1 putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and m the rent is made worse. 17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. literally, un-fulled. 18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there of the absence of the Bridegroom in the 16.] Our Lord in these two parables con- The old system of prescribed fasts for fasting's sake must not be patched with the new and sound piece; the complete and beautiful whole of Gospel light and liberty must not be engrafted as a mere addition on the worn-out system of ceremonies. For the filling it up, the completeness of it, the new patch, by its weight and its strength pulls away the neighbouring weak and loose threads by which it holds to the old garment, and a worse rent is made. Stier notices the prophetic import of this parable: in how sad a degree the Lord's saying has been fulfilled in the History of the Church, by the attempts to patch the new, the Evangelic state, upon the old worn-out ceremonial system. Would,' he adds, that we could say in the interpretation, as in the parable, No man doeth this!' The robe must be all new, all consistent: old things, old types, old ceremonies, old burdens, sacrifices, priests, sabbaths, and a worse not a repetition of the previous one, but a This view is stated and defended at some length by Neander; but I own seems to me, as to De Wette, far-fetched. For how can fasting be called a patch of new (unfulled) cloth, or how compared to new wine? And Neander himself, when he comes to explain the important addition in Luke (on which see Luke v. 39, and note), is obliged to change the meaning, and understand the new wine of the spirit of the Gospel. It was and is the custom in the East to carry their wine on a journey in leather bottles, generally of goats' skin, sometimes of asses' or camels' skin. came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. 19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. 20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: 21 for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22 But Jesus turned him. about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. a And the Luke vii. 50: woman was made whole from that hour. 23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24 he said unto them, Give place for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the 26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all maid arose. that land. 18-26.] RAISING OF JAEIRUS's DAUGHTER, AND HEALING OF A WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. Mark v. 21-43: Luke viii. 41-56. In Luke and Mark this miracle follows immediately after the casting out of the devils at Gadara, and our Lord's recrossing the lake to Capernaum; but without any precise note of time as here. He may well have been by the sea (as seems implied by Mark and Luke), when the foregoing conversation with the disciples of John and the Pharisees took place. The account in the text is the most concise of the three; both Mark and Luke, but especially the latter, giving many additional particulars. The miracle forms a very instructive point of comparison between the three Gospels. 18. a certain ruler] A ruler of the synagogue, named Jaeirus. In all except the connecting words, "while he spake these things unto them," the account in the text is summary, and deficient in particularity. I have therefore reserved full annotation for the account in Luke, which see throughout. is even now dead] She was not dead, but dying; at the last extremity. St. Matthew, omitting the message from the ruler's house (Mark v. 35: Luke viii. 49), gives the matter suminarily in these words. 20.] The "hem," see ref. Num., was the fringe or tassel which the Jews were commanded to wear on each corner of their outer garment, as a sign that they were to be holy unto God. The article, as in ch. xiv. 36, xvii. 19: xviii. 42. designates the particular tassel which was touched. 22.] The cure was effe ted on her touching our Lord's garment, Mark v. 27-29: Luke viii. 44. And our Lord enquired who touched Him (Mark, Like), for He perceived that virtue had gone out of Him (Luke). She, knowing what had been done to her, came fearing and trembling, and told Him all. 24. No inference can be drawn from these words as to the fact of the maiden's actual death; for our Lord uses equivalent words respecting Lazarus (John xi. 11). And if it be answered that there He explains the sleep to mean death, we answer, that this explanation is only in consequence of the disciples misunderstanding his words. In both cases the words are most probably used with reference to the speedy awakening which was to follow; Think not the damsel dead, but sleeping; for she shall soon return to life." Luke appends, after "they laughed him to scorn,”—" "knowing that she was dead," in which words there is at least no recognition by the Evangelist of a mere apparent death. 