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made sensible of the greatness of the infirmity under which he laboured. Our Lord's exuberant goodness easily prompted him to give this person the relief which his friends begged for him. Yet he would not do it publicly, lest the admiration of the spectators should have been raised so high as to produce bad effects; for the whole country was now following him, in expectation that he would soon set up his kingdom. Or as Gadara, where his miracle upon the demoniacs had been so ill received, was part of this region, (see on Luke viii. 26. § 32.) he might shun performing the miracle publicly, because it would have no effect upon so stupid a people. Whatever was the reason, he took the man with his relations aside from the crowd, and because the deaf are supposed to have their ears shut, and the dumb their tongue so tied or fastened to the under part of their mouth, as not to be able to move it, (see ver. 35.) he put his fingers into the man's ears, and then touched or moistened his tongue with his spittle, to make him understand that he intended to open his ears, and loose his tongue. 33. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit and touched his tongue. 34. And that the deaf man, whom he could not instruct by language, might consider from whence all benefits proceed, looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, be opened. 35. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 36. And he charged them that they should tell no man. When Jesus formerly cured the demoniac in this country, he ordered him, Luke viii. 39. « saying, Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee." At this miracle the deaf and dumb man's relations seem to have been preWherefore, as they had no need to be informed of the miracle, he required that it should be concealed; and the rather, that the publishing of it might have prompted the multitude to raise tumults. See on Matth. viii. 4. § 37. However, neither the man nor his friends obeyed Jesus in this; especially the man, who having the use of his speech given him, was very fond of exercising it in praise of so great a benefactor. Accordingly he published the miracle every where, and the more that Jesus was not desirous of glory: but the more he charged him, so much the more a great deal they published it,-37. And were beyond meaVOL. II.

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Ver. 34. He sighed.] Perhaps there were the circumstances above mentioned, on ver. 32. or some others to us unknown, which made this dumb person a peculiar object of pity. Or by this example of bodily deat ness and dumbness, our Lord might be led to reflect on the spiritual deafpese and dumbness of men. But whatever was the cause, Christ's sighing on this occasion, evidently displayed the tender love he bare to our kind. For certainly it could be nothing less which moved him to condole our miseries, whether general or particular, in so affectionate a manner. more instances of his compassion, Luke xix. 41. John xi. 33.

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sure astonished at the greatness of the miracle, (see on Matt. xv. 30. § 67.) and at the modesty of him who had performed it, saying, He hath done all things well; hath fully executed what he took in hand: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak; and in doing this he has no view but the benefit of mankind.

§ LXVII. The second miraculous dinner is given to eight thousand people on a mountain near the sea of Galilee. (see § 60.) After this Jesus goes away to Dalmanutha. Matth. xv. 29,-39. Mark viii. 1,-10.

JESUS having tarried in Decapolis a considerable time, the fame of his being in that country reached every corner. Wherefore, to avoid the crowds, he retired into a desert mountain beside the sea of Galilee. Matth. xv. 29. And Jesus departed from thence, and came high unto the sea of Galilee, (de waga «ny dadæorav ons Fariñasas) and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. Here the sick, the lame, the dumb, the blind, and the maimed, were brought to him from all quarters, and laid down around him by their friends, who followed him thither. 30. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, many other sorts of sick persons, and cast them down at Jesus' feet. And he healed them. The sight of so many people in distress, moved the compassion of the Son of God exceedingly, for he graciously healed them all. Particularly on the dumb, who are commonly deaf also, he not only conferred the faculty of hearing and pronouncing articulate sounds, but he conveyed into their mind at once the whole language of their country, making them perfectly acquainted with all the words in it, their significations, their forms, their powers, and their uses, so as to comprehend the whole ditinctly in their memories, and, at the same time, he gave them the habit of speaking it, both fluently and copiously. This was a kind of miracle vastly astonishing. The change that was produced in the bodies of the men, was but the least part of it. What passed in their minds was the grand and principal thing, being an effect so extensive, that nothing inferior to infinite power could produce it. With respect to the maimed, that is, persons who had lost their legs and arms, Jesus gave them new members in their stead. But when he thus created such parts of their bodies as were wanting, without having any thing at all as a subject to work upon, the spectators could not have been more surprised, had they seen him make a whole human body out of the dust of the earth. The Jewish multitude seem to have apprehended the greatness of these miracles, more distinctly than the generality of Christians; for we are told, Mat. ix. 33. when Jesus opened the mouth of a dumb man, the multitude marvelled,

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"saying, It was never so seen in Israel." See also Matth. xii. 22, 23. Mark vii. 38. On this occasion likewise they were not silent nor unaffected. 31. Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. This latter clause makes it probable, that many heathens were now present with our Lord, beheld his miracles, and formed a just notion of them. It seems his fame spreading itself into the neighbouring countries, had made such an impression even upon the idolatrous nations, that numbers of them came front far, to hear and see the wonderful man of whom such things were reported, and if possible to experience his healing goodness. Wherefore, when they beheld those effects of his power, they were exceedingly struck with them, and brake forth in praises of the God by whose assistance and authority he acted. And it may be also, from that time forth devoted themselves to his worship. They glorified the God of Israel.

