Matthew 4:24

Mat 4:24. His fame went through all Syria — Of which the country of the Jews and Samaritans was but a small part. Pliny tells us, that Syria contained several provinces, Comagene to the north, Phœnicia to the west, Cœlosyria to the south, Palmyrene, and the province of Seleucia, in the middle part. If, by all Syria, the evangelist means all these different provinces of Syria, our Lord’s fame must at this time have been exceedingly great. Nor is there any thing incredible in the evangelist’s affirmation, taken in the largest sense. For considering the number and greatness of the miracles which he performed, it would not have been beyond belief, had the historian told us that the fame of them reached as far as the communication of the Jews with the rest of the world extended. And they brought unto him those that were possessed with devils, and those lunatic, and those that had the palsy — These are justly reckoned cases of as great misery, and of as little hope, as any to be found among men. The evangelist, therefore, properly instanced these. And he healed them, and thereby wonderfully displayed both his power and his love.

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

4:24-25 During Jesus’ day, much of Palestine was in the Roman jurisdiction of Syria (a term that could refer to the entire eastern shore of the Mediterranean). Matthew mentions Syria to show how widespread the news of Jesus was. • The word translated epileptic refers to epilepsy or demonic oppression. In 17:15, one so described “falls into fire and water,” that is, the boy was unable to control himself. • The Ten Towns was a federation of ten cities, most of which were east of the Jordan and southeast of the Sea of Galilee (Damascus, Raphana, Hippos, Abila [or Canatha], Gadara, Scythopolis, Pella, Dion, Gerasa, and Philadelphia [Amman]). These cities were predominantly Gentile and Hellenistic in culture.

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

Mat 4:24. Ἀπῆλθεν, went out thence) sc. afar.—ἀκοὴ, fame) The LXX. frequently render שמעה[162] by ἀκοὴ.—Συρίαν, Syria) The province of which Palestine was considered a part.—ΠΡΟΣΉΝΕΓΚΑΝ ΑὐΤῷ, they brought unto Him) Even the Syrians did so.—τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας, those who were ill)[163] The miracles of Jesus Christ were performed for the good[164] of men.—See Joh 6:2; Mat 11:5; Act 10:38.—δαιμονιζομένους, possessed with devils) The sick and the possessed are frequently mentioned together.—See Act 5:16.

[162] שְׁמוּעָה and שְׁמֻעָה prop. that which heard: hence (1) a message, tidings, whether joyful or sorrowful, especially a message sent from God: hence (2), i.q. instruction, teaching doctrine; (3), rumour.—GESENIUS.—(I. B.)

[163] “Male habentes.”—(I. B.)

[164] Salutem, health or salvation—i.e, they were [with rare exceptions] miracles of mercy, the effect of which was to improve the condition of those on whom they were performed.—(I. B.)

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

Mat_4:24. Εἰς ὅλην τὴν Συρίαν] His reputation spread from Galilee into the whole province.

πάντας τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας] all the sufferers that there were. The following ποικίλ. νόσοις belongs not to κακῶς ἔχοντας (Syriac, Euth. Zigabenus), but to συνεχομένους.

νόσοις κ. βασάνοις] Sicknesses and torments.

The first is general, the last special.

καὶ δαιμον. καὶ σελην. κ. παραλυτ.] makes prominent three special kinds of what had previously been described in a general manner, so that the first καί is to be rendered: especially also, particularly also.

δαιμονιζομένους] according to the popular view, shared by the evangelist: possessed by demons (Mat_9:34, Mat_12:26), whose bodies had become the seat and organ of demoniacal working; δαιμόνιον is not a diminutive form, little devil (Ewald, Keim), but the neuter of δαιμόνιος as substantive. See Stallbaum, ad Plat. Ap. Socr. p. 27 f. They were real sick persons with diseases of a peculiar character (mania, epilepsy, delirium, hypochondria, paralytic condition, temporary dumbness), whose sufferings, being apparently inexplicable from physical causes, were believed to have their foundation not in an abnormal organization, or in natural disturbances of the physical condition, but in diabolical possessionthat is, in the actual indwelling of demoniac personalities, very many of which might even be counted in one sick person (Mar_5:9; Mar_16:9).[394] This belief, which is conceivable from the decay of the old theocratic consciousness and of its moral strength, which referred all misfortune to Gods sending, is, however, a belief which rendered healing possible only through the acceptance of the existing view leaving the idea itself untouched, but made it all the more certain for the Messiah, who has power over the kingdom of devils, and who now, in the pure manifestation of Jesus, accompanied with miraculous working, stood victoriously opposed to all diabolic power. Comp. Ewald, Jahrb. VII. p. 54 ff., also Bleek, Neander, p. 237 ff. If we assume, however, that Jesus Himself shared the opinion of His age and nation regarding the reality of demoniacal possession of the sick (Strauss, Keim, Weiss), we find ourselves in the dilemma of either being obliged again to set up the old doctrine upon the authority of Jesus, or of attributing to the latter an erroneous belief not by any means remote from the religious sphere, and only of a physiological kind, but of an essentially religious character, and which would be irreconcilable with the pure height of the Lords divine knowledge.

