Matthew 12

Mt 12:1-8.

PLUCKING

CORN

EARS ON THE

SABBATH

DAY.

Mr 2:23-28;

Lu 6:1-5).

The season of the year when this occurred is determined by the event

itself. Ripe corn ears are found in the fields only just before harvest.

The barley harvest seems clearly intended here, at the close of our

March and beginning of our April. It coincided with the Passover season,

as the wheat harvest with Pentecost. But in Luke

(Lu 6:1)

we have a still more definite note of time, if we could be certain of

the meaning of the peculiar term which he employs to express it. "It

came to pass (he says) on the sabbath, which was the

first-second," for that is the proper rendering of the word, and

not "the second sabbath after the first," as in our version. Of the

various conjectures what this may mean, that of SCALIGER is the most approved, and, as we think, the

freest from difficulty, namely, the first sabbath after the second day

of the Passover; that is, the first of the seven sabbaths which were to

be reckoned from the second day of the Passover, which was itself a

sabbath, until the next feast, the feast of Pentecost

(Le 23:15, 16;

De 16:9, 10)

In this case, the day meant by the Evangelist is the first of those

seven sabbaths intervening between Passover and Pentecost. And if we

are right in regarding the "feast" mentioned in

Joh 5:1

as a Passover, and consequently the second during our Lord's

public ministry (see on

Joh 5:1),

this plucking of the ears of corn must have occurred immediately after

the scene and the discourse recorded in

Joh 5:19-47,

which, doubtless, would induce our Lord to hasten His departure for the

north, to avoid the wrath of the Pharisees, which He had kindled at

Jerusalem. Here, accordingly, we find Him in the fields--on His way

probably to Galilee.

1. At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn--"the

cornfields"

(Mr 2:23;

Lu 6:1).

and his disciples were an hungered--not as one may be before his

regular meals; but evidently from shortness of provisions: for Jesus

defends their plucking the corn-ears and eating them on the plea of

necessity.

and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat--"rubbing them in

their hands"

(Lu 6:1).

2. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy

disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day--The

act itself was expressly permitted

(De 23:25).

But as being "servile work," which was prohibited on the sabbath day,

it was regarded as sinful.

3. But he said unto them, Have ye not read--or, as Mark

(Mr 2:25)

has it, "Have ye never read."

what David did when he was an hungered, and they that were with

him--

(1Sa 21:1-6)

4. How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the showbread,

which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with

him, but only for the priests?--No example could be more apposite than

this. The man after God's own heart, of whom the Jews ever boasted, when

suffering in God's cause and straitened for provisions, asked and

obtained from the high priest what, according to the law, it was illegal

for anyone save the priests to touch. Mark

(Mr 2:26)

says this occurred "in the days of Abiathar the high priest." But this

means not during his high priesthood--for it was under that of his

father Ahimelech--but simply, in his time. Ahimelech was soon succeeded

reign, may account for his name, rather than his father's, being here

introduced. Yet there is not a little confusion in what is said of

these priests in different parts of the Old Testament. Thus he is

called both the son of the father of Ahimelech

(1Sa 22:20;

2Sa 8:17);

and Ahimelech is called Ahiah

(1Sa 14:3),

and Abimelech

(1Ch 18:16).

5. Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the

priests in the temple profane the sabbath--by doing "servile work."

and are blameless?--The double offerings required on the sabbath day

(Nu 28:9)

could not be presented, and the new-baked showbread

(Le 24:5;

1Ch 9:32)

could not be prepared and presented every sabbath morning, without a

good deal of servile work on the part of the priests; not to speak of

circumcision, which, when the child's eighth day happened to fall on a

sabbath, had to be performed by the priests on that day. (See on

Joh 7:22, 23).

6. But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the

temple--or rather, according to the reading which is best supported,

"something greater." The argument stands thus: "The ordinary rules for

the observance of the sabbath give way before the requirements of the

temple; but there are rights here before which the temple itself must

give way." Thus indirectly, but not the less decidedly, does our Lord

put in His own claims to consideration in this question--claims to be

presently put in even more nakedly.

7. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not

sacrifice--

(Ho 6:6;

Mic 6:6-8,

&c.). See on

Mt 9:13.

ye would not have condemned the guiltless--that is, Had ye understood

the great principle of all religion, which the Scripture everywhere

recognizes--that ceremonial observances must give way before moral

duties, and particularly the necessities of nature--ye would have

refrained from these captious complaints against men who in this matter

are blameless. But our Lord added a specific application of this great

principle to the law of the sabbath, preserved only in Mark: "And he

said unto them, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the

sabbath"

(Mr 2:27).

