Mark 7
DODDMark 7:1-13
Parallels: Matthew 15
Our Lord vindicates his disciples in neglecting the traditions of the Pharisees, and condemns those corrupt teachers for preferring such traditions to the precepts of the Divine law. Mat. XV. 1—9. Mark VII. 1—13.
MARK VII. 1. THEN came together unto [Jesus] the Pharisees and certain of the scribes, which [were of, and] came from Jerusalem. [MAT. XV. 1.]
MARK VII. 1. THE miracles which Jesus wrought, and which have been mentioned above,ᵃ being reported at the ensuing passover,ᵇ gave a farther alarm to the Jews, and especially to their established teachers; so that to obviate the effect of them, and to prevent the success of his ministry, there were then gathered unto Jesus the Pharisees, and some of the scribes, who were stated inhabitants of Jerusalem, [and] came [from thence] on purpose to watch, and
ᵃ Which have been mentioned above.] As both Matthew and Mark introduce the following discourse immediately after his crossing the sea to Capernaum, when he but just before had felt the five thousand, and John determines the debates in the preceding sections to that time, there can be no reasonable doubt about placing this section, and several more that are expressly connected with it, in this order.
ᵇ At the ensuing passover.] That a passover followed quickly after the events
before related, is expressly determined: (see John vi. 4, and the note there, p. 432, and compare chap. vii. 2.) But the evangelists do not exactly determine whether Christ did or did not attend it. If he did not, we may conclude he had proper reasons for not doing it: but to be sure such numerous and public miracles as he had lately performed would be the subject of a great deal of discourse at Jerusalem. Compare John vii. 11, 12, and xi. 56.
The disciples are blamed or eating with unwas
if possible to insnare him. And, as they looked on all his actions with a most malignant eye, they soon found an opportunity to cavil; for seeing some of his disciples eat bread with what they counted polluted (that is, with unwashed) hands, they found fault with them among themselves.
For this was a favourite tenet of the Pharisees, on which they laid a particular stress, and indeed almost all the Jews pay a considerable regard to it,ᶜ that they do not allow themselves to eat without washing their hands often with abundance of exactness,ᵈ and particularly just before their meals: and this they observe, not in consequence of any express Divine command, but as holding the tradition of the elders, who thought this scrupulous care a decent expression and memorial of their concern to keep themselves free from whatsoever might pollute them. And especially [when they come] from the market, or any other place of public concourse, lest they should without their knowledge have touched any thing unclean, they eat not, till they have washed their hands at least, if not their whole body. And there are many other things, besides the washing of their hands, which they in like manner receive and maintain by the authority of the same tradition, [as] the washing of cups and pots in which their food is put, and of the brazen vessels made use of in preparing it, and even of the very couches on which they lie at their meals.
Then the Pharisees and scribes, after they had censured the disciples of Christ among themselves (as was observed before,) came to Jesus,
ᶜ Almost all the Jews pay a considerable regard to it.] Their rabbies carried his to a most ridiculous height; one of them determining the neglect of washing to be a greater sin than whoredom; and another saying it would be much better to die than to omit it. Many instances of this kind may be seen in Dr. Whitby and Dr. Hammond, in loc. and in Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. cap. xi. p. 236. It is plain that other nations commonly used to wash before their meals. See Athenæus, p. 408, Edit. Ca. pub. 1675, and Elsner, Observ. Vol. I. p. 73.
ᵈ Washing their hands often.] The word ἀνόμαι is ambiguous, being very seldom used. Theophylact’s gloss would incline one to render it, as L’Enfant does, up to the elbows; and Beza translates it, with the fist. (See Godwin’s Moses and Aaron, lib. i. cap. 10, p. 39.) Not being able certainly to determine the point, I thought it sufficient to add in the paraphrase, with abundance of exactness. Camero, and Lud. Capellus (in loc.) explain it of holding up their hands closed while the water was poured upon them; and I have nothing to object to the reasons they give for that inter rotation.
indicates their neglect of human traditions.
and asked him, Why do not thy disciples walk and behave themselves according to the tradition of the elders, as other pious and regular Jews do; but transgress [it] in a very obvious and material instance, for they eat with unwashed hands? Can they be so ignorant as not to know the traditions that forbid it? Or are they so profane as not to regard them.
