Matthew 22:23-33

Jesus Confirms The Truth About The Resurrection And The Secondary Nature of Marriage (22:23-33).

Jesus was now faced with the Sadducees. The Sadducees were mainly of the ruling parties and included the Chief Priests, and many of the aristocratic Elders. But here the ones who were sent were probably deliberately chosen from among those who had previously been ‘con-combative'. As with the approach of ‘the disciples of the Pharisees' it was an attempt to challenge Him at another level. Their approach underlined that He had been challenged by, and had answered, all the leading groups in Israel

The question that they approached Jesus with was probably a standard one used by the Sadducees in defence of one of their own main teachings, the fact that there would be no resurrection. They also did not believe in spirits and angels. They probably based their view (as did the Samaritans, who only accepted the Pentateuch) on the fact that there is no mention of the resurrection in the Law of Moses. Jesus' reply was that they neither knew the Scriptures nor the power of God. For if they were but to consider these they would see things differently

Analysis

a On that day there came to him Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him, saying (Matthew 22:23).

b “Teacher, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed to his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers, and the first married and deceased, and having no seed left his wife to his brother, in like manner the second also, and the third, to the seventh, and after them all, the woman died” (Matthew 22:24).

c “In the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her” (Matthew 22:28).

d But Jesus answered and said unto them, “You go astray, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29).

c “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30).

b “But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:31).

a And when the crowds heard it, they were astonished at his teaching (Matthew 22:33).

Note that in ‘a' Jesus was questioned about the resurrection, and in the parallel all were astonished at His reply. In ‘b' seven brothers sought to ‘raise up' seed, and all died. In the parallel concerning the raising up of the dead God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. In ‘c' the question concerns the resurrection, and in the parallel Jesus' answer is given. Centrally in ‘d' the Sadducees are revealed as not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God.