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He is risen from the
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The daughter-danced
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Nevertheless, for the oath's
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That the diversions of the world, feasting and
dancing, are but too commonly the occasions of sin.
After so fatal an example as this, can we doubt whether
balls are not snares for souls; destructive of
chastity, modesty, and sometimes even of humanity itself; and
a pernicious invention to excite the most criminal passions!
How many on such occasions have sacrificed their chastity, and
then, to hide their shame, have stifled the feelings of the
human being and the parent, and, by direct or indirect means,
have put a period to the innocent offspring of their
connections! Unhappy mother, who exposes her daughter to the
same shipwreck herself has suffered, and makes her own child
the instrument of her lust and revenge! Behold here, ye
professedly religious parents, the fruits of what was
doubtless called in those times, elegant breeding and
accomplished dancing! Fix your eyes on that vicious
mother, that prostituted daughter, and especially
on that murdered ambassador of God, and then send your
children to genteel boarding-schools, to learn the
accomplishment of DANCING! where the fear of God makes
no part of the education.
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The people-followed him on
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Give ye them to
eat.
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Looking up to
heaven He blessed BEFORE MEAT. :
Barnuc attah Elohinoo melec haolam hamoise lechem min
haarets: Blessed art thou, our God, King of the
universe, who bringest bread out of the earth!
AFTER MEAT. :
Barnuc Elohinoo melec haolam bore peri hagephen:
Blessed art thou, our God, King of the universe, the
Creator of the fruit of the vine! And brake
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They took up-twelve
baskets These words of Alcimus Avitus, lib. v. 30, are to
the same effect:-
Servitii longo lassatam pondere plebem, Oppressos
cophinis humeros, attritaque collo.
It appears that a basket about the neck, and a
bunch of hay, were the general characteristic of this
long enslaved and oppressed people in the different countries
where they sojourned.
Juvenal also mentions the basket and the
hay:-
Cum dedit ille locum, cophino faenoque relicto,
Arcanam Judaea tremens mendicat in aurem. Sat vi. 542.
A gypsy Jewess whispers in your ear-- Her goods a
basket, and old hay her bed, She strolls, and
telling fortunes, gains her bread. Dryden.
And again, Sat iii. 13:-
Nunc sacri fontis nemus, et delubra locantur
Judaeis, quorum cophinus, faenumque supellex.
Now the once hallowed fountain, grove, and fane, Are let to
Jews, a wretched, wandering train, Whose wealth is but a
basket stuff'd with hay. Gifford. The
simple reason why the Jews carried baskets with them appears
to be this:-When they went into Gentile countries, they
carried their own provision with them, as they were afraid of
being polluted by partaking of the meat of heathens. This also
obliged them probably to carry hay with them to sleep
on: and it is to this, in all likelihood, that Juvenal
alludes.
After five thousand were fed, twelve times as
much, at least, remained, as the whole multitude at first sat
down to! See Clarke on Luke
9:16.
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From this verse it appears that Christ gave some advices to
the multitudes after the departure of his disciples, which he
did not wish them to hear.
Unto the other side
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Walking on the sea.
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They brought unto him all that
were diseased
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Additional Resources
Bibliography
Information
• Key
SRB = Scofield References
SRB = Introduction
JFB = Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary
JFB = Introduction
AC = Adam Clarke Comentary
AC = Chronology by Adam Clarke
OU = OUtline of St. Matthew
Matthew Chapter 14
by Adam Clarke
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Verse
1
. Herod the tetrarch
This
was Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. See Clarke on
Matthew
2:1. where an account is given of the Herod family. The
word tetrarch properly signifies a person who rules
over the fourth part of a country; but it is taken in a
more general sense by the Jewish writers, meaning sometimes a
governor simply, or a king; see Matthew
14:9. The estates of Herod the Great were not, at his
death, divided into four tetrarchies, but only into
three: one was given by the Emperor Augustus to
Archelaus; the second to Herod Antipas, the
person in the text; and the third to Philip: all three,
sons of Herod the Great.