καὶ σελην. κ. παραλυτ.] Epileptics, whose sufferings, it was observed, increased as the month advanced (Wetstein), and sufferers from nervous diseases (Richter, de paralysi, 1775). Epilepsy also might be of such a kind as to be regarded as demoniacal sickness (Mat_17:15); here, however, is meant the form of sickness which is regarded as natural.

[394] After the old view of actual bodily possession of the sick had, after Balth. Becker (bezauberte Welt, iv. 5 ff.), Mead (medica sacra, ix.), Wetstein, been, especially by Semler (Comment. de daemoniacis, 1760, u. umständliche Untersuch. d. dämonischen Leute, 1762), successfully refuted, and had disappeared altogether (see also Timmermaim, de daemoniac. evangelior. 1786; Winzer, de daemonologia N. T., 1812, 1821), although attempts at its defence were not wanting (Storr, Opusc. I. p. 53 ff.; Eschenmayer, Mysticism, 1823; Jahn, Nachträge zu s. theol. Werken, 1821), the old view was again brought forward, partly before (v. Meyer, Bibeldut. p. 40 ff.; Olshausen on Mat_8:28, and others), partly after, the assaults of Strauss (Krabbe, Hoffmann, Ebrard, Arnoldi, Hofmann, Steinmeyer), and supported with more or less acuteness, and with turns of a partly obscure and evasive character, especially by means of comparisons with magnetism. Delitzsch, bibl. Psychol. p. 293 ff.; Ebrard in Herzogs Encykl. III. p. 240 ff. Not so, however, Lange, 11. 1, p. 285 ff., who, regarding the condition as a natural one, refers it to a nervous disease, having an elective affinity with demoniacal influences, which the patient as well as the people represented to himself as possession. By this the old view is not retained even in appearance. Against its tenability, however, irrespective of all objections of a physiological and medical kind, the following are decisive proofs: (1) The non-occurrence of demons in the O. T.; (2) the undisputed healing of the same by exorcists (Mat_12:27; Mar_9:38; Josephus, Antt. viii. 2. 5; Justin, c. Tryph. 85; Lucian. Philopseud. 16); as well as (3) the non-occurrence of reliable instances in modern times (? Justinus Kerner, Gesch. Besessener neuerer Zeit., Carlsruhe 1834), although the same sicknesses, which were deemed to be demoniacal, are common; and (4) the complete silence of John, which (comp. especially Luk_9:49) is the more eloquent the more essentially he also regards miraculous healing as belonging to the work of the Messiah, and the conquest of the devil as the Messiahs task. In John, moreover, diabolical possession is found mentioned (Mat_13:27), but not as the effect of physical sickness, but of spiritual domination and obduracy, the so-called obsessio spiritualis. Comp. Joh_7:28; Joh_8:48; Joh_10:20. Definite references to the expulsion of demons from the sick are wanting also in Pauls Epistles, although they might be included with others in 1Co_12:9. Observe, moreover, (5) the demoniacs were not at all filled with godless dispositions and anti-Christian wickedness, which, nevertheless, was necessarily to be expected as the result of the real indwelling of devils.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Weak and feeble men, who have the parts of their body loosed, and so weakened, that they are neither able to gather them up together, nor put them out as they would.

The word signifieth properly, the stone wherewith gold is tried: and by a borrowed kind of speech is applied to all kinds of examination by torture, when as by rough dealing and torments, we go about to draw out the truth of men, which otherwise they would not confess: and in this place it is taken for those diseases, which put sick men to great woe.

Which at every full Moon, or other changes of the Moon, are shrewdly troubled and diseased.

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

And his fame went throughout all Syria--reaching first to the part of it adjacent to Galilee, called Syro-Phœnicia (Mar 7:26), and thence extending far and wide.

and they brought unto him all sick people--all that were ailing or unwell. Those

that were taken--for this is a distinct class, not an explanation of the "unwell" class, as our translators understood it.

with divers diseases and torments--that is, acute disorders.

and those which were possessed with devils--that were demonized or possessed with demons.

and those which were lunatic--moon-struck.

and those that had the palsy--paralytics, a word not naturalized when our version was made.

and he healed them--These healings were at once His credentials and illustrations of "the glad tidings" which He proclaimed. After reading this account of our Lord's first preaching tour, can we wonder at what follows?

