Matthew 9:18 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 9:18
While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
to talk · verb — present active participle, genitive singular masculine
he
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
spake
λαλέωlaléō
G2980
to talk
things
ταῦταtaûta
G5023
these things
them
αὐτοῖςautois
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
behold
ἰδοὺidou
G2400
used as imperative lo! · interjection
came
ἐλθὼνelthōn
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
ruler
ἄρχωνarchōn
G758
a first (in rank or power) · noun — nominative singular masculine
and
ἐλθὼνelthōn
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
worshipped
προσεκύνειprosekunei
G4352
to fawn or crouch to · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular
him
αὐτῷautō
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
saying
λέγωνlegōn
G3004
properly · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
My
μοῦmoû
G3450
of me
daughter
θυγάτηρthugatēr
G2364
a female child · noun — nominative singular feminine
is
ἐτελεύτησεν·eteleutēsen
G5053
to finish life (by implication · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
now
ἄρτιarti
G737
just now · adverb
dead
τελευτάωteleutáō
G5053
to finish life (by implication
but
ἀλλ᾽all᾽
G235
properly · conjunction
and
ἔρχομαιérchomai
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications
lay
ἐπίθεςepithes
G2007
to impose (in a friendly or hostile sense) · verb — second aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular
thy
σοῦsoû
G4675
of thee
hand
χεῖράcheira
G5495
the hand (literally or figuratively (power) · noun — accusative singular feminine
upon
ἐπ᾽ep᾽
G1909
properly · preposition
her
αὐτήν,autēn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
live
ζήσεται.zēsetai
G2198
to live (literally or figuratively) · verb — future middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Mark 5:22-43 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
Luke 8:41-56 And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he w…
Matthew 8:2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
2 Kings 5:11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD…
Luke 13:14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There…
Matthew 9:24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
John 4:47-49 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: f…
John 11:21-22 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 9:18-26
We have here two passages of history put together; that of the raising of Jairus's daughter to life, and that of the curing of the woman that had the bloody issue, as he was going to Jairus's house, which is introduced in a parenthesis, in the midst of the other; for Christ's miracles were thick sown, and interwoven; the work of him that sent him was his daily work. He was called to do these good works from speaking the things foregoing, in answer to the cavils of the Pharisees, Mat 9:18 : While he spake these things; and we may suppose it is a pleasing interruption given to that unpleasant work of disputation, which, though sometimes needful, a good man will gladly leave, to go about a work…
But go ye and learn what that meaneth-- (Hos 6:6),
I will have mercy, and not sacrifice--that is, the one rather than the other. "Sacrifice," the chief part of the ceremonial law, is here put for a religion of literal adherence to mere rules; while "mercy" expresses such compassion for the fallen as seeks to lift them up. The duty of keeping aloof from the polluted, in the sense of "having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness," is obvious enough; but to understand this as prohibiting such intercourse with them as is necessary to their recovery, is to abuse it. This was what these pharisaical religionists did, and this is what our Lord here exposes.
for I am not come to cal…
While he spake these things unto them,.... To the Scribes and Pharisees, and to John's disciples, concerning, and in vindication of his, and his disciples, eating and drinking with publicans and sinners, and their not fasting as others did; and while he spake these parables, to expose the folly of self-righteous persons, and justify his own conduct, in calling sinners to repentance,
behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him. This man, as both Mark and Luke say, was named Jairus; and was a ruler, not of the sanhedrim, or lesser consistory, but of the synagogue that was at Capernaum; and whom the Jews call, , "the head of the synagogue". Mark says, he was "one of the rulers": not…
The Church Fathers
Figuratively, this ruler is to be understood as the Law, which prays the Lord that He would restore life to the dead multitude which it had brought up for Christ, preaching that His coming was to be looked for.
The prayers of the ruler, the faith of the woman, the gathering of the crowd in the house and the shouting of the two blind men, as well as the bringing of the deaf and dumb demoniac … are all interrelated. The ruler here is understood to be the law. He prays to the Lord for the people. The law has nourished them on Christ in the expectation of his foretold coming, and he restores life to the dead girl. Now we do not read of any ruler who was a believer. Hence the person of this praying ruler may rightly be taken as a model of the law. The Lord promised to help him, and he made good on his promise.
(Verse 18, 19.) Behold, a certain ruler came forward and worshipped him, saying: My daughter has just died; but come, lay your hand upon her, and she will live. And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. The eighth sign is in which the ruler asks for his daughter to be raised, not wanting to be excluded from the mystery of true circumcision; but a woman who had been flowing with blood enters, and is healed in the eighth place, so that the ruler's daughter comes as the ninth, according to what is said in the Psalms: Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God (Psalm 67:32). And so, all Israel will be saved; as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.' (Romans 11:25-26).
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Custom — A tax imposed by the Romans. The tax-gatherers were termed publicans (q.v.), who had their stations at the gates of cities, and in the public highways, and at the place set apart for that purpose,…
Jairus — A ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum, whose only daughter Jesus restored to life (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41). Entering into the chamber of death, accompanied by Peter and James and John and the father…
Capernaum · Miracles of Jesus performed at — Miracles of Jesus performed at
Jairus · A ruler of the synagogue in — A ruler of the synagogue in
Life, Natural · Miraculously restored by Christ — Miraculously restored by Christ
Miracles Of Christ, The · The dead raised to life — The dead raised to life
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Matthew 9:18-22
Matthew 9:18-22
Mark 5:22-34
Luke 8:40-48
18. While he was speaking these things to them, a certain ruler came, and worshipped him, [526] saying, My daughter is now dead; but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she will live. 19. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and likewise his disciples, 20. And, lo, a woman, who had been afflicted with a bloody flux for twelve years came behind him, and touched the tuft of his cloak: 21. For she said within herself, If I shall only touch his cloak, I shall be cured. 22. But Jesus turned round, and, when he saw her, he said, Take courage, my daughter; thy faith hath cured thee. And the woman was cured from that time.
22. And, lo, one…
Jesus is the Messiah whose power knows no boundaries. He calls people to have faith in him.
9:18 lay your hand on her: The laying-on of hands is a visible symbol of prayer for God’s power to flow into someone, often resulting in new life or ministries (19:13; Num 27:18-23; Deut 34:9). • The man believed that Jesus had the power to raise the dead (cp. 1 Kgs 17:8-24; 2 Kgs 4:18-37).
