me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. b Luke xiii. 20. 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the * children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. ch. xxi. 43. d 1 Cor. fx. 5. 14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. 16 When the even was come, they brought unto him y read, him. * render, sons. myself under authority: and in turn know to be accepted simply as a fact, as when 13. was healed] Of what precise disease does not appear. In Luke he was "ready to die"-here he is "sick of the palsy, grievously tormented." But though these descriptions do not agree with the character of palsy among us, we read of a similar case in 1 Macc. ix. 55, 56: "At that time was Alcimus plagued, and his enterprises hindered: for his mouth was stopped, and he was taken with a palsy, so that he could no more speak any thing, nor order any thing concerning his house. So Alcimus died at that time with great torment." The disease in the text may have been an attack of tetanus, which the ancient physicians included under paralysis, and which is more common in hot countries than with us. It could hardly have been apoplexy, which usually bereaves of sensation. : 14-17.] HEALING OF PETER'S WIFE'S MOTHER, AND MANY OTHERS. Mark i. 29-34. Luke iv. 38-41. From the other Evangelists it appears, that our Lord had just healed a dæmoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum for they both state, 'when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew,' &c. Both Mark and Luke are fuller in their accounts than the text. The expression (of the fever) it left her, is common to the three, as is also the circumstance of her ministering immediately after: shewing that the fever left her, not, as it would have done if natural means had been used, weak and exhausted, but completely restored. 16.] at sunset, Mark ver. 32: Luke ver. 40. From St. Mark we learn that the whole city was Isa. liii. 4. 1 Pet. ii. 24. many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the Z render, a: see Luke vii. 7. collected at the door; from St. Luke, that the dæmons cried out and said, 'Thou art Christ the Son of God. And from both, that our Lord permitted them not to speak, for they knew Him. They brought the sick in the evening, either because it was cool, or because the day's work was over, and men could be found to carry them, or perhaps because it was the sabbath (see Mark i. 21, 29, 32), which ended at sunset. 17.] The exact sense in which these words are quoted is matter of difficulty. Some understand took and bare as merely 'took away,' and 'healed. But besides this being a very harsh interpretation of both words, it entirely destroys the force of Himself, and makes it expletive. Others suppose it to refer to the personal fatigue, (or even the spiritual exhaustion, [Olshausen, which perhaps is hardly consistent with sound doctrine,) which our Lord felt by these cures being long protracted into the evening. But I believe the true relevancy of the prophecy is to be sought by regarding the miracles generally to have been, as we know so many of them were, lesser and typical outshewings of the great work of bearing the sin of the world, which He came to accomplish; just as diseases themselves, on which those miracles operated, are all so many testimonies to the existence, and types of the effect, of sin. Moreover in these His deeds of mercy, He was 'touched with the feeling of our infirmities:' witness His tears at the grave of Lazarus, and His sighing over the deaf and dumb man, Mark vii. 34. The very act of compassion is (as the name imports) a suffering with its object; and if this be true between man and man, how much more strictly so in His case who had taken upon Him the whole burden of the sin of the world, with all its sad train of sorrow and suffering. 18-IX. 1.] JESUS CROSSES THE LAKE. INCIDENTS BEFORE EMBARKING. HE STILLS THE STORM. HEALING OF TWO DEMONIACS IN THE LAND OF THE GADARENES. Mark iv. 35-v. 20: Luke ix. 57-60; viii. 22-39, on which passages compare the notes. 18. It is ob are viously the intention of St. Matthew to bind on the following incidents to the occurrence which he had just related. 19.] Both the following incidents placed by St. Luke long after, during our Lord's last journey to Jerusalem. For it is quite impossible (with Greswell, Diss. iii. p. 155 sq.) in any common fairness of interpretation, to imagine that two such incidents should have twice happened, and both times have been related together. It is one of those cases where the attempts of the Harmonists do violence to every principle of sound historical criticism. Every such difficulty, instead of being a thing to be wiped out and buried up at all hazards (I am sorry to see, e.g., that Dr. Wordsw. takes no notice, either here or in St. Luke, of the recurrence of the two narratives), is a valuable index and guide to the humble searcher after truth, and is used by him as such (see Introduction). 20. the Son of man] "It is thought that this phrase was taken from Daniel vii. 13, to which passage our Saviour seems to allude in ch. xxvi. 64, and probably Stephen in Acts vii. 56. It appears from John xii. 34, that the Jews understood it to mean the Messiah: and from Luke xxii. 69, 70, that they considered the Son of Man to mean the same as the Son of God." Dr. Burton. It is the name by which the Lord ordinarily in one pregnant word designates Himself as the Messiah-the Son of God manifested in the flesh of man-the second Adam. And to it belong all those conditions, of humiliation, suffering, and ex 1 hath not where to lay his head. 21 And another of his f see l Kings disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. g Ps. Ixv. 5-7: Ixxxix. 9: cvii. 29. 23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was a covered with the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and & rebuked the winds and a render, being covered. altation, which it behoved the Son of Man to go through. 