Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Matthew Capítulo 12

Matthew 12:1. On the sabbath-day— See the note on Luk 6:1 where the Evangelist points out the sabbath and day whereon this happened, Through the corn means through the paths that were in the corn. The word σταχυας may indifferently signify ears of any kind of grain; but it most probably was barley, which was ripe at that time in Judaea.

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Matthew 12:2. When the Pharisees saw it, they said, &c.— The Jews were allowed by the law, when they came into the standing corn of their neighbours, to pluck some ears, and eat them, Deuteronomy 23:25. But as they were by the same law forbid to reap on the sabbath-day, the Pharisees, perversely enough, accounted this action of the disciples to be a kind of reaping. They looked also upon the rubbing the ears of corn in their hands as a breach of the law, because they were not allowed by it to dress their victual on the sabbath-day. See Beausobre and Lenfant, Introduction, p. 159.

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Matthew 12:5. Or have ye not read in the law, &c.— He did not mean that these words were to be found in the law, but that they might read in the law, that the priests were obliged on the sabbath-day to perform such servile work in the temple, as, considered separately from the end of it, was a profanation of the sabbath; and yet were guiltless, because it was necessary to the public worship, on account of which the sabbath was instituted. From Num 28:9 it appears, that, besides the continual burnt-offerings, the priests were obliged on the sabbaths to sacrifice two lambs extraordinary, by which their servile work was that day double of what it was on the other days of the week. This, though really no profanation of the sabbath, might, according to the common notion of the Jews, be so termed; and therefore, in speaking of it, our Lord calls it so. See Macknight and Calmet.

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Matthew 12:6. But I say unto you, that in this place, &c.— "If you reply, that the priests were not culpable in those actions, because they were undertaken for the temple service, I acknowledge it; but at the same time it should be observed, that if the temple, with its service, be of such importance as to demand a particular dispensation from the law of the sabbath; I who am the Lord of the temple, and of whom the temple is but the type, may, with equal reason, take the same liberty in a case of the like necessity." Every prophet was in some sense greater than the temple; and hence Elijah sacrificed out of the temple on an extraordinary occasion: but our blessed Lord was infinitely greater than any prophet. It should also be observed, that Christ and his apostles were so taken up in the discharge of their duty, that they had not leisure to prepare food for the sabbath; they were therefore under a necessity either to intermit their prophetic office, or to act contrary to the literal sense of the law. Now, as the Jews did not intermit the office of the priesthood on account of the law concerning the sabbath; so neither should the prophetic office be intermitted on that account, especially as it was superior in its dignity, and more extensive in its benefits. According to this interpretation the reading μειζον, a greater work, instead of μειζων, a greater person, which is authorised by a number of manuscripts, will have a peculiar elegance. "There is here a much more noble work carrying on than the temple-service." Or the common reading may be retained thus: "If the servile work done in the temple on a sabbath is not reckoned an offence, because it is undertaken on account of the temple-worship, the rubbing of the ears of corn, for which you blamemy disciples, cannot be any; seeing they do it in order to support life, while they are employed in the service of one who is infinitely greater than the temple." For the Human Nature of Jesus was an infinitely more august temple, in respect of the essential habitation of the Divinity, than that of Jerusalem. See Grotius, Hammond, Wetstein, and Mill.

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Matthew 12:7. I will have mercy, &c.— I delight in mercy (so θελειν signifies, ch. Matthew 27:43.), more than sacrifice; for this is the Hebrew form of comparison. See the note on ch. Matthew 9:13. Works of mercy, acts of kindness and beneficence, are essential duties, and preferable to all the ceremonial law, named here (from its principal act) sacrifice, when that comes in competition with them. As the sense of so many important scriptures depends upon it, it may be proper to observe, that, according to the genius of the Hebrew language, one thing seems to be forbidden, and another commanded, when the meaning only is, that the latter is greatly to be preferred to the former. The text before us is a remarkable instance; as likewise John 6:27. And it is evident, that Genesis 45:8. Joh 7:19 and many more passages, are to be expounded in the same comparative sense. See Doddridge, Heylin, and Beausobre and Lenfant.

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Matthew 12:8. For the Son of man is Lord, &c.— See on Mark 2:27-28. The expression even of the sabbath-day, και του σαββατου, certainly implies, that the sabbath was an institution of great and distinguished importance. It may perhaps also refer to that signal act of authority which Christ afterwards, by the ministry of his apostles, exerted over it in changing it from the seventh to the first day of the week.

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Matthew 12:9. When he was departed thence— There can be no doubt as to the connection of this history with the preceding, in which all the Evangelists agree; and indeed, had not St. Luke told us, that it was on another sabbath, the words of St. Matthew would have led us to imagine it had been the same day. Perhaps our Lord might spend most of the week in the town, to which the fields above mentioned belonged. See Doddridge and Chemnitz.

