Matthew 11:25

In these verses we have Christ looking up to heaven, with thanksgiving to his Father for the sovereignty and security of the covenant of redemption; and looking around him upon this earth, with an offer to all the children of men, to whom these presents shall come, of the privileges and benefits of the covenant of grace.

I. Christ here returns thanks to God for his favour to those babes who had the mysteries of the gospel revealed to them (Mat 11:25, Mat 11:26). Jesus answered and said. It is called an answer, though no other words are before recorded but his own, because it is so comfortable a reply to the melancholy considerations preceding, and is aptly set in the balance against them. The sin and ruin of those woeful cities, no doubt, was a grief to the Lord Jesus; he could not but weep over them, as he did over Jerusalem (Luk 19:41); with this thought therefore he refreshes himself; and to make it the more refreshing, he puts it into a thanksgiving; that for all this, there is a remnant, though but babes, to whom the things of the gospel are revealed. Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall he be glorious. Note, We may take great encouragement in looking upward to God, when round about us we see nothing but what is discouraging. It is sad to see how regardless most men are of their own happiness, but it is comfortable to think that the wise and faithful God will, however, effectually secure the interests of his own glory. Jesus answered and said, I thank thee. Note, Thanksgiving is a proper answer to dark and disquieting thoughts, and may be an effectual means to silence them. Songs of praise are sovereign cordials to drooping souls, and will help to cure melancholy. When we have no other answer ready to the suggestions of grief and fear, we may have recourse to this, I thank thee, O Father; let us bless God that it is not worse with us than it is.

Now in this thanksgiving of Christ, we may observe,

1. The titles he gives to God; O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Note, (1.) In all our approaches to God, by praise as well as by prayer, it is good for us to eye him as a Father, and to fasten on that relation, not only when we ask for the mercies we want, but when we give thanks for the mercies we have received. Mercies are then doubly sweet, and powerful to enlarge the heart in praise, when they are received as tokens of a Father's love, and gifts of a Father's hand; Giving thanks to the Father, Col 1:12. It becomes children to be grateful, and to say, Thank you, father, as readily as, Pray, father. (2.) When we come to God as a Father, we must withal remember, that he is Lord of heaven and earth; which obliges us to come to him with reverence, as to the sovereign Lord of all, and yet with confidence, as one able to do for us whatever we need or can desire; to defend us from all evil and to supply us with all good. Christ, in Melchizedec, had long since blessed God as the Possessor, or Lord of heaven and earth; and in all our thanksgivings for mercies in the stream, we must give him the glory of the all-sufficiency that is in the fountain.

2. The thing he gives thanks for: Because thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and yet revealed them to babes. These things; he does not say what things, but means the great things of the gospel, the things that belong to our peace, Luk 19:42. he spoke thus emphatically of them, these things, because they were things that filled him, and should fill us: all other things are as nothing to these things.

Note (1.) The great things of the everlasting gospel have been and are hid from many that were wise and prudent, that were eminent for learning and worldly policy; some of the greatest scholars and the greatest statesmen have been the greatest strangers to gospel mysteries. The world by wisdom knew not God, Co1 1:21. Nay, there is an opposition given to the gospel, by a science falsely so called, Ti1 6:20. Those who are most expert in things sensible and secular, are commonly least experienced in spiritual things. Men may dive deeply into the mysteries of nature and into the mysteries of state, and yet be ignorant of, and mistake about, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, for want of an experience of the power of them.

(2.) While the wise and prudent men of the world are in the dark about gospel mysteries, even the babes in Christ have the sanctifying saving knowledge of them: Thou hast revealed them unto babes. Such the disciples of Christ were; men of mean birth and education; no scholars, no artists, no politicians, unlearned and ignorant men, Act 4:13. Thus are the secrets of wisdom, which are double to that which is (Job 11:6), made known to babes and sucklings, that out of their mouth strength might be ordained (Psa 8:2), and God's praise thereby perfected. The learned men of the world were not made choice of to be the preachers of the gospel, but the foolish things of the world (Co1 2:6, Co1 2:8, Co1 2:10).

(3.) This difference between the prudent and the babes is of God's own making. [1.] It is he that has hid these things from the wise and prudent; he gave them parts, and learning, and much of human understanding above others, and they were proud of that, and rested in it, and looked no further; and therefore God justly denies them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and then, though they hear the sound of the gospel tidings, they are to them as a strange thing. God is not the Author of their ignorance and error, but he leaves them to themselves, and their sin becomes their punishment, and the Lord is righteous in it. See Joh 12:39, Joh 12:40; Rom 11:7, Rom 11:8; Act 28:26, Act 28:27. Had they honoured God with the wisdom and prudence they had, he would have given them the knowledge of these better things; but because they served their lusts with them, he has hid their hearts from this understanding. [2.] It is he that has revealed them unto babes. Things revealed belong to our children (Deu 29:29), and to them he gives an understanding to receive these things, and the impressions of them. Thus he resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble, Jam 4:6.