Verse
2
. This is John the Baptist
(οις
),
, Whom I beheaded. These
words are added here by the Codex Bezae and several others, by
the Saxon, and five copies of the Itala.-See the power of
conscience! He is miserable because he is guilty; being
continually under the dominion of self-accusation, reproach,
and remorse. No need for the Baptist now: conscience
performs the office of ten thousand accusers! But, to complete
the misery, a guilty conscience offers no relief from
God-points out no salvation from sin.
From this we may observe: 1. That the
resurrection of the dead was a common opinion among the
Jews; and 2. That the materiality of the soul made no
part of Herod's creed. Bad and profligate as he was, it was
not deemed by him a thing impossible with God to raise the
dead; and the spirit of the murdered Baptist had a permanent
resurrection in his guilty conscience.
Verse
3
. For Herodias' sake
This
infamous woman was the daughter of Aristobulus and
Bernice, and grand-daughter of Herod the Great. Her
first marriage was with Herod Philip, her uncle, by
whom she had Salome: some time after, she left her
husband, and lived publicly with Herod Antipas, her
brother-in-law, who had been before married to the daughter of
Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea. As soon as Aretas understood
that Herod had determined to put away his daughter, he
prepared to make war on him: the two armies met, and that of
Herod was cut to pieces by the Arabians; and this, Josephus
says, was supposed to be a judgment of God on him for the
murder of John the Baptist. See the account in Josephus,
Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 7.
Verse
4
. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for
thee to have her.
Here is an
instance of zeal, fidelity, and courage, highly worthy of
imitation. Plainness, mildness, and modesty, are
qualifications necessary to be observed when we reprove the
great. The best service a subject can render his prince is to
lay before him, in the plainest but most respectful manner,
what the law of God requires of him, and what it
forbids. How unutterable must the punishment of those
be who are chaplains to princes, or great men, and who either
flatter them in their vices, or wink at their sins!
Verse
5
. He feared the multitude
Miserable prince! who fears more to offend his people,
than to sin against his God, by shedding innocent blood. When
a man resists sin only by the help of human motives, he cannot
long defend himself.
Verse
6
. Herod's birth-day
Either
the day in which he was born, or the day on which he
began to reign; for both were termed birth-days.
See 1 Samuel
13:1, and ; Hosea
7:5. The kings of Persia were accustomed to reject no
petition that was preferred to them during the entertainment.
See Herodotus in Calliope, and Esther
5:3.
This was Salome, mentioned before. Danced:
by a literal rendering of the saltavit of the Vulgate,
in my old MS. of the English Bible, the whole of this business
seems to be treated with sovereign contempt: for thus says the
translator, Shee leped in the myddle.
Verse
8
. Give me here John Baptist's head in a
charger.
The word charger formerly
signified a large dish, bowl, or drinking cup: the Saxon has
{Anglo-Saxon}, a dish, Tindal, a platter; any
thing is better than charger, which never conveyed much
meaning, and now conveys none. The evangelist says she was
instructed before, by her mother, to ask the Baptist's head!
What a most infernal mother, to give such instructions to her
child! and what a promising daughter to receive them! What a
present for a young lady!-the bloody head of the
murdered forerunner of Jesus! and what a gratification for an
adulterous wife, and incestuous mother! The disturber of her
illicit pleasures, and the troubler of her
brother-husband's conscience, is no more! Short,
however, was their glorying! See Clarke on Matthew
14:3.
Verse 9
. The king was
sorry
He knew John to be a righteous man,
and at first did many things gladly which John told him it was
his duty to perform: Mark
6:20.
The OATHS, (οις
),
‚-he had
probably sworn again and again-one sin begets many.
Who were probably such as himself, and
would have considered it a breach of honour if he had
not fulfilled his sworn promise: he therefore commanded it
to be given!
Verse 11
. His head was given to the
damsel: and she brought it to her
mother.
There is no person so revengeful as
a lascivious woman when reproved and blamed. A preacher of the
Gospel has most to fear from this quarter:-the first of this
profession lost his life for the sake of truth and chastity;
and others, especially those who have any thing to do with men
in power who are profligates, may learn what they are to
expect in return for a faithful discharge of their duty.