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Matthew 12:10. And they asked him, &c.— That is, the Pharisees, Mat 12:14 who, when they saw Jesus going to perform the cure, put this question to him, Is it lawful, &c.? by which they declared in the strongest terms their opinion of its unlawfulness: but in so doing they had no intention to prevent the action which they knew he was resolved upon, but to render him odious to the common people; expecting that he would openly declare such things lawful, in opposition to the definitions of the doctors, who had all determined that to perform cures upon the sabbath was a violation of the Holy rest: or, if he should give no answer to their question, as it implied an affirmation of the unlawfulness of what he was about to attempt, they thought it would render him inexcusable, and give the better colour to their accusation. The word θεραπευειν, rendered to heal, is very extensive, and properly includes all the care, labour, and attendance, which the case of any distempered or wounded person can require; as I apprehend our English word cure also does, though through the poverty of our language we are forced to apply it so those miraculous effects, which were so instantaneously produced by the healing word of our blessed Redeemer. What Syriac word the Pharisees might use, we know not: but it is plain that the question is put in verygeneral terms, which best favoured their base purpose of founding an accusation on our Lord's answer. See Doddridge and Macknight.

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Matthew 12:11. That shall have one sheep— Who, if he have but one sheep that on the sabbath-day should fall into a pit, will not, &c. The stress is not here to be laid upon a man's having only one sheep, but upon one only falling into a pit. The following Jewish saying is mentioned by some writers: "It is unlawful to do any servile work on the sabbath-day, unless it be on purpose to save a life;" which comprehends also brutes. From what is said here, and Luke 13:15; Luk 14:5 it appears, that this was then a common saying. The first clause of the next verse might be rendered, Of how much greater value is a man than a sheep? To do well, καλως ποιειν, implies all the offices of charity and tenderness, and is oftentimes used in opposition to doing evil or killing, when it bears the same sense as it does here; and the context seems to require it, namely, to preserve life. To perform the lovely pleasing acts of kindness and beneficence, is preferable to sacrifice or any ceremonial performance; the former being a more essential duty, more pleasing to God, and more beneficial to mankind. See Doddridge, Beausobre and Lenfant, and Heylin.

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Matthew 12:14. How they might destroy him— This is the first time that mention is made of a design onour Saviour's life. It is natural to think that the historian would acquaint us of their concurring in the design, before he would speak of their consulting about the means. See Campbell.

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Matthew 12:15. But when Jesus knew it— But Jesus knowing it withdrew.

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Matthew 12:16. And charged them, &c.— To what we have observed concerning the reasons why our Lord desired to conceal his mighty works in the note on ch. Mat 8:4 we would add the following remarks: This concealment of himself may seem strange in one who was come to bring light into the world, and was to suffer death for the testimony of the truth. This reservedness may be thought to look as if he had a mind to conceal himself, and not to be known to the world for the Messiah, nor to be believed in as such; but we should be of another mind, and conclude this proceeding of his according to divine wisdom, and suited to a fuller manifestation and evidence of his being the Messiah, when we consider that he was to fill up the time foretold for his ministry; and, after a life illustrious in miracles and good works, attended with humility, meekness, patience, and suffering, and every way conformable to the prophesies concerning him; should be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and with all quiet submission be brought to the cross, though there was no guilt or fault found in him. This could not have been, if, as soon as he appeared in public and began to preach, he had presently professed himself to have been the Messiah, the king who owned that kingdom which he published to be at hand; for the Sanhedrim would then have laid hold of it, to have got him in their power, and thereby have taken away his life; at least they would have disturbed his ministry, and hindered the work he was about; unless he had exercised his Almighty power in a way that we have no right to expect. That this induced him to avoid the occasions of provoking them, and falling into their hands, is plain from John 7:1. Such was the will of our Blessed Saviour, who could have called for legions of angels to have assisted him, or done himself what he pleased in heaven, in earth, and in hell.

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Matthew 12:20. And smoking flax, &c.— And a dimly burning taper he will not extinguish, till he render his laws victorious; or, till he hath made justice victorious. It is said at Mat 12:18 that he shall teach the nations judgment; by which I understand, says Dr. Heylin, in nearly these words, that self-judgment [the nosce teipsum, self-knowledge, reduced to practice] which is, under divine grace, the ground of all morality, and commonly named judgment in the scripture. This on the first awakenings of the soul must be greatly defective: self-knowledge is then dim, as the smoking wick, and good purposes weak as the broken reed; yet, under the conduct of Christ, these unpromising dispositions willimprove by continual accessions of divine light, till the penitent sinner, enabledto lay hold upon Christ by simple faith, becomes conscious of an interest in his blood, and feels a renovation of nature, which is here meant by sending forth judgment unto victory.

