Matthew 19

Matthew 19:1

If thy brother. Brother in the church. Compare Mr 9:38 Lu 9:49. Sin against thee. Personally. Injure you or do you wrong. Shew him his fault. Go to him privately and have a kind, brotherly talk over the matter, and try to show him his fault. Gained thy brother. For thyself, by restoring good feeling; for God, by leading him to a sense of sin and repentance.

Matthew 19:2

Take with thee one or two more. If the private interview is of no avail, take other brethren as witnesses and intercessors. These witnesses, hearing the matter talked over, can report the facts.

Matthew 19:3

Tell [it] unto the church. If neither effort is of avail, then report it to the church for action. This is the second instance in the New Testament use of the word “church”. The first is in Matthew 16:18. If he neglect to hear the church. The admonition and entreaty of the church through its elders. The church has power to admonish and to exclude. Let him be to thee as an heathen man and a publican. Have no religious fellowship with him, more than you would have with a heathen, or a publican. The publicans were usually apostate Jews. The orthodox Jews had no social intercourse with heathen or publicans.

Matthew 19:4

Whatsoever ye shall bind. What was said to Peter (Matthew 16:19) is addressed to all the apostles. It is spoken to all a second time (John 20:23). All had the keys as well as Peter. The apostles were, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, to establish the rules of the church discipline, as well as to announce the conditions of salvation by the gospel. These rules and conditions, found in Acts and the Epistles, bind and loose men. As they were to speak and write as moved by the Holy Spirit, what they announced would be ratified in heaven.

Matthew 19:5

If two of you shall agree. Two shall constitute a Christian fellowship. The united prayers of this fellowship for any legitimate object shall be heard. The assurance of this is found in the fact that Christ will be present wherever two or three are gathered in his name. Their united prayers will ascend, made mighty by the intercession of the Son of God. By his presence it becomes his prayer.

Matthew 19:6

In my name. As followers of Christ.

Matthew 19:7

Then came Peter to him. The Lord had just spoken of the duty of seeking reconciliation with those who trespassed against us (Matthew 18:15-17), and there seems to have been some doubt in the mind of Peter how far this principle should be carried. Till seven times? It is stated that the Jewish Rabbis held that forgiveness must be extended to one who confessed his fault, but this was limited to three repetitions of the offense. Peter had an idea that the Savior’s rule would insist on still greater forbearance.

Matthew 19:8

Until seventy times seven. That is, there should be no limit at which it shall be refused if it is asked in the spirit of sincere penitence. By reference to Lu 17:4, one can see the condition of forgiveness. It is that the offender professes “repentance”. We are to forgive men their trespasses on the same condition that God forgives us ours, and he does not forgive the impenitent. Our mercy must be just as unlimited as that of God.

Matthew 19:9

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened. The Lord next enforces the great doctrine of forgiveness to our fellow-man in a parable. Unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. The king is the Lord, the servants those who profess to serve him as King; the kingdom is his church on earth, but reaching beyond the earth.

Matthew 19:10

One was brought unto him. Observe that he had to be “brought”. A defaulter does not willingly come to settle his accounts, any more than a sinner would seek the bar of judgment. Which owed him ten thousand talents. An immense sum. The talent was a weight, not a coin, and its value would depend on the purity of the precious metal used in the coinage. If the Greek silver talent is meant, the ten thousand talents would about to about $7,500,000. What is meant is that the sum was beyond human ability to pay.

Matthew 19:11

But forasmuch as he had not to pay. He had used his king’s money and was not able to settle his accounts. He represents the sinner, who has no way to settle the debt of his sins. See Lu 7:42. His lord commanded him to be sold. An absolute king is represented, who could do according to his will with his servants. It was common, even until modern times, for persons to be sold for debt. In many nations the wife and children were involved in the hapless fate of the debtor.

Matthew 19:12

Fell down, and worshipped him. In Oriental countries, almost all who approach monarchs prostrate themselves and offer homage. This is especially true of those who urge a petition. See Es 8:3. Have patience, . . . I will pay thee all. This promise was one that could not possibly be fulfilled, though the servant might think it possible.

Matthew 19:13

The lord . . . forgave him the debt. He is represented as so moved by compassion that he did far more than was asked and forgave the entire desk.

