Ver. 1. Great multitudes followed him] Many thousands, as Bodinius De Claritate Christi proveth out of ancient writers. This drew upon our Saviour the envy of the Pharisees, those cankered curls who, Sejanus-like, thought all lost that fell beside their own lips: as Nero, they spited all those whom the people applauded; and tiger-like, laid hold with their teeth on all the excellent spirits of their times, as it is said of Tiberius. Quicquid non acquiritur damnum est. Sen. de Seiano. Nero omnium aemulus. Ammian.
Ver. 2. And, behold, there came a leper] This leprosy was most rife in our Saviour’s time; God so ordering that Judea was sickest when her Physician was nearest. The Jews are still a nasty people; and this kind of leprosy seems to have been proper to them, as Plica Polonica, Morbus Gallicus, Sudor Anglicus. No stranger in England was touched with this disease, and yet the English were chased therewith, not in England only, but in other countries abroad; which made them like tyrants, both feared and avoided wherever they came. So were these Jewish lepers. Hence that fable in Tacitus, that the Israelites were driven out of Egypt for that loathsome disease. This, said one malevolent heathen, is the cause why they rest every seventh day. Bodinus observes it for a special providence of God, that in Arabia (which bordereth upon Judea) there are no swine to be found, lest that most leprous creature, saith he, should more and more infest and infect that people, who are naturally subject to the leprosy. And another good author is of the opinion that God did therefore forbid the Jews to eat either swine’s flesh or hare’s flesh, quod ista caro facile in male affectis corporibus putrescat, because in diseased bodies it easily corrupts and turns to ill humours. And worshipped him] Which he would hardly ever have done, haply, had he not been a leper. Morbi sunt vlrtutum officina: diseases, saith St Ambrose, are the shop of virtues. King Alfred found himself ever best when he was worst; and therefore prayed God to send him always some sickness; Gehazi’s leprosy cured him, his white forehead made him a white soul. If thou wilt, thou canst, &c.] So another came with, “If thou canst do anything, help us.” We never doubt of Christ’s will to do us good (saith a great divine), but, in some degree, we doubt also his power. True faith doubts neither, but believes against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible. Sense corrects imagination, reason corrects sense, but faith corrects both. Summa Dei bonitate id factum est, ne populos ad lepram proclives, animal leprosissimum magis, ac magis infestaret. Jo. Bodin.
Ver. 3. And Jesus put forth his hand, &c.] The law forbade contactum contagionis, non sanationis. The high priest might enter a leprous house, &c. “We have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” Hebrews 4:15. Better might he say, than St Cyprian, Cum singulis pectus meum copulo, moeroris et funeris pondera luctuosa participo, cum plangentibus plango, cum deflentibus defleo, &c. Than St Paul, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is afflicted, and I burn not?” 2 Corinthians 11:29. It was held a great condescension in King Alphonsus to use his skill for the recovery of one of his sick subjects: what was it here in Christ the King of kings and Lord of lords?
Ver. 4. See thou tell no man] Christ despised popular applause, accounting it no other than a little stinking breath. Some do all for a name. But we have not so learned Christ. His treasures were hidden, Colossians 2:3. He sought not himself, but to set up him that sent him, John 8:50. Show thyself to the priest] That they may see that I am He that should come, that Jehovah the physician, that “Sun of righteousness with health under his wings,” &c.; that I came not to destroy the law, as they slanderously give out, but to fulfil it, that God may be glorified and the mouth of malice stopped. Offer the gift, &c.] This is that peppercorn we pay to God, who is content that we have the benefit of his favours, so he may have the glory of them. Not lepers only, but all sorts, after sickness, were bound to offer to God the ransom of their lives, Exodus 30:11-16. Hezekiah made a song and left it to posterity, for a seal of his thankfulness. Heathens in this case wo uld consecrate something to their gods, to their Teraphim. The very word in Greek that signifies to heal (framed from Teraphim) signifies first to worship and serve God (θεραπευειν), so showing us what they were wont to do in case of cure. But today sciopato il morbo, fraudato il santo, as the Italian proverb hath it. Sick men recovered, deal as shipwrecked men escaped; they promise God, as he in Erasmus’ Naufragium did the Virgin, a picture of wax as big as St Christopher, but when he came to shore would not give a tallow candle. This is a cursed kind of deception, Malachi 1:14. The dried berry of Black Pepper. Formerly often, and still sometimes, stipulated for as a quit-rent or nominal rent ŒD