Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 8:11
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
11. sit down ] i. e. recline at a feast. The image of a banquet is often used to represent the joy of the kingdom of heaven. Luk 14:15; Luk 22:29-30; Rev 19:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Many shall come from the east … – Jesus takes occasion from the faith of a Roman centurion to state that this conversion would not be solitary; that many pagans – many from the east and west would be converted to the gospel, and be saved, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were. The phrase from the east and from the west, in the Scripture, is used to denote the whole world, Isa 45:6; Isa 59:19. The phrase, shall sit down, in the original, refers to the manner of sitting at meals (see the notes at Mat 23:6); and the enjoyments of heaven are described under the similitude of a feast or banquet – a very common manner of speaking of it, Mat 26:29; Luk 14:15; Luk 22:30. It is used here to denote felicity, enjoyment, or honor. To sit with those distinguished men was an honor, and would be expressive of great felicity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 8:11-12
Many shall come from the east and west.
The extent if Gods family
I. That the number of the saved shall be great. Many. Might expect the contrary from aspect of society. God has secret servants.
II. That the large company shall be made up of men from all nations. From the east and west.
III. That all these persons shall be united in heaven in society. Sit down together. The happiness of heaven will not be solitary; it will not be without union.
IV. This change takes place in heaven. Must not take earthly conceptions of this celestial state; it is a state connected with God.
V. We may infer something with regard to the nature and completeness of the happiness that will be enjoyed by the saints in glory,
1. Rest. They shall sit down.
2. Sovereignty. They shall sit on thrones as kings. (J. W. Cunningham, M. A.)
The connection
Christ receives applications from all sorts of characters. The centurion-conscious of personal unworthiness-concerned for his domestics-unbounded confidence in the capacity of Christ.
I. The exulting prophecy. Implies that God is no respecter of persons (Isa 45:6; Isa 59:19; Mal 1:11); that many shall be saved; that heaven is an exalted state of felicity, rest, and social intercourse, etc. (Ch 25:10, 26:29; Luk 14:15; Luk 22:30 : Rev 19:7-11). Loyal submission to the King, enjoyment of His presence, admiration of His glories; laud and magnify His name.
II. The agency by which it shall be effected. Manifold-chiefly by the preaching of the gospel (1Co 1:21); adapted-to every stage of human society, to every order of mind, and to every moral condition; efficient-the power of the Holy Ghost, awakening, convicting, etc. (1Th 1:5, &c.). All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. (A. Tucker.)
Bigotry must not limit the number of the saved
The readiest way in the world to thin heaven, and replenish the regions of hell, is to call in the spirit of bigotry. This will immediately arraign, and condemn, and execute all that do not bow down and worship the image of our idolatry. Possessing exclusive prerogatives, it rejects every other claim-Stand by, I am sounder than thou. The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we! How many of the dead has this intolerance sentenced to external misery, who will shine like stars in the kingdom of our Father! How many living characters does it not reprobate, who are placing in it all their glory! No wonder, if under the influence of this consuming zeal, we form lessening views of the number of the saved: I only am left–yes, they are few indeed, if none belong to them who do not belong to your party-that do not see with your eyes-that do not believe election with you, or universal redemption with you-that do not worship under a steeple with you, Grin a meeting-house with you-that are not dipped with you, or sprinkled with you! But hereafter we shall find that the righteous were not so circumscribed. (Jay.)
Hen then converts
Mosheu, an African chief, visited Dr. Moffat at Kuruman. The missionary availed himself of the opportunity to speak of the one thing needful, but without apparent effect. After some time Mosheu repeated his visit to Kuruman, bringing with him a very large retinue. He was agonizing to enter the kingdom of God. When first I visited you, he said to Dr. Moffat. I had only one heart, but now I have come with two. I cannot rest; my eyes will not slumber, because of the greatness of the things you told me on nay first visit.
Heaven and Hell
I. A glorious promise.
1. It is a land of rest-sit down.
2. The good company they sit with, Abraham and Isaac. etc.
3. Man? I shall come. I have no wish for a small heaven; many mansions.
4. Where they come from-from all places and classes, even the most hopeless.
5. The certainty shall.
II. The children of the kingdom cast out.
1. Those noted for externals in religion.
2. The children of pious fathers and mothers.
3. They are to be cast out. Where to? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The heavenly state
1. Many, will be there. What are many in the Divine authentic? Must not lower the standard of admission.
2. The imagery that of a banquet, the attitude assigned to the assembly. Nest and repose after labour and conflict.
3. The celestial citizens are to know one another, else it would little avail to sit down with Abraham, etc. The meeting-place of generations. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The wonderful M.
The Countess of Huntingdon used to say, She thanked God for the wonderful letter M, for it turned any into many; thus the Word of God reads, Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called (1Co 1:26), therefore she could be found amongst the not many. The wonderful M shows forth the extent of Gods grace. Man does not enter heaven by virtue of his poverty or his riches, sufferings or rejoicings, morality or immorality, but by virtue of the atonement and the shedding of the precious blood of Christ. None can rightly say, I have had so much trial and trouble down here that I am sure God will provide a place for me; nor can they say, I am so noble, and have such power in this world that I surely must have a place above. God is no respecter of persons. All, whatever their station or circumstances, find but one entrance into eternal glory, even through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ-the only door, the one way, by which alone any can be saved,
The children of the kingdom
I. By the children of the kingdom are intended the Jews, who were Gods peculiar people.
1. God was in an especial manner their King. He revealed Himself as their King and Saviour. He fought against their enemies.