And he answering, said unto them, Nav, but I may with much greater reason ask you, Why do you also transgress what is infinitely more sacred, even the command of God himself, out of regard to your own vain and superstitious tradition? And this in several instances you run to such a length, as that you fairly make void the command of God, and render it insignificant, that you may observe your tradition; though you consider not perhaps from whence it comes, or may easily know that it was derived only from a fallible man. I will give you one notorious instance of it, which you cannot dispute: for you well know that God has commanded [by] Moses, saying, “Honour thy father and thy mother:” A precept written with his own finger on the tables of stone, and guarded by that awful sanction, “Whoso curseth his father, or his mother, let him surely die without mercy.” (See Exod. xxi. 17; Lev. xx. 9; and compare Prov. xx. 20, and Deut. xxvii. 16.) Now for any one to suffer his parents to languish in want of the necessary supplies of life, must certainly be a yet more aggravated wickedness, than any impious word which may possibly escape a man’s lips in a sudden transport of passion. But what you teach is contradictory to this Divine command; and an ungrateful child may justify himself in the neglect of it, in consequence of your tradition:
For they eat with unwashed hands.] It is, in the original, eat bread; and I have sometimes retained the Hebraism, but did not think it necessary always to do it. Every attentive reader must have observed that food in general is called bread in a multitude of places; and bread is sometimes out even for the provisions of a royal table. Sam. ix. 7, 10, and xii. 20.
In a sudden transport of passion.] Dr. Ligifoot (in his Hor. Heb. in loc.) has
well observed, that is it probable a child must be in a transport of very undisturbed passion when he made the rash vow afterwards mentioned, that he would never in any instance relieve his parent, so that it was a kind of cursing him; but had it been said ever so coolly and deliberately, the argument here suggested would have taken place, and would have justified the connection.
The word was made of none effect through the elders’ tradition.
for you assert [that] any one may say to his father or mother, [Let that be] corban, that is to say, let it be reckoned as a devoted thing, or be considered as a gift dedicated to the altar, by which thou mightest otherwise receive advantage from me, and he shall then be free from the command, and not be under any obligation to honour and relieve his father or his mother.
And in this manner, out of regard to such a rash and impious vow, you not only suppose he may innocently omit this evident duty of natural as well as revealed religion, but will no
Mat. more permit him to do any thing for the relief xv. 6 even of his father or his mother. And [thus] then it is evidently to be seen, according to the charge which I advanced against you, that, through a gross and impious superstition, you have even invalidated the word [and] as it were, annihilated the command of God, by means of your tradition, which you have delivered as a rule of life to be observed with the most scrupulous exactness: and it were easy to be shewn, in other instances, that many such like things you do.
ever] shall say to his father or mother, It is corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, [and honour not his father or his mother,] he shall be free. [MAT. XV. 5, 6—]
And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother.
MAT. XV. — 6. Thus have ye made the [word and] commandment of God of none effect [through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.] [MARK VII. 13.]
g Any one may say, [Let that be] corban, that is to say, a gift.] So I choose with Elsner (Observ. Vol. I. p. 74) to render the words in Matthew, 6c xv 6:7a, though, I confess, not without some doubt. But I think it is best to leave as little as possible to be supplied in order to make up the sense: and on that principle I should prefer the addition in our own translation of this place, he shall be free, to that which Sir Norton Knatchbull proposes, who would render it, You say, [a man honours his parents,] if he say it is corban, &c. thus supposing the passage to imply a repetition from the verse before. But such a construction seems to me quite unparalleled, and very unnatural. Grotius makes xxi, re-landant, and would render it, You teach, that whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift, &c.—let him not honour his father and mother: but in the way that I have rendered it, the sense is in effect the same, and the common sense of xxi is retained. Some considerable critics, particularly Drusius (de Tribus Sectis, lib. ii. cap. 17,) and Godown (Moses and Aaron, lib. vi. cap. 6,) give a very elegant turn to the following words, 6x9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
if so, they should be rendered, I swear by corban, or the sacred treasury, thou shalt receive no benefit from me. But as both the evangelists insert the particle 5, which in this construction has no force, I cannot wholly approve this version, and therefore did not insert it. Perhaps some of these pretended cows of theirs amounted to no more than an obligation to leave some proportion of the overplus of their estates to the temple treasury after their death, which might in a thousand instances be made the cloak of avarice and cruelty. The indeterminate manner of speaking, it must be owned, would lead to such a supposition. Capellus with immense labour (and, I think, beyond all farther controversy) has asserted the interpretation of this text as given in the paraphrase; and has produced a vast variety of passages from the Talmud, to shew the superstitious regard the Jews had to such rash and unnatural cows, as well as the ridiculous ways they sometimes took to evade them. See Lud. Capell. in Mat. xv. 5.
