Annotations Upon the New Testament, Matthew · Chapter 19
CHAP. XIX.
Verse 2. AND great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there] From which we may conjecture who were Christs companions for the most part, the weake, sicke, deafe, blind, and the like miserable persons.
Polyc. Lyser.Vers. 3 The Pharisees also came unto him tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawfull for a man to put away his Wife for every cause] The Pharisees demand, whether it be lawfull for a man to put away his Wife for every cause? If Christ deny it, they will cry out that he doth wickedly abrogate the Law: if he affirme it, they will condemne him for favouring mens lust, but Christ knew how to take the wise in their subtilty.
Vers. 4. Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female] The question hath the force of a reprehension, as if he should say, if you have not read it, you may be ashamed of your sloathfulnesse; if you have read it and not understood it,Piscat. you may blush at your ignorance, being Doctors of the Law; if you have read and understood it, then you may be ashamed of your hypocisie, thus to tempt me.
Christ doth not answer directly to what was asked, but doth fully satisfie the proposed question; as if one being now asked of the Masse, should faithfully expound the mysterie of the Lords Supper,Calvin. and should at last inferre, that they are sacrilegious and deceivers, who dare adde or detract any thing from the pure institution of the Lord, he shall openly overthrow the feigned sacrifice of the Mass.
Made them Male and female] viz. First, Adam, then Eve out of his body, which Christ conceales as sufficiently known. The meaning is, God the maker of mankind, made man and woman,Nonnulli ex hoc loco putant Adamum à Deo creatum esse. hermaphroditū, ac utrum que habuisse sexum, ut simul esset masculus & foemina: sed apage has nugas. Cornel. à Lapide. that every man being contented with one only wife should not desire any others, for he resteth in the number of two, Mal. 2.10. yet a man may lawfully marry another wife when the first is dead, because the band is not only broken by death, but the second wife is placed by God in the roomth of the former as if she were one and the same.
Whosoever should put away his wife, should rend himselfe in peeces.Vers. 5. For this cause shall the man] Meaning the husband; he is here particularly mentioned, 1. Because at the first making of this Law the woman was first brought to him to see how he could like her. 2. Because of the preheminence that the man hath over his wife, yet the woman is also tyed thereby, for the nature and rule of relation requireth as much.
Cleave to his wife] The Greek word importeth to be glewed unto, whereby it signifieth that straight knot which is between man and wife,Vide Bezam. as though they were glewed together. To his wife] not wives, this is against Polygamy. And they twaine] not more, shall be one fl…sh] God that in the Creation made two of one, by marriage made one of two.
Vers. 11. All men cannot receive this] Many persons mistake the help prepared of God, Gen. 2.18. or do worse, considering that some cannot abstaine.
Augustin, Hier. Perkins.Save they to whom it is given] Continence is a gift of God, whereof all men are not capable, but those only to whom he giveth it, when, and as long as it pleaseth him.
It is given of God, and that not unto all men, as the gift of speech, or reason, nor unto all godly men, as is the gift of faith, but unto certaine only, therefore Paul, 1 Cor. 7.7. calls it a proper gift of God, which some have, and some have not. Cartwright.
This saith Maldonate, almost all expound, as if the sense were,Id est, non omnes praestare possunt, ut sint sine uxore, quia carent dono continentiae. Sic ferè omnes exponunt, quam interpretationem adduci non possum ut sequar. Maldonat. in loc. all cannot performe what ye say, that is, want a wife, because all have not the gift of Chastity.
Vers. 12. Christ nameth three kinds of men which are chaste: First,It is said of Origen, that though he was much given to allegorizing the Scripture, yet he understood this place literally and guelt himself. Vide Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. 6. c. 8. They that are chaste by nature, borne Eunuches; Or secondly, which are made chaste by men, those that are violently cut, and so are forced, because they lack those parts of a man. Thirdly, Others which have voluntarily repressed their lusts by abstinence, temperance, made themselves chaste that they might the better serve God. These he setteth free from the necessity of marriage when by nature they are fit for marriage, though they do abstaine they tempt not God, because he granteth them liberty.
Vers. 16. What good thing shall I do] Hilary saith, he did intend to be legally just.
Vers. 17. Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God] As if he should have said, thou dost evill to call me good master, except thou dost acknowledge me to come from God. Christs purpose was to bring his Doctrine into credit. *Dum Christum (in quo nihil homine sublimius) bonum vocat, sibi etiam utpote homini laudem bonitatis arrogat.He applies himself to the opinion of him to whom he spake, who called Christ good in no other sense, than he would have done another Master or Prophet, and in this sense Christ rebuked him for calling him good, that is legally, taking him to be a meere man.
Vers. 18. He reckons up the Commandements of the second Table,v. 18. Non dices] vel, non respondebis, quod verbum Ebraeum proprie significat, nam testimonium qui dicit, plerumque respondet ad interrogata Judicis. Drus. in Paralel. Sac. because in those of the First Hypocrites more easily conceale their impiety.
Vers. 19. Love thy neighbour] Every man, so Christ expounds it, Luke 10.30.
This answer was 1. suitable to the question, what shall I do? 2. The Law in it self is the way to life but for mans weakness Rom. 8.3. the godly keep it in Christ.
Those that will be saved by works must keep the Commandements, and no man shall be saved by the Law unless he performe all those things which are written, as Paul teacheth, Gal. 3.12. from Levit. 18.5.
Vers. 20. All these things have I kept from my youth up] A dreame of righteousness,He thought the keeping of the Law had been but a trick of youth. Calvin. Jerome saith, it was a lye; so also Ambrose, Austin, Hilary. from my youth, as common people say, I have had a good meaning ever since I could remember.