(4.) This dispensation must be resolved into the divine sovereignty. Christ himself referred it to that; Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Christ here subscribes to the will of his Father in this matter; Even so. Let God take what ways he pleases to glorify himself, and make us of what instruments he pleases for the carrying on of his own work; his grace is his own, and he may give or withhold it as he pleases. We can give no reason why Peter, a fisherman, should be made an apostle, and not Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and a ruler of the Jews, though he also believed in Christ; but so it seemed good in God's sight. Christ said this in the hearing of his disciples, to show them that it was not for any merit of their own that they were thus dignified and distinguished, but purely from God's good pleasure; he made them to differ.

(5.) This way of dispensing divine grace is to be acknowledged by us, as it was by our Lord Jesus, with all thankfulness. We must thank God, [1.] That these things are revealed; the mystery hid from ages and generations is manifested; that they are revealed, not to a few, but to be published to all the world. [2.] That they are revealed to babes; that the meek and humble are beautified with this salvation; and this honour put upon those whom the world pours contempt upon. [3.] It magnifies the mercy to them, that these things are hid from the wise and prudent: distinguishing favours are the most obliging. As Job adored the name of the Lord in taking away as well as in giving, so may we in hiding these things from the wise and prudent, as well as in revealing them unto babes; not as it is their misery, but as it is a method by which self is abased, proud thoughts brought down, all flesh silenced, and divine power and wisdom made to shine the more bright. See Co1 1:27, Co1 1:31.

II. Christ here makes a gracious offer of the benefits of the gospel to all, and these are the things which are revealed to babes, Mat 11:25, etc. Observe here,

1. The solemn preface which ushers in this call or invitation, both to command our attention to it, and to encourage our compliance with it. That we might have strong consolation, in flying for refuge to this hope set before us, Christ prefixes his authority, produces his credentials; we shall see he is empowered to make this offer.

Two things he here lays before us, Mat 11:27.

(1.) His commission from the Father: All things are delivered unto me of my Father. Christ, as God, is equal in power and glory with the Father; but as Mediator he receives his power and glory from the Father; has all judgment committed to him. He is authorized to settle a new covenant between God and man, and to offer peace and happiness to the apostate world, upon such terms as he should think fit: he was sanctified and sealed to be the sole Plenipotentiary, to concert and establish this great affair. In order to this, he has all power both in heaven and in earth, (Mat 28:18); power over all flesh (Joh 17:2); authority to execute judgment, Joh 5:22, Joh 5:27. This encourages us to come to Christ, that he is commissioned to receive us, and to give us what we come for, and has all things delivered to him for that purpose, by him who is Lord of all. All powers, all treasures are in his hand. Observe, The Father has delivered his all into the hands of the Lord Jesus; let us but deliver our all into his hand and the work is done; God has made him the great Referee, the blessed Daysman, to lay his hand upon us both; that which we have to do is to agree to the reference, to submit to the arbitration of the Lord Jesus, for the taking up of this unhappy controversy, and to enter into bonds to stand to his award.

(2.) His intimacy with the Father: No man knoweth the Son but the Father, Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son. This gives us a further satisfaction, and an abundant one. Ambassadors use to have not only their commissions, which they produce, but their instructions, which they reserve to themselves, to be made use of as there is occasion in their negotiations; our Lord Jesus had both, not only authority, but ability, for his undertaking. In transacting the great business of our redemption, the Father and the Son are the parties principally concerned; the counsel of peace is between them, Zac 6:13. It must therefore be a great encouragement to us to be assured, that they understood one another very well in this affair; that the Father knew the Son, and the Son knew the Father, and both perfectly (a mutual consciousness we may call it, between the Father and the Son), so that there could be no mistake in the settling of this matter; as often there is among men, to the overthrow of contracts, and the breaking of the measures taken, through their misunderstanding one another. The Son had lain in the bosom of the Father from eternity; he was a secretioribus - of the cabinet-council, Joh 1:18. He was by him, as one brought up with him (Pro 8:30), so that none knows the Father save the Son, he adds, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Note, [1.] The happiness of men lies in an acquaintance with God; it is life eternal, it is the perfection of rational beings. [2.] Those who would have an acquaintance with God, must apply themselves to Jesus Christ; for the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in the face of Christ, Co2 4:6. We are obliged to Christ for all the revelation we have of God the Father's will and love, ever since Adam sinned; there is no comfortable intercourse between a holy God and sinful man, but in and by a Mediator, Joh 14:6.

2. Here is the offer itself that is made to us, and an invitation to accept of it. After so solemn a preface, we may well expect something very great; and it is a faithful saying, and well worthy of all acceptation; words whereby we may be saved. We are here invited to Christ as our Priest, Prince, and Prophet, to be saved, and, in order to that, to be ruled and taught by him.

