1. At that time Jesus went on the
sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were a hungered, and
began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
[At that time Jesus went on the
sabbath day through the corn.] The time is determined by Luke in
these words, on the sabbath from the second-first.
I. Provision was made by the divine law,
that the sheaf of firstfruits should be offered on the second day of the
Passover-week,
Leviticus 23:10,11: On the morrow after the sabbath the priest
shall shake [orwave] it. Not on the morrow after the
ordinary sabbath of the week, but the morrow after the first day of the
Passover week, which was a sabbatic day,
Exodus 12:16;
Leviticus 23:7. Hence the Seventy, the morrow of the first day;
the Chaldee, after the holy-day. The Rabbins Solomon and Menachem,
on the morrow after the first day of the Passover-feast: of which
mention had been made in the verses foregoing.
II. But now, from that second day of the
Passover-solemnity, wherein the sheaf was offered, were numbered seven
weeks to Pentecost. For the day of the sheaf and the day of Pentecost
did mutually respect each other. For on this second day of the Passover,
the offering of the sheaf was supplicatory, and by way of prayer,
beseeching a blessing upon the new corn, and leave to eat it, and to put
in the sickle into the standing corn. Now the offering of the first
fruit loaves on the day of Pentecost (Lev
23:15-17) did respect the giving of thanks for the finishing and
inning of barley harvest. Therefore, in regard of this relation, these
two solemnities were linked together, that both might respect the
harvest: that, the harvest beginning; this, the harvest ended: this
depended on that, and was numbered seven weeks after it. Therefore, the
computation of the time coming between could not but carry with it the
memory of that second day of the Passover-week; and hence Pentecost is
called the 'Feast of weeks' (Deut
16:10). The true calculation of the time between could not otherwise
be retained as to sabbaths, but by numbering thus: This is the first
sabbath after the second day of the Passover. This is the second
sabbath after that second day. And so of the rest. In the Jerusalem
Talmud, the word the sabbath of the first marriage, is a
composition not very unlike.
When they numbered by days, and not by
weeks, the calculation began on the day of the sheaf: "A great number of
certain scholars died between the Passover and Pentecost, by reason of
mutual respect not given to one another. There is a place where it is
said that they died fifteen days before Pentecost, that is, thirty-three
days after the sheaf."
At the end of the Midrash of Samuel which
I have, it is thus concluded; "This work was finished the
three-and-thirtieth day after the sheaf."
III. Therefore by this word the
second-first, added by St. Luke, is shown, first, that this first
sabbath was after the second day of the Passover; and so,
according to the order of evangelic history, either that very sabbath
wherein the paralytic man was healed at the pool of Bethesda,
John 5, or the sabbath next after it. Secondly, that these ears of
corn plucked by the disciples were of barley: how far, alas! from those
dainties wherewith the Jews are wont to junket, not out of custom only,
but out of religion also! Hear their Gloss, savouring of the kitchen and
the dish, upon that of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 58:13: "'Thou shalt
call the sabbath a delight':--It is forbidden," say they, "to fast on
the sabbath; but, on the contrary, men are bound to delight themselves
with meat and drink. For we must live more delicately on the sabbath
than on other days: and he is highly to be commended who provides the
most delicious junkets against that day. We must eat thrice on the
sabbath, and all men are to be admonished of it. And even the poor
themselves who live on alms, let them eat thrice on the sabbath. For he
that feasts thrice on the sabbath shall be delivered from the calamities
of the Messias, from the judgment of hell, and from the war of Gog and
Magog." 'Whose god is their belly,'
Philippians 3:19.
IV. But was the standing corn ripe at the
feast of the Passover? I answer,
I. The seed-time of barley was presently
after the middle of the month Marchesvan; that is, about the beginning
of our November: "He heard that the seed sown at the first rain was
destroyed by hail; he went and sowed at the second rain, &c.: and when
the seed of all others perished with the hail, his seed perished not."
Upon which words the Gloss writes thus; "The first rain was the
seventeenth day of the month Marchesvan; the second rain, the
three-and-twentieth day of the same month; and the third was in the
beginning of the month Chisleu. When, therefore, the rain came down,
that which was sown at the first rain was now become somewhat stiff, and
so it was broken by the hail; but that which was sown at the second
rain, by reason of its tenderness, was not broken, &c. Therefore the
barley was sown at the coming in of the winter, and growing by the
mildness of the weather, in winter, when the Passover came in, it became
ripe: so that from that time (the sheaf being then offered)
barley-harvest took its beginning.
2. But if, when the just time of the
Passover was come, the barley were not ripe, the intercalary month was
added to that year, and they waited until it ripened: "For, for three
things they intercalated the year; for the equinox, for the new corn,
and for the fruit of the trees. For the elders of the Sanhedrim do
compute and observe if the vernal equinox will fall out on the sixteenth
day of the month Nisan, or beyond that; then they intercalate that year,
and they make that Nisan the second Adar; so that the Passover might
happen at the time of new corn. Or if they observe that there is no new
corn, and that the trees sprouted not when they were wont to sprout,
then they intercalate the year," &c.
