Bible Study series: Matthew 12:15-21. In the previous section, the Pharisees were plotting to destroy him. Matthew writes, however, that Jesus is the Chosen Servant, chosen by God.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 12:15-21
15 When Jesus was aware (of their plot), he withdrew from there. Many people followed him, and he healed everyone of them. 16 Then he warned them that they should not make him known, 17 so that the word through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying:
18 Look! My servant whom I have chosen,
My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.
I shall put my Spirit on him,
And he shall declare justice to the Gentiles.
19 He shall not quarrel, nor cry out,
Nor shall anyone hear his voice in the streets.
20 He shall not break a worn-out reed,
And a smoldering wick he shall not snuff out,
Until he thrusts forth justice to victory.
21 And in his name Gentiles shall hope. [Is. 42:1-4] (Matt. 12:15-21)
Comments:
15:
Jesus withdrew when opposition arose (Matt. 4:12; 14:13; 15:21; 16:5), because he could not be arrested before his time. Often discretion by a strategic withdrawal is the best course of action.
He healed everyone. Healing: the verb is therapeuō (pronounced thair-ah-pew-oh, our word therapy is related to it), and it means to “make whole, restore, heal, cure, care for.”
This statement about healing is another summary. As I noted in my commentary on 9:35, part and parcel of the kingdom coming and being manifested is healing. Jesus was ushering it in. Renewalists believe that they too, by the power and authority of Jesus, can see healings and deliverances from demons. They too can pray for the sick and demonized, and they shall recover.
However, this verse is a summary or generalization. We already read that many people did not repent, even after they saw the miracles. Capernaum, his adopted hometown, was particularly pointed out as stubborn (11:23-24). Nazareth, Joseph’s hometown and where Jesus grew up, will also reject him, even though they saw the mighty works he did (13:53-58). Mark reports that his mighty works were minimal because of the hometown’s unbelief (and contempt); all he could do is heal a few sick people (Mark 6:5). He marveled at their unbelief (Mark 6:6).
We should therefore be careful about over-interpreting these summary verses. On the other hand, let’s not discount them either. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that sometimes people just are not healed down here on earth, so let’s not freak out when the healing doesn’t happen. But let’s seek God for healing every time it is needed and people ask for it.
Why Doesn’t Divine Healing Happen One Hundred Percent of the Time?
Then we leave the results up to God.
16-17:
He warned them not to make him known, because he had to fulfill the word spoken through Isaiah about the Chosen Servant of Yahweh. (John 6:15 says they intended to make him king after the miraculous feeding of five thousand men.) Those next verses from Isaiah say he will not hire an advertising firm (so to speak) to improve his brand. His brothers, who had not yet believed in him, said he must go down to Judea (southern Israel), so that he would make himself known (John 7:4-5). Jesus said no. He would not let his brothers dictate terms. Sometimes good ideas are not “God ideas.” The same goes here. He did not want to produce an infomercial about himself.
18:
The Chosen Servant can be interpreted as Israel, but his nation failed (Is. 42:18-25), so now the promise is being fulfilled in Jesus.
One more time the Father called Jesus his beloved (see Matt. 3:17; 17:5). God was going to anoint him with his Spirit, and this happened at his baptism (Matt. 3:16). We need to highlight the Spirit’s power. He worked his miracles by the Spirit. This Spirit-empowerment that brought healing and demon expulsion was the token or sign that the kingdom was coming in power (see v. 28).
19:
Once again, he was not going to sell informercials about himself.
“He shall not quarrel”: He won’t bicker and prove himself to be the Messiah by clever, extended debates. “Hey! Now you listen to me, you Pharisees and teachers of the law! I’m the Messiah! You hear me? Me! If you don’t believe me, I shall call down fire from heaven right now!” That’s the opposite of what he was doing.
“nor cry out”: He won’t behave like this: “Hey! Look at me! Look at me!” Look at me!” I now identify myself before you as the Messiah! Look at my miracles!”
