Matthew 9:27-34

VIIThe cure of the blind men and of the dumb demoniac: or, the fame and the defamation of the defamation of the miracles of Jesus. The healing agency of the Lord, the earnest of coming salvation, in view of the hardening and the blasphemy of His enemies.

Matthew 9:27-34

27And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.21 28And when he was [had] come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able todo this? They said [say, λέγουσιν] unto him, Yea, Lord. 29Then touched he their eyes,saying, According to your faith be it unto you. 30And their eyes were opened; andJesus straitly charged [threatened]22 them, saying, See that no man know it23 31But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

32As they went out,24 behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with adevil.25 33And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled,saying, It [he] was never so seen in Israel. 34But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

General Remarks.—These two miracles are recorded by Matthew alone. They are here related, partly because they formed the close of a glorious day, and partly because in them the power of Christ appears in a new light. The distinguishing feature in the case of the two blind persons consisted in their invoking Jesus as the Son of David, or the Messiah; so that their supplication almost amounted to a distinct Christian profession. The opposite characteristic marked the case of the dumb demoniac, who was not dumb from any organic defect, but rendered such by the evil spirit of whom he was possessed. He was a demoniac without appearing to be such, since his condition remained concealed under a dumbness which originated either in unconquerable melancholy, or in malicious stubbornness. The dumb person was prevented by the demon from speaking, and the omniscience of the Saviour appeared in His immediately recognizing the source of the evil. The miracle was in so far extraordinary, as its only basis was the faith of those who brought the demoniac to the Lord; while, at the same time, the malice and blasphemy of the Pharisees served to confirm the power of the evil one over his victim. Thus the first of these miracles was, so to speak, enacted on the threshold of the kingdom of heaven; the second, at the gate of hell.

Matthew 9:27. Two blind men.—Blindness is a very common affliction in the East, especially in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine. It was caused by the strong reflection of light, by lightning, dust, hot days, cold nights, frequent sleeping in the open air, etc. The persons here spoken of were not blind by nature, but by disease. In John 9:0 the contrary was the case, and is so expressly stated.

Son of David.—The designation of the Messiah. See Matthew 12:23; Matthew 15:22; Matthew 20:30-31; Matthew 21:9; Matthew 21:15; Matthew 22:41-45.

Matthew 9:28. Into the house;—i.e., His dwelling at Capernaum. The circumstance, that the blind men followed Him thither, seems itself miraculous. They found their way in the train of Christ, as if some glimmer of light had already been granted. Similarly, the persistence with which they openly ascribed to the Lord a Messianic title which He had not yet publicly assumed, was a signal manifestation of their faith. They were not healed by the way, partly because Jesus would try their faith, and partly because as yet He would not in public reply to the address of Messiah.

Matthew 9:29. [According to your faith be it done to you.—An important word, which shows the relation of man’s faith to God’s grace. Faith is the hand which takes what God offers, the spiritual organ of appropriation, the ὄργανον ληπτικόν, the connecting link between emptiness and God’s fulness. “It is the bucket let down into the fountain of God’s grace, without which the man could not draw up out of that fountain; the purse, which does not itself make its owner rich, but which yet effectually enriches him by the treasure which it contains.”—P. S.]

Matthew 9:30. Their eyes were opened,—i.e., they received their sight. A common Hebrew expression, as in 2 Kings 6:17; Isaiah 35:5, etc.

Straitly [sternly] charged [threatened] them.—Properly, He threatened them, full of indignation, ἐνεβριμήσατο. They had already publicly invoked Him as the Son of David, and He had holpen them. Accordingly, they would be still more prone to proclaim Him as Messiah, which might have led the people of Galilee into rebellion against their temporal rulers, and to a carnal movement, which was quite contrary to the purposes of Jesus. Hence the Lord now threatened them with all earnestness, although without succeeding in imposing silence upon hem. In all probability the fame of this miracle spread far beyond Capernaum. Hence the title, Son of David, became now generally known, and Jesus felt all the more inclined soon to leave the district.26

