AND HE BEGAN TO SPEAK UNTO THEM BY PARABLES,.... As of the two sons the father bid go to work in the vineyard; and of the planting of a vineyard, and letting it out to husbandmen, as here; though the latter is only related by this evangelist, yet both are by Matthew. This was not the first time of h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AT THE SEASON HE SENT UNTO THE HUSBANDMAN A SERVANT,.... The Evangelist Matthew says, "when the time of the fruit drew near", Matthew 21:34; and so the Persic version here reads. The Syriac and Ethiopic versions read, "in its own time", or "season", which was the fourth year from the planting of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY CAUGHT HIM,.... This clause is left out in the Syriac and Persic versions, though it seems proper to be retained; and denotes the rudeness and violence with which the prophets of the Lord were used by the Jewish nation: AND BEAT HIM: either with their fists, or with rods, and scourges, til... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AGAIN HE SENT UNTO THEM ANOTHER SERVANT,.... Another set of good men, to instruct, advise, and counsel them, and exhort them to their duty; such as were Isaiah, Zechariah, and others: AND AT HIM THEY CAST STONES, AND WOUNDED [HIM] IN THE HEAD; for of these were stoned, as well as sawn asunder,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AGAIN HE SENT ANOTHER,.... That is, another servant, or set of men, it may be in the times of the Maccabees, who were used in a very inhuman manner; see Hebrews 11:37; AND HIM THEY KILLED; either with the sword, or by inflicting some capital punishment, as stoning, strangling, c. AND MANY OTHE... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING YET THEREFORE ONE SON, HIS WELL BELOVED,.... The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one, and only Son of God his Father, his only begotten Son, for he has no other Son in the same way of filiation; and who is his dear Son, the Son of his love, who was loved by him before the foundatio... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOSE HUSBANDMEN SAID AMONG THEMSELVES,.... This, in the Persic version, is introduced thus, "when the vine dressers saw the son of the lord of the vineyard": agreeably to Matthew 21:38. The Ethiopic version renders it, "and the servants said"; not the servants that had been sent, but the workme... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY TOOK HIM, AND KILLED HIM, AND CAST HIM, OUT OF THE VINEYARD. They sent their officers and servants, and apprehended him in the garden; they delivered him to the Gentiles, who were without the vineyard, and by whom, at their instigation, he was put to death, even to the death of the cross. T... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL THEREFORE THE LORD OF THE VINEYARD DO?.... The Arabic and Ethiopic versions add, to them; that is, to the husbandmen, as is expressed in Matthew 21:40, Matthew 21:40: HE WILL COME AND DESTROY THE HUSBANDMEN, AND WILL GIVE THE VINEYARD UNTO OTHERS. As the former clause contains a questio... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAVE YE NOT READ THIS SCRIPTURE?.... In Psalms 118:22 these are the words of Christ directed to the above persons, who were, many of them, teachers of the people, and therefore ought to have read the scriptures, and have taken notice of, and considered more especially such as respected the Mess... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS WAS THE LORD'S DOING, AND IT IS MARVELLOUS IN OUR EYES. That is, the exaltation of the Messiah, after he had been so ill treated, and at last put to death by the Jews. These words are a continuation of the passage cited out of Psalms 118:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SOUGHT TO LAY HELD ON HIM,.... That is, the chief priests, Scribes, and elders, after they had heard the parables he spake to them, were greatly irritated, and provoked, and had a good will to have seized him, and carried him away, and have had him before their court, and condemn him: BUT FEAR... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SEND UNTO HIM,.... That is, the chief priests, Scribes, and elders, who had been with Jesus in the temple, and were silenced by his reasonings, and provoked by his parables; and therefore left him, and went together to consult what methods they should take to get him into their hands, and b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY WERE COME,.... Unto Jesus in the temple: THEY SAID UNTO HIM, MASTER; they saluted him in like manner, as they did their doctors and Rabbins, calling him "Rabbi", though they were not his disciples; but one part of them were the disciples of the Pharisees, and the other had Herod for t... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL WE GIVE, OR NOT GIVE?.... They not only ask whether it was lawful, but whether also it was advisable to do it, that they might not only accuse him of his principles, but charge him with persuading, or dissuading in this case. These words are left out in the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, Persic, and E... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY BROUGHT IT,.... The penny, which was a Roman one, and worth seven pence halfpenny of our money: AND HE SAITH UNTO THEM, WHOSE IS THIS IMAGE, AND SUPERSCRIPTION; for it had the head of an emperor upon it, very likely the image of the then reigning emperor Tiberius, and a superscription on i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS ANSWERING SAID UNTO THEM,.... Very wisely and pertinently, RENDER TO CAESAR THE THINGS THAT ARE CAESAR'S: or "to the king, which are the king's", as the Arabic and Ethiopic versions render it: AND TO GOD THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD'S; Matthew 22:21; AND THEY MARVELLED AT HIM; at his wisdom... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME UNTO HIM THE SADDUCEES,.... The same day, immediately after he had silenced the Pharisees and Herodians: these were a set of men distinct from the former, in some of their sentiments, especially in their religions ones, and particularly in the following: WHICH SAY THERE IS NO RESURRECTION... [ Continue Reading ]
MASTER, MOSES WROTE UNTO US,.... Has left in writing for us the following precept to observe; for they acknowledged the writings of Moses, and indeed all the Scriptures of the Old Testament; adhering to the literal sense of them, and rejecting the traditional interpretation of them by the Rabbins:... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THERE WERE SEVEN BRETHREN,.... In a certain family, at a certain place; perhaps at Jerusalem, who were brethren by the father's side; for such only were reckoned so, and such only did this law oblige: AND THE FIRST TOOK A WIFE, AND DYING LEFT NO SEED: no child: hence it is clear that the ancien... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SECOND TOOK HER,.... To wife, married her, as the next eldest brother, by the above law was obliged to: and so the Jewish l canon upon it runs thus; "the command is, בגדול, "for the eldest" to marry his brother's wife: if he will not, they go to all the brethren; if they will not, they return t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SEVENTH HAD HER, AND LEFT NO SEED,.... All, the seven brethren married her, one after another, and neither of them had any children by her: AND LAST OF ALL THE WOMAN DIED ALSO; after all the seven brethren, to whom she had been married.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE RESURRECTION THEREFORE, WHEN THEY SHALL RISE,.... This last clause, "when they shall rise", is omitted in two copies of Beza's, and in the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, because, perhaps, it might be thought superfluous; but this is agreeably to the way of speaking and writing... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS ANSWERING SAID UNTO THEM,.... Which they thought he was not able to do, but would have been silenced at once by them, as many of their antagonists had been: DO YE NOT THEREFORE ERR, BECAUSE YE KNOW NOT THE SCRIPTURES, NEITHER THE POWER OF GOD? what is expressed in Matthew affirmatively, i... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHEN THEY SHALL RISE FROM THE DEAD,.... These seven brethren, and the woman; and so any, and every other: THEY NEITHER MARRY, NOR ARE GIVEN MARRIAGE: there will be no such natural relation subsisting, nor any need of any: BUT ARE AS THE ANGELS WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN; Matthew 22:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS TOUCHING THE DEAD, THAT THEY RISE,.... For the proof of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, HAVE YE NOT READ IN THE BOOK OF MOSES; that is, in the law of Moses; for though it was divided into five parts, it was but one book; just as the Psalms are called the Book of Psalms, Acts 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS NOT THE GOD OF THE DEAD,.... This is our Lord's reasoning upon the passage; showing from hence, that since God is the God of these persons, they must be now alive in their souls, for God is not the God of the dead; and that their bodies must rise again, or he will not be the God of their whole... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ONE OF THE SCRIBES CAME,.... Matthew calls him a lawyer, Matthew 22:35, an interpreter of the law, as a Scribe was: AND HAVING HEARD THEM REASONING TOGETHER; being present at the dispute between Christ and the Sadducees, which he diligently attended to: AND PERCEIVING THAT HE HAD ANSWERED THEM... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS ANSWERED HIM, THE FIRST OF ALL THE COMMANDMENTS IS,.... Christ replied at once, without taking any time to consider of it, that the chief and principal of all the commands of the law, and what is of the greatest importance is, HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD. The Vulgate Latin, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD,.... Which is to be understood of the one God, Father, Son, and Spirit; for all the three divine persons are to be equally loved, being possessed of the same perfections and excellencies, and having done the same works, and having bestowed like benefits and favou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SECOND IS LIKE,.... "Unto it", as in Matthew 22:39 and so it is read here in two ancient copies of Beza's, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; [NAMELY] THIS, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF. This commandment stands in Leviticus 19:18 and respect... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SCRIBE SAID UNTO HIM,.... This reply of the Scribe, is not related by Matthew: WELL, MASTER, THOU HAST SAID THE TRUTH: what thou hast said is truth, and thou hast expressed it in a most beautiful manner: the Scribe was charmed with his answer, and could not forbear speaking in commendation... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART,.... That is, the one God, with a sincere hearty love and affection; AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING; of his being, perfections, and works, which will serve to draw the affections to him: this clause answers to that, "with all thy mind", in Mark 12:30; AND WITH AL... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN JESUS SAW THAT HE ANSWERED DISCREETLY,.... Wisely and prudently, as a man of sense and understanding; by taking in the several parts of our Lord's answer very distinctly, and reasoning upon them, and confirming them: HE SAID UNTO HIM, THOU ART NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM OF GOD: not meaning f... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID,.... To the Pharisees that were gathered together about him; Matthew 22:41. WHILE HE TAUGHT IN THE TEMPLE; Whilst he was in the temple, and as he was teaching the people there; among other things in his doctrine, he put this question, HOW SAY THE SCRIBES, THAT CHRIST IS... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR DAVID HIMSELF SAID BY THE HOLY GHOST,.... In Psalms 110:1, being inspired by the Spirit of God: THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, SIT THOU ON MY RIGHT HAND, TILL I MAKE THINE ENEMIES THY FOOTSTOOL. This is a proof, that David did call Christ his Lord; and that he called him so in spirit; since these w... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID THEREFORE HIMSELF CALLETH HIM LORD,.... David, whose son you say the Messiah is, speaks of him as one superior to himself; as Lord, and as his Lord: WHENCE IS HE THEN HIS SON? from what passage of Scripture does it appear, that he is his son? and how can these two different characters of him,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM IN HIS DOCTRINE,.... As he was preaching, not to the Scribes and Pharisees but to the multitude, and to his disciples particularly; and to them in the audience of the people, as appears from Matthew 23:1. BEWARE OF THE SCRIBES; for though he had just spoken favourably of one o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CHIEF SEATS IN THE SYNAGOGUES,.... Where the rulers of the synagogue, and the elders of the people sat; Matthew 23:6. AND THE UPPERMOST ROOMS AT FEASTS; or the first and chief places where they sat, or rather lay along at public entertainment; Matthew 23:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH DEVOUR WIDOWS' HOUSES,.... Matthew 23:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS SAT OVER AGAINST THE TREASURY,.... the Arabic version reads, "at the door of the treasury"; the place where the chests stood, into which money was put for various uses: there were thirteen chests in the temple d; six of them were, לנדבה, for voluntary oblations, or freewill offerings; for... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE CAME A CERTAIN POOR WIDOW,.... Among the many that came to offer their gifts freely, there came one that was particularly taken notice of by Christ; and she was a "widow", had no husband to provide for her, and was a "poor" one; had no substance left her by her husband to support her with;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CALLED UNTO HIM, HIS DISCIPLES,.... Who were at some little distance from him, he having finished his discourses: AND SAITH UNTO THEM, VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU: a way of speaking he often used, when he was about to deliver something of importance, and not so easy of belief, and which required a... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL THEY DID CAST IN OF THEIR ABUNDANCE,.... Or "superabundance", as the Arabic version renders it; or "superfluity", as the Ethiopic: they abounded in the things of the world, of which they gave only a part; and though they might give much, yet they could easily spare it, and had enough remaini... [ Continue Reading ]