Matthew 9:15

Mat_9:15

Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn?

The joy of the Jesus circle

The children of the bride-chamber, how much this name tells us as to the spirit that reigns in the Jesus circle. Like a wedding party. This bliss was not an accident, or an affair of temperament. It was the natural effulgence of the new life imparted to those who joined the society of Jesus. Christ was a man of joy. He had

(1) the joy of his vocation.

(2) The joy of one whose religion is an original thing, a fountain of fresh intuitions of truth. Sweet after the routine of religious mechanism. Into these joys of Jesus the twelve more or less entered.

1. They had the joy of fresh religious intuitions.

2. The joy of spiritual freedom. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)

Right response to circumstances

Let there be liberty in God while there may; girding up in ourselves, by forced exercise and discipline, when there must; let the soul go by inspiration when the gale of the Spirit is in it, anti when it has any way stifled or lost the Spirit, let it put itself down upon duty by the will; when the Divine movement is upon it, let it have its festal day with the bridegroom, and when the better presence fades or vanishes, let it set itself to ways of self-compulsion, moving from its own human centre. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)

Liberty and Discipline

We may figure in a certain coarse analogy, that we live in a city having two supplies of water for its aqueduct: one upon high ground back of it, whence the water runs down freely along the inclinations of the surfaces; and the other in some lake or river on its front; whence, in case that fails, or the ducts give way, a supply is to be received by forcing, or the dead lift of the pump. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)

Spiritual espousals

With Messiah begins the holy union between the soul and God, so often declared by the prophets. The first hour of spiritual espousals must needs he one of joy. A sorrowful moment will soon come; there are sure tokens of it already in the malice of the rulers of the hierarchy, ready to break forth on every occasion. (E. de Pressense, D. D.)

Putting ourselves in position for God

The navigator of a ship does nothing for the voyage, save what he does by setting the ship to her courses, and her sails to the wind. A seed must have position, else it cannot grow; if it is laid on a rock, or buried in sand, or sunk in water, or frozen up in ice, it will be inert as a stone; but in good warm soil, and sun, and rain, and dew, it will quicken easily enough, because it is in position. A tree will die out of position, a clock will stop out of position, a plough wants holding, a saw wants guiding, a compass wants setting; nothing in the world works rightly that has not position given it. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:15 wedding guests . . . groom: John the Baptist had also described the Messiah and his disciples in this way (John 3:29), drawing on Old Testament imagery to reveal Jesus’ status (see Matt 25:1-13; Isa 54:5-6). • taken away: This is Jesus’ first prediction of his violent death (see Matt 16:21; 17:12, 22-23; 20:18-19; 26:2, 26-35; Isa 53:8). • then they will fast: Jesus may be referring to the disciples’ sorrow immediately after his crucifixion, or to the disciples’ lifestyle after his death and resurrection (see Acts 9:9; 13:2-3; 14:23; 27:9, 33).

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

Mat 9:15. Καὶ, and) Our Lord replies calmly and cheerfully: He draws joyful parables from the garments and the wine (which were being employed in the Feast) to condemn the sadness of those who questioned Him.—οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ νυμφῶνος, the children of the bridechamber) The companions of the bridegroom.[415] Parables and riddles are suited to feasts and nuptials, and are employed to illustrate this nuptial period.[416]—πενθεῖν, to mourn) Mourning and fasting are joined together.—ἐλεύσονται, shall come) He means His departure, which should take place at a future period.—καὶ τότε, and then) Neither before nor after.[417]—νηστεύσουσιν, they shall fast) necessarily and willingly.[418]

[415] The Bridegroom Himself, if you except the forty days in the wilderness. is nowhere recorded as having fasted.—V. g.

[416] Bengel means to say, the period when our Lord was with His disciples.—(I. B.)

[417] Bengel means, neither whilst the Bridegroom was with the Church on earth, nor when the Church should be with the Bridegroom in heaven.—(I. B.)

[418] This is the very characteristic aspect of Christianity: At one time is the nuptial and festive season; at another time, the season for fasting and sorrow.—V. g.