2. As a king He laid down laws which they were to follow.
3. They were not only subjects of the kingdom; they were to be children of it.
4. The justice of that sentence, which, after their ejection, deprived the children of the kingdom of their glorious inheritance.
II. How were they cast into outer darkness.
1. They were withdrawn immediately from that which is light even on earth-the enjoyment of Gods grace, and the enlightenment of His Holy Spirit. This was outer darkness of soul.
2. They were driven into the darkness of sorrow and affliction.
III. The cause why this happened-their unbelief. We are now the children of the kingdom; have Gods laws written in our hearts. (J. Garbett)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Many shall come from the east and west] Men of every description, of all countries, and of all professions; and shall sit down, that is, to meat, for this is the proper meaning of , intimating the recumbent posture used by the easterns at their meals. The rabbins represent the blessedness of the kingdom of God under the notion of a banquet. See several proofs of this in Schoettgenius. This was spoken to soften the unreasonable prejudices of the Jews, which they entertained against the Gentiles, and to prepare them to receive their brethren of mankind into religious fellowship with themselves, under the Christian dispensation.
With Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob] In the closest communion with the most eminent followers of God. But if we desire to inherit the promises, we must be followers of them who through faith and patience enjoy them. Let us therefore imitate Abraham in his faith, Isaac in his obedience unto death, and Jacob in his hope and expectation of good things to come, amidst all the evils of this life, if we desire to reign with them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That is, in short, many of those who are now heathens shall be saved; and many of the Jews shall be damned.
Many, not all,
shall come from the east and west, from all parts, from the remotest parts in the world. Luke saith, east, west, north, and south, Luk 13:29; Isa 11:12; 43:5,6.
And sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God; in heaven, where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the heads of the Jewish nation, are, to whom the promises were made; or, in the church of God, for the church triumphant and militant are both but one church. They shall
sit down with them, as men sit down at a banquet, an expression oft used to signify the rest and pleasure the saints shall have in heaven, Isa 25:6-8; Luk 22:29,30.
But the children of the kingdom, the Jews, who boast much that they are the children of Abraham, and think themselves the only church, and the only heirs of glory, and who are indeed the only church of God as yet,
shall be cast out into outer darkness: either the darkness of errors, ignorance, and superstition, the gospel light shall not shine upon them, they shall be no more the church of God; or, the darkness of hell, where shall be nothing but pain and misery, and lamentations for the gospel, and the grace thereof, first offered to them, but unthankfully rejected by them, by which they judge themselves unworthy of the grace of God and of eternal life, Act 13:46.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west,…. On occasion of the faith of the centurion, who was a Gentile, our Lord makes a short digression, concerning the call of the Gentiles; and suggests, that what was seen in that man now, would be fulfilled in great numbers of them in a little time: that many of them from the several parts of the world, from the rising of the sun to the setting of it, from the four points of the heaven, east, west, north, and south, as in Lu 13:29 and from the four corners of the earth, should come and believe in him;
and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: signifying, that as the Gospel would be preached in a short time to all nations, many among them would believe in him, as Abraham, and the rest of the patriarchs did; and so would partake of the same blessings of grace with them; such as, adoption, justification, pardon of sin, and the like; for “they which be of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham”, Ga 3:9 now, under the Gospel dispensation, though Gentiles; and shall enjoy with him the same eternal glory and happiness he does, in the other world. Which shows, that the faith of Old and New Testament saints, Jews and Gentiles, is the same; their blessings the same, and so their eternal happiness; they have the same God and Father, the same Mediator and Redeemer, are actuated and influenced by the same Spirit, partake of the same grace, and shall share the same glory. The allusion is to sitting, or rather lying along, which was the posture of the ancients at meals, and is here expressed, at a table, at a meal, or feast: and under the metaphor of a feast or plentiful table to set down to, are represented the blessings of the Gospel, and the joys of heaven; which are not restrained to any particular nation, or set of people; not to the Jews, to the exclusion of the Gentiles. Our Lord here, goes directly contrary to the notions and practices of the Jews, who thought it a crime to sit down at table, and eat with the Gentiles; see Ac 11:3 and yet Gentiles shall sit at table and eat with the principal men, the heads of their nation, in the kingdom of heaven, and they themselves at the same time shut out.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Sit down (). Recline at table on couches as Jews and Romans did. Hence Leonardo da Vinci’s famous picture of the Last Supper is an anachronism with all seated at table in modern style.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Shall sit down [] . Lit., recline. The picture is that of a banquet. Jews as well as Romans reclined at table on couches.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And I say unto you,” (lego de humin) “And I tell you all,” all who were hearing, both His disciples and the following multitudes, Mat 8:1; Luk 7:11.