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 24. Sick people] Τους, κακως εχοντας, those who felt ill - were afflicted with any species of malady.

And torments] βασανοις, from βασανιζω, to examine by torture, such as cholics, gouts, and rheumatisms, which racked every joint.

Possessed with devils] Daemoniacs. Persons possessed by evil spirits. This is certainly the plain obvious meaning of daemoniac in the Gospels.

Many eminent men think that the sacred writers accommodated themselves to the unfounded prejudices of the common people, in attributing certain diseases to the influence of evil spirits, which were merely the effects of natural causes: but that this explanation can never comport with the accounts given of these persons shall be proved as the places occur.

Our common version, which renders the word, those possessed by devils, is not strictly correct; as the word devil, διαβολος, is not found in the plural in any part of the Sacred Writings, when speaking of evil spirits: for though there are multitudes of daemons, Mr 5:9, yet it appears there is but one DEVIL, who seems to be supreme, or head, over all the rest. διαβολος signifies an accuser or slanderer, 1Ti 3:11; 2Ti 3:3; Tit 2:3. Perhaps Satan was called so,

1st. because he accused or slandered God in paradise, as averse from the increase of man's knowledge and happiness, Ge 3:5; Joh 8:44; and

2dly. because he is the accuser of men, Re 12:9-10. See also Clarke on "Job 1:2".

The word comes from δια, through, and βαλλειν, to cast, or shoot, because of the influence of his evil suggestions; compared, Eph 6:16, to fiery darts; and thus it is nearly of the same meaning with οπειραζων, he who pierces through. See on Mt 4:3.

Lunatic] Persons afflicted with epileptic or other disorders, which are always known to have a singular increase at the change and full of the moon. This undoubtedly proceeds from the superadded attractive influence of the sun and moon upon the earth's atmosphere, as, in the periods mentioned above, these two luminaries are both in conjunction; and their united attractive power being exerted on the earth at the same time, not only causes the flux and reflux of the ocean, but occasions a variety of important changes in the bodies of infirm persons, of animals in general, but more particularly in those who are more sensible of these variations. And is this any wonder, when it is well known, that a very slight alteration in the atmosphere causes the most uncomfortable sensations to a number of invalids! But sometimes even these diseases were caused by demons. See on Mt 8:16; Mt 8:34, and Mt 17:15.

Palsy] Palsy is defined, a sudden loss of tone and vital power in a certain part of the human body. This may affect a limb, the whole side, the tongue, or the whole body. This disorder is in general incurable, except by the miraculous power of God, unless in its slighter stages.

He healed them.] Either with a word or a touch; and thus proved that all nature was under his control.

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

(24) Throughout all Syria.—The word is probably used popularly, rather than with the definite significance of the Roman province with which St. Luke uses it in Luk_2:2. Our Lord’s ministry, with the one exception of the journey to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon (Mat_15:21), was confined to what is commonly known as Palestine. Traces of the wider fame are, however, found in the mention of hearers from Idumæa, and Tyre, and Sidon among the crowds that followed Him (Mar_3:8); in the faith of the Syro-Phœnician woman in His power to heal (Mar_7:26); perhaps in the existence of disciples at Damascus so soon after the Ascension (Act_9:2); perhaps, also, in St. Peter’s appeal to the friends of Cornelius at Cæsarea, as knowing already the broad facts of our Lord’s ministry and miraculous working (Act_10:37).

Possessed with devils. . . . lunatick.—The phenomena of what is called possession, and the theories to which the phenomena have been referred, will best be discussed in dealing with the great representative instance of the Gadarene demoniacs (Mat_8:28). Here it will be enough to notice (1) that the word rendered “devil” is not the same as that used for the Tempter in 4:1, but “demon” in the sense of an evil spirit, (2) that the possessed with demons are at once grouped with the “lunaticks,” both exhibiting forms of mental disease, and distinguished from them. The latter term implies in the Greek, as in the Latin and our own, “moonstruck madness”—the belief that the moon exercised a disturbing influence on the brain (a coup de lune being dreaded by Eastern travellers almost as much as a coup de soleil), and that the intensity of the disturbance varied, when the disease had once set in, with the moon’s changes.

Those that had the palsy.—Here the word (literally, the paralytics) points, not to a view of the cause of the disease, but to its conspicuous phenomena—the want of muscular power to control motion, and the consequent “looseness,” in popular phraseology, of limbs or head.

