Matthew 9 is the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It continues the narrative about Jesus' ministry in Galilee as he ministers to the public, working miracles, and going through all the cities and towns of the area, preaching the gospel, and healing every disease. This chapter opens with Jesus back in "his own town", i.e. Capernaum.Allison, D. Jr., "57. Matthew" in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary , p. 858, cf. in the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition This chapter reflects "the crucial role of faith" in relation to healing.Bible Hub, Matthew 9, accessed on 10 July 2024
Text The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 25 verses.
Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (AD 325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (AD 330–360; complete) Codex Bezae ( AD 400) Codex Washingtonianus ( AD 400) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus ( AD 450; complete) Minuscule 828 (Codex 828; 12th century)
Old Testament references Matthew 9:13:
Structure
This chapter can be grouped (with cross references to parallel texts in Mark and Luke): = Healing the paralytic at Capernaum (; ) = Calling of Matthew (; ) = On fasting (; ) = New Wine into Old Wineskins (; ) = Daughter of Jairus (; ) = Jesus healing the bleeding woman (; ) = Healing the two blind men in Galilee () = Jesus exorcising a mute = Jesus' compassion
Miracles
The Jerusalem Bible notes that the ten miracles recorded in chapters 8 and 9 demonstrate the power of Jesus over nature, sickness, death and devils.Jerusalem Bible (1966), sub-title and footnote a at Matthew 8:1, 3 New Testament scholar Dale Allison notes that these "merciful deeds" performed by Jesus, along with those in the previous chapter, are all undertaken for the benefit of "people from the margins of Jewish society or without status".Allison, D. Jr., "57. Matthew" in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary , p. 857 Henry Alford describes these deeds as a "solemn procession of miracles", whose record confirms "the authority with which our Lord had spoken".Alford, H., Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford on Matthew 8, accessed 17 November 2022 On three occasions, in verses 2, 22 and 29, the relationship between faith and healing is reflected in the narrative.
Pharisees This chapter develops Matthew's account of the hostility which the Pharisees, (one of the sects of Second Temple Judaism), showed towards Jesus and his disciples. Following the calling of Matthew, Jesus and his disciples are invited to eat in the house ( – this is often understood to refer to Matthew's house, because in the house is clearly that of Matthew known also as Levi) and "many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples". The Pharisees in all three synoptic gospels ask the disciples why Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners ("such scum" in the New Living Translation)New Living Translation and the question is either relayed back to Jesus or he overhears it.Gill's Exposition on Matthew 9, accessed 29 December 2016
Verses 12–13 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice'. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." NKJV
Jesus' reply in these two verses comes in three parts: a saying, "healthy people don't need a doctor — sick people do" (: New Living Translation) a reproof made by appealing to "a passage of Scripture with which they ought to have been acquainted: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" (: NKJV)Barnes, A., Barnes' Notes on Matthew 9, accessed 29 December 2016 a summary of his mission – "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners [to repentance]".
The final words, to repentance, which some versions include but others do not,See BibleGateway.com, Matthew 9:13 are "of doubtful authority here, and more than doubtful authority in Mark 2:17; but in Luke 5:32 they are undisputed".Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Matthew 9, accessed 29 December 2016 A number of early manuscripts do not include these words in Matthew.Meyer, H. A. W., Meyer's Commentary on Matthew 9, accessed 19 February 2021
Fasting Verse 14 aligns both the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees in the practice of regular fasting, and contrasts this with the practice of Jesus' disciples, who appear not to fast. In Matthew's gospel it is John's disciples who ask the question, for themselves and for the Pharisees, about why Jesus' disciples do not fast. In Mark's gospel, the question is in some interpretations asked by apparently impartial observers – "some people came and asked Jesus ...".Mark 2:18 in NIV, Jerusalem Bible, Worldwide English New Testament and other translations
Raising of Jairus' daughter and the healing of a bleeding woman
In the Gospel of Luke, the miracles follow the exorcism at Gerasa. Back in Galilee, Jairus, a patron or ruler of a Galilee synagogue, had asked Jesus to heal his 12-year-old daughter, who was dying (in Matthew's account, Jairus used hyperbolic expressions in his anxiety: ‘My daughter is even now dead’). As they were travelling to Jairus' house, a sick woman in the crowd touched the border (or possibly the fringe) of Jesus' cloak and was healed of her sickness. Jairus' daughter was then reported as having died, and Jairus was therefore advised not to trouble Jesus, 'the teacher', any further. Jesus, however, continued to the house, stating that the girl was not dead but asleep, and restored her to health. The chapter ends with Jesus' mandate that Jairus and his wife should tell no-one what had happened.
Tzitzit Matthew's (and Luke's) accounts specify that the bleeding woman touched the "fringe" of his cloak, using a Greek word kraspedon which also appears in Mark 6.κράσπεδον/kraspedon, see Strong's G2899 According to the Catholic Encyclopedia article on fringes in scripture, the Pharisees, who were the progenitors of modern Rabbinic Judaism, were in the habit of wearing extra-long fringes or tassels (Matthew 23:5), a reference to the formative çîçîth (tzitzit). Because of the Pharisees' authority, people regarded the fringe with a mystical quality.
Jesus' compassion The chapter concludes with a summary of Jesus' ministry "in all the cities and villages". When he saw the crowds he was moved with compassion for them, seeing the crowds as "sheep without a shepherd". According to the Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament, the crowds were, in , eskylmenoi and erimmenoi, but in the Textus Receptus the first adjective here is , eklelymenoi. According to Bengel's Gnomon, "the reading ἐκλελυμένοι is clearly deficient in authority".Bengel's Gnomon on Matthew 9, accessed 1 January 2017
English translations vary widely in how they translate these two adjectives: Version ἐσκυλμένοι ἐριμμένοι ASV distressed scattered ERV worried helpless ISV troubled helpless KJV fainted scattered abroad NET bewildered helpless NIV harassed helpless NKJV weary scattered
The portrayal of "sheep without a shepherd" reflects Moses' prayer for God to appoint a leader to succeed him after his death during the Israelites' Exodus journey:
Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: 'Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd'. NKJV
Jesus' ministry of curing "every disease and every sickness" () is matched identically in the authority he gives his twelve disciples in to cure "every disease and every sickness".
See also Capernaum Jairus Matthew Tzitzit Related Bible parts: Numbers 15, Hosea 6, Mark 2, Mark 5, Luke 5, Luke 8
References
External links
King James Bible - Wikisource English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) Multiple bible versions at Bible Gateway (NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)