I. CURES OF DISEASED PERSONS AND DEMONIACS.

1. The time specified. It was now evening, and the sun had just set; and so the sabbath - for it was the sabbath day, as we know from ver. 21 - was considered past. The people now felt at liberty, without encroaching on the sacred rest of that holy day, to bring their sick for healing. Another reason is assigned by some for delaying till evening, to the effect that the noontide heat was then over and the cool of evening come, and so the infirm could be brought with less risk and more convenience. A motley group of invalids. There was a general turn-out of the townspeople, so that the whole city seemed gathered together to the door of the dwelling, while they had brought with them all that were diseased and demoniac. What a motley multitude must have been there! The consumptive were there, with pale face or hectic flush; victims of incurable cancer were there; persons with the burning heat and the parched lips, or in the very delirium, of fever, were there; the palsied, the dropsical, the epileptic were there; patients having diseases of the heart, of the lungs, of the head, of the spine were there; the lame, the dumb, the blind, were there. Some were able to walk, some were on crutches, some were mounted on asses, and some carried on pallets by friends or neighbors. Demoniacs, too, were there, whether those whose souls were subject to demoniacal influence, like the "damsel possessed with a spirit of divination," of whom we read in Acts 16:16; or those whose bodies were inhabited by evil spirits; or those, as was generally the case, whose souls and bodies were both under the fearful control of the evil one.

2. The number cured. "He healed many that were sick," says St. Mark. Why not all? Theophylact answers the question by supposing that he healed many instead of, all, for the all were many;" but this would seem to require an article before πολλοὺς, and also one before κακῶς ἔχοντας, viz. the many that were diseased. Perhaps we may understand it of the limitation of time, that is to say, he healed all that there was time for, as it was already eventide when the process began; or perhaps we may suppose the restriction occasioned by the absence in some cases of the conditions of cure, just as we read of a certain place (Mark 6:5) that "he could there do no mighty work." The parallel passages of the other two synoptic Gospels seem to favor the first explanation, as in St. Matthew we read that he "healed all that were sick," and in St. Luke that "he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them."

3. Prohibition of demoniac testimony. He had already rebuked an unclean spirit that volunteered his unwelcome testimony. He forbids their speaking at all, because they knew him - not as the margin has it, "to say that they knew him," which would require λέγειν instead of λαλεῖν - for one reason, lest he should appear to be in collusion with them, and lest countenance should thus be given to the calumny of the Pharisees, and also lest, if believed when happening speak truly, they might be more readily credited when uttering the most fatal falsehoods.

4. Origin and history of the name. The history of the name demons is somewhat curious, and as follows: - Δαίμων - derived from δαήμων, skillful, and so implying superior knowledge, or from δαίω, I dispense, as if able to distribute destinies, and so superior in power - was at first nearly synonymous with θεός, except that the latter signified a particular god or person; while the former meant rather a deity with respect to power; then an inferior deity, or semi-god, an agency intermediate between God and man; in plural, departed spirits of the good, and so tutelary deities or lares; next, any departed spirits or manes. In the New Testament the term signifies, not the spirits of the departed, but those evil spirits or fallen angels "who kept not their first estate," who are distinguished from the elect angels, and of whom we read that "God spared not the angels that sinned." They are subject to Satan, but, like him, they can only act by permission of God, and in their operations they can neither contravene the laws of nature nor interfere with human freedom and responsibility. Powerful for evil as they undoubtedly are, leading men captive or working on the children of disobedience, they, like their head, have only such power over man as men themselves consent to or concede them. Hence Augustine says truly, "Consentientes tenet, non invitos cogit." Further, the violation of the rule of neuters plural being constructed with verbs singular in ἤδεισαν, comes under the first of the two following exceptions, that is, when neuters imply persons, as τέλη, magistrates, and so individuality or plurality of persons is signified; or in case of inanimate objects, when individuality or plurality of parts is signified.

