(23) Preaching the gospel of the kingdom.--As far as regards St. Matthew this is the first occurrence of the phrase. It tells of a vast amount of unrecorded teaching, varying in form, yet essentially the same--a call to repentance--the good news of a kingdom of heaven not far off--the witness, by act for the most part rather than words, that He was Himself the Head of that kingdom.

Healing all manner of sickness.--In the Greek, as in the English, sickness implies a less serious form of suffering than "disease," as the "torments" of the next verse imply, in their turn, something more acute. St. Matthew's first mention of our Lord's miracles cannot be read without interest. It will be seen that they are referred to, not directly as evidence of a supernatural mission, but almost, so to speak, as the natural accompaniments of His work; signs, not of power only or chiefly, but of the love, tenderness, pity, which were the true marks or "notes" of the kingdom of heaven. Restoration to outward health was at once the pledge that the Son of Man had not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them, and often, we cannot doubt, served to strengthen that faith in the love of the Father, some degree of which was all but invariably required as an antecedent condition of the miracle (Matthew 13:58).

Verses 23-25. - The firstfruits of popular enthusiasm. As on Christ's call a few followed him (vers. 20-22), so after his circuit in Galilee did crowds, from all parts of the Holy Land, also follow him (ver. 25), though less immediately and devotedly. As to these verses (23-25), notice -

(1) Nearly all ver. 23 recurs in Matthew 9:35.

(2) Vers. 24, 25 occur in the parallels in different connexions. St. Mark places them in Matthew 3:7, 8, after he has recorded details of many miracles which are found later in Matthew. St. Luke places them in Matthew 6:17, 18, immediately before the sermon on the mount (as in Matthew), but after the call of the Twelve.

(3) St. Matthew, therefore, did not arrange his Gospel with a sole regard to chronology.

(4) The verses are clearly a summary of our Lord's work and influence in the early part of his ministry.

(5) Weiss ('Manual,' 2:277, etc.) considers that vers. 23 and 24 are a heading to the description of the teaching and healing activity of Jesus (Matthew 4:25 - 9:34), and that the repetition of ver. 23 in Matthew 9:35 marks the heading of the next section (Matthew 9:36-14:12). It is, indeed, remarkable that in Matthew 9:35 it occurs just before the definite setting apart of the twelve, and again that the phrase, "And seeing the multitudes," is found both in Matthew 5:1 and in Matthew 9:36. Possibly the saying was part of the original setting of the two discourses, ch. 5-7. and ch. 10. Verse 23. - And Jesus went about all Galilee; in all Galilee (Revised Version, with the manuscripts). This indicates, not so much systematic itineration round the cities in order (contrast the simple accusative in Matthew 9:35 [Mark 6:6]; 23. 15), as going hither and thither among them (cf. Acts 13:11). All (Matthew 8:34, note). Teaching... preaching... healing. Our Lord, unlike the Baptist, takes men as and where he can find them; the religious, by teaching in the synagogues; the mass of people, by preaching, presumably in public places; the sick, by healing them wherever they are brought to him. Notice the threefold cord of all Christ-like ministry - teaching, especially those who have desires heavenwards; preaching, especially to the unconverted; healing, which cares for all physical life. Synagogues. (For a detailed account, vide Schurer, II. 2. pp. 52, etc.; and for a short account, vide Keil, 'Arch.,' § 30.) "The synagogues were places of assembly for public worship, where on sabbaths and feast-days (at a later period, also on the second and fifth days of the week) the people met together for prayer, and to listen to the reading of portions of the Old Testament, which were translated and explained in the vernacular dialect. With the permission of the president, any one who was fitted might deliver addresses" (Meyer). The gospel. The first time it occurs in the text of St. Matthew. Of the kingdom. The phrase is used thus absolutely only elsewhere in Matthew 9:35 and Matthew 24:14 (Mark 1:15 is a false reading). This expression (with ver. 17, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand") is the earliest form of the message. The good news centred in the kingdom, i.e. the realization of the position accepted by the nation at Sinai, with all that that involved, (vide Introduction, p. 23.). The phrase, "the gospel of the kingdom," refers only to the blessedness of its approach, and says nothing (unlike ver. 17)of the preparation for it. Healing (θεραπεύων). As compared with ἰάομαι (rare in Matthew, in the active only Matthew 13:15, which is from the LXX., but frequent in Luke) θεραπεύω thinks rather of the healer, who renders the service; ἰάομαι, rather of the healed, the completeness of the cure (cf. Matthew 8:7, 8), Sickness; disease, Revised Version; νόσον, laying stress on the pain and disorder. Disease; sickness, Revised Version; μαλακίαν, laying stress on the weakness. (For the two words in combination, cf. Deuteronomy 7:15.) Among the people (ἐν τῷ λαῷ). These words are wanting in the true text of Matthew 9:35. The people; i.e. the Jews, as contrasted with those included in ver. 24. Not that St. Matthew means to exclude any sick Gentile who happened to be living among the Jews; but in this verse he is thinking only of those who lived near, and he naturally uses the word which connotes the Jewish people. If others came, it was only because they lived ἐν τῷ λαῷ.

