2 and lo, a leper having come, was bowing to him, saying, `Sir, if thou art willing, thou art able to cleanse me;'
and there doth come to him a leper, calling on him, and kneeling to him, and saying to him -- `If thou mayest will, thou art able to cleanse me.' And Jesus having been moved with compassion, having stretched forth the hand, touched him, and saith to him, `I will; be thou cleansed;' and he having spoken, immediately the leprosy went away from him, and he was cleansed. And having sternly charged him, immediately he put him forth, and saith to him, `See thou mayest say nothing to any one, but go away, thyself shew to the priest, and bring near for thy cleansing the things Moses directed, for a testimony to them.' And he, having gone forth, began to proclaim much, and to spread abroad the thing, so that no more he was able openly to enter into the city, but he was without in desert places, and they were coming unto him from every quarter.
he `is' a leprous man, he `is' unclean; the priest doth pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague `is' in his head. `As to the leper in whom `is' the plague, his garments are rent, and his head is uncovered, and he covereth over the upper lip, and `Unclean! unclean!' he calleth; all the days that the plague `is' in him he is unclean; he `is' unclean, alone he doth dwell, at the outside of the camp `is' his dwelling.
`Take heed, in the plague of leprosy, to watch greatly, and to do according to all that the priests, the Levites, teach you; as I have commanded them ye observe to do; remember that which Jehovah thy God hath done to Miriam in the way, in your coming out of Egypt.
And four men have been leprous, at the opening of the gate, and they say one unto another, `What -- we are sitting here till we have died; if we have said, We go in to the city, then the famine `is' in the city, and we have died there; and if we have sat here, then we have died; and now, come and we fall unto the camp of Aram; if they keep us alive, we live, and if they put us to death -- we have died.'
And he having come to the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus saith to them, `Believe ye that I am able to do this?' They say to him, `Yes, sir.' Then touched he their eyes, saying, `According to your faith let it be to you,'
and many times also it cast him into fire, and into water, that it might destroy him; but if thou art able to do anything, help us, having compassion on us.' And Jesus said to him, `If thou art able to believe! all things are possible to the one that is believing;' and immediately the father of the child, having cried out, with tears said, `I believe, sir; be helping mine unbelief.'
And it came to pass, in his being in one of the cities, that lo, a man full of leprosy, and having seen Jesus, having fallen on `his' face, he besought him, saying, `Sir, if thou mayest will, thou art able to cleanse me;' and having stretched forth `his' hand, he touched him, having said, `I will; be thou cleansed;' and immediately the leprosy went away from him. And he charged him to tell no one, `But, having gone away, shew thyself to the priest, and bring near for thy cleansing according as Moses directed, for a testimony to them;'
and he entering into a certain village, there met him ten leprous men, who stood afar off, and they lifted up the voice, saying, `Jesus, master, deal kindly with us;' and having seen `them', he said to them, `Having gone on, shew yourselves to the priests;' and it came to pass, in their going, they were cleansed, and one of them having seen that he was healed did turn back, with a loud voice glorifying God, and he fell upon `his' face at his feet, giving thanks to him, and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, `Were not the ten cleansed, and the nine -- where? There were not found who did turn back to give glory to God, except this alien;' and he said to him, `Having risen, be going on, thy faith hath saved thee.'
And I, John, am he who is seeing these things and hearing, and when I heard and beheld, I fell down to bow before the feet of the messenger who is shewing me these things; and he saith to me, `See -- not; for fellow-servant of thee am I, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of those keeping the words of this scroll; before God bow.'
And, having seen Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed before him, and having called with a loud voice, he said, `What -- to me and to thee, Jesus, Son of God the Most High? I adjure thee by God, mayest thou not afflict me!'
And Uzziah is wroth, and in his hand `is' a censer to make perfume, and in his being wroth with the priests -- the leprosy hath risen in his forehead, before the priests, in the house of Jehovah, from beside the altar of perfume. And Azariah the head priest looketh unto him, and all the priests, and lo, he `is' leprous in his forehead, and they hasten him thence, and also he himself hath hastened to go out, for Jehovah hath plagued him. And Uzziah the king is a leper unto the day of his death, and inhabiteth a separate house -- a leper, for he hath been cut off from the house of Jehovah, and Jotham his son `is' over the house of the king, judging the people of the land.
