--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 183 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/183/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 183. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/183/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2. ## 183. Matthew · 27 of 88 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/183/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/183/#p-N ### Verse 24 [¶1] The maid is not dead, but sleepeth - That is, she is not dead so as to continue under the power of death; but shall be raised from it as a, person is from natural sleep. [¶2] They laughed him to scorn - Κατεγελων αυτον, they ridiculed him; from κατα, intensive, and γελαω, I laugh: - they grinned a ghastly smile, expressive of the contempt they felt for his person and knowledge. People of the world generally ridicule those truths which they neither comprehend nor love, and deride those who publish them; but a faithful minister of God, (copying the example of Christ), keeps on his way, and does the work of his Lord and Master. ### Verse 25 [¶4] He - took her by the hand, and the maid arose - The fountain of life thus communicating its vital energy to the dead body. Where death has already taken place, no power but that of the great God can restore to life; in such a case, vain is the help of man. So the soul that is dead in trespasses and sins - that is, sentenced to death because of transgression - and is thus dead in law, can only be restored to spiritual life by the mighty power of the Lord Jesus; because He alone has made the atonement, and He alone can pardon transgression. If the spiritually dead person be utterly unconcerned about the state and fate of his soul, let a converted relative either bring him to Christ by leading him to hear the unadulterated Gospel of the kingdom; or bring Christ to him by fervent, faithful, and persevering prayer. ### Verse 26 [¶6] And the fame hereof went abroad - In this business Jesus himself scarcely appears, but the work effected by his sovereign power is fully manifested; to teach us that it is the business of a successful preacher of the Gospel to conceal himself as much as possible, that God alone may have the glory of his own grace. This is a proper miracle, and a full exemplification of the unlimited power of Christ. ### Verse 27 [¶8] Son of David - This was the same as if they had called him Messiah. Two things here are worthy of remark: 1st. That it was a generally received opinion at this time in Judea, that the Messiah should be son of David. ([Joh 7:42]). 2dly. That Jesus Christ was generally and incontestably acknowledged as coming from this stock. [Mat 12:23]. [¶9] Have mercy on us - That man has already a measure of heavenly light who knows that he has no merit; that his cry should be a cry for mercy; that he must be fervent, and that in praying he must follow Jesus Christ as the true Messiah, the son of David, expected from heaven. ### Verse 28 [¶11] When he was come unto the house - That is, the house of Peter at Capernaum, where he ordinarily lodged. [¶12] Believe ye that I am able to do this? - Without faith Jesus does nothing to men's souls now, no more than he did to their bodies in the days of his flesh. [¶13] They said unto him, Yea, Lord - Under a sense of our spiritual blindness we should have, 1st. A lively faith in the almighty grace of Christ. 2dly. A fervent, incessant cry for the communication of this grace. 3dly. A proper view of his incarnation, because it is through his union with our nature, and by his sufferings and death, we are to expect salvation. ### Verse 29 [¶15] According to your faith - See on [Mat 8:13] (note). ### Verse 30 [¶17] Straitly charged them - He charged them severely, from ενεβριμησατο, from εν, and βριμαομαι, to roar or storm with anger; he charged them, on pain of his displeasure, not to make it as yet public. See the reasons, [Mat 8:4]. ### Verse 31 [¶19] But they - spread abroad his fame - They should have held their peace; for to obey is better than sacrifice, [1Sam 15:22]; but man must always be wiser than God, however, it may be profitable to remark, 1st. That honor pursues those who fly from it. 2dly. He who is thoroughly sensible of God's mercy cannot long contain his acknowledgments. 3dly. That God in general requires that what a man has received, for his own salvation, shall become subservient to that of others - Let your light so shine, etc. [¶20] God chooses to help man by man, that all may be firmly knit together in brotherly love. ### Verse 32 [¶22] A dumb man possessed with a devil - Some demons rendered the persons they possessed paralytic, some blind, others dumb, etc. It was the interest of Satan to hide his influences under the appearance of natural disorders. A man who does not acknowledge his sin to God, who prays not for salvation, who returns no praises for the mercies he is continually receiving, may well be said to be possessed with a dumb demon. ### Verse 33 [¶24] And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake - The very miracle which was now wrought was to be the demonstrative proof of the Messiah's being manifested in the flesh. See [Isa 35:5], [Isa 35:6]. [¶25] It was never so seen in Israel - The greatest of the prophets has never been able to do such miracles as these. This was the remark of the people; and thus we find that the poor and the simple were more ready to acknowledge the hand of God than the rich and the learned. Many miracles had been wrought in the course of this one day, and this excited their surprise. ### Verse 34 [¶27] He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils - This verse is wanting in both the Greek and Latin of the C. Bezae, in another copy of the Itala, and in Hilary and Juvencus. But see on [Mat 12:24] (note). [¶28] It is a consummate piece of malice