Matthew 8:10
When Jesus heard it, he marvelled…
Which must be
understood of him as man; for as God, nothing could present itself
unto him at unawares, unthought of, and not known before; and so could
not raise admiration in him, and which cannot properly fall on a
divine person: or he behaved, both by words and gesture, as persons
do when they are astonished at anything; and this he might do, to
raise the attention and wonder of those that were with him:
and said to them that followed.
This agrees perfectly with the
account that Luke gives, that Christ was set out, with the
messengers the centurion sent unto him, in order to come to his
house, and heal his servant, and these that followed him were his
disciples, and so some copies read, and others that were following
him thither to see the miracle.
Verily, I say unto you;
a strong asseveration, and which Christ
used, when he was about to deliver anything of considerable
importance, and required attention:
I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel:
that is, among
the people of Israel: so the Arabic version reads it, "in any of
Israel"; and the Persic, "among the children of Israel"; and is to
be understood, not of the patriarchs and prophets, and other eminent
believers, which were in Israel formerly; but of the men of the then
present generation, his mother and his apostles being excepted:
though it may be questioned, whether the apostles themselves as yet,
had expressed such a strong faith in him, as this man: or it may
have a particular respect to them in Israel, who had applied to him
for healing, and had been healed by him; that he had not met with
and observed any such expression of faith, in his divine power from
them, as this centurion had delivered. And it was the more
remarkable, that it came from a Gentile, and from a soldier too: but
as great as it was, he did not exceed it; he did not ascribe more to
Christ than was proper, and which, by the way, is a clear proof of
our Lord's divinity: for had he not been truly God, he would have
rebuked, and not have commended this man's faith in him: who
ascribed that power to him, which is peculiar to God: he is so far
from finding fault with him, for thinking or speaking so highly of
him, that he praises him for it, and prefers his faith in him, to
any instance of it he had met with among the Israelites; who yet had
far greater advantages of knowing him, and believing in him. There
is a phrase in the Talmud F13 somewhat like this, only used of a
person of a different character; where a certain Jew, observing
another called by some of his neighbours Rabbi, thus expressed
himself;
``If this be a Rabbi, (larvyb wtwmk wbry la) , "let there not
be many such as he in Israel".''
And it is said F14 of Nadab and Abihu,
``that two such were not found (larvyb whyytwwk) , "as they in
Israel".''
FOOTNOTES:
F13 T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 20. 2. Derech Eretz. fol. 18. 1
F14 Zohar in Lev. fol. 24. 1. & 25. 4.
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