Harmony of the Gospels
Lesson 34
The miracle of the withered hand
Opposition of the Herodians
Matthew 12:9-21
Matt. 12:9-10 Jesus left that place and went to one of their synagogues. A man was there who had a crippled hand. There were some men present who wanted to accuse Jesus of wrongdoing; so they asked him, “ Is it against our Law to cure on the Sabbath?”
Comments: Evidently Jesus, his disciples and these Pharisees, were on the way to the synagogue when the conversation about the plucking of corn on the Sabbath took place, the place was probably at Capernaum.
The dried up hand was cause by the deficient absorption of the nutriment. Luke says his “ right hand.” The disease here indicated results in a loss both in size and in power of the arm; for it there was no remedy known to man. The scribes and Pharisees asked him. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? In the opinion of the Pharisees, to kindle or extinguish a fire on the Sabbath was a great desecration of the day, nor was even sickness allowed to violate . rabbinical rules. It was forbidden to give an emetic, something to relieve upset stomachs, to set a broken bone, or put back a dislocated joint. Of course, they had added all this to the law of Moses. They weren’t having this conversation casually, but before the local judges, the officers of the synagogue, or the council, they were trying to find something to bring him to trial and execution.
Matt. 12:11-14 Jesus answered, “ What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hole of it and lift it out? And a man is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one. The Pharisees left and made plans against Jesus to kill him.
Jesus uses act that allowed to stress his point, if they could extend and act of mercy to beast then why not a man? If a sheep could be lifted out of its suffering on the Sabbath, why not a man? If the Sabbath day would preclude anyone from doing good, then it would be an evil. Since the cure to the withered hand was done by Jesus word a command “Stretch out your hand,” the Pharisees had no grounds of accusation to charge Christ with. The real motive of the Pharisees was hatred of the Lord; while their pretext was that he had broken the Sabbath. While professing to be very religious, they were really the servants of Satan, the evil one.
Matt. 12:15-17 When Jesus heard about it, he went away from that place; and many people followed him. He healed all the sick, and gave them orders not to tell others about him, to make come true what God had said through the prophet Isaiah.
Comments: Jesus decides to leave Capernaum for the time being. He chose to avoid needless danger until his earthly ministry was accomplished, and the bitter opposition of the Pharisees admonished him to temporarily withdraw. The people that he healed were told not to talk about his healing because to much noise about him curing would intensify the hate of his enemies. Thus it was full filled what Isaiah the prophet said in Isa. 42:1-4
Matt. 12:18-21 Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, with whom I am well pleased.
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will announce my judgment to all the peoples.
But he will not argue or shout, nor make loud speeches in the streets.
He will not break off a bent reed, nor put out a flickering lamp.
He will persist until he causes justice to triumph; and all peoples will put their hope in him.
Comments: When Christ came to earth he took the form of a servant. He also announces himself as judge of the Gentiles.
He was modest, retiring, and not a brazen, noisy declaimer.
The reed was a hollow cylinder, if bruised has its strength destroyed. It then becomes the symbol of the bruised spirit. The tender Savior will not break, but heal. The smoking flax is the wick of the lamp that had ceased to burn clearly. The violent would put it out and fling it away. The Lord does not use violence with those disciples who give forth some light, even if it is imperfect. Till he shall sit in power and triumph on the throne of Judgment.
In his name the Messiah the Gentiles will trust. He shall be the Christ of the world, and not of the Jews alone. The prophets clearly and many times declare that the Messiah shall be, not a Jewish, but a world’s Savior. The Jews strangely overlooked this.
Matthew 10:1-4 Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to drive out the evil spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James , the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Patriot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.
Comments: The twelve had already been called, and had attended the Lord for some time. They were now commissioned and sent forth as apostles.
Christ gave them power to do the same kind of works of mercy which Jesus had done, and thus to carry out his mission. Works of mercy and love are inseparable from the true preaching of the Gospel. Of the twelve apostles there are four lists, found in Matt. 10:2, Mark 3:16, Luke 6:14, and Acts 1:13. They differ in the following particulars: Luke, in the book of Acts, does not insert the name of Judas Iscariot, who was then dead; both in his Gospel and in Acts he entitles the Simon, who, here and in Mark, is called the Canaanite, Simon Zelotes; Matthew gives as the tenth disciple, Lebbeus; Mark calls him Thaddeus; Luke and Acts, Judas of James, either son or brother of James; and Mark says that James and John were surnamed by Christ, Boanerges, the sons of thunder. In other respects the four lists are identical.