See commentary on Mat 12:17

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Matthew 12:21. And in his name, &c.— St. Matthew has here followed the LXX. In Isaiah it is, and the isles shall wait for his law: but the meaning of both passages is the same; for the Evangelists use the name of God with that latitude which it has in the Hebrew language, wherein it denotes the Deity himself; his perfections, his worship, his laws, and, in one word, every thing relating to religion. In the language of the Old Testament, the isles commonly denote the idolatrous nations to the west of Judaea. The prophet's meaning therefore is, that the heathen nations, charmed with the kindness and gentleness of the Messiah's kingdom, the equity of his government, and the beauty and rectitude of his laws, shall, through divine grace, trustin him, or obtain for themselves protection and safety by becoming his subjects. See Macknight and Vitringa.

See commentary on Mat 12:17

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Matthew 12:22. One possessed, &c.— A demoniac.

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Matthew 12:24. This fellow doth not cast out, &c.— The Pharisees affirmed, that Jesus performed his miracles, particularly on possessed persons, by the assistance of Beelzebub, for two reasons; first, Jesus had all along been at great pains to oppose those superstitions which most of the teachers and people of that age looked upon as the essentials of religion, and extolled as the principal branches of piety. Hence they considered him, who decried them, as a very flagitious person; and because it is supposed, Deu 13:1-3 that a false prophet might work signs and wonders, with an intention to turn men from the worship of God, they thought our Lord was a deceiver of that kind; affirming that he performedall his miracles by the assistance of evil spirits, and with a view to seduce the people from their obedience to God. Secondly, The demons, in addressing Jesus, honoured him with the title of Messiah. This, it is probable, his enemies said the devils would never have done, had he not been in compact with them. Hence we see the reason why our Lord, on several occasions, strictlycharged the devils not to make him known: he would not have their testimony, because he foresaw that a bad use would be made of it by men of evil minds. The truth is, that the account which the Pharisees gave of Christ's miracles, and which they endeavoured to propagate, in order to prevent the effect which they might have had upon the people, though it was altogether false and malicious, and even absurd, in the sight of impartial judges; yet, placed in the light just now mentioned, had some shew of argument in it, at least to persons whose prejudices and interests were favoured by it. Accordingly, among other causes, it contributed not a little to the infidelity of the Jews, which, to any thinking mind, cannot but be matter of great wonder, considering what multitudes were witnesses of the many miracles which Jesus performed on the sick of all sorts; on the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the maimed, and the lame; on paralytics, lunatics, demoniacs, and other miserable objects; nay, and on dead persons, whom he raised again to life; on the winds, and on the seas; in a word, on every part of nature. See the note on ch. Matthew 10:25. It may be proper to observe once for all, that the word fellow is not in the Greek, but inserted by our translators. In the original it is Ουτος, he, or this man; the term is certainly used contemptuously

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Matthew 12:27. By whom do your children, &c.— Your sons, υιοι . Dr. Chandler paraphrases the verse thus: "You do not impute the miracles of your prophets to Beelzebub, but, on the evidence of these miracles, you receive them as the messengers of God; nevertheless you reject me, who work greater and more numerous miracles than they, and impute them to the power of evil spirits. Is this conduct of a piece? Wherefore these prophets shall be your judges; they shall condemn you." Others, however, suppose, and, as it seems to me, with better reason, that by your sons is meant your disciples, or your countrymen in general; for that manyof the Jews did at this time attempt tocast out devils, is plain from Mark 9:38. Luke 9:49. Act 19:13 and Josephus, Antiq. lib. viii. c. 2. Calvin thinks that God conferred a power of this kind on some particular persons among the Jews anciently, that, by thus proving his presence among them, he might retain the nation in the faith of his covenant; and that the people, having experienced God's power in those instances, came foolishly to institute for themselves the office of an exorcist. Agreeably to this it may be observed, that our Lord's argument does not require that the demons were actually expelled by these exorcists; it is sufficient that the Jews thought they were expelled, and did not condemn those pretended miracles, as they did Christ's real ones. See Whitby and Grotius on the place.

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Matthew 12:28. Then the kingdom of God is come unto you— That is, "You may thereby discover that I am the Messiah, or that king who was promised to the Jews." The miracles of our Lord, and the manner in which he performed them, were manifest demonstrations of his having been sent from God (see John 3:2.), and consequently that what he said of himself was true. But the casting out of devils, in particular, was a miracle which proved Christ to be the Messiah; since he came into the world on purpose to destroy the works of the devils. See 1 John 3:8. John 12:31. Heb 2:14 and Beausobre and Lenfant.

