PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2
Arthur Lukyn Williams [1853-1943] · 606,924 words · 664 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 61
ver. 5, but after some weeks' or months' who used the framework, but also by the delay psychologically quite possible (cf. one who depended entirely upon bis own note there). Kiibel a.ttributes the change to materials. Bat though St. John's account his conscience recoilin~ when his wish hnd a sudden chance of bemg acco…
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to diseases predominantly marked by loss of oiples to bring them " here" was in itsolf bodily power (' diuturno languoro toneri,' an aot of faith. Calvin), while the more oommon litT6,v.f,s is Ver. 19. -And he oommanded the multi- simply used to denote sickness g-enerally" tude; the tnultitudes (Revised Version). (…
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ried in their arms or led by the hand " carry out their own plans on hie behalf to (Meyer). attend to only one expression of his wish. Vers. 22-38.-Ohrist's power over the Ver. 23.-And when he had sent the elements. He walks on the we.ter and multitudes away. Matthew speaks merely of the dismissal as such ( ,bro,\o…
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lJy Oapcr,in (e.g. Exod. xiv. 18; :u:, 20). Simon ; for he doubted, e.nd begcm to aink in One or two second-re.te manuscripts omit the sea." 6a.pcre7n in Mark, but tbis may be only due Ver. 81.-And immediately, Without t.o o r~miniecenoe of J obn. It is also omitted any waste of time, just e.s in 'Ver. 27. .Jesus in Ta…
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ancl force! Crom them the expression that he Ver. 35.-And when the men of that place le the promiee,l Representative of God on had knowledge of him, they 1ent out into e1uth (Pa. ii 7 : of. eh. ii. 15, note), Ob- all that ooDll.tJ"Y round about (cf. eh. iii. 5). so"o, however, that not even so is it a pro- Matthew alon…
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him," be said, when the centurion sent for him. Ho would not go to Herod. For what were Herod's motives? Partly mere curiosity; partly that awful power of conscience which seems sometimes to draw the criminal to the scene of bis crime or the murdered body of his victim; partly, perhaps, malice and fear; be would hav…
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expected. Salome, Herod's own niece, the grea&-granddaughter of Mariamne, the descendant of the long line of AsmolllBBn princes, so utterly forgot the delicacy Jf a Hebrow maiden and the decorum of a princess as to dance alone in the midst of Herod's nobles when excited with feasting and heated with wine. Vashti, th…
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their mission (Luke ix. 10) ; they needed rest, " for th~re were m&ny coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat." He had also heard of Herod's superstitious fears, and that he was desirous to see him. The Lord would not meet the tyrant; he departed out of bis tetrarchy. He crossed the lake to a pla…
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the Son, by whom nil things were made, blessed this little store of food, that through the power of that Divine blessing it might be multiplied to the satisfaction of the hunger of that great multitude. He gave thanks, St. John tells us. Our food is blessed to our use. It is sanctified by the word of God and prayer whe…
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discipl~ across tl1e lake. He" constrained hie disciples to get into II ship." It is a strong word. He compelled, he forced them; evidently they wero very unwilling to leave him. St. John's narrative throws a light upon this. 'l'he miracle had produced a great impression; it was in 11cc0rdance with the hopes of the …
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not with them In the ship, as he had been once before. There was a great wind; the ■hip was tossed with waves; they were In distress, toiling in rowing. Bnt the Lord saw them in their danger; he saw them from the lonely mountain where he was kneel- ing in prnyer; he saw and came. So ho sees us now from heaven, where …
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olJ self-confidence was gone ; it retumed afterwards, and was dispelled tor ever by the deep repentance which followed a yet graver, ll far more humiliating failure. Now he felt his weakness. His first request was unbecoming, not such as a sinner should mnke; his second was a true prayer, such a prayer as we all sho…
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is not enough for them to urge certain objections against the Christian position. Christ r11mains the wonder of all history, How could the carpenter of N azarcth Ii ve and teach and work and revolutionize the world as Jesus did if be was only a village artisan? ' lr. MEN VAINLY TRY TO EXPLAIN THE NEW BY THE OLD. Hero…
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Ve1'11. 16-21.--Jesus feeding the multittuie. On the death of John the Baptist Jesns retired to the eastern side of the lake, oppressed with grief and longing for a time of seclusion. But it was one of his trials that he was forbidden the rest of privacy when he most craved it. The crowds followed him with such enth…
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air; be simply fed the hungry. Moreover, be gave what be received, and of the same kind. Ho will bless our work according to its character and quality. He gives the increase, but H is according to the seed we sow-" after its kind." Surely this miracle is more than a miracle; it is a sacrament, a sacred symbol, as our …
