Lange Commentary - Matthew 11:20 - 11:24

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Lange Commentary - Matthew 11:20 - 11:24


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4. Royal denunciation of Judgment on the cities of Galilee. Mat_11:20-24

20Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works [wonderful] works, or miracles] were done, because they repented not: 21Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works [miracles], which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 23And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down [go down] to hell [hades]Matt : for if the mighty works [miracles], which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_11:20. Then began He.—The accent lies on üôå , not on ἥñîáôï . According to the account of Luke, the decisive denunciations of Christ on the cities of Galilee occurred at a later period, when He took final leave of them. This is quite in accordance with what we would have expected at the close of His ministry. But even at this stage, partial predictions of judgment must have been uttered, which Matthew, according to his systematic plan, here records in their final and complete form.

Mat_11:21. Chorazin.—The name occurs neither in the Old Testament nor in Josephus, and in the New Testament only in this place and in Luke 13. According to Jerome, it was situate two miles from Capernaum. See the different conjectures as to its unknown locality in the Encycls., and Robinson, 2:405.—Bethsaida == áַּéúÎöֵéãָä commonly rendered, house of fishes; or, home of hunting, or catching. A city of Galilee (Joh_12:21), on the western shore of the lake (Mar_6:45; Mar_8:22). The home of Peter, of Andrew, and of Philip, Joh_1:44; Joh_12:21.—Another town of this name was situate in Lower Gaulonitis, on the eastern side of the lake. Philip the tetrarch elevated it to the rank of a city, giving it the name of Julias, after the daughter of the Emperor Augustus (Luk_9:10). The situation of Bethsaida is not marked by any ruins, and wholly unknown.

[According to this passage, most of the miracles of Christ were done in these cities of Galilee, and yet not one is recorded in the Gospels as having been done in Chorazin and Bethsaida. A confirmation of Joh_21:25.—P. S.]

Tyre and Sidon.—Heathen cities in the immediate neighborhood. The point of the comparison lay in their being inhabited by a large, busy, heathen population, whose corruptness had been exposed even in the writings of the prophets. The original seats of the service of Baal.

[They would have repented.—The knowledge of our Saviour extended also to contingencies, i. e., to things which would have happened under certain conditions. Comp. Henry and Wordsworth, in loc.—P. S.]

In sackcloth and ashes.—In the East, it was common for mourners to put on a black garment which resembled a sack, with holes for the arms, and to strew ashes upon the head. Hence this was regarded as the symbol of mourning and of repentance.—Luke: sitting: êáèÞìåíáé . Mourners and pentents were wont to sit on the ground.

Mat_11:23. Exalted unto heaven, or highly glorified.—“Not by its rich produce of fishes (Grotius, Kuinoel, Fritzsche), but by the residence and works of Jesus (Bengel, Paulus).” De Wette.

To hades.—In opposition to heaven—the lowest depth (comp. Eze_31:16). The temporal judgments which soon afterward passed over these cities, till their every trace has been swept from the earth, are here referred to, as well as the final judgment.—The Greek word ᾅäçò is equivalent to, though not quite identical with, the Hebrew sheol, ùְׁàåֹì . On the doctrine of Sheol, compare the article “Hades” by Güder, in Herzog’s Encycl. This must not be confounded with hell or gehenna. The essential ideas attaching to hades are: (1) Habitation of the dead before the completion of redemption; (2) contrast between the higher and the lower region, between the place of rest and that of torment, Luk_16:19-31; (3) state of imperfectness of the souls in hades—disembodied state, longing, waiting for final decision, 1Pe_3:19; (4) continuance as an intermediate kingdom till the end of the world. Popular views concerning it: It was a subterranean place, etc. Symbolical import: Depth of misery or of judgment, intermediate states, purifications, to the end of the world.

[J. J. Owen in loc.: “The word here rendered hell, is not gehenna, but hades, the invisible or lower world, where dwell, according to the ancient conception, the shades of the dead. It does not here signify the place of future punishment any more than heaven, in the preceding clause, means the seat of bliss where God dwells. Both are figuratively used, to denote great spiritual privileges as well as temporal prosperity [?], and the depth of ruin into which they would fall through the abuse of these privileges.”—J. A. Alexander in loc.: “Heli here means the unseen world, the state of the dead, the world of spirits, without regard to difference of character and condition. … It is here used simply in antithesis to heaven, and must be explained, accordingly, as meaning the extremest degradation and debasement of a moral kind, but not perhaps without allusion to the loss of all external greatness, and oblivion of the very spot on which the city stood.”]