2) “That many shall come from the east and west,” (hoti polloi apo anatolon kai dusmon eksousin) “That many will come from east and west,” many people of faith, many who have been redeemed, both Jews and Gentiles, over all the earth, Isa 11:10; Rev 5:11; Act 11:18; Luk 13:28-29.
3) “And shall sit down with,” (kai anaklithesantai mata) “And they shall sit down or reside with,” as one reclines at a banquet, in the millennial era, when Jesus sits on David’s throne, to reign over the house of David, Luk 1:30-33.
a) (kai Abraam) “Abraham,” father of the faithful, to whom the Abrahamic faith covenant was given, Gen 12:1-3; Gen 8:18; Ro 4:35.
b) (kai Isaak) “And with Isaac,” to whom the faithful covenant was confirmed, Gen 26:1-5.
c) (kai lakob) ”And with Jacob,” father of twelve sons from whom the twelve tribes of Abraham’s Faithline covenant was further confirmed, Gen 28:10-22; Gen 49:1-28.
4) “In the kingdom of heaven” (en te basileia ‘on ouranon) “in the kingdom of heaven’s future administrative day,” over the earth, when the twelve apostles of the church shall “sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” Luk 22:28-30.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. Many will come from the east and west In the person of the servant, Christ gave to the Gentiles a taste and a kind of first-fruits of his grace. He now shows, that the master is an example of the future calling of the Gentiles, and of the spread of faith throughout the whole world: for he says that they will come, not only from the neighboring countries, but from the farthest bounds of the world. Though this had been clearly foretold by many passages of the prophets, it appeared at first strange and incredible to the Jews, who imagined that God was confined to the family of Abraham. It was not without astonishment that they heard, that those who were at that time strangers, would be citizens and heirs of the kingdom of God: and not only so, but that the covenant of salvation would be immediately proclaimed, that the whole world might be united in one body of the Church. He declares, that the Gentiles, who shall come to the faith, will be partakers of the same salvation with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Hence we draw the certain conclusion, that the same promise, which has been held out to us in Christ, was formerly given to the fathers; for we would not have had an inheritance in common with them, if the faith, by which it is obtained, had not been the same. The word ἀνακλιθήσονται, shall recline, contains an allusion to a banquet: but as we know, that the heavenly life does not require meat and drink, this phrase has the same meaning as if he had said, they shall enjoy the same life
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) St. Luke does not give the words that follow, and the omission is significant. Either he did not know of them, and then we must infer the entire independence of his record, or knowing them, he, writing for Gentiles, thought it best to omit words here which our Lord had afterwards repeated, and which he had therefore another opportunity of recording (Luk. 13:28). Such verbal reproduction of what had been said before was, it will be remembered, entirely after our Lords manner.
Many shall come from the east and west.It is clear that our Lord saw in the centurion the first-fruits of the wide harvest of the future. Like the words of the Baptist in Mat. 3:9, what He now said contained, by implication, the whole gospel which St. Paul preached to the Gentiles. East and west, even without the formal addition of north and south, which we find in the parallel passage of Luk. 13:29, were used as limits that included all the nations of the earth.
Shall sit down.Literally, shall recline, as at the table of a feast; that being, as in the phrase of Abrahams bosom, the received parable of the blessedness of the kingdom.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Many from the east and west Our Lord here predicts the call of the Gentiles to occupy a place in the Gospel dispensation. With Abraham They should become his spiritual descendants, and occupy the place of his natural offspring. Sit down Rather recline. The image is taken from a banquet, and the ancients did not sit at table on chairs, but reclined upon couches. Kingdom of heaven Both above and below.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And I say to you, that many will come from the east and the west, and will recline (at table) with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingly Rule of heaven,”
The incident brought home to Jesus that in the future many Gentiles would be found in the eternal Kingly Rule of Heaven. We are left to recognise at this stage that it will be as a result of His activity (Mat 28:20). While at present His ministry must be aimed at the lost sheep of the house of Israel (those in Israel who were open to His message because they were like sheep without a shepherd – Mat 9:36) there was still to be an opening for Gentiles, and in the future that would become a wide open door. ‘East’ included Arabia, Assyria, Babylon and Persia, ‘West’ included the coastlands and the lands across the Great Sea (the Mediterranean). All these had been included in Old Testament promises. See Mat 12:18; Mat 12:21; Isa 2:2-4; Isa 42:4; Isa 42:6; Isa 42:11; Isa 49:6-7; Isa 49:12; Isa 60:6-7; Isa 19:23-25; Isa 43:14; etc. But the description is deliberately general.
