Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 8:16

"And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick:" — Matthew 8:16 (ASV)

When evening came—or, as Saint Luke has it, “while the sun was setting.” There were two reasons why the time was so precisely specified:

1. It was natural for the sick to be brought in the cool of the evening, rather than in the scorching heat of the afternoon.
2. It was the Sabbath, and the same sentiment that led the Pharisees to question the lawfulness of a man carrying the bed on which he had been lying (John 5:10) would probably have deterred the friends of the sick from bringing them as long as the Sabbath lasted.

But with sunset, the Sabbath came to a close, and then they would feel free to act. The prominence given to “those that were possessed with devils,” by both Saint Matthew and Saint Mark, shows that the work of the Sabbath morning was what had most impressed them.