You have an example of this thing: "Rabban
Gamaliel to the elders of the great Sanhedrim, our brethren in Judea and
Galilee, &c.; health. Be it known unto you, that since the lambs are too
young, and the doves are not fledged, and there is no young corn, we
have thought good to add thirty days to this year," &c.
[And his disciples were an hungered.]
The custom of the nation, as yet, had held them fasting; which suffered
none, unless he were sick, to taste any thing on the sabbath before the
morning prayers of the synagogue were done. And on common days also, and
that in the afternoon, provision was made by the canons, "That none,
returning home from his work in the evening, either eat, or drink, or
sleep, before he had said his prayers in the synagogue."
Of the public or private ways that lay
by the corn-fields, let him that is at leisure read Peah, chapter 2.
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.
[They do that which is not lawful to
do on the sabbath day.] They do not contend about the thing itself,
because it was lawful,
Deuteronomy 23:25; but about the thing done on the sabbath.
Concerning which the Fathers of the Traditions write thus; "He that
reaps on the sabbath, though never so little, is guilty. And to pluck
the ears of corn is a kind of reaping; and whosoever plucks any thing
from the springing of his own fruit is guilty, under the name of a
reaper." But under what guilt were they held? He had said this before,
at the beginning of chapter 7, in these words: "The works whereby a man
is guilty of stoning and cutting off, if he do them presumptuously; but
if ignorantly, he is bound to bring a sacrifice for sin, are either
primitive or derivative" Of 'primitive,' or of the general kinds of
works, are nine-and-thirty reckoned; "To plough, to sow, to reap, to
gather the sheaves, to thrash, to sift, to grind, to bake, &c.; to shear
sheep, to dye wool," &c. The derivative works, or the particulars
of those generals, are such as are of the same rank and likeness with
them. For example, digging is of the same kind with ploughing; chopping
of herbs is of the same rank with grinding; and plucking the ears of
corn is of the same nature with reaping. Our Saviour, therefore, pleaded
the cause of the disciples so much the more eagerly, because now their
lives were in danger; for the canons of the scribes adjudged them to
stoning for what they had done, if so be it could be proved that they
had done it presumptuously. From hence, therefore, he begins their
defence, that this was done by the disciples out of necessity, hunger
compelling them, not out of any contempt of the laws.
3. But he said unto them, Have ye not
read what David did, when he was a hungered, and they that were with
him;
[David, and those that were with him.]
For those words of Ahimelech are to be understood comparatively,
"Wherefore art thou alone, and no man with thee?" (1
Sam 21:1) that is, comparatively to that noble train wherewith thou
wast wont to go attended, and which becomes the captain-general of
Israel. David came to Nob, not as one that fled, but as one that came to
inquire at the oracle concerning the event of war, unto which he
pretended to come by the king's command. Dissembling, therefore, that he
hastened to the war, or to expedite some warlike design, he dissembles
likewise that he sent his army to a certain place; and that he had
turned aside thither to worship God, and to inquire of the vent; that he
had brought but a very few of his most trusty servants along with him,
for whom, being an hungered, he asketh a few loaves.
[When he was an hungered.] Here
hearken to Kimchi, producing the opinion of the ancients concerning this
story in these words: "Our Rabbins, of blessed memory, say, that he gave
him the show-bread, &c. The interpretation also of the clause, yea,
though it were sanctified this day in the vessel [v 6] is this; It
is a small thing to say, that it is lawful for us to eat these loaves
taken from before the Lord when we are hungry; for it would be lawful to
eat this very loaf which is now set on, which is also sanctified in the
vessel (for the table sanctifieth); it would be lawful to eat even this,
when another loaf is not present with you to give us, and we are so
hunger-bitten." And a little after; "There is nothing which may hinder
taking care of life, beside idolatry, adultery, and murder."
These words do excellently agree with
the force of our Saviour's arguments; but with the genuine sense of that
clause, methinks they do not well agree. I should, under correction,
render it otherwise, only prefacing this beforehand, that it is no
improbable conjecture that David came to Nob either on the sabbath
itself, or when the sabbath was but newly gone. "For the show-bread was
not to be eaten unless for one day and one night; that is, on the
sabbath and the going-out of the sabbath; David, therefore, came thither
in the going-out of the sabbath." And now I render David's words thus;
"Women have been kept from us these three days," [so that there is no
uncleanness with us from the touch of a menstruous woman], "and the
vessels of the young men were holy, even in the common way," [that is,
while we travelled in the common manner and journey]; "therefore, much
more are they holy as to their vessels this [sabbath] day." And to this
sense perhaps does that come: "But there was there one of the servants
of Saul detained that day before the Lord," [v 8]. The reverence
of the sabbath had brought him to worship, and as yet had detained him
there.
5. Or have ye not read in the law,
how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the
sabbath, and are blameless?
[The priests in the Temple profane
the sabbath, and are guiltless.] "The servile work which is done
in the holy things is not servile. The same works which were done in
the Temple on the other days were done also on the sabbath." And
There is no sabbatism at all in the Temple.
