(42) About twelve years of age.--St. Luke, as with the precision of a practised writer, names the age at the beginning of the narrative, St. Mark incidentally (Mark 5:42) at its close.

Verse 42. - One only daughter. This is not the only place where the same touching detail is recorded by this evangelist. Compare the story of the widow's son at Nain (Luke 7:12), and the healing of the lunatic boy (Luke 9:38). St. Luke's Gospel owes these and many similar touches of deep true sympathy to the great loving heart of the real author of the third Gospel, Paul.

8:41-56 Let us not complain of a crowd, and a throng, and a hurry, as long as we are in the way of our duty, and doing good; but otherwise every wise man will keep himself out of it as much as he can. And many a poor soul is healed, and helped, and saved by Christ, that is hidden in a crowd, and nobody notices it. This woman came trembling, yet her faith saved her. There may be trembling, where yet there is saving faith. Observe Christ's comfortable words to Jairus, Fear not, believe only, and thy daughter shall be made whole. No less hard was it not to grieve for the loss of an only child, than not to fear the continuance of that grief. But in perfect faith there is no fear; the more we fear, the less we believe. The hand of Christ's grace goes with the calls of his word, to make them effectual. Christ commanded to give her meat. As babes new born, so those newly raised from sin, desire spiritual food, that they may grow thereby.For he had one only daughter,.... And so exceedingly dear to him:

about twelve years of age; See Gill on Matthew 9:18.

And she lay a dying, or "was near death", as the Syriac and Persic versions; or "was just ready to die", as the Ethiopic version. The Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it, "she was dead", or "now dead", and which agrees with Matthew 9:18. See Gill on Matthew 9:18.

but as he went; along the streets of Capernaum, from Matthew's house; where he had been entertained with his disciples, and others, and where he had a conversation with some of the Pharisees and John's disciples, to the ruler's house:

the people thronged him; such a vast multitude followed him to see the cure, that he was even crowded, and so pressed on all sides, that it was difficult to walk along.