Matthew 4:23 - Exposition

And Jesus went about all Galilee ; in all Galilee (Revised Version, with the manuscripts). This indicates, not so much systematic itineration round the cities in order (contrast the simple accusative in Matthew 9:35 [ Mark 6:6 ]; 23. 15), as going hither and thither among them (cf. Acts 13:11 ). All ( Matthew 8:34 , note). Teaching … preaching … healing . Our Lord, unlike the Baptist, takes men as and where he can find them; the religious, by teaching in the synagogues; the mass of people, by preaching, presumably in public places; the sick, by healing them wherever they are brought to him. Notice the threefold cord of all Christ-like ministry—teaching, especially those who have desires heavenwards; preaching, especially to the unconverted; healing, which cares for all physical life. Synagogues . "The synagogues were places of assembly for public worship, where on sabbaths and feast-days (at a later period, also on the second and fifth days of the week) the people met together for prayer, and to listen to the reading of portions of the Old Testament, which were translated and explained in the vernacular dialect. With the permission of the president, any one who was fitted might deliver addresses" (Meyer). The gospel . The first time it occurs in the text of St. Matthew. Of the kingdom . The phrase is used thus absolutely only elsewhere in Matthew 9:35 and Matthew 24:14 ( Mark 1:15 is a false reading). This expression (with Matthew 24:17 , "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand") is the earliest form of the message. The good news centred in the kingdom, i.e. the realization of the position accepted by the nation at Sinai, with all that that involved,. The phrase, "the gospel of the kingdom," refers only to the blessedness of its approach, and says nothing (unlike Matthew 24:17 )of the preparation for it. Healing ( θεραπεύων ). As compared with ἰάομαι (rare in Matthew, in the active only Matthew 13:15 , which is from the LXX ., but frequent in Luke) θεραπεύω thinks rather of the healer, who renders the service; ἰάομαι , rather of the healed, the completeness of the cure (cf. Matthew 8:7 , Matthew 8:8 ), Sickness ; disease , Revised Version; νόσον , laying stress on the pain and disorder. Disease; sickness , Revised Version; μαλακίαν , laying stress on the weakness. (For the two words in combination, cf. Deuteronomy 7:15 .) Among the people ( ἐν τῷ λαῷ ). These words are wanting in the true text of Matthew 9:35 . The people ; i.e. the Jews, as contrasted with those included in Matthew 9:24 . Not that St. Matthew means to exclude any sick Gentile who happened to be living among the Jews; but in this verse he is thinking only of those who lived near, and he naturally uses the word which connotes the Jewish people. If others came, it was only because they lived ἐν τῷ λαῷ .