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

24. throughout all Syria] The fame passes to the north and east, rather than to the south. Galilee is connected by trade and affinity with Damascus rather than with Jerusalem.

torments] The original Greek word signifies a “touch-stone,” then “torture,” the touch-stone of justice; then a disease that racks and agonizes the limbs like the torture which many a poor Galilean had experienced in the courts of law.

possessed with devils] The possession of the human soul by spiritual powers or beings is distinguished from ordinary diseases here, and also by St Luke, who, as a physician, is exact in his description of the various forms of disease. The distinguishing feature of such demoniacal possession may be described as the phenomenon of double consciousness. The occult spiritual power becomes, as it were, a second self, ruling and checking the better self. The Greek word in the text, lit. subject to a dæmon or dæmonion, has no precise English equivalent. The word “devil” should be confined to the translation of διάβολος, see note, ch. Mat_4:1. It is most unhappily used as a rendering of δαιμόνια in 1Co_10:20-21. In classical Greek the word is used of the divine voice which warned Socrates, and of the divine power or force which Demosthenes sometimes fancied to be hurrying on the Hellenic race in a fatal course.

those which were lunatick] Lit. affected by the moon; the changes of the moon being thought to influence mad persons. The passage is important as distinguishing dæmoniacal possession from lunacy.

The only special instance of curing a lunatic is recorded in ch. Mat_17:14-21 and in the parallel passages. The origin of mental disease may often be traced to licentious living. Observe the frequent instances of unclean spirits met with in these districts.

The Christian Church has followed her divine Founder’s example in this tendance of bodily ailment. The founding of hospitals and the care of the sick are distinguishing features of Christianity and among the most blessed fruits of it. A deeper respect for life and a deeper sense of purity have followed as necessary consequences.

It is contended by some that the “several house” of 2Ch_26:21 was a hospital. Possibly this was so, but the spirit of Judaism in this respect was not the spirit of Christianity. It may readily be acknowledged, however, that the Jews of the present day are the foremost in works of charity and tender regard for the sick.

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.

24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Ver. 24. And his fame went through all Syria] Fame followeth desert, as a sweet scent the rose. This gave occasion to the poets to feign that Achilles’ tomb was ever garnished with green amaranth. "A good name is better than great riches," saith Solomon, Pro 22:1. And if I can keep my credit, I am rich enough, saith the heathen. ( Ego si bonam famam servasso, sat dives ero. Plaut.) Blessing and good report are expressed by one and the same word in the Old Testament, to show what a blessing of God it is. And it could not but be a great comfort to David, that whatsoever he did pleased the people, 2Sa 3:36. Cicero saith that perfect glory consisteth in these three things: if the multitude love a man, if they will trust him, and if they hold him worthy of admiration, praise, and honour. (Offic. ii. 5.) Now none of these were wanting to our Saviour, as appeareth in his holy history, and as others have fully set forth. "Do worthily in Ephratah, and so be famous in Bethlehem," Rth 4:11.

And they brought unto him all sick people] All that were in ill case and taking: for, Si vales, bene est, If you are well I am well, saith one; and, Vita non est vivere, sed valere, Life is not to live, but influence, saith another. The Latins call a sick man aeger, which some derive of αι, αι, the voice of complaint and grief. And the Stoics when they affirmed that to live agreeable to nature is to live virtuously and valiantly, although the body be never so out of order, they perceived when their own turn came to be sick, saith Jerome, se magnificentius locutos esse quam verius, that they had spoken more trimly than truly.

That were taken with divers diseases and torments] That were besieged and hemmed in on every side, as by an enemy straitened and perplexed (συνεχομενους), so that they knew not whither to look, only their eyes were toward Christ.

Diseases and torments] As of those that are put upon the rack. Pharaoh was so when God extorted from him that confession, "I have sinned;" which (being gotten off) he soon bit in again. The word here used in the original (βασανος), properly signifieth the test or touchstone, wherewith gold is tried; and, by a borrowed kind of speech, is applied to all kind of examination, and (peculiarly) to inquisition by torture, to any pain or painful diseases, as of the palsy, lunacy, &c., in this text, and Mat 8:6. As also to the torments of hell, Luk 16:23, whereof sicknesses are but a beginning, a foretaste, a very typical hell to those that have not the fruits of their sickness. ( Morbos virtutum officinas vocat. Ambrosius.) And this "is all the fruits, even the taking away of their sin," Isa 27:9. I blush not to confess, saith a great divine of Scotland, that I have gained more sound knowledge of God and of myself in this sickness than ever I had before. ( Non erubesco profiteri, &c. Rolloc. apud. Melch. Adam.) Happy sickness, that draws the sick matter out of the soul. Physicians hold that in every two years there is such store of ill humours and excrements engendered in the body, that a vessel of one hundred ounces will scarcely contain them. Certain it is, there is a world of wickedness and superfluity of naughtiness (that bed of spiritual diseases) daily gathered and gotten together in the sin-sick soul: which therefore we must labour to purge out by the practice of mortification, lest God purge and whiten us to our sorrow by some sharp sickness, {Dan 11:35; Dan 12:10} he did Gehazi, whose white forehead had made him a white soul: his disease cured him, as some are of the opinion, 2Ki 5:27.