A glorious and far-reaching maxim, alike for the permanent

establishment of the sabbath and the true freedom of its

observance.

8. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day--In what sense

now is the Son of man Lord of the sabbath day? Not surely to abolish

it--that surely were a strange lordship, especially just after saying

that it was made or instituted for MAN--but to

own it, to interpret it, to preside over it, and

to ennoble it, by merging it in the "Lord's Day"

(Re 1:10),

breathing into it an air of liberty and love necessarily unknown

before, and thus making it the nearest resemblance to the eternal

sabbatism.

Mt 12:9-21.

THE

HEALING OF A

WITHERED

HAND ON THE

SABBATH

DAY AND

RETIREMENT OF

JESUS TO

AVOID

DANGER.

Mr 3:1-12;

Lu 6:6-11).

Healing of a Withered Hand

(Mt 12:9-14).

9. And when he was departed thence--but "on another sabbath"

(Lu 6:6).

he went into their synagogue--"and taught." He had now, no doubt,

arrived in Galilee; but this, it would appear, did not occur at

Capernaum, for after it was over, He "withdrew Himelf," it is said

"to the sea"

(Mr 3:7),

whereas Capernaum was at the sea.

And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered--disabled by

paralysis (as in

1Ki 13:4).

It was his right hand, as Luke

(Lu 6:6)

graphically notes.

And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath

days? that they might accuse him--Mark and Luke

(Mr 3:2;

Lu 6:7)

say they "watched Him whether He would heal on the sabbath day." They

were now come to the length of dogging His steps, to collect materials

for a charge of impiety against Him. It is probable that it was to

their thoughts rather than their words that Jesus addressed

Himself in what follows.

11. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you that

shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day,

will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

12. How much then is a man better than a sheep?--Resistless appeal!

"A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast"

(Pr 12:10),

and would instinctively rescue it from death or suffering on the

sabbath day; how much more his nobler fellow man! But the reasoning, as

given in the other two Gospels, is singularly striking: "But He knew

their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise

up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then

said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the

sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life or to destroy it?"

(Lu 6:8, 9),

or as in Mark

(Mr 3:4),

"to kill?" He thus shuts them up to this startling alternative: "Not

to do good, when it is in the power of our hand to do it, is to do

evil; not to save life, when we can, is to kill"--and must the letter

of the sabbath rest be kept at this expense? This unexpected thrust

shut their mouths. By this great ethical principle our Lord, we see,

held Himself bound, as man. But here we must turn to Mark, whose

graphic details make the second Gospel so exceedingly precious. "When

He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the

hardness of their hearts, He saith unto the man"

(Mr 3:5).

This is one of the very few passages in the Gospel history which reveal

our Lord's feelings. How holy this anger was appears from the

"grief" which mingled with it at "the hardness of their hearts."

13. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he

stretched it forth--the power to obey going forth with the word of

command.

and it was restored whole, like as the other--The poor man, having

faith in this wonderful Healer--which no doubt the whole scene would

singularly help to strengthen--disregarded the proud and venomous

Pharisees, and thus gloriously put them to shame.

14. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how

they might destroy him--This is the first explicit mention of their

murderous designs against our Lord. Luke

(Lu 6:11)

says, "they were filled with madness, and communed one with another

what they might do to Jesus." But their doubt was not, whether

to get rid of Him, but how to compass it. Mark

(Mr 3:6),

as usual, is more definite: "The Pharisees went forth, and straightway

took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy

Him." These Herodians were supporters of Herod's dynasty, created by

Cæsar--a political rather than religious party. The Pharisees

regarded them as untrue to their religion and country. But here we see

them combining together against Christ as a common enemy. So on a

subsequent occasion

(Mt 22:15, 16).

Jesus Retires to Avoid Danger

(Mt 12:15-21).

15. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence--whither,

our Evangelist says not; but Mark

(Mr 3:7)

says "it was to the sea"--to some distance, no doubt, from the

scene of the miracle, the madness, and the plotting just recorded.

and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all--Mark

gives the following interesting details: "A great multitude from

Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and from Jerusalem, and from

Idumea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great

multitude, when they had heard what great things He did, came unto Him.

And He spake to His disciples, that a small ship"--or "wherry"--"should

wait on Him because of the multitude, lest they should throng Him. For

He had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon Him for to touch

Him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw Him,

fell down before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And

He straitly charged them that they should not make Him known"

(Mr 3:7-12).

How glorious this extorted homage to the Son of God! But as this was

not the time, so neither were they the fitting preachers, as BENGEL says. (See on

Mr 1:25,

and compare

Jas 2:19).

