Matthew 16

Chap. XVI. Ver. 1—12. The Pharisees require a sign, and are refused: the disciples cautioned against their doctrines.—On a former occasion, ((Matthew 12:38),) certain scribes and Pharisees had required a sign from heaven, and were refused: another party of Pharisees now come, and bring certain of the Sadducees with them, who probably imagine they might be able to elicit from our Saviour what the others could not. As they proposed the same question, they received the like answer; with a reproof, at the same time, for their want of discernment and of candour, in not appreciating the evidences of his mission, with which they were surrounded. Upon this, our Saviour left them, without any farther reply, and again entering a small vessel, departed to the other side of the lake.

When they arrived, he began to caution his disciples to ‘‘beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.’’ Upon this, they were at first confounded, taking our Lord’s words literally, as if he had spoken of bread; whereas our Lord had before used the term in respect of doctrine, in speaking of his new dispensation, ((Matthew 13:33).) Jesus, therefore, reproved the dulness of their apprehension, and gave them to understand that he referred to the doctrines of these Jewish ma[sters], on which this seems the proper place to offer a few re- The Pharisees were esteemed the most orthodox sect among the Jews, and held in the highest respect. Their name, (from the Hebrew Pharosh,) implies separation; not that they separated from communion with the Sadducees, or other sects, but they professed an extraordinary degree of moral and ritual purity, and the highest veneration for the traditions of the elders.

They also avowed their belief in the doctrines of a future State, and the resurrection. (See (Acts 23:3); XXIV. 15.) It is somewhat doubtful, however, what the Pharisees meant by the last doctrine. According to Josephus, it was no more than a Pythagorean resurrection; that is, a resurrection of the soul, by its transmigration into another Ver. 28. O woman, &c.—{Our Lord’s purpose being now answered, he open! he says, they excluded all who were notoriously wicked, being of opinion, that the souls of such persons were transmitted into a state of everlasting wo. As to inferior crimes, they held, that they were punished in the bodies which the souls of those who committed them were next sent into.”

“ps The Sadducees, another Jewish sect, are said to have originated with one Sadoc, in the third century before Christ. This man “inculcated a pure and disinterested principle of obedience to God, independent of rewards and punishments, from which some of his disciples inferred, that none were to be expected; and hence the sect degenerated into infidelity, and denied, not only the resurrection of the body, but also the being of angels, or spirits, and consequently a future state. (Acts xxiii, 8.)…. It has been said, that they rejected all the sacred writings but those of Moses; and it is probable that some did so, but this was not universally the case. It is certain that they rejected the traditions of the elders, and paid little attention to any religious forms.” But they were, however, very strict in the administration of justice. In their philosophy they were Epicureans, or materialists, but by no means Necessarians. x There was another sect, called Essenes, mentioned by Josephus, but not in the New Testament. This may be accounted for, from their living in a kind of monkish community, and never attending the Jewish festivities, or the temple service. They believed in the immortality of the soul, but not in the resurrection of the body. They were moral, abstemious, and recluse; and in their interpretations of the Scriptures they were highly mystical and allegorical. They disapproved of pain and war, and wholly rejected the traditions of the elders.

There is no difficulty in ascertaining which of these doctrines were here intended as their leaven. The leaven of the Pharisees was their hypocrisy and superstition; the leaven of the Sadducees, licentiousness and infidelity: but what was the leaven of Herod, (which the Evangelist Mark adds, ch. Ver. 39. Magdala.—[Magdala was a city, and probably a territory, east of Ver. 13. Cesarea Philippi.—| Cesarea Philippi was anciently called Paneas, from the mountain of Panium, or Hermon, at the foot of which it was situated, near the springs of Jordan; but Philip the Tetrarch, the son of Herod the Great, having rebuilt it, gave it the name of Cesarea in honour of Tiberius, the (Gr. Petros,) a stone; and upon this rock (Petra) will I build my church,”

&c. See note on Micah i. 11.—The gates of hell.—Gr. Hades. This phrase is differently explained. Schleusner, who, in his Greek Lexicon, represents hades as sometimes meaning hell, the place of punishment, here understands rebellion against the church, and the chief pastors thereof. Here is the overcrag of all papal persecution! Here are the claws of the Apocryphal beast! Ver. 20. Jesus.—Wanting in many MSS. and some ancient versions, and the sense seems clearer without it. Ver. 21. From that time forth—That is, at different times after this, as opportunity permitted. Ver. 22. To rebuke him.—This implies great presumption in Peter, and our Lord’s answer shows that it was so considered by his Master.—Be it Sar when he tempted our Lord to give up his course of suffering, by offering him “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.”