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'Vera. 13-21 (see also Mark vi. 32--44; Luke ix. 10-17; John vi. 2-14).-7'/u, sacrament-miracle. Distinguish this miracle of the feeding the five thousand, so glorious in all its incidents, and with its full fourfold narration, from that of the feeding the four thousand, recorded by Matthew (xv. 32--39) and Mark (vi…
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fever stayed by n word, palsy and paralysis cured, a blind eye, a deaf ear, a dumb tonaua re-ener<1it.ed, and even water converted into wine, 11,re wonders of power more cas/ to track thnn tha.t e. solitary loaf of bread find another at its side by an absolute fresh act of creation in a moment and by a word. This on…
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Vere. 22-33 (~ also Mark vi. 45-52; John vi. lG-21).-A contention of semeand faith. ~h~ lllilt miracle was ~ne the teaching of which was certainly good for all, alike for the disciples and the multitude; and of the two for ?bvious and natural reasons, per- haps more so for the Conner than for the latter. But, Jetting…
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Vere. 1-12.-John's death. Herod Antipas is a character not quite easy to under- stand, bnt possibly on that account ell the more worth understanding. Weak men are always difficult to understand, no principle you can calculate on guiding their conduct, Herod was not a bloody man like hie father, bat, like Ahab, his irre…
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Vere. 22-83.-Peter walking on the sea. This time was a crisis in the life of ou_r Lord. Thousands of people had followed him into a secluded part of the country, and insisted that he should proclaim himself King. It would have been a lesson to leaders of men to have seen how he induced the huge mob quietly to disper…
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we murmur instead of being grateful. The transport of reaction finds expression, as usual, through Peter. We need not try to account for the extra.ordinary request he now made, further than by saying that it wo.s due to the sudden jc,y of meeting the Friend in whom we.a all safety, after e. night of such tension and to…
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Vers. 1-12.-77ie morals of a tragedy. Here we have e. tragedy in which the prin- cipal actors are, on the one side Jesus and John the Baptist, and on the other Herod, Herodias, and Se.Jome. We propose to bring out some of its lessons. Learn, then- I. THAT THE HAUGHTIEST DESPOT IS HIMSELF RULED BY THE MEANEST THINGS. 1…
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years, yet Herod had not heard of him, The fame of the good moves slowly to the great (of, 1 Cor. i. 26; ii, 8). (2) The guilty conscience is quick in its conclusions. Herod saw in the miracle-worker John the Baptist whom he had beheaded risen from the dead. Blood ories from the consi:ience of the murderer. He cannot r…
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inadequat.e. In this error also the disciples have many ell.ccessors. (3) Boon, however, they discovered that the God of Israel was among them. The five loaves and two fishes were so multiplied that the thousands were satisfied, and the fragments left were greatly in excess of the original store. Hallelujah I 2. Thi…
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oxpeot to enoounter afflictions and perplexities when, from whatever motives, we are ,fl foolish as to oppose the will of Christ. 2. Satan has a malignant hand in them. ( l) Evil spirits are concerned in the mischief of destructive storms. 'l'he history of Job shows what power Satan has over the elements when he is …
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Vers. 34-36.-Philanthropy. .After Jesus had come to his distressed disciples walking on the sea, and calmed for them the fury of the storm, with their Master now in their company, they had a pleasant run to the land of Gennesaret. Behold now another scene of wonder. "When the men of that place knew him," etc. Here w…
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comes into the bee.rt it will renovate the life. (3) The zeal of the men of Gennernret wo.s transfused into their messengers, Mark gives e. graphic description of their activit; (see Mark vi. 63-56). 3. The earnest suppliwtion of the Divine blessing. (l) The religious is the truest philanthropy. (a) Religion benefits t…
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her whatBOever she would ask." We are sometimes invited to proru.lso before we aro told what is to be a~ked. It should never be done. No man can tell whether it is right to promise u~til h~ kno~s what is to be promised. In the case now before us, we fin~ a man exmted with 'Yme and company, a~d not really himself. It…
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set going a train of circumstances, but even the strong man vainly tries to check their unfoldings; they become masterful; and he must see the misery he has made, and be punished by seeing it. Our life is so ordered that good, sooner or later, inevitably unfolds good; and evil, sooner or later, inevitably unfolds miser…
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Ver. 23.-.The soothing power of prayer. E.ll"ncst effort should be made to realize the strain, and excitement, and fatigue, and distress of that day to Christ. In some senses it was the very hardest day of his active ministry. Appraise carefully the spiritual, and even physical, influence of the following things. 1. …
