And charged them that they should not make him
known.
] This charge was given, either to the multitude that followed
him, and were healed by him, that when they returned to the
respective places from whence they came, they would not make it
known to his enemies where he was, and what he had done to them;
being neither desirous of popular applause and glory, nor willing
to provoke them more, nor to fall into their hands as yet; or
else, as Mark seems to intimate, to the unclean spirits, that
they would not declare who he was, the Son of God, they confessed
him to be: and very likely it was given to both, and that they
should neither tell where he was, nor who he was; and this charge
was a very severe one; for the word signifies a charge with
threatenings, should they not observe his orders.
Matthew 12:16
