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Mat_14:22. Straightway He constrained His disciples, åὐèÝò Þ íÜãêáóå .—The miraculous feeding had made the strongest impression on the minds of the people, who now wished to make Christ their king, i.e., to proclaim Him Messiah, Joh_6:15. On this, as on other occasions, Jesus had considerable difficulty in withdrawing Himself from the multitude, which, according to John, followed Him to the western shore. The reason why Jesus dismissed his disciples was probably their sympathy with the enthusiasm of the people. In proportion as they had at first been encouraged by the success of their apostolic mission, must have been their depression when the tidings of John’s martyrdom arrived (Mar_6:30-31; Luk_9:10). This sudden revulsion of feeling rendered them all the more susceptible to impressions such as those evoked by the scene which they had just witnessed. In all likelihood, the proposal to make Jesus king was intended in contrast to the crime of Herod, and was hence all the more dangerous. The Lord tarried behind in order to withdraw Himself the more easily from the people after He had calmed them. Upon a lonely, quiet mountain-top would He offer His sacrifice on that notable and glorious day.
To go before Him.—With Lightfoot and Wieseler, we view the event as follows:—The disciples were not to pass over directly, but only to go before Him along the coast, and to take Him up at the place appointed ( ðñὸòÂçèóáúäÜí , which Wieseler understands as referring to the eastern Bethsaida, above the mouth of the Jordan). When Jesus had dismissed the people and ascended the mountain, the ship was already a prey to the wind and waves, and driven, contrary to the will of the disciples, into the middle of the sea. (The expression âáóáíéæüìåíïí implies that the ship was helpless.) During three watches, or till about three o’clock in the morning, the disciples had vainly endeavored to bring the ship back to the eastern coast, in order to meet the Master near Bethsaida. They were only driven farther westward; and when the Saviour finally came into the ship, they were already quite close to the western shore. While thus laboring till completely exhausted, the Lord Jesus awaited them on the eastern shore. It was under these distressing circumstances that He felt impelled to manifest His miraculous power, in an entirely new manner. Compassion for those who toiled on the sea, and a sense of exaltation over the rebellious element which separated Him from His disciples, determined Him to go forth upon the sea. In this view of the matter, this miracle is as full of meaning and importance as any other of the many displays of His compassion and love.—According to the common view, which is adopted even by Meyer, the Lord had commanded the disciples to pass over before Him; but their passage was much retarded by contrary winds, when He, walking on the sea, overtook them, and calmed the storm. Against this view we have to urge the following considerations: 1. If the above view were correct, we should have expected that the disciples would have asked the Master how he intended to pass over. No other ship than theirs was in waiting (John 6); nor would it have been possible to have contemplated the long road by land, more especially as the Evangelist speaks of ðñïÜãåéí , which implies a short passage, until He had dismissed the people. Least of all would the disciples expect that Christ would walk over the sea, else they could not afterward have been afraid and regarded Him as a spectre. 2. If it had been intended that the disciples should have directly passed over, and not have met the Lord on the eastern shore, the journey by which they so soon reached the middle of the sea would have been extremely rapid, and the statement about contrary winds would appear unaccountable. 3. As the disciples were close by the western shore when the Lord came up to them, the miracle which He performed would have been entirely useless if they had hitherto followed their intended destination. On the other hand, we urge in favor of our own interpretation: 1. The terms ðñïÜãåé í , ἕùò ,—implying that He intended to join them very shortly. The expression åἰòôὸðÝñáí must be explained as meaning, “in the direction of,” or “toward the other side,” or else “with a view to passing to the other side.” 2. If, as John states, Capernaum was their ultimate destination, the obvious interpretation of ðñὸò ÂçèóáúäÜí would be that it referred to the eastern Bethsaida, not far from the mouth of the Jordan, and that the disciples were to sail along the coast, and there to meet the Lord. 3. Under such circumstances, it would indeed be contrary to their will when they found themselves in the evening in the midst of the sea. The ship had been driven out by a contrary wind, and all their efforts at rowing proved insufficient to counteract its effects. The ship was Âáóáíéæüìåíïí . 4. According to the account in John, they were close by the western shore when the Saviour joined them, and the wind was still strong. Had it been a westerly wind their difficulties would by that time have been almost overcome, and thus help arrived too late. But here the objection may be urged, that, according to the narrative of Matthew and Mark, the wind was allayed when Jesus entered the ship. It might be argued that the wind, which was contrary to them while they sought to reach the eastern shore, would now be propitious, when, after having received Jesus into the ship, they would steer for the western shore. But a glance at the map will remove this difficulty. From any point on the eastern shore the disciples would require to steer northward in order to reach Julias. A strong northeasterly wind had driven them in an opposite direction, and far into the sea. Hence they were probably a good way beyond Capernaum; and if the wind had lasted, it would still have been contrary to them in reference to reaching that port. This also explains the terror of Peter. The Lord came in a northeasterly direction, while Peter, in meeting Him, had to go against wind and waves. 5. Lastly, according to our interpretation of this miracle, it was evidently called forth by the distress of the disciples, which at the same time was symbolical, while the miraculous help afforded them had both a direct and a symbolical import.
