Matthew 17:14-23

§ 76. CASTING OUT OF A DUMB AND DEAF SPIRIT, Matthew 17:14-23 .

As Moses, when he came down from the mount of God, found that his people had in his absence turned to idolatry and vice, so our Saviour, on coming from the mount of transfiguration, found that his disciples in his absence had neglected prayer and fasting, and become spiritually weak, and had rendered themselves liable to the taunts of adversaries and the rebukes of the Lord. Great is the contrast between the exaltation of the mount and this humiliation on the low level of the earth.