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withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.

11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

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.

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;

• Or, took counsel.

dicine might be lawfully prescribed, and those in which it would involve a breach of the sabbath. The more rigid of the school of Schammai utterly forbade any attentions being paid to the sick on the sabbath. The general opinion probably was, that to administer medicine was unlawful, except in imminent danger of life. This debated question, therefore, respecting the lawfulness of healing on the sabbath, was put to our Lord in the synagogue, with the design of obtaining matter of accusation against him; for as it arose out of the circumstance of a man being present in the synagogue who had a "withered " or paralytic hand, here was a case in which there was no immediate danger of life, and should he heal him he might be proceeded against in their courts as a sabbath-breaker.

Verse 12. How much better is a man than a sheep? &c.-It was held lawful to save their cattle from injury or destruction on the sabbath: by how much, therefore, a man is better than a sheep, argues our Lord, so much more was it a duty to relieve a human being from pain and infirmity. Wherefore it is lawful to do well, kaλws ĦOLEL, to confer benefits, m the sabbath days, evidently meaning on the sick and infirm;

N

and thus our Lord attacked a heartless superstition, by determining the lawfulness of healing or administering medicine to the sick, and paying them all attentions necessary to the alleviation of their case, on the sabbath. In confirmation of his decision he healed the man with the withered hand, in the presence of all who were present in the synagogue, although he was in no immediate danger of life: he might be in pain, he was at least oppressed by an infirmity; and that was a sufficient reason for giving him instant relief.

Verse 14. Held a council how they might destroy him—Zvußouλiov eλaßor, they took counsel, or consulted together, when they had left the synagogue. They might probably advise how they might found a charge of blasphemy upon his having declared himself "greater than the temple," and "the Lord of the sabbath-day; "9 but as the violator of the sabbath was equally liable as the blasphemer to be punished with death, they would also endeavour to interpret the act of healing, in a case where no immediate danger of life was manifest, into this capital offence. That our Lord felt himself in danger from them, is plain from his departure to

16 And charged them that they should not make him known:

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

another place. There also, however, multitudes, still unperverted by the scribes and Pharisees, followed him; and he healed them all, that is, all the sick they brought out to him. See the Notes on Mark iii. 1-6.

Verse 16. And charged them, that they should not make him known.-That is, that they should not declare him to be the person who had healed them; that they should not, as others had done, fill the country with his fame, and excite greater attention to him; but should quietly retire home, giving thanks indeed to God, but being silent before men. This was not enjoined either to disarm the rage of the Pharisees, as some have supposed, or, as others, to prevent their adding to their sins by avoiding all excitements to these renewed efforts to persecute and destroy him; but, as the application of the following prophecy shows, out of pure dislike to that clamorous and tumultuous popularity which every where followed him, and which he took every means, consistent with his public usefulness, to repress.

Verse 17. That it might be fulfilled, &c. -On the authority of the inspired evangelist we are taught, that this prophecy had a direct reference to the Messiah, and was truly fulfilled in our Lord. From it we learn that the Messiah was God's chosen servant; his beloved, in whom he is well pleased; that he was anointed of the Holy Ghost, I will put my Spirit upon him; that he should show judgment, that is, make a revelation of truth, for the word signifies a body of doctrine, not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles; and that in his name the Gentiles should trust, should rely upon him for salvation, and find it in him. Now it was necessary that some marks should be exhibited by which the great personage who was appointed to confer such benefits should be known when he appeared upon earth, and

these the prophecy distinctly sets forth. The first is the humble and unostentatious manner in which he should fulfil his great ministry: “He shall not strive, nor cry" in vehement contention with his opposers in support of his claims; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets, in loud and boastful proclamation of them. The second mark is his tender condescension to the weak, the afflicted, and the lowly: A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. To these particulars, inserted in the prophecy on purpose to make the Messiah manifest to the attentive observer when he should in fact appear, our Lord's conduct so strikingly corresponded, and in so natural and unaffected a manner, that this agreement proves that he was the person intended in the prophecy. A dignified humility, an entire deadness to human applause, and the meekest submission to his whole appointed course of reproach and calumny, are among the most obvious traits of his character as a public teacher; and whether we take the beautiful figures which are employed by the prophet to illustrate his tenderness, as representations of the bodily or mental infirmities and afflictions of men, the application is equally convincing. Their first application to the corporal infirmities and almost expiring life of those our Lord healed, is obvious; but still more emphatically, the bruised reed is the emblem of the sorrow under which the spirit bows, as a reed which when bruised can no longer stand erect; hence, "to hang down the head like a bulrush," or reed, has become proverbial. The smoking expiring wick of the lamp, requiring a fresh supply of oil, represents the almost expiring state of the light of the truth in the minds of the Jewish people, approaching utter extinction, and calling for immediate attention to excite the flickering dying flame: both the figures too are

18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.

19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.

20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. 21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

h

22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

g Isaiah xlii. 1.

taken from mean and common things, to indicate that the persons represented were precisely those whom the Jewish teachers most despised, the poor and humble. How many such characters came to Jesus during his sojourn on earth for help and deliverance! and which of them ever applied in vain ? Bruised spirits, bent down by a sense of sin, or a weight of bodily suffering, and often both, were the objects of his special compassion; and innumerable were the monuments which he left throughout the land of his prompt and effectual pity. Nor with less sympathy did he regard the ignorance of a neglected people, in danger of having the last ray of truth extinguished in their minds from the want of proper instructers. In every docile and inquiring mind he trimmed the lamp of the understanding; and amidst all the fogs and vapours of prejudices, which rendered the communication of truth difficult in itself, and trying to the patience of the teacher, as the kindling of a lamp where the wick is faulty and the atmosphere foul, he kindled that light which "guided their feet into the way of peace," and rendered many of them the guides of their nation and the world into the way of salvation. To our blessed Lord alone these characters belong, and they prove that the whole prophecy had respect to him. To apply it, as some have done, to Cyrus, or to the nation of Israel, has not the slightest plausibility; for of neither can any one of its particu

h Luke xi. 14.

