And when Jesus was come to the house of the ruler, and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a tumult,
Jesus reaches the house of the synagogue ruler whose daughter has died. He does not walk into silence. Musicians and a crowd are already there, making a din. What He finds there, and what He does with it, says as much about Him as the raising that follows.
A Bible dictionary explains who these musicians were and why they were there:
The word nagan means a player on a stringed instrument, a harpist. But it is used of players of any musical instrument. Once, when asked for advice, Elisha called for a musician, and "when the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him." 2 Kings 3:15. The musicians mentioned in Matt. 9:23 were pipers or flute players hired to help with mourning.
That world mourned its dead with an organised display. Scripture records the custom, and then asks for something deeper:
At a death professional mourners were hired, mostly women. "Call for the mourning women to come... let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water." Jer. 9:17-18... Musicians also attended at deaths, who played mournful tunes. Matt. 9:23. God does not want grieving people to be without feeling: the Lord wept at the grave of Lazarus. But He wants what is real in all things. He had to say to His people, "Rend your hearts and not your garments." Joel 2:13.
Their scorn was not only unbelief. They had a financial interest in the girl staying dead:
He arrives at Jairus' house, where He finds mourners — no doubt paid mourners. "He said to them, 'Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.' And they laughed at Him." They would have lost their work, so to speak, if she was not dead, and their pay would be gone too. Man had introduced all that. If He was there, all they had to do was go away. "Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord."
Another writer weighs how much real feeling such an uproar carries, and names who stayed:
Unbelief may weep and wail and create all sorts of uproar, and feel very little after all. At the same moment it can laugh Jesus to scorn. But He lets no one enter except the chosen ones — Peter, James and John alone, with the parents.
Was she truly dead? The same writer answers that, and sets her raising beside two others:
He raised her from her bed, the young man of Nain from the stretcher that carried him, and Lazarus from the grave. Each case needed the same power — the power of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. Unbelieving people may be ready to explain this away and say it was a trance. But the case of Lazarus proves any such idea false... How awful that the musicians and the people laughed at Him! They mocked Him. That in itself was proof that they were fully convinced she was dead.
One writer reads the raising as more than one family's rescue:
The girl was not dead, but sleeping: this is the state of Israel now. And as surely as the Lord did raise her up, so surely will He in a future day awaken the sleeping daughter of Zion.
Another writer turns the scene into a lesson for families today:
Even the best-provided homes in the world around us fall to pieces like Jairus' when something goes wrong. When the Lord Jesus arrived there to raise his daughter from the dead, He "saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion" (Matt. 9:23)... it was a scene of chaos. Today many people, things and influences have come into families that are alien to what God intends... This is what God wants our homes to be: beacons of light and peace in a dark and troubled world. For this to be so we must bring Him in and obey Him as Jairus did.
- Hired. The "flute players" were paid professionals, brought in to supply the sound of grief at a death.
- Hollow. Loud mourning can carry little real feeling; God wants torn hearts, not torn clothes.
- Threatened. Paid mourners had a stake in the girl staying dead, so His word met scorn — and that scorn proved they were sure she had died.
- Cleared. He put the noise out and kept only the parents and three disciples in the room where He would act.
- Sleeping. What looked like the end He called sleep — and the girl He raised pictures a nation He will yet awaken.
he said, Withdraw, for the damsel is not dead, but sleeps. And they derided him.
A girl has died, her house is loud with mourners, and Jesus says she is only asleep — so they laugh at Him. That raises two questions: what does He mean by "sleeping," and why does the laughter matter?
The Lord is not correcting a medical mistake. He is naming death by what it is to Him. One writer links that word to how Scripture later speaks of believers who have died.
Then, at the end of the chapter, the Lord is in the presence of death; but He will not allow death to stay in His presence. "The girl is not dead, but sleeping," He said — and how true it was! Just so the Spirit says that believers are asleep, as in "those who sleep in Jesus God will bring with Him."
The same power stands behind every such word of His, whatever stage the body has reached.
On a later occasion we find the Lord speaking of Lazarus as "sleeping." It was His way of speaking. He was going to raise Lazarus, and He was about to raise this girl now. He raised her from her bed; the young man of Nain from the bier; and Lazarus from the grave. Each case needed the same power — the power of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life.
The people making the noise were not family. One writer notes that someone paid them for the job, which explains both their noise and what they stood to lose. In the quote below, "Give place" is an older wording for the ESV's "Go away."
He arrives at Jairus' house, where He finds mourners — no doubt paid mourners. He said to them, "Give place, for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at Him. They would have lost their work, so to speak, if she was not dead, and their pay would be gone too. Man had introduced all of that. All that was needed was for them to give place, if He was there.
