Matthew 8

Matthew 8:1

AFTER the finishing of this sermon of his, there was great resort unto him, not only for his doctrine, but his miracles of cures, &c. fell down and besought him that he would please to make use of his power, whereby he was confident that he was able to cure his leprosy. he was cleansed or cured from his leprosy. Be sure thou divulge not this to others, but according to the law shew thyself to the priest, and offer the offering required of all such as are thus

[c] shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, [d] for a testimony unto them.

Matthew 8:2

[a] worshipped] Προσκυνεῖ, προσπίπτει, saith Hesychius and Phavorinus, it signifies to fall down, as suppliants do to any.

Matthew 8:4

[b] See thou tell no man] What was the reason why Christ so oft commanded the concealing of his miracles, and of his being the Messias, will best be conjectured by considering the several places where this is mentioned. First here to the leper cured by him, See thou tell nobody, ver. 4; then Matt. ix, to the blind restored to sight, he charged them, saying, See ye tell no man, ver. 30. And as yet there is no reason discernible in the contexts, unless perhaps in this latter, when they obeying not his command, but his fame spreading, the demoniacs coming to him, he cures them, which the Pharisees hearing of, say, He casts out

Tr. Sanhed. sect. 10.

[c] shew thyself to the priest] The leper continued without the camp or city; on the day of his cleansing he was led to the outside of the camp, and in the latter ages to the gate of Jerusalem, and the priest went out to meet him, and performing some rites for him, afterwards received him into the city or camp, and by degrees into the sanctuary. This was the form or manner of shewing himself to the priest, (who, as the παστοφόροι among the Egyptians, was exercised in all kind of knowledge, particularly in that of being able to judge of diseases in the body,) and this shewing was necessary to every one that had been leprous, though never so perfectly cured, Levit. iv. 2; and therefore Christ, in obedience to the law, here requires it of him.

[d] for a testimony] The phrase εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς, for a testimony to them, may possibly connect with λέγει ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Jesus saith, in the beginning of the verse, and λέγει αὐτῷ, he saith unto him, Mark i. 44, not with προσέταξε Μωσῆς, Moses commanded next before it; or,

Matthew 8:6

[e] tormented] Βασανίζεσθαι doth not always signify torment or sharp pain, for here the palsy is not such, but any great disaffection or disease of body, or commonly any punishment; as ver. 29, and so ch. xviii. 34, βασανισταί, lictors, gaolers, according to that of the old Glossary, βασανίζω, not only crucio, torqueo, “to torment,” but coerceo too, agreeable to that of imprisoning.

Matthew 8:9

For I am a man, who though I am under other men’s authority, that of the chief commander, and of the emperor, yet have under me soldiers for my military commands, and servants for my domestic, and whatsoever I command them is done by them as surely as if I did it myself, how much more canst thou with thy word command health (who art the word, which healeth all things, Wisd. xvi. 12.) without troubling thyself to come down to my house?

[c] will he give] Μὴ ἐπιδώσει is here no more than will he give? The Greek μὴ being oft all one with the Hebrew מי, nunquid? as in the Gemara, מי כתיב. Nunquid scriptum est? “Is it written?”

Matthew 8:10

At this saying of the centurion’s Jesus expressed much wonderment, and calling to his disciples, said with some earnestness of asseveration, I have not found any Jew so fully persuaded of my power, or that behaves himself so much like a believer, as this Gentile.

[f] faith] There are five acceptions of the word πίστις, faith, in the New Testament. First, the faith or believing that Christ was able to cure diseases, &c. So here, and ch. ix. 22, Acts xiv. 9; and under this head the faith of the disciples, by which they believed Christ so far as that by his delegated power they were able to do the like miracles, Matt. xvii. 20, and xxi. 22, Mark xi. 24, 1 Cor. xiii. 2, and perhaps ch. xii. 9, where faith as a χέρισμα, or gift of the Spirit, is joined with the gift of healing.

Matthew 8:11

But this which is now so very admirable will within a while be frequently exemplified: for the old prophets have oft foretold it, (and now the time of the completion approacheth,) that many multitudes from all parts of the world will come

² affected, punished.