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lars be affirmed, even in a primary and inferior sense. The Chaldee paraphrast and several of the Jewish writers regard it as spoken wholly to the Messiah; and "to no other person whatever," says Bishop Lowth, can it with any justice or propriety be applied." St. Matthew's quotation differs from the Septuagint, but agrees with the Hebrew, in all but two clauses. "Till he have set forth judgment in the earth," is, in the evangelist, till he send forth judgment unto victory. The sense is, however, the same; for to SET or establish judgment in the earth, and to bring forth or lead on judgment to victory, each obviously refers to the triumphs of his doctrine, wow, the truth he reveals; for in the Old Testament it is used for the laws of God, his divine laws and institutions, which should PREVAIL at length over all nations, through that very compassion and tenderness which brought under their influence so many of his own people, and trained them up to instruct others. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust, is, in Isaiah, "And the isles shall wait for his law." The evangelist here agrees with the Septuagint, which takes the isles, in an extensive sense, for any Gentiles, however distant; and to wait for, in the sense of to hope or trust, which the Hebrew word justifies. Thus the difference is only apparent, and arises from translation only.

Verse 22. Blind and dumb.-This instance of possession being accompanied

23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son of David?

24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

i Matt. ix. 34.

both with blindness and the loss of speech, induced in consequence, probably, of the terrible power exerted by the devil upon the whole frame, rendered the sudden healing of this unfortunate man, by the expulsion of Satan, exceedingly remarkable; and as it produced great amazement among the people, so that they said, "Is not this the Son of David?" and showed a disposition to acknowledge our Lord to be the Messiah in a tumultuary manner, so it excited the Pharisees to endeavour to countervail this impression, by spreading among the people the blasphemous theory they had adopted to account for his miracles, "This man doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

Verses 25-29. And Jesus knew their thoughts, &c.-As the Pharisees" said" this blasphemy, and that probably very openly, in order to prevent the people from acknowledging Christ, by their thoughts we must here understand their INTENTIONS. He knew that their purpose in devising this blasphemy was to prevent the people from forming a right judgment on the case, and he therefore calmly and convincingly refutes it. His first argument is drawn from the very policy of Satan. As a kingdom divided against itself, where one part seeks the destruction of another, cannot stand, so, if Satan

cast out Satan, if one devil counteract another in his designs and acts of mischief, the Satanic kingdom is divided; its order and subordination, both of which it has, as being "a kingdom," managed on a regular system to a common end, to delude and to destroy, would be at once subverted, and by such intestine divisions it must fall. The second argument is from their own practice. By whom do your children cast them out? The children are the disciples of the Jewish teachers; for the terms "father" and "son" were often given by the Jews to master and scholar. Both before and after the time of Christ the Jewish exorcists cast out, or attempted to cast out, devils by "the authority of the great and fearful name." Whether or not, in some cases, God interposed in his mercy, and gave effect to their attempts, we know not; and the argument is equally strong on either supposition. They never attempted to cast out Satan by Satan, but by the name and power of the true God. They therefore acted upon the principle, that a kingdom could not be divided against itself; and they consequently relied upon a superior power, and that, the power of the Spirit of God. Either, therefore, the Pharisees must confess that their disciples were in league with Satan to cast out devils, or they could not sustain their absurd charge

28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdoin of God is come unto you.

29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

31 ¶Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him : but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

j Mark iii. 28; Luke xii. 10; 1 John v. 16.

against Christ, and must confess, that if their children cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then that he also cast them out by the same Spirit. The force of this conclusion appears in the following

verses.

Verse 28. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then, &c.-This was the certain proof that he had set up a KINGDOM among them, more powerful than the kingdom of Satan; or else, he adds, how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? by which he shows his superior power. Thus our Lord declares, both that his kingdom is hostile to that of Satan, and that it is more mighty, since he was able at pleasure to bind the very head and ruler of this dark monarchy, and cast him out. This illustration sufficiently shows, that when our Lord cast out devils, he exerted this power over Satan, to indicate the spiritual conquests which he was to attain over the dominion of Satan in the hearts of men, and in the institutions of society. The ejection of devils from the possessed was the visible sign that "the kingdom of God was come unto them;" that kingdom which, by claiming redeemed men for its subjects, delivers them from the polluting and de

structive tyranny of the devil, and restores them to spiritual health and liberty. Hence the guilt of the Pharisees was heightened. They contended, not merely against Christ, but against the kingdom of God itself, and all those glorious attestations of its establishment, which resulted from the seal set upon it by the miraculous operations of the Holy Spirit. In such a contest between the powers of light and darkness, between the mercy of God and the malice of Satan, even neutrality was a crime. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. How much more guilty then must be the enemies and opposers of this kingdom! and most of all those who, like the Pharisees, not merely opposed, but blasphemed, the Holy Spirit himself, by ascribing those works by which he attested the mission of Christ, and the establishment of God's kingdom, to the agency of Satan! This leads our Lord to that awful declaration of the unpardonableness of this offence, which is contained in the ensuing verses. See note on Luke xi. 14, 21.

Verses 31, 32. All manner of sin and blasphemy, &c.-The importance of a right understanding of this passage renders the most careful consideration of it necessary.

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