CHAPTER XII.

Mercy rather than ritual obedience, 1-8. The withered hand cured, 9-13. Christ's meekness and compassion, 14-21. Blind and dumb demoniac

words, 33-37. A sign demanded, 38-45. Whom Christ most loves, 46-50.

A

T that time 1 Jesus went on the sabbath day through the

Idle

was spoken to the multitude. Ver. 7. He waited till his disciples were gone, apprehending, doubtless, that they would be likely to report what he said in praise of their master, and then expressed his high opinion of his character. The practice of the world is to praise others to their faces, or in the presence of those who will be sure to inform them of it, and to speak evil of them when absent. Jesus delivered his unfavourable opinions of others to the men themselves; their excellences he took pains to commend where they would not be likely to hear of them. He did good to both; and in both, prevented the existence of pride.

IV. The wicked take much pains, and are often fickle and inconsistent, for the sake of abusing and calumniating religious men. Ver. 18, 19. They found much fault with our Saviour, for doing the very same thing which they blamed John for not doing. So it is commonly with men who slander professors of religion. They risk their own character, to prove that others are hypocrites, or sinners. The object is not truth, but calumny, and opposition to religion; and hitherto no means have been too base, or too wicked, to pour contempt on the followers of Christ.

V. The purest characters may expect the shafts of calumny and malice; and often in proportion to their purity. Ver. 19. Even the Saviour of the world was accused of being intemperate, and a glutton. If the only perfectly pure being that ever trod the earth was thus accused, let not his followers think that any strange thing has happened to them, if they are falsely accused.

VI. Judgments will overtake guilty men, and cities, and nations. Ver. 21, 22. They fell on Sodom, Tyre, Sidon, and Capernaum. Those judgments may long linger; but in due time the hand of God will fall on the wicked, and they will die, for ever die.

1 Mark ii. 23-28. Luke vi. 1-5.

VII. The wicked will suffer in proportion to their privileges. Ver. 23, 24. So it was with Capernaum. And if they of ancient days suffered thus; if more tremendous judgments fell on them than even on guilty Sodom, what shall be the doom of those who go down to hell from this day of light? The Saviour was at Capernaum a few days; he worked a few miracles there; but they had not, as we have, all his instructions; they had not sabbath schools, and Bible classes, and the stated preaching of the gospel, nor was the world blessed then as now with extensive and powerful revivals of religion. How awful must be the doom of those who are educated in the ways of religion; who are instructed from sabbath to sab bath; who grow up amidst the means of grace, and then are lost!

VIII. The poor and needy, the weary and heavy-laden, the soul sick of sin and the world, conscious of guilt, and afraid to die, may come to Jesus Christ and live. Ver. 28-30. The invitation is wide as the world. The child and the old man may seek and find salvation at the feet of the same Saviour. None is too young: none too old. Christ is full of mercy, and all who come shall find peace. O how should we, in this sinful and miserable world, borne down with sin and exposed each moment to death, how should we come and find the peace which he has promised to all! and take the yoke which all have found to be light!

CHAPTER XII.

1-8. The account contained in these verses is also recorded in Mark ii. 2328, and Luke vi. 1-5.

1. At that time. Luke, ch. vi. 1. fixes the time more particularly. He says that it was the second sabbath after the first. To understand this, it is proper to remark, that the passover was observed during the month Abib, or Nisan, answering to the

The

latter part of March, and the first of April. The feast was held seven days, commencing on the fourteenth day of the month, Exod. xii. 1-28; xxiii. 15; on the second day of the paschal week. The law required that a sheaf of barley should be offered up, as the first fruits of the harvest. Lev. xxiii. 10, 11. From this day seven weeks were reckoned to the feast of pentecost, Lev. xxiii. 15, 16, called also the feast of weeks, Deut. xvi. 10, and the feast of the harvest. Exod. xxiii. 16. This second day in the feast of the passover, or of unleavened bread, was the beginning, therefore, from which they reckoned towards the pentecost. sabbath in the week following would be the second sabbath after this first one in the reckoning; and this was doubtless the time mentioned when Christ went through the fields. It should be further mentioned, that in Judea the barley harvest commences about the beginning of May, and both that and the wheat harvest are over in about three weeks. Barley is in full ear in the beginning of April. There is no improbability, therefore, in this narrative on account of the season of the year. This feast was always held at Jerusalein. Through the corn. Through the barley, or wheat. The word corn, as used in our translation of the Bible, has no reference to maize, or Indian corn, of which it is scarcely probable chat the translators knew any thing, but it was applied, as it is stili, to wheat, rye, oats, and barley. This explains the circumstance that they rubbed it in their hands, Luke vi. 1, to separate the grain from the chaff.

2. Upon the sabbath day. The Pharisees, doubtless desirous of finding fault with Christ, said that in plucking the

To

3. But he said unto them, &c. vindicate his disciples, he referred them to a similar case, recorded in the Old Testament, and therefore, one with which they ought to have been acquainted. This was the case of David. The law commanded that twelve loaves of bread should be laid on the table in the holy place in the tabernacle, to remain a week, and then to be eaten by the priests only. Their place was supplied then by fresh bread. This was called the shew-bread. Lev. xxiv. 5—9. David, fleeing before Saul, weary and hungry, had come to Abimelech the priest; had found only this bread, had asked it of him, and had eaten it, contrary to the letter of the law. 1 Sam. xxi. 1-7. David was a high authority among the Jews. This act had passed uncondemned. It proved that in cases of necessity the laws did not bind a man :— a

principle which all laws admit. So the necessity of the disciples justified them in doing on the sabbath what would have been otherwise unlawful.

