ch. xii. 2. a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter e Matt. x. 26. in may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come babroad. 18 Take heed therefore Matt. xii. 12: how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given ; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. XXV. 29. ch. xix. 26. 19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. 20 And it was told him [a by certain which said], Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. 21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it. 22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. 23 But as they sailed he fell asleep and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the brender, to light. C render, the multitude. f ₫ omitted by many ancient authorities. of Matthew (v. 15; x. 26; xiii. 12), but 19-21.] THE MOTHER AND BRETHREN OF JESUS SEEK TO SEE HIM. Matt. xii. 46-50. Mark iii. 31-35. The incident is introduced here without any precise note of sequence; not so in St. Matthew, who says, after the discourse in ch. xii., "while he was yet speaking to the multitudes" and St. Mark "There came then" having before stated, ver. 21, that His relations went out to lay hold of Him, -for they said, "He is beside Himself." We must conclude therefore that they have it in the exact place, and that St. Luke only inserts it among the events of this series of discourses, as indeed it was, but e literally, one of the days. without fixing its place. His account is abridged, and without marks of an eyewitness, which the others have. 22-25.] JESUS, CROSSING THE LAKE, STILLS THE STORM. Matt. viii. 18, 2327. Mark iv. 35-41. The chronology of this occurrence would be wholly uncertain, were it not for the precision of St. Mark, who has introduced it by "the same day, when the even was come," i. e. on the same day in which the preceding parables were delivered. How it has come to be misplaced in Matthew, must ever be matter of obscurity. The fact that it is so, is no less unquestionable, than the proof that it furnishes of the independence of the two other Evangelists. 22. on one of the days] This serves to shew that St. Luke had no data by which he could fix the following events. If he had seen the Gospel of St. Mark, could this have been so ? 23.] came down-from the sky,—or perhaps from the mountain valleys around : see Matt. vii. 27, and note on Acts xxvii. raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this, for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him? 26 And they harrived at the country of the i Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. 27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him and he was kept m bound with chains and [in] fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of P the devil into the wilderness. 30 And Jesus asked him saying, What is thy 14. 8 render, that. i read here, Gerasenes. 1 render, was commanding. : h literally, sailed down to. k render, a certain man out of the city. m render, bound, guarded with... • render, breaking the bands, he was driven. pi.e. not "the Devil," personal: but the dæmon which possessed him. П omit. 24.] See notes on Matthew. 25.] In Matthew this reproof comes before the stilling of the storm. But our account, and that in Mark, are here evidently exact. 26-39.] HEALING OF A DÆMONIAC IN THE LAND OF THE GERASENES. Matt. viii. 28-34. Mark v. 1-20, in both of which places see notes. 26.] over against Galilee, a more precise description than "the other side," Matthew, or "the other side of the sea," Mark. 27.] out of the city belongs not to met him as in A. V., but to a certain man-a certain man of the city. The man did not come from the city, but from the tombs. I put to any reader the question, whether it were possible for either St. Mark or St. Luke to have drawn up their account from Matthew, or with Matthew before them, seeing that he mentions two possessed throughout? Would no notice be taken of this? Then indeed would the Evangelists be but poor witnesses to the truth, if they could consciously allow such a discrepancy to go forth. Of the discrepancy itself, no solution has been proposed which can satisfy any really critical mind. no clothes is to be taken literally. The propensity to go entirely naked is a wellknown symptom in certain kinds of raving madness: see Trench, Miracles, p. 167, note t. 29.] he was commanding, imperfect tense: in the midst of this ordering, and as a consequence of it, the possessed man cried out, as in last verse. brake the bands] The unnatural increase of muscular strength is also observed in cases of raving madness (as indeed also in those of any strong concentration of the will); see Trench as above. 30.] Lightfoot (on Mark v. 9) quotes instances of the use of legion (made into a Hebrew word) for a great number, in the Rabbinical writings. The g Rev. xx. 3. name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. 31 And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the 4 deep. 32 And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. 33 Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. 34 When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, [rr and went] and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 36 They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about h Acts xvi. 30. h besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. 38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him but tt Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. 