Matthew 21 - Introduction
CHAPTER 21. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM, ETC.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 21. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM, ETC.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 21:1, ὅτε ἤγγισαν ἐ. Ἱ., _when_, etc. The evangelist does not, like a modern tourist, make formal announcement of the arrival at a point near Jerusalem when the Holy City came first into view, but refers to the fact in a subordinate clause. The manner of entry is the more important matter fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_The entry_ (Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-44).... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰς τὴν κώμην : that is, naturally, the one named, though if we take εἰς before Βηθφαγὴ as = into, it might be Bethany, on the other side of the valley. Some think the two villages were practically one (Porter, _Handbook for Syria and Palestine_, p. 180). ὄνον δ. καὶ πῶλον, a she-ass with her foal,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐάν τις, etc. Of course it was to be expected that the act would be challenged. ἐρεῖτε, ye shall say, future with imperative force. ὅτι, recitative, introducing in direct form the words of the Master. ὸ Κύριος, the Lord or Master; not surely = Jehovah (Alford, G. T.), but rather to be taken in same... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα πληρωθῇ : is to be taken here as always in this Gospel, in its strictly final sense. Such is the view of the evangelist and the view he wishes his readers to take. But it does not follow from this that Christ's whole action proceeded from a conscious intention to fulfil a prophecy. On the contra... [ Continue Reading ]
he prophetic quotation, from Zechariah 9:9, prefaced by a phrase from Isaiah 62:11, with some words omitted, and with some alteration in expression as compared with Sept [114] [114] Septuagint.... [ Continue Reading ]
τὴν ὄνον καὶ τὸν πῶλον : that both were brought is carefully specified in view of the prophetic oracle as understood by the evangelist to refer to two animals, not to one under two parallel names. ἐπέθηκαν : the two disciples spread their upper garments on the two beasts, to make a seat for their Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ὄχλος, etc., the most part of the crowd, follow the example of the two disciples, and spread their upper garments on the way, as it were to make a carpet for the object of their enthusiasm, after the manner of the peoples honouring their kings (_vide_ Wetstein, _ad loc._). ἄλλοι δὲ ἔκο... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ ὄχλοι : the crowd divided into two, one in front, one in rear, Jesus between. ἔκραζον : lip homage followed the carpeting of the way, in words borrowed from the Psalter (Psalms 118:25-26), and variously interpreted by commentators. Ὡσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ Δ. Hosanna (we sing) to the son of David (Bengel).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐσείσθη : even Jerusalem, frozen with religious formalism and socially undemonstrative, was stirred by the popular enthusiasm as by a mighty wind or by an earthquake (σεισμός), and asked (Matthew 21:11), τίς οὗτος; ὁ προφήτης, etc.: a circumstantial answer specifying name, locality, and vocation; no... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰσῆλθεν, etc. He entered the Temple. When? Nothing to show that it was not the same day (_vide_ Mk.). ἐξέβαλεν. The fourth Gospel (Matthew 2:14 f.) reports a similar clearing at the beginning of Christ's ministry. Two questions have been much discussed. Were there one or two acts of this kind? and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus visits the Temple_ (Mark 11:11; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48).... [ Continue Reading ]
γέγραπται, it stands written, in Isaiah 56:7; from the Sept [115] but with omission of πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, retained in Mk., and a peculiarly appropriate expression in the circumstances, the abuse condemned having for its scene the court of the Gentiles. σπήλαιον λῃστῶν, a den of robbers, a strong ex... [ Continue Reading ]
τυφλοὶ καὶ χωλοὶ : that the blind and lame in the city should seek out Jesus is perfectly credible, though reported only by Mt. They would hear of the recent healing at Jericho, and of many other acts of healing, and desire to get a benefit for themselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 21:14-17, peculiar to Mt.... [ Continue Reading ]