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

Mat_9:15. Οἱ υἱοὶ (Mat_8:12) τοῦ νυμφῶνος] (of the bride chamber, Joe_2:16; Tob_6:16; Heliod. vii. 8) are the παρανύμφιοι, the friends of the bridegroom, who amid singing and playing of instruments conducted the bride, accompanied by her companions, to the house of her parents-in-law and to the bride-chamber, and remained to take part in the wedding feast, which usually lasted seven days. Pollux, Onom. Mat_3:3; Hirt, de paranymph. ap. Hebr. 1748; on the Greek παρανυμφίοι, consult Hermann, Privatalterth. § 31, 18. Meaning of the figure: So long as my disciples have me with them, they are incapable of mourning (fasting being the expression of mourning): when once I am taken from themand that time will inevitably comethen they will fast to express their sorrow. Christ, the bridegroom of His people until His coming, and then the marriage; see on Joh_3:29. It is to be observed that this is the first occasion in Matthew on which Jesus alludes to His death, which from the very first He knew to be the divinely-appointed and prophetically-announced climax of His work on earth (Joh_1:29; Joh_2:19; Joh_3:14), and did not come to know it only by degrees, through the opposition which he experienced; while Hase, Wittichen, Weizsäcker, Keim, postpone the certainty of His having to suffer deaththe latter, till that day at Caesarea (chap. 16); Holsten even puts it off till immediately before the passion; see, on the other hand, Gess, op. cit., p. 253 ff.

The τότε, which has the tragic emphasis of a sorrowful future (Bremi, ad Lys. p. 248, Goth.), expresses only the particular time specified, and not all time following as well, and while probably not condemning fasting in the church, yet indicating it to be a matter in which one is to be regulated, not by legal prescriptions (Mat_9:16 f.), but by personal inclination and the spontaneous impulses of the mind. Comp. Mat_6:16 ff.

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.

Mat 9:15 . καὶ εἶπεν : The question drew from Jesus three pregnant parabolic sayings: bright, genial, felicitous impromptus; the first a happy apology for His disciples, the other two the statement of a general principle. οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ νυμφῶνος . The mere suggestion of this name for the disciples explains all. Paranymphs, friends of the bridechamber, companions of the bridegroom, who act for him and in his interest, and bring the bride to him. How can they be sad ( μὴ δύνανται πενθεῖν )? The point to note is that the figure was apposite . The life of Jesus and His disciples was like a wedding feast they the principal actors. The disciples took their tone from the Master, so that the ultimate fact was the quality of the personal piety of Jesus. Therein lay the reason of the difference commented on. It was not irreligion, as in the case of the careless; it was a different type of religion, with a Father-God, a kingdom of grace open to all, hope for the worst, and spiritual spontaneity. ἐλεύσονται ἡμέραι . While the Bridegroom is with them life will be a wedding feast; when He is taken from them it will make a great difference; then ( τότε ) they will grieve, and therefore fast: a hidden allusion to the tragic end foreseen by Jesus of this happy free life, the penalty of breaking with custom.

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

An Hebrew kind of speech, for they that are admitted into a marriage chamber are as the nearest about the bridegroom.

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

Verse 15. Can the children of the bride-chamber] νυμφωνος. Or, νυμφιου, bridegroom, as the Cod. Bezae and several versions have it. These persons were the companions of the bridegroom, who accompanied him to the house of his father-in-law when he went to bring the bride to his own home. The marriage-feast among the Jews lasted seven days; but the new married woman was considered to be a bride for thirty days. Marriage feasts were times of extraordinary festivity, and even of riot, among several people of the east.