40 And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, : I literally, the abyss. rr omit. t read and render, round about the Gerasenes. fact of many dæmons having entered into this wretched man, sets before us terribly the utter break up of his personal and rational being. The words will not bear any figurative rendering, but must be taken literally (see ver. 2 of this chap., and ch. xi. 24 ff.); viz. that in the same sense in which other poor creatures were possessed by one evil spirit (see note on Matthew), this man, and Mary Magdalene, were possessed by many. 31. the abyss] This word is sometimes used for Hadés in general (Rom. x. 7), but more usually in Scripture for the abode of damned spirits: see reff. This last is certainly meant here for the request is coordinate with the fear of torment expressed above (see note on ch. xvi. 23). rrender, the precipice. But, as Dr. Wordsworth remarks, we must at the feet of Jesus] This particularity the people [gladly] received him: for they were all woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had a omit: not in the original. WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. Matt. ix. 1, 18-26. Mark v. 21-43. Our account is that one of the three which brings out the most important points, and I have therefore selected it for full comment. 40.] received him-i. e. welcomed Him; the "gladly" of the A. V. is a correct comment, but is more than is in the original text. for they were all waiting for him here we have an eye-witness again. 41.] a ruler of the synagogue: one of the rulers of the synagogue," Mark;-in Matthew only a certain ruler." 42.] one only daughter, peculiar to Luke, but perhaps implied in the affectionate diminutive of Mark. lay a dying] In Matthew she is represented as already dead. He is not aware of the subsequent message to Jaïrus, and narrates concisely and generally. The crowd seems to have followed to see what would happen at Jaïrus's house: see ver. 54. 43.] St. Mark adds, that she grew nothing better, but rather worse. 44.] Her inner thoughts are given in Mark, ver. 28. There was doubtless a weakness and error in this woman's view;-she imagined that healing power flowed as it were magically out of the Lord's person; and she touched the fringe of his garment as the most sacred, as well as the most accessible part: see Matt. xxiii. 5: Num. xv. 37-40. But she obtained what she desired. She sought it, though in error, yet in faith. And she obtained it, because this faith was known and recognized by the Lord. It is most true objectively, that there did go forth healing power from Him, and from his Apostles (see Mark vi. 56: Luke vi. 19: Acts v. 15; xix. 12), but it is also true ▾ render, hem, as in Matt. ix. 20. that, in ordinary cases, only those were 45.] part of Jesus Himself, an undeniable instance of this, in ch. xxiv. 19-and note there. The healing took place by His will, and owing to His recognition of her faith: see similar questions, Gen. iii. 9, and 2 Kings v. 25. Peter and they that were with him] A detail contained only here. On the latter part of this verse many instructive remarks have been made in sermons-see Trench, Mir., p. 192, note (edn. 2)-to the effect that many press round Christ, but few touch Him, only the faithful. Thus Augustine, "Even thus is it now with His body, i. e. His Church. She is touched by the faith of few, though crowded by the mob of the many." And Chrysostom, "The believer on the Saviour toucheth Him, but the unbeliever throngeth and vexeth Him." It is difficult to imagine how the miracle should be, as Dr. Wordsworth calls it, "a solemn warning to all who crowd on Christ:" or how such a forbidding to come to Him should be reconciled with 1 ch. vi. 18. said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, W omitted in some of our most ancient MSS.: perhaps inserted from Mark v. 30. a omitted by many ancient authorities. It was probably inserted from Matt. ix. 22. aa not in original. "Come unto Me all..." Rather should we say, seeing it was one of those that and more, "knowing what was done to and the words of our Lord look like an encomium on her act itself. Her confession before all the people, is very striking here, as showing us that Christ will have Himself openly confessed, and not only secretly sought: that our Christian life is not, as it is sometimes called, merely a thing between ourselves and God;' but a good confession, to be witnessed before all. 48.] How lovingly does our Lord re-assure the trembling woman; her faith saved her-not merely in the act of touching, but as now completed by the act of confession;-it saved her mediately, as the connecting link between herself and Christ: but the "power which went out from Him," working through that faith, saved her energetically, and as the working cause;" by grace, through faith," Eph. ii. 8. in peace] See ch. vii. 50 and note. St. Mark's addition, "be whole of thy plague," is important, as conveying to her an assurance that the effect which she felt in her body should be permanent; that the healing, about which she might otherwise almost have doubted, as being surreptitiously obtained, was now openly ratified by the Lord's own word. 49.] Little marks of accuracy come out in each of the two fuller accounts. Here we have there cometh one, which was doubtless the exact fact:-in Mark "there came certain," - generally expressed. In Mark again we learn not only that Jesus heard, but that the message was not reported to Him, but He overheard it being said, which is a minute detail not given here. Nothing could more satisfactorily mark the independent |