Verse 12
. His disciples came, and
took up the BODY
The HEAD was in the
possession of Herodias, who, 'tis probable, took a
diabolic pleasure in viewing that speechless mouth which had
often been the cause of planting thorns in her criminal bed;
and in offering indignities to that tongue from which
she could no longer dread a reproof. Her character justifies
every bad conjecture that can well be formed on this head: and
St. Jerome positively says that, when she got it, she drew out
the tongue, and thrust it through with her bodkin. On the
whole we may observe:-
Verse 13
. When Jesus heard of
it, he departed thence
Had the blessed
Jesus continued in that place, it is probable the hand of this
impure female murderer would have been stretched out against
him also: he withdrew, therefore, not through fear, but
to teach his messengers rather to yield to the storm than
expose themselves to destruction, where, from circumstances,
the case is evidently hopeless.
(οις
),
·, or, by land, which is a
common acceptation of the word in the best Greek writers. See
many examples in Kypke.
Verse 14
. Jesus-was moved with
compassion
(οις
),
, he was moved with
tender compassion, so I think the word should in
general be translated: See Clarke on Matthew
9:36. As a verb, it does not appear to have been
used by any but ecclesiastical writers. It always
intimates that motion of the bowels, accompanied
with extreme tenderness and concern, which is felt at
the sight of the miseries of another.
Verse 15
. Send the multitude away,
that they may go-and buy
The disciples of
Christ are solicitous for the people's temporal as well a
spiritual welfare: and he is not worthy to be called a
minister of Christ, who dues not endeavour to promote both to
the uttermost of his power. The preaching of Christ must have
been accompanied with uncommon power to these people's souls,
to have induced them to leave their homes to follow him from
village to village, for they could never hear enough; and to
neglect to make use of any means for the support of their
lives, so that they might still have the privilege of hearing
him. When a soul is either well replenished with the bread of
life, or hungry after it, the necessities of the body are, for
the time, little regarded.
Verse 16
. They need not
depart
He that seeks first the kingdom of
heaven is sure to have every temporal requisite. When a man
ensures the first, God always takes care to throw the other
into the bargain. He who has an interest in Jesus has in him
an inexhaustible treasure of spiritual and temporal good.
Though the means by which man may help his fellows have
failed, we are not to suppose that the bounty of God is
exhausted. When we are about to give up all hope of farther
supply, the gracious word of Christ still holds good-They
need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Should we say, Lord, how shall thy
poor, feeble ministering servants feed so many hungry souls as
attend thy word! Begin at the command of Jesus-make the
attempt-divide what you have-and the bread of God shall be
multiplied in your hands, and all shall eat and be satisfied.
Verse 17
. We have here but five
loaves and two fishes.
When we are deeply
conscious of our own necessities, we shall be led to depend on
Jesus with a firmer faith. God often permits his servants to
be brought low, that they may have repeated
opportunities of proving the kindness and mercy of their
gracious Lord and Master.
Verse 18
. Bring them hither to
me.
No creature of God should be considered
as good or safe without the blessing of God in it. If thou
have but even a handful of meal and a few herbs, bring them to
Christ by prayer and faith, and he will make them a
sufficiency for thy body, and a sacrament
to thy soul. Let the minister of the Gospel attend also
to this-let him bring all his gifts and graces
to his Maker-let him ever know that his word can be of no use,
unless the blessing of Christ be in it.
Verse 19
.
And took the five loaves, the father of a family among
the Jews-his business it was to take the bread into his hands,
and render thanks to God, before any of the family was
permitted to taste of it.
To teach us to acknowledge GOD as
the Supreme Good, and fountain of all excellence.
The
word God should, I think, be rather inserted here than
the word them, because it does not appear that it was
the loaves which Christ blessed, but that God
who had provided them; and this indeed was the Jewish custom,
not to bless the food, but the God who gave it. However, there
are others who believe the loaves are meant, and that
he blessed them in order to multiply them. The Jewish
form of blessing, or what we term grace, before
and after meat, was as follows:-
We read often
in the Scriptures of breaking bread, never of
cutting it: because the Jews made their bread broad and
thin like cakes, and to divide such, being very
brittle, there was no need of a knife.