When the bridegroom shall be taken from them, c.] There was one annual fast observed in the primitive Church, called by our ancestors [Anglo-Saxon] the spring fast, and, by us, LENT by the Greeks τεσσερακοστη, and by the Latins, Quadrigessima. This fast is pretended to be kept by many, in the present day, in commemoration of our Lord's forty days' fast in the wilderness; but it does not appear that, in the purest ages of the primitive Church, genuine Christians ever pretended that their quadrigessimal fast was kept for the above purpose. Their fast was kept merely to commemorate the time during which Jesus Christ lay under the power of death, which was about FORTY HOURS; and it was in this sense they understood the words of this text: the days will come, c. With them, the bridegroom meant Christ: the time in which he was taken away, his crucifixion, death, and the time he lay in the grave. Suppose him dying about twelve o'clock on what is called Friday, and that he rose about four on the morning of his own day, (St. John says, Early, while it was yet dark, Mt 20:1,) the interim makes forty hours, which was the true primitive Lent, or quadrigessimal fast. It is true that many in the primitive Church were not agreed on this subject, as Socrates, in his Church History, book v. chap. 22, says, "Some thought they should fast one day others two; others more." Different Churches also were divided concerning the length of the time, some keeping it three, others five, and others seven weeks; and the historian himself is puzzled to know why they all agreed in calling these fasts, differing so much in their duration, by the name of Quadrigessima, or forty days' fast: the plain obvious reason appears to me to have been simply this: They put DAYS in the place of HOURS; and this absurdity continues in some Christian Churches to the present day. For more on fasting, See Clarke on Mt 6:16.

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

(15) Can the children of the bridechamber mourn?—The words were full of meaning in themselves, but they only gain their full significance when we connect them with the teaching of the Baptist recorded in Joh_3:29. He had pointed to Jesus as “the Bridegroom.” He had taught them that the coming of that Bridegroom was the fulfilling of his joy. Would he have withdrawn from the outward expression of that joy?

The children of the bridechamber—i.e., the guests invited to the wedding. The words implied, startling as that thought would be to them, that the feast in Matthew’s house was, in fact, a wedding-feast. His disciples were at once the guests of that feast individually; and collectively they were the new Israel, the new congregation or Ecclesia, which was, as our Lord taught in parable (Mat_22:2), and St. Paul directly (Eph_5:25-27), and St. John in apocalyptic vision (Rev_19:7; Rev_21:2), the bride whom He had come to make His own, to cleanse, and to purify.

The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them.—Noteworthy as the first recorded intimation in our Lord’s public teaching (that in Joh_3:14 was less clear until interpreted by the event, and was addressed to Nicodemus, and perhaps to him only, or, at the furthest, to St. John) of His coming death. The joy of the wedding-feast would cease, and then would come the long night of expectation, till once again there should be the cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh” (Mat_25:6).

Then shall they fast.—The words can hardly be looked on as a command imposing fasting as a formal obligation, but, beyond all doubt, they sanction the principle on which fasting rests. The time that was to follow the departure of the Bridegroom would be one of sorrow, conflict, discipline, and at such a time the self-conquest implied in abstinence was the natural and true expression of the feelings that belonged to it. So the Christian Church has always felt; so it was, as the New Testament records, in the lives of at least two great apostles, St. Peter (Act_10:10) and St. Paul (2Co_11:27). So far as it goes, however, the principle here asserted is in favour of fasts at special seasons of sorrow rather than of frequent and fixed fasts as a discipline, or meritorious act. In fixing her days of fasting, the Church of England, partly guided perhaps by earlier usage, has at least connected them with the seasons and days that call specially to meditation on the sterner, sadder side of truth.

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

15. the children of the bridechamber] See note, Mat_9:6. “The children of the bridechamber” were the bridegroom’s friends or groomsmen who went to conduct the bride from her father’s house (see note, ch. Mat_25:1). The procession passed through the streets, gay with festive dress, and enlivened with music and joyous shouts, and with the brilliant light of lamps and flambeaux. With the same pomp and gladness the bride was conducted to her future home, where the marriage-supper was prepared.

the bridegroom] The Jews symbolized the “congregation” or “church” by the image of a bride. Jesus sets himself forth as the Bridegroom of the Christian Church. See Herschell, Sketch of the Jews, pp. 92–97.

shall be taken from them] For the first time Jesus alludes to His death.

then shall they fast] Herschell (quoted in Scripture Manners and Customs) observes that many Jews who keep voluntary fasts, if invited to a marriage are specially exempted from the observance of them. Jesus first gives a special answer to the question about fasting. There is a time of sorrow in store for my disciples when fasting will have a real meaning, now in my presence they can but rejoice. Note that fasting and mourning are regarded as quite synonymous. This they are to the perfectly sincere only. The words of Jesus are true also of Christian experience. There are joyous times when the presence of Christ is felt to be near. Then fasting would be out of harmony. But there are also seasons of despondency and depression, when Christ seems to be taken away, when fasting is natural and appropriate.

