Matthew 11:19

Matthew 11:19. The Son of man. Peculiarly appropriate here, where our Lord speaks of Himself, as appearing in His exalted mission, eating and drinking, like all other men; going to places of festivity, such as the wedding at Cana, the feast at the house of Levi, identifying Himself with men in their ordinary life.

Behold. Those who cried out against austerity objected also to a teacher of righteousness, who snowed himself thoroughly human in social life.

A winebibber. Our Lord used wine, as those about Him did. There was nothing singular in His social habits as the Son of man. But the generation which had denounced asceticism in John, at once magnified this into a crime.

A friend of publicans and sinners. Thoroughly worldly people seek to parry the claims of spiritual truth by assailing its teachers, in childish petulance, with such contradictory accusations, extending their criticisms to dress, food, expression of countenance, cut of the beard and parting of the hair. Much time has been wasted in trying to satisfy those ‘sitting in the markets' and playing there. Those who hate the truth will hate its representatives and will never understand their principles, or be satisfied with their practice. To our own Master we stand or fall.

And, or, ‘and yet,' in opposition to this childish conduct, Wisdom, the wisdom of God, personified here as in the Book of Proverbs, was justified; not ‘is,' nor ‘will be.'

By, or ‘from,' her works. The common reading here is borrowed from Luke 7:35: ‘by all her children.' The general sense is the same; here the reference is to the actions of these children of wisdom. The judgments of the world are childish, those of the children of wisdom are childlike, in humility and faith, and their ‘works' correspond. The result in their case has justified the wisdom of God's method. Some, however, refer the clause to the Jews, either in solemn irony (claiming to have wisdom, their works should justify it), or implying that their contradictory judgments confuted each other and thus confirmed ‘wisdom.'