h Advantage from me.] Sir Norton Knatchbull would render 6x 6xu, of my substance, or possession; but had this been the exact rendering, it would have been 6x 7u 6xu, of which instances occur in Greek authors.
ht doctrines that were only human injunctions.
Yet these are the things in which you vainly pride yourselves, as proofs of your religion; but, O you hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of such as you, and very fitly may those words which he delivers in the name of God be applied to you, where he is saying of the superstitious Jews of his own time, what may be evidently seen to agree to you, (as it is written, Isa. xxix. 13.) “This people draweth near to me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; they make a pompous profession, and pretend to a great deal of devotion and piety; but it plainly appears, that their heart is far estranged from me.” Notwithstanding all your talk, then, of strictness in religion; yet as this appears to be expressive of your real character, the doom of hypocrites belongs to you; and God may justly affirm of such (as it is added there,) “In vain do they worship me, while they teach doctrines or lessons [that are] merely human inventions and injunctions,¹ being only the precepts of men, that have no stamp of the Divine authority upon them,” which yet they would insist upon as necessary parts of religion, and would impose them on the consciences of others. And this (as I have said) you may be charged with, not in one single instance only, but in many; for, leaving the commandment of God, you maintain the tradition of men, [relating to] the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things you do, with a zeal by no means required, and on which at best you lay a very disproportionate stress.
IMPROVEMENT.
How miserable is the case of those who, while they earnestly Mat. contend for the forms of Divine worship, are losing both the xv. 9
¹ While they teach doctrines that are human injunctions.] So I render ῥιδασκονία ῥιδασκονίας ν’ λυμῆλ αδίωτων. The words seem to allude to Isaiah xxix. 13, where, though the present Hebrew copies read the text to our translation of the place, Their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men, Grotins has shewn how a small variation in the original might justify the seventy in that version of theirs,
which the evangelist here follows, the sense of which is much the same with what we retain in that place. I would only observe farther, that ῥιδασκονία in general signifies any lesson, and not merely (as Bishop Hopkins contends) a doctrine of faith; and that the purpose to which our Lord here applies it, plainly shews that it must refer to ritual injunctions. See Bishop Hopkins’ Works, p 150. 151.
Reflections on a zeal for imposing human inventions.
improvement and reward which might be expected from a regular attendance upon it! This is the case of all who draw near to God with their lips, while their hearts are far from him. May we abhor the vanity of such hypocritical behaviour in the presence of Him who searches the heart and tries the reins of the children of men.
S. Let us learn from this just and severe sentence which our Lord passes on these superstitious Pharisees, to avoid the temper he condemns in them. It much less becomes us as Christians, and especially as protestants, to impose on our brethren with rigorous severity those doctrinal decisions, or those ritual observances, which have not their express foundation in the word of God, to which we so constantly appeal as to our common rule. Happy had it been for the church in all ages and nations, had men exerted that zeal for the truths and the institutions of God in the beauty and glory of their native simplicity, which has carried them on to defend and propagate their own inventions, till religion itself has almost sunk under the weight of the ornaments in which they have dressed it, and the unwieldy armour which they have hung about it!
4-6 Let children learn from the command which Christ has vindicated, to honour their parents by a tender care of them in their declining days; remembering, that as no filial duty and gratitude can ever fully repay our obligations to such friends, so an affectionate regard to them is a proper and necessary expression of our filial piety to the great Father of our spirits. Justly may he esteem his temples profaned, rather than adorned, by the most costly gifts, which are the spoils of nature, and the trophies of inhumanity.
Mark 7:14-23
Parallels: Matthew 15
Christ pursues his discourse against the Pharisees, and inculcates the necessity of inward purity. Mat. XV. 10-20. Mark VII. 14-23.
MARK VII. 14.
