Bible Commentaries

Mt 9:1-8.

HEALING OF A PARALYTIC. ( =

Mr 2:1-12; Lu 5:17-26).

This incident appears to follow next in order of time to the cure of the leper

(Mt 8:1-4).

For the exposition, see on

Mr 2:1-12.

Mt 9:9-13.

MATTHEW'S CALL AND FEAST. ( =

Mr 2:14-17; Lu 5:27-32).

The Call of Matthew

(Mt 9:9).

9. And as Jesus passed forth from thence--that is, from the scene of the paralytic's cure in Capernaum, towards the shore of the Sea of Galilee, on which that town lay. Mark, as usual, pictures the scene more in detail, thus

(Mr 2:13):

"And He went forth again by the seaside; and all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them"--or, "kept teaching them." "And as He passed by"

he saw a man, named Matthew--the writer of this precious Gospel, who here, with singular modesty and brevity, relates the story of his own calling. In Mark and Luke he is called Levi, which seems to have been his family name. In their lists of the twelve apostles, however, Mark and Luke give him the name of Matthew, which seems to have been the name by which he was known as a disciple. While he himself sinks his family name, he is careful not to sink his occupation, the obnoxious associations with which he would place over against the grace that called him from it, and made him an apostle. (See on

Mt 10:3).

Mark alone tells us

(Mr 2:14)

that he was "the son of Alphæus"--the same, probably, with the father of James the Less. From this and other considerations it is pretty certain that he must at least have heard of our Lord before this meeting. Unnecessary doubts, even from an early period, have been raised about the identity of Levi and Matthew. No capable jury, with the evidence before them which we have in the Gospels, would hesitate in giving a unanimous verdict of identity.

sitting at the receipt of custom--as a publican, which Luke

(Lu 5:27)

calls him. It means the place of receipt, the toll house or booth in which the collector sat. Being in this case by the seaside, it might be the ferry tax for the transit of persons and goods across the lake, which he collected. (See on

Mt 5:46).

and he saith unto him, Follow me--Witching words these, from the lips of Him who never employed them without giving them resistless efficacy in the hearts of those they were spoken to.

And he--"left all"

(Lu 5:28),

"arose and followed him."

The Feast

(Mt 9:10-13).

10. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house--The modesty of our Evangelist signally appears here. Luke says

(Lu 5:29)

that "Levi made Him a great feast," or "reception," while Matthew merely says, "He sat at meat"; and Mark and Luke say that it was in Levi's "own house," while Matthew merely says, "He sat at meat in the house." Whether this feast was made now, or not till afterwards, is a point of some importance in the order of events, and not agreed among harmonists. The probability is that it did not take place till a considerable time afterwards. For Matthew, who ought surely to know what took place while his Lord was speaking at his own table, tells us that the visit of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, occurred at that moment

(Mt 9:18).

But we know from Mark and Luke that this visit of Jairus did not take place till after our Lord's return, at a later period from the country of the Gadarenes. (See

Mr 5:21, &c., and Lu 8:40,

&c.). We conclude, therefore, that the feast was not made in the novelty of his discipleship, but after Matthew had had time to be somewhat established in the faith; when returning to Capernaum, his compassion for old friends, of his own calling and character, led him to gather them together that they might have an opportunity of hearing the gracious words which proceeded out of His Master's mouth, if haply they might experience a like change.

behold, many publicans and sinners--Luke says, "a great company"

(Lu 5:29)

came and sat down with him and his disciples--In all such cases the word rendered "sat" is "reclined," in allusion to the ancient mode of lying on couches at meals.

11. And when the Pharisees--"and scribes," add Mark and Luke

(Mr 2:6; Lu 5:21).

saw it, they said--"murmured" or "muttered," says Luke

(Lu 5:30).

unto his disciples--not venturing to put their question to Jesus Himself.

Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?--(See on

Lu 15:2).

12. But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them--to the Pharisees and scribes; addressing Himself to them, though they had shrunk from addressing Him.

They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick--that is, "Ye deem yourselves whole; My mission, therefore, is not to you: The physician's business is with the sick; therefore eat I with publicans and sinners." Oh, what myriads of broken hearts, of sin-sick souls, have been bound up by this matchless saying!

13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth--

(Ho 6:6),

I will have mercy, and not sacrifice--that is, the one rather than the other. "Sacrifice," the chief part of the ceremonial law, is here put for a religion of literal adherence to mere rules; while "mercy" expresses such compassion for the fallen as seeks to lift them up. The duty of keeping aloof from the polluted, in the sense of "having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness," is obvious enough; but to understand this as prohibiting such intercourse with them as is necessary to their recovery, is to abuse it. This was what these pharisaical religionists did, and this is what our Lord here exposes.

for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance--The italicized words are of doubtful authority here, and more than doubtful authority in

Mr 2:17;

but in

Lu 5:32

they are undisputed. We have here just the former statement stripped of its figure. "The righteous" are the whole; "sinners," the sick. When Christ "called" the latter, as He did Matthew, and probably some of those publicans and sinners whom he had invited to meet Him, it was to heal them of their spiritual maladies, or save their souls: "The righteous," like those miserable self-satisfied Pharisees, "He sent empty away."

Mt 9:14-17.

DISCOURSE ON FASTING.

See on

Lu 5:33-39.

Mt 9:18-26.

THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD HEALED.--THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS RAISED TO LIFE. ( =

Lu 8:40-56; Mr 5:21-43).

For the exposition, see on

Mr 5:21-43.