8. For the Son of man is
Lord even of the sabbath day.
[For the Son of man is Lord also of
the sabbath.] I. He opposed this very argument against their cavils
before the Sanhedrim,
John 5. When he was summoned into the court concerning his healing
the paralytic man on this very sabbath, or on the sabbath next before,
he shews his dominion over the sabbath from this very thing, that he,
the Son, was invested and honoured with the same authority, power, and
dignity, in respect of the administration of the New Testament, as the
Father was in regard of the Old.
II. The care of the sabbath lay upon the
first Adam under a double law, according to his double condition: 1.
Before his fall, under the law of nature written in his heart: under
which he had kept the sabbath, if he had remained innocent. And here it
is not unworthy to be observed, that although the seventh day was not
come before his fall, yet the institution of the sabbath is mentioned
before the history of his fall. 2. After his fall, under a positive law.
For when he had sinned on the sixth day, and the seventh came, he was
not now bound under the bare law of nature to celebrate it; but
according as the condition of Adam was changed, and as the condition of
the sabbath was not a little changed also, a new and positive law
concerning the keeping the sabbath was superinduced upon him. It will
not be unpleasant to produce a few passages from the Jewish masters of
that first sabbath:--
"Circumcision," saith R. Judah, "and the
sabbath, were before the law." But how much backward before the law?
Hear Baal Turim: "The Israelites were redeemed (saith he) out of Egypt,
because they observed circumcision and the sabbath-day." Yea, and
further backward still: "The inheritance of Jacob is promised to those
that sanctify the sabbath, because he sanctified the sabbath himself."
Yea, and more backwards yet, even to the beginning of the world: "The
first psalm in the world was, when Adam's sin was forgiven: and when the
sabbath entered, he opened his mouth and uttered the psalm of the
sabbath." So also the Targum upon the title of
Psalm 92: "The psalm or song which Adam composed concerning the
sabbath-day." Upon which psalm, among other things, thus Midrash Tillin:
"What did God create the first day? Heaven and earth. What the second?
The firmament, &c. What the seventh? The sabbath. And since God had not
created the sabbath for servile works, for which he had created the
other days of the week, therefore it is not said of that as of the other
days, 'And the evening and the morning was the seventh day.'" And a
little after, "Adam was created on the eve of the sabbath: the sabbath
entered when he had now sinned, and was his advocate with God," &c.
"Adam was created on the sabbath-eve,
that he might immediately be put under the command."
III. Since, therefore, the sabbath was
so instituted after the fall, and that by a law and condition which had
a regard to Christ now promised, and to the fall of man, the sabbath
could not but come under the power and dominion of the Son of man,
that is, of the promised seed, to be ordered and disposed by him as he
thought good, and as he should make provision, for his own honour and
the benefit of man.
10. And, behold, there was a man
which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it
lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
[Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath
days?] These are not so much the words of inquirers, as deniers. For
these were their decisions in that case; "Let not those that are in
health use physic on the sabbath day. Let not him that labours under a
pain in his loins, anoint the place affected with oil and vinegar; but
with oil he may, so it be not oil of roses, &c. He that hath the
toothache, let him not swallow vinegar to spit it out again; but he may
swallow it, so he swallow it down. He that hath a sore throat, let him
not gargle it with oil: but he may swallow down the oil, whence if he
receive a cure it is well. Let no man chew mastich, or rub his teeth
with spice for a cure; but if he do this to make his mouth sweet, it is
allowed. They do not put wine into a sore eye. They do not apply
fomentations or oils to the place affected," &c. All which things,
however they were not applicable to the cure wrought by Christ (with a
word only), yet they afforded them an occasion of cavilling: who,
indeed, were sworn together thus to quarrel him; that canon affording
them a further pretence, "This certainly obtains, that whatsoever was
possible to be done on the sabbath eve driveth not away the sabbath." To
which sense he speaks,
Luke 13:14.
Let the reader see, if he be at leisure,
what diseases they judge dangerous, and what physic is to be used on the
sabbath.
11. And he saith 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?
[If a sheep fall into a ditch on the
sabbath days, &c.] It was a canon, We must take a tender care of
the goods of an Israelite. Hence,
"If a beast fall into a ditch, or into a
pool of waters, let [the owner] bring him food in that place if
he can; but if he cannot, let him bring clothes and litter, and bear up
the beast; whence, if he can come up, let him come up," &c.
"If a beast, or his foal, fall into a
ditch on a holy-day, R. Lazar saith, 'Let him lift up the former to kill
him, and let him kill him: but let him give fodder to the other, lest he
die in that place.' R. Joshua saith, 'Let him lift up the former, with
the intention of killing him, although he kill him not: let him lift up
the other also, although it be not in his mind to kill him.'"
16. And charged them that they should
not make him known:
[That they should not make him known.]
But this, not that he refused to heal the sick, nor only to shun popular
applause; but because he would keep himself hid from those who would not
acknowledge him. This prohibition tends the same way as his preaching by
parables did,
Matthew 13:13; "I speak to them by parables, because seeing they see
not." He would not be known by them who would not know him.