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.

No man putteth a piece of new cloth,.... These words are, by Luk 5:36 called a "parable", as are those in the following verse; and both are commonly interpreted of the unreasonableness and danger of putting young disciples upon severe exercises of religion, as fasting, &c: and it is true, that young converts are to be tenderly dealt with, as they are by Father, Son, and Spirit, as the disciples were by Christ, and the first Christians were by the apostles: and some things in these parables may seem to agree; as that these austerities should be represented as "new", and as burdensome and troublesome, and the disciples as weak, and easily staggered: but then there are others that will not bear; as that the disciples should be compared to "old garments, and old bottles"; when they were "young" converts, and men "renewed" by the Spirit and grace of God, and had on the beautiful robe of Christ's righteousness; and that such severe exercises, under the notion of religion, should be signified by "new wine", which generally designs something pleasant and agreeable: nor were the disciples unable to bear such severities, who very probably had been trained up in them, and been used to them before their conversion; and could now as well have bore them as John's disciples, or the Pharisees, had they been proper and necessary; but the true reason why they were not required of them, was not their weakness, or danger of falling off, and perishing, of which there were none; but because it was unsuitable to their present situation, the bridegroom being with them. But our Lord, in this parable of putting "a piece of new", or "undressed cloth", such as has never passed through the fuller's hands, and so unfit to mend with,

unto an old garment, refers not only to the fastings of the Pharisees, but to their other traditions of the elders, which they held; as such that respected their eating, drinking, and conversing with other persons mentioned in the context, and which observances they joined with their moral performances; on account of which, they looked upon themselves as very righteous persons, and all others as sinners: and to expose their folly, Christ delivers this parable. Wherefore, by "the old garment", I apprehend, is meant their moral and legal righteousness, or their obedience to the moral and ceremonial laws, which was very imperfect, as well as impure, and might be rightly called "filthy rags"; or be compared to an old worn out garment, filthy and loathsome, torn, and full of holes, which cannot keep a person warm, nor screen him from the weather, and so old that it cannot be mended. And by the "piece of new cloth", or "garment", put unto it, or sewed upon it, are intended the traditions of the elders, these men were so fond of, concerning eating, and drinking, and fasting, and hundreds of other things, very idle and trifling, and which were new and upstart notions. Now, by putting, or sewing the new cloth to their old garment, is designed, their joining their observance of these traditions to their other duties of religion, to make up a justifying righteousness before God; but in vain, and to no purpose. Their old garment of their own works, in obedience to the laws of God, moral and ceremonial, was full bad enough of itself; but became abundantly worse, by joining this new piece of men's own devising to it;

for that which is put in to fill it up, taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse: their new obedience to the traditions of men, making void the law of God, instead of mending, marred their righteousness, and left them in a worse condition than it found them: and besides, as it is in Luke, "the piece that was taken out of the new, agreeth not with the old"; there being no more likeness between the observance of the commandments of men, and obedience to the laws of God, than there is between a piece of new undressed cloth, that has never been washed and worn, and an old worn out garment. Much such a foolish part do those men under the Gospel dispensation act, who join the righteousness of Christ, or a part of it, with their own, in order to make up a justifying righteousness before God; for Christ's righteousness is the only justifying righteousness; it is whole and perfect, and needs nothing to be added to it, nor can it be parted, any more than his seamless coat was; nor a piece taken out of it: nor is there any justification by works, either in whole or in part; the old garment of man's righteousness must be thrown away, in point of justification; it cannot be mended in such a manner; and if any attempts are made in this way, the rent becomes worse: such persons, instead of being justified, are in a worse condition; for they not only set up, and exalt their own righteousness, which is criminal, but disparage the righteousness of Christ as imperfect, by joining it to their's; and whilst they fancy themselves in a good state, are in a most miserable one; harlots and publicans being nearer the kingdom of heaven than these, and enter into it before them; self-righteous persons are more hardly, and with greater difficulty convinced, than such sinners. Moreover, nothing is more disagreeable than such a patch work; Christ's righteousness and a man's own bear no likeness to one another; and such a patched garment must ill become the character and dignity of a saint, a child of God, an heir of heaven.

