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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - Matthew 11:7 - 11:7
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Mat 11:7. Πορευομένων, as they departed) Otherwise they might have become puffed up. The world praises to the face, reviles behind the back. Divine truth does the opposite.-ἤρξατο, began) The multitude would not have begun, had He not done so first.-περὶ Ἰωάννου, concerning John) The state of John is described in Mat 11:7-9, with reference to men, to himself, to God.-θεάσασθαι, to see as a spectacle) idly. See Joh 5:35.-κάλαμον, a reed) The ford of Jordan abounded with them. They would have wished John to be such in conduct as they liked to be themselves, and as they are described in this verse and the following. They sought a man of easy disposition, and one ready to second their desires, whom they would not themselves style a reed; but Jesus calls a reed, a reed. For often does truth attribute to man a speech, not such as he frames himself, but such as expresses the reality. See Jer 18:12. The people themselves did not sufficiently know why they had gone forth. On the other hand, the character of John is described (cf. Mat 11:18), and at the same time the stumbling-block is taken away, which might have arisen from the imprisonment of our Lord’s precursor.-ἀνέμου, by the wind) of favour (by his having been supposed to be the Messiah) or persecution.-σαλευόμενον, agitated) The word is here in the middle voice, and signifies permitting himself to be agitated. This opinion is not refuted like those which follow, because it refutes itself.