20. A bruised reed shall he not
break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment
unto victory.
[A bruised reed shall he not break.]
These words are to be applied, as appears by those that went before, to
our Saviour's silent transaction of his own affairs, without hunting
after applause, the noise of boasting, or the loud reports of fame. He
shall not make so great a noise as is made from the breaking of a reed
now already bruised and half broken, or from the hissing of smoking flax
only when water is thrown upon it. How far different is the Messias thus
described, from the Messias of the expectation of the Jews! And yet it
appears sufficiently that Isaiah, from whom these words are taken, spake
of the Messias, and the Jews confess it.
[Till he send forth judgment unto
victory.] The Hebrew and LXX in Isaiah read it thus, "He shall bring
forth judgment unto truth." The words in both places mean thus much,
That Christ should make no sound in the world, or noise of pomp, or
applause, or state, but should manage his affairs in humility, silence,
poverty, and patience, both while he himself was on earth, and by his
apostles, after his ascension, labouring under contempt, poverty, and
persecution; but at last "he should bring forth judgment to victory";
that is, that he should break forth and show himself a judge, avenger,
and conqueror, against that most wicked nation of the Jews, from whom
both he and his suffered such things: and then, also, "he sent forth
judgment unto truth," and asserted himself the true Messias, and the Son
of God, before the eyes of all; and confirmed the truth of the gospel,
by avenging his cause upon his enemies, in a manner so conspicuous and
so dreadful. And hence it is, that that sending forth and execution of
judgment against that nation is almost always called in the New
Testament "his coming in glory." When Christ and his kingdom had so long
laid hid under the veil of humility, and the cloud of persecution, at
last he brake forth a revenger, and cut off that persecuting nation, and
shewed himself a conqueror before the eyes of all, both Jews and
Gentiles. Let it be observed in the text before us, how, after the
mention of that judgment and victory (against the Jews), presently
follows, "and in his name shall the Gentiles trust."
24. But when the Pharisees heard
it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by
Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
[By Beelzebub; the prince of the
devils.] For the searching out the sense of this horrid blasphemy,
these things are worthy observing:
I. Among the Jews it was held, in a
manner, for a matter of religion, to reproach idols, and to give them
odious names.
"R. Akibah saith, Idolatry pollutes, as
a menstruous woman pollutes: as it is said, 'Thou shalt cast away the [idol]
as something that is menstruous, and thou shalt say to it, Get thee
hence' (Isa
30:22). R. Lazar saith, Thou shalt say to it, Get thee hence: that
which they call the face of God, let them call the face of a
dog: that which they call the fountain of a cup, let them
call the fountain of toil [or of flails]: that which they
call fortune, let them call a stink, &c. That town which
sometimes was called Beth-el, was afterward called Beth-aven."
See also the tract Schabbath, where these same words are.
All jeering is forbidden, except the
jeering of idolatry. This also is repeated in the tract Megillah:
where this is added, "It is lawful for a Jew to say to a Cuthite,
Take your idol, and put it under your buttocks."
II. Among the ignominious names bestowed
upon idols, the general and common one was Zebul, dung, or a
dunghill. "Even to them who have stretched out their hands in a
dunghill [that is, in an idol-temple, or in idolatry], there is
hope. Thou canst not bring them [into the church], because they have
stretched forth their hands in a dunghill: but yet you cannot
reject them, because they have repented." And a little after, "He
that sees them 'dunging' [that is, 'sacrificing'] to an idol,
let him say, Cursed be he that sacrifices to a strange god."
Let them therefore, who dare, form this
word in Matthew into Beelzebub. I am so far from doubting that
the Pharisees pronounced the word Beelzebul, and that Matthew so
wrote it, that I doubt not but the sense fails if it be writ otherwise.
III. Very many names of evil spirits or
devils occur in the Talmudists, which it is needless here to mention.
Among all the devils, they esteemed that devil the worst, the foulest,
and, as it were, the prince of the rest, who ruled over the idols, and
by whom oracles and miracles were given forth among the heathens and
idolaters. And they were of this opinion for this reason, because they
held idolatry above all other things chiefly wicked and abominable, and
to be the prince and head of evil. This demon they called Baal-zebul,
not so much by a proper name, as by one more general and common; as much
as to say, the lord of idolatry: the worst devil, and the worst
thing: and they called him the "prince of devils," because idolatry is
the prince (or chief) of wickedness.
We meet with a story, where mention is
made of the prince of spirits. Whether it be in this sense, let
the reader consult and judge. Also in the Aruch we meet with these
words, the demon Asmodeus, the prince of spirits.
IV. The Talmudists, being taught by
these their fathers, do give out, horribly blaspheming, that Jesus of
Nazareth our Lord was a magician, a broacher of strange and wicked
worship; and one that did miracles by the power of the devil, to beget
his worship the greater belief and honour.
