NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part II (Con’t)

As far as the sudden departure of Jesus is concerned, Early Church theologian, Origen, has some interesting thoughts on this as well. He writes: “Jesus withdraws, not fearing their judgment but to dispel evil. And, lest anyone should suppose that it was through fear that He had withdrawn, Jesus healed everyone, displaying His almighty power. But, as one who does what is fitting, without pride, He sent them away, telling them not to publicize this.”¹ This is a clear example of our Lord’s foreknowledge because He knew that the only physical battle He was ever going to fight would begin with His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.

So until then, Jesus only wanted to go where those who believed would follow, and those who hung around just to protest what Jesus was saying and doing would not consider it worth their effort to go along. This way He would be able to teach those who were interested without these unnecessary interruptions that may also put doubt in their minds.

Bishop Hilary believes Jesus had another reason for ordering silence about the healings. He writes: “He ordered those whom He healed to be silent. Was it silence about the healing that He ordered? Not at all. For the salvation that was given to each one was its own testimony. But by ordering it to be kept secret Jesus also shunned boasting about Himself. It was better that knowledge of Him remains in Himself. So He admonished them to remain silent about Him. The observance of silence springs from that about which one must keep silent.”² It may not have been so much the boasting about Jesus as the One who healed them that bothered our Lord, but that such boasting would lead to His finding it harder and harder to carry out His ministry based on faith in the power of God, rather than based on His personality.

For Matthew, he finds the answer in the words in Isaiah. Chrysostom gives us this as part of his explanation: “For so great was the accuracy of the prophets that they did not omit even these little matters. But they foretold His travels, changes of place and the intent with which He would act, that we might learn that they spoke by the Spirit. If human secrets cannot be easily discerned, how much more difficult it is to discern Christ’s purpose, except when the Spirit reveals it to us.”⁵

One Rabbi, who was well-known for his interpretation scriptures related to the Messiah, said this: “Many Jewish commentators agree that this passage [in Isaiah] refers to the Messiah. One Targum paraphrases it: ‘Behold my Servant, the Messiah, I will draw Him near, my chosen one in whom I am pleased to put my Word.”⁶ In fact, another Targum renders it this way: “Behold, my servant, the Messiah, whom I bring, my chosen in whom one delights: as for my Word, I will put my Holy Spirit upon Him; He shall reveal my judgments unto the nations”.⁷ But some Jewish commentators disagree.

For instance, the venerable Rabbi Rashi says: “My chosen one: Israel is called ‘My chosen one’ in some manuscripts. ‘His chosen one’ in Psalm 135:4. For the Eternal chose Jacob for Himself. Scripture states also: ‘For the sake of My servant Jacob and Israel My chosen one.”⁸”⁹ This is in harmony with Jewish Wisdom Literature where it reads: “The salvation of the Lord is upon Israel his servant forever.”¹⁰ Also, “See, O Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, at the time which you chose, O God, to rule over Israel your servant.”¹¹ However, they have a hard time aligning Jacob’s (Israel’s) life and exploits with the words of this endorsement.

When comparing the original Hebrew of Isaiah with the Greek from which we get the English version here,¹² we find differences simply because of language translation. But there is no doubt that this is the part of Isaiah that Matthew was quoting. As a matter of fact, the earliest translation from Hebrew into Greek by Jewish translators reads this way: “Jacob is my servant, I will help him: Israel is my chosen, my soul has accepted him.”¹³ In one of the earliest translations from the Aramaic version in the 2^nd century AD we have: “Behold, I have relied on My servant and in your heart My soul is fulfilled,”¹⁴ Then in the Jewish paraphrase of Isaiah the first line reads: “Behold, my servant, the Messiah, whom I bring, my chosen in whom one delights.”¹⁵ In the standard Jewish version we find: “This is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one, in whom I delight.”¹⁶ And in a Jewish version of today, this line is rendered: “Here is my servant, whom I support, my chosen one, in whom I take pleasure.”¹⁷

When it comes to being heard by the crowds, one Early Church bishop finds what he feels may be the answer in the line: “nor will anyone hear His voice in the street.” Says Apollinaris: “Those who teach in the streets do this, not for the sake of helping anyone but out of egotism and to deceive the gullible. The result of this is that everyone views them with suspicion and they fail to reach the goal of their teaching. Thus the Savior taught us these lessons not only by word. His way of life also taught us not to scream nor to show off but to lead a public life in respect to virtuous actions. For a talkative disposition would be most harmful for us. It is the opposite that is most useful and beneficial.”¹⁸

Then another early church leader adds this to the same thought: “Jesus did not eagerly contend with the folly of the rulers, nor did He scream and provoke them to anger against Himself. Rather, with gentleness Jesus withdrew slowly so that He might not, in confuting them, cause them to be destroyed while they were still weak in soul like ‘a bruised reed’ or like ‘smoking flax,’ that is, very close to being snuffed out. He bore with them patiently, so as not to reduce them to utter oblivion on account of their weakness, until He had fulfilled the purpose of His dispensation,that is, to bring judgment to a full end. By this dispensation all the nations would come to believe.”¹⁹

But this was meant for that particular time and season in history. Jesus knew that the day would come when His name would be on the lips of billions of believers around the world; that they would attribute all such miracles of healing to Him and perform many of them through the power of the Spirit in His name. So all along the Son of God saw far into the future, and sometimes the things He did and things He said were somewhat confusing to His audience in those days of long ago.