The future life was regularly depicted in terms of Abraham (compare Luk 16:22-30), for all who come there will do so as a result of the promises to Abraham. Here the other patriarchs are also included. Thus in mind here is the coming eternal Kingly Rule, when His present Kingly Rule over the hearts of believers will merge with that in the eternal kingdom. For ‘recline’ (the equivalent of our ‘sitting down at table’) with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ compare ‘in Abraham’s bosom’ (Luk 16:22), signifying reclining at table next to him. The idea is to present the eternal kingdom in terms of the great future Messianic feast (e.g. Isa 25:6-9; Isa 65:13; and regularly in Jewish literature) of which the Lord’s Table is a foretaste, a feast which in this case pictures the everlasting kingdom, when God has finally triumphed on behalf of His people. The idea therefore is of large scale participation in God’s future blessings by the Gentiles. (As with the Kingly Rule of Heaven, the Messianic feast could signify spiritual blessing here as found in Christ, and also the future spiritual blessing which will be ours eternally).
Even the Scribes and Pharisees were content for Gentiles to be converted to Judaism and become proselytes by being circumcised and purified. Thus the idea that Gentiles could enjoy the future blessing of God was not new. But they did not tend to think in large numbers like this, and they did not actually seek to evangelise them. They simply accepted them because the Law had said that they must (Exo 12:48; Deu 23:3-8). Nor did Jewish concepts of the Messianic banquet tend to include Gentiles.
However, undoubtedly being powerfully expressed here was the thought that those who were ‘sons of Abraham’ (Mat 3:9), and who therefore thought of themselves as heirs to God’s Kingly Rule, and expected their part in the coming Kingly Rule, would discover that they, in the end, had no part with Abraham, while those whom they dismissed as not having any connection with Abraham would find themselves sharing the table with Abraham (compare Mat 22:43).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 8:11-12. And I say unto you From this exalted pitch of faith found in a heathen, Jesus took occasion to declare the merciful purpose which God entertained towards the Gentiles, namely, that he would accept their faith as readily as the faith of the Jews, and seat them with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in heaven; while the children of the kingdom, that is to say, the members of the visible church under the Mosaic dispensation, who come short of living faith, should be shut out for ever. Though the phrase from the east and from the west is most probably proverbial, to express from all parts of the earth (see Luk 13:29.), yet it is remarkable, that the Gospel spread much more to the east and west of Judaea, than to the north and south of it. The words ‘, shall sit, or lie down with Abraham, whereby our Lord expresses the future happiness of the faithful Gentiles, signify properly, “to sit down at table with Abraham,” &c. This is agreeable to the phraseology of Scripture, which represented the rewards of the righteous under the idea of a sumptuous entertainment; and though the joys of heaven be all of a spiritual kind, this metaphor needs not be thought strange; since, as Le Clerc observes, we can neither speak ourselves, nor understand others speaking, of our state in the life to come, unless phrases taken from the affairs of this life be made use of. Besides, the metaphor is not peculiar to the inspired writings. The Greeks represented divine pleasure under the notion of a feast. Empedocles, speaking of the felicity of virtuous men after death, says, “They live cheerfully at tables with the other immortals, free from the pains to which other men are subjected.” Our Lord, by representing the Gentiles as lying down at the feast of heaven on the same couch withAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the founders of the Jewish nation, has disgraced the pride of the Israelites, who disdained to eat with Gentiles, though many of them, in point of morality, were far better than they. There is a great emphasis in the original of the 12th verse, where the punishment of those rejected from the kingdom is described. They shall not only be cast out,that were very bad,but they shall be cast out into darkness;what can be worse? Behold, they shall be cast out into , the very outer darkness: and how is this augmented by the next words, there shall be weeping, &c. The Greek word signifies also the cries and holdings which sometimes accompany weeping; and the gnashing of teeth which is added here completes the description of rage and despair, See ch. Mat 13:42; Mat 13:50. Act 7:54. It has been justly observed by many commentators, that this phrase of outer darkness, which is often used after comparing the kingdom of heaven to a banquet, contains a beautiful allusion to the lustre of those illuminated rooms in which such feasts were generally celebrated, as opposed to that darkness which surrounded those who by night were turned out; but it also sometimes goes yet farther, when the persons excluded are supposed to be thrown into a dark dungeon. Compare ch. Mat 22:13 Mat 25:30 and Jude, Mat 8:13 and see Doddridge, Macknight, and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 8:11 . . .] from the most widely separated quarters of the world
Gentiles . Comp. Isa 45:6 ; Mal 1:11 .
