And he commanded to give her meat - Though she was raised to life by a miracle, she was not to be preserved by a miracle. Nature is God's great instrument, and he delights to work by it; nor will he do any thing by his sovereign power, in the way of miracle, that can be effected by his ordinary providence. Again, God will have us be workers together with him: he provides food for us, but he does not eat for us; we eat for ourselves, and are thus nourished on the bounty that God has provided. Without the food, man cannot be nourished; and unless he eat the food, it can be of no use to him. So, God provides salvation for a lost world, and bestows it on every penitent believing soul; but he neither repents nor believes for any man. A man repents and believes for himself, under the succours of God's grace.

And her spirit came again,.... Her soul, which was departed from her, upon the all-powerful voice of Christ, returned to her body; and "re-entered", as the Ethiopic version adds: this shows that the soul is immortal, and dies not with the body; that it exists in a separate state from it after death, and will hereafter re-enter the body, and be again united to it in the resurrection, of which this instance was a kind of pledge and emblem: where her spirit was during this time of separation, is needless, and would be curious and rash to inquire; it is enough to say with the Scripture, that it had returned, to God, that gave it, Ecclesiastes 12:7 and by whom it was sent back to its body again:

and she arose straightway: from off the bed, and as Mark says, "walked"; for she was at an age capable of it, and which actions of arising and walking, clearly proved that she was alive, and in health:

and he commanded to give her meat; which was done, partly to show, not only that she was alive, but that her disorder was removed, and her appetite restored, and that she could eat and drink, as she had done before her illness; and partly, to observe that she was raised not to an immortal life, as none were before Christ, but to an animate life, which was to be supported by eating and drinking, and so a mortal one; See Gill on Mark 5:43.

And her spirit came again, and she {p} arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.

(p) The corpse was lying there, and then the young girl received life, and rose out of the bed, that all the world might see that she was not only restored to life, but also void of all sickness.

8:41-56 A man named Jairus. For the miracles of raising from the dead of Jairus, and the healing of the woman with the bloody issue, see notes on Mt 9:18-26 Mr 5:22-42. This was the second instance of the Lord raising the dead.

55. give her meat-(See on [1605]Mr 5:43).

8:41-56 Let us not complain of a crowd, and a throng, and a hurry, as long as we are in the way of our duty, and doing good; but otherwise every wise man will keep himself out of it as much as he can. And many a poor soul is healed, and helped, and saved by Christ, that is hidden in a crowd, and nobody notices it. This woman came trembling, yet her faith saved her. There may be trembling, where yet there is saving faith. Observe Christ's comfortable words to Jairus, Fear not, believe only, and thy daughter shall be made whole. No less hard was it not to grieve for the loss of an only child, than not to fear the continuance of that grief. But in perfect faith there is no fear; the more we fear, the less we believe. The hand of Christ's grace goes with the calls of his word, to make them effectual. Christ commanded to give her meat. As babes new born, so those newly raised from sin, desire spiritual food, that they may grow thereby.