25.] took her by the hand is common to the three Evangelists. From Luke we learn that our Lord said "Maid, arise :" from Mark we have the words He actually uttered, Talitha Cum: from both we learn that our Lord only took with him Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the maiden,-that she was twelve years old,—and that our Lord commanded that something should be given 27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men fol b b ch. xv. 22: lowed, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy xx. 30, 31: and parallels: also xii. 22. c ch. viii. 4: xii. 16: xvii. 9. Mark vii. 36. on us. 28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. 29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. 30 And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. 31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. 32 As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. 33 And when the devil her to eat. She was an only daughter, Luke viii. 42. 27-31.] HEALING OF TWO BLIND MEN. Peculiar to Matthew. 27.] departed thence is too vague to be taken as a fixed note of sequence; for "thence" may mean the house of Jaeirus, or the town itself, or even that part of the country,as ver. 26 has generalized the locality, and implied some pause of time. son of David] a title of honour, and of recognition as the Messiah. It is remarkable that, in all the three narratives of giving sight to the blind in this Gospel, the title Son of David appears. on us." 28. the house] perhaps, as Euthymius, the house of some disciple. Or, the house which our Lord inhabited at Capernaum; or perhaps the expression need not mean any particular house, merely, as we sometimes use the expression, the house, as opposed to the open air. to do this] i. e. the healing, implied in "have mercy 29.] Touching, or anointing the eyes, was the ordinary method which our Lord took of impressing on the blind the action of the divine power which healed them. Ch. xx. 34: Mark viii. 25: John ix. 6. In this miracle however we have this peculiar feature, that no direct word of power passes from our Lord, but a relative concession, making that which was done a measure of the faith of the blind men and from the result the degree of their faith appears. Stier remarks, "We may already notice, in the history of this first period of our Lord's ministry, that, from having at first yielded immediately to the request for healing, He begins, by degrees, to prove and exercise the faith of the applicants." 30. straitly charged] The word is said to mean "to command with threatening," "to enjoin austerely." The purpose of No our Lord's earnestness appears to have 32-34.] HEALING OF A DUMB DEMONIAC. Peculiar to Matthew. The word as they went out places this miracle in direct connexion with the foregoing. This narration has a singular affinity with that in ch. xii. 22, or still more with its parallel in Luke xi. 14. In both, the same expression of wonder follows; the same calumny of the Pharisees; only that in ch. xii. the dæmoniac is said (not in Luke xi.) to have been likewise blind. These circumstances, coupled with the immediate connexion of this miracle with the cure of the blind men, and the mention of the Son of David' in both, have led some to suppose that the account in ch. xii. is a repetition, or slightly differing version of the account in our text, intermingled also with the preceding healing of the blind. But the supposition seems unnecessary,as, the habit of the Pharisees once being to ascribe our Lord's expulsion of devils to Beelzebub, the repetition of the remark would be natural:-and the other d e ch. xii. 24. see ch. iv. 23. Mark vi. 6. was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. 34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince d of the devils. 35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease [among the people]. 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, f Mark vi. 34. because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep & Num. xxvii. having no shepherd. 37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38 pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will John iv. 35. send forth labourers into his harvest. g X. 1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all man course are introduced and closed with these marks of indefiniteness as to time. This being the case, we must have recourse to the other Evangelists, by whose account it appears (as indeed may be implied in ch. x. 1), that the Apostles had been called to their distinct office some time before this. (See Mark iii. 16: Luke vi. 13.) After their calling, and selection, they probably remained with our Lord for some time before they were sent out upon their mission. 