 26. Fame. Report.-All that land. The whole surrounding country. Though Jesus is no longer present on earth to restore a lost daughter to her parents, or raise up to life the widow's only son, the power of his religion remains, to lift up all that mourn, and cheer every weary heart with the unspeakable hope of another life, and the rich mercy of God. This 27. Thou son of David. was one of the titles of the Christ or Messiah, as he was to be a descendant of David. Mat. i. 1. xii. 23. xxii. 42. Luke i. 32. John vii. 42. By calling him the son of David, the blind men expressed their belief in him as the Messiah; a belief already shared by inany others. John vii. 31. In this case their faith must have rested in a considerable degree on the testimony of others.-Have mercy on us. Equivalent to beseeching him to restore his sight. 28. Come into the house. The house in which he lived at Capernaum. He wished to avoid the tumult and agitation of the multitude. Believe ye that I am able to do this? This question might have been put to them to draw forth a more distinct avowal of their faith, in the presence of his disciples and others, and thus incline them to a fuller and firmer confidence in him. 29. Touched he their eyes. Es cording to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened. 30 And Jesus straitly charged them, saying: See that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that 31 country. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man, pos- 32 sessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb 33 spake. And the multitudes marvelled, saying: It was never so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said: He casteth out devils through the 34 prince of the devils. tablishing the connection between his miraculous power and its effects. -According to your faith. This word has now so technical and theological a sense, that we hardly realize that it simply means, in most instances, confidence. 30. Their eyes were opened, i. e. they were restored to sight. Straitly charged them. Strictly commanded them. He might have been afraid of a popular disturbance, after so many miracles. See Note on Mat. viii. 4. 31. Spread abroad his fame in all that country. These men were actuated by principles which we see manifested every day in human conduct. There is a propensity to divulge the secret which is most privily entrusted, and to do the thing which is most positively prohibited. Still their disobedience was inexcusable. Yet they did as many do after recovery from pain and sickness, break all the good resolutions they had formed, and grossly disobey him upon whom a short time before they were calling, "Have mercy upon us. 32. A dumb man, possessed with a devil. Or, a demon. The man was dumb probably not on account of defective organs of speech, or on account of deafness, but the particular turn his insanity took was that of dumbness. A deranged person who was melancholy and taciturn was said, in the popular phraseology of that day, to be possessed with a dumb spirit; a phrase by which dumbness by insanity was distinguished from dumbness by defective organs of speech. As 33. When the devil, or demon, was cast out, the dumb spake. When the man was restored to his reason, he resumed the faculty of speech. his madness was attributed to possession by an evil spirit, when his disorder was cured, it was said that the demon had been cast out.-It was never so seen in Israel. Probably the great number and astonishing nature of the miracles, performed by Jesus that day, extorted this burst of wonder and admiration. He had, on the same afternoon, raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead, healed the woman with an issue of blood, restored to sight two blind men, and cured a madman, or demoniac. They might well exclaim, "Never before were such wonders as these witnessed in our land.” 34. He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. Or, demons. Provoked to envy and jealousy by the admiration expressed by the people, the Pharisees wilfully sought to pervert the evidence God gave his Son of his divine authority. This was the sin against the Holy Ghost. Because it was referring the proofs afforded by the power and spirit of God to the agency of an evil spirit, thus 35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing 36 every sickness and every disease among the people. 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. 37 Then saith he unto his disciples: The harvest truly is plenteous, but resisting the highest and last proof of a commission from on high. It is to be remarked, that this opposition was occasioned by and related to but one class of miracles, the cure of demoniacs. The conclusive and unanswerable reply Jesus made to their cavils upon a similar occasion is found in Mat. xii. 25. 35. Parallel to Mark vi. 6. Luke viii. i.