4, 5. House of God. That was, the tabernacle, the temple not being then built.

In the law. In the law of Moses. Profane the sabbath. He referred them to the conduct of the priests also. On the sabbath days they were engaged, as well as on other days, in killing beasts for sacrifice. Num. xxviii. 9, 10. Two lambs were killed on

the sabbath, in addition to the daily sacrifice. The priests must be engaged in slaying them, and making fires to burn them in sacrifice; whereas to kindle a fire was expressly forbidden the Jews on the sabbath, Exod. xxxv. 3; they were obliged to skin them, prepare them for sacrifice, and burn them. They did that which, for other persons to do, would have been profaning the sabbath. Yet they were blameless. They did what was necessary and commanded. This was done in the very temple, too, the place of holiness, where the law should be most strictly observed.

6. One greater than the temple. Here he refers to himself, and to his own dignity and power. I have power over the laws: I can grant to my disciples a dispensation from the jewish laws. An act which I command or permit them to do, is therefore right. This proves that he was divine. None but God can authorize men to do a thing contrary to the divine laws. He refers them again to a passage he had before quoted, see Note, Matt. ix. 13, showing that God preferred acts of righteousness, rather then a precise observance of a ceremonial law.

appointed for his happiness. Gen. ii. 1-3. His necessities, his real comforts and wants, are not to bend to that which was made for him. The laws are to be interpreted favourably to his real wants and comforts. This authorizes works only of real necessity, not of imaginary wants, or ainusement, or common business, and worldly employments.

To crown all, Christ says that he was Lord of the sabbath. He had a right to direct the manner of its observance-undoubted proof that he is divine.

9-13. The account contained in these verses is recorded also in Mark iii. 1-5, and Luke vi. 6-10.

10. A man which had his hand withered. This was probably one form of the palsy. See Note, Matt. iv. 24.

Mark and Luke have mentioned some circumstances omitted by Matthew. They say that Jesus addressed the man, and told him to stand forth in the midst. He then addressed the people. He asked them if it was lawful to do good on the sabbath day? This was admitted by all their teachers, and it could not be denied. They were therefore silent. He then appealed to them, and drew an argument from their conduct. A man that had a sheep that should fall into a

common offices of humanity, and draw it out. If a man would save the life of a sheep, was it not proper to save the life of a man? By a reference to their own conduct, he silenced them.

Mark adds that he looked on them with anger; that is, with strong disapprobation of their conduct. Their envy

12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore, it is lawful to do well on the sabbath-days.

13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

and malignity excited feelings of holy indignation. See Note on Mark iii. 5. 12. A man better than a sheep. Of more consequence, or value. If you would show an act of kindness to a brute beast on the sabbath, how much more importance is it to evince similar kindness to one made in the image of God, one for whom the Saviour came to die, and who may be raised up to everlasting life. It is lawful to do well. This was universally allowed by the Jews in the abstract; and Jesus only showed them, that the principle on which they acted in other things, applied with more force to the case before him, and that the act which he was about to perform was, by their own confession, lawful.

13. And he said, Stretch forth thine hand. This was a remarkable commandment. The man might have said that he had no strength; that it was a thing which he could not do. Yet, being commanded, it was his duty to obey. He did so, and was healed. So the sinner. It is his duty to obey whatever God commands. He will give strength to those who attempt to do his will. It is not right to plead, when God commands us to do a thing, that we have no strength. God will give us strength, if there is a disposition to obey. At the same time, however, this passage should not be applied to the sinner as if it proved that he has no more strength or ability than the man who had the withered hand. It proves no such thing. It has no reference to any such case. And it should not be used as if it proved any such thing. It may be used to prove, that man should instantly obey the commands of God without pausing to examine the question about his ability, and especially without saying that he can do nothing. What would the Saviour have said to this man, if he had objected that he could not stretch out his hand? It was restored

14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;

1 Or, took counsel.

whole. Christ had before claimed divine authority and power. Ver. 6-9. He now showed that he possessed it. By his own power he healed him; thus evincing by a miracle, that his claim of being Lord of the sabbath was well founded.

These two cases determine what may be done on the sabbath. The one was a case of necessity; the other of mercy. The example of the Saviour, and his explanations, show that these are a part of the proper duties of that holy day. Beyond an honest and conscientious discharge of these two duties, men may not devote the sabbath to any secular purpose. If they do, they do it at their peril. They go beyond what his authority authorizes them to do. They do what he claimed the special right of doing, as being Lord of the sabbath. They usurp his place; and act and legislate where God only has a right to act and legislate. Men may as well trample down any other law of the Bible, as that respecting the sabbath.

14-21. This account is found also in Mark iii. 6—12.

14. The Pharisees-held a council, &c. Mark adds, that the Herodians also took a part in this plot. They were probably a political party, attached firmly to Herod. See Note, Matt. iii. 7. The friends of Herod were opposed to Christ, and ever ready to join any plot against his life. They remembered, doubtless, the attempts of Herod the Great against him when he was the babe of Bethlehem; and they were stung with the memory of the escape of Jesus from his bloody hands. The attempt against him now was the effect of envy. They were enraged also that he had foiled them in the argument; they hated his popularity; they were losing their influence; and they, therefore, resolved to take him out of the way.

15. Jesus-withdrew himself, &c. He knew the design against his life. He knew that his hour was not yet come;