John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 8:22 - 8:22

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John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 8:22 - 8:22


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Mat 8:22. Τοὺς νεκροὺς, the dead) An expression urgently commanding the man to follow Him, and therefore embracing many things. Both the dead who are to be buried, and the dead who are to bury them, must come under consideration. The dead who are to be buried, are without doubt those literally dead, whether the father of this disciple was already then dead or old, and near to death, and with only this one son. Cf. Tob 14:12. The dead who bury, or those to whom the burial of the dead should be left, are partly those who are also about to die, mortals bound to the law of death (cf. Rom 8:10), as distinguished from the hope of a better life-that hope, however, being not altogether taken away. The appellation is to be limited by the context: as in Luk 20:34, they, who nevertheless are capable of being saved, are called the children of this world; so they are called dead, who are more fit for burying than for announcing the kingdom of God. As in ch. Mat 9:24, the girl is called not dead, who soon shall live (cf. Joh 11:4), so they are called dead, who soon shall die.[379] In the time of pestilence, the dead are buried by those who soon themselves die. Nor is the case very different with successive generations of mortals in the course of ages. Partly, they are already dead; and with regard to them the expression is hypothetical, with this meaning-Do thou follow Me, and leave the burial of the dead to the dead themselves; i.e. Let the dead, as far as you are concerned, remain unburied. A similar mode of expression occurs in Exo 21:14, Let the murderer be taken from the altar: i.e. let him be slain, even if he has fled to the altar. The appellation, therefore, of the dead who bury, is abrupt, and suitable to a command which could brook no delay-a command which had sacred grounds, and flowed from the divine perception of the Saviour. We ought to surrender ourselves wholly and immediately.-τοὺς ἑαυτῶν, their own) sc. relatives. See Gen 23:4. It was the duty of this disciple to deny his father.[380]

[379] The dead are in their lasting home, and the mourners are not far off from the same, but continue wandering all around it, until they themselves also enter it.-See Ecc 12:5.-V. g.

[380] The winds and the sea, on this occasion, sooner obeyed the will of Christ than did men.-Harm. 269, 270.