NOW when our Lord had thus condemned the Pharisees to their face, for the unwarrantable stress they laid on their vain and precarious traditions, he took this opportunity to undeceive the people, and to let them see how insignificant this outward strictness was on which the Pharisees insisted; and having called all the multitude together to him, he pursued his discourse, and said to them, Let me charge every one of you attentively to hearken to me in what
MARK VII. 14.
AND when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you,
t goes into the mouth does not defile a man.
I now deliver, and give all diligence that you may understand it; lest for want of doing it, out of regard to your admired teachers, you impose on your own souls in a matter of the greatest importance. There is nothing which enters into a man from without that can really collute him in the sight of God: it is not, I say, that which is originally from without, and goes into the mouth, that renders him polluted; but the things which come out of a man are those that actually defile him [even] that which comes out of [his] mouth. And I would have you to observe, that much is comprehended in these few important words: remember them therefore, and think of them; and if any one of you has ears to hear, and a heart to consider, let him hear these things, and reflect seriously upon them.
And when he was come into the house apart from the multitude, his disciples came to him, according to their usual custom, [and] asked him concerning the meaning of this parable, or sententious, and to them obscure, saying, And they likewise said to him at the same time, Knowest thou, and art thou sufficiently aware of it, that the Pharisees, who heard this saying, were highly offended at it, as what appears to strike directly (as they represent the matter) both at the authority of the oral and of the written law?
But he answered and said, As for their displeasure, I am very little concerned about it, nor shall I ever labour to ingratiate myself with persons of their character: for I consider them as a set of men doomed to destruction: and indeed every plantation which my heavenly Father has not planted, and every thing in religion, which, like the vain traditions they advance, is not founded in Divine institution, but human invention, shall sooner or later be rooted up, and cast out of the vineyard, as an incumbrance to
a Not that which goes into the mouth, &c.] eating what was forbidden by the Mosai. Though it is very true a man may bring law, which still continued in force: yet in guilt upon himself by eating what is pernicious to his health, or by excess in the arise from the wickedness of the heart, and quantity of food and liquor; and a Jew be just proportionable to it; which is all might have done it by presumptuously our Lord asserts.
Christ explains this saying, by shewin
it. Let them alone, and do not trouble or concern yourselves about their censures; they are blind guides of the blind populace, that implicitly commit themselves to their conduct: and it is very easy to foresee the consequence; for, if the blind shall undertake to lead the blind, they will both fall into a ditch together, and incumber instead of helping each other (compare Luke vi. 39, p. 303;) and so will these perverse Pharisees, and their careless followers, perish together.
But Peter answering said unto him, We would desire thee, however, to explain more clearly to us what is the meaning of this parable which they are so much offended at; for even we ourselves are at a loss to reconcile it, not only with the Pharisaic traditions, but with the injunctions of the law of God, which hath so expressly enjoined a difference of meats.
And Jesus said to them, Are you likewise still so void of understanding, as not to apprehend the sense of what I said? by which you might have easily perceived that I did not intend immediately to supersede any precept of the law relating to the distinction of clean and unclean food; but only to declare that it is the temper of the mind which God regards, and that no external accident separate from this can render a man offensive to him: and, after all the instructions I have given you, do you not yet perceive that it must needs be so, that whatsoever enters from without into a man cannot defile him? And that for this obvious reason, because whatsoever enters in at the mouth enters not into his heart, or mind, in which sin or holiness is seated, and which alone is capable of moral excellence or pollution; but goes into the belly, and, passing through the bowels, by the course of natural digestion and evacuation, is thrown off into the vault, a place which cleanses, as it were, and carries off the grosser dregs of all the food that a man eats.
But, said he, It is indeed that which comes out of a man that really defiles a man, and makes him sinful in the sight of God, as it originally proceeds from within: [for] the things proceeding out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and these are they that actually defile a man, as they must thus be tainted with a great deal of
e evils from within are what de il a man.