"Ben Satda brought magic out of
Egypt, by cuttings which he had made in his flesh." By Ben Satda,
they understand Jesus of Nazareth, as we have said before; whom they
dishonour by that name, that they might, by one word and in one breath,
reproach him and his mother together. For Satda, or Stada,
sounds as much as an adulterous wife, which the Gemara shews
after a few lines, She went aside from her husband. They feign
that Jesus travelled with Joshua Ben Perachiah into Egypt, when the said
Joshua fled from the anger and sword of Janneus the king, which we have
mentioned at the second chapter; and that he brought thence magical
witchcrafts with him, but under the cutting of his flesh, that he might
not be taken by the Egyptian magicians, who strictly examined all that
went out of that land, that none should transport their magic art into
another land. And in that place they add these horrid words, Jesus
practised magic, and deceived, and drove Israel to idolatry. Those
whelps bark, as they were taught by these dogs.
To this, therefore, does this blasphemy
of the Pharisees come; as if they should say, "He casts out devils
indeed; but he doth this by the help of the devil, the lord of idols,
that dwells in him; by him, that is the worst of all devils, who favours
him and helps him, because it is his ambition to drive the people from
the worship of the true God to strange worship."
25. And Jesus knew their thoughts,
and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to
desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not
stand:
[But Jesus knowing their thoughts.]
Behold, O Pharisee, a sign of the true Messias, for a sign you would
have: he smells out a wicked man.
"It is written of Messias, The Spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him, and shall make him smell in the fear of
the Lord. Rabba said, he shall smell and judge; as it is said, he
shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, &c. Ben Cozba reigned two
years and a half, and said to the Rabbins, I am the Messias: they said
to him, It is written of Messias that he shall smell and judge (the
Gloss is, he shall smell out the man, and shall judge and know whether
he be guilty). Let us see whether thou canst smell and judge. And
when they saw that he could not smell and judge, they slew him."
27. And if I by Beelzebub cast out
devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they
shall be your judges.
[ By whom do your children cast them
out?] By your children, Christ seems to understand some
disciples of the Pharisees; that is, some of the Jews, who using
exorcisms seemed to cast out devils such as they,
Acts 19:13; and yet they said not to them, "Ye cast out devils by
Beelzebul." It is worthy marking, that Christ presently saith, "If I by
the Spirit of God cast out devils, then the kingdom of God is come among
you." For what else does this speak, than that Christ was the first who
should cast out devils? which was an undoubted sign to them that the
kingdom of heaven was now come. But that which was performed by them by
exorcisms was not so much a casting out of devils, as a delusion of the
people; since Satan would not cast out Satan, but by compact with
himself and with his company he seemed to be cast out, that he might the
more deceive.
The sense, therefore, of Christ's words
comes to this: "That your disciples cast out devils, ye attribute not to
Beelzebul, no nor to magic; but ye applaud the work when it is done by
them: they, therefore, may in this matter be your judges, that you
pronounce these words of my actions out of the rankness and venom of
your minds."
In the Gloss mention is made of a devil
cast out by a Jew at Rome.
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.
[It shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.] They that
endeavour hence to prove the remission of some sins after death, seem
little to understand to what Christ had respect when he spake these
words. Weigh well this common and most known doctrine of the Jewish
schools, and judge:
"He that transgresses an affirmative
precept, if he presently repent, is not moved until the Lord pardon him.
And of such it is said, 'Be ye converted, O backsliding children, and I
will heal your backslidings.' He that transgresses a negative precept
and repents, his repentance suspends judgment, and the day of expiation
expiates him; as it is said, 'This day shall all your uncleannesses be
expiated to you.' He that transgressed to cutting off [by the stroke
of God,] or to death by the Sanhedrim, and repents, repentance, and
the day of expiation do suspend judgment, and the strokes that are laid
upon him wipe off sin; as it is said, 'And I will visit their
transgression with a rod, and their iniquity with scourges.' But he by
whom the name of God is profaned [or blasphemed], repentance is of no
avail to him to suspend judgment, nor the day of expiation to expiate
it, nor scourges [or corrections inflicted] to wipe it off, but all
suspend judgment, and death wipes it off." Thus the Babylonian Gemara
writes: but the Jerusalem thus; "Repentance and the day of expiation
expiate as to the third part, and corrections as to the third part, and
death wipes it off: as it is said, and your iniquities shall not be
expiated to you until ye die. Behold, we learn that death wipes off."
Note this, which Christ contradicts, concerning blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost; "It shall not be forgiven, (saith he,) neither in this
world, nor in the world to come"; that is, neither before death, nor, as
you dream, by death.
[In the world to come.] I. Some
phrases were received into common use, by which in common speech they
opposed the heresy of the Sadducees, who denied immortality. Of that
sort were the world to come: paradise: hell, &c.
"At the end of all the prayers in the
Temple" (as we observed before) "they said for ever. But when the
heretics brake in and said, 'There was no age but one,' it was appointed
to be said, for ever and ever."
This distinction of this world,
and of the world to come, you may find almost in every page of
the Rabbins.
"The Lord recompense thee a good reward
for this thy good word in this world, and let thy reward be
perfected in the world to come."
