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Matthew 14:26

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Matthew 14:26

Verse 26 of 36

Scripture focus

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

Matthew 14:26 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Matthew 14:26

Theological / Devotional

Disciples saw him. “They aft saw him” (Mark 6:50). It was no hallucination on the part of one or two of them.

Troubled. Literally, “terrified.” Probably belief in ghosts and phantoms was widespread (see Josephus War i. 30. 7 [599]). Apparently popular superstition had not been erased completely from the minds of the disciples.

A spirit. Gr. phantasma, “a phantom,” “an apparition,” or “an appearance.” A phantasma was the appearance of something that could not be accounted for on the basis of natural phenomena.

For fear. At first the disciples cried out in fear, but almost immediately recognized that the supposed “phantom” was Jesus, and again cried out, this time for help. It was not until they appealed for help that Jesus spoke to them (see Mark 6:48, 49).

By SdaBc