moral guilt and malignity. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed all such corrupt and evil reasonings, as those of the Pharisees which you have now been hearing, and all those selfinvented sophisms which exclude wisdom at the first entrance; and from hence also proceed adulteries and fornications, and all sorts of sensuality and uncleanness; all acts of violence, and murders; And thefts, and insatiable desires, and malevolent affections of inhumanity and cruelty to mankind; the injuries arising from false witnessings, and deceit; the vile abominations of lasciviousness and intemperance; an evil envious grudging eye, and that odious temper which discovers itself by such a look (compare Prov. xxiii. 6; xxviii. 22; and xxii. 9;) the horrid outrages of blasphemy, and pride; and, in a word, all kind of folly, wild imaginations, ungoverned passions, and many other moral irregularities. All these evils, and many more which I might mention, come from within; and these are the things which do indeed pollute a man, and render him an object odious to the infinite purity of the Divine nature; but the bare undesigned violation of a ceremonial precept cannot do it; and much more evident it is, that to eat with unwashed hands, which has no moral impurity in it, and no authority but a vain tradition to forbid it, does not, and cannot, defile a man: and it must have a very bad tendency to teach people to place religion in things so entirely foreign to it.
IMPROVEMENT.
MAY we be all taught of God to maintain a constant watch that over our own hearts, as remembering that from thence are the xv. 18 issues of life, and from thence the sources of sin and death!
b Corrupt and evil reasonings, a disorganized or unorganized [ I choose to render it evil reasonings, rather than merely evil thoughts, as better suiting both the original and the occasion, and as containing a more universal and important truth; for those thoughts only defile the heart, which it willingly admits, and does, as it were, hold a parley and converse with. And, I fear, there are multitudes in the present age, like these Pharisees, who are contracting immense guilt by those corrupt and sophistical reasonings, on the subtlety of which they may highly value themselves and each other. c All kind of folly ] I apprehend that aspersion here stands directly opposed to overpower, or sobriety of thought and discourse; and therefore does particularly signify the will’s sullies of the imagination, and extravagant passions and appetites, and consequently must include a great many immoralities not touched on in the preceding enumeration
Reflections on the necessity of inward purity.
SECT. (Prov. iv. 23.) All the secret motions and sentiments of them lxxxiv are open to the Divine examination and inspection. There then may we begin our cares, to purify ourselves from all filthiness both of the flesh and spirit, as ever we would perfect holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. vii. 1.)
Mat. We see what secret abominations our Lord has here discovered and marked out. It is a matter of much lamentation, that our corrupted nature abounds with such poisonous productions: let us earnestly pray that they may be rooted out by Divine grace, lest we ourselves be rooted out of God’s vineyard, as at once incumbering and deforming it!
Mark May the blessed Spirit of God create in us a clean heart, and vii. 21, 22 implant in our souls a temper opposite to all these enormities! May candour and purity, integrity and tenderness, piety and generosity, humility and wisdom, prevail in our hearts, and shine in our conduct! And, in a word, whatsoever things are true and honest, just and pure, lovely and of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, let us think on these things, and practise them! (Phil. iv. 8.)
Mat. Let those who are employed to guide others be especially xv. 14 solicitous to know and pursue the right way themselves; lest, instead of saving themselves, and those that hear them, they both of them at last perish together. We are in danger of it if, like these Pharisees, we inculcate on our hearers a zeal for the circumstantials and appendages of religion, while its essentials are neglected; and perhaps some of the greatest enormities of the mind are consecrated under an honourable name, and profanely listed under the banner of the God of holiness and love.
Mark 7:24
Parallels: Galatians 49; Matthew 15
Jesus withdraws to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and there expels a demon from the daughter of a Canaanitish woman; and afterwards, in his return to Galilee, cures a man who was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech. Mat. XV. 21—29. Mark VII. 24, to the end.
MARK VII. 24.
AND Jesus arose from thence, and withdrew from the place where these invidious enemies were continually lying in wait for him, to Mark the borders [or] coasts of Tyre and Sidon: and, vii. 24 when he was come into those parts, he entered into a house as privately as he could, and would have had no one know [it] that he was there; but he had so many eyes upon him wherever
MARK VII. 24.
AND from thence [Jesus] arose, and [departed] into the borders [or coasts] of Tyre and Sydon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it; but
of Canaan begs help o Jesus for her daughter.
he went, that he could not long be concealed in that retirement.