Possessed with devils] Such as whose minds and senses the devil perverted.

Those that were lunatic] Or such as had the falling sickness, as appeareth by those symptoms of this disease set down by St Matthew. {Mat 17:15} (Scultet. Exerc. Evang. ii. 12.) This is otherwise called Morbus Sacer Sacred disease. For the priests of old (that they might thereby enrich themselves) feigned that the gods tormented men with this, among other sudden and fearful diseases. (Becman, Orig. Ling. Latinae.)

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 his fame went throughout all Syria - It is not easy to fix the exact bounds of Syria in the time of our Saviour. It was, perhaps, the general name for the country lying between the Euphrates on the east, and the Mediterranean on the west; and between Mount Taurus on the north, and Arabia on the south. Through all this region his celebrity was spread by his power of working miracles; and, as might be expected, the sick from every quarter were brought to him, in the hope that he would give relief.

Those possessed with devils - Much difficulty exists, and much has been written respecting those in the New Testament said to be possessed with the devil. It has been maintained by many that the sacred writers only meant by this expression to denote those who were melancholy or epileptic, or afflicted with some other grievous disease. This opinion has been supported by arguments too long to be repeated here. On the other hand, it has been supposed that the persons so described were under the influence of evil spirits, who had complete possession of the faculties, and who produced many symptoms of disease not unlike melancholy, madness, and epilepsy. That such was the fact will appear from the following considerations:

Christ and the apostles spoke to them and of them as such; they addressed them, and managed them, precisely as if they were so possessed, leaving their hearers to infer beyond a doubt that such was their real opinion. Those who were thus possessed spake, conversed, asked questions, gave answers, and expressed their knowledge of Christ, and their fear of him things that certainly could not be said of diseases, Mat 8:28; Luk 8:27. The devils, or evil spirits, are represented as going out of the persons possessed, and entering the bodies of others, Mat 8:32. Jesus spake to them, and asked their name, and they answered him. He threatened them, commanded them to be silent, to depart, and not to return, Mar 1:25; Mar 5:8; Mar 9:25. Those possessed are said “to know Christ; to be acquainted with the Son of God,” Luk 4:34; Mar 1:24. This could not be said of diseases. The early fathers of the Church interpreted these passages in the same way. They derived their opinions probably from the apostles themselves, and their opinions are a fair interpretation of the apostles’ sentiments. If it is denied that Christ believed in such possessions, it does not appear why any other clearly-expressed sentiment of his may not in the same way be disputed. There is, perhaps, no subject on which he expressed himself more clearly, or acted more uniformly, or which he left more clearly impressed on the minds of his disciples.

Nor is there any absurdity in the opinion that those persons were really under the influence of devils. For:

It is no more absurd to suppose that an angel, or many angels, should have fallen and become wicked than that so many people should. It is no more absurd that Satan should have possession of the human faculties, or inflict diseases, than that people should do it a thing which is done every day. What is more common than for a wicked man to corrupt the morals of others, or, by inducing them to become intemperate, to produce a state of body and mind quite as bad as to be possessed with the devil? We still see a multitude of cases that no man can prove not to be produced by the presence of an evil spirit. Who would attempt to say that some evil being may not have much to do in the case of madmen? It afforded an opportunity for Christ to show his power over the enemies of himself and of man, and thus to evince himself qualified to meet every enemy of the race, and triumphantly to redeem his people. He came to destroy the power of Satan, Act 26:18; Rom 16:20-21.

Those which were lunatic - This name is given to the disease from the Latin name of the moon (Luna). It has the same origin in Greek. It was given because it was formerly imagined that the patient was affected by the increase or the decrease of the moon. The name is still retained, although it is certain that the moon has no effect on the disease. The disease is mentioned only in this place, and in Mat 17:15. It was probably the falling-sickness or epilepsy, the same as the disease mentioned Mar 9:18-20; Luk 9:39-40.

And those that had the palsy - Many infirmities were included under the general name of palsy in the New Testament.

