Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 8:22
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
22. let the dead bury their dead ] Or, their own dead. The exact force of this is not quite clear. The word “dead” is used first in a figurative, secondly, in a literal sense. In a figurative sense by the “dead” are intended those who are outside the kingdom, who are dead to the true life. Perhaps a brother or brothers of the disciple had rejected Christ, “let them bury their father.” Another way of understanding the proverb is: Let those who are dead in Christ, dead to the world, bury their dead their affections and lusts, all that connects them with that dead past. St Luke, after “let the dead bury their dead,” adds, “but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” Perhaps no incident marks more decisively the height of self-abandonment required by Jesus of His followers. In this instance the disciple is called upon to renounce for Christ’s sake the last and most sacred of filial duties. The unswerving devotion to Christ is illustrated in the parallel passage (Luk 9:62) by “the man who puts his hand to the plough.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let the dead bury their dead – The word dead is used in this passage in two different senses. It is apparently a paradox, but is suited to convey the idea very distinctly to the mind. The Jews used the word dead often to express indifference toward a thing; or, rather, to show that that thing has no influence over us. Thus, to be dead to the world; to be dead to the law Rom 7:4; to be dead to sin Rom 6:11, means that the world, law, and sin have not influence or control over us; that we are free from them, and act as though they were not. A body in the grave is unaffected by the pomp and vanity, by the gaiety and revelry, by the ambition and splendor that may be near the tomb. So people of the world are dead to religion. They see not its beauty, hear not its voice, are not won by its loveliness. This is the class of people to which the Saviour refers here. Let people, says he, who are uninterested in my work, and who are dead in sin Eph 2:1, take care of the dead. Your duty is now to follow me.
There may have been several reasons for this apparently harsh direction. One may have been to test the character and attachment of the man. If he had proper love for Christ, he would be willing to leave his friends, even in the most tender and trying circumstances. This is required, Mat 10:27; Luk 14:26. A second reason may have been, that if he returned at that time, his friends might ridicule or oppose him, or present plausible arguments, in the afflictions of the family, why he should not return to Christ. The thing to which he was called was moreover of more importance than any earthly consideration; and, for that time, Christ chose to require of the man a very extraordinary sacrifice, to show his sincere attachment to him. Or it may have been that the Saviour saw that the effect of visiting his home at that time might have been to drive away all his serious impressions, and that he would return to him no more.
His impressions may not have been deep enough, and his purpose to follow the Saviour may not have been strong enough to bear the trial to which he would be subjected. Strange as it may seem, there are few scenes better suited to drive away serious impressions than those connected with a funeral. We should have supposed it would be otherwise: but facts show it to be so, and demonstrate that if this was one of the reasons which influenced the Saviour, he had a thorough knowledge of human nature. The arrangements for the funeral, the preparation of mourning apparel, and the depth of sorrow in such cases, divert the mind from its sins and its personal need of a Saviour; and hence few persons are awakened or converted as the result of death in a family. The case here was a strong one – it was as strong as can well be conceived; and the Saviour meant to teach by this that nothing is to be allowed to divert the mind from religion nothing to be an excuse for not following him. Not even the death of a father, and the sorrows of an afflicted family, are to be suffered to lead a man to defer religion, or to put off the purpose to be a Christian. That is a fixed duty – a duty not to be deferred or neglected, whether in sickness or health, at home or abroad whether surrounded by living and happy kindred, or whether a father, a mother, a child, or a sister lies in our house dead.
It is the regular duty of children to obey their parents, and to show them kindness in affliction, and to evince proper care and respect for them when dead. Nor did our Saviour show himself insensible to these duties. He taught here, however, as he always taught, that a regard to friends, and ease, and comfort, should be subordinate to the gospel; and that we should always be ready to sacrifice these when duty to God requires it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. Let the dead bury their dead.] It was usual for the Jews to consider a man as dead who had departed from the precepts of the law; and, on this ground, every transgressor was reputed a dead man. Our Lord’s saying, being in common use, had nothing difficult in it to a Jew. Natural death is the separation of the body and soul; spiritual death, the separation of God and the soul: men who live in sin are dead to God. Leave the spiritually dead to bury their natural dead. All the common offices of life may be performed by any person; to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom of God is granted but to a few, and to these only by an especial call; these should immediately abandon worldly concerns and employments, and give themselves wholly up to the work of the ministry.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But Jesus said unto him, follow thou me,…. Christ would not excuse him on this account, but insists on what he had before called him to; to attend upon him, and give himself up to the ministry of the word: which was done, partly to shew, that a greater regard ought to be had to him, than to the nearest relation and friend whatever; and partly, on account of the dignity of the Gospel ministry, which greatly exceeds any such services; as also to signify, of what little account were the traditions of the elders with him; wherefore he says,
let the dead bury the dead. Our Lord is not to be understood, as speaking against, or disrespectfully of burying the dead; his words suppose it ought to be done: only it was not proper, that this person should be concerned in it at this time, who was called to an higher employment; and therefore should leave this to be done by persons, whom it better became. And however strange and odd such a phrase may sound in the ears of some, of one dead man’s burying another, it was easily understood by a Jew; with whom it is common to say, , “that a sinner is counted as g dead, and that ungodly persons, even while they are alive”, , are “called dead” h. And in this sense is the word used, in the former part of this phrase; and Christ’s meaning is, let such who are dead in trespasses and sins, and to all that is spiritually good, bury those who are dead in a natural or corporal sense. It is likely the deceased was an unregenerate man; however, it is plainly suggested, that many of the relations were; and there were enough of them to take care of this service: and therefore, there was no need why he should neglect the ministry of the Gospel to attend that; but, ought to leave it to persons who were fitter for it.
