Matthew 9

Matthew 9:1

There arose a great tempest in the sea. Mark says, “A great storm” (Mr 4:37); Luke, “There came down a storm of wind” (Lu 8:23); the word used by Matthew implies a tornado. The Greek word “seismos” denotes a sudden and violent gust of wind, such as frequently bursts on the lake. All travelers describe the storms as very sudden and violent caused by the cold air that rushes down from the mountains into the heated depression of the lake.

Matthew 9:2

Lord, save us: we perish. The Lord was awakened out of sleep with these words. Their language is that of extreme terror.

Matthew 9:3

O ye of little faith. According to Matthew, he characterizes them as of “little faith”; according to Mark he asked, “How is it that ye have no faith”? (Mr 4:40); according to Luke, “Where is your faith”? (Lu 8:25). The spirit of the rebuke is the same in all the accounts. Rebuked the winds and the sea. Mark gives the very words of the rebuke: “Peace, be still” (Mr 4:39).

Matthew 9:4

What manner of man? The words express astonishment at this new proof of his control, not only over demons and disease, but also over the winds and waves, which obeyed him at his word.

Matthew 9:5

Into the country of the Gergesenes. Compare Mr 5:1-21 Lu 8:26-40. Gergesa has been identified on the east shore of Galilee; the “steep place” and “tombs” are still seen. It was a village in the district of the Gadarenes. The Lord landed here after the storm. The Revised Version has “Gadarenes” in Matthew, and “Gerasenes” in Mark and Luke (Mr 5:1 Lu 8:26). The simple explanation of this difference is that Gadarenes and Gerasenes are different names for the inhabitants of the same large district, so called from Gadara and Gerasa, two cities of that region; while Gergesenes in the name of the people of a smaller district within the other, and named from the city of Gergesa. Two possessed with devils. Mark and Luke mention only one, the fiercer one, who spoke with the Lord (Mr 5:2 Lu 8:27). The tombs. The tombs were caves, natural or artificial, cut in the rock of the hill side, and, hence, suitable for a shelter. Fierce. So violent as to be dangerous (Mr 5:3-5 Lu 8:29).

Matthew 9:6

They cried out. This account shows: (1) That demoniacal possession was not simply bodily or mental disease. (2) That evil spirits actually took possession of and controlled human beings. (3) That these controlled the actions and organs of speech of their poor victims. (4) We learn elsewhere that sin prepared the way for the entrance of the demon. Thou Son of God. The demons, like the devil, recognized him. Torment us before the time. These words show that they expected the final triumph of Christ.

Matthew 9:7

An herd of many swine. According to Mark, 2,000 (Mr 5:13). They were an unclean animal, kept probably by Jews in violation of the spirit of the Mosaic law; or, if by Gentiles, kept in violation of God’s law for the land of Israel.

Matthew 9:8

Suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. Why this request we do not know; perhaps it was malicious; perhaps to have an animal habitation.

Matthew 9:9

Go. Permission, not a command. Ran violently . . . into the sea. Maddened, the swine rushed down the steep declivity into the sea. If we knew all the facts we would see more fully the righteousness of the Lord’s permission. Perhaps the loss of the swine was a punishment. Perhaps it was to show that evil works its own destruction.

Matthew 9:11

The whole city came out to meet Jesus. Filled with wonder and fear by the story. Besought [him] that he would depart. Partly from awe of one with such power; partly, perhaps, from fear of loss of more property. The Lord, bidden to depart, never returned. In this fact is a significant lesson. Mark tells us that the healed demoniac became a preacher of Christ in his own country (Mr 5:18-20).

Matthew 9:13

Miracles at Capernaum and on the Sea SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 8: The Leper Healed. The Servant of the Centurion Healed. Great Faith. Sitting in the Kingdom with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Children of the Kingdom Cast Out. Following Christ. The Storm on the Sea. The Disciples in Terror. The Storm Quelled at His Voice. The Gergesene Demoniacs Healed. The Swine Perish in the Sea. He entered into a ship. The last chapter left the Savior in the country of the Gadarenes on the eastern side of the lake. He now returns to Capernaum. Came into his own city. Capernaum, so called because, after leaving Nazareth, he made Capernaum his Galilean home.

