Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 11:21

"Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." — Matthew 11:21 (ASV)

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! — It is quite remarkable that no miracles are recorded in the Gospels as having been performed in either of these cities. Bethsaida was indeed near the scene of the feeding of the five thousand, but that event comes later in the Gospel narrative. Chorazin is known to us only through this passage and the parallel words of Luke 10:12-16. From the absence of any such record, we may at least infer the genuineness of the reported words and the truthful aim of the Evangelists. The words were not an afterthought dovetailed into the narrative. The narrative was not expanded or modified in order to explain the words. In Luke, the “woes” are connected with the mission of the Seventy, and they may well have been uttered, as has been said, more than once.

Jerome describes the position of Chorazin as being on the shore of the lake, about two miles from Capernaum. The Bethsaida spoken of here was probably the one on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The name in Aramaic means “House of Fish,” and therefore, we may believe, it was on the shore and not far from the two cities with which it is grouped here.

Tyre and Sidon — The two cities are chosen as being, next to Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 10:15 and Matthew 11:24), the great representative examples of the evil of the pagan world and of the utter overthrow to which that evil was destined (Ezekiel 27:28).

Beyond their immediate meaning, these words are full of significance, shedding light on the ultimate principle of God’s dealings with the pagan world. People are judged not only by what they have done but also by what they might or would have done under different circumstances and conditions. In other words, they are judged according to their opportunities.

The entire teaching of St. Paul in Romans 2, and all the broader hopes of later times for the future of humanity, are simply the development of the truth that is partly declared and partly suggested here.