Mat_14:25. In the fourth watch of the night,—i.e., between three and six o’clock in the morning. At an earlier period both the Jews and the Greeks divided the night into three watches, each of four hours. From the time of Pompey, however, they adopted the Roman practice of reckoning four watches, each of three hours, viz., ὀøÝ . ìåóïíýêôéïí , ὰëåêôïñïöùíßá , ðñùú ̓. (Comp. Winer sub Nachtwache.)
Mat_14:25-26. Over the sea ( Mat_14:25, ἐðὶ ôὴí èÜëáóóáí , according to the true reading); on the sea Mat_14:26, ἐðὶ ô ῆὶ ò èáë .)—The text thus points out a nice, but very important distinction. In Mat_14:25, the main point of the narrative lies in this, that Jesus hastened over the sea to join the disciples; while in Mat_14:26 the disciples are chiefly struck with the miraculous sight of one walking on the sea. It is scarcely necessary to say that the gloss of Paulus, Stolz, and Gfrörer, “walking on the high shore above the sea,” is a poor evasion of the difficulty. Any such idea is completely refuted by the expression ðåñéåðÜôçóåí ἐð ôá ὕäáôá (ver 29), and by the scene between Christ and Peter, as well as by the impossibility of a conversation carried on between Christ on the shore and the disciples in the midst of the sea [especially during a storm on the lake]. Besides, the terror of the disciples shows that the event was miraculous.
The miracle itself.—It has been regarded: 1. As merely a manifestation of the sway of the Son of God over the elements—a Monophysite view which has lately again been advanced by Meyer. In reply, it is sufficient to say, that the narrative implies not merely sway over the elements, but also omnipotent sway over the body of the Lord Jesus, which was not a docetic, but a real body. 2. We have already adverted to the natural [or rather unnatural, because grammatically and exegetically impossible] explanation by Paulus and others, which is wholly incompatible with the narrative. 3. Some have represented it as merely a natural event, which tradition had clothed in a symbolical or mythical form (Baumgarten-Crusius, Hase, and partly also de Wette). 4. Bolten speaks of swimming (! !). 5. Some have characterized it as a mythical anecdote of the sea, with special reference to 2Ki_2:14; 2Ki_6:6; Job_9:8, and to foreign legends (Strauss). 6. Weisse views it allegorically; while, 7. Olshausen holds that our Lord here manifested a power inherent in His higher corporeity. Meyer denounces this view as docetic,—a charge which Olshausen might have retorted with much greater justice; for manifestly, if we suppose that the divinity of Christ had sustained His human nature while walking on the water, we make a complete separation between the two natures in the person of Christ, which after all is Docetism. Olshausen is, in the main, right in remarking that it is a mistake to regard the transformation of Christ as the work of a moment, but that this transformation and perfection extended over all His life. We object only to the manner in which he expresses this truth. It were more correct to say, that while the transfiguration of Christ, viewed as a state, commenced with His resurrection, the disposition toward it was not only inherent in His body from the first, but increasingly manifested itself and developed during the whole course of His life. Hence also the Lord manifested this glory on special occasions, even before His final sufferings. At His baptism it had appeared in a sign from heaven. Again, at the miracle in Cana, and when miraculously feeding the multitude, it had shone forth, and that not merely as inherent in Him, but as extending to others and working wonders. And now, in the extremity of his disciples, it burst forth in all its majesty; while soon afterward it manifested itself even in a visible manner on the Mount of Transfiguration, for the twofold purpose of showing that the Lord Jesus entered, of His own free choice, upon the path of suffering which now opened before Him, and of confirming the faith