Matthew 21

Matthew 21:13

[c] thieves] By λῃστοι, thieves, here are meant those that by merchandise make gain of others, not those that are robbers indeed; so John ii. 16, it is οἶκος ἐμπορίου, a house of merchandise. Of this see our learned countryman Mr. Fuller, Miscell. l. iv. p. 6. p. 499.

Matthew 21:15

And when they of the Jewish sanhedrim saw his miraculous cures, ver. 14, and the children’s acclamations as to a king, or Messias, they were much troubled at it.

Matthew 21:16

[d] perfected praise] The Greek κατηρτίσω αἶνον in this place is the Septuagint’s translation of יְכֹרַת עֹז, thou hast founded, or ordained strength. There is little doubt but our Saviour repeated this place, as it was in the Hebrew of the psalm, or in the Syriac dialect (as it appears he did in the repeating of the beginning of psalm xxii. by the Syriac sabachthani) and not in the Greek, and therefore the Greek made use of by the evangelist or his interpreter must still continue to have a sense that the Hebrew words will bear, and so belongs to the children’s singing hosannas, (for though those which did so were not infants or sucklings, but as they are called ver. 15, παῖδες, children, yet were they of an age far less able to judge, than the Pharisees that rejected Christ; and if that which was said by the psalmist of very infants were true, then much more may it be admitted of these,) which was a testimony of his divinity; and so was the ordaining strength, that is, a strong and glorious effect from weak means, and again the perfecting praise, that is, compacting, putting together a song of confession or praise, (see note [c] 2 Cor. xiii.,) a testimony of him, such as the Scribes and Pharisees could not think fit for him to accept, but he by remembering them of that prophecy of the psalmist, acknowledges and owns it as a good and valid testimony, and gives them reason to do so too.

Matthew 21:20

And the next morning, Mark xi. 20, passing by, the disciples saw it and wondered, saying, How wonderful is it that the fig tree upon those words of Christ should be withered and dead all of it thus instantly!

Matthew 21:22

But this you must set upon not in any confidence of yourselves, but in all humility of prayer to God; and whatsoever ye shall thus pray for, believing that I, according to my promise, will grant it to you, ye shall certainly receive from me; see Mark xi. 24.

⁴ at some distance from the way, ἐπὶ τῆς ὁδού: see note on Mark ii. 6. ⁵ How is the fig

tree withered presently! Πότ παραχρῆμα ἐξηράνθη.

Matthew 21:24

To this question Jesus thought fit to give answer by making this other question, which would retort and stop their mouths; as it appears it did, ver. 27.

Matthew 21:25

Had John the Baptist commission from God to do what he did, or came he only of himself? ¶ we shall be in danger to be stoned by the multitude, Luke xx. 6. ¶ Then sure it is not needful for me to give you account of my commission or authority, when it is granted by you that a man may lawfully preach and baptize, and entertain disciples, as John did, without the approbation of the sanhedrim.

[e] heaven] Heaven here signifies God, one of God’s titles among the Hebrews being הֲשִׁמִּים, heaven.

Matthew 21:28

But is not this a strange thing, that you that undertake and pretend so much to be God’s knowing and obedient servants should yet stand out the most obstinately of all others against his commands and messengers sent from him, when the worst and meanest of men, the publicans and the multitude, forsake their former ways, repent and believe the gospel? I will tell you a story, or parable: There was a man that had two sons—

¶ Or, other: for the Gr. and Lat. and most of the MSS. read tripy, not bery.

H 2

Matthew 21:34

And when the harvest time came, when they were to receive the fruit and pay the rent, he sent— n at another they threw stones, though they killed him not. o a greater number of servants than those which he had sent at the first: and they—

Matthew 21:41

And the Pharisees expressed a great indignation against these false and bloody servants, affirming them worthy of utter destruction, that the lord might provide him better officers, which should pay him his rent duly; though when Jesus, upon this answer of theirs, approved the reasonableness of it, and affirmed it should thus befall them indeed, Luke xx. 16, (by which they began to discern that he spake the parable against them,) they with indignation deprecate the sentence, Luke xx. 19.

Did you never observe a notable passage in the Psalmist, Psalm cxviii. 22, referring proverbially to some famous building, the temple or the like, (wherein one stone which the builders had laid aside as good for nothing proved at length to be very fit for the prime place in the building, the utmost corner stone) and by that psalmist applied to David, (whom the princes with Saul and the chief of Israel refused and persecuted, but after he became king,) and which yet farther prophetically belongs to Christ, (who being refused and rejected a long time by the chief priests and elders, and the sanhedrim of the Jews, and by them put to death, was to rise again, and become a glorious head of his church)?

The gospel, and the privilege of being the only church and people of God, shall be taken from you, and given to such as shall practise those things which the gospel requires.

Matthew 21:42

[f] this] Both in the Greek of psalm cxviii. 23. and here, αὐτὴ is put for τοῦτο, the feminine for the neuter, because the Hebrew וְתוֹ is so used; and so psalm xxvii. 4, the Greek hath μίαν ἡτῆσαμην, for ἐν, one thing have I asked, because the Hebrew אַחַת is feminine.

Matthew 21:44

He that on occasion of Christ shall by any thing that befalls him be discouraged, or fall into unbelief, this shall be a great wounding of his soul, a great sin thus to fall off in time of tribulation; but he that not out of weakness, but of contumacy, shall resist and provoke his wrath and judgments, and so bring this stone, this vengeance of Christ down upon him, it shall come down most heavily, and dash him into a thousand pieces.

bruised, or shrewdly shaken,

[g] grind] Λικμᾶν here is by the grammarians rendered τὸν σῖτον καθαίρειν, and ἀλοᾶν, and σῖτον καὶ ἄχυρα διαχωρίζειν, not only to κἴππον