Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 9:23-26

"And when Jesus came into the ruler`s house, and saw the flute-players, and the crowd making a tumult, he said, Give place: for the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the crowd was put forth, he entered in, and took her by the hand; and the damsel arose. And the fame hereof went forth into all that land." — Matthew 9:23-26 (ASV)

The other Gospels fill in the details. While our Lord was speaking the words of promise to the woman, messengers came from the house of Jairus, reporting that the child was dead. They whispered to him, using the very same words that had been used by the friends of the centurion: Why do you trouble the Teacher any further?

Jesus then turned and spoke words of comfort to the father’s heart: Be not afraid, only believe. When they came to the house, He allowed no one to enter except the father and mother, and Peter, James, and John. These three were now chosen for the first time from among the disciples for the special blessing of being with Him in the greater and more solemn moments of His ministry.

As they entered, the preparations for the funeral—which in the East always follow a few hours after death—had already begun. Minstrels were there with a crowd of real or hired mourners, raising their wailing cries. Then, in the calmness of conscious power, He commanded them to withdraw, saying, for the girl is not dead, but sleeps.

To Him, the death, though real, was still only like a sleep, for He had come to awaken her from it, just as He would later do in the case of Lazarus (John 11:11). Then, with the heartlessness and unbelief natural to hired mourners, they laughed Him to scorn. They were too familiar with the many forms of death to be mistaken about its outward signs.

He then entered the chamber of death with the five witnesses, where the body was laid out for burial. He grasped her hand and uttered the words for which Mark gives the Aramaic form, Talitha cumi—Girl, I say to you, Arise. And immediately she arose and walked.

Luke, with a touch of medical precision, reports that her spirit, or breath, returned. He, along with Mark, also records that our Lord commanded that something should be given her to eat. After the supernatural work was completed, the restored life was dependent upon natural laws, and there was a risk of renewed exhaustion.

As in other cases, He instructed the parents not to make it known. It was not good for the girl’s spiritual or bodily life that she should become the object of visits from the idly curious. Yet, in spite of this command, the fame of the act spread throughout all that country.