`Command the sons of Israel, and they send out of the camp every leper, and every one with an issue, and every one defiled by a body; from male unto female ye do send out; unto the outside of the camp ye do send them; and they defile not their camps in the midst of which I do tabernacle.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Matthew 8
Commentary on Matthew 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
The evangelist having, in the foregoing chapters, given us a specimen of our Lord's preaching, proceeds now to give some instances of the miracles he wrought, which prove him a Teacher come from God, and the great Healer of a diseased world. In this chapter we have,
Mat 8:1-4
The first verse refers to the close of the foregoing sermon: the people that heard him were astonished at his doctrine; and the effect was, that when he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him; though he was so strict a Lawgiver, and so faithful a Reprover, they diligently attended him, and were loth to disperse, and go from him. Note, They to whom Christ has manifested himself, cannot but desire to be better acquainted with him. They who know much of Christ should covet to know more; and then shall we know, if we thus follow on to know the Lord. It is pleasing to see people so well affected to Christ, as to think they can never hear enough of him; so well affected to the best things, as thus to flock after good preaching, and to follow the Lamb withersoever he goes. Now was Jacob's prophecy concerning the Messiah fulfilled, that unto him shall the gathering of the people be; yet they who gathered to him did not cleave to him. They who followed him closely and constantly were but few, compared with the multitudes that were but followers at large.
In these verses we have an account of Christ's cleansing a leper. It should seem, by comparing Mk. 1:40, and Lu. 5:12, that this passage, though placed, by St. Matthew, after the sermon on the mount, because he would give account of his doctrine first, and then of his miracles, happened some time before; but that is not at all material. This is fitly recorded with the first of Christ's miracles,
Mat 8:5-13
We have here an account of Christ's curing the centurion's servant of a palsy. This was done at Capernaum, where Christ now dwelt, ch. 4:13. Christ went about doing good, and came home to do good too; every place he came to was the better for him.
The persons Christ had now to do with were,
Now in the story of the cure of this servant, we may observe an intercourse or interchanging of graces, very remarkable between Christ and the centurion. See here,
The centurion's faith in the power of Christ he here illustrates by the dominion he had, as a centurion, over his soldiers, as a master over his servants; he says to one, Go, and he goes, etc. They were all at his beck and command, so as that he could by them execute things at a distance; his word was a law to them-dictum factum; well-disciplined soldiers know that the commands of their officers are not to be disputed, but obeyed. Thus could Christ speak, and it is done; such a power had he over all bodily diseases. The centurion had this command over his soldiers, though he was himself a man under authority; not a commander-in-chief, but a subaltern officer; much more had Christ this power, who is the supreme and sovereign Lord of all. The centurion's servants were very obsequious, would go and come at every the least intimation of their master's mind. Now,
Mat 8:14-17
They who pretend to be critical in the Harmony of the evangelists, place this passage, and all that follows to the end of ch. 9 before the sermon on the mount, according to the order which Mark and Luke observe in placing it. Dr. Lightfoot places only this passage before the sermon on the mount, and v. 18, etc. after. Here we have,
Mat 8:18-22
Here is,
We have here Christ's managing of two different tempers, one quick and eager, the other dull and heavy; and his instructions are adapted to each of them, and designed for our use.
Mat 8:23-27
Christ had given sailing orders to his disciples (v. 18), that they should depart to the other side of the sea of Tiberias, into the country of Gadara, in the tribe of Gad, which lay east of Jordan; thither he would go to rescue a poor creature that was possessed with a legion of devils, though he foresaw how he should be affronted there. Now.
Mat 8:28-34
We have here the story of Christ's casting the devils out of two men that were possessed. The scope of this chapter is to show the divine power of Christ, by the instances of his dominion over bodily diseases, which to us are irresistible; over winds and waves, which to us are yet more uncontrollable; and lastly, over devils, which to us are most formidable of all. Christ has not only all power in heaven and earth and all deep places, but has the keys of hell too. Principalities and powers were made subject to him, even while he was in his estate of humiliation, as an earnest of what should be at his entrance into his glory (Eph. 1:21); he spoiled them, Col. 2:15. It was observed in general (v. 16), that Christ cast out the spirits with his word; here we have a particular instance of it, which have some circumstances more remarkable than the rest. This miracle was wrought in the country of the Gergesenes; some think, they were the remains of the old Girgashites, Deu. 7:1. Though Christ was sent chiefly to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet some sallies he made among the borderers, as here, to gain this victory over Satan, which was a specimen of the conquest of his legions in the Gentile world.
Now, besides the general instance which this gives us of Christ's power over Satan, and his design against him to disarm and dispossess him, we have here especially discovered to us the way and manner of evil spirits in their enmity to man. Observe, concerning this legion of devils, What work they made where they were, and where they went.
Now,