Matthew 14:25

Mat 14:25. And in the fourth watch of the night — The Jews, as well as the Romans, usually divided the night into four watches of three hours each. The first watch began at six, the second at nine, the third at twelve, the fourth at three. During these many tedious and distressing hours of storm and tempest, of darkness and danger, Jesus saw his disciples, though they saw not him: he beheld their perplexity and fear, while they were conflicting with the winds and waves, and observed how they toiled in rowing: Mar 6:48; yet he delayed all this time to go to their relief; seeing it proper so long to try their faith and patience. But in the fourth watch — When, it is probable, as the storm was not at all abated, they had begun to despair of deliverance; Jesus went unto them, walking on the water — agitated, stormy, and tumultuous as its billows were. Thus God often lengthens out the troubles of his people, and defers the time of their deliverance. But when things are come to an extremity, and they are ready to think he hath forgotten them, he unexpectedly appears for their relief and rescue; of a sudden the storm becomes a calm, and they are happily brought into a safe port. Thus, in the morning watch he appeared for Israel in the Red sea, troubled and dismayed their pursuing enemies, and delivered his people: and in all ages the extremity of his church has been his opportunity to visit and appear for her. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, but has constantly his eye upon them, and, when there is need, walks in darkness for their succour, support, and comfort. What a wonderful proof have we here of Christ’s sovereign power over the creatures, which are all under his feet, and at his command, forgetting their natures, and changing their most essential qualities at his word! “To walk on the sea was thought so impracticable, that the picture of two feet walking on the sea, was an Egyptian hieroglyphic for an impossible thing. And in the Scripture it is mentioned, as the prerogative of God, that he alone treadeth on the waves of the sea, Job 9:8.” — Doddridge.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:25 About three o’clock in the morning: Literally In the fourth watch of the night. This was approximately 3:00–6:00 am by Roman reckoning. • The fact that Jesus came . . . walking on the water demonstrates God’s sovereign reign over the stormy waters (see Job 9:8; Ps 77:19; Isa 43:16).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 14:25. Τετάρτη, fourth) and last. The Jews also divided the night into four watches. The disciples were subjected to great straits for some time, till He brought them help.—ἀπῆλθε, He departed) His prayers, though they had lasted a long while, being as it were broken off, He departed to help His disciples.—περιπατῶν, κ.τ.λ., walking) though the wind blew strong.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 14:25 . τετάρτῃ φυλ . = 3 to 6, in the early morning, πρωῒ . ἐπὶ τ . θ .: the readings in this and the next verse vary between genitive and accusative. The sense is much the same. The evangelist means to represent Jesus as really walking on the sea, not on the land above the sea level (Paulus, Schenkel). Holtz. (H. C.), regarding it as a legend, refers to O. T. texts in which God walks on the sea.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By the fourth watch is meant the time near to day breaking: for in old time they divided the night into four watches, in which they scouted.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 25. The fourth watch] Anciently the Jews divided the night into three watches, consisting of four hours each. The first watch is mentioned, La 2:19: the second, Jdg 7:19; and the third, Ex 14:24; but a fourth watch is not mentioned in any part of the OLD Testament. This division the Romans had introduced in Judea, as also the custom of dividing the day into twelve hours: see Joh 11:9. The first watch began at six o'clock in the evening, and continued till nine; the second began at nine, and continued till twelve; the third began at twelve, and continued till three next morning; and the fourth began at three, and continued till six. It was therefore between the hours of three and six in the morning that Jesus made his appearance to his disciples.

Walking on the sea.] Thus suspending the laws of gravitation was a proper manifestation of unlimited power. Jesus did this by his own power; therefore Jesus showed forth his Godhead. In this one miracle we may discover three:-

1. Though at a distance from his disciples, he knew their distress.

2. He found them out on the lake, and probably in the midst of darkness.

3. He walked upon the water.

Job, speaking of those things whereby the omnipotence of God was demonstrated, says particularly, Job 9:8, He walketh upon the waves of the sea: intimating that this was impossible to any thing but Omnipotence.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(25) In the fourth watch of the night.—The Jews, since their conquest by Pompeius, had adopted the Roman division of the night into four watches, and this was accordingly between 3 A.M. and 6 A.M., in the dimness of the early dawn. St. John adds, as from a personal reminiscence, and as guarding against explanations that would minimise the miracle (such as that our Lord was seen on the shore, or was swimming to the boat), that they were about twenty-five or thirty furlongs from the point from which they had started—i.e., as the lake was five miles wide, nearly three-fourths of the way across.