τὰ θαυμάσια : here only in N.T., the wonderful things, a comprehensive phrase apparently chosen to include all the notable things done by Jesus (Meyer), among which may be reckoned not only the cures, and the cleansing of the temple, but the enthusiasm which He had awakened in the crowd, to the prie... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀκούεις, etc.: the holy men attack the least objectionable phenomenon because they could do so safely; not the enthusiasm of the crowd, the _Messianic_ homage, the act of zeal, all deeply offensive to them, but the innocent shouts of children echoing the cry of seniors. They were forsooth unseemly i... [ Continue Reading ]
Βηθανίαν, Bethany, 15 stadia from Jerusalem (John 11:18), resting place of Jesus in the Passion week true friends there (_vide_ Stanley, S. and P.). ηὐλίσθη, passed the night; surely not in the open air, as Wetstein and Grotius think. At passover time quarters could not easily be got in the city, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπείνασε, He felt hungry. The fact seems to favour the hypothesis of a bivouac under the sky overnight. Why should one be hungry leaving the hospitable house of friends? (_vide_ Mk.). This was no difficulty for the Fathers who regarded the hunger as assumed (σχηματίζεται πεινᾶν, Euthy.).... [ Continue Reading ]
_The barren fig tree_ (Mark 11:12-14; Mark 11:19-26). The story of two morning journeys from Bethany to Jerusalem (_vide_ Mk.) is here compressed into one.... [ Continue Reading ]
συκῆν μίαν : εἶς in late Greek was often used for τις, but the meaning here probably is that Jesus looking around saw a solitary fig tree. ἐπὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ, by the wayside, not necessarily above (Meyer). ἦλθεν ἐπʼ αὐτήν, came close to it, not climbed it (Fritzsche). εἰ μὴ φύλλα : leaves only, no fruit.... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ μαθηταὶ, etc.: the disciples wondered at the immediate withering of the tree. Did they expect it to die, as a diseased tree, gradually?... [ Continue Reading ]
contains a thought similar to that in Matthew 17:20, _.v._ τὸ τῆς συκῆς, the matter of the fig tree, as if it were a small affair, not worth speaking about. The question of the disciples did not draw from Jesus explanations as to the motive of the malediction. The cursing of the fig tree has always... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐλθόντος αὐτοῦ ἐ. τ. ἱ.: coming on the second day to the temple, the place of concourse, where He was sure to meet His foes, nothing loath to speak His mind to them. διδάσκοντι : yet He came to teach, to do good, not merely to fight. ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ, by what sort of authority? the question ever aske... [ Continue Reading ]
_Interrogation as to authority_ (Mark 11:27-33; Luke 20:1-8), wherewith suitably opens the inevitable final conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of the people.... [ Continue Reading ]
esus replies by an embarrassing counter-question as to the ministry of the Baptist. λόγον ἔνα, hardly: _one_ question for your _many_ (Beng.) rather: a question, or thing, one and _the same_ (_cf._ for εἶς in this sense Genesis 41:25-26; 1 Corinthians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 11:5), an analogous question... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ βάπτισμα τὸ Ἰ., the baptism as representing John's whole ministry. ἐξ οὐρ. ἢ ἐξ ἀνθ., from heaven or from men? The antithesis is foreign to legitimist modes of thought, which would combine the two: _from_ heaven but _through_ men; if not through men not from heaven. The most gigantic and baleful... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐὰν δὲ, etc.: the mode of expression here is awkward. Meyer finds in the sentence an _aposiopesis_ = “if we say of men we fear the people”. What they mean is: we must not say of men, because we fear, etc. (_cf._ Mk.).... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐδὲ ἐγὼ, etc.: Jesus was not afraid to answer their question, but He felt it was not worth while giving an answer to opportunists.... [ Continue Reading ]
τῷ ἀμπελῶνι : constant need of work in a vineyard, and of superintendence of workers.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Parable of the two sons_, in Mt. only, introduced by the familiar formula, τί δὲ ὑμῖν δοκεῖ (Matthew 17:25; Matthew 18:12), and having for its aim to contrast the conduct of the Pharisees towards the Baptist with that of the publicans. And as the publicans are simply used as a foil to bring out mor... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγώ : laconic and emphatic as if eager to obey κύριε, with all due politeness, and most filial recognition of paternal authority, the two words = our “Yes, sir”.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ θέλω, I will not, I am not inclined; rude, sulky, unmannerly, disobedient, and making no pretence to filial loyalty.... [ Continue Reading ]
