20 and lo, a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, having come to him behind, did touch the fringe of his garments,
and a certain woman, having an issue of blood twelve years, and many things having suffered under many physicians, and having spent all that she had, and having profited nothing, but rather having come to the worse, having heard about Jesus, having come in the multitude behind, she touched his garment, for she said -- `If even his garments I may touch, I shall be saved;' and immediately was the fountain of her blood dried up, and she knew in the body that she hath been healed of the plague. And immediately Jesus having known in himself that out of him power had gone forth, having turned about in the multitude, said, `Who did touch my garments?' and his disciples said to him, `Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and thou sayest, `Who did touch me!' And he was looking round to see her who did this, and the woman, having been afraid, and trembling, knowing what was done on her, came, and fell down before him, and told him all the truth, and he said to her, `Daughter, thy faith hath saved thee; go away in peace, and be whole from thy plague.' As he is yet speaking, there come from the chief of the synagogue's `house, certain', saying -- `Thy daughter did die, why still dost thou harass the Teacher?' And Jesus immediately, having heard the word that is spoken, saith to the chief of the synagogue, `Be not afraid, only believe.' And he did not suffer any one to follow with him, except Peter, and James, and John the brother of James; and he cometh to the house of the chief of the synagogue, and seeth a tumult, much weeping and wailing; and having gone in he saith to them, `Why do ye make a tumult, and weep? the child did not die, but doth sleep; and they were laughing at him. And he, having put all forth, doth take the father of the child, and the mother, and those with him, and goeth in where the child is lying, and, having taken the hand of the child, he saith to her, `Talitha cumi;' which is, being interpreted, `Damsel (I say to thee), arise.' And immediately the damsel arose, and was walking, for she was twelve years `old'; and they were amazed with a great amazement, and he charged them much, that no one may know this thing, and he said that there be given to her to eat.
and a woman, having an issue of blood for twelve years, who, having spent on physicians all her living, was not able to be healed by any, having come near behind, touched the fringe of his garment, and presently the issue of her blood stood. And Jesus said, `Who `is' it that touched me?' and all denying, Peter and those with him said, `Master, the multitudes press thee, and throng `thee', and thou dost say, Who `is' it that touched me!' And Jesus said, `Some one did touch me, for I knew power having gone forth from me.' And the woman, having seen that she was not hid, trembling, came, and having fallen before him, for what cause she touched him declared to him before all the people, and how she was healed presently; and he said to her, `Take courage, daughter, thy faith hath saved thee, be going on to peace.' While he is yet speaking, there doth come a certain one from the chief of the synagogue's `house', saying to him -- `Thy daughter hath died, harass not the Teacher;' and Jesus having heard, answered him, saying, `Be not afraid, only believe, and she shall be saved.' And having come to the house, he suffered no one to go in, except Peter, and James, and John, and the father of the child, and the mother; and they were all weeping, and beating themselves for her, and he said, `Weep not, she did not die, but doth sleep; and they were deriding him, knowing that she did die; and he having put all forth without, and having taken hold of her hand, called, saying, `Child, arise;' and her spirit came back, and she arose presently, and he directed that there be given to her to eat; and her parents were amazed, but he charged them to say to no one what was come to pass.
`Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, and they have made for themselves fringes on the skirts of their garments, to their generations, and they have put on the fringe of the skirt a ribbon of blue, and it hath been to you for a fringe, and ye have seen it, and have remembered all the commands of Jehovah, and have done them, and ye search not after your heart, and after your eyes, after which ye are going a-whoring;
`And when a woman's issue of blood floweth many days within the time of her separation, or when it floweth over her separation -- all the days of the issue of her uncleanness are as the days of her separation; she `is' unclean. `All the bed on which she lieth all the days of her issue is as the bed of her separation to her, and all the vessel on which she sitteth is unclean as the uncleanness of her separation; and any one who is coming against them is unclean, and hath washed his garments, and hath bathed with water, and been unclean till the evening. `And if she hath been clean from her issue, then she hath numbered to herself seven days, and afterwards she is clean; and on the eighth day she taketh to herself two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and hath brought them in unto the priest, unto the opening of the tent of meeting; and the priest hath made the one a sin-offering, and the one a burnt-offering, and the priest hath made atonement for her before Jehovah, because of the issue of her uncleanness. `And ye have separated the sons of Israel from their uncleanness, and they die not in their uncleanness, in their defiling My tabernacle which `is' in their midst. `This `is' the law of him who hath an issue, and of him whose seed of copulation goeth out from him, for uncleanness thereby, and of her who is sick in her separation, and of him who hath an issue, the issue of a male or of a female, and of a man who lieth with an unclean woman.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Matthew 9
Commentary on Matthew 9 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 9
We have in this chapter remarkable instances of the power and pity of the Lord Jesus, sufficient to convince us that he is both able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, and as willing as he is able. His power and pity appear here in the good offices he did,
Thus did he prove himself to be, as undoubtedly he is, the skilful, faithful Physician, both of soul and body, who has sufficient remedies for all the maladies of both: for which we must, therefore, apply ourselves to him, and glorify him both with our bodies and with our spirits, which are his, in return to him for his kindness to both.
