Matthew 8 ˙Commentary and Notes
Verses 1-4
When Yehoshua Came Down From The Mountainside…
The incident that immediately follows the Sermon on the Mount is a story that illustrates Yehoshua's message that he has not come to make a change in the relationship of Israel to the Torah or its commandments. When the man with leprosy is healed, Yehoshua instructs him not to go and immediately tell his friends, family and community but to obey the commandments prescribed in the Torah for a leper who is healed of leprosy (by any means) as a testimony to them.
What is this testimony that Yehoshua desires? It is the testimony that he is the one who God will anoint as Messiah of the Torah. The change that Yehoshua will bring is not a change in the Torah, therefore, but a change in Israel. As he has healed this leper from leprosy, so will he heal Israel from sin. When the healing of Israel from sin is complete, the Torah will be completely in Israel's heart and the evil inclination will enslaved to the holy spirit within her, so that no transgression will be found in her. That only the joy of the performance of all God's commandments will be seen in her will be a testimony to all her friends and community, the nations all around her, that Yehoshua was sent to her by the Father.
Verse 23
Let the Living Follow Their Living One!
Suddenly, a furious storm came up on the lake..." Did the Righteous One of Israel, the True Tzaddik, call you to follow him in order that you should immediately be overcome by the storms of this life? Would the Father be unfaithful to him and allow you to be lost in the storm when the True Tzaddik has prayed for you?
One who is devoted to the eternal world by his or her Maker will not be able to find peace or rest in the temporary world. The nature of the temporary world requires Divine Providence to sustain it and keep it balanced. For the temporary world continually becomes unbalanced and would spin out of control into a maelstrom of chaos if the finger of Divine Providence did not constantly direct its course. Nevertheless, this Divine Providence, which is given for the sustaining of the temporary world does not always assist the one devoted by his or her Maker to the eternal world. For this reason the students feared the storm. Yet there is a higher Providence which comes into the temporary world as powerful mystery that will always provide help, by other means, to the soul devoted to the eternal world. Therefore the Lord says to his friends, "Why are you afraid?"
Verse 27
What Kind Of Man Is This?
Verse 27
What Kind Of Man Is This?
He reveals himself to be one devoted entirely by his Father in heaven to the eternal world, to the redemption of the temporary world for the sake of transforming it into a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness alone is the nature of all existence.
Verse 29
What The Demonic Mind Cannot Understand
The demonic realm can see that Yehoshua is the divine one sent from the Father, and at this they tremble, but they cannot understand his suffering service. How much more can the natural mind of Adam, which cannot even see that he is sent from the Father, not understand his suffering service?
Verse 34
On The Uncleanness of Adam and Pigs
"The whole town went out to meet Yehoshua. When they met him, they pleaded with him to leave and go away from their region."
The facts are stated but the reason why this town, rather than being overjoyed with Yehoshua, was displeased with him is not stated. Would they have had him allow the legion of demons to remain in this man, rather than see the destruction of their pigs? When someone is demonized, everyone around them is demonized. When they saw the power and authority of Yehoshua's faith, and what he had done, great fear came upon them, but it was a fear that was already well-conditioned by demonization and therefore did not immediately turn them toward the Holy One of Israel. It is not that easy to restore a demonized family or community or society. King Josiah learned this the hard way. Although Jeremiah warned him that the nation, which had been demonized through Josiah's father and grandfather, kings of Judah, had not truly recovered, King Josiah relied upon the appearance that it had and that it deserved to be more than a battleground for gentile empires. As a result of this error he lost everything. Yehoshua does not make this mistake. He needs no one to tell him what is in the heart of Humanity, (see John 2:23-25). See Rabbi Nachman of Breslov's story, The Master of Prayer.
Although the legion of demons had found the uncleanness of Adam to be more attractive to them than the uncleanness of pigs, they were forced to plea to find their place with the uncleanness of pigs, due to the presence of Yehoshua within Humanity. However, whereas Humanity, before Yehoshua came, could tolerate these demons, the pigs could not tolerate them and chose rather to leave the world than to be demonized by them.
Verse 29
What The Demonic Mind Cannot Understand
The demonic realm can see that Yehoshua is the divine one sent from the Father, and at this they tremble, but they cannot understand his suffering service. How much more can the natural mind of Adam, which cannot even see that he is sent from the Father, not understand his suffering service?
Verse 34
On The Uncleanness of Adam and Pigs
"The whole town went out to meet Yehoshua. When they met him, they pleaded with him to leave and go away from their region."
The facts are stated but the reason why this town, rather than being overjoyed with Yehoshua, was displeased with him is not stated. Would they have had him allow the legion of demons to remain in this man, rather than see the destruction of their pigs? When someone is demonized, everyone around them is demonized. When they saw the power and authority of Yehoshua's faith, and what he had done, great fear came upon them, but it was a fear that was already well-conditioned by demonization and therefore did not immediately turn them toward the Holy One of Israel. It is not that easy to restore a demonized family or community or society. King Josiah learned this the hard way. Although Jeremiah warned him that the nation, which had been demonized through Josiah's father and grandfather, kings of Judah, had not truly recovered, King Josiah relied upon the appearance that it had and that it deserved to be more than a battleground for gentile empires. As a result of this error he lost everything. Yehoshua does not make this mistake. He needs no one to tell him what is in the heart of Humanity, (see John 2:23-25). See Rabbi Nachman of Breslov's story, The Master of Prayer.
Although the legion of demons had found the uncleanness of Adam to be more attractive to them than the uncleanness of pigs, they were forced to plea to find their place with the uncleanness of pigs, due to the presence of Yehoshua within Humanity. However, whereas Humanity, before Yehoshua came, could tolerate these demons, the pigs could not tolerate them and chose rather to leave the world than to be demonized by them.