of the disciples. From the fact that by faith Peter could share in this matter, we infer that the walking on the sea was a momentary manifestation of a spiritual power, inherent in the body of Christ, which had not as yet appeared. Peter—as indeed our human nature generally—possessed the same inherent power, which represents the germ of the resurrection. But in our present stato this power is clogged and fettered by sinfulness; and in this instance is only awakened by the wonderworking word of the Lord, while it again disappears so soon as faith gives place to doubt. Thus this miracle of Christ is a miracle on His own person, just like the miraculous birth, the testimony at His baptism, the transfiguration on the mount, the resurrection, and the ascension—pointing back to the first two, and again forward to these other events. This miracle on Him led to the miracle by Him, or to the summons addressed to Peter to walk with Him on the water. The instances sometimes adduced of somnambulists and others who have walked on the water can by no means explain this miracle, but they deserve notice as mechanical and pathological manifestations of a power, showing what is possible and inherent in human nature, weighed down as it still is by sin, and concealed by the contrast between the first and the second life. At any rate, they shed a dim light over that world of higher life which the God-Man opened up, and into which Peter for a short space entered, through the operation of faith.
[Trench, following Olshausen, Neander, Ullmann, and other German divines, remarks on this miracle (Notes on the Miracles, p. 286): “The miracle is not the violation, nor yet the suspension of law, but the incoming of a higher law, as of a spiritual in the midst of natural laws, and the momentary asserting, for that higher law, of the predominance which it was intended to have, and but for man’s fall it would always have had, over the lower; and with this a prophetic anticipation of the prevalence which it shall one day recover. Exactly thus was there here the sign of the lordship of man’s will, when that will is in absolute harmony with God’s will, over external nature. In regard of this very law of gravity, a feeble, and for the most part unconsciously possessed, remnant of his power survives to man in the well-attested fact that his body is lighter when he is awake than sleeping [as was observed even by Pliny, Hist. Nat. vii. 18]; a fact which every man who has carried a child would be able to attest. From this we conclude that the human consciousness, as an inner centre, works as an opposing force to the attractionof the earth and the centripetal force of gravity, however unable now to overbear it.”—P. S.]
Mat_14:26. It is a ghost, or a spectre [not spirit, as in the E. V.], öÜíôáóìÜ [not ðíåῦìá ] ἐóôéí .—Their belief in the apparition of spectres is here presupposed. The vivid sketch of their sudden terror may be regarded as an indirect evidence of the faithfulness of the narrative. They seem to have regarded the apparition as an indication of coming evil.—According to the narrative of John, they were already between twenty-five and thirty furlongs from the eastern shore, i. e., across about three fourths of the lake.
Mat_14:28. [Alford: “This narrative respecting Peter is peculiar to Matthew. It is in very strict accordance with his warm and confident, character, and has been called almost a ‘rehearsal’ of his denial afterward. It contains one of the most pointed and striking revelations which we have of the nature and analogy of faith, and a notable example of the power of the higher spiritual state of man over the inferior laws of matter, so often brought forward by our Lord. See Mat_17:20; Mat_21:21.”—Peter’s fault lay in the words: “Bid me,” which betray an ambitious and overconfident desire to outdo and outdare the other disciples, and may be regarded as a prelude of the boastful: “Although all shall be offended at Thee, yet will not I.”—P. S.]
