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  • Writer's pictureBill Schwartz

Matthew 8

Updated: Mar 16, 2022

“The preceding section (ch. 5 – 7) has introduced the reader to the teaching of Jesus, which has impressed the crowds with his authority (7:29). Now that authority is further seen displayed in his deeds.” (Tyndale New Testament Commentary by R. T. France) “Jesus performs most of these mighty acts with a word (Mt 8:3, 13, 16, 26, 32; 9:6, 22, 29)…These mighty works are events of deliverance, or salvation, with the word save ( σώζω ) appearing repeatedly, thereby raising the question of the relationship between this salvation from physical danger and infirmities in these chapters and the purpose of Jesus, according to the angel in Matthew 1:21, that ‘He will save his people from their sins.’ Matthew clarifies this relationship in Matthew 9:1-9 where he indicates that one purpose of physical healings is to make known that ‘the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ (Mt 9:6, 8).” (The Gospel of the Son of God by David R. Bauer)



“When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.” (1) Likewise, “And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me, etc.” ( Exodus 20:1-6) “And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ (2) “Leprosy was, and is, a dreadful disease and was considered as a type of sin under the law of Moses; not that lepers were considered sinners, but the disease itself in its destructive course through the body bore remarkable suggestions of the similar ravages of sin in the soul. Elaborate rules were set up to isolate the leper and guard against his association with the community. Leviticus 13:49 and Leviticus 14:2ff show the dread and revulsion associated with this malady.” (Coffman Commentary)


“While other diseases are ‘healed’ in the New Testament, a leper is ‘cleansed’ (see e.g. 10:8), and it is the religious authorities who must certify this. The disease was regarded as incurable (2 Kgs 5:7); that the leper approached Jesus with the conviction of his ability to help is therefore an indication of an awareness of the authority of Jesus like that of the centurion (see vv. 8–9). It is therefore likely that Matthew’s use of the two significant terms knelt ( proskyneō, normally translated ‘worship’; see on 2:2) and Lord (kyrie, which need not mean more than ‘Sir’, but see on 7:21) indicates that he sees here more than polite deference.” (R. T. France)


“Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (3) He was cleansed by the spoken word. “As this leper may be considered as a fit emblem of the corruption of man by sin; so may his cure, of the redemption of the soul by Christ.” (Adam Clarke) “Since no leper had received cleansing since Elisha had cleansed Naaman the Aramean, the priests should have wanted to investigate Jesus.” (Thomas B. Constable) “And Jesus said to him, ‘See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest’— It is said that the first inspection was performed by the priest of the district, then a second one after seven days, then after purification a visit was made to the temple, where it was the duty of the leper to ‘offer the gift which Moses commanded.’” (Phillip Schaff) “That gift consisted of ‘two birds alive and clean, cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop,’ Leviticus 14:4.” (Albert Barnes) “‘as a testimony' that is, offer thy gift for a testimony that thou art cleansed from thy leprosy.” (Joseph Benson) to them.’ (4)— “’Them' cannot refer to the priests, for they must decide that the man was healed before he could offer the gift. It must refer to the people in general, as suggested by 'tell no man,' and implied in the whole connection.” (John Broadus)


“Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.’And Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ The centurion answered and said,—> ‘Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it. When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!’” (5-10) “Faith is the expecting the word of God to do what it says.” (A. T. Jones)


“The Messianic banquet is reserved for those in relationship with God. ’And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.’ The kingdom of heaven is the Kingdom of God established upon the earth. And Jesus had prophesied of a still future ingathering in Hades. You will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.’ (Mark 13:26-27 ) Those who come ‘from the east and the west’ are certainly Gentiles. Both the hope and the language are straight from the Old Testament (Ps 107:3; Isa 49:12; 59:19; Mal 1:11).— ‘But the subjects of the kingdom'- In place of Matthew’s ‘Jewish’ phrase, ‘the subjects of the kingdom,’ Luke personalizes the reference by saying ‘you yourselves,’ those to whom Jesus was speaking (Luke 13:28).” (Edward Fudge)— “‘will be cast out into outer darkness.’ Compare… Jude 13 ‘wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.’ Here, however, the thought may not be exclusion from God only, but also the end of existence: the wandering stars are extinguished in eternal night. Second Peter 2:17 , which omits the figure ‘wandering stars’ also omits ‘forever.’” (The General Trend of Bible Teaching by Harold E. Guillebaud) “There will be ‘weeping’ (regret) and ‘gnashing of teeth (anger). (12) “Clearly, ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth’ is compatible with the doctrine of terminal punishment.” (Rescue from Death by Robert Taylor) “The unworthy guest at the marriage feast of Christ is in despair that he is not suffered to continue there. The despisers of the offers of redemption, be they Jews or Gentiles, behold their astounding folly, and marvel at its greatness. The unfaithful servant has time to bewail his want of fidelity, and the hypocrite to see that the part he has chosen is a bitter and a hard one...” (The Duration and Nature of Future Punishment by Henry Constable) For gnashing of teeth, see also Job 16:9; Psalms 35:16; 37:12; 112:10; Lam. 2:16, and Acts 7:54. Also Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28.


