Matthew 12:23

Matthew 12:23, in plain English

The crowd was amazed and started asking each other: could this really be the Son of David, the promised Messiah?

Why it's here

Something about this miracle stirs deep hope in ordinary people. They are starting to wonder if Jesus might be the one they have been waiting for.

Who's speaking

The crowd reacts to the healing.

Where it sits in the story

The people cannot help but wonder. When they see Jesus heal someone so completely, hope stirs: is this finally the Messiah? It is the right question.

The scholarly reading

The astonished crowds (existanto) raise the messianic question: 'Could this be the Son of David?' (meti houtos estin ho huios David), using the hesitant particle meti which expects a negative answer but hopes for a positive one.

Language and setting

The 'Son of David' was a recognized messianic title (cf. 2 Samuel 7:12-16). The crowd's tentative wonder contrasts with the Pharisees' hostile dismissal that follows, showing two opposite responses to the same miracle.

Voice

The amazed crowd asks a messianic question.

Significance

The crowd responds to the extraordinary healing with wonder and the tentative hope that Jesus might be the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of David -- a hope the Pharisees will immediately try to crush.

21In His name the nations will put their hope.”

22Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that he could speak and see.

23The crowds were astounded and asked, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.”

25Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

Read all of Matthew 12 — Grain fields on a Saturday spark a furious confrontation. Jesus claims an authority that makes the Pharisees begin plotting his death.