“Nor shall anyone hear his voice in the streets”: This clause means the same thing, as above. “Extra! Extra! My good news is that I’m the loud and attention-seeking Messiah!” He did not do that, either.
Why won’t he launch a series of first-century infomercials? The kingdom of God at this stage in its growth is to be subtle. It is only for the hungry and desperate and anyone who is not weighted down by tradition and religious rules. Its subtlety and quiet invasion is designed to produce irony. This word means that people who think they know (e.g. the religious hierarchy) actually do not know very much or they don’t know the right things. They therefore live in irony. In contrast, those who don’t know very much and know that they don’t know very much are the perfect candidates for the kingdom of God and Jesus’s Messiahship.
A hypothetical example in your life: Let’s imagine that you study for an exam at school. You boast that no one is smarter than you. You will ace the exam. You take it and you still boast that you nailed it. However, the results are in. You failed it. You are now the victim of irony. You believed you knew more than you actually did. Your boasting made your humbling all the more intense. Application one more time: The religious hierarchy believed they knew all there was about the law and tradition—and they in fact knew a lot from the legalistic point of view. But they did not grasp the spirit of the law. They are failing, in God’s sight, the most important perspective of all.
Yes, he does miracles, and the ordinary people are beginning to catch on (v. 23), while the Pharisees miss the warning signs (v. 24).
20:
The Greek word depicts a reed (a plant) as “broken,” “bent,” “shattered,” “crushed” or “worn out.” All those descriptors are alternative translations. He was going to repair and heal the reed. He wants to repair you too, if your life looks like those adjectives.
Jesus was not going to walk up to a smoldering wick, moisten his index finger and thumb, and snuff out the faintest orange glow on the tip of the wick. He was going to light it up again. He’ll do that to your life too, if it is nothing but a smoldering wick, with a thin stream of smoke going up.
“thrust forth”: it is a strong translation of the verb ekballō (pronounced ek-bahl-loh). The ball-stem means, basically, to throw, but the word has developed all sorts of nuances, depending on the context. You can look it up at biblehub by the Interlinear tab. His goal is to thrust forth justice to victory. His effort towards justice is not passive or half-hearted. He is doing this gradually right now, around the globe, for the greatest justice for everyone is salvation. He shall win, people of God!
21:
We can trust in and hope in his name.
“name”: Let’s explore this word more generically, to get an idea how it applies here. This noun stands in for the person—a living, real person. You carry your earthly father’s name. If he is dysfunctional, his name is a disadvantage. If he is functional and impacting society for the better, then his name is an advantage. The Father has the highest status in the universe, before and above the entire universe, which he created. His character is perfection itself. And therefore, we can hope in his name, which stands in for Jesus’s person and character.
“But it is not hard to see how Matthew interprets Isaiah 42; despite the skepticism of some of his modern critics, Matthew read the larger context. God’s servant Israel failed in its mission (42:18-19), so God chose one person within Israel to restore the rest of the people (49:5-7); this one would bear the punishment (cf. 40:2) rightly due his people (52:13-53:12)” (Keener, p. 360).
Blomberg is right:
In some of the suffering servant passages of Isaiah, the prophet explicitly identifies God’s servant as Israel (Isa 44:1; 45:4; 49:3). In other places an individual seems more likely in view (esp. in 52:13–53:12). In Isa 42:1–2 “servant” may signify the nation Israel or the Messiah or the Messiah as the fulfillment of God’s plans for Israel (a popular theme in Matthew; see comments under 2:13–15). Jewish interpretation varied, but already in the [Targum] Isa 42:1, this text was taken as messianic. Matthew’s use of Isaiah thus falls squarely within the already established range of interpretive options. The text form is quite different from the LXX, while retaining a few agreements with the LXX as over against the MT. (comment on 12:15-21)
GrowApp for Matt. 12:15-21
1. How has Jesus fanned the orange glow of your smoldering wick, so that you now burn with a strong flame? Or, if you are a worn-out reed, how has he brought you new life?
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