Matthew 19:14

But the same servant went out. His own exhibition of brutality was immediately after the great mercy he had received. What follows shows that he had only been frightened, not converted. An hundred pence. The denarius, or penny, was a silver coin equal to from sixteen to eighteen cents. The whole debt would therefore be from sixteen to eighteen dollars. Its smallness compared with his debt to his lord is intended to show that our neighbors’ sins against us are insignificant when contrasted with ours towards God. We need such boundless mercy that we ought to be prepared to give mercy freely. Took [him] by the throat. The great defaulter, who had been treated with such mercy, had no mercy.

Matthew 19:15

Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. It will be noticed that this unfortunate debtor makes exactly the same appeal as his exacting creditor had made to his lord (Matthew 18:26).

Matthew 19:16

And he would not. He would not even grant delay, whereas he had been forgiven. Cast him into prison. To cast into prison for debt was once the custom in all countries.

Matthew 19:17

His fellowservants . . . were very sorry. Unmerciful treatment of the unfortunate is always wont to excite compassion. The servants were not only sorry for their wretched comrade, but they carried the case to their lord. It is always proper to carry the wrongs of fellow-beings which we cannot redress to our Heavenly Father.

Matthew 19:18

O thou wicked servant. The sin of which the servant was guilty and charged is not that “needing mercy” he refused to show it, but that “having received mercy” he remained unmerciful still.

Matthew 19:20

His lord . . . delivered him to the tormenters. This language is to be interpreted by customs that still prevail in the East, where torture is still used to compel debtors to confess where they have hidden treasures that they are suspected of having concealed. In both Greece and Rome torture was used on prisoners to compel confession, and until within a century or two it was still employed in Great Britain and Europe. Till he should pay all. As, however, he never could pay, he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment.

Matthew 19:21

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, etc. Observe Christ says, “My heavenly Father”, not “your”. God will not be their heavenly Father unless they emulate his spirit of mercy, and are as ready to forgive others their trespasses as he is to forgive their own. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “As ye mete to others it shall be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). “Forgive us our trespasses even as we forgive those who trespass against us “(Matthew 6:12). “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). If we are hard and unforgiving to our fellow-men, we can never expect our heavenly Father to overlook our own sins. It is a vital doctrine that we, by our own mind towards others, determine what shall be the mind of God towards us.

Matthew 19:23

Marriage and Divorce; The Rich Ruler SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 19: The Last Departure from Galilee. The Question of the Pharisees about Divorce. Christ’s Law of Divorce. Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s Sake. Blessing the Little Children. The Rich Young Ruler. Eternal Life. Rich Men and the Kingdom of God. Leaving All for Christ’s Sake. He departed from Galilee. Compare Mr 10:1-12 Lu 16:18. This is the final departure from Galilee before the Savior’s death. Into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan. From Galilee he followed the route on the east of the Jordan to Jerusalem. The region where the conversation on divorce occurred is called Perea, which means “the land beyond”, or east of the Jordan.

Matthew 19:24

Great multitudes. Because his fame was now well known over all Palestine.

Matthew 19:25

Pharisees also came. As usual, ready to oppose. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Hillel, the greatest of the Jewish Rabbis whom Jews have sought to compare with Christ, taught that almost any ground of displeasure on the part of a husband would justify divorce. He even specifies scorching the bread as sufficient cause. Josephus, the historian, says he “divorced his wife because he was not pleased with her manners”.

Matthew 19:26

Made [them] male and female. In the creation, God made man male and female and united the two by an indissoluble bond in the marriage of one man to one woman.

Matthew 19:27

For this cause. The bond of husband and wife is stronger than that between children and parents. Be one flesh. Two lives joined into one.

Matthew 19:28

What therefore God hath joined together. If God hath so joined them that the twain are one, no human ordinance has the right to separate them.

Matthew 19:29

Why did Moses then command? See Deuteronomy 24:1-4. They insinuate that he contradicts Moses.

Matthew 19:30

Moses, for the hardness of your heart. Moses “suffered” some things that were not right on account of “the hardness of your heart”, a low state of morals. A people cannot be lifted from moral depravity to a high standard at once. Hence the law permitted some things that were below the perfect standard of Christ. From the beginning. In the beginning there was no divorce and no polygamy. The first polygamist was the race of Cain (Genesis 4:19).