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I. CnmsT's D0DILY PRESENOE DID BUT ILLUSTRATE ms SPIRITUAL PRESENCE. It should be clearly seen that our Lord was with his disciples in e. double sense. He was with them spiritually, just as he is still with us; but, besides that, he was with them in bodily relations, in ways that could be apprehended by their senses. T…
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EXPOSITION. CHAPTER XV. in the same manner as his disciples. Open houses and food partaken of in publio Vers. 1-20.-Discourse concerning CffB• allowed this close observation without e.ny monial pollution. (Mark vii 1-23.) infringement of Eastern courtesy. They come to Christ with the insidious question, Ver. 1.-Th…
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(hence called liypa,Pos 6160.u1<alda), hat WM means of tradition. God oommanded. Mark, taught a.utboritatively by accredited teachers, in the parallel passage, has, " Moses said," who, while retaining the letter of the Law, which IDIIY l>E ta.ken, in conjunction with 1tbrogated its spirit, nullifying the broad our text…
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in ver 6, 1<al, then ,tJCh a one tm1l not honour trines." Their worship is vitinted at its ( -r,µ{1d "• not nl'f,crp), eto. The words a.re very root. Commandments of meu. Thie ia beat h..ken e.e put into the Phe.rieees' mouth Christ's designation of rabbinical troditiona in the senae, "The man under thoee oiroum- (o…
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oonetltnted order of tbinge. Indeed, eome their view, epiritualization of any of its distinctions were mnintained in apostolical enactments was equivalent to its subver- timee, ae we road in Acts x. 14 ; xv. 20, 29 ; sion. But1 as St. Gregory observes, "If and it wae only grndnally, and o.s circnm- offence anses fro…
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rabbis ought not to be followed unreservedly. heart or the moral boiug ; it aft'.eots only the Uthe blind. A proverbial saying. Clomp. material organization, cmd has no connec- Horat.. ' Epp.,' I. xvii. 8- tion with the spirituo.l. Christ docs not con- " . . . ut si cern himself with questions, which modern CecUB it…
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Vera. 21-28.-Healing of the daughter of Ver. 22.-Behold. The word marks the the Canaanitish woman. (Msrk vii. 24-30.) sudden and unexpected character of the incident. A woman of Canaan. She be- Ver, 21.-Went thenoe. Jesus left the longed to the accursed race of Canaan, the place, probably Co.pemaum, where the above …
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enh·eatC'd Christ to exorcise the evil influ- Lost sheep, There is a tenderness in this ence ; she <lid not urge him to go to her expression natural from the mouth of the hon•e, an<l by hie graoions presence work good Shepherd. He he.d used it when he " cure. Simply she tells her affliction, sent forth the twelve on …
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as eoavengers in Oriento.l towns, lrat to the thou wilt. She bad conquered ; she gaineu petted inmates of the master's house. But her wish. But we must not think that Scripture gives no warrant for thinking Christ consented because bis human feeling, that the Hebrews ever kept dogs as friends were overcome by her im…
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Jh.imed; .-v;1.Milr: deMle8 (Vulgate). In for these distres3ed followers i hie perfect eh. uiii. 8 the word means "deprived of eympnthy was a.roused in their behalf, Wo a member;" but it has beeu doubted observe references to this tender feeling in whether our Lord ever exerted his crenti.ve many other instances (ee…
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'they emphasize• the. impossibility of carry- preceding period we see that the great Pro. ing out the ,idea. of feecling them. Their phet, Prince, Conqueror, who is to appear, answer bristles with ohjeotions. The place is not God, uut ono commissioned by G0rl, is uninhe.bitecl: the multitude is nume- 11ncl at most a…
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Ver. 87.-Bulr:eta (crruplks); J)Gtmien. must no.turally present the same general La.rge wfoker reoeptaoles, whioh were eome- features. But oareful survey of the two times of BOoh size as to hold a man. It was narratives discloses many differences, whioh in suoh a basket that St. Paul was let down quite preclude the not…
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as at other timos, by another question, "Why do ye also transgress the command- ment of God by your tradition?" His disciples had, indeed, transgressed the tradi- tions of men j but their accusers had transgressed the commandments of God, and that, because of these traditions. 'fhey had dared to bring these traditio…
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of the Levi tical rules; he does not i11sist upon it; he retnrns to the original topic of disrussi0n, "To eat with unwashen -hands defileth not a man." It was one of those saYin;rs which the apostles could not receive in their full meanina- at once but whioh remained in their memory, and ,afterwards were understood …
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of St. Paul, inspired, as he tells us, by the Lord Jesos; the same Lord anticipates that teaching here. It is that which cometh out of the mouth which defileth a man; for out of the mouth come evil words, and evil words issue from the evil treasure of the heart. Evil words imply evil thoughts, and evil thoughts are wro…