Mat_11:24. Unto you—comp. in thee, Mat_11:23.—Euthymius Zigal., very correctly: ôὸ ìὲí ὑìῖí ðñὸò ôïὺò ðïëßôáò ôῆí ðüëåùò ἐêåßíçò åἵñçôáé , ôὸ äὲ óïὶ ðñὸò ôὴí ðüëéí .

For the land of Sodom.—Compare the history of Sodom in the Book of Genesis, and the art in the Bibl. Cyclops. Nor must we overlook the contrast between the Dead Sea and the Lake of Tiberias, as, in the former comparison, that between the cities of Galilee and Tyre and Sidon. Lake Gennesareth shall, from the wickedness of the people, descend in judgment to a lower level than the cities of the Dead Sea. The two comparisons are taken from different periods: the one from the present, the other from antiquity; the one from a region over which judgment has already passed, the other from cities which were yet to be judged. But the cities of Galilee had experienced a much more gracious visitation than either the doomed region of the Dead Sea, or heathen Tyre and Sidon. They had been the scene of most of His mighty deeds, and Capernaum had even been chosen as His abode.

[It is a remarkable fact, that the very names and ruins of these three cities on the Lake of Gennesareth have utterly disappeared, and their locality is a matter of dispute among travellers, while even that of Sodom and Gomorrha is pointed out on the shores of the Dead Sea. Thus the fearful prediction of our Saviour has already been literally fulfilled on these cities; but a more terrible spiritual fulfilment is awaiting its inhabitants on the great day of judgment.—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The woe which Christ here pronounces on the cities of Galilee is a proof that the judgment of hardening had already passed upon them. But clear evidence of this only appeared when Jesus finally forsook Galilee. Still, every woe of judgment pronounced by Christ is the echo of a woe of pity in His heart, and indicates that outward judgments are now unavoidable, since the inward judgment of hardening had already commenced.

2. The Lord here evidently assigns to His miracles the highest power and import in quickening and strengthening faith. Similarly, He knows and perceives that Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom would have repented sooner than those cities of Galilee, which implicitly yielded themselves to the deadening influences of Pharisaism. History has confirmed this prediction so far as this was possible. Tyre became a Christian city; while, by the Lake of Galilee, sprang up Tiberias, the capital of Jewish Talmudism.

[3. Import of the passage, especially the words: It will be more tolerable, etc., Mat_11:22; Mat_11:24, on the doctrine of different degrees of punishment, corresponding to the measure of opportunity enjoyed, and of ingratitude manifested in this life. Comp. Mat_5:21-22; Mat_10:15; Luk_12:47-48; Joh_9:41; Joh_15:22; Joh_15:24; Rom_2:12. This distinction removes many popular objections to the doctrine of eternal punishment.—P. S.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

How the royal dignity of Christ appeared, both in His compassion and in His indignation about the hardness of His contemporaries.—The woe pronounced by the Lord: 1. A cry of woe in His heart; 2. a cry of woe in the heart of those cities (their judicial hardening); 3. a cry of woe in the dispensation of outward judgments. Or, 1. a verdict; 2. a prediction; 3. an earnest of judgment.—Jesus taking leave from Galilee, and His taking leave from the temple and from Jerusalem.—The predictions of the Lord confirming His Divine character, even as His miracles had done.—The height of privileges despised, leading to the depth of Divine judgments.—Three chosen cities sunk so low (among them, Bethsaida, the city of the Apostles, and especially Capernaum, that of the Lord Himself).—Christ’s mild judgment on the heathen world: 1. An evidence of His unfathomable Wisdom 2. of His inexhaustible mercy; 3. of His Divine penetration.—The different degrees of judgment and of punishment.—The final judgment will throw light on the import of temporal judgments.

[Quesnel: Mat_11:20. We cannot complain that we have seen no miracles, since all those of our Creator are exposed to the eyes of our mind and our body, and all those of our Saviour to the eyes of our faith. Let us take to ourselves these reproaches of our Lord, since His miracles also are designed for us.

Mat_11:21. An impenitent Christian is worse than a pagan.

Mat_11:22. How terrible are God’s judgments on the impenitent! Everything will help to overwhelm them at the tribunal of God; the benefits and favors which they have received, as well as the sins which they have committed.

Mat_11:23. The proud, who of all sinners are the most difficult to be converted, shall likewise be the most humbled. Pride hardens the heart even more than the greatest sins of impurity. There is nothing more opposite to the Christian religion, the whole design of which is to make us humble. Lord, humble us at present, rather than reserve us for the eternal humiliation of the reprobate!—P. S.]