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

15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

Ver. 15. And Jesus said unto them] He makes apology for his accused disciples; so doth he still at the right hand of his heavenly Father, nonsuiting all accusations brought against us, as our advocate, {a} 1Jn 2:1, appearing for us as the lawyer doth for his client, Heb 9:24, opening his case and pleading his cause. He helpeth us also to make apology for ourselves to God, 2Co 7:11, and expecteth that, as occasion requires, we should make apology one for another, when maligned and misreported by the world.

Can the children of the bridechamber, &c.] Our Saviour seeing them to sin by infirmity, and by the instigation of the Pharisees, who with their leaven had somewhat soured and seduced them in their master’s absence, deals gently with them; to teach us what to do in like case. A Venician glass must be otherwise handled than an earthen pitcher or goblet: some must be rebuked sharply, severely, cuttingly, {b} Tit 1:13; but of others we must have compassion, making a difference, Jdg 1:22.

Mourn as long as the bridegroom, &c.] Mourn as at funerals (so the word signifieth). This were incongruous, unseasonable, and unseemly at a feast. It was a peevishness in Samson’s wife that she wept at the wedding; since that is the day of the rejoicing of a man’s heart, as Solomon hath it, Son 3:11. Now Christ is the Church’s spouse. He hath the bride, and is the bridegroom, as their master the Baptist had taught them, Joh 3:29, and rejoiceth over every good soul, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, Isa 62:5. Should not the saints therefore reciprocate?

But the days will come] Our Saviour suffered much, even many a little death, all his life long; and yet, till his passion, he accounts himself to be, as it were, in the bride chamber. Then it was especially that he alone trod the winepress, and was roasted alive in the fire of his Father’s wrath, &c.

When the bridegroom shall be taken from them] As now your master the Baptist is from you; a just argument and occasion of your grief and fasting, if possibly you may beg him of God out of the hands of Herod. When the Duke of Bourbon’s captains had shut up Pope Clement VIII in the castle St Angelo, Cardinal Wolsey being shortly after sent ambassador beyond seas to make means for his release; as he came through Canterbury toward Dover, he commanded the monks and the choir to sing the litany after this sort, Sancta Maria, ora pro papa nostro Clemente. Himself also, being present, was seen to weep tenderly for the pope’s calamity. Shall superstition do that which religion cannot bring us to? Shall we not turn again unto the Lord with fasting, weeping, and mourning, if for nothing else, yet that our poor brethren may find compassion? which is Hezekiah’s motive to the people, 2Ch 30:9.

And then shall they fast] Note here, 1. That fasting is not abolished with the ceremonial law, but still to be used as a duty of the gospel. 2. That times of heaviness are times of humiliation. 3. That our halcyons here are but as marriage feasts, for continuance; they last not long; never look for it.

{a} παρακλητον, in full opposition to κατηγορος, the accuser of the brethren, Rev 12:10.

{b} αποτομως. Tremel., dure. Beza, praecise, rigide. Erasm, severe, et ad vivum, πενθειν.

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.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Filii sponsi, Greek: uioi tou numphonos, so filius pacis, filius mortis, &c.

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).

15. Children of the bride-chamber — These were the attendant young comrades of the bridegroom, who assisted in the festivities of the wedding. Bridegroom — When the bridegroom should come to the house of the bride’s father the wedding would proceed, and the hilarity would begin.