Yea, an occurrence quickly happened, that, pread the fame of his arrival there through all he neighbourhood: for behold, a Canaanitish woman came out of those coasts, to whom, though an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, he displayed his power and goodness in a very remarkable manner. Now this was one whose young daughter, for whom she had a most tender affection, was possessed by an unclean and malignant spirit, which often threw her into violent agonies: and, as the fame of Jesus, and of the miracles that he had wrought, was known in all those parts, the afflicted mother was no sooner told of his arrival, but, having now an expectation of relief from the great things she had heard of him, she came immediately to the place where he was, and cried unto him at some distance with the most humble importunity, saying, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, thou Son of David, consider my distressed case, and extend thy compassion to me, though a stranger; for my poor unhappy daughter is grievously tormented by a cruel demon, that delights in the misery of my child; and I well know that thou art able to cure her.
Now it is here to be observed as somewhat singular, that (as we just now hinted) the woman was not a Jew, but a Greek, a native of Syrophænia, or of that tract of Canaan in which they now were: and therefore, though she thus earnestly besought him to cast out the demon from her daughter, and the case seemed so compassionate, our Lord thought it proper not to take such immediate notice of it as he had commonly done in the like instances; But, turning from her, as if he were regardless of her case, he answered her not a word. And his disciples came to him on the occasion, and entreated him, saying, Dismiss her with the
a O Lord, thou Son of David.] Some have argued from this expression that she was a prosel te; but perhaps she might have learned it from some of the Jews (either immediately or by report,) and might use
it as a title of respect without thorough understanding its meaning.
b A native of Syrophænia.] This part of Phænia was so called, as it had been formerly conquered by the Syrians.
Her importunity and faith.
grant of her request: for she is so overwhelmed with her affliction, that she crieth after us wherever she sees us;ᶜ and not only gives us trouble, but is like to make thy abode here more public than thou wouldest have it. But he replying said, I am not sent, but to seek and recover the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and am charged with no immediate message to the Gentile nations, to whom you all know this woman belongs.
Then, perceiving her case was the subject of their discourse, she came nearer, and fell down at his feet in a most importunate manner, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, I beseech thee to help me, though a stranger; for surely none ever needed thy help more.
But Jesus said to her (vet farther to exercise and illustrate her faith,) Let the Jews, the children in God’s family, first be satisfied; for it is not proper to take the children’s bread, and throw it to the dogs; and such you know that you Gentiles are commonly deemed by our nation, on account of those impurities and abominations that prevail among you.
*And she replied and said to him, True, Lord, it would not be fit to put both on a level; yet even the dogs under their master’s table are allowed to eat the children’s crumbs which fall from it:*ᵈ may I not then humbly hope, that, unworthy as I am, I may also receive some fragments of that mercy which is so liberally bestowed on the Jews, and may have been in some instances wantonly abused:
Then Jesus answering said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith; and it was my design to illustrate, rather than to overbear it; now therefore, for this lively saying, which argues so much
ᶜ For she crieth after us wherever she sees us.] As Mark tells us Christ was entered into a house, and that the application of this woman to him prevented his being concealed as he desired to have been; it should seem that she, having learned that Jesus was there, watched for the disciples as they went in and out; and, having cried after them some time, she at length got admittance into the house; and, with the profoundest respect, accosted him at first
from some distance, and then drew near and threw herself at his feet. Compare Mat. xv. 25, and Mark vii. 25.
ᵈ True, Lord, yet the dogs, &c.] Both Matthew and Mark use the word vet, which we have rendered in the former Truth, and in the latter, Yes. It is sometimes a form of assessing, and sometimes of entreeing. Compare Philom. ver. 20, and see Blackwall’s Sacred Classics, vol. I. p. 143.
cures one that was deaf and almost dumb.
humility and piety, go thy way with the kindest answer thou couldest wish, [and] be it unto thee even just as thou wilt: thy desire shall be accomplished in all its extent, for the demon is already gone out of thy daughter, and I assure thee that he shall torment her no more. And accordingly her daughter was cured from that very hour. And, returning back to her house, fully persuaded of the accomplishment of what Jesus had told her, she found the demon was gone out, and her daughter was lying on the bed composed and quiet, which of late she had very seldom been.
And Jesus after this departed again from thence, even from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and came near to the sea of Galilee, passing through several places in his way that lay in the midst of the coasts of Decapolis, from whence his fame had formerly brought multitudes to follow him (see Mat. iv. 25, note 1, sect. 36:) and on a certain day, in his journey, he went up to the top of a mountain, and sat down there, to rest himself, and to teach the people, who in great multitudes resorted to him to attend upon his preaching, and brought their sick to be healed by him.
