Matthew 11:4

Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) Go and shew John again.—There is no Greek adverb answering to the last word. St. Luke (Luke 7:21) adds that “in that same hour Jesus cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits,” and they were therefore to carry back their report as eyewitnesses.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:2-6 Some think that John sent this inquiry for his own satisfaction. Where there is true faith, yet there may be a mixture of unbelief. The remaining unbelief of good men may sometimes, in an hour of temptation; call in question the most important truths. But we hope that John's faith did not fail in this matter, and that he only desired to have it strengthened and confirmed. Others think that John sent his disciples to Christ for their satisfaction. Christ points them to what they heard and saw. Christ's gracious condescensions and compassions to the poor, show that it was he that should bring to the world the tender mercies of our God. Those things which men see and hear, if compared with the Scriptures, direct in what way salvation is to be found. It is difficult to conquer prejudices, and dangerous not to conquer them; but those who believe in Christ, their faith will be found so much the more to praise, and honour, and glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Go and show John again ... - Jesus referred them for an answer to these miracles. They were proof that he was the Messiah. Prophets had indeed performed miracles, but no prophet had performed so many, or any so important. Jesus, moreover, performed them "in his own name" and by his own power. Prophets had done it by the power of God. Jesus, therefore, performed the works which none but the Messiah could do, and John might easily infer that he was the Christ.

The poor have the gospel preached to them - It was predicted of the Messiah that he would preach good tidings to the meek Isaiah 61:1; or, as it is rendered in the New Testament, "He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor," Luke 4:18. By this, therefore, also, John might infer that he was truly the Messiah. It adds to the force of this testimony that the "poor" have always been overlooked by Pharisees and philosophers. No sect of philosophers had condescended to notice them before Christ, and no system of religion had attempted to instruct them before the Christian religion. In all other schemes the poor have been passed by as unworthy of notice.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. Now when John had heard in the prison—For the account of this imprisonment, see on [1261]Mr 6:17-20.

the works of Christ, he sent, &c.—On the whole passage, see on [1262]Lu 7:18-35.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Matthew 11:6".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Jesus answered and said unto them,.... Not by an express declaration, that he was the Messiah that was to come, and they were not to look for any other; but he bids them

go, and show John again, those things which ye do hear and see. Christ would have them go back to John in prison, and relate to him the doctrines which they had heard preached by him to the poor; and the miracles which they had seen with their own eyes, then wrought by him; as well as many others, which were attested to them by credible witnesses; for there were at that time about Christ, that had infirmities, plagues, and evil spirits, and that were blind, and he instantly cured them in their presence; see Luke 7:21.

Geneva Study Bible

Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 11:4-6. Answer of Jesus.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 11:4. Ἃ ἀκούετε καὶ βλέπετε, those things which ye do hear and see) The testimonies of facts of seven kinds, enumerated in Matthew 11:5-6. The miracles which our Lord performed had been foretold; they were beneficent, many, and various.[511]

[511] Sight in other cases is wont to precede hearing; but the word of Christ [heard by them] answered more closely, as it were, to the desires of faith than the works of Christ [seen by them], John 14:11. Even in this place, Jesus speaks humbly, as in ch. Matthew 12:17; Matthew 12:41-42. He does not say, Those things which I speak and do.—V. g.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - Jesus; and Jesus (Revised Version, with even the Received Text). Answered and said unto them. He makes no verbal self-defence, but appeals to the effects of his work. Observe that a similar appeal to effects of the same character as those mentioned here - restoration to normal powers and bringing spiritual truths home to the poorest - is still the great argument for the Messiahship of Jesus. Go; go your way (Revised Version); πορευθέντες (cf. ver. 7). And show John again; and tell John (Revised Version); for ἀπαγγέλλω does not in itself contain the idea of bringing word in answer to an inquiry, but merely emphasizes the source or place from which the message comes (Matthew 8:33; cf. Bishop Westcott on 1 John 1:2, 5). Those (the, Revised Version) things which ye do hear and see. Observe that in Luke

(1) the order of the verbs is reversed;

(2) the tense is not the present, as here, but the aorist, the miracles being regarded from the point of time when the disciples had returned to John. The present tense in Matthew brings out what St. Luke had already indicated by his preceding explanatory verse that the messengers arrived when the Lord was actually performing miracles. Matthew 11:4