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vexed with a devil. The mother's heart was full of sorrow for her child. She knew not what t.o do_; probably_she bad_ tried such modes of healing a.a were in vogue among her heathen ne1ghbours-mcantat1ons, strange forms of exorcism. All Wl\8 in vain. But she had heard of Christ; his fame had long ago gone throughout…
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wild Eavage packs which roam about Eastern cities. She is well pleased to be regarded a~ a little dog, for it gives her a claim to the Master's kindness. The Jews were wayward children; they had rejected the bread of life, The Gentiles would flock round the board, The Jews called them doge; they would gladly, thankfull…
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intense eagerness and excitement they cast down their suffering friends before tho Lord. The action was enough. The sick lay around him; their reverentitu attitude, their mute distress, pleaded with the compassionate Saviour; he healed them all. 3. Tl1e wonder of the m1t!tit~e. 'l'~ese peasant.a of Decapol\s w~re me…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 2, 8.-The mischief of tradition. I. TRADITION COMES FROM AN INEXPERIENCED ANTIQUITY, 'l'he Pharisees and scribes showed reverence for it because it descended from the elders;. but these elders were only men. It is common to attach the greatest weight to the oldest opinion. Yet it …
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Ver. H.-" Blind leaders of the blind." This is a startling image, vividly suggest- ing to onr minds a most deplorable condition of society. While it was especially true of the official teachers of Israel in our Lord's time, it has never ceased to have e.n application to somewhat similar men. It me.y be applied to he…
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·ruEY AREl CALLED UPON TO TEACH. This idea. is BO obvious the.t it seems to be a. waste of words to state it. Yet it is constantly ignored. 1. Special training is neede,d,, In the present day the air is la.den with questions concerning the foundations of the faith, and no one is fit to be a. teacher of others who is n…
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Vere. 29-31.-The healing ministry. After his retirement to the north, Jesus seems to have returned for a short time to the sceues of his earlier labours in Galilee. His open public ministry had almost ceased, and his miracles were now for the most part rare, and only performed in response to some special appeal. But…
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of God of none effect. You put aside his commandment that you may keep your owr. tradition, You accept as the important things such trifles as these, while the truly great things of the Law you utterly neglect." But the evil of Pharisaism lay even deeper than this. The Pharisees were not mere formalists; those of Pa…
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put the difficulties in a harsh form that the wo1nan might aprrehend the value of what she nsked. But what were the difficulties? His own reason wa.s that he was not sent to any but Israelites, He sent his apostles to every creature, but his own ministry was confined to Israel. This people had been the object of a cons…
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lives who have served thoir generation best; and while we should not do less for the reclamation of the abandoned, we should rectify the balance by doing more to preserve the young from the misery of a wasted life. For every one our Lord healed, he fed ten. He presents himself not only and always as Medicine, but also …
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which their pa.rents might otherwise claim from them (see Mark vii. 11). In this wickedness they sheltered themselves under the authority of their tmditions, and thus made void the Law of God. 2. This was a triumphant defence of the disciples. (1) It showed that the traditions in question were -vicious, and therefor…
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were human. " The precepts of men," not to be confounded with the " doctrines" c,f God. Moses made a distinction in meats-the clean and unclean-but prescribed nothing respecting the eating with unwashen hands. This was a refinement of the elders, 'l'he ground of it was the possibility of the hands having touched some…
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consenten to the appellation of" dog." "Truth, Lord," was her humble reply. "Dog" here is opposed to "sheep." The clean animal in the Law was the type of the Israelite; the unclean, of the Gentile. She was a "Greek" or Gentile, "a Syro-Phcenioian by rsce" (Mark vii. 25). She does not seem to have been a proselyte. (…
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la already transformed into the woman. "Great is thy faith." "Jesua admires this faith to the end we may admire and imitate it" (A. Clarke). "Be it done unto thee even as thou wilt." There is faith in willing. "And her daughter was healed from that hour." Healed at her home (see Mark vii. 30). (4) Here was a gleam of t…
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dis8Me or accident (cf. eh. xviii. 8; Mark ix, 4.-3). The morally m&imod are those whose _faculties are impaired or obliterated by sin. (5) "Many othert1." As devils arc leg10n, so are their possessions. The va1ietics of evil are lccrion as well 88 the number of their victims. 3. The miraculous is typwal of the spii·…
852 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.