g Tzeror Hammor, fol. 6. 2. h T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 18. 2. Jarchi in Gen. 11. 32. Baal Hatturim, in Deut. xvii. 6. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 58. 3. Midrash Kohelet. fol. 78. 2. Caphtor, fol. 79. 1, 2. & 84. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Leave the dead to bury their own dead ( ). The spiritually dead are always on hand to bury the physically dead, if one’s real duty is with Jesus. Chrysostom says that, while it is a good deed to bury the dead, it is a better one to preach Christ.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “But Jesus said unto him, Follow me;” (ho de leosus legei auto akolouthei moi) “Then Jesus responded to him, you follow me,” to the hesitating disciple who was looking back, and wanted to turn back for a temporary period. Our Lord anticipated that one excuse or temptation sanctioned, or yielded to, or given approval, paved the way for another.
2) “And let the dead bury their dead.” (kai aphes tous nekrous thapsai tous heauton nekros) “And leave or permit the dead to bury their own dead ones.” The idea is let those who are “spiritually dead,” bury the bodies of your relatives, that you do not turn back or interrupt from following me, as a true disciple, Luk 9:23-26. The call of Jesus requires immediate obedience.
Spiritual death refers to the state or condition of responsible lost people before they come to Christ. The prodigal son was said to have been dead (spiritually dead) when he was in the hog pen, Luk 15:24; See also Eph 2:5; Gen 2:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
22. Allow the dead to bury their dead. By these words Christ does not condemn burial: for it would have been shameful and cruel to throw away the bodies of the dead unburied, and we know that the custom of burying originated in a divine command, and was practiced by the saints, in order to strengthen the hope of the last resurrection. He intended only to show, that what ever withdraws us from the right course, or retards us in it, deserves no other name than death Those only live, he tells us, who devote all their thoughts, and every part of their life, to obedience to God; while those who do not rise above the world, — who devote themselves to pleasing men, and forget God, — are like dead men, who are idly and uselessly employed in taking care of the dead.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) Let the dead bury their dead.The point of the half-epigrammatic, half-proverbial saying, lies in the contrast between the two meanings of the word dead. Let those who have no spiritual life linger in the circle of outward routine duties, and sacrifice the highest spiritual possibilities of their nature to their fulfilment. Those who are really living will do the work to which their Master calls them, and leave the lower conventional duties to be done or left undone as the events of their life shall order. Something there was, we may be sure, in the inward state of the disciple which called for the sternness of the rebuke. He had been called to a living work: he was resting in a dead one.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Follow me Infinite interests must take precedence of the finite.
Dead bury their dead The maxim is pointed with a play upon the double sense of the word dead. Let the spiritually dead bury the corporeally dead. Let a secular world perform its duties to its secular members. Our duties must be applied to a life eternal. Luke adds, (Luk 9:60,) “But go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”
Did the three instances of settling the matter of following our Lord occur on the same day? Perhaps so. They may have transpired in view of our Lord’s passing over the lake into the wild Gadarene country.
Or, the first one having occurred at that time, the Evangelists may introduce the other instances by association of similarity, as alike illustrating the mode of our Lord’s choice of apostles. It was not because our Lord could not have selected men of rank and influence for the sacred office, but for deeper reasons, that he called the humble laborious laymen.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But Jesus says to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Jesus’ reply is that the man must be willing to immediately turn his back on his family life and follow Jesus. The dead can be left to look after their own dead. Here ‘the dead’ is unquestionably figurative in at least one of its uses, for the dead could not literally bury the dead. It therefore refers at least partly, to the dead in soul. What Jesus therefore probably means is that in following Him the man will find life, and he must therefore leave those who are not seeking that life to look after each other. He must put obtaining eternal life before all else, for being a disciple of Jesus means becoming part of another sphere where human death loses its significance. In Jesus life has transcended death.