(1.) We must come to Jesus Christ as our Rest, and repose ourselves in him (Mat 11:28), Come unto me all ye that labour. Observe, [1.] The character of the persons invited; all that labour, and are heavy laden. This is a word in season to him that is weary, Isa 50:4. Those who complain of the burthen of the ceremonial law, which was an intolerable yoke, and was made much more so by the tradition of the elders (Luk 11:46), let them come to Christ, and they shall be made easy; he came to free his church from this yoke, to cancel the imposition of those carnal ordinances, and to introduce a purer and more spiritual way of worship; but it is rather to be understood of the burthen of sin, both the guilt and the power of it. Note, All those, and those only, are invited to rest in Christ, that are sensible of sin as a burthen, and groan under it; that are not only convinced of the evil of sin, of their own sin, but are contrite in soul for it; that are really sick of their sins, weary of the service of the world and of the flesh; that see their state sad and dangerous by reason of sin, and are in pain and fear about it, as Ephraim (Jer 31:18-20), the prodigal (Luk 15:17), the publican (Luk 18:13), Peter's hearers (Act 2:37), Paul (Act 9:4, Act 9:6, Act 9:9), the jailor (Act 16:29, Act 16:30). This is a necessary preparative for pardon and peace. The Comforter must first convince (Joh 16:8); I have torn and then will heal. [2.] The invitation itself: Come unto me. That glorious display of Christ's greatness which we had (Mat 11:27), as Lord of all, might frighten us from him, but see here how he holds out the golden sceptre, that we may touch the top of it and may live. Note, It is the duty and interest of weary and heavy laden sinners to come to Jesus Christ. Renouncing all those things which stand in opposition to him, or in competition with him, we must accept of him, as our Physician and Advocate, and give up ourselves to his conduct and government; freely willing to be saved by him, in his own way, and upon his own terms. Come and cast that burden upon him, under which thou art heavy laden. This is the gospel call, The Spirit saith, Come; and the bride saith, Come; let him that is athirst come; Whoever will, let him come.

[3.] The blessing promised to those that do come: I will give you rest. Christ is our Noah, whose name signifies rest, for this same shall give us rest. Gen 5:29; Gen 8:9. Truly rest is good (Gen 49:15), especially to those that labour and are heavy laden, Ecc 5:12. Note, Jesus Christ will give assured rest to those weary souls, that by a lively faith come to him for it; rest from the terror of sin, in a well-grounded peace of conscience; rest from the power of sin, in a regular order of the soul, and its due government of itself; a rest in God, and a complacency of soul, in his love. Psa 11:6, Psa 11:7. This is that rest which remains for the people of God (Heb 4:9), begun in grace, and perfected in glory.

(2.) We must come to Jesus Christ as our Ruler, and submit ourselves to him (Mat 11:29). Take my yoke upon you. This must go along with the former, for Christ is exalted to be both a Prince and a Saviour, a Priest upon his throne. The rest he promises is a release from the drudgery of sin, not from the service of God, but an obligation to the duty we owe to him. Note, Christ has a yoke for our necks, as well as a crown for our heads, and this yoke he expects we should take upon us and draw in. To call those who are weary and heavy laden, to take a yoke upon them, looks like adding affliction to the afflicted; but the pertinency of it lies in the word my: "You are under a yoke which makes you weary: shake that off and try mine, which will make you easy." Servants are said to be under the yoke (Ti1 6:1), and subjects, Kg1 12:10. To take Christ's yoke upon us, is to put ourselves into the relation to servants and subjects to him, and then of conduct ourselves accordingly, in a conscientious obedience to all his commands, and a cheerful submission to all his disposals: it is to obey the gospel of Christ, to yield ourselves to the Lord: it is Christ's yoke; the yoke he has appointed; a yoke he has himself drawn in before us, for he learned obedience, and which he does by his Spirit draw in with us, for he helpeth our infirmities, Rom 8:26. A yoke speaks some hardship, but if the beast must draw, the yoke helps him. Christ's commands are all in our favour: we must take this yoke upon us to draw in it. We are yoked to work, and therefore must be diligent; we are yoked to submit, and therefore must be humble and patient: we are yoked together with our fellow-servants, and therefore must keep up the communion of saints: and the words of the wise are as goads, to those who are thus yoked.

Now this is the hardest part of our lesson, and therefore it is qualified (Mat 11:30). My yoke is easy and my burden is light; you need not be afraid of it.

