Matthew 21:14

And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? For the exposition, see Luke 19:1 after 5:44; and the notes at Mark 11:12. Now commences, as Alford remarks, that series of parables and discourses of our Lord with His enemies, in which He develops, more completely than ever before, His hostility to their hypocrisy end iniquity: and so they are stirred up to compass His death....

14._And the blind and lame came to him. _That the authority which Christ had claimed for himself out of the usual course might not be suspected of rashness, he supported it by miracles. He therefore _cured the blind and lame in the temple, _in order to proclaim that the rights and honor of Messiah truly belonged to him; for by these marks the prophets describe him. Hence we again perceive what I hinted a little ago that it is not every one of the people who is called to imitate this action of Christ lest he inconsiderately raise himself to the throne of the Messiah. We ought indeed to believe that the _lame and blind, _who were _cured, _were witnesses of the divine power of Christ, as if God, by his voice from heaven, approved what had been proclaimed by the multitude. (16)...

12-17 Christ found some of the courts of the temple turned into a market for cattle and things used in the sacrifices, and partly occupied by the money-changers. Our Lord drove them from the place, as he had done at his entering upon his ministry, John 2:13. His works testified of him more than the hosannas; and his healing in the temple was the fulfilling the promise, that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former. If Christ came now into many parts of his visible church, how many secret evils he would discover and cleanse! And how many things daily practised under the cloak of religion, would he show to be more suitable to a den of thieves than to a house of prayer!...

Verse Matthew 21:14. _THE BLIND AND THE LAME CAME_] Having condemned the _profane_ use of the temple, he now shows the proper use of it. It is a _house of prayer_, where God is to manifest his goodness and power in giving _sight_ to the spiritually _blind_, and _feet_ to the _lame_. The _Church_ or _chapel_ in which the _blind_ and the _lame_ are not healed has _no_ Christ in it, and is not worthy of attendance....

This paragraph contains the account of the barren fig-tree, and of the cleansing of the temple. See also Mark 11:12; Luke 19:45. Matthew 21:12 AND JESUS WENT INTO THE TEMPLE OF GOD ... - From Mark 11:11, it is probable that this cleansing of the temple did not take place on the day that he entered Jerusalem in triumph, but on the day following. He came and looked round upon all things, Mark says, and went out to Bethany with the twelve. On the day following, returning from Bethany, he saw the fig-tree. Entering into the temple, he

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 21:1 _Triumphal entry into Jerusalem_. (Mark 11:1; Luke 19:29; John 12:12.) MATTHEW 21:1 We have come to the last week of our Lord's earthly life, when he made his appearance in Jerusalem as Messiah, and suffered the penalty of death. If, as is believed, his crucifixion took place on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, the triumphal entry must be assigned to the ninth, which day was reckoned to commence at one sunset and to continue till the follow-lug evening. Th

AND THE BLIND AND THE LAME CAME TO HIM,.... The Syriac and Ethiopic versions read, "they brought unto him the blind and the lame". The blind could not come to him unless they were led, nor the lame, unless they were carried: the sense therefore is, they came, being brought to him: IN THE TEMPLE; that part of it, the court of the Gentiles, and mountain of the house, out of which he had cast the buyers and sellers, c. and in the room of them, were brought in these objects of his pity: AND HE HEALED THEM to the blind he restored sight, and caused the lame to walk; which miracles he wrought in confirmation of the doctrine he preached: for all the other evangelists relate, that he taught in the temple....

9. THE KING ENTERS INTO JERUSALEM. The Parables of the Two Sons and the Householder and His Vineyard. CHAPTER 21 1. The King Enters Jerusalem. (Matthew 21:1 .) 2. The Second Cleansing of the Temple. (Matthew 21:12 .) 3. The Fig tree Cursed. (Matthew 21:18 .) 4. His Authority Impeached and His Question. (Matthew 21:23 .) 5. The Parable of the Two Sons. (Matthew 21:28 .) 6. The Parable of the Householder. (Matthew 21:33 .)

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE (Mark 11:15 *, Luke 19:45; John 2:13). Mt. here omits the first part of Mk.'s divided account of the figtree, and links the Temple incident with the entry. It is the temple of God (Matthew 21:12), and the phrase for all nations (Matthew 21:13) is omitted, though, as Lk. also omits, this need not be pressed as an indication of Mt.'s exclusiveness. Matthew 21:14. Mt. only; he is fond of healings (cf....

THE BEGINNING OF THE LAST ACT (Matthew 21:1-11)...