Walking on the sea.—Here, again, we have to choose between the simple acceptance of the supernatural fact as another instance of His sovereignty, or rejecting it as a legend. On the former supposition. we may see in it something like an anticipation (not unconnected, it may be, with the intensity of that crisis in His life) of that spiritual body of which we see another manifestation in the Transfiguration, and which became normal after the Resurrection, reaching its completeness in the wonder of the Ascension. We speculate almost involuntarily on the nature, and, as it were, process of the miracle, asking whether the ordinary laws that govern motion were broken or suspended, or counteracted by higher laws. No such questions would seem to have suggested themselves to the disciples. They, as yet not free from the popular superstitions of their countrymen, thought that it was “a spirit” (better, a phantom, or spectre) taking the familiar form, it might be, to lure them to their destruction, or as a token that some sudden mischance had deprived them of that loved Presence, and, therefore, in their vague terror, they were troubled, and cried out for fear.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. in the fourth watch] i. e. early in the morning. Cp. “Et jam quarta canit venturam buccina lucem,” Propert. iv. 4. 63. At this time the Jews had adopted the Greek and Roman custom of four night watches. Formerly they divided the night into three watches, or rather according to Lightfoot (Hor. Heb.) the Romans and Jews alike recognised four watches, but with the Jews the fourth watch was regarded as morning, and was not included in the three watches of “deep night.” The four watches are named (Mar_13:35) 1 Even; 2 Midnight; 3 Cockcrowing; 4 Morning. St John states that they had rowed 25 or 30 furlongs.

Jesus went unto them] Mark adds “He would have passed by them.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea,.... It being now morning, and perhaps might have moon light; and besides, there is always more light upon the water than land; they were able to discern something like a man, walking upon the surface of the sea, but had not light enough to distinguish what, or who it was; and, moreover, had no thought of Christ, or expectation of seeing him; and the appearance of a man walking upon the waters being so unusual, and astonishing,

they were troubled, saying it is a spirit: a nocturnal apparition, a demon in human form. The Jews, especially the sect of the Pharisees, had a notion, from whom the disciples might have their's, of spirits, apparitions, and demons, being to be seen in the night; hence that rule (u),

"it is forbidden a man to salute his friend in the night, for we are careful, lest , "it should be a demon".''

They say a great many things of one "Lilith", that has its name from "the night", a she demon, that used to appear in the night, with an human face, and carry off young children, and kill them. Some such frightful notions had possessed the minds of the disciples:

and they cried out for fear, as persons in the utmost consternation, in the greatest danger, and in want of help: the fear of spirits arises from the uncommonness of their appearance; from their superiority to men in power and strength; from the enmity there is between men and evil spirits; and from a general notion of their doing hurt and mischief: hence, demons are, by the Jews, called "hurtful", or "hurting", all their study being to do hurt to men; and the same word is here used in Munster's Hebrew Gospel: add to all this, that the fear of the disciples might be increased, through a vulgar notion among seafaring men, that such sights are ominous, and portend evil to sailors; and they might the more easily be induced to give credit to this, and fear, since they were already in such imminent danger.

(u) T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 3. 1. Sanhedrim, fol. 44. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

Ver. 25. And in the fourth watch, &c.] Then, and not till then. His time is best, whatever we think of it: his help most sweet, because most seasonable: his hand commonly kept for a deadlift.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And in the fourth watch of the night - The Jews anciently divided the night into three parts of four hours each, usually called watches. The first of these watches is mentioned in Lam 2:19, the middle watch in Jdg 7:19, and the morning watch in Exo 14:24. In the time of our Saviour they divided the night into four watches, the fourth having been introduced by the Romans. These watches consisted of three hours each. The first commenced at six and continued until nine; the second from nine to twelve; the third from twelve to three; and the fourth from three to six. The first was called evening; the second midnight; the third cock-crowing; the fourth morning, Mar 13:35. It is probable that the term watch was given to each of these divisions from the practice of placing sentinels around the camp in time of war, or in cities, to watch or guard the camp or city; and that they were at first relieved three times in the night, but under the Romans four times. It was in the last of these watches, or between three and six in the morning, that Jesus appeared to the disciples, so that he had spent most of the night alone on the mountain in prayer.