[1.] The yoke of Christ's commands is an easy yoke; it is chrēstos, not only easy, but gracious, so the word signifies; it is sweet and pleasant; there is nothing in it to gall the yielding neck, nothing to hurt us, but, on the contrary, must to refresh us. It is a yoke that is lined with love. Such is the nature of all Christ's commands, so reasonable in themselves, so profitable to us, and all summed up in one word, and that a sweet word, love. So powerful are the assistances he gives us, so suitable the encouragements, and so strong the consolations, that are to be found in the way of duty, that we may truly say, it is a yoke of pleasantness. It is easy to the new nature, very easy to him that understandeth, Pro 14:6. It may be a little hard at first, but it is easy afterwards; the love of God and the hope of heaven will make it easy.

[2.] The burden of Christ's cross is a light burden, very light: afflictions from Christ, which befall us as men; afflictions for Christ, which befall us as Christians; the latter are especially meant. This burden in itself is not joyous, but grievous; yet as it is Christ's, it is light. Paul knew as much of it as any man, and he calls it a light affliction, Co2 4:17. God's presence (Isa 43:2), Christ's sympathy (Isa. 73:9, Dan 3:25), and especially the Spirit's aids and comforts (Co2 1:5), make suffering for Christ light and easy. As afflictions abound, and are prolonged, consolations abound, and are prolonged too. Let this therefore reconcile us to the difficulties, and help us over the discouragements, we may meet with, both in doing work and suffering work; though we may lose for Christ, we shall not lose by him.

(3.) We must come to Jesus Christ as our Teacher, and set ourselves to learn of him, Mat 11:29. Christ has erected a great school, and has invited us to be his scholars. We must enter ourselves, associate with his scholars, and daily attend the instructions he gives by his word and Spirit. We must converse much with what he said, and have it ready to use upon all occasions; we must conform to what he did, and follow his steps, Pe1 2:21. Some make the following words, for I am meek and lowly in heart, to be the particular lesson we are required to learn from the example of Christ. We must learn of him to be meek and lowly, and must mortify our pride and passion, which render us so unlike to him. We must so learn of Christ as to learn Christ (Eph 4:20), for he is both Teacher and Lesson, Guide and Way, and All in All.

Two reasons are given why we must learn of Christ.

[1.] I am meek and lowly in heart, and therefore fit to teach you.

First, He is meek, and can have compassion on the ignorant, whom others would be in a passion with. Many able teachers are hot and hasty, which is a great discouragement to those who are dull and slow; but Christ knows how to bear with such, and to open their understandings. His carriage towards his twelve disciples was a specimen of this; he was mild and gentle with them, and made the best of them; though they were heedless and forgetful, he was not extreme to mark their follies. Secondly, He is lowly in heart. He condescends to teach poor scholars, to teach novices; he chose disciples, not from the court, nor the schools, but from the seaside. He teaches the first principles, such things as are milk for babes; he stoops to the meanest capacities; he taught Ephraim to go, Hos 11:3. Who teaches like him? It is an encouragement to us to put ourselves to school to such a Teacher. This humility and meekness, as it qualifies him to be a Teacher, so it will be the best qualification of those who are to be taught by him; for the meek will he guide in judgment, Psa 25:9.

[2.] You shall find rest to your souls. This promise is borrowed from Jer 6:16, for Christ delighted to express himself in the language of the prophets, to show the harmony between the two Testaments. Note, First, Rest for the soul is the most desirable rest; to have the soul to dwell at ease. Secondly, The only way, and a sure way to find rest for our souls is, to sit at Christ's feet and hear his word. The way of duty is the way of rest. The understanding finds rest in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, and is there abundantly satisfied, finding that wisdom in the gospel which has been sought for in vain throughout the whole creation, Job 28:12. The truths Christ teaches are such as we may venture our souls upon. The affections find rest in the love of God and Jesus Christ, and meet with that in them which gives them an abundant satisfaction; quietness and assurance for ever. And those satisfactions will be perfected and perpetuated in heaven, where we shall see and enjoy God immediately, shall see him as he is, and enjoy him as he is ours. This rest is to be had with Christ for all those who learn of him.

Well, this is the sum and substance of the gospel call and offer: we are here told, in a few words, what the Lord Jesus requires of us, and it agrees with what God said of him once and again. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat_11:25

Because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.

Why God reveals to babes

The babe is the representative of the receptive spirit-trusting, open to impression, free from prejudice. Wisdom-like wealth and power-is an obstruction, not in itself, but in the temper and frame of mind it is apt to produce. On the other hand, there is, in this preference of the child-spirit, no encouragement of spiritual pride, as if ignorance and mental indolence were things of dignity and worth in themselves. The prime requisites in the child-spirit are unconsciousness and humility. The grounds for Gods dealing thus are as follows:-

I. To reveal to babes harmonizes with Gods character as a father, and illustrates it. Babe is counterpart to Father. A fathers heart is not attracted to the brilliance or power in his family, but to the want. The child who knows his father will have a knowledge of things beyond the reach of research.