Their mourning was a performance, and His word cut across their expertise:
The Lord, who was always tender and gracious to people in distress, rebuked this show of hollow grief over the daughter of Jairus. His severity was aimed at their hypocrisy and pretence, for their sympathy was not sincere... His words, "The girl is not dead," clashed head-on with what they knew as professionals. They had no faith in Him and no respect for His sayings to set against what looked like a denial of plain fact... It was the laughter of folly, as the laughter of Abraham and Sarah was the laughter of disbelief (Genesis 17:17; Genesis 18:12).
The scorn is not just an ugly detail. It is a witness, and it settles a question sceptics raise about the account.
Unbelieving man may be ready enough to explain this away and say it was a trance. But the case of Lazarus contradicts any such idea... How very terrible that the flute-players and the people laughed Him to scorn! They mocked Him. That of itself was evidence that they thoroughly believed she was dead.
Matthew records that Jesus put the mockers outside before He raised the girl. That order says something about what they had trusted.
He put out all the rest, who were weeping and wailing, when they mocked His saying, "Do not weep; she is not dead but sleeping." They believed their senses, not His word. The scornful will not see the blessing.
What He met in that house He would meet again on a far darker day:
It is sad that the appointed sufferings of the Messiah included such ridicule from man. But Scripture said of Him, "All who see me mock me" (Psalm 22:7), and this word reached its high point of fulfilment at the cross.
Darby reads the scene as a picture of Israel, and of what the Lord will yet do for that nation.
The real state of Israel was death. On the point of dying as others saw it, in God's estimate Israel was dead before Jesus came... As for the one He set out for, He must, when the time comes, not heal but raise from the dead. For God holds Israel as only asleep, though really dead morally.
- Sleep. Jesus renames death by His own power. What ends everything for us is sleep to Him — and Scripture later says the same of believers who have died.
- Scorn. The paid mourners had a living to protect and a name for knowing death. His word crossed both, so they laughed.
- Evidence. Their mockery proves the girl was dead. That rules out any theory of a trance.
- Excluded. Jesus put the scoffers outside before He raised the girl. Those who trust their senses over His word do not get to watch the blessing.
- Awakening. The same voice that woke a girl called asleep will wake the nation God still calls asleep.
But when the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up.
A ruler's daughter has died. The house is full of noisy mourning, and Jesus has just told the crowd that she is only sleeping. What He does next shows His authority over death. Commentators also read it as a picture of what He will do for a whole nation.
The wailing in that house was not private sorrow alone. Some of it was hired work, and the Lord's word about sleep threatened the trade:
He arrives at Jairus's house, where He finds mourners; no doubt paid mourners. He said to them, "Give place, for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at Him. They would have lost their work, so to speak, if she was not dead, and their pay would be gone. Man had brought all that in. All that was needed was for them to give place, if He was there.
Older translations give His words in verse 24 as "Give place"; the ESV has "Go away." Clearing the room was not just practical. Jewish custom had a fixed routine for a death, and His grace broke it:
When Jesus reached the house of Jairus, He brushed aside the usual prescribed course of things. The power of His grace broke the wineskins of Jewish custom. He said, "Give place," and everything indeed had to give place to the power of life that He wielded — and He restored the dead child.
The crowd's laughter looks like nothing but an insult. In fact it settles a question: was the girl truly dead?
Unbelieving man may be ready enough to explain this away and say it was a trance. But the case of Lazarus gives the lie to any such supposition. Jesus allows only the girl's father and mother into the room. Three favoured disciples come too — Peter, James and John — as witnesses. How terrible that the flute players and the people laughed Him to scorn! They mocked Him. That in itself was testimony that they thoroughly believed she was dead.
The same writer points out that calling death sleep was simply His way of speaking. He raised this girl from her bed, the young man of Nain from the funeral bier, and Lazarus from the grave. Each case needed the same power — the power of the One who is the resurrection and the life.
On the road a sick woman had touched His clothes. In this room the touch comes from Him:
At the start of the chapter the Lord put the paralysed man right first in soul, then in body. Here it was the body, then the soul, by the healing power of the Son of God. In the woman there had been the touch of faith from her side, but in the room of death it was the touch of power from His side.
He took a dead girl's hand. Pollution passes by touch — but not into Him:
How all this magnifies the Lord Jesus when we think of His life in connection with it. He was always dealing with sin and the results of it. He raised the dead and cleansed the leper. Unclean people touched Him, and He allowed all kinds of defiled men to come near and touch Him. And yet nothing stained Him in the middle of it all... Instead of pollution getting into Him through the touch, power went out from Him to dismiss the power of death and blot out the stain.