—What a beautiful delineation of character is embodied in this verse! The Greatest of all goes about doing good as the servant of all. He establishes himself in no regal palace, or learned school, issuing from thence his commands, or his doctrines; surrounds himself by no pomp and circumstance. But be mingles freely with all, is accessible and gracious to all. He dispenses the truth as freely as light and air. His sympathies are not restricted to any one class or condition of men, but he regards with interest the whole family of mankind. He heals the sick, comforts the unhappy, warns the evil, and blesses all with the visitings of mercy and hope. Labor and love are the motto of his ministry :— "From heaven he came, of heaven he spoke, To heaven he led his followers' way; Dark clouds of gloomy night he broke, Unveiling an immortal day." 36. Num. xxvii. 16, 17, John x. 11, 13, and various other passages of Holy Writ, have figures of a similar import, comparing an ignorant or oppressed people to a flock without a shepherd. They touch ingly "describe the condition of a people like the Jews, whose religious teachers had neglected their real wants, while they burdened them with the observance of traditional usages. As sheep whose keepers took no care of them would tire themselves in seeking pasture, the common people, left without instruction by their priests, had sought it in vain, till they were suffering from want of spiritual food." Under the religious bondage of worldly Scribes and Pharisees, under the civil subjection of the Romans, the sport of ambitious and evil minded persons, soon to fall victims to the terrible war that levelled their temple and city with the dust, and swept away their surviving countrymen into the slave markets of foreign and heathen nations, how truly, in the Saviour's spiritual, prophetic eye, were they a lost, shepherdless flock! how naturally must his deep affections have yearned to save them! "How often," was his melting language, "would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" 37. Saith he unto his disciples. He turns to his followers, to call their attention to the spiritual des titution of men, and suggests their duties as the teachers of his religion.-The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. A beautiful proverbial saying. the Rabbinical writings, teachers are figured as reapers, and their "In the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that 38 he will send forth laborers into his harvest. CHAPTER X. A The Appointment and Commission of the Twelve Apostles. ND when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease. work of instruction as the harvest." The ignorant, unspiritual multitudes thronging around them were as a field of grain already ripe and yellow and fit for the sickle. They presented a rich field for religious exertions and instruction. But the reapers were few. Jesus and his little band were all the laborers to cut the boundless waving harvest, and gather it into the granary of God. 38. Pray ye. Those who pray that the kingdom of God may come, and his will be done, will pray that teachers may be raised up and sent forth to advance the great moral work. It should be one of our daily aspirations to Heaven that religion may become the life and hope of all mankind.-The Lord of the harvest. Or, its owner, God. In the words of Gannett, "The world presents the same spectacle now that was contemplated by Christ, when he looked upon the multitudes that attended his preaching. The harvest is abundant; men are longing and crying for truth, for religion; the laborers are few; comparatively few in number, and feeble in strength, for so great a work. Pray the Lord that he will in his gracious providence raise up and send forth those who shall gather his children from the face of the whole earth into the kingdom of his Son, as a full harvest is gathered into the granary." out, and to heal Now the names 2 CHAP. X. 1. Parallel to Mark vi. 7. Luke ix. 1, 2.—His twelve disciples. It appears from comparing the Evangelists together, that Jesus had already selected twelve men to be his Apostles, having passed the whole night previous to his choice in prayer to God. Luke vi. 12. Twelve was a hallowed number to a Jewish mind, as corresponding to the number of the patriarchs and the tribes of Israel. Mat. xix. 28. It was also a medium between too large and too small a number. The wisdom of Jesus was manifested upon the slightest occasions, and in the smallest particulars.Power against unclean spirits, to cast them out. Or, more literally, power of, or over, unclean spirits, to expel them. See notes on Mat. iv. 24, and viii. 28-34.-Unclean. In the eye of the law. All manner of sickness, &c. That is, every kind of sickness and disease. The Apostles and early preachers of Christianity were gifted with miraculous powers for the same purpose as was Jesus himself. The attention of a sensual world and age was aroused, and a divine sanction was given to their instructions. Men saw that God was with them in the signs and wonders which they did, which no other man could do, unless thus authorized and empowered from on high. |