Matthew 12

24. But when the Pharisees heard it--Mark ( Mark 3:22 ) says, "the scribes which came down from Jerusalem"; so that this had been a hostile party of the ecclesiastics, who had come all the way from Jerusalem to collect materials for a charge against Him.
they said, This fellow--an expression of contempt.
doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub--rather, "Beelzebul"
the prince of the devils--Two things are here implied--first, that the bitterest enemies of our Lord were unable to deny the reality of His miracles; and next, that they believed in an organized internal kingdom of evil, under one chief. This belief would be of small consequence, had not our Lord set His seal to it; but this He immediately does. Stung by the unsophisticated testimony of "all the people," they had no way of holding out against His claims but the desperate shift of ascribing His miracles to Satan.

25. And Jesus knew their thoughts--"called them" ( Mark 3:23 ).
and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand--"house," that is, "household"

26. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?--The argument here is irresistible. "No organized society can stand--whether kingdom, city, or household--when turned against itself; such intestine war is suicidal: But the works I do are destructive of Satan's kingdom: That I should be in league with Satan, therefore, is incredible and absurd."

27. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children--"your sons," meaning here the "disciples" or pupils of the Pharisees, who were so termed after the familiar language of the Old Testament in speaking of the sons of the prophets ( 1 Kings 20:35 , 2 Kings 2:3 , &c.). Our Lord here seems to admit that such works were wrought by them; in which case the Pharisees stood self-condemned, as expressed in Luke ( Luke 11:19 ), "Therefore shall they be your judges."

28. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God--In Luke ( Luke 11:20 ) it is, "with (or 'by') the finger of God." This latter expression is just a figurative way of representing the power of God, while the former tells us the living Personal Agent was made use of by the Lord Jesus in every exercise of that power.
then--"no doubt" ( Luke 11:20 ).
the kingdom of God is come unto you--rather "upon you," as the same expression is rendered in Luke ( Luke 11:20 ):--that is, "If this expulsion of Satan is, and can be, by no other than the Spirit of God, then is his Destroyer already in the midst of you, and that kingdom which is destined to supplant his is already rising on its ruins."

29. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house--or rather, "the strong man's house."
and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

30. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad--On this important parable, in connection with the corresponding one ( Matthew 12:43-45 ),

31. Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men--The word "blasphemy" properly signifies "detraction," or "slander." In the New Testament it is applied, as it is here, to vituperation directed against God as well as against men; and in this sense it is to be understood as an aggravated form of sin. Well, says our Lord, all sin--whether in its ordinary or its more aggravated forms--shall find forgiveness with God. Accordingly, in Mark ( Mark 3:28 ) the language is still stronger: "All sin shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme." There is no sin whatever, it seems, of which it may be said. "That is not a pardonable sin." This glorious assurance is not to be limited by what follows; but, on the contrary, what follows is to be explained by this.
but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

32. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come--In Mark the language is awfully strong, "hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation"--or rather, according to what appears to be the preferable though very unusual reading, "in danger of eternal guilt"--a guilt which he will underlie for ever. Mark has the important addition ( Mark 3:30 ), "Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit." against the Holy Ghost--the unpardonable sin? One thing is clear: Its unpardonableness cannot arise from anything in the nature of sin itself; for that would be a naked contradiction to the emphatic declaration of Matthew 12:31 , that all manner of sin is pardonable. And what is this but the fundamental truth of the Gospel? (See Acts 13:38 Acts 13:39 , Romans 3:22 Romans 3:24 , 1 John 1:7 , &c.). Then, again when it is said ( Matthew 12:32 ), that to speak against or blaspheme the Son of man is pardonable, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is not pardonable, it is not to be conceived that this arises from any greater sanctity in the one blessed Person than the other. These remarks so narrow the question that the true sense of our Lord's words seem to disclose themselves at once. It is a contrast between slandering "the Son of man" in His veiled condition and unfinished work--which might be done "ignorantly, in unbelief" ( 1 Timothy 1:13 ), and slandering the same blessed Person after the blaze of glory which the Holy Ghost was soon to throw around His claims, and in the full knowledge of all that. This would be to slander Him with eyes open, or to do it "presumptuously." To blaspheme Christ in the former condition--when even the apostles stumbled at many things--left them still open to conviction on fuller light: but to blaspheme Him in the latter condition would be to hate the light the clearer it became, and resolutely to shut it out; which, of course, precludes salvation. Pharisees had not as yet done this; but in charging Jesus with being in league with hell they were displaying beforehand a malignant determination to shut their eyes to all evidence, and so, bordering upon, and in spirit committing, the unpardonable sin.

33. Either make the tree good, &c.

34. O generation of
how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh--a principle obvious enough, yet of deepest significance and vast application. In Luke 6:45 we find it uttered as part of the discourse delivered after the choice of the apostles.

35. A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth good things--or, "putteth forth good things":
and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things--or "putteth forth evil things." The word "putteth " indicates the spontaneity of what comes from the heart; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh. We have here a new application of a former saying are but two kingdoms, interests, parties--with the proper workings of each: If I promote the one, I cannot belong to the other; but they that set themselves in wilful opposition to the kingdom of light openly proclaim to what other kingdom they belong. As for you, in what ye have now uttered, ye have but revealed the venomous malignity of your hearts."

36. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment--They might say, "It was nothing: we meant no evil; we merely threw out a supposition, as one way of accounting for the miracle we witnessed; if it will not stand, let it go; why make so much of it, and bear down with such severity for it?" Jesus replies, "It was not nothing, and at the great day will not be treated as nothing: Words, as the index of the heart, however idle they may seem, will be taken account of, whether good or bad, in estimating character in the day of judgment."

Matthew 12:38-50 . A SIGN DEMANDED AND THE REPLY--HIS MOTHER AND BRETHREN SEEK TO SPEAK WITH HIM, AND THE ANSWER. ( = Luke 11:16 Luke 11:24-36 , 3:31-35 , Luke 8:19-21 ).

A Sign Demanded, and the Reply ( Matthew 12:38-45 ).

The occasion of this section was manifestly the same with that of the preceding.

38. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master--"Teacher," equivalent to "Rabbi."
we would see a sign from thee--"a sign from heaven" ( Luke 11:16 ); something of an immediate and decisive nature, to show, not that His miracles were real--that they seemed willing to concede--but that they were from above, not from beneath. These were not the same class with those who charged Him with being in league with Satan (as we see from Luke 11:15 Luke 11:16 ); but as the spirit of both was similar, the tone of severe rebuke is continued.

39. But he answered and said unto them--"when the people were gathered thick together" ( Luke 11:29 ).
An evil and adulterous generation--This latter expression is best explained by Jeremiah 3:20 , "Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord." For this was the relationship in which He stood to the covenant-people--"I am married unto you" ( Jeremiah 3:14 ).
seeketh after a sign--In the eye of Jesus this class were but the spokesmen of their generation, the exponents of the reigning spirit of unbelief.
and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.

40. For as Jonas was--"a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation" ( Luke 11:30 ). For as Jonas was
three days and three nights in the whale's belly--( Jonah 1:17 ).
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth--This was the second public announcement of His resurrection three days after His death. (For the first, see John 2:19 ). Jonah's case was analogous to this. as being a signal judgment of God; reversed in three days; and followed by a glorious mission to the Gentiles. The expression "in the heart of the earth," suggested by the expression of Jonah with respect to the sea ( Jonah 2:3 , in the Septuagint), means simply the grave, but this considered as the most emphatic expression of real and total entombment. The period during which He was to lie in the grave is here expressed in round numbers, according to the Jewish way of speaking, which was to regard any part of a day, however small, included within a period of days, as a full day. (See 1 Samuel 30:12 1 Samuel 30:13 , Esther 4:16 , 5:1 , Matthew 27:63 Matthew 27:64 , &c.).

41. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, &c.--The Ninevites, though heathens, repented at a man's preaching; while they, God's covenant-people, repented not at the preaching of the Son of God--whose supreme dignity is rather implied here than expressed.

42. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, &c.--The queen of Sheba (a tract in Arabia, near the shores of the Red Sea) came from a remote country, "south" of Judea, to hear the wisdom of a mere man, though a gifted one, and was transported with wonder at what she saw and heard ( 1 Kings 10:1-9 ). They, when a Greater than Solomon had come to them, despised and rejected, slighted and slandered Him.

43-45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, &c.--On this important parable, in connection with the corresponding one ( Matthew 12:29 )

A charming little incident, given only in Luke 11:27 Luke 11:28 , seems to have its proper place here.

Luke 11:27 :
And it came to pass, as He spake these things, a certain woman of the company--out of the crowd.
lifted up her voice and said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked--With true womanly feeling she envies the mother of such a wonderful Teacher. And a higher and better than she had said as much before her How does our Lord, then, treat it? He is far from condemning it. He only holds up as "blessed rather" another class: Luke 11:28 :
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it--in other words, the humblest real saint of God. How utterly alien is this sentiment from the teaching of the Church of Rome, which would doubtless excommunicate any one of its members that dared to talk in such a strain!

His Mother and Brethren Seek to Speak with Hint and the Answer ( Matthew 12:46-50 ).

46. While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his
stood without, desiring to speak with him--"and could not come at Him for the press" ( Luke 8:19 ). For what purpose these came, we learn from mark 3:20 mark 3:21 . In His zeal and ardor He seemed indifferent both to food and repose, and "they went to lay hold of Him" as one "beside Himself." Mark ( Mark 3:32 ) says graphically, "And the multitude sat about Him"--or "around Him."

47. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee, &c.--Absorbed in the awful warnings He was pouring forth. He felt this to be an unseasonable interruption, fitted to dissipate the impression made upon the large audience--such an interruption as duty to the nearest relatives did not require Him to give way to. But instead of a direct rebuke, He seizes on the incident to convey a sublime lesson, expressed in a style of inimitable condescension.

49. And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples--How graphic is this! It is the language evidently of an eye-witness.
and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother--that is, "There stand here the members of a family transcending and surviving this of earth: Filial subjection to the will of My Father in heaven is the indissoluble bond of union between Me and all its members; and whosoever enters this hallowed circle becomes to Me brother, and sister, and mother!"