Matthew 9:32-34

Matthew 9:32-34. As they went out Namely, the men that had been blind; behold, they brought to him a dumb man Whose dumbness was owing to his being possessed with a devil. From the circumstance of this demoniac’s being dumb, Erasmus conjectures that he was also deprived of the use of his reason. If so, being insensible of his own misery, he had as little inclination as ability to apply for a cure. He could not even make his misery known by signs, and therefore needed to be brought to the Saviour by others. And when the devil was cast out Namely, by the powerful word of Jesus; the dumb spake Readily, distinctly, rationally, and fluently. And the multitude marvelled Were astonished both at the greatness of the miracle and at the instantaneous manner in which it was wrought, as also at the many other miracles which they had just seen performed. Saying, It was never so seen in Israel Not even in Israel, where so many wonders have been seen. “This reflection was perfectly just; for no one of the prophets, that we read of in the Old Testament, appears to have wrought so many beneficial miracles in his whole life, as our Lord did in this one afternoon.” Doddridge. But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils Not being able to deny facts that were so notorious, in order to prevent the effect which they saw them likely to produce on the people, (namely, to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah,) being moved with the bitterest spite against him, they impudently, and contrary to all reason and common sense, affirmed that instead of being the Christ, or a prophet, he was a vile magician, who cast out devils by the help of Beelzebub, their prince. A calumny this which the Pharisees frequently uttered, but which our Lord fully confuted, as the reader will see in the notes on Matthew 12:22-30.