According to Jewish ideas, one of the main elements in the happiness of the Messianic kingdom was the privilege of participating in splendid festive entertainments along with the patriarchs of the nation. Bertholdt, Christol . p. 196. Schoettgen on this passage. Jesus employs the expression in a symbolical sense (Mat 26:29 ; Luk 13:28 ; Luk 14:15 ; Rev 19:9 ; Mat 22:30 ; 1Co 15:50 ): many Gentiles will become believers, and so have their part in the blessings of the Messianic kingdom in happy fellowship with the patriarchs of the people of God . In sharp contrast to incarnate (Mat 3:9 ) Jewish pride, Tanchum (in Schoettgen): “In mundo futuro, (dixit Deus) mensam ingentem vobis sternam, quod gentiles videbunt et pudefient .” Bertholdt, p. 176. Hilgenfeld sees in the whole narrative the milder comprehensive Judaeo-Christianity of the author of the revised Gospel; but Keim again, while upholding the account in all other points, ascribes Mat 8:11 f. to the hand that framed the later version, although, with Mat 8:10 , preparing the way for them, the words neither interrupt the connection nor clash with the then standpoint of Jesus (Mat 3:9 ), seeing that in the Sermon on the Mount (especially Mat 7:21 f.) He has taken away from the kingdom of God anything like national limitation.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
Ver. 11. Many shall come from the east ] They shall “fly as a cloud,” saith Isaiah (speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles), and so flock to the Church, as if a whole flight of doves, driven by some hawk or tempest, should scour into the columbary, and rush into the windows, Isa 60:8 . The Tyrians had a hand in building the temple. The molten sea stood upon twelve oxen, which looked towards east, west, north, and south. The New Jerusalem hath twelve gates, to show that there is every way access for all sorts to Christ, who is also fitly called the second Adam, the Greek letters of which name (as St Cyprian observeth) do severally signify all the quarters of the earth. a He was born in an inn, to show that he receives all comers ( ); his garments were divided into four parts, to show that out of what part of the world soever we come, if we be naked, Christ hath robes to clothe us; if we be harbourless, Christ hath room to lodge us. Jethor, an Ishmaelite, may become an Israelite, 1Ch 7:17 ; cf. 2Sa 17:25 , and Araunah the Jebusite may be made an exemplary proselyte, 2Sa 24:18 ; cf. Zec 9:7 . Vide Junium in locum.
a
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 8:11-12 . This logion is given by Luke (Luk 13:28-29 ) in a different connection, and it may not be in its historical place here. But its import is in thorough harmony with the preceding reflection on the spiritual state of Israel. One who said the one thing was prepared to say the other. At whatever time said it would give offence. It is one of the heavy burdens of the prophet that he cannot be a mere patriot, or say complimentary things about his nation or his Church. : Jesus expresses Himself here and throughout this logion in the language of His time and people. The feast with the patriarchs, the outer darkness, the weeping and the gnashing of teeth (observe the article before , , , implying that all are familiar ideas) are stock phrases. The imagery is Jewish, but the thought is anti-Jewish, universalistic, of perennial truth and value.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
many. Used by Figure of speech Euphemismos for Gentiles (App-6), to avoid giving offence at this stage of His ministry.
sit down = recline as guests (in eating, or at a feast).
and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton
the kingdom of heaven. See App-114.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 8:11. , many) who, being not Jews, are similar to the centurion. This is intended to awaken the emulation of the Jews.- , from the east) see ch. Mat 2:1,-from the east and from the west; an euphemism for from the Gentiles.-, shall come) A prophecy: they shall come in spirit [and by faith.-V. g.]-, together with) see Heb 12:23.[366]- , in the kingdom) sc. in this life, and in that which is to come.
[366] With the Fathers in the faith, Heb 11:9-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
the Great Physician
Mat 8:11-17
A feast was the Hebrew conception of heaven. The Jews thought they were secure of it, because of their descent from Abraham. Grace is not hereditary; to receive it, every man has to exercise a personal faith in Christ. Let us see to it that our religion is absolutely true, lest it land us in hopeless disappointment.
Notice that faith is the measure of divine performance-as so. Our Lord can deliver from the fever-heat of passion and make the soul calm, quiet and pure. It was a wonderful thing that the patient could at once arise and minister in Peters humble home to their great Guest, but it is even more wonderful when a helpless spirit suddenly emerges from the dominion of passion into strength and beauty.
The key to all true service is furnished in Mat 8:17. We must take to ourselves the infirmities, sorrows and sins of those whom we would really help. This is the law of Christ, Gal 6:1-4.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
heaven
kingdom, (See Scofield “Mat 3:2”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
That: Mat 24:31, Gen 12:3, Gen 22:18, Gen 28:14, Gen 49:10, Psa 22:27, Psa 98:3, Isa 2:2, Isa 2:3, Isa 11:10, Isa 49:6, Isa 52:10, Isa 60:1-6, Jer 16:19, Dan 2:44, Mic 4:1, Mic 4:2, Zec 8:20-23, Mal 1:11, Luk 13:29, Luk 14:23, Luk 14:24, Act 10:45, Act 11:18, Act 14:27, Rom 15:9-13, Gal 3:28, Gal 3:29, Eph 2:11-14, Eph 3:6, Col 3:11, Rev 7:6
shall sit: [Strong’s G347] ( [Strong’s G2827]) shall recline, i.e., at table; referring to the recumbent posture used by the easterners at their meals. Luk 12:37, Luk 13:29, Luk 16:22, Rev 3:20, Rev 3:21
in: Mat 3:2, Luk 13:28, Act 14:22, 1Co 6:9, 1Co 15:20, 2Th 1:5
Reciprocal: Gen 21:10 – Cast out 1Ki 8:41 – a stranger 2Ch 6:32 – the stranger Isa 11:14 – toward Isa 17:11 – a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow Isa 25:6 – all people Isa 49:12 – these shall Isa 56:3 – the son Isa 60:4 – they come Jer 38:7 – Ethiopian Mat 3:9 – God Mat 5:3 – for Mat 19:30 – General Mat 20:16 – the last Mat 21:41 – and will let out Mat 21:43 – The kingdom Mar 10:31 – General Mar 12:9 – and will Luk 3:8 – of these Luk 13:30 – General Luk 14:15 – Blessed Luk 16:23 – seeth Luk 22:30 – eat Luk 24:47 – among Joh 4:30 – General Act 10:11 – and a Act 13:41 – for Act 18:6 – from Rom 2:17 – thou art Rom 2:26 – General Rom 4:11 – father Rom 11:17 – some
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HOME CITIZENS DEFEATED
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 8:11-12
The force of our Lords declaration is hammered into us, day by day. Out there, in what we call the world, we encounter, over and over again, such wonderful moral soundness, such high purpose, such fine spiritual insight. And then the reverse of the picture is being made vividly and hideously true to us all. We of the kingdom, in possession of all the privileges, in touch with all the means of grace, fed from our first childhood on the blessed sacramental powerswe after all that has been done for us, do, again and again, fall helplessly below the spiritual standards set us by those others who arrive from without.