There is something very solemn about Jesus describing those who did not seek Him as ‘dead’. Jesus was by this bringing out the stark difference between those who had found life by believing in Him (Mat 19:29) and those who chose to remain in ‘death’ (Joh 3:16; Joh 5:24). In the words of Paul they were ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Eph 2:1). They were thus spiritually dead and without eternal life. But His point is that those who are His must leave ‘the dead’ behind to carry on their own affairs, and must themselves engage in the ministry of ‘life’ to all who will receive it. It was this ministry that these disciples would engage in by following Jesus, and nothing must deter them from it, not even the death of someone close to them.
The responsibility for burying a father fell on the eldest son, and it could be quite a performance. Even a priest was allowed to forsake his duties in order that he might fulfil this obligation. But it should be noted that a Nazirite who was under an oath of dedication to God was also not allowed to bury his father (Num 6:7), nor was a High Priest (Lev 21:11). Thus it may be that Jesus is bringing out the extraordinary level of dedication required of His disciples, which was to be seen as on a level with that of a lifelong Nazirite or a High Priest. It could hardly have been less.
We are not told whether or not these two did follow Jesus, that was not Matthew’s purpose. His purpose was to bring out the cost and demands of discipleship, and the fact that Jesus Himself fulfilled them. But there are really no grounds for saying that they did not. Normally when He said ‘Follow Me’ specifically, men did follow Him (Mat 4:18-22; Mat 9:9; Joh 1:43). The rich young man is a stated exception (Mat 19:21-22). On the other hand it may be that there is a contrast with the fact that, while the respectable Scribe was hesitant, in Mat 9:9 the unrespectable Matthew was not. (This would be especially significant if Matthew then became the ‘scribe’ of the band of Apostles as some have suggested).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 8:22 . ] The first . (not the second likewise, as Weisse improperly holds) denotes the spiritually dead (comp. on Mat 4:16 , on Joh 5:21 ; Joh 5:25 , and on Luk 15:24 ), who are without the spiritual life that comes through Christ. Origen in Cramer’s Catena: . The second literally; the dead belonging to their own circles. Fritzsche (comp. Kaeuffer, de not . . p. 34) interprets literally in both cases: let the dead bury themselves among one another , as a paradox by way of refusing the request. What a meaningless view of Jesus’ thoughtful way of putting it! The seeming harshness of Jesus’ reply (in answer to Weisse, Bruno Bauer) must be judged of by considering the necessity which he saw of decided and immediate separation, as compared with the danger of the contrary (Chrysostom); comp. Mat 10:37 . Moreover, it is to be inferred from . Comp. with Luk 9:60 , that this proceeded at once to follow the Lord, while that of Mat 8:19 probably went away like the rich young man mentioned in Mat 19:22 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Ver. 22. Follow me ] Let go things less necessary, and mind the main. Thy task is long, thy time is short; opportunities are headlong, and must be quickly caught, as the echo catcheth the voice. There is no use of after wit.
” Praecipitat tempus, mors atra impendet agenti. “
(Sil. Italic.)
Let the dead bury their dead ] The dead in sin, their dead in nature. Ungodly men are no better than breathing ghosts, walking sepulchres of themselves. Their bodies are but living coffins to carry a dead soul up and down in. The saints only are heirs of life,1Pe 3:71Pe 3:7 , and all others are dead, stark dead in sins and trespasses, as the wanton widow, 1Ti 5:6 ; as Terence saith the same: Sane hercle homo voluptati obsequens fuit dum vixit. And of such dead corpses (as once in Egypt, Exo 12:30 ) there is no house wherein there is not one, nay, many.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
22. ] First time, as Rev 3:1 , spiritually , second, literally dead. The two meanings are similarly used in one saying by our Lord in Joh 11:25-26 . See Heb 6:1 ; Heb 9:14 . , , , , , . , . . Euthym [103]
[103] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 8:22 . : the reply is a stern refusal, and the reason apparently hard and unfeeling : word for word the same in Luke (Luk 9:60 ), an unforgettable, mystic, hard saying. The dead must be taken in two senses = let the spiritually dead, not yet alive to the claims of the kingdom, bury the naturally dead. Fritzsche objects, and finds in the saying the paradox: “let the dead bury each other the best way they can,” which, as Weiss says, is not a paradox, but nonsense. Another eccentric idea of some commentators is that the first refers to the vespillones , the corpse-bearers who carried out the bodies of the poor at night, in Hebrew phrase, the men of the dead. Take it as we will, it seems a hard, heartless saying, difficult to reconcile with Christ’s denunciation of the Corban casuistry, by which humanity and filial piety were sacrificed on the altar of religion (Mat 15:3-6 ). But, doubtless, Jesus knew to whom He was speaking. The saying can be understood and justified; but it can also very easily be misunderstood and abused, and woe to the man who does so. From these two examples we see that Jesus had a startling way of speaking to disciples, which would create reflection and also give rise to remark. The disciple-logia are original, severe, fitted to impress, sift and confirm.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
let = leave.