And, among many other diseased persons, they brought him one who was very deaf, and had so great an impediment in his speech that he was almost dumb too; and, making known his case to Jesus, they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him, as he had done in many other cases, making no doubt that he would upon this be perfectly restored to his hearing and speech. And, taking him aside from the multitude, which was very numerous, he put his fingers into his ears, where there was a great obstruction, which hindered him from hearing distinctly; and, spitting on his finger, he touched his tongue: And,
He put his fingers into his ears, and, spitting, touched his tongue.] If any should ask, Why our Lord used these actions, when a word alone would have been sufficient; and such means (if they may be called means) could in themselves do nothing at all to answer the end? I frankly confess I cannot tell, nor am I at all concerned to know. Yet I am ready to imagine it might be intended to intimate, in a very lively man-
ner, that we are not to pretend to enter into the reasons of all his actions; and that, where we are sure that any observance whatever is appointed by him, we are humbly to submit to it, though we cannot see why it was preferred to others which our imagination might suggest. Had Christ’s patients, like Naaman (2 Kings v. 11, 12, been too nice in their exceptions on these occasions, I fear they would have los
Reflections on Christ’s treatment of the woman of Canaan.
looking us, as to his Father in heaven, he groaned, in token of his earnest desire that these disorders might be removed; and then said unto him, as with a voice of Divine authority, Ephphatha; that is, Be opened. And immediately the word had its effect; and his ears were accordingly opened, and the string of his tongue, which had hindered it from moving freely, was loosed, and he spoke distinctly and in an articulate manner, which from his birth he had never done before. And he charged the man himself, and them that were near, that they should tell no one of it; but, the more he charged them to conceal it, the more they were charmed with his modesty and humility, and consequently so much the more abundantly did they proclaim [the cure:] And all they who heard of it were struck with exceeding astonishment, and said, He has done all things well, and performed the most extraordinary cures in the most amiable and graceful manner; making, in this and many other instances, both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.
IMPROVEMENT.
Mat. If there be any thing in the whole history of our Lord which xv. 23 might have a tendency to discourage and terrify the humble penitent, it would surely be his treatment of this poor Canaanitish woman, when she made so humble and so affectionate an application to him; first keeping silence; then intimating in words a coldness, not to say an aversion; and at last representing her but as a dog in comparison of the Jews. Surely such an answer had almost broke her heart, had it not been secretly supported by his grace, while his conduct seemed so unkind. Happy are they that, like her (who, though a Gentile, did in this instance approve herself a true daughter of Abraham,) can against hope believe in hope! (Rom. iv. 18.) Happy they who can thus extract arguments even from discouragements! They will finally conquer and triumph, as this pious woman did; and the honours of their faith will be commemorated even by Christ himself,
their cure; and the indulgence of a curious or a petulent mind would have been but a poor equivalent for such a loss
Happy are they, &c.] The pious, moderate, and eloquent Bishop Hall, has fine contemplation on this subject, to
which I refer the reader with pleasure; and take this opportunity of observing that (allowing something for the peculiarities of the age in which he lived) I have met with no devotional writings on the historical part of scripture which have generally given me so much entertainment as his.
Many lame, blind, &c. are brought to Jesus, and healed.
who soon indulges the overflowing tenderness of his heart in the applause he bestows upon her, and the ample grant he makes her of all that she asked in its utmost extent.
The story of the deaf man, whose ears were opened and his tongue loosed, is one additional instance, among many more, of Christ’s humility, as well as of his power. He retired from the admiring multitude; he used means when he could easily have wrought without them; he solemnly addressed his heavenly Father, virtually acknowledging, while he looked up to heaven, that as man he derived his miraculous power from above; and he was so far superior to the sentiments of vanity, that he commanded men to conceal the most glorious and benevolent actions. May all his followers, and especially his ministers, learn of him who was thus meek and lowly! (Mat. xi. 29) neither acting as in their own strength, when they attempt a spiritual cure; nor proclaiming their own praises when they have effected it. Then will they likewise do all things well; and there will be that beauty in the manner, which no wise man would entirely neglect, even in those actions which are in themselves most excellent and great.