I. Our Lord foretold it.Let us take heart of grace from the mere fact that our Lord knew and foretold this very trouble. Merely to know that it was foreseen relieves the strain for us. Our Lord saw that it would happen, and yet went straight on with His purpose. Evidently, then, the purpose is not defeated. It still stands, and will survive this blow. His whole soul was still set on founding and building the kingdom. This was his mission and most deliberate purpose here on earth, and He never for a moment let that intention waver. Moreover, we may notice another suggestion made to us by His vivid imagery. Those outsiders from afar come to the kingdom themselves at last. They sit down inside, in company with the traditional chiefs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What does this imply, but that they finally discover that the hidden interpretation of their unaccountable goodness lay within the kingdom itself?
II. What is the kingdom?It comes down from heaven; it does not rise out of earth. It comes to men. It arrives from elsewhere. That is the whole heart of the matter. That is the Gospel. That is Christianity. That is the secret of Jesus. The New Jerusalem descends from heaven as a bride. My kingdom is not of this world. It does not take its origin here. It is not a growth from below. Of course, it comes to meet an upward movement; to respond to it; to carry it higher; to crown it. But there is an inner law of human nature, that it cannot complete itself wholly from within; it cannot achieve its own coronation. It moves towards it; it aspires to it; it suggests it; it prophesies of it; it is for ever nearing it. But it never can attain it. It never can succeed in putting on its own crown with its own hands. That is the inherent story of all developments from our side. And it is only because this conclusion has been finally reached that the significance of Jesus Christ is made manifest. Down from above, in Him, there enters to meet and to rescue this human effort, the force which releases, the act which redeems. To have missed this truth is to have missed everything. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is what for ever forbids us to believe in a Church which the world develops out of itself, in a growth upward of the world itself, out of its own inner resources, into the kingdom. Christ came in the flesh to proclaim that this is impossible.
III. What this Parable suggests.What this parable suggests, in picturing those outside heroes and saints of the faith coming at last to take their seats inside the kingdom, must be that, however remote from the visible frontiers of grace they had been in their earthly lives, however unconscious they had been of the secret source of their virtue, now, in the end, with eyes open, they recognise that it had all sprung out of that entry of the Divine deliverance upon the human arena; out of the redemptive action by which and through which humanity won its capacity to attain its consummation. That action reached them by underground channels; but, without it, they could not have done what they did. The entire body of humanity was brought under the one law, received its new value, found its freedom, in the perfect flesh and blood. So the thrill passed everywhere, and, in every place, dry bones came together, and men stood upon their feet, they knew not how, they knew not why. Only, now, at the Judgment Day, when all is clear, they see and know that it was the kingdom, it was the Christ. They bear their witness, now, to it. They sit down with Abraham.
Canon H. Scott Holland.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE HEAVENLY BANQUET
Our Lord speaks of sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The imagery is common enough in Scripture, and it suggests one or two ideas which are wanting, perhaps, in some of the other and nobler scriptural representations of the future state.
I. It suggests the idea of rest.After the labours of the day are over, the toilers, putting off their garments of labour, and putting on their garments of festivity, meet together for the warrantable enjoyment of a well-appointed banquet. In one sense, the true disciple has entered into rest, even whilst living here on earth. But for all that, we cannot hope to be free from conflict, although that conflict does not reach and touch the centre of the soul. The rest is in the future.
II. Another idea is that of social equality.Here below there are distinctions which divide men from one another: the peasant is not permitted to sit down at table with the prince. It cannot be otherwise now. But hereafter, the barriers which divide man from man, and class from class, will be thrown down. Characternot rank, nor wealth, nor birth, nor even gifts of intellectwill be the key which opens the door of the banqueting hall.
III. A third idea is that of social intercourse.The persons described by our Lord not merely sit down at the banquet; but they sit down with the magnates, the grandees of the kingdom, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a vista this opens into the depths of the bright hereafter! We shall be brought into company with the greatest minds and noblest hearts of all the successive generations of the human race.
