Matthew 12:35 | 1723
12:15 h Mt 4:23 12:16 i Mt 8:4 12:18 j Mt 3:17 12:21 k Isa 42:1‐4
12:22 l Mt 4:24; 9:32‐33
12:23 m Mt 9:27
12:24 n Mk 3:22 o Mt 9:34
12:25 p Mt 9:4 12:26 q Mt 4:10 12:27 r Ac 19:13
12:30 s Mk 9:40; Lk 11:23
12:31 t Mk 3:28, 29; Lk 12:10
12:32 u Titus 2:12 v Mk 10:30;
Lk 20:34, 35; Eph 1:21; Heb 6:5
12:33 w Mt 7:16, 17; Lk 6:43, 44
12:34 x Mt 3:7; 23:33 y Mt 15:18; Lk 6:45
God’ s Chosen Servant
15 Aware of this, Jesus with drew from that place. A large crowd fol lowed him, and he healed all who were ill. h 16 He warned them not to tell oth ers about him. i 17 This was to fulfill what was spo ken through the prophet Isa iah:
18“ Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; j
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. 21 In his name the nations will put their hope.” a k
Jesus and Beelzebul
12:25-29pp— Mk 3:23-27; Lk 11:17-22
22 Then they brought him a de mon-pos sessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. l 23 All the peo ple were as ton ished and said,“ Could this be the Son of Da vid?” m
24 But when the Phar i sees heard this, they said,“ It is only by Be el ze bul, n the prince of de mons, that this fel low drives out de mons.” o
25 Jesus knew their thoughts p and said to them,“ Ev ery king dom di vided against it self will be ru ined, and ev ery city or house hold di vided against it self will not stand. 26 If Satan q
drives out Sa tan, he is di vided against him self. How then can his king dom stand? 27 And if I drive out de mons by Be el ze bul, by whom do your peo ple r drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out de mons, then the king dom of God has come upon you.
29“ Or again, how can any one en ter a strong man’ s house and carry off his pos ses sions un less he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plun der his house.
30“ Who ever is not with me is against me, and who ever does not gather with me scatters. s 31 And so I tell you, ev ery kind of sin and slander can be for given, but blas phemy against the Spirit will not be for given. t 32 Any one who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be for given, but any one who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be for given, ei ther in this age u or in the age to come. v
33“ Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is rec og nized by its fruit. w 34 You brood of vipers, x how can you who are evil say any thing good? For the mouth speaks y what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings
a 21 Isaiah 42:1-4
12:15 – 21 It was not yet time for Jesus to die so he“ withdrew”( v. 15) from the hostility, but his ministry of healing continued. To avoid provoking even more premature opposition, he tried to silence the crowds and“ warned them not to tell others about him”( v. 16). Characteristically, Matthew finds a fulfillment of prophecy here; this time from Isa 42:1 – 4. In context, the servant appears to be Israel( Isa 42:18 – 19; 43:1; 44:1), but Jesus typologically fulfills the prophecy on an even grander scale. He too is God’ s“ chosen” one, who will“ proclaim justice” not just to Israel but to all“ the nations”( Matt 12:18). Still, he will do so gently and without fighting( vv. 19 – 20). But it is possible that the“ servant” in Isa 42:1 is an individual within Israel, in which case Matthew sees more direct fulfillment of prophecy. 12:22 – 37 An exorcism leads to the accusation that Jesus himself is demon-possessed( vv. 22 – 24). Jesus replies by first pointing out the absurdity of Satan attacking his own hordes, just as civil wars weaken nations( vv. 25 – 27). Christ’ s exorcisms point instead to the arrival of God’ s kingdom( vv. 28 – 29). Indeed, someone who so misjudges the source of Jesus’ power is in danger of committing an unpardonable sin( see vv. 31 – 32 and note). It shows how thoroughly evil such people are and outlines the nature of their coming judgment( vv. 33 – 37). 12:23 Could this be the Son of David? A grammatical form that usually anticipates a negative answer to a question but could also indicate a hopeful but very hesitant inquiry. 12:24 Beelzebul. See note on 10:25. 12:27 Numerous other Jewish exorcists, including Pharisaic ones, existed in Jesus’ day. Surely these Pharisees were not prepared to attribute to Satan the power working through all these other exorcists, were they? 12:28 The alternative is that“ the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Perhaps to make the contrast between God and the devil clear, Matthew avoids his otherwise preferred expression,“ kingdom of heaven.” Jesus does exhibit special power, but it is divine, not diabolical. His miracles combine with his supernatural origin to show that he is not just another Elijah or Elisha but is the Messiah himself. 12:29 ties up the strong man... plunder his house. This implies that Jesus is in the process of vanquishing the devil: Jesus is transforming people who have been demonized into disciples. 12:30 Contrast Mark 9:40(“ For whoever is not against us is for us”). Each proverb is true in its context. Here Jesus is responding to his opponents, stressing that they need to support him instead of slander him. 12:31 – 32 not be forgiven. The only unforgivable sin in the Bible is“ blasphemy against the Spirit”( v. 31). It is repudiating Christ to such a degree that someone attributes his divine power to the devil and never repents of that attitude. It is a sin that can be discerned only with 20 / 20 hindsight; many whom we might have imagined committed this sin later become Christians. Anyone who anxiously fears that they have committed it demonstrates by their concern( quite the opposite of the Pharisees’ rancor here) that they have not done so. speaks a word against the Son of Man. May refer to rejecting Jesus without truly sensing the Spirit’ s power in him. 12:33 Cf. 7:16 – 20. 12:34 Cf. 3:7. 12:35 Despite all the gradations in humanity we perceive, ultimately there are only two