II. To reveal to babes glorifies God as Lord of heaven and earth. The higher and mightier you conceive God to be, the more necessary it is to know that he is lowly, and to have abundant proof of it. But oh I how near God comes; how dear He is to us by His frequent close relationship to the poor and lowly. We are drawn to the mighty God who is drawn to the babes.

III. God thus manifests the supremacy of the moral element. The understanding has but a narrow horizon; the spirit embraces eternity and God. Intellect is the fibre of the plant, the moral and spiritual are the sap that turns everything into flower and fruit. Knowledge and ingenuity are as nothing without righteousness. What inventiveness or brilliancy could ever supply the place of honesty faithfulness, goodwill in the homes of men?

IV. God thus shows his desire to reveal as much as possible, and to as many as possible. Had He revealed specially to intellect, to the wise and understanding, what a little circle, what a select coterie it would have been! The great mass of mankind are burdened with labour, and cannot develop greatly their intellectual nature. But by revealing to babes, God gives hope to universal humanity. While few can be wise and learned, all may become babes. It is man himself that God wants, not his accomplishments, his energies, his distinctions. (J. Leckie, D. D.)

The great paradox

Ignorant men have argued from these words that sound knowledge is incompatible with the child-like spirit. It is possible to forget in the wisdom of this world Him whom the world by wisdom never knew. Our Lord uttered these words when He permitted His disciples to listen to His communings with the Father. We know more of each other when we pray than when we teach.

I. The apparent paradox involved in these words. Thou hast hid, etc. All revelation is to some extent a concealment. The veil is drawn aside, but never taken away. When an infinite God reveals Himself to man, by necessity of our nature He hides far more than He manifests. The special revelation which God has made to some individuals, is the very process by which he has concealed Himself from others; for there are two conditions of Divine revelation by which God brings his truth to bear upon the human heart.

1. The external circumstance and event. There can be Be special revelation to any man without a willingness on Gods part to confer upon some events or some teacher His own authorization, and a willingness on mans part to receive the revelation as such. Therefore the revelation made to some is necessarily a concealment from others.

2. The mental pro-requisites, subjective state or moral condition capable of receiving a Divine revelation. All conditions of understanding and emotion are not equally receptive; hence it is concealed from those who have not right moral conditions. It becomes of great importance to know what is the disposition which most of all fits us for the reception of the Divine message? The highest revelations of God are made to the moral nature, other knowledge is illumined by the higher spiritual wisdom. The humble heart knows more than the massive intellect. It may be mortifying, but it is patent.

II. The redeemers judgment, and gratitude concerning it.

1. He attributes this arrangement to the universal Lord-O Lord of heaven and earth. The apparent paradox is a Divine arrangement, not an unfortunate accident. There is not more conformity between the eye and light, between the ear and sound, than between the child-like soul and Gods revelation of heavenly things. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He has determined with royal independence, through what organs, to what condition, He will reveal Himself.

2. The Saviour acquiesces in this arrangement, not simply as an act of universal sovereignty, but as most merciful and good; as the Fathers good pleasure. It was a fatherly way and method.

3. Christ does more than throw the responsibility on God; He thanks God that it is so. He rejoiced because He felt the amplitude of this provision. This principle of discrimination was the widest and noblest that can be conceived. Had it been to intellect only a few could have received the revelation; moral conditions are possible to all. Christ rejoiced in this mode because it satisfied the yearnings of His own heart, for He proceeds to say to the weary Come unto Me, all ye that labour, etc. To man distracted by the wisdom of the world He thus appeals. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)

The proud and the lowly

I. The inherent propriety of this arrangement.

1. There were great moral disqualifications in the wise and prudent.

(1) They were covetous.

(2) They were proud.

(3) They were prejudiced.

2. There were great preparatory qualifications in the babes.

(1) They were humble.

(2) They were tractable.

(3) They were conscious of their needs. In what frame of mind do you seek gospel blessings?

II. See the reasons of this arrangement in relation to the ministry of Christ.

1. His position was one of self-humiliation, and therefore it was unsuitable that the rich and mighty should be among His followers.

2. His work was peculiarly a work of God, therefore He avoided the appearance of using the wisdom of this world, or any of its carnal agencies.

3. He came for the sake of all classes, and it was needful, in order to elevate all, that He should begin at the lowest. (The Conregational Pulpit.)

Even so, Father

I. The saviour would have us attain to an enlightened apprehension of the character of God.

II. Christ would have us carefully observe the discriminating character of Gods grace.

III. The saviour would have his peoples hearts in perfect agreement with the rule and action of God.

IV. Practical use of the text. (C. H. Spurgeon)

The kingdom, of God hid from the wise and revealed unto babes

I. The characters named in the text from whom certain truths are hidden.

1. The wise seem to be those who are seeking to become acquainted with Divine truth by the exercise of their natural faculties.

