Bible Commentaries
Matthew 11

Verses 1-6

23 The mood of the verb is most important here. The Lord is not telling what would but what may occur. His apostles were frail mortals, easily discouraged, so He does no more than hint at a possible failure of their mission. The common version, by ignoring the subjunctive form of the verbs, has given rise to much perplexity and speculation. This proclamation brought the kingdom very near, so that the Lord's coming in glory and power should not have been delayed much longer. That He did not come at that time is no proof that He was mistaken, but rather of His foreknowledge, for He was careful to phrase the prospect so as to provide for this contingency.

25 Our Lord calls Beezeboul a householder, which, probably, is the meaning of the name. (See note on Mat_12:24 ). The disciples should expect no better treatment than their Lord had received, yet He exhorts them not to be afraid, for even the unseen powers shall be manifested.

28 The soul is the seat of sensation, but is popularly confounded with the spirit. A soulish man is one who is swayed by his senses. He may even be sensual, for such is the usual rendering of Jam_3:15 . Those of the apostles who were killed later will lose nothing in the kingdom. Their souls will be surfeited with joy in that day. Their death will only add to their soul's delight in the resurrection. They, however, who come under God's judgment in the kingdom will not only have their bodies destroyed in the vale of Hinnom, just below Jerusalem, where the offal of the city was incinerated, but they will miss all the joys which their souls long for in the millennium. The martyrs who die for the sake of the kingdom have nothing to fear. So far as their souls are concerned, death gives them an immediate entrance into the delights of that earthly paradise, even though at their martyrdom it was thousands of years in the future.

29 The greatness of God is as evident in the minute details of His creation as in the vast immensities of stellar space. His microscopic care meets the needs of His creatures, and reaches their hearts. Nothing is too trivial for Him Whose presence pervades the universe. The ultimate electron is as much His providence as the cosmos in its entirety.

34 The natural inference arising from the proclamation of the kingdom would be that, when Israel believed, the era of the millennium would immediately commence. But it is never wise to reason from God's apparent procedure. He may have deeper plans which do not appear on the surface. The proclamation of the kingdom was made in all good faith, yet we know now, as God always has known, that it was not intended to introduce the kingdom at that time. Moreover, He had also revealed that, before it could come, there would be a time of great distress in which His faithful followers would endure such affliction as had not been known on the earth before. Since the kingdom must be established by force, He thrusts in His sword, that peace may follow.

37 See Luk_14:26-27 .

38 See Mat_16:24 ; Mar_8:34-35 ; Luk_9:23-24 .

39 This has special reference to the time of Jacob's trouble, at the time of the end, when many will suffer and die rather than worship the image of the wild beast ( Rev_13:15 ). They will avoid suffering, or save their souls, only at the risk of God's indignation, and the loss of the pleasures of the kingdom. Those who endure affliction for the kingdom will enjoy the bliss of the kingdom. They destroy their souls to find them. Those who avoid suffering by yielding to the pressure of the adversary, will have no portion in the kingdom. They find their souls for a brief period only to destroy them for the thousand years.

40 When the Son of Mankind comes in His glory to sit upon His throne, then judgment will proceed on the basis, not of personal sinfulness, but of the treatment of His disciples during the time of their need. This principle is a fitting close to His instructions for proclaiming the kingdom. It shows that they are not commissioned to preach the evangel of God, which is for us today.

41 See 1Ki_17:1018:4 ; 2Ki_4:8 ; Heb_13:2 .

2-4 Compare Luk_7:18-23 .

2 John Was the greatest of all the prophets. Yet even he was not fully aware of the mind of God. If Christ is Messiah, and this he does not doubt, why is he allowed to languish in prison? The Jews had difficulty in reconciling the prophecies concerning the Messiah. Some seemed to set Him forth as the Suffering One; others made Him a glorious King. So some looked for two Messiahs; one, Messiah ben Joseph to suffer, and another, Messiah ben David, to reign. Perhaps some such thought came to John. He had openly rebuked Herod, but the Lord made no effort to get him out of Herod's hands, and did nothing to assert His own power. Was He the Suffering One, and was there to be another to rule with an iron club? We can now see that both Joseph and David were a combination of suffering and glory, and that there was in each case an interval between the two. But this could hardly be made known at the time He was sending out His apostles. It would have disheartened them to know that their proclamation was not destined to succeed. So our Lord does not give a definite reply to John's messengers, but bids them testify to what they saw. He hints that John might be snared by His course. Yet, however inexplicable it may appear to him, He assures him that it is his happy portion to trust where he cannot understand.

Verses 7-26

7 Compare Luk_7:24-30 .

7 The Lord might well have spoken disparagingly of John at this juncture. Instead, He gives him a eulogy which places him on the highest pinnacle of human fame. He gives him a name greater even than Moses and Elijah. The Jews have never accorded him this place, partly because he was the forerunner of the Messiah they have rejected, and partly because his career is eclipsed by the coming and presence of his Lord.

10 Compare Mal_3:1 .

12-15 Compare Luk_16:16-17 .

12 John's methods were drastic and violent. He would have forced the kingdom on the nation, just as our Lord will do when the two witnesses will withhold rain, and turn waters into blood, and smite the earth with calamities ( Rev_11:3-6 ). John came in the spirit and power of Elijah. For the time, our Lord was of an entirely different spirit.

14 See Mat_17:10-13 ; Luk_1:17 ; Mal_4:5 .

16-19 Compare Luk_7:31-35 .