4:23-25 Wherever Christ went, he confirmed his Divine mission by miracles, which were emblems of the healing power of his doctrine, and the influences of the Spirit which accompanied it. We do not now find the Saviour's miraculous healing power in our bodies; but if we are cured by medicine, the praise is equally his. Three general words are here used. He healed every sickness or disease; none was too bad; none too hard, for Christ to heal with a word. Three diseases are named; the palsy, which is the greatest weakness of the body; lunacy, which is the greatest malady of the mind; and possession of the devil, which is the greatest misery and calamity of both; yet Christ healed all, and by thus curing bodily diseases, showed that his great errand into the world was to cure spiritual maladies. Sin is the sickness, disease, and torment of the soul: Christ came to take away sin, and so to heal the soul.And Jesus went about all Galilee,.... Having called four of his disciples, he took a tour throughout Galilee; a country mean and despicable, inhabited by persons poor, illiterate, vile, and wicked: such had the first fruits of Christ's ministry, and messages of his grace; which shows the freeness, sovereignty, and riches, of his abounding goodness. He went about "all" this country, both upper and nether Galilee, which was very populous: Josephus says (l), there were two hundred and four cities and towns in it; he means, which were places of note, besides villages. He went about, not like Satan, seeking the destruction of men; but as one that went along with him says, "doing good", Acts 10:38, both to the bodies and souls of men; for he was

teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. The places where he taught were "their synagogues": he did not creep into private houses, as the Pharisees then, and false apostles afterwards did; but he appeared openly, and declared his doctrine in places of public worship; where the Jews met together for divine service, to pray, read the Scriptures, and give a word of exhortation to the people; for though they had but one temple, which was at Jerusalem, they had many synagogues, or meeting places, all over the land: here Christ not only prayed and read, but "preached"; and the subject matter of his ministry was, "the Gospel of the kingdom": that is, the good news of the kingdom of the Messiah being come, and which now took place; wherefore he exhorted them to repent of, and relinquish their former principles; to receive the doctrines, and submit to the ordinances of the Gospel dispensation: he also preached to them the things concerning the kingdom of heaven; as that except a man be born again, he cannot see it; and unless he has a better righteousness than his own, he cannot enter into it: he was also

healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. It is in the Greek text, "every sickness and every disease"; that is, all sorts of maladies, disorders and distempers, which attend the bodies of men; and is another instance, besides Matthew 3:5 in which the word "all", or "every", is to be taken in a limited and restrained sense, for "some", or "some of all sorts"; which teaches us how to understand those phrases, when used in the doctrine of redemption by Christ.

(l) In vita ejus.