2. The prudent man is one who always shapes his course in the path which is most consistent with his worldly interests.

3. The babe is the direct opposite of those we have described, and yet one to whom the Lord graciously condescends to reveal these things which He hides from them. The feature of the babe is

(1) helplessness,

(2) ignorance. But we need not limit the babe to the age of infancy.

(3) Great teachability,

II. What are these things that God hides from one character and makes known to the other?

1. The workings of godly fears in the soul is a branch of Divine truth which the Lord hides from the wise and prudent and reveals unto babes.

2. God hides from the wise and prudent a spiritual acquaintance with His law.

3. The operations and exercises of a living faith in a tender conscience are hidden from the wise and prudent.

4. God hides from them the exercise of a living hope.

5. The breathing forth of spiritual affections he hides.

6. He hides all the savour, and unction, and sweetness, and power of truth. (J. C. Philpot.)

Revelation a concealment

The belt of light thrown over some divisions of the great sphere of knowledge leaves the rest in apparently deeper shade. All language by expressing some thoughts conceals many others. Much is repressed by every effort that we make towards expression. If we try to unbosom our hearts to each other, we hide as much as we reveal. We wrap ourselves round in mystery when we are most communicative. All art is concerned as much in hiding what ought to be concealed as in making known what is meant to be expressed. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)

Revelation addressed to the heart of man

It should not surprise us when men of acute and powerful understandings more or less reject the gospel, for this reason, that the Christian revelation addresses itself to our hearts, to our love of truth and goodness, our fear of sinning, and our desire to gain Gods favour; and quickness, sagacity, depth of thought, strength of mind, power of comprehension, perception of the beautiful, power of language, and the like, though they are excellent gifts, are clearly quite of a different kind from these excellences-a man may have the one without having the other. This, then, is the plain reason why able, or, again, why learned men are so defective Christians, because there is no necessary connection between faith and ability; because faith is one thing and ability is another; because ability of mind is a gift, and faith is a grace. Who would ever argue that a man could, like Samson, conquer lions, or throw down the gates of a city, because he was able, or accomplished, or experienced in the business of life? Who would ever argue that a man could see because he could hear, or run with the swift because he had the tongue of the learned ? These gifts are different in kind. In like manner, powers of mind and religious principles and feelings are distinct gifts; and as all the highest spiritual excellence, humility, firmness, patience, would never enable a man to read an unknown tongue, or to enter into the depths of science, so all the most brilliant mental endowments, wit, or imagination, or penetration, or depth, will never of themselves make us wise in religion. And as we should fairly and justly deride the savage who wished to decide questions of science or literature by the sword, so may we justly look with amazement on the error of those who think that they can master the high mysteries of spiritual truth, and find their way to God, by what is commonly called reason, i.e., by the random and blind efforts of mere mental acuteness, and mere experience of the world. (F. W. Newman.)

Hidden for want of sight

Unconverted men often say, If these things are so, if they are so clear and great, why cannot we see them? And there is no answer to be given but this, Ye are blind. But we want to see them. If they are real, they are our concern as well as yours. Oh, that some preacher would come who had power to make us see them! Poor souls, there is no such preacher, and you need not wait for him. Let him gather Gods light as he will, he can but pour it on blind eyes. A burning glass will condense sunbeams into a focus of brightness; and if a blind eye be put there, not whir will it see, though it be consumed. Light is the remedy for darkness, not blindness. Neither will strong powers of understanding on your part serve. The great Earl of Chatham once went with a pious friend to hear Mr. Cecil. The sermon was on the Spirits agency in the hearts of believers. As they were coming from church, the mighty statesman confessed that he could not understand it all, and asked his friend if he supposed that any one in the house could. Why yes, said he, there were many plain unlettered women, and some children there, who understood every word of it, and heard it with joy. (Hoge.)

The Mysteries of the gospel hid from many.

I. What may be intended by these things?

1. In general, the things pertaining to salvation.

2. More particularly, those doctrines which are in an especial sense peculiar to the gospel, seem here to be intended, such as

(a) the Divinity of Christ,

(b) distinguishing grace,

(c) the new birth,

(d)the nature of the life of faith.

II. Where, and in what sense, are these things hid?

1. They are hid in Christ (Col_2:3); therefore

(a) you can attain to no saving truth, but in and by the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

(b) Whatever seeming knowledge you have, if it does not endear Him to you it is nothing worth.

2. They are hid in Gods Word.

(a) They are contained there.

(b) Yet though contained there, they are not plain to every eye.

They are not hid in the sense that seekers shall not find, but that those who seek to cavil shall meet with something to confirm their prejudices. Application: Do not entertain hard and perplexing thoughts about the counsels of God, either respecting others or yourselves. (John Newton.)