Walking on the sea - A manifest and wonderful miracle. It was a boisterous sea. It was in a dark night. The little boat was 4 or 5 miles from the shore, tossed by the billows.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And in the fourth watch of the night. The Jews, under the Romans, divided the night, or the time from sunset to sunrise, into four watches, each of them lasting for three hours. And the hours were longer or shorter, according as the nights were at different seasons of the year. At the equinox, the first watch was from six in the evening till nine; the second, from nine till twelve; the third, from twelve till three in the morning; and the fourth, from three till six, or till sunrise. (Witham) --- They had been tossed by the tempest almost the whole night. (St. Jerome)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

25. Fourth watch of the night — A watch is the regular period which a soldier or sentinel keeps guard by night before he is relieved by a successor. The ancient Jewish watches were three a night, the middle being at midnight. But just before Matthew wrote, the Jews had adopted the Roman custom of four watches of three hours each. These watches began at six, nine, twelve, and three, so that it was about three in the morning that our Lord made himself visible to his disciples. The disciples, starting from Butaiha toward Bethsaida, had toiled in rowing from eve until near morning, and had made but a little more than three miles from their starting place, having been driven southward, below the route to Capernaum, in the direction of the plain of Gennesaret. At three of the morning the dim form of Jesus walking upon the surface of the heaving billows is descried by the disciples in the ship. Stier eloquently says:

“What is that? they ask among themselves in terror; and the fear which now first breaks out in earnest, precisely when the helper comes, answers, It is an apparition, a phantasm; and when the terrifying word is spoken they cry out for fear. Is it a welcome from the Sheol, to which they fancy they are now near? This it cannot be, for the thing upon the sea assuredly looks like the Lord. It is more likely, therefore, to occur to them, that their excited imagination now morbidly deludes them with the figure of Him who has been so much in their thoughts — if, indeed, they have any definite idea at all of this phantasm. Man, in his present state, in the fear and perplexity of spirit which may so easily overtake him, sees apparitions; and takes even his Saviour, as he draws nigh in divine power, at first to be such. This, however, is always better than, in the opposite folly of boldness, to take a phantasm of his own thoughts as the Lord and Saviour.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And in the fourth watch of the night. Therefore some nine hours after sunset (ver. 23, note). They had been battling for hours, and had only gone about three miles and a half. (Joh_6:19) Jesus went; came (Revised Version); hlye , not aphlye , with Received Text. Unto them, walking on the sea (epi thlyassan); contrast ver. 26 (epi thv yalasshv). Here there is more thought of motion (cf. ver. 29), but in the next verse the advance is almost forgotten, and the fact of Christ being on the water is all-important; "they saw him on the sea, walking."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The fourth watch - The Jews (as well as the Romans) usually divided the night into four watches, of three hours each. The first watch began at six, the second at nine, the third at twelve, the fourth at three in the morning. If it be thou - It is the same as, Since it is thou. The particle if frequently bears this meaning, both in ours and in all languages. So it means, John xiii, 14, 17. St. Peter was in no doubt, or he would not have quitted the ship.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The miracle:

v. 25. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

v. 26. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

v. 27. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

Almost the entire night Jesus had spent in prayer, almost the entire night had His disciples struggled to reach the opposite shore. It was in the fourth and last watch of the night, between three and six in the morning, when the extreme darkness was dissolving into a gray dawn, that Jesus went out to them, walking along over the sea, on the water, as the evangelist says twice. The disciples, who were given to superstition, as were most of the Jews, were filled with the most extravagant fear, the dread of phantoms, ghosts, or spirits being very strong. They screamed for fear. But the calm voice of Jesus assures them. Thus the believers, as Luther says, in the midst of their tribulation, do not believe that God is God, but think He is a ghost come to frighten them and to destroy them, surrounded, as they are, by their troubles. But He will always prove to be the gracious and merciful Lord.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ having seen the distress of his disciples on the shore, he hastens to them on the sea. It was not a stormy and tempestuous sea that could separate betwixt him and them: he that waded through a sea of blood, and through a sea of wrath, to save his people, will walk upon a sea of water to succour and relieve them.