Mat 9:1-8
The first words of this chapter oblige us to look back to the close of that which precedes it, where we find the Gadarenes so resenting the loss of their swine, that they were disgusted with Christ's company, and besought him to depart out of their coasts. Now here it follows, He entered into a ship, and passed over. They bid him begone, and he took them at their word, and we never read that he came into their coasts again. Now here observe,
He came into his own city, Capernaum, the principal place of his residence at present (Mk. 2:1), and therefore called his own city. He had himself testified, that a prophet it least honoured in his own country and city, yet thither he came; for he sought not his own honour; but, being in a state of humiliation, he was content to be despised of the people. At Capernaum all the circumstances recorded in this chapter happened, and are, therefore, put together here, though, in the harmony of the evangelists, other events intervened. When the Gadarenes desired Christ to depart, they of Capernaum received him. If Christ be affronted by some, there are others in whom he will be glorious; if one will not, another will.
Now the first occurrence, after Christ's return to Capernaum, as recorded in these verses, was the cure of the man sick of the palsy. In which we may observe,
Mat 9:9-13
In these verses we have an account of the grace and favour of Christ to poor publicans, particularly to Matthew. What he did to the bodies of people was to make way for a kind design upon their souls. Now observe here,
Now observe,
Mat 9:14-17
The objections which were made against Christ and his disciples gave occasion to some of the most profitable of his discourses; thus are the interests of truth often served, even by the opposition it meets with from gainsayers, and thus the wisdom of Christ brings good out of evil. This is the third instance of it in this chapter; his discourse of his power to forgive sin, and his readiness to receive sinners, was occasioned by the cavils of the scribes and Pharisees; so here, from a reflection upon the conduct of his family, arose a discourse concerning his tenderness for it. Observe,
Now his argument is taken from the common usage of joy and rejoicing during the continuance of marriage solemnities; when all instances of melancholy and sorrow are looked upon as improper and absurd, as it was at Samson's wedding, Judges 14:17. Now,
Mat 9:18-26
We have here two passages of history put together; that of the raising of Jairus's daughter to life, and that of the curing of the woman that had the bloody issue, as he was going to Jairus's house, which is introduced in a parenthesis, in the midst of the other; for Christ's miracles were thick sown, and interwoven; the work of him that sent him was his daily work. He was called to do these good works from speaking the things foregoing, in answer to the cavils of the Pharisees, v. 18: While he spake these things; and we may suppose it is a pleasing interruption given to that unpleasant work of disputation, which, though sometimes needful, a good man will gladly leave, to go about a work of devotion or charity. Here is,
Christ went in and took her by the hand, as it were to awake her, and to help her up, prosecuting his own metaphor of her being asleep. The high priest, that typified Christ, was not to come near the dead (Lev. 21:10, 11), but Christ touched the dead. The Levitical priesthood leaves the dead in their uncleanness, and therefore keeps at a distance from them, because it cannot remedy them; but Christ, having power to raise the dead, is above the infection, and therefore is not shy of touching them. He took her by the hand, and the maid arose. So easily, so effectually was the miracle wrought; not by prayer, as Elijah did (1 Ki. 17:21), and Elisha (2 Ki. 4:33), but by a touch. They did it as servants, he as a Son, as a God, to whom belong the issues from death. Note, Jesus Christ is the Lord of souls, he commands them forth, and commands them back, when and as he pleases. Dead souls are not raised to spiritual life, unless Christ take them by the hand: it is done in the day of his power. He helps us up, or we lie still.
Mat 9:27-34
In these verses we have an account of two more miracles wrought together by our Saviour.
To this question they give an immediate answer, without hesitation: they said, Yea, Lord. Though he had kept them in suspense awhile, and had not helped them at first, they honestly imputed that to his wisdom, not to his weakness, and were still confident of his ability. Note, The treasures of mercy that are laid up in the power of Christ, are laid out and wrought for those that trust in him, Ps. 31:19.
Mat 9:35-38
Here is,
Observe how Christ in his preaching had respect,
See what moved this pity.