[h] sit down] The custom of ἀνάκλισις, accubitus, “lying along at meat,” so usual among the Grecians and the Romans, though it be not mentioned in the Old Testament, (but on the other side, tables were in use, at which they sat, ἐκάθισαν, Ecclus. xxxi. 13; and so saith ¹ Philo distinctly of Joseph’s brethren, ἐκάθισαν, they sat, μήπω τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν ταῖς συμποτικαῖς σανουσίαις κατακλίσει χρωμένων, “the custom of lying along at meat being not then come in among men,”) yet under the time of the New Testament (and before) it was come in among the Jews also. Many places there are in the New Testament where this use appears, and that both within doors, on beds, and abroad (in the fields and in ᵐ gardens) on the ground, ἐπὶ χόρτῳ χλωρῷ, Mark vi. 39, upon the green grass, which is, ver. 40, described by ἀνέπεσον πρασιὰ πρασιὰ, they lay along rank by rank in several areolæ or beds. For so are πρασιὰ φυτεῖων σχέσεις τετράγωνοι, (saith the Scholiast on ᵐ Homer, upon ἵνθα δὲ κοσμηταὶ πρασιὰ,) “four-square divisions,” which from thence we vulgarly call beds in gardens, because they were so used, as the κλιναὶ, beds in the houses, (see note on Mark vi. 40.) The manner of this lying at meat is described by many, and shall no further be recited here, than as will be useful to explain some passages in the evangelists. The chief person lay at the head of the bed, (which the

¹ Πίστις καὶ βίος. ¹ P. 433. ᵐ So Cic. de Off. I. 3, in the story of Canins, the eques Romanus, that bought the garden of Pythius, that he might make invitations, and feast in it. ᵐ Ιλ. π.

Matthew 8:12

And the Jews themselves to whom this Messias was primarily sent, will disbelieve, and be punished accordingly, shut out of the spiritual feast, out of the church here, and heaven hereafter, deprived of the light and cheerful heat that is wont to be in houses of feasting, and left to utter darkness, (the cold of the night, and winter, without,) stupid blindness here, and eternal darkness hereafter. found his wife’s mother sick of a fever, and laid to bed under it. provided for them what was necessary for their entertainment.

[h] weeping] That κλανθμὸς is deduced from κλαίω, clamo, “to cry,” there is no doubt; and that both of them signify (more than weeping or shedding of tears) crying out and ejaculation, see Num. xi. 10, (where it was that which was heard by Moses;) Job xxx. 13, the voice of them that wail, or cry out in lamentations; Ezra iii. 13, the noise of the weeping, or wailing of the people; and so Isaiah lxv. 19, Jer. xxxi. 16. As for βρυγμὸς, which follows, though by that which Hesychius saith of βρύχω, (ὁδοῖσι πιέζοντα ζόφον ἀποτελεῖν, ὡς ἐν ῥίγει συμβαίνει,) it might be thought to signify chattering of teeth, proper to a state of cold; and agreeable to the second notion of hell, by some mentioned from Job xxiv. 19, gehenna nivis, “the hell of snow;” as the other is gehenna ignis, “the hell of fire;” yet the notion of βρύχω, Acts vii. 54, for anger, or rage, which is proper to that of gnashing the teeth, and the mention of fire joined with it, Matt. xiii. 4. and 50, which cannot agree with chattering, do sufficiently justify the ordinary rendering, gnashing, or grinding of teeth, as in pain or rage is usual.

° In Ver. 1. ° Sat. II. 119.

Matthew 8:16

When by the approach of the evening-cool it was more convenient, they— He was so affected with all the miseries that befall us, that out of compassion to us, he made use of his divine power to heal even our bodies of the diseases that were on them. HAMMOND, VOL. I. D

Matthew 8:17

[i] took our infirmities] This place of scripture cited here by the evangelist out of Isaiah liii. 4, is principally fulfilled in the sufferings of Christ on the cross, where he bare our sins in his own body, that is, suffered the punishment of them; and it is so applied 1 Peter ii. 24. Yet here it is applied also to Christ’s healing the sick, and with a kind of sympathy bearing their corporal infirmities, and removing them from the patient, (and both these kinds of bearing our diseases were requisite in our perfect High Priest, Heb. v. 1, and iv. 15;) by which it is apparent, that the same prophetic scripture may truly and fitly belong to two or more events, and, beside the first literal, have a double remarkable πλήρωσις, or eminent completion.

