Matthew 17

Matthew 17:4

Then Peter said to Jesus, Lord, let us abide here, and not consort any more with those beneath us: and to that end build three booths, one for thee and us.

a whatsoever he shall teach is that which you are to receive as my good pleasure, before any either of the law or prophets, Moses or Elias then appearing, according to that prediction of Moses himself, Deut. xviii. 15, Him shall ye hear.

Matthew 17:6

And when Peter and James and John heard that voice from heaven, they were amazed and astonished for fear, and fell down prostrate.

Matthew 17:10

And upon the contemplation of what here they had seen and heard these three disciples asked him, saying, If this be true that was said by Moses and Elias in the mount concerning the approach of the great and dreadful day for the destroying of God’s enemies, and rescuing his faithful servants, then what is the meaning of that which the doctors generally teach, that Elias must come before that great and dreadful day of the Lord, and the rising of the sun of righteousness with healing in his wings, to them that fear God’s name? Mal. iv. 2, 3.

It is truly observed by them from Malachi that Elias is first to come, and to do his office of restoring and returning the Jews to repentance, (see Mark ix. 12,) to preach repentance, and so prepare for this famous coming.

[a] Elias must first come] By this question of the three apostles, made unto Christ at his coming down from the mount, may be collected what was the prime matter of the discourse betwixt him and Moses and Elias, ver. 3; (for that their question should refer to Christ’s resurrection from the dead, incidentally mentioned, (ver. 9,) is not possible, because the scribes did not believe that the Messias should die, or rise, nor consequently that Elias should come before that.) Of this discourse, what was the subject-matter of it, there is nothing said, either in this Gospel or in that of St. Mark, but only this, that the disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? By the scribes are here meant their doctors of the law, those that were skilful, not only in the law, but in the doctrine of the whole Old Testament, and so of the prophets; among whom, Mal. iv. 5, they found that Elias was to come before a set time or period, that is, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. This, therefore, being it that was asserted by the scribes, the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the thing before which, said they, Elias must first come; and the disciples’ question, Why then do they say that Elias must first come? being an objection against what they had heard discoursed of in the mount; it necessarily follows, that that which was discoursed of in the mount was the approaching of that great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now what is meant by this great and dreadful day of the Lord appears by the first, second, and third verses of that chapter: Behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. What was the ultimate completion of this prophecy (and of the like, Joel ii. 11, 22, 23, 33, though Elias be not mentioned there) is clear enough—the eradication of the wicked, obstinate Jews, ver. 1, and the delivery and preservation of all the humble, faithful penitents out of that destruction, ver. 2;

1 2

Matthew 17:11

[b] restore) Ἀποκαταστῆσαι, the word here used, is rendered by Hesychius and Phavorinus, to finish, or perfect. It is true, indeed, the ordinary books read ἀποκαταπτύσαι, τελειῶσαι; but that is a false reading, as it is evident by that which it immediately follows, ἀποκατάστοσις, τελείωσις, the substantive signifies perfection, completion. According to this notation of the word, this would be the importance of the place: he shall finish or perform, establish, settle all things, both perform all that was prophesied of Elias at his coming, and close and shut up the first state of the world, that of the Mosaical economy; making en-

Matthew 17:12

But I say unto you that it is another person that is prophesied of under the name of Elias, which cometh, and that person is come and gone already, but not acknowledged by the principal men of the Jews, but despised by them, and put to death by Herod, and so Christ himself shall also be before this great day that now ye hear of.

the changes of the moon have such a power on him, that at such times the devil, ver. 18, handless him miserably, casting him into fits of the falling sickness, throwing him into the fire or water, whichsoever is next.

those disciples of thine that stayed beneath when thou wert retired, and they—

Matthew 17:15

[c] lunatic] The word σεληνιάζεται, here coming from σελήνη, the moon, is directly parallel to the English lunatic, from luna the moon also. Yet some mistake hath arisen from thus rendering of it; for the English word lunacy and lunatic is vulgarly taken to signify a madman, and nothing else, to wit, that species of madness which comes on men at such a set time, toward the full of the moon, as ordinarily it is observable in those that have any intervals. But here it is apparent, by the nature of the disaffection, and the effects of it, falling into the fire, and water, &c., that it was not any madness that this man’s son was affected with, but a plain epilepsy, or falling-sickness; which further

Matthew 17:17

Upon this Jesus rebuked those disciples, accused them of infidelity and perverseness, that when he had been with them so long, given them power to hoal diseases and cast out devils, and in some cases prescribed prayer and fasting, ver. 21, as the means of doing it, they now neglected that means, and so were not able to cast out this devil: this impotency of theirs therefore was very culpable, and so here

Matthew 17:18

And when he came, Jesus commanded and chid that evil spirit that brought that disease upon him; and the devil and the disease departed from him together. “I have given you the power of doing all miracles, and directed you to the means which ye are to use in the doing them; and if you did sincerely believe, though in never so weak a degree, the things that I have said to you, and obeyed and practised accordingly, ye should by me be enabled to do any thing that is most impossible among men, as even to remove a mountain out of the place by speaking to it, (which is literally affirmed to have been done by the gift of miracles,) or any thing else as strange and as difficult as that.

Matthew 17:19

As for the second of the three admonitions, spoken of, ver. 16, (see note [b] on ch. vii.,) this I assure you, that as the maize of three men among the Jews had some power, so shall any two or three Christians, joining in such a reprehension, be considerable in this matter, having the privilege of God’s presence (as in their prayers thus united, so in their united admonitions) to give them authority, assistance, and blessing.

Matthew 17:20

For where two or three are met or assembled for this piece of discipline, (as for any holy action besides,) there am I present with them in a special manner, and will not suffer the actions, which thus they undertake by my appointment, to be set at naught by any.