5. Devotion of spirit. To extraordinary diligence in business our Lord added singular devotion of spirit. After a fatiguing day in the synagogue, then with the sick who in such numbers resorted unto him, he at dawn of day next morning retires for secret devotion and spiritual communion with his heavenly Father. At daybreak, or "when it was day," as St. Luke expresses it, or more exactly, according to St. Mark, "early, while it was quite in the night" (πρωὶ ἔννυχον λίαν) - at that early hour, intermediate between night and day, before the light of day has fully dawned or the darkness of the night quite departed - he withdrew to some lone and barren spot in one of the ravines or mountains, or under some sheltering rock in the district of Capernaum, to be alone with God. There he continued in prayer (προσηύχετο, imperfect). How beautifully our Lord instructs us by his practice as well as his precept to enter our closet and shut to the door, and pray to our Father in secret! He further shows us the necessity of prayer to maintain the life of the soul and obtain the help of heaven, to prepare us for our daily duties and for faithful diligence in the discharge of those duties. At the same time he commends the early morning for this exercise of devotion, when the feelings are fresh, the spirits in the fittest frame, and the mind free from the distractions so common in the after-part of the day.

6. Interruption. But, early as was our Lord's matin-hour, he was not secure from interruption. The people (ὄχλοι, crowds) sought him, as St. Luke informs us, while Peter and his companions, as St. Mark tells us, with characteristic impetuosity and affectionate eagerness pursued him - actually pursued him, as though he had fled away and escaped from them. The word κατεδίωξαν is literally "hunted down" or "for;" that is, they pursued him closely, followed hard upon his tracks. But it is occasionally used in a good sense, as here; thus it is used in the Septuagint Version of Psalm 23:6, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow (καταδίωξει) me.

II. CIRCUIT THROUGH GALILEE.

1. Evangelistic tour. Peter and those with him were evidently proud of their Master's great and increasing popularity, for when they had found him they tell him gladly, perhaps with somewhat of exaggeration, All men seek for thee;" or, as in St. Luke, "were earnestly seeking (ἐπιζήτουν) him, and tried to detain him (κατεῖχον)." They evidently wished to keep to themselves or to the city of their habitation a monopoly of their Lord's services. But he, unmoved by praise, uninfluenced by popularity, disabuses their minds of their narrowness in selfishly seeking to localize him in Capernaum, city though it was, calmly informing them of his purpose to itinerate throughout the villages or country towns of that then populous district. At once he puts his plan into execution, assuring them that the great object of his mission was not merely to plant the gospel in one spot or one solitary district, but to propagate it in all places, far off as well as near - " for therefore came! forth." This last expression is restricted by some to his coming out of the city of Capernaum, or out of the house, or out into the desert place, on the ground that, if the reference was to the general object of his mission, the verb would be simply ελήλυθα, not the compound which occurs here, or rather that παρὰ, or ἀπὸ, or ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, would be employed, as in several passages of St. John's Gospel (e.g. John 8:42; John 13:3; John 17:8), to convey that meaning. The expression is, no doubt, somewhat indefinite, perhaps purposely indefinite, and so susceptible of either a more general or more specific sense; but by comparing the corresponding passage in St. Luke (i.e. "because unto this have I been sent") we are shut up to the larger and higher and inclusive sense. The whole of the sentence is more fully expressed by St. Luke, and is to the effect, "because to the rest of the cities also I must declare the glad tidings of the kingdom of God." Accordingly, in pursuance of his great object, he went forth "and came preaching into their synagogues, into the whole of Galilee, and casting out the demons," as the words (in the critical editions) are literally rendered. The number of such synagogues and the extent of the enterprise may be estimated from the statement of Josephus in relation to the great number of towns and villages with which Galilee was studded, and the exceeding populousness of the Galilean provinces in the days of our Lord. He writes ('Bel. Jud.,' 3:3, 2), "Moreover, the cities lie here very thick; and the very many villages there are here are everywhere so full of people, by the richness of their soil, that the very least of them contain about fifteen thousand inhabitants."