But observe, the time when Christ came to help them, not till the fourth watch, a little before the morning. They had been many hours upon the waters, conflicting with the waves, with their fears and danger. God oft-times lengthens out the troubles of his children before he delivers them; but when they are come to an extremity, that is the season of his succours. As God suffers his church to be brought into extremities before he helps her, so he will help her in extremity. In the fourth watch Jesus came, &c.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. In the fourth watch. The Jews, who used to divide the night into three watches, latterly adopted the Roman division into four watches, as here; so that, at the rate of three hours to each, the fourth watch, reckoning from six P.M., would be three o'clock in the morning. Jesus went to them. The Lord saw their trouble from his mountain-top, and through the darkness of the night, for his heart was all with them; yet would he not go to their relief till his own time came.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

In the fourth watch of the night

The fourth watch is between 3 a.m. and sunrise. AT: "Just before dawn"

walking on the sea

"walking on top of the water"

they were terrified

"they were very afraid"

ghost

a spirit that has left the body of a person who has died

translationWords

watch (biblical time)

Jesus

disciple

terror

fear

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

25, 26. The true reading ἐπὶ τὴν θάλ.… ἐπὶ τῆς θαλ. reverses the textus receptus. The change of case after ἐπί, and of the order of the participle, is suggestive: περιπ. ἐπὶ τὴν θάλ. ‘walking over the sea,’ ἐπὶ τῆς θαλ. περιπ. ‘upon the sea,’ (the wonder that first struck the disciples,) ‘walking,’ a secondary thought.

14, 22, 25. The subject Ἰησοῦς omitted, insertion due to lectionaries or marginal note.

25. τετάρτῃ δὲ φυλακῇ, i.e. early in the morning. Cp. ‘Et jam quarta canit venturam buccina lucem,’ Propert. IV. 4. 63. At this time the Jews had adopted the Greek and Roman custom of four night watches. Formerly they divided the night into three watches, or rather according to Lightfoot (Hor. Heb.) the Romans and Jews alike recognised four watches, but with the Jews the fourth watch was regarded as morning, and was not included in the three watches of ‘deep night.’ The four watches are named (Mar 13:35) 1 Even (ὀψέ), 2 Midnight (μεσονύκτιον), 3 Cockcrowing (ἀλεκτοροφωνίας), 4 Morning (πρωΐ). St John states that they had rowed 25 or 30 furlongs.

ἦλθεν πρὸς αὐτούς. Mark adds ‘He would have passed by them.’

ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν. ἐπὶ with accus. of motion over a surface, cp. ἐπὶ οἴνοπα πόντον ὁρᾶν περᾶν πλεῖν (Homer). See critical notes, supra.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25.] The fourth watch according to the Roman calculation, which was by this time common among the Jews (who themselves divided the night into three parts or watches). This would be,—near the vernal equinox which this was,—between three and six in the morning.

ἀπῆλθεν πρὸς αὐτ.] a mixed construction for ἀπῆλθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους καὶ ἦλθεν πρὸς αὐτ. The words περιπατ. ἐπὶ τὴν θάλ. (or τῆς θαλάσσης,—the gen. of the mere appearing on the spot, the accus. of motion,—over the sea. Webst. and Wilk. cite ἐπὶ πολλὰ ἀλήθην Od. ξ. 120,—ἐπʼ ἔννεα κεῖτο πέλεθρα Od. λ. 577) are common to the three Evangelists, and can have no other meaning here, than that the Lord walked bodily on the surface of the water. The passages commonly cited to shew that ἐπί with a gen. can mean ‘on the bank of,’ are not applicable here, being all after verbs of rest, not of motion. 4 Kings 2:7: Dan 8:2 Theod.: Joh 21:1. In ref. Job we read of the Almighty, ὁ τανύσας τὸν οὐρανὸν μόνος καὶ περιπατῶν ὡς ἐπʼ ἐδάφους ἐπὶ θαλάσσης. Mark adds καὶ ἤθελεν παρελθεῖν αὐτούς: John, καὶ ἐγγὺς τοῦ πλοίου γινόμενον. See notes on John.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. And at the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking over the sea.] Mk. has: “About the fourth watch of the night He cometh to them, walking on the sea (τῆς θαλάσσης), and wished to pass by them.” ἦλθεν for Mk.’s historic present ἔρχεται, as often. For the omission of Mk.’s last clause, see Introduction, p. xxxi. Mt. has ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν for Mk.’s ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης. Cf. 13:2 ἐπὶ τὸ́ αἰγιαλόν for Mk.’s ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; 15:35 ἀναπεσεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν for Mk.’s ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; and Introduction, p. xxix.

(M)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.