Mat_14:29. And He said: Come!—One of those commands of sovereignty which prove that the Lord possessed the full consciousness of His power. [But it is more probably the permissive Come, i. e., “Make the experiment, if thou desirest.” The Lord knew that Peter’s courage would fail him.—P. S.]
Mat_14:30. But when he saw the wind boisterous,—i. e., the high waves, impelled by the wind, rushing against him. [As long as Peter looked to Jesus only, he rose by faith over the elements of nature; but as soon as he looked away from Jesus to the boisterous waves, he began to doubt, to despond, and to sink.—P. S.]
Mat_14:31. Wherefore didst thou doubt?— ÄéóôÜæåéí means properly, to turn irresolutely in two directions, to waver, Mat_28:17. ÉÉñῶôïí ìὲí ἐèÜῤῥçóáò , ὕóôåñïí äὲ ἐäåéëὶáóáò . Euth. Zigabenus.
Mat_14:32. And when they were come into the ship—Meyer: “According to the narrative in John, Christ did not enter the ship, though the disciples were willing to receive Him. An actual though unimportant discrepancy.” Olshausen accounts for the difficulty by remarking that the disciples at first sought to avoid what they regarded as a spectre; but when they recognized the Lord, they were anxious to receive Him,—which implied, as a matter of course, that He actually entered the ship. Again, in the Gospel of Mark, we read: ἤ èåëåðáñåë èåῖíáὐ ôïýò . Apparently it had been the intention of Christ to precede the disciples, and to point out the direction in which to follow Him. This intention was afterward modified by the occurrence with Peter. Accordingly, we interpret the narrative in John as follows: They were willing to receive Him into the ship on the eastern shore at the commencement of their passage, and now (after the scene on the sea, and His entering the ship, which John passes over) they were immediately at the western coast, whither they went. Thus Christ had passed over the greater part of the sea before meeting the disciples.
Mat_14:33. Of a truth Thou art the [a] Son of God.—Not merely the Messiah in the ordinary sense, but with special reference to His divine character as revealed in the New Testament. Meyer: “According to Matthew, Jesus is here for the first time owned by man as the Son of God (Mat_3:17; Mat_4:3; Mat_8:29).” [The persons here introduced as ï ἱἐíôῷ ðῷ ðëïßῳ were probably the crew of the ship, the boatmen, the mariners, and perhaps some other passengers, as distinct from the disciples; comp. Mat_14:15; Mat_14:19; Mat_14:22; Mat_14:26, and ïß ἄíèñùðïé , Mat_8:27. So Jerome: Nautœ atque vectores. Jerome adds: “The sailors acknowledge Him to be truly the Son of God on witnessing one miracle, the calming of the tempest: yet Arius proclaims Him to be a mere creature.” But it should not be overlooked that the omission of the article before õἱüò generalizes the meaning of the term. Christ is more than a son of God, He is the Son of God, in a unique and absolute sense, as He is the Son of Man. The mariners, however, being probably Jews, could not understand the term in a polytheistic sense, and meant to infer from Christ’s control over the elements that He was clothed with divine power.—P. S.]
2. Scripture often compares the people to the sea and its waves (Psalms 46; Dan_7:3; Rev_13:1). Christ had just assuaged a storm on land, which had almost swept away the disciples. The same scene is now re-enacted in a figurative manner. Jesus sways the waves of the sea as He had calmed those of the people, and as He shall sway those of the nations. But the Apostles are unequal to the emergency. And when Peter ventures for a while to walk with the Lord on the waves, he soon sinks in the storm, and is only preserved when Christ brings him back into the ship which contains the rest of the Apostles, with the reproof: O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
3. Along with a view of the exaltation of Christ over all nature, we here obtain a glimpse not only of the future glory of the children of God, but also how the throes and struggles of nature are calmed and cease at the feet of Jesus. The narrative contains three miracles combined. The first prefigured and introduced Christ’s resurrection and ascension. From the second we learn how, even upon earth, believers may, in anticipation of their future glory, triumph and conquer in the midst of waves or flames. The third affords us an insight how nature herself shall be delivered from her subjection to vanity into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Lastly, we have here a typical prophecy of the future dominion of the spirit of Christianity over the sea of nations. A British painter, H. Richter, has given us the most affecting representation of Christ’s walking over the sea.