21.] In St. Luke we find, that our Lord previously commanded him to follow Him. Clement of Alexandria reports this as having been said to Philip. But if so, He had long ago ordered Philip to follow Him, taking St. Luke's order of the occurrence. A tradition of this nature was hardly likely to be wrong; so that perhaps the words Follow me are to be taken (as in John xxi. 19, 22) as an admonition occasioned by some slackness or symptom of decadence on the part of the Apostle. The attempt to evade the strong words of our Lord's command by supposing that to bury my father means, to reside with my father till his death' (Theophylact), is evidently futile, since "first to go and bury" is plainly said of an act waiting to be done; and the reason of our Lord's rebuke was the peremptory and all-superseding nature of the command "Follow 22. the dead] First time, as Rev. iii. 1, spiritually, second, literally dead. The two meanings are similarly used in one saying by our Lord in John xi. 25, 26. See Heb. vi. 1; ix, 14: and the weighty addition in Luke, ver. 62. me." 23.] This journey across the lake, with its incidents, is placed by St. Mark and St. Luke after the series of parables commencing with that of the sower, and recorded in ch. xiii. By Mark with a precise note of sequence: "the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them," Mark iv. 35. 24. being covered compare Markiv. 37: Luke viii. 23. By keeping to the strict imperfect sense, we obviate all necessity for qualifying these words: the ship was becoming covered, &c. All lakes bordered by mountains, and indeed all hilly coasts, are liable to these sudden gusts of wind. 25.] Lord, save us: we perish = Master, carest thou not that we perish, Mark iv. 38 = Master, Master, we perish, Luke viii. 24. On these and such like variations, notice the following excellent and important remarks of Augustine: "The sense of the disciples waking the Lord and seeking to be saved, is one and the same: nor is it worth while to enquire which of these three was really said to Christ. For whether they said any one of these three, or other words which no one of the Evangelists has mentioned, but of similar import as to the truth of the sense, what matters it?" We may wish that he had always spoken thus. Much useless labour might have been spared, and men's minds led to the diligent enquiry into the real difficulties of the Gospels, instead of so many spending time in knitting cobwebs. But Augustine himself in the very next sentence descends to the unsatisfactory ground of the Harmonists, when he adds. "Though it may be also, that when many were calling upon Him, all these may have been said, one by one, another by another." His mind however was not one to rest contented with such sophisms; and all his deeper and more earnest sayings are in the truer and freer spirit of the above extract. The above remarks are more than ever important, now that a reaction towards the low literal harmonistic view has set in, and the inspiration of the mere letter is set up against those who seek for life in searching the real spirit of the Scriptures. 26.] The time of this rebuke in the text precedes, but in Mark and Luke follows, the stilling of the storm. See the last note. They were of little faith, in that they were afraid of perishing while they had on board the slumbering Saviour: they were not faithless, for they had recourse to that Saviour to help them. Therefore He acknowledges the faith which they had; answers the prayer of faith, by 28.] the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? 28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the b Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, bread, Gadarenes. working a perfect calm: but rebukes them for not having the stronger, firmer faith, to trust Him even when He seemed insensible to their danger. The symbolic application of this occurrence is too striking to have escaped general notice. The Saviour with the company of His disciples in the ship tossed on the waves, seemed a typical reproduction of the Ark bearing mankind on the flood, and a foreshadowing of the Church tossed by the tempests of this world, but having Him with her always. And the personal application is one of comfort, and strengthening of faith, in danger and doubt. 27. the men] The men who were in the ship, besides our Lord and His disciples. Among the difficulties attendant on this narrative, the situation and name of the place where the event happened are not the least. Origen discusses the three, Gerasa, which he found in the text in his time, but pronounces to be a city of Arabia, having no sea or lake near it, Gadara, which he found in a few MSS., but disapproves, as a city of Judæa, not near any lake or sea with cliffs;-and Gergesa, which he says is a city on the lake of Tiberias, with a cliff hanging over the lake, where the spot of the miracle was shewn. Notwithstanding this, it appears very doubtful whether there ever was a town named Gergesha (or-sa) near the lake. There were the Gergashites (Joseph. i. 6. 2) in former days, but their towns had been destroyed by the Israelites at their first irruption, and never, that we hear of, afterwards rebuilt (see Deut. vii. 1: Josh. xxiv. 11). Gerasa (now Dscherasch) lies much too far to the East. The town of Gadara, alluded to in the text, was a strong chief city in Peræa, opposite Scythopolis and Tiberias to the East, in the mountain, at whose foot were the well-known warm baths. It was on the river Hieromax, and sixty stadia from Tiberias, a Greek city (see reff. to Josephus and Eusebius in my Gr. Test.). It was destroyed in the civil wars of the Jews, and rebuilt by Pompeius, presented by Augustus to King Herod, and after his death united to the province of Syria. It was one of the ten cities of De capolis. Burckhardt and others believe that they have found its ruins at Omkeis, near the ridge of the chain which divides the valley of Jordan from that of the sea of Tiberias. The territory of this city might well extend to the shore of the lake. It may be