The paralytic shock, affecting the whole body. The hemiplegy, affecting only one side of the body; the most frequent form of the disease. The paraplegy, affecting all the system below the neck. The catalepsy. This is caused by a contraction of the muscles in the whole or a part of the body, and is very dangerous. The effects are very violent and fatal. For instance, if, when a person is struck, he happens to have his hand extended, he is unable to draw it back; if not extended, he is unable to stretch it out. It gradually becomes diminished in size, and dried up in appearance. Hence, it was called the withered hand, Mat 12:10-13. The cramp. This, in Eastern countries, is a fearful malady, and by no means unfrequent. It originates from chills in the night. The limbs, when seized by it, remain unmovable, and the person afflicted with it resembles one undergoing a torture. This was probably the disease of the servant of the centurion, Mat 8:6; Luk 7:2. Death follows from this disease in a few days.

And he healed them - This was done evidently by miraculous power. A miracle is an effect produced by divine power above, or opposed to, what are regular effects of the laws of nature. It is not a violation of the laws of nature, but is a suspension of their usual operation, for some important purpose. For instance, the regular effect of death is that the body returns to corruption. The ordinary laws of chemistry had been suspended by the operation of life - a power superior to those laws, and producing new combinations of matter in the animal or vegetable organization. When life is extinct those laws act in their proper power, and the body is decomposed; that is, the materials of which it is composed, under chemical laws, return to their natural forms of gases and earths. When one who claims to be from God suspends that regular effect, and gives life to a dead body for some important purpose, it is a miracle. Such an effect is clearly the result of divine power. No other being but God can do it. When, therefore, Christ and the apostles exercised this power, it was clear evidence that God approved of their doctrines; that he had commissioned them; and that they were authorized to declare his will. He would not give this attestation to a false doctrine. Most or all of these diseases were incurable. When Christ cured them by a word, it was the clearest of all proofs that he was sent from heaven. This is one of the strong arguments for Christianity.

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

Many came to Christ to beg to be cured of their corporal infirmities; nor do we read o fa single one here, who came to be delivered from spiritual sickness. Our blessed Savior nevertheless, bearing with their imperfection, condescends to heal them, that he might thence take occasion of exciting their faith, and preparing them for their spiritual cure. (Jansenius) --- It is much to be regretted, that the conduct of Christians at the present day, is not more reasonable than that of the Jews here mentioned. If the Almighty, says the eloquent Masillon, had not the power or will of dispensing goods and evils, how small would be the number of those who would ever retire to the temple to present their petition to Him. (Haydock) --- Our Saviour asks not, if they believed, as he did on other occasions; they had given him sufficient proof, by bringing their sick from distant parts. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xiv.)

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).

Syria is said to be bounded on the north by Cilicia, by Egypt on the south, on the west with the sea, and on the east with Euphrates, and to comprehend within it all Judea, Bethany, Galilee, Decapolis, Samaria, Idumea, Palestina, Syrophoenicia, Syria of Damascus, and Syria of Antioch. Christ’s fame spread very far doubtless, because of the good he did, and the miracles he wrought, and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases: ‘all’ here again can signify no more than very many that were indisposed and ill affected as to their bodily health, those that were sick of, or detained in their beds or houses by, divers diseases. Though Christ showed his power in curing some diseases which physicians judge incurable, yet he showed his kindness also in relieving others not so fatally sick.

And torments; such as were troubled with great pains, as if they were upon racks, or in the hands of tormentors, that set themselves to torture them.

And those which were possessed with devils: of these sorts of persons we shall read often in the gospel: this is the first time we meet with the term. It is observed that in the Old Testament we read little of any such persons; (we read only of Saul’s being vexed with an evil spirit); we read much of them in the New Testament, and in ecclesiastical history for some years after Christ: they called them energumeni. Some think God, in those first times of the gospel, permitted the devil to this degree, that the power of our Saviour might be the more seen in casting them out, and in giving authority to his disciples to cast them out, which was a great demonstration of his Divinity. Others think that God did it for a demonstration of the error of the Sadducees, who held there were no spirits. The gospel seemeth to hint two sorts of these persons: some upon whom the devil had power no further than to rack and torture them, Mar 5:3-5; Luk 9:39; others in whom he dwelled bodily, and divined and prophesied in them, Act 16:16.

And those which were lunatic; affected with such diseases as use to increase in some times of the moon, or at such times to seize persons: of this nature we know divers, more particularly the falling sickness and dropsy.