Starke:—Zeisius: The brighter the summer-day, the louder the thunder-storm.—The greater grace, the heavier judgment, Joh_12:48; 2Pe_2:21.—Open and notorious sinners will more readily be converted than hypocrites.—As some sins are more heinous that others, so also shall they receive greater condemnation.—Many a nominal Christian will receive heavier punishment than the poor heathen.

Heubner:—Great is the guilt of those who despise the means of grace.—Sometimes places which experience the most gracious visitations are the most barren.—Every one shall be judged according to the measure of the means of grace which he has enjoyed.—Fallacious prosperity of great cities.—The higher they stand in their own imaginations, the lower shall they be cast down.

Footnotes:

Mat_11:20.—[Lange, with de Wette, translates äõíÜìåéò : Wunder, justly differing from Luther, who renders simply: Thaten. The N. T. has three words for miracles (in the general sense) or supernatural deeds and events: 1) ôÝñáò , which occurs 16 times and is uniformly and correctly rendered in the E. V. wonder (an extraordinary, mysterious, and inexplicable phenomenon, portent); 2) äõíÜìåéò is, miracles proper, as the effect of a supernatural power, which is variously translated: wonderful works (Mat_7:22), more frequently: mighty works, and still oftener: miracles (Mar_9:39; Act_2:22; Act_8:13; 1Co_12:10; 1Co_12:28-29; Gal_3:5); 3) óç ìåῖïí , sign, pointing to the moral aim of the supernatural act; here the E. V. varies somewhat arbitrarily between sign (about 40 times), miracle (about 20 times), and wonder (3 times). Comp. Lange’s doctrinal comments on Mat_8:1-13, p. 154, and the dictionaries sub verbis.—P. S.]

Mat_11:23.—The reading: ὑøùèåῖóá in K., M., X.; ὑøþèçò in Griosbach. Tischendorf; on the authority of E., F., G., etc.; ìὴ ὑøùèÞóῃ in Lachmann with B., C., D. “The last gives no good sense.” Meyer. [It gives good sense if we regard it as a question with the expectation of a negative answer ( ìÞ ): Shalt thou be exalted to heaven? Nay; thou shalt go down to the underworld, or as Irenæus quotes the passage (Adv. hær. iv. 36): Et tu Capernaum, numquid usque ad cœlum exaltaberis? Usque ad inferos descendes. The reading: ìὴ … ὑøùèÞóῃ is now also sustained by Cod. Sinaiticus, and adopted by Tregelles, Conant, and Alford in the 4th edition.—P. S.]

Mat_11:23.—Lachmann, Tischendorf [Alford]: êáôáâÞóῃ , descend, go down, after B., D., Vulg., Itala. The lectio recepta is taken from Luk_10:15. [Cod. Sinait. sustains the passive êáôáâéâáóèÞóῃ , thou shalt be brought down.—P. S.]

Mat_11:23.—[Lange: Unterw lt, i. e., underworld. So also Dr. Conant, and the revised version of the Am. B. U. throughout. I prefer Todtenreich for the German, and hades for the English. The English language, owing to its cosmopolitan or (sit venia verbo!) panlinguistic composition, can much easier retain and appropriate for popular use the Greek term than the German. Why should we not use it as well as the terms paradise, Eden, and many other foreign words which have become perfectly familiar to the reader of the Bible? This translation cuts off all disputes about locality (of which we know nothing certain), and the different renderings which might be proposed, as underworld, spirit world, region, or rather state of the dead or departed, etc. The important distinction between hades ( ᾴäçò ) i. e., the world of all the dead, the intermediate spirit world, and hell ( ãÝåííá ), i. e., the final abode and state of the lost, should be restored in the English Bible, if it should ever be revised. (Comp. footnote on p. 114.) In this passage hades, with its gloomy depth below, is contrasted with the heaven or the blessed height above; comp. Psa_139:8; Job_11:8; Rom_10:6-7, and especially Isa_14:15, to which our passage seems to allude; åἰò ᾅäïõ êáôáâÞóῃ (Babylon). See Com.—P. S.]

[It seems improbable that such a man as Grotius should give such a low and silly interpretation. But so it is. He says in loc.: “Hoc non dubito quin ad res huius vitœ pertineat, ut in his quœ sequuntur assurgat oratio. Florebat Capernaumum piscatu, mercatu et quœ alia esse solent commoda ad mare sitarum urbium.” Even Barnes still speaks in this connection of the successful commerce, temporal wealth and prosperity of Capernaum, although he rises above Grotius by emphasizing the spiritual privileges, which here alone are meant. Stier (Reden Jesu, i., p. 491) refers the expression to the lofty situation of Capernaum, which is not much better and besides a matter of geographical uncertainty.—P. S.]