XI.

(1) He departed thence--i.e., from the place from which He had sent forth the Twelve. Where this was St. Matthew does not tell us, but Matthew 9:36 makes it probable that it was not in Capernaum nor any other city, but from some spot in the open country where He had rested with them. Their return is narrated, or at least implied, in Matthew 11:25, and hence we must infer that the messengers of the Baptist arrived while He was carrying on His work without them. Their cities might seem grammatically to point to the towns where the Twelve had been, or to which they belonged; but it is probable that it was used here vaguely for the cities of Galilee in general.

Verse 1. - Matthew only. And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end. The same formula recurs in Matthew 7:28; Matthew 13:53; Matthew 19:1; Matthew 26:1. In all five cases it marks the end of important speeches.

(1) The sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7:27);

(2) the charge to the disciples (Matthew 10:5-42);

(3) the parables (Matthew 13:1-52);

(4) discourses to the disciples (Matthew 18.);

(5) prophecies about the end of the world, etc. (Matthew 24, 25.). (Cf. Introduction, p. 3 ). for the bearing that this has upon the sources of the Gospel.) Of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence. Whence? We have no knowledge. Perhaps the place had been named in the original context, from which the discourse was derived. Ch. 9:35 suggests that it was some place on his journey (cf. Alford), but our verse in itself implies rather some fixed centre of work, e.g. Capernaum. To teach and to preach in their cities. If he ceases to speak at length, it is that he may begin more aggressive work (cf. Matthew 7:28, 29; Matthew 13:53, 54). Their. It is hardly by accident that the word recurs, with the same reference, as it seems, to the Jews generally, in the passages just quoted (cf. Matthew 12:9, note).

11:1 Our Divine Redeemer never was weary of his labour of love; and we should not be weary of well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.And it came to pass,.... In the course of things, and as before determined and resolved on, that

when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples; when he had given them a commission to preach the Gospel, had finished all his instructions he thought fit to give them, and orders he enjoined them, relating to that work; as where they should go, what they should say, how they should behave, and what treatment they should meet with; and had given them all proper advice and encouragement,

he departed thence, from the place where he then was: he did not desist either from the ministry of the word, or from working of miracles, but went out into other parts of the country,

to teach and to preach in their cities: meaning either in the cities of the Jews, or in the cities of his disciples; and these, either the cities they belonged to, from whence they came, namely, the cities of Galilee; for the disciples were Galilaeans, and in which parts Christ now was; or else the cities where he sent them to preach first, and then came himself, and confirmed their doctrine by his own ministry and miracles.