Matthew 17:21

Now that which ye failed in was this, that ye used not fasting and prayer to this purpose; for that is the method that must be used to the ejecting of this sort of diseases and of devils; viz., great intention of devotion joined with faith; and if that be not used it will not go out, and your not using that means was a want of faith in you, ver. 20. ‘Jesus kept himself as private as he could, Mark ix. 30, telling his disciples the reason of his doing so, because having done so many miracles among them, and wrought so little effect upon them, as that he foresaw he should soon be put to death by them, he thought it not yet seasonable to do any more, till by the addition of his resurrection from death he should be more likely to be received and believed on by them. (See note [b] on ch. viii.) “the tribute that every Jew yearly paid to the temple, to the value of fifteen pence.

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

When Christ had gone thus far by way of return from the last to the second, and before he proceeded from that to the first, Peter interposed this question (the answer to which comes home to the first of the three also): Sir, seeing I am bound to forbear my brother, or fellow-Christian, that injureth me, and not to act any revenge upon him, as we were taught by thee, Matt. v. 39, and seeing now, upon admonishing him that hath injured me, in case he repent, either on the first or second or third admonition, I am to proceed no farther against him, but forgive him, and rejoice that I have done so much good upon him, ver. 15; yet because he that hath thus trespassed, and repented once, may possibly trespass again, and repent again, (see Luke xvii. 3, 4,) I desire to be taught by thee, how oft I am to do this, to forgive him, that though he repent of his injury, ask forgiveness, and promise to do so no more, (see ver. 26, 29,) yet ofttimes relapses again, how oft must I be thus indulgent to him and forgive him upon his request? must I do it often, or seven times?

Matthew 17:22

[d] betrayed] Some difference there is betwixt παραδιδόναι and προδιδόναι, tradere and prodere; the latter is ordinarily taken for treachery, falseness to him whose part we take, whether by going over to the enemy’s part, or betraying secrets; but the former is somewhat more, not only to reveal those things to the enemy that may be hurtful to the friend, but to deliver him (master, captain, friend, fort) into the enemy’s hand, who desires to have him and mischief him. So in Athenæus, l. 5, of Quintus Oppius, παραδοθεὶς δίσμιος, “a prisoner delivered up to custody;” so psalm lxxxviii. 8, παρεδόθην καὶ οὐκ ἐξεπορεύομην, I was imprisoned, and went not forth. And this is it that is peculiarly affirmed of Christ here and in other places, he shall be delivered into the hands of men, and of sinners, the Roman soldiers; and Matt. xxvi. 3, he shall be delivered to be crucified. And therefore, although the English word traitor is originally all one with the Latin traditor, and so to betray with παραδιδόναι here, yet because the ordinary use of the word is for revealing of secrets, or advantages, &c., and is not thought peculiarly to denote that to which the Greek here belongs, of delivering into the enemy’s hand, it was therefore most reasonable to render it in this phrase (not so subject by custom to mistake) to deliver up.

Matthew 17:24

[e] tribute money] The δίδραχμα signifies two drachms. The word δραχμή is a Greek word, first δραγμή, saith Julius Pollux, that is, an handful, as containing so many oboli ænei, “pieces of brass money,” as would make an handful, to wit, six. This word from the Greeks

Matthew 17:25

And when they were retired into the house, and Peter was a musing within himself about this business of paying or not paying the tribute money, and was about to ask Jesus concerning it, Jesus prevented, and asked his opinion: From whom, saith he, do all kind of kings exact tribute or head-money (so the Syriac renders it), from those of their own family, their own children, &c., or from other folks only? ³ But this, τοῦτο δέ. ⁴ delivered up. ⁵ the half shekels, or double drachms, τὰ δίδραχμα.

[f] own children] That the own sons here are not the natural subjects of the kingdom, and ἀλλότριοι, those whom they have conquered and brought under their dominions, will appear, 1, because the natural subjects ordinarily do pay tribute, and the law was clear, Exod. xxx. 13, that every Jew should pay his half shekel to the temple; and, 2, because to the state of the Jews which now exacted this tribute (not the publicans or officers of Cæsar, this being not collected by them till it was transferred to the capitol, that is, in Vespasian’s time) there were no such sorts of men, that were so conquered by them, which could own that title of ἀλλότριοι in that notion. The words and sense will be clear, if it be understood thus, that no king imposes taxes on his own children or family, but on ἀλλότριοι υἱοί, alieni filii, that is, the children of other men, as ἀλλότριος δοῦλος is another man’s servant, opposed to ἴδιοι δοῦλοι, his own servants, ch. xxv. 14, (as that is opposed to οἰκείοι, or ἴδιοι, his own children and servants;) and therefore, by proportion, this tribute to the King of heaven ought not to be exacted from the Son of that King, but from others. Some possibility and colour there is that this tribute here might be a tax paid to the Romans, imposed under the form of the δίδραχμα ever since Pompey had overcome the Jews, or else imposed on them by Augustus; and a passage in Josephus de Bell. Jud. 1. 7. c. 10, (where he saith that Agrippa remitted them the tax which was yearly paid by them,) makes it more probable; and it might well be that this was by the Romans imposed under the form of the δίδραχμα, the known tax among the Jews, as in Cicero’s orations against Verres we every where see that the praetor of Syria required the tenths of that province, which was, we know, first instituted by God to be paid the priests; and so Christ’s pleading an immunity, (who yet was to fulfil all righteousness, that is, to observe the Judaical law,) and mentioning the kings of the nations, is thought to incline also. But because, 1st, that tribute in Josephus remitted by Agrippa was paid by each house, not by each head, and