Matthew 8:11

Matthew 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, ανακλιθησονται μετα Αβρααμ , &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 Luke 14:15 ; Matthew 22:1 ; Revelation 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.

Matthew 8:11-12 . This logion is given by Luke ( Luke 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. ἀνακλιθήσονται : 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 σκότος , κλαυθμὸς , βρυγμὸς , 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.

(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 ( Luke 13:28 ). Such verbal reproduction of what had been said before was, it will be remembered, entirely after our Lord’s 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 Matthew 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 Luke 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 Abraham’s bosom, the received parable of the blessedness of the kingdom.

Matthew 8:11 . Πολλοὶ , many ) who, being not Jews, are similar to the centurion. This is intended to awaken the emulation of the Jews.— ἀπὸ ἁναταλῶν , from the east ) see ch. Matthew 2:1 ,— from the east and from the west ; an euphemism for “from the Gentiles.”— ἥξουσι , shall come ) A prophecy: they shall come in spirit [ and by faith .—V. g.]— μετὰ , together with ) see Hebrews 12:23 .[366]— ἘΝ Τῇ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΊᾼ , in the kingdom ) sc. in this life, and in that which is to come. [366] With the Fathers in the faith, Hebrews 11:9 —V. g.

Matthew 8:11 . Ἀπὸ ἀνατ . καὶ δυσμ .] from the most widely separated quarters of the world Gentiles . Comp. Isaiah 45:6 ; Malachi 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 ( Matthew 26:29 ; Luke 13:28 ; Luke 14:15 ; Revelation 19:9 ; Matthew 22:30 ; 1 Corinthians 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 ( Matthew 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 Matthew 8:11 f. to the hand that framed the later version, although, with Matthew 8:10 , preparing the way for them, the words neither interrupt the connection nor clash with the then standpoint of Jesus ( Matthew 3:9 ), seeing that in the Sermon on the Mount (especially Matthew 7:21 f.) He has taken away from the kingdom of God anything like national limitation.