And those that had the palsy, a disease caused by the resolution of the nerves. Those diseases are mentioned which men account hardest to be cured, if capable of cure by men: Christ, to show his Divine power, healed them. Christ did not only cure these bodily distempers, but he also preached the gospel of the kingdom to heal their soul distempers. We read of many who came to him for bodily cure, but of none that said to him: What shall we do to be saved? How sensible are men and women of their bodily pains and diseases, more than of their soul’s wants!

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. All Syria — The extent of the country of Syria cannot be defined with much exactness. The name was, perhaps, derived from Syr or Tyre, so that Syria is equivalent to Tyria. In its widest limits it seems to have comprehended all the country lying between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. The rumour of our Lord’s miracles was no doubt circulated with more or less clearness over all that land. The territory from which there came followers and bearers of invalids was of a much narrower extent, as defined in the following verse.

Diseases and torments — Diseases are those illnesses by which the body is enfeebled and the life consumed. Torments are those inflictions producing bodily torture and agony. Possessed with devils — That evil spirits are permitted, in some ages of gross wickedness, to possess men, has been the doctrine of the Church in all ages, until the cavils of some modern thinkers, more skeptical than wise, brought it in question. The word here rendered devils is more properly demons. Strictly speaking, there is but one devil, diabolus. He is called Satan, and is the prince of evil spirits or demons. Possession implies that the demon occupied the body of a man, like a second more powerful soul, controlled his mental faculties, spoke through his organs, and mastered his limbs. These phenomena might be combined with natural disease. A person enfeebled by malady might be the more easily overcome by the demon, and physical or mental derangements might invite his entrance. Especially maladies and corruption produced by vices and depravity might fit a man for demoniac possession; the demon might operate through his diseases, maliciously aggravate their symptoms, and increase their violence. But the possession and the disease were two distinct things. This appears from the preceding verse. Diseases, torments, lunacy, and palsy are all mentioned as separate afflictions, differing in nature from demoniac possession. Lunatic — This word is derived from luna, the moon. It signifies insane persons, whose case is supposed to be aggravated by the influence of the moon. The name remains as a simple term for insane persons after the belief in the influence of the moon has ceased. Its use does not imply at the present day, nor any more in the evangelist, any belief that the moon produces insanity. The most skeptical physician of the present day would not hesitate to use the word, apart from all reference to its etymology.

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

And his fame; Revised Version, and the report of him (h akoh autou). Our use of the word "fame" implies reputation and honour, which are not included under akoh . Went throughout all (ver. 23) Syria; Revised Version, went forth into; aphlyen eiv . The expression not merely means that the report spread far and wide, but that it went beyond the expected limits of the Holy Land into the whole of Syria, i.e. , probably, the Roman province with which Palestine was in some degree (Schurer, 1:2:46) incorporated. All sick people that were taken with divers diseases; Revised Version, grammatically, all that were sick, holden with, etc. Possibly, "all that were sick" is the genus of which the following expressions represent species; but Mat_8:16 and Mar_1:32-34 suggest that the words all to diseases refer to bodily diseases only. The arrangement would then be

(1) bodily diseases,

(a) ordinary (poikilaiv nosoiv),

(b) violent and painful eases (basanoiv);

(2) mental diseases,

(a) supernatural,

(b) natural;

(3) incurable, affecting the body also. And those which were possessed with devils. Weiss, "Life," 2. pp. 76-88 (especially against Meyer), points out that our Lord shared the belief in the reality of possession by evil spirits, and that therefore, though some of the current ideas may have been superstitious, there must have been a basis of truth in the belief. See by all means Trench on the healing of the Gadarene demoniacs. (Mat_8:28) And those which were lunatick; Revised Version, and epileptic being supposed to return and increase with the increase of the moon". (Thayer, s.v. selhniazesyai which occurs in the New Testament only here and in Mat_17:15)

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

Through all Syria - The whole province, of which the Jewish country was only a small part. And demoniacs - Men possessed with devils: and lunatics, and paralytics - Men ill of the palsy, whose cases were of all others most deplorable and most helpless.

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

possessed

(Greek - δαιμονίζομαι," demonized; (See Scofield "Mat 7:22").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The result was natural:

v. 24. And His fame went throughout all Syria. And they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them.

Throughout the Syrian country, most likely along the road frequented by caravans, the accounts of the Lord’s miraculous powers were spread. And so all those that were tormented or afflicted with any kind of ailment were brought to Christ by their relatives or friends. There is a formal catalog of diseases. There were minor painful disorders that required the touch of His healing hand. There were demoniacs, such as were subject to disease through the influence of unclean spirits; there were lunatics, or epileptics, upon whom changes in the sidereal bodies, especially the phases of the moon, had an ill effect; there were paralytics, those that were palsied as the result of nervous disorders and atmospheric changes. And of them all the evangelist has the same to say, telling it in just three words: "He healed them. " The power of the sickness had to yield before the omnipotence of the divine Healer.

