Ver. 1. See Matthew 10:1 Mr 3:13 6:7.
Ver. 2. See Matthew 10:1 Mr 3:13 6:7.
Ver. 3. Take nothing for your journey] But preach the gospel, and depend upon divine providence. Look you to your work, and God will take care for your wages. This the disciples might do, but this was no warrant to those maleferiati among us, who (if fame belie them not) pretending to an immediate call from God to go and preach the gospel in Galilee, sold their estates, set forward for that place, taking neither scrip nor scrap with them; resolving to trust God for their necessary sustentation. Is not this the efficacy of error? Are not these a diabolo dementatis, besotted by the devil?
Ver. 5. See Matthew 10:14 Mr 6:11 Lu 10:11 Ac 13:51.
Ver. 6. And healing everywhere] Those miracles of healing ascribed to Vespasian by heathen historians (Dio et alii), but falsely, do belong properly and alone to Christ’s disciples.
Ver. 7. And he was perplexed] Pendebat, animi dubius. He stood amused and amazed: he stuck in the mud, as it were, and could find no way out. This is the imp ort of the Greek word διηπορει. Thus the wicked in the fulness of his sufficiency is in straits, as Zophar hath it, Job 15:22.
Ver. 8. See Matthew 14:1,2.
Ver. 9. And he desired to see him] With a faint and fruitless desire: for he never stirred out-of-doors to see Christ, though he believed that God had raised him from the dead. So true is that of Abraham, Luke 16:31. Perhaps he desired to see whether it were John or not.
Ver. 10. See Matthew 14:13 Mr 6:30,32.
Ver. 11. And he received them] Weary though he were, yet never weary of well doing.
Ver. 12. See Matthew 14:15 Mr 6:35 Joh 6:5.
Ver. 13. Except we should go, &c.] Which is a thing not only improbable, but impossible. They held it an absurd notion.
Ver. 14. [See Trapp on “Lu 9:13”]
Ver. 15. [See Trapp on “Lu 9:13”]
Ver. 16. [See Trapp on “Lu 9:13”]
Ver. 17. [See Trapp on “Lu 9:13”]
Ver. 18. As he was alone praying] Examinationi preces praemittendae. All our sacrifices should be salted with this salt.
Ver. 19. But some say Elias] This Pythagorean transanimation is held by the Jews to this day, viz. (ut singuli tertio renascantur) against so many clear testimonies of Scripture to the contrary.
Ver. 20. See Matthew 16:13,14 Mr 8:28.
Ver. 22. See Matthew 17:22.
Ver. 23. See Matthew 10:38 Mr 8:34 Lu 14:27 17:33.
Ver. 24. See Matthew 10:38 Mr 8:35 Lu 14:27 17:33.
Ver. 25. See Matthew 16:26 Mr 8:36.
Ver. 26. See Matthew 10:33 Mr 8:38 Lu 12:9 2Ti 2:12.
Ver. 27. See Matthew 16:28 Mr 9:1.
Ver. 28. About eight days] Putting the two utmost days also into the reckoning. [See Trapp on “Mt 17:1”]
Ver. 29. And as he prayed] Dum ipsius mens tota Deo se immergeret, saith one (Luc. Burgens.). Christians, while they are praying, are often times carried out and beyond themselves. See Matthew 17:2,3. [See Trapp on “Mt 17:2”] [See Trapp on “Mt 17:3”]
Ver. 31. And spake of his decease] Gr. of his exodus; in reference to that expedition or departure of Israel out of Egypt (την εξοδον). It signifieth a translating from a condition and state of hardship; and is also used by St Peter, 2 Peter 1:15. Death to the saints is but an out going to heaven, Philippians 1:21, a loosing from the shore of life, and launching out into the main of immortality.
Ver. 34. There came a cloud] [See Trapp on “Mt 17:5”]
Ver. 37. See Matthew 17:14 Mr 9:17 &c.
Ver. 39. And bruising him] As in the falling sickness, it happens.
Ver. 44. Let these sayings sink, &c.] Ponite, reponite, lay up (θεσθε) the sayings of my sufferings, notwithstanding this people’s vain applauses. The best balm cast into water sinks to the bottom; the baser sort floats on the top.
Ver. 45. They understood not this saying] So besotted they were with that carnal conceit of an earthly kingdom, still retained by the Jews to this day.
Ver. 46. See Matthew 18:1 Mr 9:34.
Ver. 49. See Mark 9:38.
Ver. 51. That he should be received up] The word αναληψεως (Poly. Lyser.) implies a metaphor from fathers owning and acknowledging their children after long absence. He set his face] He steeled his forehead against all discouragements, εστηριξε.
Ver. 53. And they did not receive him] Such is the hatred that idolaters bear against all God’s true worshippers. Illam domum in qua inventus fuerit haereticus diruendam decernimus: It was a decree of the Council of Toulouse against the Albigenses.
Ver. 54. And when his disciples] These two brethren, sons of thunder, how soon was their choler up! they had quick and hot spirits. Wilt thou that we command] It were to be wished that we would first consult with Christ in his word, ere we stir hand or foot to revenge.
Ver. 55. But he turned and rebuked them] He did it not slightly, and by-the-by, but seriously, and on set purpose; so must we rebuke and rebate our vindictive spirits, our unruly lusts, when like kine in a strait they rush and ride one upon the back of another. Ye know not what manner of spirits ye are of] Not of Elias’s spirit, as ye imagine; this wildfire was never kindled on God’s hearth, as his zeal was; you are men of another mould than Elias. He was a minister of indignation, you of consolation; his actions fit not you, because your pers ons are not like his. It is a rare thing to be of a heroic spirit, saith the moralist, Σπανιον το θειον ανδρα ειναι (Aristot.). Every man cannot be an Elias or a Phineas, Numbers 25:8. To that height of heat ordinary men’s tempers are not raised.
Ver. 57. See Matthew 8:19.
Ver. 58. And Jesus said unto them] Christ had felt his pulse and found his temper, that he looked after outward things only; and therefore he lets him know what to trust unto. But the Son of man] Ezekiel with the Septuagint is, υιος ανθρωπου, the son of man, but Christ is ο υιος του ανθρωπου,, that is, the son of that man, of that first man Adam. He was the next and only other common person.
Ver. 59. See Matthew 8:21.
Ver. 62. No man having put his hand] Christ here happily alludeth to that which Elisha did, 1 Kings 19:19. Ploughmen that look back cannot but make baulks. A ridge left in ploughing; a miss, slip. ŒD