o the question, Who did the will of the father? the answer, when the parable is arranged as above, must, of course, be ὁ ὕστερος; the _nay_ -sayer, not the _yea_ -sayer. It is a wonder any answer was given at all when the purport of the parable was so transparent. ἀμὴν λέγω ὑ.: introducing here, as... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ὁδῷ δικαιοσύνης : not merely in the sense of being a good pious man with whose life no fault could be found (Meyer; the Fathers, Chrys., Euthy., Theophy.), but in the specific sense of following their own legal way. John was a conservative in religion not less than the Pharisees. He differed from... [ Continue Reading ]
_Parable of the rebellious vine-dressers_ (Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄλλην π. ἀ., hear another parable; spoken at the same time, and of kindred import. The abrupt introduction betrays emotion. Jesus is aware that He has given mortal offence, and here shows His knowledge by foreshadowing His own doom. The former parable has exposed the insincerity of the leaders of Is... [ Continue Reading ]
καιρὸς : not merely the season of the year, but the time at which the new vines might be expected to bear. τοὺς καρποὺς : the _whole_, apparently implying a money rent. The mode of tenure probably not thought of by this evangelist. αὐτοῦ should probably be referred to the owner, not to the vineyard... [ Continue Reading ]
λαβόντες οἱ γ., etc. The husbandmen treat the messengers in the most barbarous and truculent manner: beating, killing, stoning to death; highly improbable in the natural sphere, but another instance in which parables have to violate natural probability in order to describe truly men's conduct in the... [ Continue Reading ]
πλείονας τ. π., more than the first. Some take πλ. as referring to quality rather than number: _better_ than the former (Bengel, Goebel, etc.), which is a legitimate but not likely rendering. The intention is to emphasise the number of persons sent (prophets). ὡσαύτως : no difference in the treatmen... [ Continue Reading ]
ὕστερον, not afterwards merely, but finally, the last step was now to be taken, the mission of the son and heir; excuses conceivable hitherto: doubt as to credentials, a provoking manner in those sent, etc.; not yet conclusively proved that deliberate defiance is intended. The patient master will ma... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδόντες : neither have they; they recognise at once the son and heir, and resolve forthwith on desperate courses, which are at once carried out. They eject the son, kill him, and seize the inheritance. The action of the parable is confined to a single season, the messengers following close on each o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Application_. ὅταν οὖν ἔλθῃ ὁ κ., etc.: what would you expect the owner to do after such ongoings have been reported to him? Observe the subjunctive after ὅταν compared with the indicative ἤγγισεν after ὅτε, Matthew 21:34. ὅτε points to a definite time past, ὅταν is indefinite (_vide_ Hermann, _Vig... [ Continue Reading ]
λέγουσι, they say: who? the men incriminated, though they could not but see through the thin veil of the allegory. In Mk. and Lk. the words appear to be put into Christ's mouth. κακοὺς κακῶς ἀπολέσει : a solemn fact classically expressed (“en Graeci sermonis peritiam in Matthaco” Raphel, Annot.) = H... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε, etc.: another of Christ's impromptu felicitous quotations; from Psalms 118:22-23 (Sept [119]). This quotation contains, in germ, another parable, in which the ejected and murdered heir of the former parable becomes the rejected stone of the builders of the theocratic edifice; only... [ Continue Reading ]
διὰ τοῦτο, introducing the application of the oracle, and implying that the persons addressed are the builders = therefore. ἡ βασιλεία τ. θ.: the doom is forfeiture of privilege, the kingdom taken from them and given to others. ἔθνει, to a nation; previously, as Paul calls it, a _no nation_ (οὐκ ἔθν... [ Continue Reading ]
his verse, bracketed by W. H [120], found in the same connection in Lk. (Luke 20:18), looks rather like an interpolation, yet it suits the situation, serving as a solemn warning to men meditating evil intentions against the Speaker. ὁ πεσὼν : he who falls on the stone, as if stumbling against it (Is... [ Continue Reading ]
he priests and Pharisees of course perceived the drift of these parabolic speeches about the two sons, the vine-dressers, and the rejected stone, and (Matthew 21:46) would have apprehended Him on the spot (Luke 20:19) had they not feared the people. ἐπεὶ, since, introducing the reason of the fear, s... [ Continue Reading ]