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he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and g ch. viii. 12. foot, and [i take him away, and] cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14h For many are called, but few are chosen.

h ch. xx. 16.

15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this

k

i omit.

none can appear before God in His Kingdom of glory;-Heb. xii. 14: Phil. iii. 7, 8: Eph. iv. 24: Col. iii. 10: Rom. xiii. 14-which truth could not be put forward here, but at its subsequent manifestation threw its great light over this and other such similitudes and expressions. This guest imagines his own garment will be as acceptable, and therefore neglects to provide himself. See 1 John v. 10: Isa. Ixiv. 6; lxi. 10: Rev. xix. 8.

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Friend] see note on ch. xx. 13. 13, 14. These servants (diaconoi, ministers) are not the same as the above, but the angels, see ch. xiii. 41, 49. The binding of his feet and hands' has been interpreted of his being now in the night, in which no man can work; but I doubt whether this be not too fanciful. Rather should we say, with Meyer, that it is to render his escape from the outer darkness impossible. In ver. 14 our Lord shews us that this guest, thus single in the parable, is, alas, to be the representative of a numerous class in the visible Church, who although sitting down as guests before His coming, have not on the wedding garment.

15-22.] REPLY CONCERNING THE LAWFULNESS OF TRIBUTE TO CESAR. Mark xii. 13-17. Luke xx. 20-26. On the Herodians, see above, ch. xvi. 6. By the union of these two hostile parties they perhaps thought that the "spies" or "suborned persons" (Luke), who were to feign

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themselves honest men, Luke xx. 20, would
be more likely to deceive our Lord. For
this also is their flattery here designed.
"The devil never lies so foully, as when he
speaks the truth.' Meyer compares that
other "we know that," John iii. 2. The
application may have been as if to settle a
dispute which had sprung up between the
Pharisees, the strong theocratic repudiators
of Roman rule, and the Herodians, the
hangers-on of a dynasty created by Cæsar.
In case the answer were negative, these
last would be witnesses against Him to the
governor (Luke xx. 20); as indeed they
became, with false testimony, when they
could not get true, Luke xxiii. 2; in case
it were affirmative, He would be compro-
mised with the Roman conquerors, and
could not be the people's Deliverer, their
expected Messias; which would furnish
them with a pretext for stirring up the
multitudes against Him (see Deut. xvii.
15). 17.] The tribute here spoken of
was a poll-tax, which had been levied since
Judæa became a province of Rome.
18-22.] Our Lord not only detects their
plot, but answers their question; and in
answering it, teaches them each a deep
lesson.
The tribute money was a
denarius: see on ch. xx. 2. It was a saying
of the Rabbis, quoted by Lightfoot and Wet-
stein, that wherever any king's money is
current, there that king is lord.' The Lord's
answer convicts them, by the matter of fact
that this money was current among them,

k

Rom. xiii. 7.

image and superscription? 21 They say unto him, Cæsar's. Then saith he unto them, i Render therefore unto Cæsar i ch. xvii 25. the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. 23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say k Acts xxiii. 8. 1 that there is no resurrection, and asked him, 24 saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, 1 Daur. xxv. 5. his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brethren : and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 26 likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. 27 And last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as [the] angels of God 1 read, saying.

of subjection to (Tiberius) Cæsar, and recognition of that subjection: Pay therefore, He says, the things which are Cæsar's to Cæsar, and (not perhaps without reference to the Herodians, but also with much deeper reference) the things that are God's, to God. These weighty words, so much mis. understood, bind together, instead of sepa rating, the political and religious duties of the followers of Christ. See Jer. xxvii. 4-18: Rom. xiii. 1: 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14: John xix. 11. The second clause comprehends the first, and gives its true foundation: as if it had been, this obedience to Cæsar is but an application of the general principle of obedience to God, of Whom is all power.' The latter clause thus reaches infinitely deeper than the former: just as our Lord in Luke x. 41, 42 declares a truth reaching far beyond the occasion of the meal. Man is the coinage, and bears the image, of God (Gen. i. 27): and this image is not lost by the fall (Gen. ix. 6: Acts xvii. 29: James iii. 9. See also notes on Luke xv. 8, 9). We owe then ourselves to God: and this solemn duty is implied, of giving ourselves to Him, with all that we have and are. The answer also gives them the real reason why they were now under subjection to Casar: viz. because they had fallen from their allegiance to God. The question was as if an adulterer were to

m omit.

