Bible Commentaries
Matthew 22

Verses 1-13

31 See Luk_7:29-30 .

32 See Mat_3:1 ; Luk_3:12 .

32 The Lord now proceeds to show them His authority and to expose their abuse of the privileges entrusted to them. They were mere tenants of God's vineyard; He was the Owner's Son. Their predecessors had claimed such authority as they were arrogating to themselves.

That is why the prophets were persecuted. These men and almost all of the rulers in Israel, whether kings or priests, chiefs or scribes, sought to use the nation for their own profit and not for the glory God. Had they been faithful, no prophets would have been sent to them. They would have delivered to the Owner of the vineyard the joy and cheer which were His by right. Because they did not do this, because the priesthood was apostate and the rulers rebellious, He raised up men of God to remind them of their obligations to Himself. Israel boasted in Elijah and all the prophets, which were the badge their shame. Moreover, their treatment of the prophets confirmed their apostate condition, for none of them escaped persecution at their hands. But by far the most memorable part of the parable is the prediction of the rejection of His authority and His subsequent murder at their hands. That it was possible for them to proceed in their program of putting Him to death after He had given them this preview of their appalling crime proves the utter depravity of the priesthood, the hopeless immorality of religion when its light has become darkness, and its life turned to death.

33-41 Compare Mar_12:1-9 ; Luk_20:9-16 . See Psa_80:8-16 ; Son_8:11-12 ; Isa_5:1-7 .

35 See Mat_5:12 ; Mat_23:37 ; 2Ch_24:18-21 ; 2Ch_36:15-17 ; Neh_9:26 ; Act_7:52 ; 1Th_2:15 .

39 See Mat_26:50 ; Act_2:23 .

41 See Luk_21:24 .

41 As before, they pronounce their own doom. In the kingdom their rule will be replaced by the sway of the twelve apostles under the Priest-King Whose authority they had dared to question. Then the Lord will enjoy the fruit of His vineyard.

42-46 Compare Mar_12:10-12 ; Luk_20:17-19 . See Psa_118:22-23 ; Act_4:11 ; 1Pe_2:6 .

42 Not long after this these same chief priests and those with them question Peter's authority.

He confirms the word here spoken by our Lord. “If we today are being examined as to the benefaction to the infirm man, by what he has been saved, let it be known to you all and to the entire people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, Whom you crucify, Whom God rouses from among the dead, by this One, this man stands by before you sound. This is the Stone that is being scorned by you builders, which is becoming the Head of the corner” ( Act_4:9-11 ). Yet even this double witness fails to move their hard hearts to repentance.

44 See Isa_8:14-15 ; Rom_9:33 ; 1Pe_2:8 ; Dan_2:34-35 ; Dan_2:44-45 .

45 So long as the chief priests did not fear God the mob did not fear them and had small respect for their authority. Who fears not God fears man. The priests were in an impossible position. Between Pilate and the populace their vaunted authority practically vanished. All they could do was to appeal to Pilate and persuade the people.

1-9 Compare Luk_14:15-24 .

1 This parable should never be used to illustrate the evangel of today. In the first place, none of the nations are called to the wedding in this economy. It will take place in the kingdom, to which we are not invited. Neither is any one invited in the evangel today and subsequently rejected because of unworthiness. That is true of Israel as a nation, to whom our Lord is speaking. The parable refers to the various proclamations of the kingdom. The first was made by the apostles while He was still with them. It had been rejected when our Lord was speaking. The second was made in the Pentecostal era, after all preparations had been made by the sacrifice of Christ. That, too, is rejected, and calls for the destruction of Jerusalem. The last proclamation is still future, when the Lord will deal in judgment and compel them to come in. The apparel at such weddings was provided by the host. God will provide His people with a righteousness in that day. No one can remain, in his own righteousness. It must be noted that this is quite a distinct figure from that of the bride. Those who accept the invitation here are the guests. The bride does not appear in the picture and should be left entirely out of view in the interpretation. The same saints who are elsewhere seen under the figure of the bride are here seen under the figure of guests, because the truth here is judgment rather than love, and could not be developed in the closer relationship. The main point is that those invited, or called, are not necessarily chosen. In the proclamation of the kingdom in our Lord's day and in the Pentecostal era many were invited, but few chosen. Some, in that day, came at first, and were latter rejected because they fell away. The last invitation by no means goes out to the gentiles. It goes out in the same city. The parable of the virgins ( Mat_25:1 ) takes up the relation of the other nations to Israel in the kingdom.