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

Observe here, 1. That although our Savior’s doctrine needed no confirmation beyond his own authority, yet he was graciously pleased to exert the power of his godhead in working miracles for the establishment of our faith.

Observe, 2. That the miracles which Christ wrought were not judicial, but beneficial to mankind, Moses’ miracles were as great judgments as wonders; but Christ’s miracles were salubrious and healing, full of goodness and compassion, and very advantageous to the world: he dispossesed devils, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.

O blessed Savior! thy life in all instances was a life of universal serviceableness and beneficialness to all mankind.

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

24. His fame went through all Syria. The great Roman province north and east of Palestine, and, at the time of our Savior, including the latter. The cities of Damascus and Antioch were in the province. Possessed with devils. The word demon is the correct translation, and means an evil spirit. Persons were actually subject to the control of demons. Of this there is the following proof: (1) Supernatural strength (Mark 5:4). (2) Mind is not the source of blindness (Matt. 12:22). (3) Insanity cannot divine (Acts 16:17). (4) Demons knew Jesus (Mark 1:24). (5) Jesus addresses the demons (Matt. 8:32). (6) Demoniacs confess this control (Mark 5:9). (7) Apostles assert it (Luke 10:17). (8) Jesus admitted it (Matt. 12:28). (9) Peter assures use of it (Acts 10:38). Lunatics. Epileptics in the Revision.

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.

24. εἰς ὅλην τὴν Συρίαν. The fame passes to the north and east, rather than to the south. Galilee is connected by trade and affinity with Damascus rather than with Jerusalem.

βασάνοις … συνεχομένους. βάσανος is (1) a ‘touch-stone,’ the lapis Lydius by which the quality of gold and other metals was tested. The process is alluded to Herod. VII. 10. Cp. also Theognis 417, ἐς βάσανον δʼ ἐλθὼν παρατρίβομαι ὥστε μολίβδῳ | χρυσός. (2) Then ‘torture’ the touch-stone of justice, because no testimony was believed unless elicited by this means, comp. the same sequence of thought in the expression ‘to put to the question.’ (3) Hence a disease that racks and agonizes the limbs like the torture which many a poor Galilæan had experienced in the courts of law.

For the question of ‘demoniacal possession’ see ch. Mat 7:22.

συνέχειν is used specially of the pressure and constraint of disease and pain; cp. Luk 4:38, συνεχομένη πυρετῷ μεγάλῳ.

σεληνιαζομένους, ‘affected by the moon;’ the changes of the moon being thought to influence mad persons. The passage is important as distinguishing demoniacal possession from lunacy.

The only special instance of curing a lunatic is recorded in ch. Mat 17:14-21 and in the parallel passages, where the symptoms described are those of epilepsy. The origin of mental disease may often be traced to licentious living. Observe the frequent instances of unclean spirits met with in these districts.

The Christian Church has followed her divine Founder’s example in this tendance of bodily ailment. The founding of hospitals and the care of the sick are distinguishing features of Christianity and among the most blessed fruits of it. A deeper respect for life and a deeper sense of purity have followed as necessary consequences.

It is contended by some that the ‘several house’ of 2Ch 26:21 was a hospital. Possibly this was so, but the spirit of Judaism in this respect was not the spirit of Christianity. It may readily be acknowledged, however, that the Jews of the present day are the foremost in works of charity and tender regard for the sick.

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.

24. Συρίαν] Answering to ὅλην τὴν περίχωρον τῆς Γαλιλαίας, Mar 1:28. On βάσανος, see Lexx. Our word ‘trial’ has undergone a change of meaning very similar. On the δαιμονιζόμενοι see note on ch. 8:28. The σεληνιαζόμενοι were probably epileptics: see an instance in ch. 17:14 and ║.

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

24. Συρία] never occurs in Mk.—συνέχομαι] in this sense only here and in Lk. and Acts amongst the New Testament writers.—βάσανος of disease only here.—βασάνοις συνεχομέος] occurs in a different sense in 4 Mac 15:32.—δαιμουίζεσθαι] in this sense only in late writers.—παραλυτικός] a New Testament word, Mt. and Mk. Lk. (5:18, 24) and twice in Acts has παραλελυμένος—σεληνιαζομένος] i.e. epileptic, again in 17:15; a late and rare word.—καὶ ἐθεράπενσεν αὐτούς D a b c g1 h have καὶ πάντας ἐθεράπευσεν Cf. 8:16, 12:15, 14:36.

(E)

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