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Matthew 12:29. A strong man's house— The house of the strong one. See Isaiah 49:24-25. The strong one is the same as the evil one, and the prince of this world. The argument supposes, that the strong one is actually present to guard his house; and indeed the case in question proves the presence of Satan. The house of the strong one, into which Christ entered, was the world, fitly called Beelzebub's house or palace, because there he is served by luxury, lust, covetousness, pride, anger, and other evil passions of men. The goods or vessels belonging to this strong one, which Christ spoiled, are the wicked, called Beelzebub's vessels metaphorically; as St. Paul is called by Christ his chosen vessel, Acts 9:15. Or, if we choose to pursue the allegory more closely, by the vessels or furniture of Beelzebub's house we may understand the lusts and passions of men's hearts, the instruments by which he keeps possession of them. See Heylin, Macknight, and Chemnitz.

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Matthew 12:30. He that is not with me, &c.— "If, according to the maxims of the world, those are reckoned enemies who do not assist us against our foes; I, who am so deeply engaged in the opposition to Satan, ought much rather to be reckoned his enemy; and he who does not set himself, according to his ability, to gather subjects into mykingdom with me, is but vainly and foolishly scattering abroad; and, however he is employed, wastes his time and labour in what will at last turn to no solid account. Much more criminal and fatal then must the character and conduct of those be, who, with deliberate, implacable malice, oppose my cause, and are resolved, at all adventures, to do their utmost to bear it down, as you are attempting to do by these vile insinuations which you have now suggested." See Doddridge, and the note on Mark 9:40.

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Matthew 12:33. Either make the tree good, &c.— "If you make my miracles Beelzebub's, you must make my doctrine his also: all the good I do, you must say is his work; all the exhortations by which I excite sinners to repentance are his; the knowledge which I give you of the way of life, and the motives I offer for your encouragement to enter upon it, are his. On the other hand, if you make my doctrine GOD's, you must make mymiracles his likewise; for men judge of the nature of an agent by the actions which he does, just as they judge of trees by the fruit they produce; for which reason you may easily know that I am not in league with Beelzebub; but that you yourselves are so." Or, we may give the words another turn, thus: "Since you, Pharisees, pretend to extraordinary holiness, your words and actions should be all holy; judge therefore candidly, and speak reverently of the divine dispensations; or, if you will blaspheme, layaside your pretensions to religion; for, however specious these may be, your true characters will be discovered by your words and actions, even as a tree is known by its fruit." See Macknight, and Beausobre and Lenfant.

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Matthew 12:40. For as Jonas was three days and three nights— See the note on Jonah 1:17. Instead of the whale's, we should read the fish's belly. It is no where in the Old Testament said that it was a whale, and κητος signifies any large fish in general. See Mintert on the word. The heart of the earth is a Hebraism for the earth. See what Ezekiel says of the city of Tyre, which was situated on the seashore, ch. Mat 27:4 Matthew 28:2. Our Saviour, in the expression here used, alludes to Jonah 2:2. The miraculous preservation of Jonah for three days in the belly of a fish, was to the Ninevites a certain proof of his mission from God, being credibly attested to them, either by the mariners, who threw him overboard at a great distance from land; or by some other persons, who happening to see the fish vomit him alive upon the shore might inquire his history of him; and who, in the course of their business, met him afterwards at Nineveh, where they confirmed his preaching by relating what they had seen. In like manner Christ's resurrection from the dead, after having been three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, being credibly attested to the Jews, should clearly demonstrate that he came from God.

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Matthew 12:46. Behold, his mother and his brethren— See ch. Matthew 13:55. Mary was attended by her sister's children, who were the cousins, or, according to the Hebrew dialect, the brethren of Christ, (see on ch. Matthew 10:2.) and who waited on her during her stay in Capernaum; a piece of respect which her blessed Son could not shew, on account of the duties of his ministry. It was on occasion of their application to him, that Jesus uttered that excellent saying in the subsequent verses, which will never be forgotten while there are memories in the world to retain it, or tongues to repe

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Matthew 12:48. Who is my mother? &c.— To suppose that our Lord here intends to put any slight on his mother, would be very absurd. He only took the opportunity of expressing his affection to his obedient disciples in a peculiarly endearing manner, which could not but be a very great comfort to them, and would be to Susanna, Joanna, Mary Magdalene, and the other pious women who sat near him, (Luke 8:2-3.) a rich equivalent for all the fatigue and expence which their zeal for their heavenly Master occasioned. And as this seems to have been towards the beginning of their progress, it is observable that our Lord appears to have been peculiarly concerned for their encouragement. See Luk 11:27-28 and Doddridge.

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