Verses 14-34

14 See Mat_20:16 .

15-22 Compare Mar_12:13-17 ; Luk_20:20-26 .

15 Fulsome flattery has proven the undoing of many men, and seldom fails to throw them off their guard. The man of God should beware off it, for it is far more dangerous than calumny. But it did not deceive our Lord. Was He true? Was He unafraid to teach the way of God in truth? Was He unmoved by men? Were their wiles transparent to His gaze? If this was so, and it was, they did not believe it. But He soon demonstrated that their flattery was plain fact. He saw through their trap, and not only answered their question but convicted them of one of the crimes which they hoped to fasten on Him. He has shown them how little authority they have. They know their helplessness. They must get Him into conflict with the people or with the government. Then they might manage His destruction. They formulate a leading question. If He says “Yes”, the Pharisees will inform the people and His popularity will be forfeited. If He says “No”, the Herodians will accuse Him to the government and He will be tried for sedition. So He avoids the catch in their question. So long as they accepted the Roman currency they were obliged to acknowledge Rome's ascendency and pay taxes. The use of Roman currency denoted their subjection to Rome. So long as they were subject they should pay. The use of temple currency showed their subjection to God. To Him, also, they should give His due.

23-33 Compare Mar_12:18-27 ; Luk_20:27-40 . See Act_23:8 .

23 The Pharisees and Herodians having been silenced, the Sadducees tried their best argument on Him. Like many another theological deduction, it was based on two errors, ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God. Yet they sought to find a foundation for it in the law. The principle of error which seemed to give weight to their reasoning is still very widespread. It is the lack of proper apportionment of truth. What Moses said for their guidance in this life is transported into the life to come. Moses did not legislate for the resurrection, especially not in regard to matters which do not reappear in the life that is to be. Let us by all means avoid their methods. Even if we think we can involve some passages of scripture in doubt and ridicule by a course of reasoning or questioning, it proves nothing except our lack of discernment and our ability to confuse things which are clear when left in their own place. Moses made provision that a man's name should not be blotted out of Israel by death ( Deu_25:5-6 ). What possible place can this have in the resurrection, where there is no death? Why provide for a contingency which cannot occur? Furthermore, what ground is there for the idea that the marriage state is resumed in resurrection? Nevertheless, a powerful sect in Israel was built on such flimsy bases!

32 Our Lord is proving the necessity resurrection. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are dead. God is the God of the dead, if they will not be raised. But He is not the God of the dead. The dead praise not the Lord ( Psa_115:17 ). They know not anything ( Ecc_9:5 ). In death there is no remembrance of Him ( Psa_6:5 ). Apart from resurrection His saints are lost, our faith is vain, we are still in our sins ( 1Co_15:16-19 ). The dead have no God. He is the God of the living. There must be a resurrection-which was to be proved ( Exo_3:6 ).

34-36 Compare Mar_12:28 ; Luk_10:25-28 .

Verses 35-46

24 From their subsequent course ( Act_23:8 ), it is evident that the Sadducees were not convinced. Their difficulty was deeper. It was in the heart. Though they could not answer, they could refuse to believe.