"It [that is, the history of the
creation and of the Bible] begins therefore with the letter Beth
[in the word Bereshith], because two worlds were created, this
world and a world to come."
II. The world to come, hints two
things especially (of which see Rambam): 1. The times of the Messias:
"Be mindful of the day wherein thou camest out of Egypt, all the days of
thy life. The wise men say, By 'the days of thy life,' is intimated
'this world': by 'all the days of thy life,' the days of the Messias are
superinduced." In sense the apostle seems to speak,
Hebrews 2:5 and 6:5. 2. The state after death, The world to come
is, when a man is departed out of this world.
39. But he answered and
said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign;
and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet
Jonas:
[An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign.] I. Their schools also confessed, that signs
and miracles were not to be expected but by a fit generation.
"The elders being once assembled at
Jericho, the Bath Kol went forth and said, There is one among you who is
fit to have the Holy Ghost dwell upon him, but that [this]
generation is not fit. They fix their eyes upon Hillel the Elder.
The elders being assembled again in an upper room in Jabneh,
Bath Kol came forth and said, There is one among you who is fit to
have the Holy Spirit dwell upon him, but that the generation is not
fit. They cast their eyes upon Samuel the Little."
II. That generation by which and
in which the Lord of life was crucified lay, and that deservedly, under
an ill report for their great wickedness above all other, from the
beginning of the world until that day. Whence that of the prophet, "Who
shall declare his generation?"
Isaiah 53:2; that is, his generation (viz. that generation
in which he should live) should proceed to that degree of impiety and
wickedness, that it should surpass all expression and history. We have
observed before, how the Talmudists themselves confess, that that
generation in which the Messias should come should exceed all other
ages in all kinds of amazing wickedness.
III. That nation and generation
might be called adulterous literally; for what else, I beseech
you, was their irreligious polygamy than continual adultery? And what
else was their ordinary practice of divorcing their wives, no less
irreligious, according to every man's foolish or naughty will?
[But the sign of Jonah the prophet.]
Here and elsewhere, while he gives them the sign of Jonah, he does not
barely speak of the miracle done upon him which was to be equalled in
the Son of man, but girds them with a silent check; instructing them
thus much, that the Gentiles were to be converted by him, after his
return out of the bowels of the earth, as heathen Nineveh was converted,
after Jonah was restored out of the belly of the whale. Than which
doctrine scarce anything bit that nation more sharply.
40. For as Jonas was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth.
[The Son of man shall be three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth.] 1. The Jewish writers
extend that memorable station of the unmoving sun at Joshua's prayer to
six-and-thirty hours; for so Kimchi upon that place: "According to more
exact interpretation, the sun and moon stood still for six-and-thirty
hours: for when the fight was on the eve of the sabbath, Joshua feared
lest the Israelites might break the sabbath: therefore he spread abroad
his hands, that the sun might stand still on the sixth day, according to
the measure of the day of the sabbath, and the moon, according to the
measure of the night of the sabbath, and of the going-out of the sabbath;
which amounts to six-and-thirty hours."
II. If you number the hours that passed
from our Saviour's giving up the ghost upon the cross to his
resurrection, you shall find almost the same number of hours; and yet
that space is called by him "three days and three nights," when as two
nights only came between, and only one complete day. Nevertheless, while
he speaks these words, he is not without the consent both of the Jewish
schools, and their computation. Weigh well that which is disputed in the
tract Schabbath, concerning the uncleanness of a woman for three
days; where many things are discussed by the Gemarists concerning the
computation of this space of three days. Among other things these words
occur; "R. Ismael saith, Sometimes it contains four Onoth
sometimes five, sometimes six. But how much is the space of an Onah?
R. Jochanan saith either a day or a night." And so also the Jerusalem
Talmud; "R. Akiba fixed a day for an Onah, and a night for an
Onah: but the tradition is, that R. Eliezar Ben Azariah said, A
day and a night make an Onah, and a part of an Onah is as the whole."
And a little after, R. Ismael computeth a part of the Onah for the
whole.
It is not easy to translate the word
Onah into good Latin: for to some it is the same with the half of a
natural day; to some it is all one with a whole natural day.
According to the first sense we may observe, from the words of R. Ismael,
that sometimes four Onoth, or halves of a natural day, may be
accounted for three days: and that they also are so numbered that one
part or the other of those halves may be accounted for a whole. Compare
the latter sense with the words of our Saviour, which are now before us:
"A day and a night (saith the tradition) make an Onah, and a part
of an Onah is as the whole." Therefore Christ may truly be said
to have been in his grave three Onoth, or three natural days
(when yet the greatest part of the first day was wanting, and the night
altogether, and the greatest part by far of the third day also), the
consent of the schools and dialect of the nation agreeing thereunto.
For, "the least part of the Onah concluded the whole." So that
according to this idiom, that diminutive part of the third day upon
which Christ arose may be computed for the whole day, and the night
following it.
45. Then goeth he, and taketh with
himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in
and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the
first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
[So shall it be to this evil
generation.] These words foretell a dreadful apostasy in that nation
and generation.
