8:30 {7} And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
(7) Christ has appointed certain times for the preaching of the gospel, and therefore here defers it to a more appropriate time, lest sudden haste should rather hinder than further the mystery of his coming.
8:27-30 Jesus went out... into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. For notes on Peter's confession of Christ, see Mt 16:21-28. Compare Lu 9:22-27. Caesarea Philippi was a heathen town, in the extreme north of Palestine, near the foot of Mount Hermon, and one of the sources of the Jordan.
8:30 He enjoined them silence for the present, That he might not encourage the people to set him up for a temporal king; That he might not provoke the scribes and Pharisees to destroy him before the time and, That he might not forestall the bright evidence which was to be given of his Divine character after his resurrection.
8:27-33 These things are written, that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. These miracles of our Lord assure us that he was not conquered, but a Conqueror. Now the disciples are convinced that Jesus is the Christ; they may bear to hear of his sufferings, of which Christ here begins to give them notice. He sees that amiss in what we say and do, of which we ourselves are not aware, and knows what manner of spirit we are of, when we ourselves do not. The wisdom of man is folly, when it pretends to limit the Divine counsels. Peter did not rightly understand the nature of Christ's kingdom.