Matthew 9:14

They brought to him a man sick of the palsy. Compare Mr 2:1-12 Lu 5:17-26. A helpless paralytic, unable even to walk, but anxious to be brought to the great Healer. Seeing their faith. That of the four bearers of the helpless man, and the man himself. The sick man and his friend showed their faith by overcoming great obstacles in order to come to Christ for help. Mark informs us that there was such a crowd that the palsied man had to be let down through the roof (Mr 2:4). Said to the sick of the palsy. “Palsy” is a contraction of the word “paralysis”. A disease which deprives the part affected of sensation or the power of motion, or both. Thy sins be forgiven thee. The Greek is in the past tense. Possibly he had brought his sickness upon himself by means of his sins; but was now penitent.

Matthew 9:15

Certain of the scribes. The learned class, the official expounders of the Scriptures, the theologians, the jurists, the legislators, the politicians, and, indeed, the soul of Israel. Said within themselves. They had scented heresy from afar, and came from Jerusalem to pry into the teachings of the Prophet of Galilee, as the people called him (Matthew 21:11). See Lu 5:17. This [man] blasphemeth. By professing to forgive sins, the prerogative not of man, but of God. If Christ were but a man, as they imagined, the scribes would have been right. And yet, so far, he had not said that “he” forgave the sins, but merely declared them forgiven. This was the beginning of the opposition that ended with the cross. On the same accusation of blasphemy, now first made, the Sanhedrin condemned him to death (Matthew 26:65).

Matthew 9:16

Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? They had said nothing aloud, but he read their hearts.

Matthew 9:17

Whether is easier to say, [Thy] sins be forgiven thee. To say, “Thy sins be forgiven thee”, was easy, for no visible result could test the saying. To say, “Take up thy bed and walk”, was not apparently so easy, for failure would cover with confusion. He said the last, leaving the inference–If I can do the most difficult, then I can do the easier.

Matthew 9:18

But that ye may know. By doing that which is capable of being put to the proof, I will vindicate my right and power to do that which in its very nature is incapable of being put to the proof of the senses. The Son of man cannot simply mean “a man”, or a mere man, since the powers in question do not to men as such. The true sense is determined by Daniel 7:13, where the phrase is confessedly applied to the Messiah, as a partaker of our nature. Hath power on earth to forgive sins. “Authority” is a better rendering than “power”, and it is so given by the American Revision Committee. He had “authority” from the Father who had sent him, and who had committed judgment to his hands on earth. Sins are against God, and therefore only God can forgive them; for in the nature of things only he can forgive against whom the offense has been committed, but Jesus was “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). I can forgive sins committed against myself, but not those committed against my neighbor, much less those against God. Christ’s argument here affords a fair test of all priestly claims to absolve from sin. If the priest has power to remit the eternal punishment of sin, he should be able, certainly, to remit the physical and temporal punishment of sin. This Christ did; this the priest does not, and cannot do.

Matthew 9:19

And he arose, and departed to his own house. It may be regarded as an enacted parable of sin and redemption. The paralytic typifies the sinner, by his original helplessness (Isaiah 40:30 John 6:44 15:5); faith was demonstrated by his earnestness to come to Christ in spite of obstacles (Psalms 25:15 86:2,7); and the power of divine grace, in the ability to obey Christ’s command, received in the very attempt to comply with it (Philippians 4:13).

Matthew 9:20

The multitudes . . . marvelled. Why should they not? “His name shall be called Wonderful” (Isaiah 9:6).

Matthew 9:21

Saw a man, named Matthew. Compare Mr 2:13-17 Lu 5:27-32. Such is the modest introduction of himself that Matthew gives. He was also called Levi (Lu 5:27). At the receipt of custom. He was a tax collector, a publican, whose business it was to collect the Roman taxes. Follow me. Like Peter, Andrew, James and John, he was called from his business, and left at once. Like them, he was probably a disciple of John, and before this a disciple of Jesus, but now called to apostleship. Arose, and followed. Thus promptly the call of Jesus ought always to be obeyed.

Matthew 9:22

As he sat at meat. At a meal. In the house. The house of Matthew. Matthew made a feast (Mr 2:15 Lu 5:29). Many publicans and sinners came. Matthew’s old associates. They were invited. Publicans. Collectors of the Roman tax, usually Jews, but hated because they collected a hateful tax, often, too, grasping and unscrupulous. Sinners. Persons excommunicated from the synagogue. An orthodox Jew would not eat with them. When the term “sinner” is applied to a woman, it usually means an outcast.

Matthew 9:23

When the Pharisees saw [it]. They were not at feast, but were on the watch. Why eateth your Master? etc. The strict Jews would not eat with Gentiles, and these classes were regarded by them on a level with the heathen (Acts 11:3 Galatians 2:12).

