Our Lord had lingered on the way to the house of Jairus, perhaps, as has already been suggested, that the crisis might first come, and that so there might be full evidence of his resurrection power. The ruler must have been agonized with the thought that, while our Lord lingered, the life of his dying child was fast ebbing away.
And now comes the fatal message to him. Thy daughter is dead ( ἀπέθανε); the aorist expresses that her death was now a past event. Why troublest thou the Master any further? ( τί ἔτι σκύλλεις τὸν διδάσκαλον).
The Greek word here is very strong. It is to vex or weary; literally, to flay. The messengers from the ruler's house had evidently abandoned all hope, and so probably would Jairus, but for the cheering words of our Lord, "Fear not, only believe."