《Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures – Matthew (Vol. 2)》(Johann P. Lange)

08 Chapter 8

Verses 1-13

B. CHRIST MANIFESTING HIS PROPHETIC OFFICE BY MIRACLES WHICH ATTEST HIS WORD. BUT IN HIS MIRACLES, AS IN HIS TEACHING, HE EXPERIENCES THE CONTRADICTION OF THE PHARISEES, AND IS ULTIMATELY REVILED. TRIUMPH OF CHRIST OVER THE OPPOSITION OF HIS ENEMIES, BY PREPARING TO SEND FORTH HIS TWELVE APOSTLES.—CH. 8, 9

Contents:—The miracles of the Lord, as the evidence of His prophetic office, misunderstood and reviled by the Pharisees and Sadducees1. Miracles of the Lord beyond the pale of the ancient theocracy: the leper and the heathen2. Miracles of the Lord proceeding from the circle of the new theocracy (the house of Peter): the mother-in-law of Peter, those who were possessed of evil spirits3. Miracles during His missionary journey: the disciples, the storm at sea4. Miraculous works, despite the opposition of the kingdom of darkness: the Gadarenes, the man afflicted with the palsy5. Miraculous works, despite the contradiction of legalism: Matthew Levi the publican, the feast with the publicans, and the twofold offence of the Pharisees and the disciples of John 6. Miraculous works in the face of utter despair and of death: the woman with the issue of blood, and the daughter of Jairus7. Miraculous works of Christ as the dawn of His work of redemption, in opposition to the hardening and the reviling of His enemies: the two blind men, and the person possessed with a dumb devil8. Royal preparation for the mission of Christ’s disciples, and triumph over those who reviled His prophetic office.

I

The leper, and the heathen, or the centurion of Capernaum. Miraculous works of Christ beyond the pale of the ancient theocracy.

Matthew 8:1-13

The Gospel for the 3 d Sunday after Epiphany.—Parallels:—The Leper: Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16 The Centurion of Capernaum: Luke 7:1-10)

1When he was [had] come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him 2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou 3 canst make me clean. And Jesus [he][FN1] put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed 4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

5And when Jesus [he] was [had] entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only [only say in a word],[FN2] and my servant shall be healed 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this Prayer of Manasseh, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.[FN3] 11And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down [recline at table][FN4] with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: 12But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into [the] outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Matthew 8:1. When He was come down (cum autem descendisset. Vulg.).—Chronological arrangement of the narrative. We account for the circumstance, that Luke records the healing of the leper ( Matthew 5:12) before the Sermon on the Mount ( Matthew 6:20), on the ground that he wished to relate the latter in connection with the mission of the twelve Apostles. Hence, his arrangement is not in strict chronological order. Besides, the introduction of the cure of the leper in Luke breaks up the continuous narrative of the return of Jesus from the Mount of Beatitudes to Capernaum. Matthew expressly states, that the cure of the leper was performed when Christ “had come down” from the mountain. On the other hand, Luke relates, that Christ, on His journey to Capernaum, entered into a city; and that the cure of the leper there was the occasion of His retiring for a time into the wilderness, probably in consideration of the prejudices of the Jews, as the leprous person had, contrary to the injunction of the Saviour, published the fact, that Jesus had touched, and so healed him. After this temporary retirement to the wilderness, Jesus returned to Capernaum.

