4:23 And {4} Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in {h} their {i} synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the {k} kingdom, and healing {l} all manner of sickness and all manner of {m} disease among the people.
(4) Christ assures the hearts of the believers of his spiritual and saving virtue, by healing the diseases of the body.
(h) Their, that is, the Galilaeans.
(i) Synagogues, that is, the Churches of the Jews.
(k) Of the Messiah.
(l) Diseases of all kinds, but not every disease: that is, as we say, some of every kind.
(m) The word properly signifies the weakness of the stomach: but here it is taken for those diseases which make those that have them faint and wear away.
4:23 Jesus went about all Galilee. In Mt 4:23-25 are condensed the labors and teaching of a long period, of which a detailed account is given in the following chapters.
Teaching in their synagogues. The synagogues, the Jewish houses of worship, where the Jews met every Sabbath, furnished Jesus a congregation and a suitable place for teaching. It was customary to read the Old Testament in course, and after the reading, a teacher or a rabbi, was usually called on to speak. The custom gave Jesus, and his apostles after him, a fine opportunity to declare the New Covenant.
THE SYNAGOGUE is so often named in the New Testament that one ought to clearly understand its character. It corresponded to the Christian congregation. Wherever ten Jews were found it was their duty to form a synagogue. It had elders, of whom the president was called the ruler of the synagogue. The ruler presided over the worship, and all the elders sat on raised seats. These were the chief seats that the Pharisees liked to sit it. There was a set lesson from the Scriptures for each Sabbath, for they were read in order. The reader was appointed by the ruler and might be any member. On one occasion we learn that Jesus was the reader. After the reading and prayers, there was an opportunity for any Jewish theological teacher to speak. Of this opportunity Jesus, and later, Paul often availed themselves. The service of the synagogue in our times is, in many respects, similar to that of the time of Christ. The officers of the synagogue had the power of scourging, of suspending, or of excommunicating (casting out) offenders.
Preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Gospel means good news. He announced the good news of the speedy advent of the long expected kingdom of the Messiah. He did not, however, at this time proclaim himself to be the Messiah.
Healing all manner of sickness. He sympathized with all human affliction and healed the body in order that he might heal the soul.
4:23 The Gospel of the kingdom - The Gospel, that is, the joyous message, is the proper name of our religion: as will be amply verified in all who earnestly and perseveringly embrace it.
4:23-25 Wherever Christ went, he confirmed his Divine mission by miracles, which were emblems of the healing power of his doctrine, and the influences of the Spirit which accompanied it. We do not now find the Saviour's miraculous healing power in our bodies; but if we are cured by medicine, the praise is equally his. Three general words are here used. He healed every sickness or disease; none was too bad; none too hard, for Christ to heal with a word. Three diseases are named; the palsy, which is the greatest weakness of the body; lunacy, which is the greatest malady of the mind; and possession of the devil, which is the greatest misery and calamity of both; yet Christ healed all, and by thus curing bodily diseases, showed that his great errand into the world was to cure spiritual maladies. Sin is the sickness, disease, and torment of the soul: Christ came to take away sin, and so to heal the soul.