(Matthew 4:8-10).—— Thou art an offence.—Greek, Scandal, or stumbling-block; that is, by this temptation, Peter put a stumbling-block in the way of his Lord’s duty, ~ Ver, 24. Come after me.—It is the part of a disciple to follow his Master also in the instructions and example.——Take up his cross.—See note on (Matthew 10:38). Ver, 26. And lose his own soul.—The word here rendered lose, is different from that in the verse preceding; and Campbell says forfeit is the term which

Notes on the verses

Chap. XVI. Ver. 3. It will be foul to-day.—Doddridge, “Tempestuous.” —The sky is red—The same signs are observed by ourselves reigning emperor, and he added his own name to it, to distinguish it from another Cesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean. It was afterwards named Neronias by the young Agrippa, in honour of Nero, and in the time of William of Tyre, it was called Belimas. It was, according to Josephus, a day’s journey from Sidon, and 120 stadia from the lake of Phiala, and, according to Abulfeda, a journey of a day and a half from Damascus. It is now called Banias. Burckhardt says it contains about 160 houses, inhabited by Turks, Greeks, &c. Travels in Syria.]|—Bagster. Ver. 17. Simon Barjona—Or, the son of Jonas, Ver.

18. Thou art Peter.—The Catholics explain the name Peter (Gr. Petros) to mean a rock, but a learned Lexicographer of the 17th century (Edw. Leigh, Esq.) says, “Petros (i.e. Peter) always signifies a stone, never a rock;” which is confirmed by another learned layman, Granville Sharp, Esq., who appeals to the Lexicons of Scapula, Schrevelius, Dawson, Parkhurst, &c., to which might be added, many others of the highest literary authority… ‘The Syro-Chaldaic term Cephas, also simply means a stone. See (John 1:41).—“* Remarks on an important Passage,” &c.——Upon this rock.—Chrysostom says, On this rock, not upon Peter, for he did not build his church upon the man, but upon his faith;” or, as he elsewhere expresses it, ‘his confession.”

It has been remarked, that this passage contains a Paronomasia, or play of words, such as is not unfrequent in the Hebrew language: ‘Thou art Peter thereby, the violence and power of the devil, and of all the fierce adversaries of Christ, whose efforts against the church shall be rendered abortive, and remarks, that it was considered in the same light by Chrysostom, the most eloquent of the Greek fathers. But Dr. Campbell, who follows Grotius, here and always explains it in reference to the state of the dead in general, considering death as the gate to the invisible world; and he regards the expression as equivalent to saying, the church shall never die, or become extinct.—On the word Hades, see note on (Psalms 16:10). Ver. 19. I will give unto thee the keys, &c.—Keys were the emblems of office, and in some cases were so large as to be carried on the shoulder. (Isaiah 9:6); xxii. 20. And according to the nature of the key, was the authority. ‘The key of the house (or palace) of David, implied great influence and authority, as we see in the passage just quoted.—The keys of the kingdom—i.e., say Roman Catholic expositors, ‘The authority, or chair of doctrine, knowledge, judgment, and discretion between true and false doctrine, the height of government, the power of making laws,” &c. &c. Whatsoever thou shalt bind.—All kind of discipline and punishment of offenders, either spiritual or corporal…. is comprised under the word bind; of which sort be excommunications, anathemas, suspensions, degradations, and other censures and penances enjoined, either in the sacrament of penance, or in the exterior courts of the church, for punishment of other crimes, and of Heresy, and from thee !—Marg.

“‘Pity thyself;” but others render it, still more literally, (“Mercy thee, Lord!” The use of this expression in the LXX. answers to “God forbid!” and is so translated, (1 Samuel 14:45).; (Matthew 11:19).: also, 1 Mac ii. 21. See Campbell. aie eres ‘ Ver. 23. Satan.—The word signifies an adversary: see notes on (Job 1:6). (Zechariah 3:1). Our Lord means to say, that Peter did not speak like a friend, but like an enemy: in which pursued the same conduct that Satan himself did comes nearest to the original, and is therefore adopted by Boothroyd.—In exchange.—Doddridge, ‘‘As a ransom.” Ver, 28. Shall not taste of death.—To taste, or to see death, is a common Hebraism for dying.—Campbell.—The Son of man coming in his kingdom.

—I[This appears to refer to the Mediatorial kingdom which our Lord was about to set up by the destruction of the Jewish nation and polity, and the diffusion of the gospel throughout the world. |—Bagster ished by this term. See exposition of (Matthew 4:12-25) And that is, by a demon (or devil.) See (Matthew 15:22). (Luke 6:18), &c.: tm 18. pphued hh phan demon., er. 20. As a grain of mustard seed—[That is, as Bishop Pearce well remarks, a thriving and increasing faith, like a grain of mustard seed, which from being the least of seeds, becomes the greatest of all herbs.|—B. The Rabbins have a proverb, that the globe of the earth is but as a grain of mustard seed, compared with the expanse of heaven. Drusius.—To this mountain.—The retirements of Jesus were generally into some mountain.

See (Matthew 15:23). To “remove mountains,” was a proverbial expression with the Jews, signifying, to effect apparent impossibilities. See (Matthew 21:21); also Ver. 21. Howbeit, &c.—That some demons are worse than others, see (Matthew 12:45). Ver. 24. Tribute—{This tribute seems to have been the half shekel which was continued by them, wherever dispersed, till after the time of Vespasian, every male among the Jews paid yearly for the cost of the temple; which See Josephus. |—Bagster. i 7a Ver. 25. Jesus prevented him—i.e. Jesus anticipated him. ~ |, Ver. 27. A piece of money—That is, a stater, or shekel, weighing in silver about half an ounce, and equal to two didrachmas. ‘