IV. The Centre of all.Christ is the centre of this enormous system of happiness; the fountain of light from which every ray of joy and brightness flows. The crown of all is His loving presence; and without Him darkness would fall upon the scene, and all would become instantaneously a blank (Rev 7:17).
Prebendary Gordon Calthrop.
(THIRD OUTLINE)
THE OBLIGATION OF PRIVILEGES
The Jews were quite right in believing that God had chosen them out of the world. We are Gods elect, they said, His holy people, we cannot fall, we are His predestined onesHis chosen race. Then they found their birthright taken from them and given to those Gentiles whom they had condemned.
The moment we who belong to Gods Holy Catholic Church begin to boast of our corporate Christianity, and say, We only are members of Gods Church, we then begin to look down with contempt on those who have been less happily taught than we have, who have not the same means of grace which are ready to our hands.
I. Privilege and responsibility.Just as God has favoured us with greater privileges and means of grace for our help, so much the greater are our responsibilities. We have been trusted with ten talents; from us ten talents will be demanded. Instead of being lifted up with pride and haughtiness at your advantages, instead of looking with contempt on those who have been less favoured, say, Lord, how can I best discharge this great trust Thou hast given me, how can I best use the talents Thou hast provided me with?
II. An account required.Again, we find ourselves trusting in our corporate Christianity, when forgetting that every one of us has to give an account for the things he has done in his own body. You know that when united in large bodies persons will do things they would not attempt individually. National sins against family life, against the will of God, would never have been committed if the persons who voted for or agreed with them had been required to take the responsibility on their own shoulders. We forget that each one of us has to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There are, without doubt, countless and priceless privileges and blessings gained by belonging to that great body which God has founded and endowed with such marvellous gifts. But they increase, rather than lessen the personal and individual responsibility of its members.
III. The penalty of neglect.The children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teethbecause they used not their talents in the service and for the glory of God, but kept them for their own satisfaction and self-indulgent pursuits. As God has given to all, so He will exact. He that knew not his Masters will and did it not shall be beaten with few stripes; but he that knew it and did it not shall be beaten with many. And those who knew it and did it shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The Rev. Dr. Littledale.
Illustrations
(1) Many a one, especially amongst very young people, gets hold of some Nonconformist, one perhaps much better than himself, more self-denying, more willing to learn, more capable of serving God with devotion after his own fashion; and they begin to argue about the general merits of their different religious systems. In the course of his argument our Churchman shows so much evil temper, pride, lack of true religion, such a hard spirit, such a confined appreciation of everything but the externals of religion, that, instead of making a convert, he hardens the Dissenter in his attachment to his own creed, and inspires him with increased dislike to the system which our Churchman had desired to point out to him as one of exquisite beauty and unspeakable attractiveness.
(2) Spiritual graces are very much like those india-rubber bands you procure in stationers shops for holding papers together. Use them every day, twist them about, pull them, strain them continually, and they are always serviceable; but lock them up in a drawer untouched for some months, and you will find on attempting to use them that they are rotten and will give way and snap directly. That is exactly the way God deals with our souls. If we put our graces by to take them out only on one day of the week, they will just have had time in the six days to get rotten and will snap on Sunday. The more you work them about and bring them into common daily use, the more useful and ready they will be. But put them aside and lay them up and they will break.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
8:11
East and west is used figuratively to mean the earth or world in general, not merely the land of the Jews that was virtually restricted to the land of Palestine. Kingdom of heaven means the “everlasting kingdom” that is promised in 2Pe 1:11 to the faithful. To sit down means to become a guest and admitted to the hospitality of a home. It is used in this place to refer to the favors that will be given to the faithful in the Eternal Home after this life on earth is over.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 8:11. Luke omits the further application contained in this and the following verse, recording them, however, when repeated on a different occasion (Luk 13:28-29).
That many shall come from the east and west. A prophecy that the Gentiles, even the most remote, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
And shall sit down (i.e., recline at table) with Abraham, etc. The Jews represented the delights of the Messiahs kingdom as a feast with the patriarchs; but the reference here is rather to intimate domestic intercourse. The patriarchs are properly mentioned, since with these the separating of the people of God began.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
This was the first occasion that Christ took to speak of the calling of the Gentiles, and rejection of the Jews.
Observe, here, That the unbelieving Jews are called the children of the kingdom, because born within the pale of the visible church: they presumed that the kingdom of heaven was entailed upon them, because they were Abraham’s seed; they boasted of, and gloried in, their external and outward privileges.
Note, thence, 1. That gospel ordinances, and church-privileges enjoyed, are a special honour to a people admitted to the participation of them: our Saviour here stiles the Jews upon that account, The children of the kingdom.
