Matthew 8
AEKMatthew 8:5-24
5-13 Compare Luke 7:1-10.
5 This is followed by an intimation that, though rejected by His own, He would be accepted by the nations, as is the case in the book of Acts. The priest was at one end of the religious scale, and the alien centurion at the other. Yet it was the far-off gentile who believed and received, without a sign, without even the Lord’s presence, rather than the privileged priest, who had ample opportunity to examine the reality of His cures and to test His claims by the divine oracles of which the priests were the repositories.
10 Like the centurion’s servant, the nations who believed, when the evangel went forth after His resurrection, as recorded in Acts, had no personal contact with Him, and never knew His presence. They are saved at a distance, by a faith unequaled in Israel. So, also there will be many in the future who will find a place in the kingdom, while many even of the priests will be left out. The paralytic who was healed is appropriately delineated. He has no strength and needs none. He does nothing. All his salvation is outside own efforts. It was, of necessity, not of works. It was all of God. Such was the salvation of the nations. In contrast with this the leper called on Him and entreated for the blessing, He came to Him and worshiped Him. Such was the case with the Jewish disciples.
14-17 Compare Mark 1:20-34; Luke 4:38-41
14 There is considerable marshy land near Tell Hum, the probable site of Capernaum. This might account for the fever.
17 Compare Isaiah 53:4. See 1 Peter 2:24. 18 Compare Mark 4:35; Luke 8:22. 19-22 Compare Luke 9:57-62.
20 This, the first time He takes the title “ Son of Mankind” , is full of deep pathos. After He has become wearied with His works of healing, a scribe knows no better than to call Him his “ Teacher” . How little had he apprehended of His power and glory! His words have shown Him to be capable of coping with all that Adam’s sin has brought into the world. He is his greater Son. He has regained the sovereignty lost by the first man. His realm extends over all mankind, and over the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven. They are among the lowest of His subjects. The jackals have their burrows and may retire to rest; the winged denizens of heaven have their roosts on which to spend the night, yet His weary head, Whose dominion includes all earthly creatures, was denied even the possession place of repose!
What a contrast is this to the last time we meet this title in the sacred records! Then we see His holy head wreathed with the chaplet of a conqueror (Revelation 14:14). The victor’s wreath adorns the brow they crowned with thorns. And then, as Daniel had foretold, will be given Him authority, and esteem, and a kingdom, that all peoples, races, and languages should serve Him, for His authority is an eonian authority, which shall not pass away (Daniel 7:14). The title “ Son of Mankind” is significant in every occurrence, even though our dull minds may miss it. It is always suggestive of the dignities which devolved on Adam as the sovereign of all earthly creatures and head of the human race, He inherits all these glories and restores them to far more than their pristine perfection in the coming eon.
24 This event probably occurred at an earlier date than the similar accounts in Mark and Luke. The cause here was an earthquake which started immense tidal waves. In the other cases it was a squall (Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:23-25).
Matthew 8:25-9
25 Ever and anon, while revealing His own glory and exercising the faith of His followers, our Lord presents a marvelous prophetic picture of the course of the kingdom proclamation. Here we have a preview, on a small scale and in physical symbols, of that terrible time of affliction, which will threaten to engulf His disciples at the end of the eon, just before His advent. The winds are the spiritual forces of wickedness, figured by the great dragon (Revelation 12:3), the sea stands for the nations of mankind, led by the wild beast (Revelation 13:1). Together they will wellnigh destroy all hopes of the kingdom. Then it is that Christ will come and rebuke the nations and the spirit powers and usher in the calm of the kingdom, where there will be no more war, the nations will be subdued and Satan will be bound. Till then there will be no possible guarantee of peace among the nations of the earth, notwithstanding every effort to stop war.
28-34 Compare Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39
28 Vaticanus reads this “ Gadarenes” . Sinaiticus reads “ Gazarenes” , but the editor (S2) changed this to “ Gorgesenos” , as we have it. Gadara was a well-known city, but is so far from the shores of Galilee, that it was quite possible for the narrative to have been enacted there. The hogs would have had to run down a mountain, cross the Jermuk river, itself enough to drown them, up its banks, then several miles across a level plain into the water. At one place on the eastern shore of the lake, at a ruined town called Chersa by the Arabs, all the topography is in perfect keeping with the narrative. Behind the town tombs were cut in the rock.
A steep mountain rises almost immediately out of the water, so that the hogs, rushing down, could not step on the narrow beach, but plunged headlong into the lake. It seems evident that this is the true locality and the name Gergesone seems most likely to have been the original off the traditional “ Chersa” , as it is now known. Gadarene seems misleading, hence we do not use it.
31 As swine’s flesh was unclean, the keeping of hogs was illegal, and no wrong was done to their owners by sending them to destruction in the waters of the lake.
1-8 Compare Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26.
5 Paralysis and all other human ills are but an effect, of which sin is the cause. Not, indeed, the personal sins of the paralytic, but the sins of mankind in general, for all men are born with a heritage of sin and live in an atmosphere heavy with wrong-doing. But the great truth here taught is that the physical blessings of the coming kingdom have a secure basis in the pardon of sins. So, in this scene, which suggests the believing remnant of Israel who receive Him as their Messiah, the Lord seems to overlook the paralysis at first, and pardons his sins. The delay, and the unbelief of the scribes, suggest the apostasy of the nation and the consequence postponement of physical blessings till the kingdom comes and the authority of the Son of Mankind to pardon sins is in full exercise, followed by the health, strength, and vigor which will be the portion of mankind in the millennium. If human governments would get beyond the outbreaks and symptoms and deal with sin they would not need to be concerned with all its evil effects. They can never bring health and righteousness.
9-15 Compare Mark 2:13-20; Luke 5:27-35.
9 It is a most striking exhibition of God’s grace and wisdom, that such a man as Matthew should be chosen for an apostle, and_ furthermore should be empowered to write this account of Israel’s King. This was contrary to all the dictates of human wisdom. Matthew was a “ publican” or tribute collector, a class more hated, perhaps, than aliens, and more despised than sinners. The Roman government did not collect its tribute from the nations under its yoke directly, but farmed it out to subordinates. A district was sold for what it would bring, and the collector received his wages by assessing as much more as he could get. Hence they amassed wealth at the expense of their poor countrymen and for the benefit of a foreign government.
Yet God chose such a traitor to his country to describe the glories of the King! His fitness was not by birth but of God.
11 See Matthew 11:19 Luke 15:2.
12 The strong need to be taught their weakness, and the just their sinfulness. Then, and not till then, are they in conscious need of a Saviour.
13 See Matthew 12:7; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; 1 Timothy 1:15.