Concealment and Revelation

I. Divine things concealed. Not through any deficiency of revelation, nor by arbitrary will.

II. Divine things revealed. The revelation of Divine realities is made to prepared souls. Elicits thankfulness.

III. The unwilling alone suffer privation and loss. God will not force His truth and mercy upon man. (M. Braithwaite.)

Saintliness better than learning

There died five-and-twenty years ago in France a village priest, the Cure of Ars, a small hamlet about thirty miles north of Lyons. He was so devoid of worldly learning that he was long unable to obtain orders, until some bishop had the wisdom to perceive that saintliness was a better claim to orders than technical learning. In that village this priest ministered for many years, preaching, lecturing, hearing confessions all day long. Sceptics came from Paris; and the bursts of his spiritual fire burnt deep into their consciences. During the last year of his life no less than 80,000 persons flocked to his church to listen to his religious advice. Such as he was, a standing argument for Christianity, a standing evidence of its being a living influence, such may every one of us be; for it was not knowledge but holiness that constituted his power. The secret of his strength was his weakness. His power was not his own. His soul lay at the foot of the Cross, his body at the foot of the altar; he was made a temple of the Holy Ghost. He was an epistle known and read of all men. (Canon Adam S. Farrar.)

The things of revelation cannot be seen unless shown

Let me suppose a person to have a curious cabinet, which is opened at his pleasure, and not exposed to common view. He invites all to come to see it, and offers to show it to any one who asks him. It is hid, because he keeps the key; but none can complain, because he is ready to open it whenever he is desired. Some, perhaps, disdain the offer, and say, Why is it locked at all? Some think it not worth seeing, or amuse themselves with guessing at the contents. But those who are simply desirous for themselves, leave others disputing, go according to appointment, and are gratified. These have reason to be thankful for the favour, and the others have no just cause to find fault. Thus the riches of Divine grace may be compared to a richly-furnished cabinet, to which Christ is the door. The Word of God is likewise a cabinet, generally locked up, but the key of prayer will open it. The Lord invites all, but keeps the dispensation in His own hand. They cannot see these things, except He shows them; but then He refuses none that sincerely ask Him. The wise men of the world can go no further than the outside of this cabinet; they ,may amuse themselves and surprise others with their ingenious guesses at what is within; but a child that has seen it opened can give us more satisfaction, without studying or guessing at all. If men will presume to aim at the knowledge of God, without the knowledge of Christ, who is the Way, and the Door; if they have such a high opinion of their own wisdom and penetration as to suppose they can understand the Scriptures without the assistance of His Spirit; or if their worldly wisdom teaches them that these things are not worth their inquiry, what wonder is it that they should continue to be bid from their eyes? They will one day be stripped of all their false pleas, and condemned out of their own mouths. (Newton.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 11:25-26. At that time Jesus answered, &c. — This word does not always imply that something had been spoken, to which an answer is now made. It often means no more than the speaking in reference to some action or circumstance preceding. The following words Christ speaks in reference to the case of the cities above mentioned: I thank thee — That is, I acknowledge and joyfully adore the justice and mercy of thy dispensations. The original word, εξομολογουμαι, sometimes denotes to confess sins, sometimes to acknowledge favours, and sometimes also to adore or celebrate. It is chiefly in the last of these senses that the word is to be here understood. Because thou hast hid — That is because thou hast suffered these things to be hid from men, who are in other respects wise and prudent, while thou hast discovered them to those of the weakest understanding, to them who are only wise to God-ward. We have the same idiom, Rom 6:17, God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed, &c. — The thanks are not given for their having been formerly the servants of sin, but for their being then obedient. “It seems they were but a few, and those generally the lower sort of people, who embraced Christ’s doctrine, and co-operated with him in erecting his kingdom; nor was his religion soon to meet with a better reception in the other countries where it was to be preached; circumstances which, in the eyes of common wisdom, were melancholy and mortifying. But our Lord foresaw that, by the direction of God, these very circumstances would become the noblest demonstrations of his personal dignity, the clearest proofs of the excellence of his religion, and the most stupendous instances of his power, who, by such weak instruments, established his dominion in every part of the habitable world, against the policy, the power, and the malice of devils and men combined to oppose it. Our Lord, therefore, properly made the rejection of the gospel by the great men of the nation, and the reception of it by persons in lower stations, the matter of a special thanksgiving, both now and afterward in Judea, Luk 10:21. Νηπιοι, babes, in Scripture language, are persons whose faculties are not improved by learning, but who, to that sagacity and understanding which is purely natural, join the dispositions of modesty, sincerity, humility, docility, and all the other engaging qualities that are to be found in children. This is plain from Mat 18:3. Babes, therefore, stand in opposition, not to men of sound judgment and reason, but to proud politicians and men of learning, who are so full of themselves that they disdain to receive instruction from others, and who make all their abilities subservient to their advancement in this world.” — Macknight.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 41. — THANKS FOR THE REVELATION TO BABES, Mat_11:25-26.

