The Bible

 

Matthew 8

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1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

   

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The Lord #9

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9. In a broader sense “the Law” means everything Moses wrote in his five books, as we can see from the following passages. In Luke,

Abraham said to the rich man in hell, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:29, 31)

In John,

Philip said to Nathanael, “We have found the one of whom Moses in the Law, and also the prophets, wrote.” (John 1:45)

In Matthew,

Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law and the Prophets: I have come not to destroy but to fulfill. (Matthew 5:17-18)

Or again,

All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. (Matthew 11:13)

In Luke,

The Law and the Prophets extended to [the time of] John; since then, the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed. (Luke 16:16)

In Matthew,

Whatever you want people to do for you, you do the same for them. This is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12)

Or again,

Jesus said, “You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and you are to love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37, 39-40)

In these passages “the Law and the Prophets” and “Moses and the prophets” mean everything written in the books of Moses and in the books of the prophets.

The following passages also show that “the Law” means specifically everything written by Moses. In Luke,

When the days of their purification according to the Law of Moses were completed, they brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord-as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb is to be called holy to the Lord, ”- and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” And the parents brought Jesus into the Temple to do for him according to the custom of the Law. When they had completed all things according to the Law of the Lord... (Luke 2:22-24, 27, 39)

In John,

The Law of Moses commanded that people like this should be stoned. (John 8:5)

Or again,

The Law was given through Moses. (John 1:17)

We can see from these passages that sometimes it says “the Law” and sometimes “Moses” when it is talking about whatever is written in his books. See also Matthew 8:4; Mark 10:2-4; 12:19; Luke 20:28, 37; John 3:14; 7:19, 51; 8:17; 19:7.

Then too, many things that are commanded are called the law by Moses-for example, commandments about burnt offerings (Leviticus 6:9; 7:37), sacrifices (Leviticus 6:25; 7:1-11), the meal offering (Leviticus 6:14), leprosy (Leviticus 14:2), jealousy (Numbers 5:29-30), and Naziritehood (Numbers 6:13, 21).

In fact, Moses himself called his books the Law:

Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and said to them, “Take the book of this Law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of Jehovah.” (Deuteronomy 31:9, 25-26)

It was placed beside [the ark]: within the ark were the stone tablets that are “the law” in a strict sense.

Later, the books of Moses are called “the Book of the Law”:

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Jehovah.” When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. (2 Kings 22:8, 11; 23:24)

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.