There are three pairs of brothers among them. Andrew and Peter, James and John, James the Less and Judas, or Thaddeus. James and John it is believed were cousins of Jesus. With the exception of Judas Iscariot, all were Galileans; several of them were by trade fishermen, a laborious and profitable calling; there was neither priest nor scribe among them; all were from the ranks of the common people.
Matt. 10:5-10 Jesus sent these twelve men out with the following instructions: Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns. Go, instead, to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go and preach, The Kingdom of heaven is near! Heal the sick, raise the dead, make the lepers clean, drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid. Do not carry any gold, silver, or copper money in your pockets; do not carry a beggar’s bag for the trip, or an extra shirt, or shoes, or a walking stick. A worker should be given what he needs.
Comments: The Jews called all “Gentiles” who were not Jews. Samaritans. The inhabitants of Samaria, a district between Judea and Galilee; descendants of a remnant of the Ten Tribes, mixed with Gentiles colonized there. They accepted the five books of Moses, but worshiped on Mount Gerizim, instead of at Jerusalem. The Samarians and the Jews had been for ages bitter enemies.
The lost sheep were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When we compare this commission with the one given to the apostles after the death and resurrection of the Lord (Matt. 28:19). In this commission the apostles are forbidden to go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, and are confined to the house of Israel. In the other they are commanded to go into “all the world,” and to “preach the gospel to every creature;” to go “first to Jerusalem, and to Judea, and to Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth.” The first commission is Jewish; the second is world-wide. Yet both are given by the same Lord; why this wide difference? Because the new dispensation was not ushered in until after the resurrection. The Jewish law, national, exclusive, a wall of partition from Gentiles, was yet in force. Christ, “born under the law,” and the apostles also were under it until it was removed. They could not keep it and yet become missionaries to the Gentiles. But when Christ died the old dispensation , the Law, died with him. “ The handwriting of ordinances was nailed to the cross.” The old covenant passed away when the new came into force, sealed with the blood of Christ. After the death and resurrection of Christ, the law ceased to be binding upon the apostles. The distinctions of Jew and Gentile were destroyed. Hence under the new covenant, the world-wide covenant, there was a new commission that would send the gospel to all the world. The old covenant was with the seed of Abraham: the new covenant embraced all nations.
What were they to preach, the same thing that John the Baptist, and Christ had preached, “ The kingdom is at hand.” It had not yet been inaugurated. So the apostles were still to preach. It was near, but not in existence. There was no such charge in the second commission. Then “all power in heaven and on earth was in hands of Christ.” He became King after he suffered, and his kingdom was inaugurated on earth on the day of Pentecost. When he was “lifted up” he became King.
They were to heal the sick, not only in order to do a beneficent work, but to demonstrate that they had the Lord’s commission.
They would need no gold, because the workman is worthy of his meat, and those to whom they preached should supply all their wants. This has always been the law of Christ. No Scrip, a wallet, or valise. No shoes, they were allowed to wear sandals, such as common people wore. They should go with simply their ordinary clothing the same as the people they were to preach to wore. No staves. With the staff each one had, but without an extra supply. A staff was always carried in walking over the rugged mountains of Palestine.
Matt. 10:11-15 When you come to a town or village, go in and look for someone who is willing to welcome you, and stay with him until you leave that place. When you go into a house say, Peace be with you. If the people in that house welcome you, let your greeting of peace remain; but if they do not welcome you, then take back your greeting. And if some home or town will not welcome you or listen to you, then leave that place and shake the dust off your feet. Remember this! On the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah than to the people of that town!
Comments: They were to stay with some one noted for hospitality and worth. They were not to board round from house to house. They were to courteously salute the household. The normal Oriental salutation is, Peace be with you. If the household were hospitable and friendly, let this blessing rest upon them. If they proved unfriendly, leave them to their own course and its result.
Shaking the dust from your feet was done when there was a positive rejection of the gospel. It was a symbolical act, signifying that all responsibility for the stubborn household or city had ended.
The gospel can not be forced upon an unwilling people in any age.
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrha were in the Jordan valley and they were destroyed for their sins in the time of Abraham (Gen.19:1-28). These cities did not have the opportunity, and hence, not the responsibility, of those to which Christ or his apostles preached.