36. the multitudes] Wherever He went, in all the cities. harassed] plagued,-viz. literally, with weariness in following Him; or spiVOL. I. g 17. 1 Kings xxii. 17. Ezek. xxxiv. 5. Zech. x. 2. h Luke x. 2. 0 read, were harassed. ritually, with the tyranny of the Scribes and Pharisees, their heavy burdens, ch. xxiii. 4. scattered abroad] neglected, cast hither and thither, as sheep would be who had wandered from their pasture. The context shews that our Lord's compassion was excited by their being without competent spiritual leaders and teachers. 37.] The harvest was primarily that of the Jewish people, the multitudes of whom before Him excited the Lord's compassion. Chrysostom remarks that we see not only our Lord's freedom from vain. glory, in sending out his disciples rather than drawing all notice to Himself, but His wisdom, in giving them this preliminary practice for their future work: making, as he expresses it, Palæstine a palæstra for the world. The Lord, says Chrysostom, having given this command, does not join them in such a prayer, but Himself sends them out as labourers shewing plainly that He Himself is the Lord of the harvest, and recalling to them the Baptist's image of the threshing-floor, and One who shall purge it. X. 1-XI. 1.] MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. Mark vi. 7-13: Luke ix. 1— 6,-for the sending out of the Apostles: Mark iii. 13-19: Luke vi. 13-16,-for their names. On the characteristic differences between this discourse and that delivered to the Seventy (Luke x. 1 ff.) see notes there. Notice, that this is not the choosing, but merely the mission of the twelve. The choosing had taken place some time before, but is not any where dis F i John i. 42. ner of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew From this it appears (1), that in all four three classes are enumerated, and that each class contains (assuming at present the identity of Lebbæus with Thaddæus, and of Thaddeus with Judas (the brother of James), the same persons in all four, but in different order, with the following exceptions:-that (2) Peter, Philip, James (the son?) of Alphæus, and Judas Iscariot hold the same places in all four. (3) That in the first class the two arrangements are (a) that of Matt. and Luke (Gospel),Peter and Andrew, brothers; James and John, brothers;-i. e. according to their order of calling and connexion, and with reference to their being sent out in couples, Mark vi. 7: (6) Mark and Luke (Acts), -Peter, James, John, (the three principal,) and Andrew;-i. e. according to their personal pre-eminence. In the second class (c), that of Matt., Mark, and Luke (Gospel),-Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, -i. e. in couples: (d) Luke (Acts),-Philip, Thomas, Barth., Matthew (reason uncertain). In the third class (e), Matt. and Mark,-James (the son?) of Alphæus and (Lebb.) Thaddaus, Simon the Cananæan and Judas Iscariot; i. e. in couples: (ƒ) Luke (Gosp. and Acts) James (the son ?) of Alphæus, Simon Zelotes, Judas (the brother?) of James and Judas Iscariot (uncertain). (g) Thus in all four, the leaders of the three classes are the same, viz. Peter, Philip, and James (the son?) of Alpheus; and the traitor is always last. (4) It would appear then that the only difficulties are these two: the identity of Lebbæus with Thaddeus, and with Judas (the brother?) of James, and of Simon the Cananæan with Simon Zelotes. These will be discussed under the names. Some The first] Not only as regards arrangement, or mere priority of calling, but as first in rank among equals. This is clearly shewn from James and John and Andrew being set next, and Judas Iscariot the last, in all the catalogues. We find Simon Peter, not only in the lists of the Apostles, but also in their history, prominent on various occasions before the rest. times he speaks in their name (Matt. xix. 27: Luke xii. 41); sometimes answers when all are addressed (Matt. xvi. 16 ||); sometimes our Lord addresses him as principal, even among the three favoured ones (Matt. xxvi. 40: Luke xxii. 31); sometimes he is addressed by others as representing the whole (Matt. xvii. 24: Acts ii. 37). He appears as the organ of the Apostles after our Lord's ascension (Acts i. 15; ii. 14; iv. 8; v. 29): the first speech, and apparently that which decided the Council, is spoken by him, Acts xv. 7. All this accords well with the bold and energetic character of Peter, and originated in the unerring discernment and appointment of our Lord Himself, who saw in him a person adapted to take precedence of the rest in the founding of His Church, and shutting (Acts v. 3, 9) and opening (Acts ii. 14, 41; x. 5, 46) the doors of the kingdom of Heaven. That however no such idea was current among the Apostles as that he was destined to be |