35 The Pharisees had failed in fixing a political crime on Him. Now they try to involve Him in a theological heresy, which, to the Jews, was even worse. That He claimed to be the Messiah was bad, but not so blasphemous as calling Himself the Son of God. The expounder of the law hoped to get Him to convict Himself by quoting the first of the ten commandments, especially, “You shall have no other gods above My face” ( Exo_20:3 ). Or, at least the great rubric, “Hear, O Israel: Jehovah, our God, is one Jehovah!” ( Deu_6:4 ). He does not ask for the second greatest. The Lord significantly omits this and gives him the following precept: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” ( Deu_6:5 ). They were prepared to do this in their own way by hating and killing Him. But He forestalls their deduction by quoting another passage which utterly frustrated their argument.

37-40 Compare Mar_12:29-34 ; Deu_6:5 .

39 See Lev_19:18 .

41-46 Compare Mar_12:35-37 ; Luk_20:39-44 .

42 He now confutes the fanatical element in their monotheism by showing them that they did not even know Whose Son Christ is! Had they known, they would not have accused Him of blasphemy when He claimed to be the Son of God. David, whose son the Messiah was to be, knew better than they, for he called Him his Adon, or Lord. If Christ was merely David's son, he assuredly would not call Him by such a title. Who could there be who was so far above David, yet seated at Jehovah's right hand? They had no room for Him in their theology. But He was in their Scriptures. The Pharisees, also, are muzzled. They did not even know that the God of their Scriptures was not the invisible Deity, but His Image ( Col_1:15 ), not the One Whose voice is inaudible to human ears, but His Word ( Joh_1:1 ), or Expression. Their Messiah was the Elohim Whom they feared, the Jehovah Whom they reverenced, the Adonai Whom they claimed to serve.

44 Compare Psa_110:1 .

1 Though the Sadducees were probably included in the term scribes, the Pharisees are especially singled out for this final denunciation. For a hundred and fifty years they had enjoyed the highest respect of the populace because of their zeal and rigid observance of the law of Moses. The Sadducees were comparatively few and lacking in influence. It is highly significant that our Lord seldom spoke harshly of the common people. He did not blame the sheep, but the shepherds. In so far as the Pharisees followed the teaching of Moses our Lord did not censure them, but rather because they did not burden themselves with the observance of the law, but shifted it to the shoulders of others. Their whole religion consisted in self-adulation. It is highly important that we should recognize the fact, that our Lord's woes were not directed against the vice and immorality and crime in the lower levels of the social scale. He did not denounce the corruption in politics, and the oppression and rapacity of rulers. The worst offenders, in His anointed eyes, were the acknowledged religious leaders, those who made the strongest protestations of serving God. It is ever thus. The most heinous criminals are not those who make no pretense of serving Him, but those who make a great profession.

2 See Neh_8:4-8 ; Mal_2:7 .

4 See Luk_11:46 .

4 Bad as the doctrine of the Pharisees was, their deportment was worse. The Lord now turns from their precepts to warn against their practices.

5-14 Compare Mar_12:38-40 ; Luk_20:45-47 .

5 See Deu_6:6-8 ; Deu_22:12 ; Num_15:37-41 .

6 See Luk_11:43 .

11 See Mat_20:25-28 .

11 The constant aim of the Pharisees was to receive from men the recognition to which they considered themselves entitled.

13 See Luk_11:52

13 Our Lord commenced His ministry with a nine-fold benediction on the poor, the mourners, the meek, those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, the merciful, the cleanhearted, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted on account of righteousness, and those reproached falsely on His account ( Mat_5:3-11 ). Where is there the slightest feature of the Pharisees in these beatitudes? They were as unlike all this as they could be. Hence He closes His ministry with seven maledictions on the hypocrites who hinder others from entering the kingdom, who proselyte for their own party, who elevate that which is hallowed above that which hallows, who distort the proportions of God's precepts, who cleanse the outside but leave the inside full of filth, who outwardly appear just, but are lawless within, who feign themselves more righteous than their progenitors, yet excel them in iniquity.

13 The kingdom of the heavens was locked at that time, not to be opened until Peter uses the keys entrusted to him, on the day of Pentecost. Then once more the Pharisees and scribes lock the kingdom by refusing the testimony of the apostles. It is locked now. It will not be opened until Christ comes again in glory.