Coming back now to our Evangelist: after saying, "He healed them all,"

he continues:

16. And charged them--the healed.

that they should not make him known--(See on

Mt 8:4).

17. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,

saying--

(Isa 42:1).

18. Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul

is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall show

judgment to the Gentiles.

19. He shall not strive nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice

in the streets.

20. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not

quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory--"unto truth," says

the Hebrew original, and the Septuagint also. But our Evangelist

merely seizes the spirit, instead of the letter of the prediction in

this point. The grandeur and completeness of Messiah's victories would

prove, it seems, not more wonderful than the unobtrusive noiselessness

with which they were to be achieved. And whereas one rough touch will

break a bruised reed, and quench the flickering, smoking flax, His

it should be, with matchless tenderness, love, and skill, to lift up the

meek, to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, to

comfort all that mourn, to say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be

strong, fear not.

21. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust--Part of His present

audience were Gentiles--from Tyre and Sidon--first-fruits of the great

Gentile harvest contemplated in the prophecy.

Mt 12:22-37. A

BLIND AND

DUMB

DEMONIAC

HEALED AND

REPLY TO THE

MALIGNANT

EXPLANATION

PUT UPON

IT.

Mr 3:20-30;

Lu 11:14-23).

The precise time of this section is uncertain. Judging from the

statements with which Mark introduces it, we should conclude that it was

when our Lord's popularity was approaching its zenith, and so before the

feeding of the five thousand. But, on the other hand, the advanced state

of the charges brought against our Lord, and the plainness of His

warnings and denunciations in reply, seem to favor the later period at

which Luke introduces it. "And the multitude," says Mark

(Mr 3:20, 21),

"cometh together again," referring back to the immense gathering which

Mark had before recorded

(Mr 2:2)

--"so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when His

friends"--or rather, "relatives," as appears from

Mt 12:31,

and see on

Mt 12:46

--"heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him; for they said, He is

beside Himself." Compare

2Co 5:13,

"For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God."

22. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil--"a demonized

person."

blind and dumb, and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and the dumb

both spake and saw.

23. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of

David?--The form of the interrogative requires this to be rendered,

"Is this the Son of David?" And as questions put in this form (in

Greek) suppose doubt, and expect rather a negative answer, the

meaning is, "Can it possibly be?"--the people thus indicating their

secret impression that this must be He; yet saving themselves

from the wrath of the ecclesiastics, which a direct assertion of it

would have brought upon them. (On a similar question, see on

Joh 4:29;

and on the phrase, "Son of David," see on

Mt 9:27).

24. But when the Pharisees heard it--Mark

(Mr 3:22)

says, "the scribes which came down from Jerusalem"; so that this had

been a hostile party of the ecclesiastics, who had come all the way

from Jerusalem to collect materials for a charge against Him. (See on

Mt 12:14).

they said, This fellow--an expression of contempt.

doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub--rather, "Beelzebul"

(see on

Mt 10:25).

the prince of the devils--Two things are here implied--first,

that the bitterest enemies of our Lord were unable to deny the reality

of His miracles; and next, that they believed in an organized

infernal kingdom of evil, under one chief. This belief would be of

small consequence, had not our Lord set His seal to it; but this He

immediately does. Stung by the unsophisticated testimony of "all the

people," they had no way of holding out against His claims but by the

desperate shift of ascribing His miracles to Satan.

25. And Jesus knew their thoughts--"called them"

(Mr 3:23).

and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to

desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not

stand--"house," that is, "household"

26. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how

shall then his kingdom stand?--The argument here is irresistible. "No

organized society can stand--whether kingdom, city, or household--when

turned against itself; such intestine war is suicidal: But the works I

do are destructive of Satan's kingdom: That I should be in league with

Satan, therefore, is incredible and absurd."

27. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children--"your sons," meaning here the "disciples" or pupils

of the Pharisees,

who were so termed after the familiar language of the Old Testament in

speaking of the sons of the prophets

(1Ki 20:35;

2Ki 2:3,

&c.). Our Lord here seems to admit that such works were wrought by

them; in which case the Pharisees stood self-condemned, as expressed in

Luke

(Lu 11:19),

"Therefore shall they be your judges."

28. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God--In Luke

(Lu 11:20)

it is, "with (or 'by') the finger of God." This latter expression is

just a figurative way of representing the power of God, while

the former tells us the living Personal Agent was made use of by

the Lord Jesus in every exercise of that power.

then--"no doubt"

(Lu 11:20).

the kingdom of God is come unto you--rather "upon you," as the same

expression is rendered in Luke

(Lu 11:20):

--that is, "If this expulsion of Satan is, and can be, by no other than

the Spirit of God, then is his Destroyer already in the midst of you,

and that kingdom which is destined to supplant his is already rising on

its ruins."

29. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house--or rather,

"the strong man's house."

and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he

will spoil his house.

30. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not

with me scattereth abroad--On this important parable, in connection

with the corresponding one

(Mt 12:43-45),

see on

Lu 11:21-26.

31. Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be

forgiven unto men--The word "blasphemy" properly signifies

"detraction," or "slander." In the New Testament it is applied, as it is

here, to vituperation directed against God as well as against men; and

in this sense it is to be understood as an aggravated form of sin. Well,

says our Lord, all sin--whether in its ordinary or its more aggravated

forms--shall find forgiveness with God. Accordingly, in Mark

(Mr 3:28)

the language is still stronger: "All sin shall be forgiven unto the

sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme."

There is no sin whatever, it seems, of which it may be said, "That is

not a pardonable sin." This glorious assurance is not to be limited by

what follows; but, on the contrary, what follows is to be explained by

this.

but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto

men.

32. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be

forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall

not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to

come--In Mark the language is awfully strong, "hath never forgiveness,

but is in danger of eternal damnation"

(Mr 3:20)--or

rather, according to what appears to be the preferable though very

unusual reading, "in danger of eternal guilt"--a guilt which he will

underlie for ever. Mark has the important addition

(Mr 3:30),

"Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit." (See on

Mt 10:25).

What, then, is this sin against the Holy Ghost--the unpardonable sin?

One thing is clear: Its unpardonableness cannot arise from anything in

the nature of sin itself; for that would be a naked contradiction to

the emphatic declaration of

Mt 12:31,

that all manner of sin is pardonable. And what is this but the

fundamental truth of the Gospel? (See

Ac 13:38, 39;

Ro 3:22, 24;

1Jo 1:7,

&c.). Then, again when it is said

(Mt 12:32),

that to speak against or blaspheme the Son of man is pardonable, but

the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is not pardonable, it is not to be

conceived that this arises from any greater sanctity in the one blessed

Person than the other. These remarks so narrow the question that the

true sense of our Lord's words seem to disclose themselves at once. It

is a contrast between slandering "the Son of man" in His veiled

condition and unfinished work--which might be done "ignorantly, in

unbelief"

(1Ti 1:13),

and slandering the same blessed Person after the blaze of glory which

the Holy Ghost was soon to throw around His claims, and in the

full knowledge of all that. This would be to slander Him with eyes

open, or to do it "presumptuously." To blaspheme Christ in the former

condition--when even the apostles stumbled at many things--left them

still open to conviction on fuller light: but to blaspheme Him in the

latter condition would be to hate the light the clearer it became, and

resolutely to shut it out; which, of course, precludes salvation. (See

on

Heb 10:26-29).

The Pharisees had not as yet done this; but in charging Jesus with

being in league with hell they were displaying beforehand a malignant

determination to shut their eyes to all evidence, and so, bordering

upon, and in spirit committing, the unpardonable sin.

33. Either make the tree good, &c.

34. O generation of vipers--(See on

Mt 3:7).

how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance

of the heart the mouth speaketh--a principle obvious enough, yet of

deepest significance and vast application. In

Lu 6:45

we find it uttered as part of the discourse delivered after the choice

of the apostles.

35. A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth

good things--or, "putteth forth good things":

and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil

things--or "putteth forth evil things." The word "putteth"

indicates the spontaneity of what comes from the heart; for it is out

of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh. We have here a

new application of a former saying (see on

Mt 7:16-20).

Here, the sentiment is, "There are but two kingdoms, interests,

parties--with the proper workings of each: If I promote the one, I

cannot belong to the other; but they that set themselves in wilful

opposition to the kingdom of light openly proclaim to what other

kingdom they belong. As for you, in what ye have now uttered, ye have

but revealed the venomous malignity of your hearts."

36. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak,

they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment--They might

say, "It was nothing: we meant no evil; we merely threw out a

supposition, as one way of accounting for the miracle we witnessed; if

it will not stand, let it go; why make so much of it, and bear down with

such severity for it?" Jesus replies, "It was not nothing, and at the

great day will not be treated as nothing: Words, as the index of the

heart, however idle they may seem, will be taken account of, whether

good or bad, in estimating character in the day of judgment."

Mt 12:38-50. A

SIGN

DEMANDED AND THE

REPLY--HIS

MOTHER AND

BRETHREN

SEEK TO

SPEAK WITH

HIM, AND THE

ANSWER.

Lu 11:16, 24-36;

Mr 3:31-35;

Lu 8:19-21).