Matthew 8:2. A leper.—(Comp. on the general subject of leprosy Michaelis: Mosaisches Recht, vol. iv. p227, Winer sub voce, and Ewald: Jüdische Alterthümer, p218.) Leprosy, צָרַעַת, λέπρα, as to its general character, is a disease peculiar to Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria, although it has penetrated as far cast as Persia and India, and as far west as Italy. A most frightful calamity, resembling in some respects the pestilence; only that the latter sweeps away its victims with great rapidity, while leprosy is slow in its ravages. These two diseases formed, so to speak the centre of all others, such as blindness, palsy, deafness, fevers, bloody flux, etc. Analogous to these physical sufferings were the various kinds of demoniacal possessions.—Causes. Leprosy is caused by bad air, want of cleanliness, bad diet, dyspepsia, infection (especially by cohabitation), or a hereditary taint. It sometimes continues to the fourth generation ( 2 Samuel 3:29), but the disease loses in intensity as it descends, and is generally confined in the fourth degree to ugly teeth, offensive breath, and sickly appearance.—Kinds and degrees. Leprosy is a form of skin disease. Four kinds of it were known—elephantiasis (an Egyptian disease, hence, ulcus Ægypti), black leprosy, white leprosy, and red leprosy. Hippocrates classified the different kinds of non-malignant eruptions as ἀλφός, λειχήν, λεύκη, and λεπραί. The first of these is the בֹּחַק of Leviticus 13:39, which is quite harmless in its character, and disappears, without causing any pain, in a few months or years. We also read, in Leviticus 13:47, of a leprosy attaching to clothes (probably from small insects); and in Matthew 14:34, of one attaching to houses. The symptoms of white leprosy, Barras, also known as lepra Mosaica,—the form of the disease peculiar to the Hebrews,—are sufficiently described in Leviticus 13. When the disease is decided in its character, it is either rapidly cured, or else spreads inward. In the former case, there is a violent eruption, so that the patient is white from head to foot ( Leviticus 13:12; 2 Kings 5:27); in the latter case, the disease progresses slowly, and the symptoms are equally distressing and fatal, ending in consumption, dropsy, suffocation, and death. The effects of elephantiasis are even more sad. It chiefly affects the lower part of the body, and the patient may live for twenty years. It stiffens the ankle (making the foot like that of an elephant, hence the name), stupefies the senses, produces melancholy, sleeplessness, terrible dreams ( Job 7:14), insatiable voracity, and ends in fever or sudden suffocation.—Legislation on leprosy. The Mosaic law took special notice of leprosy. The priests were commissioned carefully to watch its inroads. The object in view was to protect the healthy portion of the community, to pronounce on the harmless character of any eruption which resembled leprosy, and to readmit into the community those who had been cured. No remedy was known for the disease itself: the leper was declared unclean, and excluded from intercourse with all other persons. He had to wear the prescribed mourning garment, Leviticus 13:45, but was permitted to associate with other lepers. Their abodes were commonly outside the city walls ( Leviticus 13:46; Numbers 5:2); but they were allowed to go about freely, providing they avoided contact with other persons; nor were they even excluded from the services of the synagogue (Lightfoot, 862). In this respect we note a great difference between the synagogue and the temple. On recovering from leprosy, several lustrations had to be performed, Leviticus 14The main points in the prescribed rite were, to appear before the priest, and to offer a sacrifice; the latter being preceded by religious lustrations, and introduced by a symbolical ceremony, in which the two turtles or pigeons bore a striking analogy to the scape-goat and the other goat offered in sacrifice on the day of atonement, Leviticus 16—In general, the ordinances connected with leprosy may be regarded as the type of all other directions in dealing with that which was unclean.—Symbolical significance. Accordingly, leprosy was regarded as the symbol of sin and of judgment ( Numbers 12:10; 2 Kings 5:26; 2 Kings 15:5; 2 Chronicles 26:20-23); also of inscrutable visitations, Job 2:7. On the other hand, recovery from leprosy was regarded as a symbol of salvation, as in the case of Naaman, 2 Kings 5:2; comp. Psalm 51:9, with Leviticus 6:7. The uncleanness, the gradual destruction of the system, the disgusting appearance, and the unexpected recovery by a full outbreak of the eruption,—and, again, the slow but sure progress of the disease, the isolation of those who were affected by it from the society of the clean, the infectious nature of the trouble, its long duration and hopelessness,—presented a variety of views under which sin and guilt with its consequences and effects, even upon innocent individuals, might be symbolized.

Matthew 8:2. And worshipped Him—fell down before Him (on his face). “As in Matthew 2:2; Matthew 15:25, a sign of profound reverence. The leper regarded Jesus at least as a great prophet, though it is difficult accurately to define the measure of knowledge possessed by such believers (comp. Matthew 8:8-10). Hence the import of this worship, and of the designation, ‘Lord,’ differed under various circumstances. Some regarded even the promised Messiah as a mere man (?), while others were fully aware of His Divine character.” Gerlach.