ask, whether it were lawful for him to pay the penalty of his adultery.' (Claudius, cited by Stier.) They had again and again rejected their theocratic inheritance ;they refused it in the wilderness;-they would not have God to reign over them, but a king ;-therefore were they subjected to foreigners (see 2 Chron. xii. 8).

23-33.] REPLY TO THE SADDUCEES RESPECTING THE RESURRECTION. Mark xii. 18-27. Luke xx. 27-40. From Acts xxiii. 8, the Sadducees denied resurrection, angel, and spirit; consequently the immortality of the soul, as well as the resurrection of the body. This should be borne in mind, as our Lord's answer is directed against both errors. It is a mistake into which many Commentators have fallen, to suppose that the Sadducees recognized only the Pentateuch: they acknowledged the prophets also, and rejected tradition only. 24. raise up seed] The firstborn son of such a marriage was reckoned and registered as the son of the deceased brother. 29, 30.] Ye do not understand the Scriptures, which imply the resurrection (ver. 31), nor the power of God, before which all these obstacles vanish (ver. 30). See Acts xxvi. 8: Rom. iv. 17; viii. 11: 1 Cor. vi. 14. Our Lord also asserts here against them the existence of angels, and reveals

in heaven. 31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you

m Exon. iii. 6, by God, saying, 32 m I am the God of Abraham, and the

10. Heb. xi.

16.

n ch. vii. 28.

x. 12: xxx. 6.

God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 33 And when the multitude heard this," they were astonished at his doctrine.

34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

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37 Jesus said unto

O DEUT. vi. 5: him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the 18. second is like unto it, P Thou shalt love thy neighbour as Rom. xiii. 9. thyself. 40 9 On these two commandments hang all the

ch. xix. 19.

Gal. v. 14.

James 8. law and the prophets.

q ch. vii. 12

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to us the similarity of our future glorified state to their present one.

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are as an

gels of God in heaven] because the risen will not be in heaven, but on earth. The Rabbinical decision of a similar question was, that a woman who had been the wife of two husbands on earth, is restored in the next life to the former of them. 31-33.] Our Lord does not cite the strong testimonies of the Prophets, as Isa. xxvi. 19: Ezek. xxxvii. 1-14: Dan. xii. 2, but says, as in Luke (xx. 37), even Moses has shewn,' &c., leaving those other witnesses to be supplied. The books of Moses were the great and ultimate appeal for all doctrine: and thus the assertion of the Resurrection comes from the very source whence their difficulty had been constructed. On the passage itself, and our Lord's interpretation of it, much has been written. Certain it is, that our Lord brings out in this answer a depth of meaning in the words, which without it we could not discover. Meyer finely says, "Our Lord here testifies of the conscious intent of God in speaking the words. God uttered them, He tells us, to Moses, in the consciousness of the still enduring existence of His peculiar relation to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The groundwork of our Lord's argument seems to me to be this :-The words I am thy God' imply a covenant; there is another side to them: "thou art Mine" follows upon "I am thine." When God therefore declares that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He declares

their continuance, as the other parties in this covenant. It is an assertion which could not be made of an annihilated being of the past. And notice also, that Abraham's (&c.) body having had upon it the seal of the covenant, is included in this. Stier remarks that this is a weighty testimony against the so-called sleep of the soul' in the intermediate state. Compare "for all live unto Him" Luke xx. 38. Thus the burden of the Law, I AM THE LORD THY GOD,' contains in it the seed of immortality, and the hope of the resur

rection.