See notes on Mat_25:1-13. Christ is the glorious bridegroom who has come. He who was just now the physician for the sick, and so the source of health, is now the bridegroom for the anxious waiters, and so the source of joy. His disciples are the bridegroom’s friends. Theirs is not the part of the Old Testament tarriers for his coming; they belong to a gladder dispensation; they proclaim a Saviour come. Bridegroom shall be taken — The Saviour shall disappear. Then shall they fast — Sorrow then shall be for his absence and for our distance from him, which shall sober the joy even of this dispensation; but never a stern sadness which forgets that the Saviour has come, and that in spirit he is here evermore. The sentiment, then, stripped of its symbols, is this: My disciples refuse to fast, in order to show that they belong to the new and joyous dispensation; yet after my departure Christians shall ever feel the sorrow of a distance from me temper the joy of my having come.

Mr. Roberts remarks, in his illustrations, that when a man is gloomy and stern in the midst of surrounding joy, or upon some occasion demanding hilarity, his neighbour in the East would be apt to say: “What, do people weep in the house of marriage? Is it a funeral or a marriage you are going to celebrate?” Does a person go to cheer his friend, he says, on entering the house, “I am come this day to the house of marriage.”

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

And Jesus said unto them, Can. It is a moral impossibility. (Mat_6:24) The children (sons, Revised Version) of the bride-chamber (oi uioi tou numfwnov). Edersheim ("Life," etc., 1:663) points out that these are not the shoshbenim, the friends of the bridegroom, who conducted the bride with music, etc., to the house of her parents-in-law, and to the bride-chamber, and who naturally remained to take part in the wedding feast; for

(1) the custom of having shoshbenim prevailed in Judaea, but not in Galilee;

(2) Talm. Jeremiah, "Succah," expressly distinguishes between the two terms: "Those who are shoshbenim, and all the sons of the bride-chamber, are free from the obligation of booths (ynb lkw nyb hkws s yrwfp hpwj)." They appear to be those, invited by either party, who come to take part in the wedding festivities. They are, therefore, in full sympathy with bridegroom and bride, and, like them, cannot but rejoice. Mourn; parallel passages, "fast," but Matthew"s word, as less closely connected with the cause of the objection raised, seems the more original. As long as the bridegroom is with them? Nosgen sees in this a claim to be the expected Bridegroom of Israel. (Hos_2:19, 20 Jer_3:1-14 Eze_16:8) But the days will come. Christ speaks with prophetic assurance of the coming of such a time (eleusontai de hmerai). Observe his consciousness alike of his position and of what is coming upon him. When the bridegroom shall be taken (away, Revised Version) from them. His removal shall be effected, not by his own action, but by external agents (aparyh). In these unsettled times, with their frequent though mostly unimportant popular risings, it cannot have been a very unusual thing for the bridegroom to be carried off, not indeed before the consummation of the marriage, but before the end of the week of festivities. And then shall (will, Revised Version; there is no trace of a command, Christ is but stating a fact) they fast. Christ here endorses the principle of Christian fasts, (cf. Mat_6:16) but regards them as springing; not from any legal obligation, but flora personal grief, in this case at his absence. (cf. Joh_14:23 Joh_16:20) The only later passages in the New Testament where Christian fasting is mentioned, are Act_13:2, 3 2Co_6:5 2Co_11:27. In the "Didache," we have the earliest formal recognition or" it as a practice. It is there forbidden to fast on the same days as the Pharisees. Observe that this verse was understood in Tertullian"s time as expressly commanding a fast during the forty hours in which our Lord was in the grave ("De Jejun.," and that, from Irenseus"s expression in Eusebius ("Ch. Hist.," 5:24), this fast had been kept almost from apostolic times.

Moods of religious life.

The immediate connection of our Lord"s words should be noticed. His answer is sufficient for the occasion, but it carries deeper and wider applications. Whenever the soul is full of the felt presence of God, it can go by itself, in gladness and freedom, without any fastings or forcings of will. But when the sense of God"s presence is lost, the soul should gird itself up, in sacrifice and self-discipline, to win back the lost blessedness.

I THE BRIDEGROOM"S PRESENCE, AND THE STATE OF FEELING AND CONDUCT SUITABLE TO IT. The disciples had Christ present in human body. We envy them the material realization; it was a bridal-time. And yet the inward sense of Christ"s presence is a higher and better thing. (Illustrate from Longfellow"s "Footsteps of Angels.") Though we have, as we say, only the spiritual presence of Christ, we are not left without both inward and outward signs of the reality of that presence.