Matthew 8:3. His leprosy was cleansed, ἐκαθαρίσθη.—By his being brought into contact with Him who was absolute purity.

Matthew 8:4. Tell no man: Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14; comp. Matthew 9:30; Matthew 12:16; Mark 3:12; Mark 5:43; Mark 7:36; Mark 8:26-30; Matthew 16:20; Matthew 17:9.—The injunction of silence upon the persons cured arose, in all instances, from the same general motives. It was primarily dictated by a regard for the spiritual and physical welfare of such persons. Besides, to prevent popular excitement, and not to endanger the ministry of Christ, it was better to keep silence on these matters. But, in each special case, there was also a particular motive. Maldonatus, Grotius, Bengel, and others, suppose that, in the present instance, it was enjoined in order that no prejudice might be raised in the mind of the officiating priest against this recovery. Fritzsche and Baumgarten-Crusius hold that it indicated that the first duty of the leper was to show himself to the priest, before proclaiming abroad the miracle. Olshausen: Jesus issued this injunction mainly to persons who were in danger of being carried away; while in other cases, especially where the individual was by nature retiring and prone to self-contemplation, He commanded an opposite course, Mark 5:19. But the principal motive, as mentioned by Meyer (following Chrysostom), was, that Jesus wished to prevent a concourse of the people, and enthusiastic outbursts on their part. This, however, is not incompatible with any of the other motives; as, in the present instance, the person cured had to undertake a journey to the temple at Jerusalem (Fritzsche, Baumgarten-Crusius, Meyer). According to Maimonides, a person restored from leprosy had, in the first instance, to submit himself to the inspection of the priest of his district. He then underwent a second inspection after the lapse of seven days, after which he performed the customary lustration; and then journeyed to Jerusalem, where he offered the prescribed sacrifice, and was pronounced clean.

Matthew 8:4. Show thyself to the priest.—Comp. the ordinances of purification in Leviticus 14.

For a testimony unto them.—Meyer: i.e, “unto the people, that thou art healed.” But we must not overlook the fact, that the leper had been declared unclean by the priests who were now to certify to his restoration, and that his showing himself was the evidence of this. The remark, “for a testimony that I do not destroy the law” (Chrysostom), is inapt; as also the view of Olshausen, that the testimony here referred to was that of the priests.

Matthew 8:5. Ἑκατόνταρχος, centurio, a captain over100, in the service of Herod Antipas.—According to Matthew 8:10, a Gentile, although in all probability a proselyte of the gate. Comp. the intercession of the ruler of the synagogue on his behalf, in the Gospel according to Luke.—Proselytes, גֵּרִים, προσήλυτοι, Sept. 1 Chronicles 22:2; Matthew 23:15; Acts 2:10;—those Gentiles who adopted Judaism in a more or less restricted sense (Suidas: ἐξ ἐθνῶν προσεληλυθότες). According to the Gemara and the Rabbins, we distinguish,—I. Proselytes of the gate, גֵּרֵי הַשּׁעַר; i.e, strangers who lived within the gates of Israel, had adopted the religion of the patriarchs, and conformed to what were called the seven Noachic commandments, which prohibited, (a) blasphemy; (b) the worship of the heavenly bodies, or idolatry; (c) murder; (d) incest; (e) robbery; (f) rebellion; (g) eating of blood and of things strangled ( Acts 15:20). They were also called οἱ σεβὀμενοι (τὸν Θεόν), Joseph. Antiq. Matthew 14:7; Matthew 14:2; Acts 13:43; Acts 13:50; Acts 16:14; Acts 17:4, etc.—Instances: Cornelius, Lydia, the Ethiopian eunuch, etc. II. Proselytes of righteousness, גֵּרֵי הַצֶּדֶק, who had submitted to circumcision, and thus become naturalized Jews. The distinction between these two classes was kept up at the time of Christ; when, indeed, the number of proselytes of the gate had greatly increased.—The two parallel cases of the centurion at the cross ( Matthew 27:54) and of Cornelius ( Acts 10), will at once occur to the reader.