Verse 20
. They did all eat, and were
filled
Little or much is the same in the
hands of Jesus Christ. Here was an incontestable
miracle-five thousand men, besides women and children,
fed with five cakes and two fishes! Here must
have been a manifest creation of substance-the
parts of the bread were not dilated to make them appear large,
nor was there any delusion in the eating-for they all
ate, and were all filled. Here then is one
miracle of our Lord attested by at least five thousand
persons! But did not this creation of bread prove the
unlimited power of Jesus? Undoubtedly: and nothing less than
eternal power and Godhead could have effected it.
It was customary for many of the
Jews to carry a basket with them at all times: and Mr.
Wakefield's conjecture here is very reasonable:-"By the number
here particularized, it should seem that each apostle filled
his own bread basket." Some think that the Jews
carried baskets in commemoration of their Egyptian bondage,
when they were accustomed to carry the clay and stubble to
make the bricks, in a basket that was hung about their necks.
This seems to be what Sidonius Apollinaris refers to in the
following words, Epist. vii. 6. Ordinis res est, ut, (dum
in allegorica versamur AEgypto) Pharao incedat cum
diademate, Israelita cum COPHINO.
Verse 22
. Jesus constrained his
disciples to get into a ship
Either they
were afraid to return into the jurisdiction of Herod, or they
were unwilling to embark without their Lord and Protector, and
would not enter their boat till Christ had commanded them to
embark.
Towards Capernaum, Matthew
14:34. John
6:16,17, or Bethsaida, see on ; Mark
6:45.
Verse 23
. He went up into a mountain
apart, to pray
He whom God has employed in
a work of mercy had need to return, by prayer, as speedily, to
his Maker, as he can, lest he should be tempted to value
himself on account of that in which he has no merit-for the
good that is done upon earth, the Lord doth it alone. Some
make this part of our Lord's conduct emblematic of the spirit
and practice of prayer, and observe that the proper
dispositions and circumstances for praying well are: 1.
Retirement from the world. 2. Elevation of the
heart to God. 3. Solitude. 4. The silence and
quiet of the night. It Is certain that in this also
Christ has left us an example that we should follow his steps.
Retirement from the world is often a means of animating,
supporting, and spiritualizing prayer. Other society
should be shut out, when a soul comes to converse with God.
Verse 24
. Tossed with
waves
Grievously agitated. This is
the proper meaning of the word (οις
),
: but one MS.
reads βαπτιζομενον, plunged under the waves, frequently
covered with them; the waves often breaking over the vessel.
Verse 25
. The fourth
watch
Anciently the Jews divided the night
into three watches, consisting of four hours
each. The first watch is mentioned, Lamentations
2:19: the second, Judges
7:19; and the third, Exodus
14:24; but a fourth watch is not mentioned in any
part of the OLD Testament. This division the Romans had
introduced in Judea, as also the custom of dividing the day
into twelve hours: see John
11:9. The first watch began at six o'clock
in the evening, and continued till nine; the
second began at nine, and continued till
twelve; the third began at twelve, and
continued till three next morning; and the
fourth began at three, and continued till
six. It was therefore between the hours of three
and six in the morning that Jesus made his
appearance to his disciples.
Thus suspending the laws of gravitation was a proper
manifestation of unlimited power. Jesus did this by his own
power; therefore Jesus showed forth his Godhead. In this one
miracle we may discover three:-1. Though at a distance
from his disciples, he knew their distress. 2. He found
them out on the lake, and probably in the midst of darkness.
3. He walked upon the water. Job, speaking of those
things whereby the omnipotence of God was demonstrated, says
particularly, Job
9:8, He walketh upon the waves of the sea:
intimating that this was impossible to any thing but
Omnipotence.
Verse 26
. It is a
spirit
That the spirits of the dead
might and did appear, was a doctrine held by the
greatest and holiest of men that ever existed; and a doctrine
which the caviliers, free-thinkers and
bound-thinkers, of different ages, have never been able
to dispove.
Verse 27
. It is I; be not
afraid
Nothing but this voice of Christ
could, in such circumstances, have given courage and comfort
to his disciples: those who are grievously tossed with
difficulties and temptations require a similar manifestation
of his power and goodness. When he proclaims himself in the
soul, all sorrow, and fear, and sin are at an end.
Verse 28
. Bid me come unto thee on
the water.
