Matthew 9:23

And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players... Here the revival is described, and he does four things: first, the indications of death are described; secondly, hope is given; thirdly, the girl is revived; fourthly, the effect is mentioned. He …

(non occ.) After the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, follows the raising of the dead; And when Jesus was come into the ruler's house.

Morally; The damsel dead in the house is the soul dead in thought. He says that she is asleep, because they that are now asleep in sin may yet be roused by penitence. The minstrels are flatterers who cherish the dead.

"And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the people making a noise, He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed Him to scorn." Since she was unmarried, they were …

If he has power to give eternal life, as he certainly has ( John xvii. 2 ), he must have power to forgive sin; for guilt is a bar that must be removed, or we can never get to heaven. What an encouragement is this to poor sinners to repent, that the power of pardoning sin is put into the hands of the Son of man, who is bone of our bone!

The minstrels - The musicians. The original word means flute players. Musical instruments were used by the Jews as well as the heathens, in their Lamentations for the dead, to soothe the melancholy of surviving friends, by soft and solemn notes.

And when Jesus came into the ruler's house,....

Saw the minstrels and the people making a noise - Αυλητας, pipers; Anglo-Saxon the whistlers; Gothic, haurngans haurngandans, the horn-blowers blowing with their horns. Nearly the same as the pipublasara, pipe-blowers of the Islandic: for among all those nations funeral lamentations accompanied with such rude instruments, were made at the death of relatives. That pipes were in use among the Jews, in times of calamity or death, is evident from Jer 48:36. And among the Greeks, and Romans, as well as among the Jews, persons were hired on purpose to follow the funeral processions with lamentations.

Let us mark, in this passage, the gracious name by which the Lord Jesus speaks of himself. He calls himself “the bridegroom” What the bridegroom is to the bride, the Lord Jesus is to the souls of all who believe in him. He loves them with a deep and everlasting love. He takes them into union with himself: they are “one with Christ and Christ in them.”

Let us mark, in this passage, the gracious name by which the Lord Jesus speaks of himself. He calls himself “the bridegroom” What the bridegroom is to the bride, the Lord Jesus is to the souls of all who believe in him. He loves them with a deep and everlasting love. He takes them into union with himself: they are “one with Christ and Christ in them.” He pays all their debts to God; he supplies all their daily needs; he sympathizes with them in all their troubles; he bears with all their infirmities, and does not reject them for a few weaknesses. He regards them as part of himself: those that persecute and injure them are persecuting him. The glory that he has received from his Father they will one day share with him, and where he is, there shall they be. Such are the privileges of all true Christians, they are the Lamb’s wife ( 19:7 ). Such is the portion to which faith admits us. By it God joins our poor sinful souls to one precious Husband; and those whom thus joins together shall never be put asunder. Blessed indeed are they that believe. Let us mark in the next place, what a wise principle the Lord Jesus lays down for the treatment of young disciples. There were some who found fault with our Lord’s followers because they did not fast as John the Baptist’s disciples did. Our Lord defends his disciples with an argument full of deep wisdom. He shows that there would want of fitness in their fasting so long as he, their Bridegroom, was with them. But he does not stop there. He goes on to show, by two parables, that young beginners in the school of Christianity must be dealt with gently. They must be taught as they are able to bear: they must not be expected to receive everything at once. To neglect this rule would be as unwise as to “put new wine into old bottles” piece of new cloth to an old garment.”