Writers also see a national picture here. Scripture itself calls Israel a daughter:
Israel is often spoken of in the Old Testament as a daughter, the daughter of Zion. In the short book of Lamentations alone we find the word "daughter" meaning Israel eighteen times. The daughter who has died is then likewise a type of the people. Life can only come to Israel through the presence of Him who is the life.
The picture is not only for Israel. It reaches the reader too:
Christ came to awaken dead Israel; He will do this hereafter in the full sense of the word. Meanwhile, anyone in the crowd around Him who laid hold of Him by faith was healed, however hopeless the case. What took place in Israel when Jesus was there is true in principle of us also. Grace in Jesus is a power that raises from the dead and that heals.
- Give place — the paid mourners laughed, and He put them out. Where the power of life is present, human custom steps aside.
- Give evidence — their scorn proved they knew she was truly dead. The mockers became witnesses to the miracle.
- Give His hand — the woman on the road touched Him in faith. Here the touch came from His side, reaching someone past all reach.
- Give life, take no stain — He touched death and leprosy and stayed clean. Power went out from Him instead of uncleanness coming in.
- Give a nation back — the dead daughter pictures Israel, the daughter of Zion. The same grace that will raise the nation raises anyone who lays hold of Him now.
And the fame of it went out into all that land.
Matthew closes the story of Jairus's daughter not with the girl's first steps but with news spreading. Why end there, and how far does that news reach?
Before the news could spread, the death had to be beyond dispute. The mourners who laughed at Him supplied that proof.
How terrible that the musicians and the people laughed Him to scorn! They mocked Him. That in itself was testimony that they were sure she was dead. Unbelieving people are ready enough to explain the raising away and say it was only a trance. But the case of Lazarus proves that idea false.
The district is a small place. One writer makes that limit the point.
"And the report of this went through all that district." That is very sweet, but what is still to come will go far beyond that district. Instead of great light, great darkness is coming first, and when the Light rises on them it will shine out to all the world. "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60). Things will never be right in this world until He comes whose right it is to reign, and Israel then have their place.
Commentators read the dead girl as a picture of the nation. The Old Testament way of speaking is why.
Israel is often spoken of in the Old Testament Scriptures as a daughter, the daughter of Zion. In the short book of Lamentations alone we find the word "daughter" meaning Israel eighteen times. The daughter who has died is then likewise a type of the people. To bring life to Israel can only be through the presence of Him who is the life.
Matthew tells it briefly. One writer explains both that brevity and the scale of what the scene pictures.
Matthew gives little of the detail about this woman or about the daughter of Jairus that Mark's Gospel gives. The stress in Matthew is on the authority by which He overcomes everything that stands against Him. Then His action confirms His word, as He takes the girl by the hand and raises her up alive. This is the picture of Israel raised, in effect, from a state of death. The news of it spread far and wide. In the same way, all the earth will marvel at the wonder of Israel's revival in the age to come.
Hopeless appearances did not settle the girl's case. They will not settle Israel's either.
But He took hold of her hand and called, "Little girl, arise." Then her spirit returned, for it was gone. She rose up at once, and He told them to give her food. In due time the same Lord will raise up the people from the valley of dry bones. The prophets assure us of it, however many say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off." As Jehovah has spoken, so He will do. In that day all the earth will know it.
The same writer sets the long-tried woman beside the girl, and names what both cases turned on.
Whether it be the long and desperately tried woman or the girl of Israel, faith alone enjoys the blessing. And rightly so. Faith gives up all dependence on self and honours God and His Son. It credits Him with love as great as His power, and with a word from Christ as sure as either.
One writer applies the verse to family life.
Those in Jairus' home mocked the Lord for what He said. But the ruler of the synagogue was desperate enough to follow His instructions. Once the crowd was put out, the Lord went in and took his daughter's hand. She rose up, and "the report of this went through all that district." This is what God wants our homes to be: beacons of light and peace in a dark and troubled world. For this to happen we must bring Him in and obey Him as Jairus did.
- Death proved. The mourners' scorn showed they were sure the girl was dead, so no one could write the raising off as a trance.
- Touch given. He put the crowd out, took her hand, and her spirit returned. The same power will raise a people who say their bones are dried up and their hope is lost.
- Faith receives. For the long-tried woman and for the girl of Israel, faith alone enjoyed the blessing, because faith drops all dependence on self and honours God and His Son.
- Report spread. The news filled one district only — a small measure of the day when His glory rises on Israel and nations come to that light.
- Home lit. A home that brings Him in and obeys Him becomes a beacon of light and peace that others hear about.