The multitude above mentioned continued at this time with Jesus three days. So Mark accidentally informs us; but he speaks nothing of the transactions which happened on them. Of these Matthew has given a general account on the passage just now explained. And now the multitude having, as on a former occasion, consumed all the provision they brought with them, Jesus would not send them away without feeding them, lest they might have fainted on the road home, many of them having come from far. Mark viii. 1. In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, 2. I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat. 3. And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the ways for divers of them came from far. The disciples, who it seems were not thinking now of the former miraculous dinner, imagined that Jesus proposed to feed this great multitude in the natural way, and were greatly surprised at it. 4. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy those men (Matth. fill so great a multitude) with bread, here in the wilderness? They did not reflect, it seems, upon the former miraculous dinner which Jesus had given to the multitude, or if they did, they had such imperfect conceptions of his power, that they fancied he could not feed the multitude a second time. For these wrong notions Jesus did not reprove them, but meekly asked what meat they had; and upon their telling him that they: had seven loaves and a few little fishes, he ordered them to be brought, and out of these made a second dinner for the multitude by miracle; few or none of them having been present at the former dinner. They seem to have been mostly such as followed Jesus from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and the neighbouring

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heathen country. Hence they are said, on seeing his miracles, to have glorified the God of Israel. This dinner was in all respects like to the first, except in the number of loaves and fishes of which it was made, the number of persons who were present at it, and the number of baskets that were filled with the fragments that remained. The loaves made use of at this feast were seven, the fishes are said to have been little and few, the baskets of fragments that remained were seven, and the people who were fed were four thousand men, besides women and children, who no doubt were equal in number to, if not more than the men. At this dinner the multitude was ordered to sit down, not on the grass as at the former, but on the ground, the grass being gone. Hence it may be conjectured, that the miracle was performed about the middle of summer, the grass in Judea decaying very early through the excessive heat of the climate. (See Antiq. Disc. vis) The weather therefore being good, and the air warm, the people could remain two or three nights successively in the fields *. Mark viii. 5. And he asked, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. (Matt. and a few little fishes.) 6. And he commanded the people (Matt. the multitude) to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, (Matt. and the fishes) and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. 7. And they had a few small fishes; and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. He gave thanks for the fishes separately, and distributed them separately. The evangelists having, in the history of the former dinner, described the manner in which the multitude was set down, thought it needless on this occasion to say any thing of that particular, probably because they were ranged as before, in companies, by hundreds and by fifties. 8. So they did eat, (Matt. they did all eat) and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left, seven baskets, (Matt. full). 9. And they that had eaten were about four thousand (Matt. men, beside

One cannot but remark with what wisdom Jesus chose to be so much in desarts, during this period of his ministry. He was resolved, in the discharge of the duties of it, to make as little noise as possible, to avoid crowds, and to be followed only by such as had dispositions proper for profiting by his instructions. And to say the truth, not a great rnany others would accompany him into solitudes, where they were to sustain the inconveniences of hunger and the weather, for several days together. As the multitude, on this and the like occasions, remained long with Jesus, doubtless his doctrine distilled upon them all the while like the dew, and as the small rain upon the tender herb. If so, what satisfaction and edifieation should we find in the divine discourses which he then delivered, were we in possession of them! The refreshment we receive from such of them as the inspired writers have preserved, raises an ardent desire of the rest. At the same time it must be acknowledged, that we are blessed with as much of Christ's doctrine as is fully sufficient to all the purposes of our salvation.

beside women and children). Matthew tells us, that having fed the multitude, Jesus took boat, and passed over the coasts of Magdala, in quest of more opportunities to instruct and heal mankind. Matt. xv. 39. And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, (Mark, with his disciples) and came into the coasts of Magdala. Mark says, he came into the parts of Dalmanutha. But the evangelists may easily be reconciled, by supposing that Dalmanutha was a city and territory within the district of Magdala. Reland, Palest. pag. 884. mentions a castle called Magdala, not far from Gamaba, which he thinks gave this region its name.

§ LXVIII. In Dalmanutha the Pharisees demand the sign from heaven the second time, see § 48, 86. The sign of the prophet Jonah promised the second time, see § 48. 86. Jesus leaves Dalmanutha. In sailing across the lake, he cautions his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matt. xvi. 1,-12. Mark viii. 11,21.

WHILE Jesus was in Dalmanutha or Magdala, the Pharisees having heard of the second miraculous dinner, and fearing that the whole common people would acknowledge him for the Messiah, resolved to confute his pretensions fully and publicly. For this purpose, they came forth with the Sadducees, who though the opposites and rivals of the Pharisees in all other matters, joined them in their design of oppressing Jesus, and along with them demanded of him the sign from heaven. It seems the Jews understanding the prophecy, Dan. vii. 13. literally, expected that Messiah would make his first public appearance in the clouds of heaven, and take unto himself glory and a temporal kingdom, see on Matt. iv. 6. § 17. Agreeably to this, Josephus describing the state of affairs in Judea under Felix, tells us that the deceivers and impostors pretending to inspiration, endeavoured to bring about changes, and so making the people mad, led them into the wilderness, as if they had been to shew them signs of liberty, Bell. lib. ii. cap. 12. Wherefore, when the Pharisees desired Jesus to shew them a sign from heaven, they certainly meant that he should demonstrate himself to be the Messiah, by coming in a visible and miraculous manner from heaven with great pomp, and by wresting the kingdom out of the hands of the Romans. These hypocrites craftily feigned an inclination to believe, if he would but give them sufficient evidence of his mission. However their true design was, that by his failing in the proof which they required, he should expose himself to general blame. Mark viii. 11. And the Pharisees came forth, (Match, with the Sadducees) and began to question, (Gr. to dispute) with him, seeking of him sign from heaven, tempting him. The proofs which Jesus was daily giving them of his mission being more than sufficient to establish it, had the Pharisees been possessed of any candour at all,

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