A Sign Demanded, and the Reply

(Mt 12:38-45).

The occasion of this section was manifestly the same with that of the

preceding.

38. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying,

Master--"Teacher," equivalent to "Rabbi."

we would see a sign from thee--"a sign from heaven"

(Lu 11:16);

something of an immediate and decisive nature, to show, not that His

miracles were real--that they seemed willing to concede--but that

they were from above, not from beneath. These were not the same class

with those who charged Him with being in league with Satan (as we see

from

Lu 11:15, 16);

but as the spirit of both was similar, the tone of severe rebuke is

continued.

39. But he answered and said unto them--"when the people were gathered

thick together"

(Lu 11:29).

an evil and adulterous generation--This latter expression is

best explained by

Jer 3:20,

"Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye

dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord." For

this was the relationship in which He stood to the covenant-people--"I

am married unto you"

(Jer 3:14).

seeketh after a sign--In the eye of Jesus this class were but the

spokesmen of their generation, the exponents of the reigning spirit of

unbelief.

and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet

Jonas.

40. For as Jonas was--"a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the

Son of man be to this generation"

(Lu 11:30).

For as Jonas was

three days and three nights in the whale's belly--

(Jon 1:17).

so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of

the earth--This was the second public announcement of His resurrection

three days after His death. (For the first, see

Joh 2:19).

Jonah's case was analogous to this, as being a signal judgment of God;

reversed in three days; and followed by a glorious mission to the

Gentiles. The expression "in the heart of the earth," suggested by the

expression of Jonah with respect to the sea

(2:3,

in the Septuagint), means simply the grave, but this considered

as the most emphatic expression of real and total entombment. The

period during which He was to lie in the grave is here expressed in

round numbers, according to the Jewish way of speaking, which was to

regard any part of a day, however small, included within a period of

days, as a full day. (See

1Sa 30:12, 13;

Es 4:16; 5:1;

Mt 27:63, 64,

&c.).

41. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation,

&c.--The Ninevites, though heathens, repented at a man's preaching;

while they, God's covenant-people, repented not at the preaching of the

Son of God--whose supreme dignity is rather implied here than expressed.

42. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this

generation, &c.--The queen of Sheba (a tract in Arabia, near the

shores of the Red Sea) came from a remote country, "south" of Judea, to

hear the wisdom of a mere man, though a gifted one, and was transported

with wonder at what she saw and heard

(1Ki 10:1-9).

They, when a Greater than Solomon had come to them, despised and

rejected, slighted and slandered Him.

43-45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, &c.--On this

important parable, in connection with the corresponding one

(Mt 12:29)

see on

Lu 11:21-26.

A charming little incident, given only in

Lu 11:27, 28,

seems to have its proper place here.

Lu 11:27:

And it came to pass, as He spake these things, a certain woman of

the company--out of the crowd.

lifted up her voice and said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that

bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked--With true

womanly feeling she envies the mother of such a wonderful Teacher. And

a higher and better than she had said as much before her (see on

Lu 1:28).

How does our Lord, then, treat it? He is far from condemning it. He

only holds up as "blessed rather" another class:

Lu 11:28:

But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of

God, and keep it--in other words, the humblest real saint of

God. How utterly alien is this sentiment from the teaching of the

Church of Rome, which would doubtless excommunicate any one of its

members that dared to talk in such a strain!

His Mother and Brethren Seek to Speak with Him and the Answer

(Mt 12:46-50).

46. While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his

brethren--(See on

Mt 13:55, 56).

stood without, desiring to speak with him--"and could not come at

Him for the press"

(Lu 8:19).

For what purpose these came, we learn from

Mr 3:20, 21.

In His zeal and ardor He seemed indifferent both to food and repose,

and "they went to lay hold of Him" as one "beside Himself." Mark

(Mr 3:32)

says graphically, "And the multitude sat about Him"--or "around

Him."

47. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand

without, desiring to speak with thee, &c.--Absorbed in the awful

warnings He was pouring forth, He felt this to be an unseasonable

interruption, fitted to dissipate the impression made upon the large

audience--such an interruption as duty to the nearest relatives did not

require Him to give way to. But instead of a direct rebuke, He seizes on

the incident to convey a sublime lesson, expressed in a style of

inimitable condescension.

49. And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples--How graphic

is this! It is the language evidently of an eye-witness.

and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,

the same is my brother, and sister, and mother--that is, "There stand

here the members of a family transcending and surviving this of earth:

Filial subjection to the will of My Father in heaven is the indissoluble

bond of union between Me and all its members; and whosoever enters this

hallowed circle becomes to Me brother, and sister, and mother!"