So there can be no doubt that Matthew had the same impression that this belonged to the Messiah who he identified as Jesus of Nazareth. So let’s look at what Isaiah said about people not seeing the Messiah run in fear nor hear Him screaming and hollering on a street corner for people to listen to Him in order to gain attention, honor, applause or notoriety. Either the Ethiopian version is corrupt or the English translation inaccurate by reading: “No man shall hear His voice in the synagogues” because His voice was often heard there.

Then we have: He will not be violent or destructive, forcing people to believe under duress. This is clearly seen in the metaphor of the reed and lamp. The crushed reed represents people who are broken in spirit because things have not turned out the way they had hoped when He said He was the Messiah, and the flickering flame represents those who have almost given up hope, perhaps after He was crucified and not seen for three days. That is because He knows that after He rises from death their spirits and hopes will be revived.

Matthew and the followers of Jesus were not fooled by the Pharisees rejection of Jesus as God’s Son and the long expected Messiah. They had seen Him respond to such criticism before. As one 19^th Century commentator put it, these words of Isaiah about the Messiah were …amply fulfilled in the gentle, lowly, condescending and beneficent nature of Christ’s miracles and personal ministry, His perseverance in the midst of opposition, without engaging in contentious disputation, and His kind and tender dealing with weak and tempted believers.²⁰

So the Pharisees and other religious leaders were in a quandary. The more they confronted Him the more they were embarrassed by His words and authority over nature, sin and death. Unfortunately, they chose to belittle Him rather than believe Him. And as antagonists, since they could not silence Him with words, they were forced to use weapons. However, there was more for His distractors to learn, so by the will of the Father and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the right occasions transpired.

Verse 22: Then some people brought a man to Jesus. This man was blind and could not talk, because it was believed he had a demon inside him. Jesus healed the man, and he could talk and see.

From this description given here it appears that the man was born with serious birth defects. As a matter of fact, one Jewish Rabbi mentions one man who could neither hear nor speak as being so in his mother’s womb.²¹ In the case given here, the man was both blind and mute, but apparently could hear. It is noteworthy that Jesus did not speak to a demon or say “come out.” Therefore, we might conclude the statement: “he had a demon,” was the general perception of the people or a conclusion drawn by Matthew. In any case, whatever Jesus did, the man was instantly healed.

The anonymous author of the incomplete work on Matthew had this comment: “When Jesus left the synagogue … then the whole world was offered to Him in one man. He was a blind, mute man who neither saw nor spoke. Symbolically he neither recognized his Maker nor gave thanks to Him. What was visibly done in the case of one man therefore could be understood to have significance for everyone. For really, if the Lord had not bypassed Judea, all the Gentiles would still be blind and mute in the power of the devil.”²²

Verse 23: All the people were stunned at what Jesus did. They said, “Maybe He is the promised Son of David!”

This amazement may not only have to do with what they saw, but that this man named Jesus of Nazareth did it! One Jewish Rabbi recalls this story: “One should not presume that their Messianic king can work miracles and wonders, bring about new phenomena in the world, resurrect the dead, or perform other similar deeds. This is definitely not true. Proof of this can be seen in from the fact that Rabbi Akiva, one of the greater Sages of the Mishnah, was one of the supporters of King Bar Kozibah and would describe him as the Messianic king. He and all the Sages of his generation considered him to be the Messianic king until he was killed because of his sins. Once he was killed, they realized that he was not the Messiah. The Sages had failed to ask him for any signs or wonders.”²³

What this Rabbi is saying is that for some people they are ready to accept a man claiming to be the Messiah without any miracle working powers, as did Rabbi Akiva. So we can see that Jesus was ready to remove all doubt as to who He really was. But it also seems to have sparked such disbelief in the Pharisees that saw it, they tried to cover their unbelief with a concocted alibi that put the burden on Jesus, not on them.

The same anonymous writer mentioned above, goes on to give this commentary: “How precise Matthew was in saying ‘they were stunned,’ because they did not yet know who Jesus was. No one can really judge another’s work unless one understands the character of the one who is performing the work. For example, if a student of some master teacher creates a great work, we marvel because the student who was appointed such a task by him could accomplish it. But if the master teacher himself has done it, we are not very amazed. For what is the great accomplishment, that a highly trained master created a great work? So whatever deeds God has done, does not mean that is all He can do. For that reason, when the Son of God does a miracle, we should not be astonished. Do you want to know why they did not recognize Him and so were astounded? Hear what they say: ‘Can this be the Son of David?’ If they had recognized Him rightly, they would not have merely said, “This is the Son of David.” They would have said, “This is truly the Son of God.”²⁴