Matthew 8

2 there came a leper. This miracle is more fully related in Mark i. 40-45, on which see notes.

4 for a testimony unto them. As a proof to the priests that he was healed.

5 there came unto Him a centurion. From the fuller account in Luke vii. 1-10 (on which see notes), it appears that the centurion sent the elders of the Jews and afterwards his “friends” to Jesus. The narratives are not inconsistent. It is possible that the centurion’s earnestness overcame his modesty, and that he followed his friends.

11 from the east and west. From the most remote heathen lands.

shall sit down. Lit., “recline.” A “feast” represents, in prophecy, the blessings of Messiah’s reign (Isa. xxv. 6), which were to be extended “to the Gentiles” and “the end of the earth” (Isa. xlix. 6): cp. xxii. 1-14; Luke xiv. 15-24.

12 the children of the kingdom. Those who, trusting in their outward advantages and religious privileges, think themselves the natural heirs of these blessings, shall, for their unbelief, be disinherited: cp. Rom. xi. 7-24. And their disappointment, rage, and misery will be like those of a person unexpectedly thrust out from a brilliant and cheerful banquet hall “into the outside darkness” of the night.

14,15. See Mark i. 29-31, and note on ver. 31.

17 spoken by Esaias. This quotation from Isa. liii. 4 (on which see note) differs from the Septuagint and from that in 1 Pet. ii. 24; but it is fully accordant with the sense of the prophet.

18 the other side. The eastern side of the Sea of Galilee.