literally and emphatically accord is, when the Lord speaks of them, in language of bitter
disappointment and sorrow, as a generation with whose want of faith, notwithstanding
all that they had seen and learned, He had still to bear, expressly attributing 7 their
failure in restoring the lunatick, to their 'unbelief.'8
7. In St. Matthew and St. Mark.
8. The reading 'little faith' instead of 'unbelief,' though highly attested, seems only an
early correction. On internal grounds it is more likely, that the expression 'little faith' is a
correction by a later apologete, than 'unbelief.' The latter also corresponds to 'faithless
generation.'
It was, indeed, a terrible contrast between the scene below and that vision of Moses
and Elijah, when they had spoken of the Exodus of the Christ, and the Divine Voice had
attested the Christ from out the luminous cloud. A concourse of excited people - among
them once more 'Scribes,' who had tracked the Lord and come upon His weakest
disciples in the hour of their greatest weakness - is gathered about a man who had in
vain brought his lunatick son for healing. He is eagerly questioned by the multitude, and
moodily answers; or, as it might almost seem from St. Matthew,9 he is leaving the crowd
and those from whom he had vainly sought help. This was the hour of triumph for the se
Scribes. The Master had refused the challenge in Dalmanutha, and the disciples,
accepting it, had signally failed. There they were, 'questioning with them' noisily,
discussing this and all similar phenomena, but chiefly the power, authority, and reality of
the Master. It reminds us of Israel's temptation in the wilderness, and we should
scarcely wonder, if they had even questioned the return of Jesus, as they of old did that
of Moses.
9. ver. 14.
At that very moment, Jesus appeared with the three. We cannot wonder that, 'when
they saw Him, they were greatly amazed,10 and running to Him saluted Him.'11 He came
- as always, and to us also - unexpectedly, most opportunely, and for the real decision
of the question in hand.12 There was immediate calm, preceding victory. Before the
Master's inquiry about the cause of this violent discussion could be answered, the man
who had been its occasion came forward. With lowliest gesture ('kneeling to Him'13) he
addressed Jesus. At last he had found Him, Whom he had come to seek; and, if
possibility of help there were, oh! let it be granted. Describing the symptoms of his son's
distemper, which were those of epilepsy and mania - although both the father and Jesus
rightly attributed the disease to demoniac influence - he told, how he had come in
search of the Master, but only found the nine disciples, and how they had
presumptuously attempted, and signally failed in the attempted cure.
10. There is no hint in the text, that their amazement was due to the shining of His Face.
11. St. Mark.
12. In St. Mark ix. 16 the better reading is, 'He asked them,' and not, as in the T. R., 'the
Scribes.'