Matthew 12:13

Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Then saith he to the man.—St. Mark, with his usual vividness, adds the look and gesture and feeling which accompanied the words, “looking round about on them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts.”

It was restored whole—i.e., as the tense implies, in the act of stretching the hand forth. The man’s ready obedience to the command, which if he had not believed in the power of Jesus would have seemed an idle mockery, was, ipso facto, a proof that he had “faith to be healed.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:9-13 Christ shows that works of mercy are lawful and proper to be done on the Lord's day. There are more ways of doing well upon sabbath days, than by the duties of worship: attending the sick, relieving the poor, helping those who need speedy relief, teaching the young to care for their souls; these are doing good: and these must be done from love and charity, with humility and self-denial, and shall be accepted, Ge 4:7. This, like other cures which Christ wrought, had a spiritual meaning. By nature our hands are withered, and we are unable of ourselves to do any thing that is good. Christ only, by the power of his grace, cures us; he heals the withered hand by putting life into the dead soul, works in us both to will and to do: for, with the command, there is a promise of grace given by the word.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand - This was a remarkable commandment.

The man might have said that he had no strength - that it was a thing which he could not do. Yet, "being commanded," it was his duty to obey. He did so, and was healed. So the sinner. It is his duty to obey whatever God commands. He will give strength to those who endeavor to do his will. It is not right to plead, when God commands us to do a thing, that we have no strength. He will give us strength, if there is a disposition to obey. At the same time, however, this passage should not be applied to the sinner as if it proved that he has no more strength or ability than the man who had the withered hand. It proves no such thing: it has no reference to any such case. It may be used to prove that man should instantly obey the commands of God, without pausing to examine the question about his ability, and especially without saying "that he can do nothing." What would the Saviour have said to this man if he had objected that he could not stretch out his hand?

It was restored whole - Christ had before claimed divine authority and power Matthew 12:6-9, he now showed that he possessed it. By his "own power" he healed him, thus evincing by a miracle that his claim of being Lord of the Sabbath was well founded.

These two cases determine what may be done on the Sabbath. The one was a case of "necessity," the other of "mercy." The example of the Saviour, and his explanations, show that these are a part of the proper duties of that holy day. Beyond an "honest" and "conscientious" discharge of these two duties, people may not devote the Sabbath to any secular purpose. If they do, they do it at their peril. They go beyond what His authority authorizes them to do. They do what he claimed the special right of doing, as being Lord of the Sabbath. They usurp His place, and act and legislate where God only has a right to act land legislate. People may as well trample down any other law of the Bible as that respecting the Sabbath.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth—the power to obey going forth with the word of command.

and it was restored whole, like as the other—The poor man, having faith in this wonderful Healer—which no doubt the whole scene would singularly help to strengthen—disregarded the proud and venomous Pharisees, and thus gloriously put them to shame.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Mark saith, they held their peace, they made him no answer to his question, upon which he, looking round about him with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. Luke saith, Looking round about upon them all, he said, &c. Our Saviour looked about him to see if any of them would adventure to answer him, but he saw their mouths were shut. He was angry that these great doctors of the law should understand the law of God no better, and should yet be so hardy as to take upon them to instruct him. He was also grieved (saith Mark) at the hardness of their hearts. That which we call hardness, is a quality in a thing which resisteth the truth, a unimpressiveness, when a thing will receive no impression from things apt to make impressions: the hardness of the Pharisees’ hearts lay in this, that whereas Christ’s words and works might reasonably and ought to have made an impression upon them of faith, that they should have owned and received him as the Messiah, yet they had no such effect, nor made any such impressions upon them. He said to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth, & c. Christ sometimes used the ceremony of laying on his hand; here he doth not, to let us know that that was but a sign of what was done by his power. What little things malicious men will carp at! What was here of servile labour on the sabbath day? They did far more themselves, as often as they lifted a beast out of a pit. Our Saviour compounds or prepareth no medications, he only speaks the word, and he is healed. But Matthew tells us that ...( see Matthew 12:14).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then saith he to the man,.... That is, after he had looked round about upon them, to observe their countenances; and what answer they would make to his arguments; and with anger for their inhumanity and cruelty; being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, i.e. their unmercifulness to their fellow creatures, and the stupidity and blindness of their minds, being ignorant of the Scriptures, and of the sabbath, the nature, use, and Lord of it; which things are observed by the Evangelist Mark; then, in a commanding authoritative way, almighty power going along with his word, he says to the man who stood forth before him, and the Pharisees,

stretch forth thine hand, which was before contracted and shrivelled up;

and he stretched it forth with all the ease imaginable, and was, not only able to do this, but to make use of it any way;

for it was restored whole like as the other; his left hand, which had never been damaged. This was an instance of Christ's power; a proof of the lawfulness of healing on the sabbath day; and a rebuke to the Pharisees for their cruelty and uncharitableness. This man was an emblem of the inability of men to do anything that is spiritually good, and of the power and efficacy of divine grace to enable persons to stretch out their hands, and do things which they of themselves are not equal to.

Geneva Study Bible

Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Matthew 12:13-14. Ἀπεκατεστ.] just as he was stretching it out, and at the bidding of Jesus. For the double augment, see Winer, p. 69 f. [E. T. 84].

ὑγιής] result of the ἀπεκατεστ. See Winer, pp. 491, 580 [E. T. 663, 779]; Lübcker, grammat. Stud. p. 33 f.; Pflugk, ad. Hec. 690. Mark’s version of the incident is more animated, fresher, and more original (Keim’s opinion is different), and likewise free from the amplification contained in what is said about the animal falling into the well. This saying is introduced by Luke in another form, and in connection with a different incident (Luke 14:5), which, however, would not justify us in holding, with Strauss, that the different narratives are only different settings for the saying in question, while supposing at the same time that there is even an allusion here to 1 Kings 13:4; 1 Kings 13:6. According to the Evang. s. Hebr. (Hilgenfeld, N. T. extra can. IV. 16, 23), the man with the withered hand was a mason, who begged to be healed, that he might not be under the necessity of begging.

ἐξελθόντες] from the synagogue, Matthew 12:9.

σνμβούλ. ἔλαβ. κατ. αὐτ., ὅπως] they devised measures for the purpose of crushing Him (see on Matthew 22:15); the opposition to Him had now assumed this very decided character.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 12:13-14. The issue: the hand cured, and Pharisaic ill-will deepened.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. He is bid use his strength before he is told that it is given. The intellectual difficulties that might have occurred to him lose themselves fir the action. In the somewhat similar ease in Matthew 9:5, 6 there had been the preparation of forgiveness of sins. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. Power is linked to obedience. Whole; i.e. sound, in complete health and vigour. The word comes more often in the account of the man healed at the pool of Bethesda than in all the rest of the New Testament. Matthew 12:13

Vincent's Word Studies

Stretch forth thy hand

The arm was not withered.