the dead = corpses. Note the-well-known Figure of speech Antanaclasis (App-6), by which one word is used twice in the same sentence with two meanings which clash against each other: “leave the dead to bury their own corpses”. See App-139.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
22. ] First time, as Rev 3:1, spiritually,-second, literally dead. The two meanings are similarly used in one saying by our Lord in Joh 11:25-26. See Heb 6:1; Heb 9:14. , , , , , . , . . Euthym[103]
[103] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 8:22. , the dead) An expression urgently commanding the man to follow Him, and therefore embracing many things. Both the dead who are to be buried, and the dead who are to bury them, must come under consideration. The dead who are to be buried, are without doubt those literally dead, whether the father of this disciple was already then dead or old, and near to death, and with only this one son. Cf. Tob 14:12. The dead who bury, or those to whom the burial of the dead should be left, are partly those who are also about to die, mortals bound to the law of death (cf. Rom 8:10), as distinguished from the hope of a better life-that hope, however, being not altogether taken away. The appellation is to be limited by the context: as in Luk 20:34, they, who nevertheless are capable of being saved, are called the children of this world; so they are called dead, who are more fit for burying than for announcing the kingdom of God. As in ch. Mat 9:24, the girl is called not dead, who soon shall live (cf. Joh 11:4), so they are called dead, who soon shall die.[379] In the time of pestilence, the dead are buried by those who soon themselves die. Nor is the case very different with successive generations of mortals in the course of ages. Partly, they are already dead; and with regard to them the expression is hypothetical, with this meaning-Do thou follow Me, and leave the burial of the dead to the dead themselves; i.e. Let the dead, as far as you are concerned, remain unburied. A similar mode of expression occurs in Exo 21:14, Let the murderer be taken from the altar: i.e. let him be slain, even if he has fled to the altar. The appellation, therefore, of the dead who bury, is abrupt, and suitable to a command which could brook no delay-a command which had sacred grounds, and flowed from the divine perception of the Saviour. We ought to surrender ourselves wholly and immediately.- , their own) sc. relatives. See Gen 23:4. It was the duty of this disciple to deny his father.[380]
[379] The dead are in their lasting home, and the mourners are not far off from the same, but continue wandering all around it, until they themselves also enter it.-See Ecc 12:5.-V. g.
[380] The winds and the sea, on this occasion, sooner obeyed the will of Christ than did men.-Harm. 269, 270.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
follow: Mat 4:18-22, Mat 9:9, Joh 1:43
and: Luk 15:32, Eph 2:1, Eph 2:5, Eph 5:14, Col 2:13, 1Ti 5:6
Reciprocal: Gen 50:5 – let me go Lev 10:7 – ye shall Lev 21:11 – his father Num 6:6 – he shall come 1Ki 19:20 – I pray Eze 44:25 – General Mat 4:19 – Follow Mat 19:21 – come Mat 19:29 – or brethren Mar 1:20 – they left Luk 5:27 – Follow me Luk 9:59 – suffer
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A THREEFOLD FOLLOWING
But Jesus said unto him, follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Mat 8:22
Whither must we follow Christ?
I. Along the road He trod.That was the road of self-denial, self-abnegation, of poverty, of homelessness, of the base mans hatred and the proud mans scorn.
II. On the road of toil.It was the first law of Eden, Work; and though the work was changed to toil by a penal decree, even that toil by faithful obedience has been transformed into an honour and a blessing.
III. In the strength of enthusiasm.He must be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And herein, too, he must let the dead bury their dead. For the dead of this world hate this fiery spirit. Above all, no zeal, said the witty, crafty, successful statesman. Fervent in spirit, said St. Paul.
Dean Farrar.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
8:22
As the father was not yet dead, and this man professed to be a disciple of Jesus and hence alive spiritually, he should leave the temporal work of a burial to those who were dead spiritually. The general lesson in the case is that even as important a circumstance as a funeral should not be allowed to interfere with the spiritual services we owe to Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 8:22. Leave the dead to bury their own dead. This is a hard saying, and who can bear it The common interpretation is: Let the (spiritually) dead attend to burying the (naturally) dead. Such a double meaning is common in brief-pointed remarks. The goal and end of those who are spiritually deadtheir last and highest aim here is to bury one another.If dead be taken literally in both cases we have the meaning: Let the dead bury themselves, i.e.., better let them be unburied than that Christs disciples be drawn away from their obedience. Chrysostom says: Jesus forbade him to go, in order to show that nothing, not even the most important work of natural duty and affection, is so momentous, as care for the kingdom of heaven; and that nothing, however urgent, should cause us to be guilty of a moments delay in providing first for that.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 22
Let the dead; that is, the spiritually dead–those indifferent to their salvation.