2. An important variant. We may not, however, dismiss this part of the subject without drawing attention to a very interesting and important various reading which, on the authority of codices א, B, C, L, Q, R, and of the Syriac and Coptic versions, substitutes Ἰουδαίας for Γαλιλαίας, as the Judaean ministry of our Lord, which is, no doubt, assumed and implied by the synoptists, is nowhere else expressly mentioned by them. - J.J.G.

Christ thus admired and desired to stay in Capernaum, would not so do, as having an eye to His ease or conveniency there, but must be at the pains to preach elsewhere. Teaching us that we must not measure our services from ourselves or conveniences, nor in them seek our own ease or acceptance among men; but so carry them as may be most for God's glory and our own sound comfort. Our Saviour Christ admitted not their motion, but made them this answer in the words of the text, "Surely I must also preach." Wherein consider five points.

1. The work which Christ must do — He must "preach."

2. The necessity of it — "I must."

3. The matter what He must preach — "the kingdom of God."

4. The object or people to whom — "to other cities also."

5. The bond of this necessity — " For therefore I am sent."

I. THE WORK IS PREACHING. Thus preaching is called the setting out of the mystery of Christ, and a publishing of the mystery of the gospel, and the revealing of a mystery hid since the world began. Hence observe the greatness of the work of preaching, and the great estimation of it, for which end the Son of God Himself came from heaven. The great work of God considered in the means seems vile and base, and nothing more stunneth the minds of carnal men than the baseness of the means, compared with the magnificence of the effects. It might seem ridiculous to the men of Jericho that the blast of rams' horns and sound of trumpets should batter down stone walls, and no marvel but that they smiled at such unlikely means; but yet it was so: so this work of preaching in the eye of a carnal man is but foolishness, as 1 Corinthians 1:21, but yet "to them that are called, it is the power of God to salvation." Here behold weakness encountering and overmastering strength, simplicity overreaching policy, and God's power prevailing in His own weak means.

II. The second part of the text is THE NECESSITY OF PREACHING — " I must preach." It depends not upon His will, or left to His discretion; but He must do it. Now, much more necessity lieth on us His ministers. Now if we be bound to preach, ye are bound to hear; if we be bound to deliver the Word, ye are bound to receive the Word, not as the word of man; but as it is indeed the Word of God, with all reverence, duty, and piety.

III. The third point is THE MATTER OF THIS PREACHING: the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is twofold.

1. Of grace.

2. Of glory.In the former God reigneth in us. In the latter we reign with God. The former is in this life, the latter in the life to come. The one issuing into the other, and both of them becoming one: for we read not of God's kingdoms in the plural, but of His kingdom, which is but one. This is that tabernacle of God which is with men. To this kingdom God calleth us by preaching, and here it must be begun by righteousness, repentance, mortification, and shall have fulness hereafter. All men desire to partake in the kingdom of Christ and glory, but few will be subject to his Father in the kingdom of grace. We to whom God hath committed the preaching of His Word must have care to further this kingdom and bring in many to be subjects of it, expecting that glorious recompense of shining as the stars in the firmament for ever and ever.

IV. THE PERSONS TO WHOM CHRIST MUST PREACH — "to other cities." As the sun compasseth the world and stayeth in no one part, so Christ the Sun of Righteousness never settleth in any one place, but seeketh to disperse everywhere His blessed light. It had been in Christ's power Himself to have kept one place always, and have sent His disciples to all other, but He would not: that we should by His example learn not to shun labour, but employ our pains and diligence in building the kingdom of God, and in seeking and saving that which is lost. Thus was Christ as a compassionate Physician, who not being sent for, offereth His care and pains, as willing to save such as are in danger.

V. The bond of this necessity — "for therefore am I sent." He should betray the end of His coming if He should not preach. The point we must here learn is that every man must serve the end and use that he is called unto, and carefully discharge the trust committed unto him (Romans 12:7, 8). The heathen held it as shameful and dangerous to fail in matter of trust, as if the party had committed theft.

(T. Taylor, D. D.).