What lack I yet] To perfection.
Vers. 21. If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast] That is, if thou wilt shew thy selfe to be such a one indeed as thou boastest thy selfe to be.The words are 1. Personall and particular. 2. No counsel but a Commandement of speciall triall. Mr. Perkins. Malè hic Papistae ex personali mandato constituunt generalem regulam, & ex singulari facto universalem definitionem, cum hinc definiunt paupertatem spontaneam esse perfectionem Christianam. Hemingius. He desired to be an extraordinary man, therefore he hath an extraordinary triall. Relinquishing of all habitually in preparation of mind. Aquinas saith, perfection may …e without actuall renunciation; the want of habituall forsaking of all was notable in the young man, as it may seem to be verified by Christs speech.
Treasure in heaven] That, is, excellent, bread that came down from heaven, Our Father which art in heaven.
Heavenly things are, 1. Absolutely good, have a fulnesse in them, earthly relatively. 2. They are pure and immixed things, earthly are mixed and imperfect. 3. They are alwayes new and fresh, these things have satiety in them, and please only with their variety. 4. Are lasting, they sought a better and more induring substance.
Vers. 23. A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven] Aquinas and Hilary say, he that loves money; Austen understands it of one that desires to be rich; Polycarpus of one that trusts in riches; so Mark expounds it, 10.24.
Take kingdom of heaven for kingdom of grace, his riches choake the word and hinder holy counsell; of kingdom or glory, if it hinder him from the former, it will from that.
Hardly] A rare, not impossible thing. Marke and Luke express it with affection, O how hardly can rich men be saved?
Vers. 24. It is easier for a camell to go through the eye of a needle] There are three expositions of this. The first is somewhat conceited, Hugo Cardinall saith, that there was a little Gate in Jerusalem called the needles eye, it was impossible for a Camell to enter in at that, …ome think our Saviour alludes to this. Secondly, Theophylact interprets it of a Cable rope or Cord;Proverbium de re quae nullo modo, aut cettè difficulter admodum fieri poest. Cameli nomine nonnulli funem nauticum intelligendum esse contendunt, sed mihi non persuadent. De animante intellexit Ambrosius, eodem modo Origines, nec aliter Hieronymus. Syrus quoque interpres in eadem sententia fuisse videtur, v…ae enim illa rudentem, quòd sciam, non significat. His adde quòd de animante intellectum sit hyperbola eminentior: tum etiam quod Christus in mentem habuisse videri possit proverbium apud Thalmudistas frequentatum, non est elephas, qui intret per foramen acus, substituto Cameli nomine in locum elephantis; fortè quòd id genus animantis in Syria vulgo notius esset, quum utrumque aequè foreign sit, sive Camelum legas sine elephantem. Drus. Prov. Glas. 1. l. 3 Confer Drus. observat. l. 1. p. 24. Et qui ex inde desumpsit Tarnov. exercit. Bibl. l. 470. vide Cornel. à Lap in loc. & Canin. loc. N. T. In Syriaca lingua est Gamal quae vox Camelum animal significat, inde descendens nempe Gamela. Et ab eâ vox Graeca & Latina originem trahunt, vox Latina nullo pacto significationem funis Nautici admittit, sed animalis potius quod in Syria notissimum fuit. Alardi Pathologia Sacra. Graeci quidam ut & The…phylactus notat, ad funem nauticum haec traxerunt, sed perperam ignorantia adagij inter Hebraeos & Arabas vsitati, non minus de elephante quam Camelo. Grotius. Vide Bezam & Sculter, observat. in Mar. c. 53. See Weemes Christian Synagogue. p. 33. Our Saviour alludes to an Hebrew Proverbe, It was usuall with the Jews to say, when difficult matters were promised, hast thou been at Phumbaditha, where Camels go through the eyes of needles. Barlow. In praefatione prima libri Zohar scribitur. Nos in nomine Dei nostri commodum indicavinus introducere elephantem in foramen acus, id est, rem maximè arduam praestare, vastum hujus libri opus in formam minorem & breviorem contrahere. Hoc proverbium imitatus est Christus pro elephanto ponendo Camelum. Buxtorf. in Lexico Talmudico. so Aristophanes Scholiast saith the word signifieth; so Clemens Alexandrinus lib. 11. Strom. Arnobius, Suidas, Chrysostome, or author operis imperfecti, Hom. 33. in Mat. Austin, Ierome, Ambrose, Hilary, Calvin; But Drusius and Caninius deny that the Word signifieth a Cable. Thirdly, these words are a Talmud Proverb; when they would shew a thing to be unpossible, they were used to say, It was as hard as for an Elephant to go through a needles eye; our Saviour useth the word Camell because he was better known to them.
That is, such a rich man as sets his heart to get riches and honour, not regarding the Religion of Christ. Perkins. Such a one as trusts in his riches. Mar. 10.24.
Vers. 28. Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel] Although for the double portion of Iosephs children the Tribes were made thirteene, yet for the most part they are wont to be named twelve. Act. 26.7. Iam. 1.1. Grotius. By giving his Disciples thrones, wherein they should judge the twelve Tribes of Israel, he compares them to Embassadors, or to chiefe Counsellors and Presidents, which have the chiefe seats in the Kingly Assembly. All the Saints shall give their voice, and approve of his righteous judgment,Proximum mihi Regi honorem occcupabitis. Grotius. 1 Cor. 6.3. but the Apostles above the rest shall fit as it were on the bench with him, because Christ shall give judgment according to their doctrine preached in the world. Piscator.
Twelve Tribes] That is, the whole world, by a Synecdoche, as Rev. 7.4.