Inward.

(1) Rest of soul;

(2) freedom from doubts and fears;

(3) communion of spirit with spirit.

Outward.

(1) Vigour and energy in the efforts to live a right life;

(2) pleasure in scenes that help to communion with Christ;

(3) love of the brethren.

What is suitable to the Bridegroom"s presence? No mournings; no lastings; no forcings of will. The soul is moved freely by inward inspirations. We should feel the "liberty of love;" a quiet, intense joy, finding expression according to disposition.

II THE BRIDEGROOM"S ABSENCE, AND THE STATE OF FEELING AND CONDUCT SUITABLE TO IT. "Then they fast." Illustrate, condition of disciples between Ascension and Pentecost. For us Christ is never absent in fact; he may be in feeling. Though matter of feeling only, we are not left without signs of the absence. Especially in lost impulse to goodness. (Illustrate, failing vitality in the body.) What is suitable to the Bridegroom"s absence? Apply to those who feel the Bridegroom is gone, and:

1. Do not even mourn. (Illustrate, John Bunyan"s "Holy War," Mansoul hardened.)

2. Only mourn. Mansoul sorrowing.

3. Fast as well as mourn. Mansoul putting away its evils, sitting in sackcloth, and sending messages after the lost prince. Are we jealous, as we should be, about keeping ever with us the sense of the Bridegroom"s presence? R.T.

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

The children of the bride chamber - The companions of the bridegroom. Mourn - Mourning and fasting usually go together. As if he had said, While I am with them, it is a festival time, a season of rejoicing, not mourning. But after I am gone, all my disciples likewise shall be in fastings often.

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

15. The children of the bride-chamber mourn. The friends of the bridegroom, for the bride was brought to his father's house. Fasting was usually a sign of sorrow. He was himself the Bridegroom, and still with his disciples. When the bridegroom will be taken from them. An allusion especially to the crushing sorrow when he was crucified and buried. Real fasting takes place when there is real occasion for it. See Acts 13:2; 14:23; 2 Cor. 6:5; 11:27.

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.

15. οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ νυμφῶνος. See note, Mat 9:6. ‘The children of the bridechamber’ were the bridegroom’s friends or groomsmen who went to conduct the bride from her father’s house (see note, ch. Mat 25:1). The procession passed through the streets, gay with festive dress, and enlivened with music and joyous shouts, and with the brilliant light of lamps and flambeaux. With the same pomp and gladness the bride was conducted to her future home, where the marriage-supper was prepared.

ὁ νυμφίος. The Jews symbolised the ‘congregation’ or ‘church’ by the image of a bride. Jesus sets himself forth as the Bridegroom of the Christian Church. See Herschell, Sketch of the Jews, pp. 92–97.

ὅταν ἀπαρθῇ. For the first time in this gospel Jesus alludes to his death.

νηστεύσουσιν. Herschell (quoted in Scripture Manners and Customs) observes that many Jews who keep voluntary fasts, if invited to a marriage are specially exempted from the observance of them. Jesus first gives a special answer to the question about fasting. There is a time of sorrow in store for my disciples when fasting will have a real meaning, now in my presence they can but rejoice. Note that fasting and mourning are regarded as quite synonymous. This they are to the perfectly sincere only. The words of Jesus are true also of Christian experience. There are joyous times when the presence of Christ is felt to be near. Then fasting would be out of harmony. But there are also seasons of despondency and depression, when Christ seems to be taken away, when fasting is natural and appropriate.

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.

15.] πενθεῖν = νηστεύειν Mark and Luke. The difference of these two words is curiously enough one of Greswell’s arguments for the non-identity of the narratives. Even if there were any force in such an argument, we might fairly set against it that ἀπαρθῇ is common to all three Evangelists, and occurs no where else in the N.T.

ὁ νυμφίος] This appellation of Himself had from our Lord peculiar appropriateness as addressed to the disciples of John. Their master had himself said (Joh 3:29) ὁ ἔχων τὴν νύμφην, νυμφίος ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ φίλος τοῦ νυμφίου ὁ ἑστηκὼς καὶ ἀκούων αὐτοῦ, χαρᾷ χαίρει διὰ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ νυμφίου. αὕτη οὖν ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ πεπλήρωται.