I. It is something difficult so to suit
all things in the parable aforegoing, that they may agree with one
another: 1. You can hardly understand it of unclean spirits cast out of
men by Christ; when through the whole evangelic history there is not the
least shadow of probability that any devil cast out by him did return
again into him out of whom he had been cast. 2. Therefore our Saviour
seems to allude to the casting out of devils by exorcisms: which art, as
the Jews were well instructed in, so in practising it there was need of
dexterous deceits and collusions. 3. For it is scarcely credible that
the devil in truth finds less rest in dry places than in wet: but it is
credible that those diabolical artists have found out such kind of
figments for the honour and fame of their art. For, 4. It would be
ridiculous to think that they could by their exorcisms cast a devil out
of a man into whom he had been sent by God. They might, indeed, with a
compact with the devil, procure some lucid intervals to the possessed;
so that the inhabiting demon might deal gently with him for some time,
and not disturb the man: but the demoniacal heats came back again at
last, and the former outrages returned. Therefore, here there was need
of deceits well put together, that so provision might the better be made
for the honour of the exorcistical art; as, that the devil, being sent
away into dry and waste places, could not find any rest; that he could
not, that he would not always wander about here and there, alone by
himself, without rest; that he therefore returned into his old mansion,
which he had formerly found so well fitted and prepared for him, &c.
Therefore these words seem to have been
spoken by our Saviour according to the capacity of the common people, or
rather, according to the deceit put upon them, more than according to
the reality or truth of the thing itself; taking a parable from
something commonly believed and entertained, that he might express the
thing which he propounded more plainly and familiarly.
II. But however it was, whether those
things were true indeed, or only believed and conceived so, by a most
apt and open comparison is shown that the devil was first cast out of
the Jewish nation by the gospel; and then, seeking for a seat and rest
among the Gentiles, and not finding it, the gospel everywhere vexing
him, came back into the Jewish nation again, fixed his seat there, and
possessed it much more than he had done before. The truth of this thing
appears in that fearful apostasy of an infinite multitude of Jews, who
received the gospel, and most wickedly revolted from it afterward;
concerning which the New Testament speaks in abundance of places.
2. And great multitudes were gathered
together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole
multitude stood on the shore.
[So that he sat, and the whole
multitude stood.] So was the manner of the nation, that the masters
when they read their lectures sat, and the scholars stood:
which honorary custom continued to the death of Gamaliel the Elder; and
then so far ceased, that the scholars sat when their masters
sat. Hence is that passage: "From that time that old Rabban Gamaliel
died, the honour of the law perished, and purity and Pharisaism died."
Where the Gloss, from Megillah, writes us; "Before his death
health was in the world, and they learned the law standing; but
when he was dead sickness came down into the world, and they were
compelled to learn the law sitting."
3. And he spake many things unto them
in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow.
[In parables.] I. No figure of
Jewish rhetoric was more familiarly used than that of parables:
which perhaps, creeping in from thence, among the heathen ended in
fables. It is said, in the place of the Talmud just now cited, From
the time that R. Meir died, those that spake in parables ceased: not
that that figure of rhetoric perished in the nation from that time, but
because he surpassed all others in these flowers; as the Gloss there
from the tract Sanhedrim speaks; A third part [of his
discourses or sermons] was tradition, a third part allegory, and a
third part parable. The Jewish books abound everywhere with these
figures, the nation inclining by a kind of natural genius to this kind
of rhetoric. One might not amiss call their religion Parabolical,
folded up within the coverings of ceremonies; and their oratory in their
sermons was like to it. But it is a wonder indeed, that they who were so
given to and delighted in parables, and so dextrous in unfolding
them, should stick in the outward shell of ceremonies, and should not
have fetched out the parabolical and spiritual sense of them; neither
should he be able to fetch them out.
II. Our Saviour (who always and
everywhere spake with the vulgar) useth the same kind of speech, and
very often the same preface, as they did in their parables. To what
is it likened, &c. But in him, thus speaking, one may both
acknowledge the Divine justice, who speaks darkly to them that despise
the light; and his Divine wisdom likewise, who so speaks to them that
see, and yet see not, that they may see the shell and not see the
kernel.
4. And when he sowed, some seeds
fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
[Some fell by the way side, &c.]
Concerning the husbandry of the Jews, and their manner of sowing, we
meet with various passages in the tracts Peah, Demai, Kilaim,
Sheviith: we shall only touch upon those things which the words of
the text under our hands do readily remind us of.
There were ways and paths as well common
as more private along the sown fields; see chapter 12:1. Hence in the
tract Peah, where they dispute what those things are which divide
a field so that it owes a double corner to the poor; thus it is
determined, "These things divide: a river, an aqueduct, a private way, a
common way, a common path, and a private path," &c. See the place and
the Gloss.
5. Some fell upon stony places, where
they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had
no deepness of earth:
[Some fell among stony places.]