observed, that there is nothing in any of the three accounts to imply that the city was close to the scene of the miracle, or the scene of the miracle close to the herd of swine, or the herd of swine, at the time of their possession, close to the lake. Indeed the expression "a good way off from them," ver. 30, implies the contrary with regard to the swine. It appears, from Burckhardt, that there are many tombs in the neighbourhood of the ruins of Gadara to this day, hewn in the rock, and thus capable of affording shelter. It may be well in fairness to observe, that "Gergesenes" can hardly have arisen, as sometimes represented, entirely from Origen's conjecture, as it pervades so many MSS. and ancient (it is true, not the most ancient) versions. We cannot say that a part of the territory of Gadara may not have been known to those who, like Matthew, were locally intimate with the shores of the lake, by this ancient and generally disused name. Still however, we are, I conceive, bound in a matter of this kind to follow the most ancient extant testimony. See further on the parallel places in Mark and Luke. two possessed with devils] In Mark v. 2, and Luke viii. 27, but one is mentioned. All three Evangelists have some particulars peculiar to themselves; but Mark the most, and the most striking, as having evidently proceeded from an eye-witness. The "we are many" of Mark is worth noticing, in reference to the discrepancy of number in the two accounts, as perhaps connected with the mention of more than one by our Evangelist, who omits the circumstance connected with that speech. ing fierce] See the terribly graphic account of St. Mark (v. 3-6). The dæmoniac was without clothes, which though related only by St. Luke (viii. 27), yet, with remarkable consistency, appears from St. Mark's narrative, where he is described as exceed so that no man might pass by that way. 29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, [Jesus,] thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into comit. sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, at Jesus's feet, after his cure. so that no man] Peculiar to this Gospel. 29.] before the time, is peculiar to this Gospel: Son of God, common to all. 30. a good way off] The Vulgate rendering, "not far off," does not seem accordant with the other accounts, both of which imply distance: Mark v. 11: Luke viii. 32. These, especially the first, would seem to imply that the swine were on the hills, and the scene of the miracle at some little distance, on the plain. 31.] St. Mark and St. Luke give, as the ground of this request, that they might not be sent out of the land = into the abyss, i. e. out of their permitted residence on earth to torment before the time in the abyss. See note on Luke. 32.] This remarkable narrative brings before us the whole question of DÆMONIACAL POSSESSIONS in the Gospels, which I shall treat here once for all, and refer to this note hereafter. I would then remark in general, (I. 1) that the Gospel narratives are distinctly pledged to the historic truth of these occurrences. Either they are true, or the Gospels are false. For they do not stand in the same, or a similar position, with the discrepancies in detail, so frequent between the Evangelists: but they form part of that general groundwork in which all agree. (2) Nor can it be said that they represent the opinion of the time, and use words in accordance with it. This might have been difficult to answer, but that they not only give such expressions as possessed with devils, dæmonized (Mark v. 16: Luke viii. 36), and other like ones, but relate to us words spoken by the Lord Jesus, in which the personality and presence of the dæmons is distinctly implied. See especially Luke xi. 17-26. Now either our Lord spoke these words, or He did not. If He did not, then we must at once set aside the concurrent testimony of the Evangelists to a plain matter of fact; in other words establish a principle which will overthrow equally every fact related in the Gospels. If He did, it is wholly at variance with any Christian idea of the perfection of truthfulness in Him who was Truth itself, to suppose Him to have used such plain and solemn words repeatedly, before His disciples and the Jews, in encouragement of, and connivance at, a lying superstition. (3) After these remarks, it will be unnecessary to refute that view of dæmoniacal possession which makes it identical with mere bodily disease, as it is included above; but we may observe, that it is every where in the Gospels distinguished from disease, and in such a way as to shew that, at all events, the two were not in that day confounded. (See ch. ix. 32, 33, and compare Mark vii. 32.) (4) The question then arises, Granted the plain historical truth of dæmoniacal possession, WHAT WAS IT? This question, in the suspension, or withdrawal, of the gift of discerning of spirits' in the modern Church, is not easy to answer. But we may gather from the Gospel narratives some important ingredients for our description. The dæmoniac was one whose being was strangely interpenetrated ('possessed' is the most exact word that could be found) by one or more of those fallen spirits, who are constantly asserted in Scripture (under the name of dæmons, evil spirits, unclean spirits, their chief being the devil or Satan) to be the enemies and tempters of the souls of men. (See Acts v. 3: John xiii. 2, and passim.) He stood in a totally different position from the abandoned wicked man, who morally is given over to the devil. This latter would be a subject for punishment; but the dæmoniac for deepest compassion. There appears to have been in him a double will and double consciousness-sometimes the cruel spirit thinking and speaking in him, sometimes his poor crushed self crying out to the Saviour of men for mercy: a terrible advantage taken, and a personal realization, by the malignant powers of evil, of the fierce struggle between sense and conscience in the man of morally divided life. Hence it has been not im |