4. Shortly before this, Christ had conquered two giants which ever endanger society—famine, and revolutionary attempts to establish a new millennium By removing the terrors of the deep, He overcame a third and equally great danger. In the interval He had been on the mount. From the mountain of prayer did the great Captain of humanity conduct all His wars, and gain all His conquests. But Christ preferred to meet these three giants, rather than trust Himself to the whims of that despot who, after having murdered the Baptist, showed a disposition to condescend to Himself.
5. From that time forward commenced the sway of the Spirit of Christ, by which He will ultimately subdue these three giants in the world.
6. It is true that Peter could swim; but in his terror he lost not only his spiritual, but even his natural, attainments.
[Trench: Peter is here the image of all the faithful of all ages, in the seasons of their weakness and their fear. So long as they are strong in faith, they are able to tread under foot all the most turbulent agitations of an unquiet world; but when they lose heart and fear, they begin to sink; and were it not for Christ’s sustaining hand, which is stretched out in answer to their cry, they would be wholly overwhelmed and swallowed up.—P. S.]
Starke:—Quesnel: An humble person will withdraw from praise and glory.—Zeisius: The word which we have heard and learned must be evidenced by the cross.—Osiander: The kingdom of Christ not of this world.—Christ withdrew from worldly honors, while we seek them; is this to follow after Him?—J. Hall: Worldly prosperity is more dangerous than adversity.—If Christ was thus instant in prayer, how much more should we wrestle in it!—The quiet of evening the time for prayer.—Alone with God.—Quesnel: The Church like a ship in the midst of the sea.—God leads His own people often in strange, but always in a blessed and holy, way, Psa_4:3.—If Jesus be absent, there is only misery and temptation. Nov. Bibl. Tub.—J. Hall: Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.—New wants will bring fresh help and fresh experiences.—Hedinger: The heart of man is unstable,—bold now, and again fearful, Jer_17:9.—Bibl. Wurt.: Alas! how fearful do believers often become in their difficulties and sorrows.—Canstein: Even believers are afraid when God comes to them in an unusual way.—J. Hall: The gracious help of Christ comes always at the right moment.—“It is I; “ I am with thee in trouble, Psa_91:15.—The confidence of Christians.—The assurance of Christ’s gracious presence the greatest comfort of Christians in their deepest sorrows.—Hall: A good sheep knows even the voice of its shepherd, Joh_10:4.—Lord, bid me come unto Thee.—The word of Christ a strong bridge.—With God we can achieve mighty things.—Nature and grace side by side.—However good our purpose, it is shaken by temptation.—Bibl. Wurt.: Beware of being too bold.—Christ does not suffer us to sink in our weakness.—Quesnel: It is good for Christians that God from time to time allows them to feel their weakness and their impotence.—Our help is in the name of the Lord.—The Lord sometimes allows His people to sink, but only in order to humble them.—Osiander: To doubt the help of God, must lead to adversity; therefore keep firm hold of the promise, and do not sink, Isa_43:12.—Canstein: The Lord ministers to His ministers more than they minister to Him.—Zeisius: Christ the wonder-worker, whom even the wind and waves obey.—Quesnel: A consideration of the miracles of Jesus tending to strengthen our faith.—Christ claiming our worship, Php_2:10.
Gerlach: The glorified body of Christ was, as it were, visible even through His earthly body; Matthew 17. Hence the waves were like firm soil under Him; just as Christ passed through the world untouched by human corruption and unmoved by the passions around Him.—In his faith and deep attachment to Jesus, Peter can no longer bear the uncertainty. As on other occasions, so now, he precedes the other disciples; but not knowing his own weakness, he soon fails.—Greater than common demands are made upon those who come prominently forward; but if their temptations are stronger, their deliverances are also more glorious.