Our Lord in calling Himself the Bridegroom, announces the fulfilment in Him of a whole cycle of O.T. prophecies and figures: very probably with immediate reference to Hos_2, that prophet having been cited just before: but also to many other passages, in which the Bride is the Church of God, the Bridegroom the God of Israel. See especially Isa 54:5-10 Heb. and E. V. As Stier (Reden Jesu, i. 320, edn. 2) observes, the article here must not be considered as merely introduced on account of the parable, as usual elsewhere, but the parable itself to have sprung out of the emphatic name, ὁ νυμφίος. The υἱοὶ τοῦ νυμφῶνος are more than the mere guests at the wedding: they are the bridegroom’s friends who go and fetch the bride.

ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμ.] How sublime and peaceful is this early announcement by our Lord of the bitter passage before Him! Compare the words of our Christian poet: ‘measuring with calm presage the infinite descent.’ (Wizenmann mag dabei wohl fragen:, Welcher Mensch hat je fo ruhig, so lieblich von einer solchen Hõhe in eine solche Jiefe geschaut?’ Stier, Reden Jesu, i. 322.)

ὅταν ἀπ.] when the Bridegroom shall have been taken from them: when His departure shall have taken place.

καὶ τότε ν.] These words are not a declaration of a duty, or of an ordinance, as binding on the Church in the days of her Lord’s absence: the whole spirit of what follows is against such a Supposition: but they declare, in accordance with the parallel word πενθεῖν, that in those days they shall have real occasion for fasting; sorrow enough; see Joh 16:20:—a fast of God’s own appointing in the solemn purpose of His will respecting them, not one of their own arbitrary laying on. This view is strikingly brought out in Luke, where the question is, Can ye ποιῆσαι νηστεύειν the children, &c., i.e. by your rites and ordinances? but, &c. and τότε νηστεύσουσιν: there is no constraint in this latter case: they shall (or better, they will) fast. And this furnishes us with an analogous rule for the fasting of the Christian life: that it should be the genuine offspring of inward and spiritual sorrow, of the sense of the absence of the Bridegroom in the soul,—not the forced and stated fasts of the old covenant, now passed away. It is an instructive circumstance that in the Reformed Churches, while those stated fasts which were retained at their first emergence from Popery are in practice universally disregarded even by their best and holiest sons,—nothing can be more affecting and genuine than the universal and solemn observance of any real occasion of fasting placed before them by God’s Providence. It is also remarkable how uniformly a strict attention to artificial and prescribed fasts accompanies a hankering after the hybrid ceremonial system of Rome.

Meyer remarks well that τότε refers to a definite point of time, not to the whole subsequent period.

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

(M) 15. And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast].—υἱοὶ τοῦ νυμφῶνος] Hebrew בני חפה, Aramaic בני גננא. The guests at a wedding, in particular, the friends of the bridegroom.—πενθεῖν] Mk. has νηστεύειν. πενθεῖν is probably due to a desire to avoid iteration of the same word.—ἐφʼ ἕσον] for Mk.’s ἐν ᾦ, to compensate for the omission of ὄσον χρόνον in the next clause of Mt. The ὅσον is necessary to suggest that amongst the Jews the wedding festivities might last for some days.—μετʼ αὐτῶν ἐστὶν ὁ νυμφίος] We should expect some such phrase as “whilst the festivities last.” Christ singles out the bridegroom as essential to His application of the analogy; His disciples cannot fast in His company any more than the guests and friends of a bridegroom during the wedding festivities. Mt. omits here Mk.’s tautologous “so long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.” Cf. Introduction, p. xxiv.—ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι, κ. τ. λ.] After His departure from them they will fast. The words need not be understood as a prophecy, nor as a command, but may be a way of saying “they cannot fast now, but there will be time and cause for such expressions of mourning then.”—νηστεύσουσιν] Mk. adds the tautologous ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ. For Mt.’s omission, cf. Introduction, p. xxiv.

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