Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew Mark and Luke John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE EVANGELISTS
measure, saying, He hath done all things well; he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.
Mark 8:1-10
1. In those days, when there wa a very great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him, and said to them, 2. I am moved with compassion towards the multitude, because they have now remained with me three days, and have nothing to eat. 3. And if I shall send them home fasting, they will faint by the way; for some of them have come from a distance. 4. And his disciples answered him, Whence shall any man be able to satisfy those persons with bread in this solitary place? 5. And he asked them, How many loaves have you? And they said, Seven.
6. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground; and took the seven loaves, and, when he had given thanks, brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them, and they set them before the multitude. 7. And they had a few small fishes; and when he had blessed, he ordered these likewise to be set before them. 8. And they ate, and were satisfied; and of the fragments that remained they carried away seven baskets full. 9. And they that had eaten were about four thousand; and he sent them away. 10. And immediately embarking, he came with his disciples to the coasts of Dalmanutha.
Matthew 15:29. And Jesus departing thence. Though it is unquestionably the same journey of Christ, on his return from the neighborhood of Sidon, that is related by Matthew and by Mark, yet in some points they do not quite agree. It is of little moment that the one says he came to the borders of Magdala, and the other, that he came to the coasts of Dalmanutha; for the cities were adjacent, being situated on the lake of Gennesareth, and we need not wonder that the district which lay between them received both names. 1030
Decapolis was so called from its containing ({δέκα} {πόλεις}) ten cities; and as it was contiguous to Phenicia and to that part of Galilee which lay towards the sea, Christ must have passed through it, when he returned from Phenicia into Galilee of Judea. There is a greater appearance of contradiction in another part of the narrative, where Matthew says that our Lord cured many who labored under various diseases, while Mark takes no notice of any but of one deaf man. But this difficulty need not detain us; for Mark selected for description a miracle which was performed during the journey, and the report of which was no sooner circulated than it aroused the inhabitants of every part of that country to bring many persons to Christ to be cured.
Now we know that the Evangelists are not anxious to relate all that Christ did, and are so far from dwelling largely on miracles, that they only glance at a few by way of example. Besides, Mark was satisfied with producing one instance, in which the power of Christ is as brightly displayed as in others of the same sort which followed shortly afterwards.
Mark 7:32. And they bring to him one who was deaf. The reason why they implored him to lay his hands upon him may be learned from passages which we have already considered; for the laying on of hands was a solemn symbol of consecra-
1030"Est nomme maintenant de l'une, maintenant de l'autre ville;" — "was named sometimes from the one, and sometimes from the other town."