Heubner:—In the history of Christ, work and prayer always succeeded each other. Ora et labora.—His need of solitude.—God allows sorrow to befall us because He foresees its end.—When He is absent, rest is wanting.—When the Helper is expected, He is already present.—He knows the need of His people.—The presence of Jesus drives away all fear.—Peter feels his human impotence only when he is on the water; i. e., when he has progressed beyond human experience and strength into the domain of faith, where the power of God alone can sustain him. He now feels that he has passed beyond the limits of human nature, and this sense overpowers him (but only because his heart is divided).—Faith can never wholly sink; it takes hold of the right hand of the Lord.
[Augustine:—Amas Deum, ambulas super mare: sub pedibus tuis est seculi tumor. Amas seculum, absorbebit te.—Chrysostom: We need not fear the tempest, but only the weakness of our faith. Hence Christ does not calm the storm, but takes Peter by the hand.—It is of no use to be near Christ in person, unless we are near Him by faith.—Wordsworth: Peter was enabled by Christ to walk on the sea; so the risen bodies of the saints will be enabled to fly upward and meet Him in the air, 1Th_4:17.—Peter sinks without Christ. (Think of the Church of Rome in her errors.)—P. S.]
Footnotes:
Mat_14:25.— Ἐðὶ ôὴí èÜëáóóáí , B., R., D.. al., [Cod. Sinait]. instead of the lect. recepta: ἐðὶ ôῆò èáëÜóóçò . [Lange: dahin schreitend über das Meer; Ewald: wandelnd über den See; Meyer: über den See hin wandelnd.—P. S.]
Mat_14:26.—Here B., C., D., etc., [Cod. Sinait], read ἐðὶ ôῆò èáëÜóóçò ;—the text. rec. with younger MSS.: ἐðὶ ôὴí èÜëáóóáí . [The E. Vers. obliterates the distinction between ἐðὶ ôÞí (accusative of motion), and ἐðὶ ôῆò (the genitive, of the mere appearing on the lake); as does also the Lat. Vulgate (super mare in both cases), and Luther (auf dem Meer.). The change of case is appropriate. The disciples saw the Lord walking on the lake, when He walked over the lake to meet them. Comp. the Exeg. Note, and Meyer in loc.—P. S.]
Mat_14:29.—[Better Conant: And coming down from the ship, Peter walked, etc., êáôáâὰò ἀðὸ ôïῦ ðëïßïõ ä ÐÝôñïò , ê . ô . ë .—P. S.]
Mat_14:32.—[The oldest authorities, including Cod. Sinaiticus. read ἀíá âÜíôùí , “when they had come up,” for the ἐì âÜíôùí of the received text. Tischendorf adheres to the latter, but Iachmann, Tregelles, and Alford adopt the former.—P. S.]
[The preposition ἐðß with the genitive may mean: on the bank of, but only after verbs of rest, as in Joh_21:1 ( ἐðὶ ôῆò èáëÜóóçó ôῆò ÔéâåñéÜäïò ), not after verbs of motion, as ðåñéðáôåῖí , and still less with the accusative.—P. S.]
[I can see no monophysitism in Meyer, who simply says in loc. (p. 300): “Die Sache bleibt ein wunderbares Gehen auf dem See, welches. … unter den Gesichtspunkt der Christo als Sohn Gottes inwohnenden Herrschaft über die Elemente und ihre Kräfte zu stellen, hinsicht ich des Wie der Ausf ü hrung aber v öllig unbestimmbar ist;” i. e., Meyer admits here a supernatural miracle, which must be derived from Christ’s power over nature dwelling in Him as the Son of God, but the exact mode of which cannot be defined.—P. S.]
Die Seherin von Prevorst, 1:77.
[This collocation of words, placing two or more adjectives, which are defined by adverbs, before the noun, is a palpable Germanism, which to the English ear sounds heavy and inelegant. It is strange that Dr. Trench, who wrote such readable books on the English language, and the study of words, and is otherwise a fresh, racy, and idiomatic writer, should be frequently so careless and nonchalant in his style.—P. S.]