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CHAPTER 19.

FAREWELL TO GALILEE.

In Mt.’s narrative the journey of Jesus to the south, reported in Matthew 19:1, marks the close of the Galilean ministry. Not so obviously so in Mk.’s (see notes there), though no hint is given of a return to Galilee. It is not perfectly clear whether the incidents reported are to be conceived as occurring at the southern end of the journey, or on the way within Galilee or without. The latter alternative is possible (vide Holtz., H. C., p. 214). The incidents bring under our notice a variety of interesting characters: Pharisees with captious questions, mothers with their children, a man in quest of the summum bonum, with words and acts of Jesus corresponding. But the disciplining of the Twelve still holds the central place of interest. Last chapter showed them at school in the house, this shows them at school on the way.

Matthew 19:1-2. Introductory, cf. Mark 10:1.

Matthew 19:1. καὶ ἐγένετο … λόγους τούτους: similar formulae after important groups of logia in Matthew 7:28, Matthew 11:1, Matthew 13:53.—μετῆρεν: also in Matthew 13:53, vide notes there; points to a change of scene worthy of note, as to Nazareth, which Jesus rarely visited, or to Judaea, as here.—ἀπὸ τ. Γαλιλαίας. The visit to Nazareth was a movement within Galilee. This is a journey out of it not necessarily final, but so thought of to all appearance by the evangelist.—εἰς τὰ ὅρια τ. Ἰ. π. τ. Ἰ.: indicates either the destination = to the coasts of Judaea beyond the Jordan; or the end and the way = to the Judaea territory by the way of Peraea, i.e., along the eastern shore of Jordan. It is not likely that the writer would describe Southern Peraea as a part of Judaea, therefore the second alternative is to be preferred. Mk.’s statement is that Jesus went to the coasts of Judaea and (καὶ, approved reading, instead of διὰ τοῦ in T. R.) beyond Jordan. Weiss thinks that Mt.’s version arose from misunderstanding of Mk. But his understanding may have been a true one, for Mk.’s statement may mean that Peraea was the first reached station (Holtz., H. C.), implying a journey on the eastern side. The suggestion that the writer of the first Gospel lived on the eastern side, and means by πέραν the western side (Delitsch and others), has met with little favour.

Matthew 19:2. ἠκολούθησαν: the crowds follow as if there had been no interruption, in Mt.; in Mk., who knows of a time of hiding (Matthew 9:30), they reassemble (Matthew 10:1).—ἐθεράπευσεν α. ἐκεῖ: a healing ministry commences in the south; in Mk. a teaching ministry (Matthew 10:1).

Matthew 19:3-9. The marriage question (Mark 10:2-9).

Matthew 19:3. φ. πειράζοντες: Pharisees again, tempting of course; could not ask a question at Jesus without sinister motives.—εἰ ἔξεστιν: direct question in indirect form, vide on Matthew 12:10.—ἀπολῦσαι … κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν: the question is differently formulated in the two accounts, and the answer differently arranged. In Mk. the question is absolute = may a man put away his wife at all? in Mt. relative = may, etc.… for every reason? Under the latter form the question was an attempt to draw Jesus into an internal controversy of the Jewish schools as to the meaning of Deuteronomy 24:1, and put Him in the dilemma of either having to choose the unpopular side of the school of Shummai, who interpreted עֶרְוַת דָּבָר strictly, or exposing Himself to a charge of laxity by siding with the school of Hillel. It was a petty scheme, but characteristic. Whether the interrogants knew what Jesus had taught on the subject of marriage and divorce in the Sermon on the Mount is uncertain, but in any case all scribes and Pharisees knew by this time what to expect from Him. For κατὰ in the sense of propter, vide instances in Hermann’s Viger, 632, and Kypke.

Matthew 19:4. οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε: the words quoted are to be found in Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:24.—ὁ κτίσας: the participle with article used substantively = the Creator.—ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς goes along with what follows, Christ’s purpose being to emphasise the primitive state of things. From the beginning God made man, male and female; suited to each other, needing each other.—ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ: “one male and one female, so that the one should have the one; for if He had wished that the male should dismiss one and marry another He would have made more females at the first,” Euthy.

Matthew 19:5. καὶ εἶπεν: God said, though the words as they stand in Gen. may be a continuation of Adam’s reflections, or a remark of the writer.—ἕνεκεν τούτου: connected in Gen. with the story of the woman made from the rib of the man, here with the origin of sex. The sex principle imperiously demands that all other relations and ties, however intimate and strong, shall yield to it. The cohesion this force creates is the greatest possible.—οἱ δύο: these words in the Sept[109] have nothing answering to them in the Hebrew, but they are true to the spirit of the original.—εἰς σάρκα μίαν: the reference is primarily to the physical fleshly unity. But flesh in Hebrew thought represents the entire man, and the ideal unity of marriage covers the whole nature. It is a unity of soul as well as of body: of sympathy, interest, purpose.

[109] Septuagint.

Matthew 19:6. ὥστε with indicative, expressing actual result as Christ views the matter. They are no longer two, but one flesh, one spirit, one person.—ὃ οὖν: inference from God’s will to man’s duty. The creation of sex, and the high doctrine as to the cohesion it produces between man and woman, laid down in Gen., interdict separation. Let the Divine Syzygy be held sacredel How small the Pharisaic disputants must have felt in presence of such holy teaching, which soars above the partisan views of contemporary controversialists into the serene region of ideal, universal, eternal truth!

Matthew 19:7-9. τί οὖν, etc.: such doctrine could not be directly gainsaid, but a difficulty might be raised by an appeal to Moses and his enactment about a bill of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1). The Pharisees seem to have regarded Moses as a patron of the practice of putting away, rather than as one bent on mitigating its evil results. Jesus corrects this false impression.