16 The difference between John's ministry and that of our Lord is further evident by the different charges against them. The people were sulky, like little children who will not play at any game, grave or gay. John wailed, yet they would not grieve. The Lord fluted, yet they refused to dance. John was an ascetic, and they charged him with having a demon. Our Lord was the opposite, yet they called Him a glutton and a tippler. They would not be suited. Yet it was the wisdom of God to play these opposites against one another, thus to manifest the incurable stubbornness of the people.

20 The emphatic statement that Tyre and Sidon would have repented if they had been favored like the cities of Galilee makes it quite impossible to doom them to endless destruction without compromising the justice of God, quite apart from His mercy. The unqualified assertion that Sodom would not have been destroyed had it been privileged as Capernaum brings into question God's wisdom and love. Did He stint His favors so that these cities should not repent? The answer is that all is according to that deeper expression of His love which wisely provides for its ultimate display. God's justice will be vindicated in adjusting judgment to accord with privilege. In the consummation His love will be revealed in their salvation.

20-24 Compare Luk_10:13-16 .

23 This is a most instructive illustration of the meaning of the word unseen, usually rendered hell or hades . Sodom had subsided to the unseen even in our Lord's day. And today the very site of Capernaum is uncertain. As a city it has passed beyond the sphere of human perception. The unseen is not confined to the death state, but is applied to invisible spirit powers and vanished cities. It is used here in the same sense as heaven in the preceding sentence.

25-27 Compare Luk_10:21-24 . See Psa_8:2 ; 1Co_1:19-27 .

25-26 Though His ministry seems to be a failure, the Lord recognizes the fact that this is in accord with God's unrevealed purpose. He acquiesces in God's evident delight in hiding the truth from those who were wise and intelligent in the things of this life. He does not fret because He cannot reach them, because God's work is apparently without the anticipated results, for He has the consciousness that, in the final analysis, it is God Himself Who is operating all for His own purpose and glory. It is not that those who rejected Him were blinded by some act of their own for which God disclaims responsibility. They do not see because God positively hides it from them.

Verses 27-30

27 See Joh_3:35 ; Joh_17:2 .

28 It is this God-consciousness, this recognition of His hand in all things, and more especially in that which is opposed to His apparent will, which gives His slaves heart's ease and rest in spirit. This is especially needed in days of apostasy. When we see the success of His enemies, the failure of His friends, when His own are enmeshed in the delusions of the last days, shall we blame those who must bear this load as they toil? How hard it is for their pride to be involved failure! How great the temptation to throw off the yoke and insure success by methods of their own! O that they would learn to yoke themselves with Him, to bow humbly beneath the failure that is according to God's underlying purpose! Then they will acquiesce when He blinds, as well as when He blesses. Then the yoke will no longer gall, and the load will float from their aching shoulders. The false thought that failure is not of God and that success is His hall mark, has led His saints to imagine that any flagrant disobedience to His will is fully justified if it only results in apparent success. Let us remember that He has characterized these as days of apostasy, so that it is His will that many should depart from the faith, and, consequently, great success may result in great loss to any slave of His who does not contend lawfully. Our business is to please God by suffering rejection along with Him.

1-8 Compare Mar_2:23-28 ; Luk_6:1-5 . See Deu_23:25 .

1-8 One of the most significant points in many of the miracles accomplished by our Lord is the fact that they were done on the sabbath. How else could He indicate the great truth that, when Israel is cured of all her ills, it would introduce that great sabbatism which is left for the people of God? Instead of stumbling them, it should have proved His Messianic claims. Moreover, the law of the sabbath was not operative in the sanctuary, and He was the real Temple of God.

3 See Lev_24:5-9 ; 1Sa_21:1-6 .

5 See Num_28:9-10 Joh_7:22-23 .

7 See Mat_9:13 ; Hos_6:6 ; Mic_6:6-8 .

9-13 Compare Mar_3:1-5 ; Luk_6:6-10 . See Luk_13:10-17 ; Luk_14:1-6 ; Joh_9:16 .

10 Israel is the man with the withered hand. Instead of being punctilious about doing good on the sabbath, they should have been concerned with the fact that they could not work for God on any day. They will not be healed until the millennial rest, during which they wi11 be busy “breaking” the sabbath.

11 See Exo_23:4-5 ; Deu_22:4 .

Mat_14:21 Compare Mar_3:6-12 ; Luk_6:11 ; Luk_6:17-19 .

16 Hitherto He wished to be known, but now He enters a new phase of His ministry, in accord with the fact that God had hid His proclamation from those who would have made it effective. Before this His voice was heard in the squares, so that Isaiah's prophecy could not be truly applied to Him then. Now, however, He is given a special token of God's approbation, not because He has succeeded, but because He has been faithful in failure. It is especially precious to appreciate the comforting fact that God preferred Him and delighted in Him when all the signs indicated that His marvelous ministry was almost unheeded. Only a crushed reed here, or a smouldering flax there, were the results of His efforts. Contrite hearts and feeble flickers of faith were all He could show, when His message, humanly speaking, should have aroused the whole nation and made them His ardent disciples.

18 Compare Isa_42:1-4 .

22-23 Compare Luk_11:14 .

22 It is a fact that all human ills have come to the race through the interference of outside malignant spirit forces. Satan introduced sin through Adam. He Who is superior to these invading forces is capable of curing all the ills which man is heir to.

24 Compare Mar_3:22-26 .

25 See Mat_9:4 ; Joh_2:24-25 ; Rev_2:23 .