Verse 18
A certain ruler - There were two officers in the synagogue, הכנסת חזן chazan ha - ceneseth , the bishop or overseer of the congregation; and הכנסת ראש rosh ha - ceneseth , the head or ruler of the congregation. The chazan takes the book of the Law, and gives it to the rosh , or ruler; and he appoints who shall read the different sections, etc. Jairus, who is the person intended here, was, in this latter sense, the ruler or governor of one of the synagogues, probably at Capernaum. See Mark 5:22 ; Luke 8:41 .
My daughter is even now dead - Or, my daughter was just now dying; αρτι ετελευτησεν , or, is by this time dead: i.e. as Mr. Wakefield properly observes, She was so ill when I left home that she must be dead by this time. This turn of the expression reconciles the account given here with that in Mark and Luke. Michaelis conjectures that, in the Hebrew original, the words must have stood thus, מתה עתה atah matah , which, without the points, may signify either, She is dead, or She is dying.
To be successful in our applications to God by prayer, four things are requisite; and this ruler teaches us what they are.
- First, A man should place himself in the presence of God - he came unto him.
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