to attribute the works of God to the devil. Envy cannot suffer the approbation which is given to the excellencies of others. Those whose hearts are possessed by this vice speak the very language of the devil. Calumny is but a little distance from envy. Though all persons may not have as much envy as the Pharisees, yet they should fear having some degree of it, as all have the principle from whence it proceeds, viz. sin. ### Verse 35 [¶30] Jesus went about all the cities and villages - Of Galilee. See on [Mat 4:23], [Mat 4:24] (note). A real minister of Jesus Christ, after his example, is neither detained in one place by a comfortable provision made by some, nor discouraged from pursuing his work by the calumny and persecution of others. It is proper to remark, that, wherever Christ comes, the proofs of his presence evidently appear: he works none but salutary and beneficial miracles, because his ministry is a ministry of salvation. [¶31] Among the people - Εν τω λαω. This clause is omitted by about fifty MSS., several of them of the first antiquity and authority; by the Complutensian, and by Bengel; by both the Syriac, both the Arabic, both the Persic; the Ethiopic, Gothic, Saxon, and all the Itala, except four. Griesbach has left it out of the text. ### Verse 36 [¶33] Moved with compassion - Εσπλαγχνισθη, from σπλαγχνον, a bowel. The Jews esteemed the bowels to be the seat of sympathy and the tender passions, and so applied the organ to the sense. Επλαγχνιζομαι signifies, says Mintert, "to be moved with pity from the very inmost bowels. It is an emphatic word, signifying a vehement affection of commiseration, by which the bowels and especially the heart is moved." Both this verb and the noun seem to be derived from σπαω, to draw; the whole intestinal canal, in the peristaltic motion of the bowels, being drawn, affected, and agitated with the sight of a distressed or miserable object. Pity increases this motion of the bowels, and produces considerable pain: hence σπλαγχνιζομαι, to have the bowels moved, signifies to feel pity or compassion at seeing the miseries of others. [¶34] They fainted - Instead of εκλελυμενοι, fainted, all the best MSS., versions, and fathers, read εσκυλμενοι, grieved and melancholy. Kypke says σκυλλειν properly signifies, to pluck off the hair, as persons do in extreme sorrow or distress. The margin says, They were tired and lay down. [¶35] And were scattered abroad - Ερριμμενοι, thrown down, or, all along. They were utterly neglected as to the interests of their souls, and rejected by the proud and disdained Pharisees. This people (οχλος, this mob) that knoweth not the law, is accursed, [Joh 7:49]. Thus those execrable men spoke of the souls that God had made, and of whom they should have been the instructors. [¶36] Those teachers, in name, have left their successors behind them; but, as in the days of Christ, so now, God has in his mercy rescued the flock out of the hands of those who only fed upon their flesh, and clothed themselves with their wool. The days in which a man was obliged to give his property to what was called The Church, for the salvation of his soul, Christ being left out of the question, are, thank God, nearly over and gone. Jesus is the true Shepherd; without him there is nothing but fainting, fatigue, vexation, and dispersion. O that we may be led out and in by him, and find pasture! ### Verse 37 [¶38] The harvest - The souls who are ready to receive the truth are very numerous; but the laborers are few. There are multitudes of scribes, Pharisees, and priests, of reverend and right reverend men; but there are few that work. Jesus wishes for laborers, not gentlemen, who are either idle drones, or slaves to pleasure and sin, and nati consumere fruges. "Born to consume the produce of the soil." [¶39] It was customary with the Jews to call their rabbins and students reapers; and their work of instruction, the harvest. So in Idra Rabba, s. 2. "The days are few; the creditor is urgent; the crier calls out incessantly; and the reapers are few." And in Pirkey Aboth: "The day is short, the work great, the workmen idle, the reward abundant, and the master of the household is urgent." In all worldly concerns, if there be the prospect of much gain, most men are willing enough to labor; but if it be to save their own souls, or the souls of others, what indolence, backwardness, and carelessness! While their adversary, the devil, is going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; and a careless soul, and especially a careless minister is his especial prey. [¶40] The place of the harvest is the whole earth: it signifies little where a man works, provided it be by the appointment, in the Spirit, and with the blessing of God. ### Verse 38 [¶42] That he will send forth laborers - Οπως εκβαλλη εργατας, that he would thrust forth laborers. Those who are fittest for the work are generally most backward to the employment. The man who is forward to become a preacher knows little of God, of human nature, or of his own heart. It is, God's province to thrust out such preachers as shall labor; and it is our duty to entreat him to do so. A minister of Christ is represented as a day-laborer: he comes into the harvest, not to become lord of it, not to live on the labor of others, but to work, and to labor his day. Though the work may be very severe, yet, to use a familiar expression, there is good wages in the harvest-home; and the day, though hot, is but a short one. [¶43] How earnestly should the flock of Christ pray to the good Shepherd to send them pastors after his own heart, who will feed them with knowledge, and who shall be the means of spreading the knowledge of his truth and the savor of his grace over the face of the whole earth! [¶44] The subject of fasting, already slightly noticed in the preceding notes, should be farther considered.