Discourse is had concerning some laws of the Kilaim (or, of
the seeds of different kinds), and of the seventh year: where, among
other things, we meet with these words; "R. Simeon Ben Lachish saith
that he is freed [from those laws] who sows his seed by the sea,
upon rocks, shelves, and rocky places." These words are spoken
according to the reason and nature of the land of Israel, which was very
rocky; and yet those places that were so were not altogether unfit for
tillage.
7. And some fell among thorns; and
the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
[Others fell among thorns.] Here
the distinction comes into my mind of a white field, that is,
which is all sown; and of a woody field, that is, in which trees
and bushes grow here and there: concerning which see the tract
Sheviith. So there is very frequent mention in the Talmudists of
beds, in fields and vineyards, which speaks the same thing. And of
baldness in a field: that is, when some places are left not sown,
and some places lying between are.
8. But other fell into good ground,
and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some
thirtyfold.
[And brought forth fruit, some a
hundred, &c.] These words are spoken according to the fruitfulness
of the land of Israel; concerning which the Talmudists speak much, and
hyperbolically enough: which nevertheless they confess to be turned long
since into miserable barrenness; but are dim-sighted as to the true
cause of it.
They treat of this matter, and various
stories are produced, which you may see: we will only mention these
two:--
"R. Jochanan said, The worst fruit which
we eat in our youth excelled the best which we now eat in our old age:
for in his days the world was changed."
"R. Chaijah Bar Ba said The Arbelite
bushel formerly yielded a bushel of flour, a bushel of meal, a
bushel of bran, and a bushel of coarse bran, and a bushel of coarser
bran yet, and a bushel of the coarsest bran also: but now one bushel
scarcely comes from one bushel."
13. Therefore speak I to them in
parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not,
neither do they understand.
[They seeing see not.] Here you
may observe this people to have been given up to a reprobate mind, and a
spirit of deep sleep, now a great while before the death of Christ.
Which being observed, the sense of the apostle will more easily appear,
Romans 11:8; where these very words are repeated. If you there state
aright the rejection of that people, you will understand more clearly
the apostle concerning their call, which is there handled. Pharisaism
and the sottishness of traditions had, now a good while ago, thrown them
into blindness, stupidity, and hardness of heart; and that for some ages
before Christ was born: but when the gospel came, the Lord had his
gleanings among them, and there were some that believed, and unto whom
the participation of the promises was granted: concerning them the
apostle speaks in that chapter: see verse 5. At this present time
there is a remnant according to election," &c., which we have
observed before at chapter 3:7.
25. But while men slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
[Tares.] Zunin, in
Talmudic language. Wheat and 'Zunin' are not seeds of different kinds.
Where the Gloss is this; "Is a kind of wheat, which is changed in the
earth, both as to its form, and to its nature." By the best
Lexicographers it is rendered zizania, in Latin.
So that that field, in this parable, was
sown by the lord with good wheat; by the enemy, with bad and degenerate
wheat; but all of it was sown with wheat, one or the other. These words
do not so barely mean good and bad men, as good and bad Christians; both
distinguished from other men, namely, from heathens, as wheat is
distinguished from other seeds: but they are distinguished also among
themselves, as good wheat is distinguished from that which is
degenerate. So chapter 25, all those ten women, expecting the
bridegroom, are virgins; but are distinguished into wise and foolish.
32. Which indeed is the least of all
seeds [mustard]: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs,
and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the
branches thereof.
[Which, indeed, is the least of all
seeds, &c.] Hence it is passed into a common proverb, According
to the quantity of a grain of mustard: and According to the
quantity of a little drop of mustard, very frequently used by the
Rabbins, when they would express the smallest thing, or the most
diminutive quantity.
[Is the greatest among herbs.]
"There was a stalk of mustard in Sichin, from which sprang out
three boughs: of which, one was broke off, and covered the tent of a
potter, and produced three cabes of mustard. R. Simeon Ben Chalaphta
said, A stalk of mustard was in my field, into which I was wont
to climb, as men are wont to climb into a fig-tree."
33. Another parable spake he unto
them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and
hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
[In three (sata) measures of meal]
That is, in an ephah of meal.
Exodus 16:36; "Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah."
The Chaldee reads, The tenth part of three sata. The LXX reads,
The tenth part of three measures. And
Ruth 2:17, "It was as an ephah of barley." Where the Targum
reads, As it were three sata of barley.
"A seah contains a double hin,
six cabes, twenty-four login, a hundred and forty-four eggs."
52. Then said he unto them, Therefore
every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out
of his treasure things new and old.
[Bringeth forth out of his treasury
things new and old.] These words are spoken according to the dialect
of the schools, where the question was not seldom started, What wine,
what corn, or fruits were to be used in the holy things, and in some
rites, new or more old; namely, of the present year, or the years
past. But now, a thrifty man, provident of his own affairs, was
stored both with the one and the other, prepared for either, which
should be required. So it becomes a scribe of the gospel to have all
things in readiness, to bring forth according to the condition and
nature of the thing, of the place, and of the hearers. "Do ye understand
all these things (saith Christ), both the things which I have said, and
why I have said them? So a scribe of the gospel ought to bring forth,"
&c.
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