34-40.] REPLY CONCERNING THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. Mark xii. 2834. In the more detailed account of Mark (Luke has a similar incident in another place, x. 25), this question does not appear as that of one maliciously tempting our Lord and his seems to me the view to be taken, as there could not be any evil consequences to our Lord, whichever way He had answered the question. See the notes there. 35. a lawyer] These were Mosaic jurists, whose special province was the interpretation of the Law. Scribe is a wider term, including them. tempting] See above. 36. which is the great commandment] This should more exactly be rendered, which (what kind of a) commandment is great in the law? In Mark, otherwise. 40. the law

and the prophets] in the sense of ch. v. 17; vii. 12: all the details of God's ancient revelation of His will, by whomsoever made.

43 He

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on r my right hand, till I P make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? 46 s And no s Luke xiv. 6. man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

PA. cx. 1.
Cor. xv. 25.

Acts ii. 34.

Heb. i. 13:

x. 12, 13.

XXIII. 1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, a The scribes and the Pharisees sit in a Mal. ii. 7. Moses' seat: 3 all therefore whatsoever they bid you

[ observe], that observe and do; but do not ye after their • render, the Christ?

P read, put thine enemies beneath thy feet?

41-46.] THE PHARISEES BAFFLED BY A QUESTION RESPECTING CHRIST AND DAVID. Mark xii. 35-37. Luke xx. 4144. [See also Acts ii. 34.] Our Lord now questions his adversaries (according to Matt. :-in Mark and Luke He asks the question not to, but concerning the Scribes or interpreters of the law), and again convicts them of ignorance of the Scriptures. From the universally recognized title of the Messiah as the Son of David, which by his question He elicits from them, He takes occasion to shew them, who understood this title in a mere worldly political sense, the difficulty arising from David's own reverence for this his Son the solution lying in the incarnate Godhead of the Christ, of which they were ignorant. 43. in spirit] i. e. by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "by (in) the Holy Ghost," Mark. This is a weighty declaration by our Lord of the inspiration of the prophetic Scriptures. St. Mark (ver. 37) adds to this "the common people heard him gladly." Here then end the endeavours of His adversaries to entrap Him by questions: they now betake themselves to other means. "A new scene, as it were, henceforth opens." Bengel.

Pe

CHAP. XXIII. 1-39.] DENUNCIATION OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES. culiar to Matthew. 1.] Much of the matter of this discourse is to be found in Luke xi. and xiii. On its appearance there, see the notes on those passages. There can, I think, be no doubt that it was delivered, as our Evangelist here relates it, all at one time, and in these the last days of our Lord's ministry. On the notion entertained by some recent critics, of St.

q omit.

Matthew having arranged the scattered
sayings of the Lord into longer discourses,
see Introduction to Matthew. A trace of
this discourse is found in Mark xii. 38-
40: Luke xx. 45-47. In the latter place
it is spoken to the disciples, in hearing
of the crowd: which (see ver. 8 ff.) is the
exact account of the matter. It bears
many resemblances to the Sermon on the
Mount, and may be regarded as the so-
lemn close, as that was the opening, of
the Lord's public teaching. It divides it-
self naturally into three parts: (1) intro-
ductory description of the Scribes and
Pharisees, and contrast to Christ's dis-
ciples (vv. 1-12): (2) solemn denuncia-
tions of their hypocrisy (vv. 14—33): (3)
conclusion, and mournful farewell to the
temple and Jerusalem. 2.] Moses' seat
is the office of judge and lawgiver of the
people: see Exod. ii. 13-25: Deut. xvii.
9-13. Our Lord says, 'In so far as the
Pharisees and Scribes enforce the law and
precepts of Moses, obey them: but imitate
not their conduct.'
The verb ren-

dered sit must not be pressed too strongly,
as conveying blame, have seated them-
selves;'-it is merely stated here as a mat-
ter of fact. Vv. 8, 10 however apply to
their leadership as well as their faults;
and declare that among Christians there
are to be none sitting on the seat of Christ.

