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Matthew 12:36

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

But I say unto you,.... This form of speaking is used, the more strongly to asseverate the truth of what is after said; and the rather, because men are apt to indulge a liberty with their tongues; fancying no great crime is committed, when only words are spoken, and no facts done; that every idle word that a man shall speak, they shall give...

Matthew 12:37

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

For by thy words thou shalt be justified,.... Theophylact seems to take these words to be a passage of Scripture cited by Christ, in proof of what he had said, but does not point to any; nor is any such Scripture to be found. They are rather proverbial expressions, in common use among the Jews; or refer to the usual methods of proceeding in courts...

Matthew 12:38

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then certain of the Scribes and Pharisees answered,.... Not the same that charged him with casting out devils, by the prince of devils; but others, that were present, as appears from Lu 11:16 and who do not take upon them to make a proper reply to what he had said, or return an answer to that, but address him on another account; being willing to...

Matthew 12:39

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

But he answered and said unto them,.... Not to the Pharisees, who were unworthy of an answer from him; having, in such an imperious manner, and with a sole view to tempt him, and after such miracles were wrought by him, required of him a sign from heaven; but to the multitude, the throng of people gathered thick together on this occasion, see...

Matthew 12:40

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,.... Or "in the belly of a great fish", as is said, Jonah 1:17 for that it was a whale, is not there said, nor is it certain it was; nor from the smallness of its swallow, is it thought probable it should; nor does the word here used, necessarily imply one, but some large fish; nor...

Matthew 12:41

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment,.... Alluding either to the custom and practice of witnesses, who rise up from their seats, and stand, when they give in their testimonies in a court of judicature; or else, referring to the time of the general resurrection from the dead, at the last day, when these men shall rise from the dead, and stand...

Matthew 12:42

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

The queen of the south,.... Called the queen of Sheba, 1 Kings 10:1. Sheba was one of the sons of Joktan, a grandchild of Arphaxad, who settled in the southern parts of Arabia: hence this queen is called the queen of the south. Sheba is by the Targumist (p) called Zemargad: and this queen the queen of Zemargad: she goes by different names....

Matthew 12:43

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,.... By "the unclean" spirit, is meant Satan, the old serpent, the devil; who by the Jews, is wont to be called as here, רוח מסאבא, "the unclean spirit" (x); and that, because he is by sin become so, though he was not so originally; is the cause of uncleanness in men, and delights in unclean persons,...

Matthew 12:44

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then he said, I will return into my house,.... Into the land of Judea, particularly into the Scribes and Pharisees, outward professors of religion; who, notwithstanding their outward reformation, and great pretensions to holiness, are Satan's house still: he has a property in them, a claim upon them; and though he says, from whence I came out, yet...

Matthew 12:45

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits,.... This is said in allusion to, and in imitation of the seven spirits before the throne; or may denote a large number of devils, seven being a number of perfection; or else the various corruptions of a man's heart, the swarms of internal lusts which are there stirred up by Satan; more...

Matthew 12:46

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

While he yet talked to the people,.... Upon these subjects, which so nearly concerned the Scribes and Pharisees, and which could not fail of drawing upon him their resentment and ill will. Behold his mother and his brethren: by "his mother" is meant Mary; but who are "his brethren", is not so easy to say: some are of opinion, that Joseph had...

Matthew 12:47

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then one said unto him,.... Either one of his auditors, or, as the Ethiopic version has it, one "of his disciples": the other evangelists intimate, that more than one acquainted him with it; which is easily reconciled: for, upon his mother and brethren calling to him, as Mark says they did; first one and then another, and more, might apprise him...

Matthew 12:48

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

But he answered and said unto him that told him,.... Of his mother and brethren being without doors, desiring, and waiting to speak to him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? These questions are put, not as if he himself was ignorant who were his mother or his brethren; or as suggesting as if he had none; or as denying that these were in...

Matthew 12:49

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples,.... By whom are meant, not only the twelve, but all others present, who truly believed in him, both men and women; and who might sit near him and together, and whom, by this motion of his hand, he pointed out as his spiritual relations, to the multitude that sat round him: and said, behold my...

Matthew 12:50

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

For whosoever shall do the will of my Father,.... This is not to be understood of a perfect obedience to the will of God, revealed in his righteous law; for since this cannot be performed by any mere man, no one could be in such a spiritual relation to Christ: but of the obedience of faith to the will of God, revealed in the Gospel; which is to...

Matthew 13:1

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

The same day Jesus went out of the house,.... Where he had been preaching, and working miracles: where this house was, is not certain; it seems to have been in one of the cities of Galilee, probably Capernaum, since that was by the sea coast: the reason of his going out of the house was, either to converse with his mother and brethren, as they...

Matthew 13:2

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And great multitudes were gathered unto him,.... Some on one account, and some on another; some to see his person, others his miracles; some healing for their bodies, and others for their souls; some for the loaves, and others to hear him preach; and of these there were several sorts, as the following parable shows. So that he went into a ship:...

Matthew 13:3

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And he spake many things unto them in parables,.... For the parables of the sower, and the different sorts of ground the seed fell in, of the wheat and tares, of the grain of mustard seed, of the leaven in three measures of meal, of the treasure hid in a field, of the pearl of great price, of the net cast into the sea, and of the householder, were...

Matthew 13:4

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And when he sowed,.... Or, "as he sowed", as the other evangelists; that is, "whilst he was sowing", some seeds fell; either out of his hand, or out of the cart drawn by oxen; hence the (c) Talmudists distinguish between מפולת יד, "the falling of the hand", or what falls out of the hand; and שוורים מפולת, "the falling of the oxen", or what falls...

Matthew 13:5

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Some fell upon stony places,.... Such a place as the Jews call חולסית, a barren, stony place, a place from whence, they say, they take stones, and בית סלע, and which אינו ראוי לזריעה, "is not fit for sowing" (d); and such were those places and spots of ground, that some of these seeds fell upon; and design such hearers, in whom the natural...