Matthew 9:33. It [He] was never so seen, οὐδέ ποτ εἐφάνηοὕ τως.—Meyer: It, i.e., the expulsion of demons. Rettig, Fritzsche: He has never so appeared or shown Himself. (The common explanation is, that οὕτως stands for τοῦτο or τοιοῦτό τι, against which, see Meyer.) If it were necessary to limit the word it to that one peculiar kind of expelling demons, we should feel constrained to adopt the explanation proposed by Rettig and Fritzsche. But this does not seem requisite in view of the emphatic meaning attaching to the word ἐφἀνη. The Jews would necessarily connect the idea of appearing with the appearance of the Messiah. Hence the expression would imply: never before has the appearance (of the promised deliverance) been so fully realized. This also throws light on the expression, in Israel, which evidently implies that this had been the brightest Messianic appearance as yet vouchsafed to the theocracy. Perhaps the statement was intentionally couched in indefinite language from fear of the powerful party of Christ’s enemies.

Matthew 9:34. Through the prince of the devils, ἐντῷ ἄρχοντ ι, κ.τ.λ.—Afterward he is designated more particularly in Matthew 12:24. The particle ἐν indicates intimate connection and fellowship. He is in league with Satan and his power, to which the lower demons are subject. As mention is not made of any reply by the Lord, we conclude that on this occasion the Pharisees had uttered the sentiment behind the Lord, but in the presence of those who acknowledged His power.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. This is the first instance in which the Lord performed a miracle when invoked in His character as the Messiah. The expressions employed in the text are very remarkable. Jesus first asks, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?”—not, that I am the Messiah; and then adds, According to your faith be it unto you! But on this very account He insisted the more earnestly that the secret should be kept. He could not, indeed, prevent that the cure of the blind men should openly appear, nor that they should ascribe it to His power. But He sought to prevent their publishing in what name and character He had performed it. The patent secret of His dignity was now bursting forth with increasing clearness. Hence also the reviling and the blasphemy of His enemies.2. The healing of the dumb demoniac affords a glimpse into a class of sufferings which are apparently physical and organic, but whose seat is really in the soul. The Spirit of Christ alone was able to light up this darkness, and thus to remove their affliction.3. The blasphemy of the Pharisees gradually develops: 1. They blaspheme in their own minds; 2. then behind the Lord; 3. at last they venture openly to confront Him with their daring charge.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

How the two blind persons represent to us the work of evangelists. I. They resemble evangelists,—a. in that they openly invoke the Lord as Messiah; b. in that, in their blindness, they follow in His train to the house; c. in that they have faith and constancy, are tried and approved; d. in that they obtain help on making confession of faith. II. They differ from evangelists in wanting full obedience; and although their joy may plead their excuse, yet their spiritual sight was evidently still weak, though their bodily sight had been restored them.—Christ appearing as the Master in the carefulness of His dealings with sinners.—The light of the eye: I. a natural gift of God; II. a miraculous gift of the Lord; III. a symbol of the spiritual gift of God.—They brought to Him. Persons in such a state of depression must be brought to the Lord by their believing friends.—How the Master immediately descries the secret evil under which the demoniac labored.—If there be but a spark of faith, the Lord can remove the most desperate case of spiritual bondage.—Let us never lose sight even of those who suffer under melancholy and obstinate self-seclusion.—The highest achievements of faith always evoke the greatest revilings of unbelief.—It is a mark of the spirit of Satan to decry what the Lord achieves as the work of Satan.—There is always some patent self-contradiction about blasphemies.—The triumphs of the Lord in view of His enemies: the first manifestation of heaven and hell upon earth.—Christ lifting the veil of revelation in a twofold manner: by healing the blind in His character as Messiah; and the dumb, by unmasking and overcoming the demon who caused his disease.—At the threshold of Christ’s abode, precipitate evangelists and dumb demoniacs may meet.—Christ between precipitate professors and the obstinately dumb. 1. He bids the former be silent, and the latter speak; 2. He is obeyed by the latter, rather than by the former.—Christ healing us by removing our morbid sensations; more especially, a. excitement, in its imaginary heights; b. depression, in its dark depths.—The miracles of grace extend from the gates of heaven to those of hell.—Demoniac sins which we consciously commit, such as blasphemy, are infinitely more dangerous than demoniac sufferings, when we are deprived of liberty.—Christ first removes the storm at sea, and, last of all, the dark intricacies of settled melancholy.