“Traditionalists would do well on this point to heed one of their own authors, Larry Dixon, who points out that ‘gnashing of teeth’ is associated in Rabbinic thought ‘almost always with anger (not, as generally supposed, with anguish).’ [Dixon, The Other Side of the Good News] We see this, for example, in connection with the death of the martyr Stephen, whose murderers closed in for the kill while gnashing at him with their teeth (Acts 7:54)… In each instance those consigned to ‘weeping and grinding of teeth’ are separated from others who are approved. Every time this double phase appears in the Gospels, the context first emphasizes banishment, expulsion or rejection. In five of the seven texts listed above, those who will gnash their teeth are banished from a scene of blessing and joy, but with no mention of fire. In two of the seven texts, they are thrown into the ‘fiery furnace.’” (The Fire That Consumes by Edward Fudge)


“We find the weeping in Zeph 1:14 and the gnashing of teeth in Ps 112 : 10 . The prophet like the evangelist uses the word ‘there’ and confirms its reference to the day of judgment: ‘The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.’ The psalmist confirms that the judgment upon the wicked is extinction: ‘The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away; the desire of the wicked shall perish...’” (The Doom of the Lost by Basil F. C. Atkinson) with them.


“Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. So He touched here hand, and the fever left her—As he can blow us to destruction, nod us to destruction, Psalm 80:16, He here raises to life. “‘And she arose and served them. When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses'(Isa. 53:4)." (16-17) “The diseases of man are connected with sin, on the one hand, and with death, on the other. And so our High Priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, had sympathy with the results and consequences of sin, knowing its curse, its destructive influence, upon body and soul, (Heb 4:15; 5:2). He bare, He took away, our sins and infirmities; they are no longer a curse for the believers.” (Kretzmann)


“And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, ‘Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.’ (18-19) Every teacher among the Jews had disciples, and some especially that followed or accompanied them wherever they went, that they might have some person at hand with whom they might converse concerning the Divine law. A man who is not illuminated by the Spirit of God thinks himself capable of any thing: he alone who is divinely taught knows he can do nothing but through Christ strengthening him.” (Adam Clarke) And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests,’ Alas! thou dost not know what it is to follow me; my external condition is worse than that of the birds of the air, they have fixed nests, or the beasts of the earth, the worst of them have holes.” (Matthew Poole)— “’but the son of man (title from Daniel) has nowhere to lay His head.’ He was a sojourner on earth.


"Then another of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ His meaning seems to be, ‘Suffer me to continue at home with my father, who is far advanced in years, till I have performed the last filial office to him, in committing his body to the dust’: for it does not appear that his father was already dead.”(Benson) “But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me, and let the dead’— that is, those indifferent to their salvation— ‘bury their own dead.’” (Abbott) “In this instance the disciple is called upon to renounce for Christ’s sake the last and most sacred of filial duties.’” (Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges)


“Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.’ The storm subsided; the ship glided smoothly; danger fled; and in amazement they stood in the presence of Him who controlled the tempests that God had raised; and they felt that ‘He’ must be God Himself, for none but God could calm the heaving billows and scatter the tempest. No scene could have been more grand than this display of the power of Jesus.” (A. Barnes) So the men marveled, saying, ‘Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?’” (23-27) How great is this person! Here was God fully manifest; but it was in the flesh.” (Adam Clarke)


“When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly they cried out, saying, ‘What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?’ (28-29) It is not necessary that the torment of final punishment be physical. It is likely mental anguish associated with the trial and subsequent execution of the sentence, not with the punishment itself. This is in line in Strong's, as well as Thayer's Greek Lexicon. -- βασανίζω— “Strong's #928: basanizo (pronounced bas-an-id'-zo) from 931; to torture:--pain, toil, torment, toss, vex." Part of Speech: verb… "Thayer's Greek Lexicon: basanizō— 1) to test (metals) by the touchstone, which is a black siliceous stone used to test the purity of gold or silver by the colour of the streak produced on it by rubbing it with either metal 2) to question by applying torture 3) to torture 4) to vex with grievous pains (of body or mind), to torment 5) to be harassed, distressed 5a) of those who at sea are struggling with a head wind.”

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