ACC ~ Matthew 9 v20

THE RULER’S DAUGHTER AND THE HEMORRHAGING WOMAN

JEROME: The Gospel according to Luke says that the ruler’s daughter was twelve years old. Note also that the woman concerned, who was from the Gentiles, began to get sick at a place believed to be in a Jewish district. [1] Except by way of contrast between physical conditions, the girl’s ailment is not indicated. As for the woman who had a hemorrhage, she approached the Lord not in her home or in the town (because according to the law she was excluded from towns) but while the Lord was walking by, so that in the course of going to one woman, another was cured. The apostles say in this regard, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.9.20. [2]

[1] The hemorrhaging woman, symbolic of the Gentiles, had been ill for twelve years, the age of the ruler’s dying daughter—symbolic of the Jews. When the Jews began to believe in God, the pagans became spiritually ill.

[2] CCL 77:59.

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