2. That such privileges enjoyed, but not improved, do provoke Almighty God to inflict the heaviest of judgments upon a people; The children of the kingdom shall be cast unto outer darkness; that is, into the darkness of hell, where shall be perpetual lamentations for the remembrance of the gospel kindly offered, but unthankfully rejected.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 8:11-12. From this exalted pitch of faith, found in a heathen, Jesus took occasion to declare the merciful purpose which God entertained toward all the Gentiles, namely, that he would accept their faith as readily as the faith of the Jews, and admit them, with the founders of the Jewish nation, to the privileges and blessings of his kingdom. Many, says he, shall come from the east and west, &c. Many, from the farthest parts of the earth, shall embrace the terms, and enjoy the rewards, of the gospel covenant established with Abraham. But the Jews, who have the first title to them, shall be shut out from the feast; from grace here, and glory hereafter. The words, , &c., properly signify, shall sit down at table with Abraham, &c., a phraseology often used in Scripture, which represents the present privileges and future rewards of the righteous, and especially the latter, under the idea of a sumptuous entertainment. See Luk 14:15; Mat 22:1; Rev 19:9. And, though the joys of heaven be all of a spiritual kind, this metaphor needs not be thought strange, since, as Le Clerc observes, we can neither speak ourselves, nor understand others speaking of our state in the life to come, unless phrases taken from the affairs of this life be made use of. But the children of the kingdom So he terms the Jews, even the unbelieving Jews, because they had been born and brought up within the pale of the visible Church, and enjoyed all the advantages which it afforded its members: shall be cast out into outer darkness Our Lord here alludes to the custom which the ancients had of making their great entertainments, for the most part, in the evening, with candlelight. And the outer darkness, or darkness without the house, signifies, 1st, the state of heathenish darkness, or of ignorance and error, in which those are who are without the pale of the Church of God, and into which, it is here foretold, the Jews should be cast for their rejection of Christ; and, 2d, the state of future misery, into which, as many of them as continued till death in impenitence and unbelief, should finally be cast, with all hypocrites and unbelievers. And Jesus said, Go thy way, &c. Having spoken, as observed above, he dismissed the centurion with an assurance that his servant was well; and at the same time intimated that the miracle had been wrought in consequence of, and according to, his faith, which, though not the meritorious cause of the cure, had been the means through which the Lord Jesus had been pleased to effect it. And his servant was healed in the self-same hour Or, rather, in that instant, as , here evidently means.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 11
The east and west; from all countries.–And shall sit down, &c. shall share with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the happiness of heaven.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall {a} sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
(a) A metaphor taken of banqueters, for they that sit down together are fellows in the banquet.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Again Jesus introduced a solemn truth (cf. Mat 8:10). He then referred to the messianic banquet prophesied in Isa 25:6-9 (cf. Isa 65:13-14). There God revealed that Gentiles from all parts of the world will join the Jewish patriarchs in the kingdom. The Old Testament has much to say about the participants in the kingdom. God would gather Israel from all parts of the earth (Psa 107:3; Isa 43:5-6; Isa 49:12), but Gentiles from all quarters of the world would also worship God in the kingdom (Isa 45:6; Isa 59:19; Mal 1:11). The Gentiles would come specifically to Jerusalem (Isa 2:2-3; Isa 60:3-4; Mic 4:1-2; Zec 8:20-23). As mentioned previously, in Jesus’ day the Jews had chosen to view themselves as uniquely privileged because of the patriarchs. This led them to write the Gentiles out of the kingdom despite these prophecies.
"The Jew expected that the Gentile would be put to shame by the sight of the Jews in bliss." [Note: Plummer, p. 127.]
The "sons [or subjects] of the kingdom" (Mat 8:12) are the Jews who saw themselves as the patriarchs’ descendants. They thought they had a right to the kingdom because of their ancestors’ righteousness (cf. Mat 3:9-10). Jesus turned the tables by announcing that many of the sons of the kingdom would not participate in it, but many Gentiles would. Many "sons of the kingdom" would find themselves outside the banquet. The terms "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (cf. Mat 13:42; Mat 13:50; Mat 22:13; Mat 24:51; Mat 25:30; Luk 13:28) were common descriptions of Gehenna, hell (4 Ezra 7:93; 1 Enoch 63:10; Psalms of Solomon 14:9; Wisdom of Solomon 17:21). [Note: See Pagenkemper, pp. 183-86.] (The works just cited in parentheses were Old Testament apocraphal books that the Jews viewed as generally reliable and helpful but not inspired.) This interpretation finds confirmation in the expression "outer darkness," another image of rejection (cf. Mat 22:13; Mat 25:30). [Note: Ibid., pp. 186-88.]
"The idea of the Messianic Banquet as at once the seal and the symbol of the new era was a common feature in apocalyptic writings and an extremely popular subject of discussion, thought, and expectation." [Note: Bindley, p. 317. Cf. William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew , 1:309.]
The Greek text has the definite article "the" before "weeping" and before "gnashing." This stresses the horror of the scene. [Note: Turner, p. 173.] The terms in Rabbinic usage picture sorrow and anger respectively. [Note: Edersheim, The Life . . ., 1:550-51.]
Jesus shocked His hearers by announcing three facts about the kingdom. First, not all Jews would participate in it. Second, many Gentiles would. Third, entrance depended on faith in Jesus, not on ancestry, the faith that the centurion demonstrated.
". . . the locus of the people of God would not always be the Jewish race. If these verses do not quite authorize the Gentile mission, they open the door to it and prepare for the Great Commission (Mat 28:18-20) and Ephesians 3." [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 203.]