And Jesus, going away from thence, came towards the sea of Galilee, and he went up into the mountain and sat down there;
Just after the Gentile woman of the earlier verses, and just before the feeding of the four thousand, the Lord leaves Gentile ground and comes back to the Sea of Galilee. Why He returns, why He sits down on a mountain, and what the crowds mean are the questions this short verse opens.
From chapter 14 to chapter 17 the Lord keeps moving on, because men want to kill Him. One writer holds two things together here: His full glory as God, and His real human weakness.
Whatever His personal glory may be — and we know He was nothing less than God over all, blessed for ever — He was still Man, with all the true feelings of a human being. The moments in His story that show how weak His circumstances were among men are as precious as the mighty works He did for them in divine strength. In this season, from chapter 14:13 to chapter 17:22, we see Him in the weakness of human circumstances. His life is in danger from the hand of man, and He withdraws.
Galilee was not the religious centre. That is why He goes there — to the poor and despised few left in Israel.
The Lord now leaves that place and goes into Galilee, where He was linked with the despised remnant of the Jews. It was not Zion, not the temple, not Jerusalem, but the poor of the flock, where the people were sitting in deep darkness (Isa. 8, Isa. 9). There His compassion follows this poor remnant, and works for them again.
The chapter has just shown a Gentile woman receiving what she asked for. He gave her that mercy without taking anything from Israel.
The heart of God was indeed larger than the woman imagined... The same mercy that blessed a Gentile woman was just as available to the suffering crowds of Israel. They had only to bring their needy ones and "cast them down at Jesus' feet." He healed them in a way that turned their minds to the God of Israel, and they glorified Him.
The crowd around Him came from Decapolis, a district shaped by pagan religion. He sits on the mountain like a king, and their background shuts none of them out.
The people of the Decapolis district were no doubt deeply corrupted by pagan religion. But the Lord, seated on the mountain, received all who crowded to Him, and blessed them out of the royal abundance of His power and mercy... this free and generous mercy from the King of the Jews so moved the people that they glorified the "God of Israel."
The healings on this mountain reach only a small corner of the country. One writer reads them as a sample of the day when the Lord will reign.
But the Lord is going to visit Israel, and Galilee is where the poor of the flock are, so He turns aside there (v. 29). He appears in two characters — the great "Healer" and the great "Teacher." What we see here in a very small area will cover the whole world when He reigns, for these healings are the powers of the world to come. Read verses 1-6 of Isaiah 35.
Another writer sets this scene beside the feeding of the five thousand in the chapter before.
This picture is different from Ch. 14:13-21, where the feeding of the five thousand stands for the present age of grace. Matthew 15:29-38 follows grace shown to the Gentile woman (vv. 27, 28), and stresses in v. 31, "they glorified the God of Israel." So it pictures the coming blessing of Israel, when the world to come is brought in. It shows first the great healing of the nation, and then the great provision made for them in the feeding of the four thousand.
The crowd's reaction was real, but it stopped short.
The blessing here is large. He not only feeds the crowd; He heals the lame, the blind, the mute, the crippled, and everyone laid at His feet. The crowd glorified the God of Israel. Sadly, they do not have the faith to stand against their leaders and side with Him, though He was glorifying God in this way.
- He withdraws. Men threaten His life, so He moves on. His weakness among men is as precious a sight as His power.
- He returns. He goes back not to the temple or Jerusalem, but to Galilee, the place of the despised and those sitting in darkness.
- He receives. Seated on the mountain like a king, He welcomes everyone brought to Him, even people from a pagan district.
- He heals. What He does in a small corner here is a sample of the powers of the age to come, the scene Isaiah 35 describes.
- They wonder — and stop. The crowd praises the God of Israel, yet lacks the faith to side with Him against their leaders. Wonder is not yet discipleship.
and great crowds came to him, having with them lame, blind, dumb, crippled, and many others, and they cast them at his feet, and he healed them
The crowds here do not argue or ask for signs. They carry their broken people up the mountain and set them down in front of Him. What Jesus does next shows both His heart and His plans for His people.
Just before this, a Canaanite woman had asked for crumbs and received far more.
God's heart was far larger than the woman imagined. Though she was only a dog in that picture, she got a large crumb from the table... The same mercy that blessed a Gentile woman was just as available to the suffering crowds of Israel. The crowd only had to bring their needy people and "put them at His feet." Then He healed them in a way that turned their minds to the God of Israel, and they glorified Him.
The list in the verse stays open: lame, blind, crippled, mute, "and many others." He left no one out.
Every human ill was there in that crowd. His compassion flowed out without holding back, and He healed them all. They tasted that the Lord was gracious.
The healings were real, and they matched what Isaiah had said the promised King would do.
These are true cases of physical healing. In healing them our Lord was fulfilling what Isaiah 35:5-6 predicted about Him long before. This kind of miracle has stopped for now. It will return when the Millennial kingdom comes. But meanwhile the spiritual wonder happens in front of our eyes every day. The grace of God transforms lives all the time: it makes the dead alive, opens blind eyes, and gives both speech and song to those who could not speak.
Chapter 15 opened with religious leaders arguing over hand-washing. It ends with ordinary people who have stopped arguing.
I take this as a picture of Israel feeling their true condition. They are coming to Jesus, looking to Him, and saying, in effect, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." They will say this by and by, and the Lord said they would not see Him until they did. What they saw in Jesus led them to glorify the God of Israel. They come, not now in argument, but as a poor, crippled, blind, and miserable crowd, and the Lord heals them all. But that is not all: He feeds them as well as heals them.
Another writer reads the order of events the same way.
The picture here is different from the one in chapter 14:13-21, where the feeding of the five thousand stands for the present age of grace. Matthew 15:29-38 comes straight after grace shown to a Gentile woman (verses 27 and 28), and verse 31 stresses that "they glorified the God of Israel." So it pictures the blessing coming to Israel as the world to come begins. The great healing of the nation is shown first, and then the great provision for them in the feeding of the four thousand.
The crowd praised God for what they saw. That is not the same as standing with Jesus when the cost came.
The blessing here is large. He not only feeds the crowd, He heals the lame, the blind, the mute, the crippled, and all who are laid at His feet. The crowd glorified the God of Israel. Sadly, they do not have the faith to stand up to their leaders and take their place with Him, the One who was glorifying God in this way.
The people in this account did one thing well: they knew where to take the helpless.
Many crushed people went away set free when, as Matthew records, crowds and others brought all kinds of suffering people to Jesus for healing... There is no trouble of the soul that the great Deliverer cannot heal. He came to bless, and He will heal everyone who comes to Him in faith and takes hold of His grace and power, whatever the distress. No one but Jesus can relieve and set free the troubled soul. It is to Him we must bring people, or point them. There must be personal contact with Jesus, even if it is only to touch the edge of His clothes.
- Come — the mercy that had just reached a Canaanite woman was just as open to the crowds of Israel. No one had to earn a place.
- Cast down — every kind of human ill lay in that crowd. People who could not fix it carried it to His feet, and His compassion flowed out without holding back.
- Healed — the cures were real and physical, matching what Isaiah 35 said the King would do. The same power changes lives today.
- Glorify — the crowd praised the God of Israel. Commentators see here a picture of the nation one day coming to Him: no longer arguing, but poor and blind and asking for healing.
- Bring — the crowd knew where to carry the helpless, and so should we. But praising God is not yet standing with Him, and thanks that stops there stops too soon.
so that the crowds wondered, seeing dumb speaking, crippled sound, lame walking, and blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.