XXI. (1) AND WHEN THEY DREW NIGH UNTO JERUSALEM. — Here again we have, as far as we can, to fill up a gap in St. Matthew’s Gospel. We have to think of the journey up the narrow valley that leads from Jericho to Jerusalem. Our Lord, as before, was followed by the disciples, and they in their turn wer... [ Continue Reading ]
GO INTO THE VILLAGE OVER AGAINST YOU. — This may have been either Bethany or, on the assumption that it was nearer Jerusalem, Bethphage itself. AN ASS TIED, AND A COLT WITH HER. — St. Mark and St. Luke name the “colt” only. St. John speaks of a “young” or “small” ass, using the diminutive of the us... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH NEED OF THEM. — Simple as the words are, they admit of three very different interpretations. “The Lord” may be used either (1) in the highest sense as equivalent to Jehovah, as though the ass and the colt were claimed for His service; or (2) as referring to Christ in the special sense... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THIS WAS DONE. — The Evangelist returns to the formula of Matthew 1:22. Literally, _all this has come to pass._ The words are his comment on the act. At the time (as we find from John 12:16) the disciples did not understand its significance as connected with the prophecy that follows. The purpos... [ Continue Reading ]
TELL YE THE DAUGHTER OF SION. — The words seem to have been cited from memory, the Hebrew text of Zechariah 9:9 beginning, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; shout O daughter of Jerusalem,” and inserting “just, and having salvation” in the description of the King. As the words stand in Zechariah... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE DISCIPLES WENT. — St. Mark and St. Luke give more graphically an account of their finding the colt, of the question asked by the owner and the by-standers why they did it, and of their answering in the words they had been told to use, “The Lord hath need of them.” They returned with the ass... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SET HIM THEREON — _i.e.,_ on the garments which served as a saddle. Our Lord rode on the colt, and the ass followed, or went along by His side. St. Mark and St. Luke mention the colt only.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND A VERY GREAT MULTITUDE. — Better, _the greater part of the multitude._ Part of the crowd had come with Him from Galilee, part streamed from Bethany, excited by the recent resurrection of Lazarus (John 12:17). Some went before Him, some followed. As they advanced they were met by a fresh crowd po... [ Continue Reading ]
HOSANNA. — We gather, by comparing the four Gospels, the full nature of the mingled cries that burst from the multitude. (1.) As here, “Hosanna.” The word was a Hebrew imperative, “Save us, we beseech thee,” and had come into liturgical use from Psalms 118. That Psalm belonged specially to the Feast... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE CITY WAS MOVED. — It was the beginning of the Paschal week, and the city was therefore filled with pilgrims of many lands. To them this was a strange prelude to the usual order of the feast, and they asked what it meant. The answer fell short of the full meaning of the shouts of the people,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS WENT INTO THE TEMPLE. — Here, again, there is a gap to be filled up from another Gospel. St. Mark (Mark 11:11) says definitely that on the day of His solemn entry He went into the Temple, “looked round about on all things there,” — _i.e.,_ on the scene of traffic and disorder described in... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS WRITTEN. — The words which our Lord quotes are a free combination of two prophetic utterances: one from Isaiah’s vision of the future glory of the Temple, as visited both by Jew and Gentile (Isaiah 56:7); one from Jeremiah’s condemnation of evils like in nature, if not in form, to those agains... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BLIND AND THE LAME. — These, as we see from Acts 3:2, and probably from John 9:1, thronged the approaches to the Temple, and asked alms of the worshippers. They now followed the great Healer into the Temple itself, and sought at His hands relief from their infirmities. If we were to accept the L... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF PRIESTS. — These, as commonly in the Gospels, were the heads of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, as well as Annas and Caiaphas, who were designated by the title in its higher sense, the one as actually high priest, the other as president of the Sanhedrin. (See Note on Luke 3:2.)... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAREST THOU WHAT THESE SAY? — The priests and scribes had probably remained in the Temple, and had not heard the Hosannas which were raised on the Mount of Olives. The shouts of the children were therefore a surprise to them, and they turned to the Teacher and asked whether He accepted them in the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WENT OUT OF THE CITY INTO BETHANY. — St. Mark, as already noticed, places the incident that follows on the morning that followed the triumphal entry, and before the cleansing. We have to choose, there being an obvious error of arrangement in one or other of the narratives, between the two, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE MORNING. — The word implies “daybreak,” probably about 5 A.M. This was the usual Jewish time for the first food of the day. If we may infer from Luke 21:37; John 18:1, that the greater part of the night had been spent either in solitary prayer or in converse with the disciples, we have an exp... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE WAY. — Better, _on the road._ Fig-trees were often planted by the road-side under the notion that dust suited them. HE CAME TO IT. — St. Mark adds, what St. Matthew indeed implies, that He came, if “haply He might find anything thereon.” The fig-tree in Palestine bears two or three crops a ye... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE DISCIPLES SAW IT. — Here again St. Mark’s narrative (Mark 11:20) seems at once the fullest and the most precise. As he relates the facts, the disciples did not perceive that the fig-tree was withered away till they passed by on the following morning. Peter then remembered what had been... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE HAVE FAITH, AND DOUBT NOT. — The promise, in its very form, excludes a literal fulfilment. The phrase to “remove mountains” (as in 1 Corinthians 13:2) was a natural hyperbole for overcoming difficulties, and our Lord in pointing to “this mountain” — as He had done before to Hermon (Matthew 17:... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THINGS, WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK IN PRAYER. — Here again there is the implied condition (as in Matthew 7:7) that what is asked is in harmony with the laws and will of God. If it were not so it would not be asked in faith, and every true prayer involves the submission of what it asks to the divine... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE ELDERS. — St. Matthew and St. Luke add “the scribes,” thus including representatives of the three constituent elements of the Sanhedrin. The character of the teaching is further specified by St. Luke, “as He was preaching the gospel” — proclaiming, _i.e.,_ the good news of... [ Continue Reading ]