3. all therefore] The therefore here is very significant:-because they sit on Moses' seat and this clears the meaning, and shews it to be, all things which they, as successors of Moses, out of his law, command you, do;' there being a distinction between their lawful teaching as expounders of the law, and their frivo

&c.

c Acts xv. 10. Gal. vi. 13.

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16.

e NUM. XV. 58.

b Rom. ii. 17, works: for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens [ and grievous to be borne], and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move dch. vi. 1, 2, 5, them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works DEUTV: they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 and love the uppermost t rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and greetings in the markets, 8f But be not ye

xxii. 12.

Prov. iii. 8.

f James iii. 1. and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

see 2 Cor. i.

24. 1 Pet. v.

3.

called Rabbi: for one is your Master [" even Christ]; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

:

romitted in some ancient authorities.
8 literally, their hems.

lous traditions superadded thereto, and
blamed below. 4.] The warning was,
imitate them not-for they do not them-
selves what they enjoin on others. And
this verse must be strictly connected
with ver. 3. The burdens then are
not, as so often misinterpreted, human
traditions and observances; but the
severity of the law, which they enforce
on others, but do not observe (see Rom.
ii. 21-23): answering to the weightier
matters of the law of ver. 23.
irksomeness and unbearableness of these
rites did not belong to the Law in itself,
as rightly explained, but were created by
the rigour and ritualism of these men, who
followed the letter and lost the spirit; who
spent all their labour in enforcing and am-
plifying ceremonies. 5-7.] But what-
ever they do perform, has but one motive.

The

phylacteries were strips of parchment with certain passages of Scripture, viz. Exod. xiii. 11-16 and 1-10: Deut. xi. 13-21; vi. 4-9, written on them, and worn on the forehead between the eyes, on the left side next the heart, and on the left arm. The name in the text was given because they were considered as charms. They appear not to have been worn till after the captivity; and are still in use among the rabbinical Jews. Their use appears to have arisen from a superstitious interpretation of Exod. xiii. 9: Deut. vi. 8, 9. See Joseph. Antt. iv. 8. 13. The hems or fringes, were commanded to be worn for a memorial, Num. xv. 38. See note on ch. ix. 20.

6, 7.] See Mark xii. 38, 39: Luke xx. 46, 47. On the uppermost place at feasts, see Luke xiv. 7. 8-10.] The prohibition is against loving, and in any

render, place.

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u omit.

religious matter, using such titles, signify-
ing dominion over the faith of others. It
must be understood in the spirit and not in
the letter. Paul calls Timotheus his 'son'
in the faith, 1 Tim. i. 2, and exhorts the
Corinthians (1 Cor. xi. 1) to be followers
of him as he of Christ. To understand
and follow such commands in the slavery
of the letter, is to fall into the very Pha-
risaism against which our Lord is utter-
ing the caution. See (e. g.) Barnes's note
here. Rabbi: i. e. my master' an
expression used, and reduplicated as here,
by scholars to their masters, who were never
called by their own name by their scholars.
So the Lord says, John xiii. 13, "ye call
me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for
so I am." The Teacher is probably not
Christ, as supplied here in the received
text, but the Holy Spirit (see John xiv.
26: Jer. xxxi. 33, 34: Ezek. xxxvi. 26,
27), only not here named, because this
promise was only given in private to the
disciples. If this be so, we have God, in
His Triunity, here declared to us as the
only Father, Master, and Teacher of Chris-
tians; the only One, in all these relations,
on whom they can rest or depend. They
are all brethren: all substantially equal-
none by office or precedence nearer to God
than another; none standing between his
brother and God. And the duty of all
Christian teachers is to bring their hearers
to the confession of the Samaritans in John
iv. 42: 66
Now we believe, not because of
thy saying, for we have heard Him our-
selves, and know that this is the Saviour
of the world."' 9.] Literally, name
not any Father of you on earth; no
'Abba' or 'Papa' (see the account of the
funeral of John Wesley, Coke and More's

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