Matthew 9:24

They that be whole need not a physician, etc. In other words, “If these people are as sinful as you allege, they are the very ones who need a Savior”.

Matthew 9:25

I will have mercy, and not sacrifice. See Hosea 6:6. The Pharisees had never learned the meaning of this passage, which teaches that kind hearts and helpful deeds are more pleasing to God than outward ceremonial. Sacrifice is right, but mercy is first in importance. I am not come to call the righteous, etc. My mission in the world is to save sinners.

Matthew 9:26

Disciples of John. Some who still held aloof from Christ, and really sympathized with the Pharisees (Lu 5:33). Why do we and the Pharisees fast often? The Pharisees fasted twice a week (Lu 18:12), and these disciples imitated them. They could not understand why he did not require similar austerities.

Matthew 9:27

The children of the bridechamber mourn. The friends of the bridegroom, for the bride was brought to his father’s house. Fasting was usually a sign of sorrow. He was himself the Bridegroom, and still with his disciples. When the bridegroom shall be taken from them. An allusion especially to the crushing sorrow when he was crucified and buried. Real fasting takes place when there is real occasion for it. See Acts 13:2 14:23 2 Corinthians 6:5 11:27.

Matthew 9:28

No man putteth, etc. Two illustrations follow to show the folly of patching up, or reforming, an old, worn out religion like Judaism. New cloth. Cloth that has been shrunk. In shrinking it would tear the old cloth around it, and make a worse rent than before.

Matthew 9:29

Neither do men put new wine into old bottle. New wine is unfermented wine. The bottles were not of glass, but of skin, the kind that is still used in Palestine, where nothing changes. Old skin bottles would become tender with age and burst during the fermentation of the wine.

Matthew 9:30

There came a certain ruler. One of the rulers of the synagogue (probably of the synagogue of Capernaum). One of the elders and presiding officers, who convened the assembly, preserved order, invited readers and speakers. His name was Jairus (Mr 5:22 Lu 8:41). Matthew, Mark, and Luke all give this account. From them we learn that the maiden was twelve years old, was dying when the ruler started, was dead when he spoke to Jesus. Compare Matthew 9:18-26 Mr 5:22-43 Lu 8:41-56.

Matthew 9:32

And, behold, a woman. On his way to the house of Jairus another miracle was wrought. I think the circumstances of the narrative render the inference almost certain that this account was meant for the consolation of those multitudes of stricken women in all ages who seem to be afflicted with sorrows in very unequal measure, compared with the stronger, and generally, also, the more depraved, sex (W. H. Thomson, M.D.). An issue of blood. A hemorrhage either from the bowels or the womb, probably the latter. Came behind [him], and touched the hem of his garment. The ordinary outer Jewish garment was a square or oblong piece of cloth, worn something like an Indian blanket.

Matthew 9:33

But touch his garment. The Jews paid to the fringe a superstitious reverence. Sharing the superstition, this woman touched it in hope of cure.

Matthew 9:34

Thy faith had made thee whole. Literally, “thy faith hath saved thee”. Her faith, of course, had not been the cause of her cure. Christ’s power had been that. But her faith was the condition on her part. Hence it might be represented as having “made her whole”. The student should observe that hers was not a passive faith, but it led to action. A passive faith is a dead faith. (See James 2:17,20,26).

Matthew 9:35

And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house. He healed the woman on the way. Saw the minstrels. The Jews, like other Orientals, were wont to employ professional mourners, minstrels who made plaintive music, or wailed.

Matthew 9:36

Give place; for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. The reality of the death is not denied, but only the fact implicitly assumed, that death will be followed by a resurrection, as sleep is by an awakening. Laughed him to scorn. The company of mourners was certain that the child was dead and, understanding neither the language nor the power of Jesus, laughed in derision.

Matthew 9:37

When the people were put forth. Luke says that Peter, James and John, and the father and mother of the maiden were permitted to remain (Lu 8:51). Took her by the hand. As we learn from one of the parallel accounts, he said to her, “Talitha cumi” (Mr 5:41). This is Aramaic, the language generally spoken by the common people in Palestine at the time of Christ. The words mean: “Rise, my child”. They were immediately obeyed. She arose, and walked.

Matthew 9:38

The fame hereof went abroad. Luke dwells emphatically upon the astonishment felt by the parents (Lu 8:56), but shared doubtless by the three apostles (Mr 5:42).