Matthew 9:2

2. Behold, they brought… palsy It appears by the parallel passage in Luke, that there were present a number of Pharisees and doctors from north and south, even from as far as Jerusalem. Our Lord either addressed the crowd from the court gallery, or in the large reception room. They brought… lying on a bed Mark says he was brought by four men. Palsy seems to be a contraction of the word paralysis. It implies the loss of the power of muscular motion. Seeing their faith But what special display of faith, calling even for the forgiveness of the man’s sins, does there here appear? We should not know from Matthew’s brief account: but Mark and Luke, without any such design, explain the matter. They furnish the absent fact, and thus unintentionally show how a true event is the basis of all the common narrative. Such was the crowd in the room where our Lord was, that they could not bring their couch before him. They therefore ascended a flight of stairs which ran up the house from the court, or perhaps stairs belonging to some adjoining house, and mounted the roof. They tore up the matting, of which the slight roof was composed, and let the palsied man down into the room or gallery where our Lord and the assembly were.

From this two things are evident: First, the man himself was probably a personage of no ordinary consequence, to presume on such a procedure; and, second, his faith must have been strong to induce him to force his bearers through such a process. For a description of an Oriental house and explanation of the circumstances of the narrative, see supplementary note at end of the chapter. Son, be of good cheer Disease had rendered him desperate; perhaps the consciousness of having, by evil courses, brought on his condition, induced penitence; so that in the presence of our Lord his heart had sunk. Sweet, then, were the words of the blessed Jesus, calling him son, encouraging his heart, and forgiving his sin. Thy sins be forgiven thee Our Lord here has a double purpose. In the man he sees repentance and faith, and his first purpose is to show him mercy. In the scribes’ hearts he knows there is impenitence and cavil, and he means to refute, and even, if it were possible, furnish argument to convince them.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE TO Matthew 9:2 .

The Oriental houses, very unlike our own, were low frames with flat roofs, so constructed as to enclose a square yard or court under the open sky in the centre.

They are built for privacy, and so present to the street (which is very narrow) almost a blank wall; and the doors and windows open and front inwardly toward the court.

From the street you enter such a house by a small door into a passage way leading directly to the court. The court is generally paved, with perhaps a fountain or well in its centre. As you enter the court from the passage way you see opposite you, across the court, the ordinary reception room for visitors. Or, ascending a flight of steps, as you have entered the court, you mount to the floor of the upper story. This upper story is lined with a gallery or piazza, projecting from all the four walls toward the court, with its edges made safe for walkers by a railing or balustrade.

It has been made a matter of much skeptical query how this paralytic could be thus let down through the roof to Jesus. Mr. Kitto supposes that our Saviour stood in the crowded gallery and addressed the multitude who densely filled the court below. The bearers of the paralytic, ascending the stairs near the entry of the court, and finding the gallery crowded, mounted the stairs leading to the roof. As the gallery had a slight covering, the man was easily let down by its removal.

Dr. Thomson says:

“The houses of Capernaum, as is evident from the ruins, were like those of modern villages in this same region, low, very low, with flat roofs, reached by a stairway from the yard or court. Jesus probably stood in the open lewan, [or reception room,] and the crowd were around and in front of him. Those who carried the paralytic, not being able ‘to come at him for the press ascended to the roof, removed so much of it as was necessary, and let their patient down through the aperture.

“The roof is only a few feet high, and by stooping down and holding the corners of the couch, merely a thickly padded quilt, as at present in this region, they could let down the sick man without any apparatus of ropes or cords to assist them. I have often seen it done, and done it myself, to houses in Lebanon, but there is always more dust than is agreeable. The materials now employed for roofs are beams about three feet apart, across which short sticks are arranged close together and covered with thickly matted thorn-brush, called bellan. Over this is spread a coat of stiff mortar, and then comes the marl or earth, which makes the roof. Now it is easy to remove any part of this without injuring the rest. No objection therefore would be made on this account by the owners of the house. They had merely to scrape back the earth from a portion of the roof over the lewan, take up the thorns and short sticks, and let down the couch between the beams at the very feet of Jesus. The end achieved, they could easily restore the roof as it was before.”