SEV Biblia, Chapter 15:39
Entonces, despedida la multitud, subi en un barco; y vino a los trminos de Magdala.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 15:39
Verse 39. He sent away the multitude] But not before he had instructed their souls, and fed and healed their bodies. The coasts of Magdala.] In the parallel place, Mark viii. 10, this place is called Dalmanutha. Either Magdala was formed by a transposition of letters from Dalman, to which the Syriac termination atha had been added, or the one of these names refers to the country, and the other to a town in that neighbourhood. Jesus went into the country, and proceeded till he came to the chief town or village in that district. Whitby says, "Magdala was a city and territory beyond Jordan, on the banks of Gadara. It readied to the bridge above Jordan, which joined it to the other side of Galilee, and contained within its precincts Dalmanutha." The MSS. and VV. read the name variously-Magada, Madega, Magdala; and the Syriac has Magdu. In Mark, Dalmanutha is read by many MSS. Melagada, Madegada, Magada, Magidan, and Magedam. Magdala, variously pronounced, seems to have been the place or country; Dalmanutha, the chief town or capital.
In this chapter a number of interesting and instructive particulars are contained.
1. We see the extreme superstition, envy, and incurable ill nature of the Jews. While totally lost to a proper sense of the spirituality of God's law, they are ceremonious in the extreme. They will not eat without washing their hands, because this would be a transgression of one of the traditions of their elders; but they can harbour the worst temper and passions, and thus break the law of God! The word of man weighs more with them than the testimony of Jehovah; and yet they pretend the highest respect for their God and sacred things, and will let their parents perish for lack of the necessaries of life, that they may have goods to vow to the service of the sanctuary! Pride and envy blind the hearts of men, and cause them often to act not only the most wicked, but the most ridiculous, parts. He who takes the book of God for the rule of his faith and practice can never go astray: but to the mazes and perplexities produced by the traditions of elders, human creeds, and confessions of faith, there is no end. These evils existed in the Christian as well as in the Jewish Church; but the Reformation, thank God! has liberated us from this endless system of uncertainty and absurdity, and the Sun of righteousness shines now unclouded! The plantation, which God did not plant, in the course of his judgments, he has now swept nearly away from the face of the earth! Babylon is fallen! 2. We wonder at the dulness of the disciples, when we find that they did not fully understand our Lord's meaning, in the very obvious parable about the blind leading the blind. But should we not be equally struck with their prying, inquisitive temper? They did not understand, but they could not rest till they did. They knew that their Lord could say nothing that had not the most important meaning in it: this meaning, in the preceding parable, they had not apprehended, and therefore they wished to have it farther explained by himself. Do we imitate their docility and eagerness to comprehend the truth of God? Christ presses every occurrence into a means of instruction. The dulness of the disciples in the present case, has been the means of affording us the fullest instruction on a point of the utmost importance-the state of a sinful heart, and how the thoughts and passions conceived in it defile and pollute it; and how necessary it is to have the fountain purified, that it may cease to send forth those streams of death.
3. The case of the Canaanitish woman is, in itself, a thousand sermons. Her faith-her prayers-her perseverance-her success-the honour she received from her Lord, &c., &c. How instructively-how powerfully do these speak and plead! What a profusion of light does this single case throw upon the manner in which Christ sometimes exercises the faith and patience of his followers! They that seek shall find, is the great lesson inculcated in this short history: God is ever the same. Reader, follow on after God-cry, pray, plead-all in Him is for thee!-Thou canst not perish, if thou continuest to believe and pray. The Lord will help THEE.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 39. And he sent away the multitude , etc.] Dismissing them, either with a prayer for them, or with a suitable word of exhortation, to be thankful for the mercies, both spiritual and temporal, they had received, and behave agreeably in their lives and conversations: and took ship ; being near the sea side, the sea of Galilee, and came into the coasts of Magdala : not far from Tiberias; for often mention is made of Magdala in the Talmud f911 , along with Tiberias, and Chammath, another place in the same neighbourhood; and was famous for some Rabbins, as R. Joden and R. Isaac f912 , who are said to be haldgm , of Magdala. Thus the Syriac version reads it Magedo, and the Vulgate Latin Magedan; and Beza says, in one Greek exemplar it is read Magadan; and some have thought it to be the same with Megiddo, where Josiah was slain by Pharaohnecho, and which Herodotus calls Magdolos f913 . The Evangelist Mark says, that he came into the parts of Dalmanutha, which was a place within the coasts of Magdala. This was not the place, but another of the same name near Jerusalem, from whence Mary Magdalene may be thought to have her name. The Ethiopic version renders it, they went into a ship, and departed into the mountains of Magdala; that is, Christ, and his disciples.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 29-39 - Whatever our case is, the only way to find ease and relief, is to la it at Christ's feet, to submit it to him, and refer it to his disposal Those who would have spiritual healing from Christ, must be ruled as he pleases. See what work sin has made; what various diseases human bodie are subject to. Here were such diseases as fancy could neither gues the cause nor the cure of, yet these were subject to the command of Christ. The spiritual cures that Christ works are wonderful. When blin souls are made to see by faith, the dumb to speak in prayer, the maime and the lame to walk in holy obedience, it is to be wondered at. Hi power was also shown to the multitude, in the plentiful provision he made for them: the manner is much the same as before. All did eat, an were filled. Those whom Christ feeds, he fills. With Christ there is bread enough, and to spare; supplies of grace for more than seek it and for those that seek for more. Christ sent away the people. Thoug he had fed them twice, they must not look for miracles to find their daily bread. Let them go home to their callings and their own tables Lord, increase our faith, and pardon our unbelief, teaching us to liv upon thy fulness and bounty, for all things pertaining to this life and that which is to come __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 CONJ απολυσας 630 5660 V-AAP-NSM τους 3588 T-APM οχλους 3793 N-APM ενεβη 1684 5627 V-2AAI-3S εις 1519 PREP το 3588 T-ASN πλοιον 4143 N-ASN και 2532 CONJ ηλθεν 2064 5627 V-2AAI-3S εις 1519 PREP τα 3588 T-APN ορια 3725 N-APN μαγδαλα 3093 N-PRI
Robertson's NT Word Studies
15:39 {The borders of Magadan} (eis ta horia magadan). On the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and so in Galilee again. Mark terms it Dalmanutha (#Mr 8:10). Perhaps after all the same place as Magdala, as most manuscripts have it.