Matthew 8:22

[k] dead] There is a figure in rhetoric called ἀντανάκλασις, whereby it hath been usual in all sorts of authors to affect to use the same word twice in the same place, though it be ofttimes in a different sense. In the holy writers there are frequent examples of this. Psalm xviii. 26, With the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward, where frowardness or peevishness, being a fault and piece of stubborn ill nature, cannot properly be affirmed of God, to whom yet those words belong, (as appears by the next words, and the afflicted people thou wilt save, ver. 27.) The only meaning is, that those that deal frowardly or stubbornly with God shall be punished by him, and that there expressed (by this figure now mentioned), thou shalt shew thyself froward, only by reason of the word froward preceding. So in the prophet, If ye walk contrary to me, I will also walk contrary to you; where walking contrary, in the first place, is their obstinacy or frowardness against God; in the second, God’s punishing, sending judgments on them, thus expressed by this figure. So Jer. xxxiii. 17, upon the mention of the word liberty, follows, liberty to the sword, &c., that is, destroying, quite contrary to the liberty before spoken of. So Matt. v. 19, Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, (the iota or tittle mentioned before,) &c. he shall be least in the kingdom of God, that is, indeed, shall not be admitted at all, which by this figure is thus expressed, in relation to what went before, He shall be the least, as he breaks the least; without which, that would not have been the style in all likelihood. Thus Isaiah lxv. 11, Ye are they that furnish the drink-offering to that number—Therefore will I number you to the sword, &c. Thus Matt. xii. 50, upon mention of his mother and brethren seeking him, which was literally true of Mary, &c., Christ’s reply is in another, not a literal sense, Whosoever doth the will of my Father, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. So 1 Cor. viii. 2, speaking of the knowing of God, in the vulgar, ordinary sense of knowing, he adds, ver. 3, But if any man love God, he is known of God; in another notion of knowledge for approbation: and in the same kind again, Gal. iv. 9, Now after ye have known God, or rather are known of God; and Rom. xiv. 13, Let us no longer judge one another, that is, censure, separate from communion, but rather judge this, quite in another sense, as judging signifies thinking fit and resolving; and Rev. xxii. 18, 19, Ἐὰν γις ἐπιτιθῇ, If any man shall add to these things, ἐπιθῆσει ὁ Θεός, God shall add to him the plagues, &c.; and so ἰὰν γις ἀφαιρῇ, If any man shall take away, God shall take away his part out of the book of life. Agreeable to these is this phrase here, on mention of the dead father preceding, Let the dead bury their dead, but follow thou me; that is, (not, Let the dead, but,) Let others do that office, inter the dead; but

Matthew 8:23

[d] “Or here and in some other places hath a peculiar notion, nearer an expletive than a causal, and is best rendered by the Latin scilicet, the English thus, or the like, as a form only of introducing the speech that comes after, He shall say unto them, what shall he say? Why, or Thus he shall say, I know you not, &c. So ch. x. 7, and so ch. xxvi. 72. He denied with an oath, ὅτι οὐκ οἶδα, which will be best rendered, saying, I know him not, so vv. 74, 75. In all which places, if it shall be rendered that, the words will not be coherent; but if it be rendered saying, or else quite omitted, as an expletive, and not rendered at all, the sense will be perspicuous. Thus I conceive is ὅτι to be taken Rom. iii. 8, καὶ μὴ (καθὼς βλασφημούμεθα, καὶ καθὼς φασί τινες ἡμᾶς λέγειν) ὅτι ποιήσωμεν, &c., and why should we not say, (as they say we do,) to wit, Let us do evil, &c.

Matthew 8:25

[e] the floods] The word ποταμοὶ doth not peculiarly signify rivers, that is, streams or channels, either beginning from springs or proceeding from the sea, but is a general word, of which, as those rivers are one species, so are land-floods or torrents, that arise from any tempestuous, sudden rain, another; and the latter of these is here meant, being joined to the descending of the rain, and accompanied with the blowing of the winds. Thus in Homer, II. δ. 452.

‘Ως δ’ ὅτε χείμαρροι ποταμοὶ, κατ’ ἄρεσφι ῥίοντες.

“As when the torrent rivers running down from the mountains —” Where, saith Eustathius, the word ποταμοὶ is a generical word, χείμαρροι, specifical, ποταμὸς being of two sorts; 1. ἀίνναος, “a continual river” that flows from a spring; and 2. χείμαρρος, “that comes in a torrent from a tempestuous rain,” (ὄμβριμον ὕδωρ, “rain water” there in Homer;) and therefore he concludes, τύδε ποταμὸς χειμάρροος παρακείμενον ἔχει τῷ γένει τὸ εἶδος, ὁμοίως τῷ βοῦς ταῦρος, “The word ποταμὸς hath the adjective χειμάρροος added to it, the specifical word to the generical, as if to βοῦς the word ταῦρος were added.” And so as βοῦς is sometimes taken peculiarly for a bull, though it be a more general comprehensive word, and signify an ox also, so doth ποταμὸς here signify a land flood, or torrent, though in its own amplitude it signify a river also, just as χίρτος, the generical word for grass and flowers, &c. is yet by the context restrained to signify flowers peculiarly, ch. vi. 30.

Matthew 8:27

And at this they were wonderfully amazed, and terrified, (Mark iv. 41, Luke viii. 25.) saying— ⁷ that country where Gergesa and Gadara (Mark v. 1) lie near together: see Mark viii. 10.

Matthew 8:29

For all this sermon of his, whether spoken continually, or with pauses between, was delivered by him as by one which had extraordinary power and mission, prophetic at least, which since Ezra’s time had been intermitted (as the Jews confess), and not as the doctors of law among the Jews. ### CHAP. VIII. WHEN he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.