Starke:—Faith of the heart and confession of the mouth always go hand in hand, Romans 10:9-10.—True faith is not deterred by delays.—According to thy faith shall it be unto thee.—Envy and reviling are not far removed from each other, 2 Corinthians 12:20.

Gerlach:—Christ Himself teaches us (John 9:39) to regard the healing of the blind as an emblem of inward illumination, or of the conversion of the heart.

Heubner:—One deliverance after another.—One work of love leads to another.—Believe ye?—a question always addressed by the Lord to us when we seek help.—The deaf and dumb, the picture of a sinner whom the evil spirit within suffers not to confess his misery, or to pray.—Should we be moved by the judgment of schools, or parties, in opposition to true religion, when Jesus Himself experienced such contradiction from the learned?

Footnotes:

[21] Matthew 9:17.—[The original reverses the order: Have mercy on us, Son of David.—]

[22] Matthew 9:30.—[Ἐνεβριμήσατο. Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford (in the 4th ed.) adopt the passive form ἐνεβριμήθη, which is quite unusual, but supported by Codd. א (Sinait.), B., C. Angelo Mai’s ed. of the Vatican Cod. (B) reads ἐνεβρ ε ιμήθη, but Buttmann’s ed.: ἐνεβρ ι μήθη. The verb ἐμβριμᾶσθαι (from the radix βρμ—comp. fremo and the German brummen—a heavy murmuring sound) signifies in general the utterance of vehement emotion either of wrath and indignation, or (as in John 11:33) of grief; then threatening admonition, as here. Chrysostom in loc.: οὐχ ἁπλῶς κελεύει, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σφοδρότητος. Meyer in loc. explains the indignant threat in this case from the fear of its uselessness, comp. Matthew 9:32. Lange renders the ἐνεβριμήσατο: bedrohte; the Vulg.: comminatus est; Luther and de Wette: bedräuete; van Ess: befahl ihnen ernstlich; Wiclif: thretened; Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva: charged; Rheims: threatened; the C. V.: straitly—i.e., strictly, rigorously—charged; Conant: sternly charged. The authorized version renders the word ἐμβριμᾶσθα (which occurs five times in the N. T.), by three different verbs, viz.: straitly charged, Matthew 9:30; Mark 1:43; murmured, Mark 14:5; groaned, John 11:33; John 11:38.—P. S.]

[23] Matthew 9:30.—[Dr. Conant and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union render ὁρᾶτε μηδεὶς γινωσκέτω: Take heed, let no one know it. So ὁρᾶτε should be translated before the imperative, as is done by the Author. E. V. in Matthew 16:6.—P. S.]

[24] Matthew 9:32.—[More correctly: And as they were going out, Αὐτῶν δὲ ἐξερχομένων.—P. S.]

[25] Matthew 9:32.—[Lange: einen dämonischen Stummen, or a dumb demoniac, i. e., a man who had become dumb in consequence of the possession. The Author. V. makes the false impression that he was dumb before.—P. S.]

[26] Matthew 9:30-31.—[Alford remarks on ἐνεβριμήσατο, or ἐνεβρινμήθη as he reads with Lachmann: “The purpose of our Lord’s earnestness appears to have been twofold: (1) that He might not be so occupied and overpressed with applications as to have neither time nor strength for the preaching of the Gospel; (2) to prevent the already excited people from taking some public measure of recognition, and arousing the malice of the Pharisees before His hour was come.—No doubt the two men were guilty of an act of disobedience in thus breaking the Lord’s solemn injunction: for obedience is better than sacrifice; the humble observance of the word of the Lord, than the most laborious and wide-spread will-worship after man’s own mind and invention.” Trench (Notes on Miracles of our Lord, Lond, 6th ed., p. 198) considers it characteristic that all the Romish interpreters excuse or rather applaud these men for not strictly adhering to Christ’s command; while the Reformed, whose first principle is to take God’s Word as absolute rule and law and to place obedience above sacrifice, consider this publishing of the miracle against the express admonition a blemish in the faith of these men. I add the brief but excellent note of Wordsworth on Matthew 9:31 : “Glory is not to be obtained by seeking for it, but by declining it.” Sequentem fugit, fugientem sequitur gloria.—P. S.]