A weak faith is always wishing
for signs and miracles. To take Christ at his
word, argues not only the perfection of faith, but also
the highest exercise of sound reason. He is to be credited on
his own word, because he is the TRUTH, and
therefore can neither lie nor deceive.
Verse 29
. Peter-walked on the
water
However impossible the thing
commanded by Christ may appear, it is certain he will give
power to accomplish it to those who receive his word by faith;
but we must take care never to put Christ's power to the proof
for the gratification of a vain curiosity; or even for the
strengthening of our faith, when the ordinary means for
doing that are within our reach.
Verse 30
. When he saw the wind
boisterous, he was afraid
It was by faith
in the power of Christ he was upheld; when that faith failed,
by which the laws of gravitation were suspended, no wonder
that those laws returned to their wonted action, and that he
began to sink. It was not the violence of the winds, nor the
raging of the waves, which endangered his life, but his
littleness of faith.
Verse 31
. Jesus stretched forth his
hand
Every moment we stand in need of
Christ: while we stand-we are upheld by his power only;
and when we are falling, or have fallen, we can
be saved only by his mercy. Let us always take care that we do
not consider so much the danger to which we are exposed, as
the power of Christ by which we are to be upheld; and then our
mountain is likely to stand strong.
Verse 32
. The wind
ceased.
Jesus is the Prince of peace, and
all is peace and calm where he condescends to enter and
abide.
Verse 33
. Thou art the Son of
God.
It is probable that these words were
spoken either by the sailors or passengers, and
not by the disciples. Critics have remarked that, when
this phrase is used to denominate the MESSIAH, both the
articles are used, (οις
),
, and that the words without
the articles mean, in the common Jewish phrase, a Divine
person. It would have been a strange thing indeed, if the
disciples, after all the miracles they had seen Jesus
work-after their having left all to follow him,
Messiah. That they had not as yet clear
conceptions concerning his kingdom, is evident enough;
but that they had any doubts concerning his being the
promised Messiah is far from being clear.
Verse 34
. The land of
Gennesaret.
It was from this country that
the sea or lake of Gennesaret had its name. In
this district, on the western side of the lake, were the
cities of Capernaum and Tiberias.
Verse 35
. The men of that place had
knowledge of him
i.e. They knew him
again. They had already seen his miracles; and now they
collect all the diseased people they can find, that he
may have the same opportunity of showing forth his marvellous
power, and they of being the instruments of relieving
their friends and neighbours.
And Jesus received and healed
every man and woman of them. And is not the soul, in the sight
of God, of more value than the body? and will he withhold his
healing power from the former, and grant it so freely to the
latter? This cannot be. Let a man come himself to Jesus, and
he shall be saved and afterwards let him recommend this Christ
to the whole circle of his acquaintance, and they, if they
come, shall also find mercy.
Verse 36
. That they might only touch
the hem of his garment
What mighty
influence must the grace and Spirit of Christ have in the
soul, when even the border or hem of his garment
produced such wonders in the bodies of those who touched it!
Here is a man who has turned from sin to God through Christ,
and the healing hand of Jesus is laid upon him. Then, no
wonder that he knows and feels his sins forgiven, his soul
purified, and his heart filled with the fulness of his Maker.
Lord, increase our faith! and we shall see greater
manifestations of thy power and glory! Amen.
• Key
SRB = Scofield References
SRB = Introduction
JFB = Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary
JFB = Introduction
AC = Adam Clarke Comentary
AC = Chronology by Adam Clarke
OU = OUtline of St. Matthew
• Burton
Coffman
• Barnes'
New Testament
• Darby's
Synopsis
• Gill's
Exposition
• Geneva
Study Bible
• David
Guzik's Commentaries
• Jamieson,
Fausset, Brown
• Matthew
Henry Complete
• Matthew
Henry Concise
• People's
New Testament
• Robertson's
Word Pictures
• Scofield
Reference Notes
• The
Fourfold Gospel
• Treasury
of Scripture
• Wesley's
Explanatory Notes
Copyright Statement
The Adam Clarke Commentary is a derivative of an
electronic edition prepared by GodRules.net.
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary
on Matthew 14". "The Adam Clarke Commentary".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=mt&chapter=014>.
1832.
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