I ALSO WILL ASK YOU ONE THING. — The question is met by another question. As One who taught as “having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:29), He challenges their right to interrogate Him on the ground of precedent. Had they exercised that right in the case of the Baptist, and if so, with... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY REASONED WITH THEMSELVES. — The self-communing was eminently characteristic. The priests and scribes had, in dealing with the mission of John, halted between two opinions. At one time they came to his baptism (Matthew 3:7); at another they said, “He hath a devil” (Matthew 11:18). They watched t... [ Continue Reading ]
WE CANNOT TELL. — The confession of impotence to which the priests and scribes were thus brought was, as has been said, a virtual abdication. Before such a tribunal the Prophet whom they called in question might well refuse to plead. There was, indeed, no need to answer. For those who were not wilfu... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHAT THINK YE? — The question serves to connect the parable with the foregoing incident, and so gives point to its special primary application. In many MSS. the answers of the two sons are inverted, and it is accordingly the “second,” and not the first, who is said, in Matthew 21:31, to have don... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL NOT. — The bold defiance of the answer answers to the rough recklessness of the classes (publicans and harlots) who were represented by the “first” of the two sons. Their whole life, up to the time of their conversion, had been an open refusal to keep God’s laws, and so to work in His vineyar... [ Continue Reading ]
I GO, SIR. — The tone of outward respect, as contrasted with the rude refusal of the elder son, is eminently characteristic as representing the surface religion of the Pharisees.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SAY UNTO HIM, THE FIRST. — The answer came apparently from the lips of the very persons who were self-condemned by it, and so implied something like an unconsciousness that they were described in the person of the second son. They who gave God thanks that they were not like other men, could not... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. — The term seems used in a half-technical sense, as expressing the aspect of righteousness which the Pharisees themselves recognised (Matthew 6:1), and which included, as its three great elements, the almsgiving, fasting, and prayer, that were so conspicuous both in the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH PLANTED A VINEYARD. — The frequent recurrence of this imagery at this period of our Lord’s ministry is significant. (Comp. Matthew 20:1; Matthew 21:28; Luke 13:6.) The parable that now meets us points in the very form of its opening to the great example of the use of that image in Isaiah 5:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE TIME OF THE FRUIT DREW NEAR. — We must be content here with following the general drift of the parable, and cannot find any exact parallel in the history of Israel to the successive sendings of the servants of the householder. It is enough to see in them the general expectation (comp. the l... [ Continue Reading ]
BEAT ONE, AND KILLED ANOTHER. — The language paints the general treatment of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, being the most conspicuous instances. The language of our Lord in Matthew 23:30; Matthew 23:34, not less than that of Hebrews 11:37, implies that the prophets,... [ Continue Reading ]
Other servants more than the first. — There is, perhaps, a reference here to the greater power and fulness of the work of the later prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, stretching onward to that of the Baptist, as closing the whole line.... [ Continue Reading ]
LAST OF ALL. — The variations in the other Gospels are noticeable as more vivid and dramatic. “He had yet one son, his beloved” (Mark 12:6). “He said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son, it may be they will reverence him” (Luke 20:13). The language of deliberation and doubt is evidently ina... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS THE HEIR. — What we learn elsewhere enables us to understand the feelings with which the priests and scribes must have heard these words. Already had Caiaphas given the counsel that one man should die for the people (John 11:49), while among those who knew it, and did not protest, were many... [ Continue Reading ]
CAST HIM OUT OF THE VINEYARD. — The minor touches of a parable are not always to be pressed in our interpretation of it; but we can hardly help seeing here a latent reference to the facts (1) that our Lord was delivered over to the judgment of the Gentiles; and (2) that He was crucified outside the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SAY UNTO HIM ... — The fact that the answer to the question came, not from the speaker, but from the hearers of the parable, is peculiar to St. Matthew. On the assumption that those who gave the answer were the scribes and Pharisees, we may see in it either a real unconsciousness that they were... [ Continue Reading ]
DID YE NEVER READ....? — The quotation is remarkable as being found (Psalms 118:22) in the immediate context of the verse which had supplied the “hosanna” shouts of the multitude on the preceding day. In the primary meaning of the Psalm, the illustration seems to have been drawn from one of the ston... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER SHALL FALL ON THIS STONE. — There is a manifest reference to the “stumbling and falling and being broken” of Isaiah 8:14. In the immediate application of the words, those who “fell” were those who were “offended” at the outward lowliness of Him who came as the carpenter’s son, and died a m... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY PERCEIVED THAT HE SPAKE OF THEM. — The real or affected unconsciousness of the drift of our Lord’s teaching was at last broken through. The last words had been too clear and pointed to leave any room for doubt, and they were roused to a passionate desire for revenge.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY SOUGHT TO LAY HANDS. — We must remember that they had once before made a like attempt, and had been baffled (John 7:44). Now circumstances were even more against them. The Prophet was surrounded by His own disciples, and by an admiring crowd. Open violence they did not dare to venture on,... [ Continue Reading ]