25. At that time — And doubtless in the same connection. For in contrast with the unbelieving cities above named, there were a choice few, the children of wisdom, (Mat_11:19,) who accepted the Gospel in its simplicity. He thanks the Father that to such the Gospel is revealed, (25, 26,) affirms his complete concurrence with the Father in the whole plan, (27,) and issues an invitation for all to come in accordance with that plan, (28-30.) I thank thee — The divine arrangement was so wise and good that our Saviour was grateful at its completion. Hid — What was hid? The spiritual kingdom above described. How hid? By the very fact that God has constituted it a spiritual kingdom; for eyes that wickedly persist in being gross and carnal cannot see spiritual realities. The plainest divine truths, though placed before them, are hid, as the plainest objects by daylight are hid from the eyes of the owl; only the owl’s blindness is natural and innocent, theirs is voluntary and guilty. God does right in establishing spiritual things; that their spirituality renders them hid, is the sensual man’s fault. Those who understand by this text that God has from all eternity made salvation impossible to be attained by a fixed part of mankind, wrong divine justice, and abuse our Lord’s words.

Yet it is not at all probable that the thanks of our Lord rested upon the fact that the Gospel was hid; but upon the fact that though hid, it was wisely and graciously revealed to its spiritual receivers. Parallel to this is the language of Paul: “God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed,” etc. If in either passage we insert although after the word that, we shall obtain the actual meaning.

But it is asked by Calvinists and other predestinarians, has God not a predetermined plan for the regulation of all events? That God has determinations founded on his foreknowledge, we have illustrated in our note on Mat_11:23. That God’s plan, however, does not predestinate and fix all the wicked acts of wicked men, and then fix their damnation for committing those decreed acts, may appear from the following remarks by Dr. Fisk in his sermon on predestination and election:

“We acknowledge and maintain that God has a plan, one part of which is to govern his responsible subjects without controlling their will by a fixed decree; to punish the incorrigible, and save those who repent and believe. Does such a plan imply the necessity of a change, ‘on condition that his creatures act in this or that way?’ If indeed it was necessary for God to decree an event in order to foreknow it, this inference might be just. But as this is seen to be false, it follows that a perfect God, whose eye surveys immensity and eternity at a glance, and who necessarily knows all possibilities and contingencies, all that is, or will be, can perfectly arrange his plan, and preclude the possibility of a disappointment, although he does not, by a decree of predestination, fix all the volitions and acts of his subjects.”

Wise and prudent — He calls them what they call themselves, and what, for this world, they may be called. But the carnal heart, however sagacious in carnal things, understands not the things of the Spirit. Revealed them unto babes — Babes, from the very fact that they received the truth in its simplicity; babes, as the statesmen of Rome, the philosophers of Greece, and the Sadducees of Judea, would style them. They are the ones who realize eternal things, but value low the temporal. If eternal things be unreal, they are not only babes, but fools. But if eternal things be real, these babes, so called because they receive those things with simplicity, and ignore the depraved wisdom of the world, are wiser than the “wise and prudent.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat_11:25. Answered and said.—A Hebraism for “spake and said” (Carr). But Dr. Monro Gibson observes: “As we read, first of the doubts of John, then of the thoughtlessness of the multitudes, and then of the impenitence of the favoured cities by the lake, is there not a question in our hearts, becoming more and more urgent as each new discouragement appears: What will He say to this? What can He answer?” (Expositor’s Bible). Prudent.—Understanding (R.V.). The understanding is a born atheist (Jacobi).

Mat_11:28. Come unto Me, etc.—These words derive their significance from the preceding assertion of our Lord’s unity with the Father. It is only as God that He is able to give rest to the souls of those who are weary with the burden of sin and of the law (Mansel). Labour, etc.—Imagery borrowed from the agriculture of the time and place (D. Thomas).

Mat_11:30. Easy.—The Greek has a wider range of meaning—good, helpful, kind, profitable (Plumptre).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_11:25-30

Invincible meekness.—The “season” here mentioned was one, apparently, of disappointment and gloom. The doubtful faith of the “disciples of John” (Mat_11:1-6); the general unbelief of that “generation” both in Jesus and John (Mat_11:15-19); and the especial perverseness of those “cities” for which the Saviour had done the most (Mat_11:20-24)—had all been present to His mind. What did it all mean? Clearly, to Christ, that God did not intend His mission to have more than a limited scope. In other words, that God did not intend the blindness of those so-called “wise and prudent” who rejected the message of His Son to be removed by its means; but that He rather intended its truths to be “revealed” only to those whom they regarded as “babes” (Mat_11:25; cf. 1Co_1:26, etc.). This was the truth which that “season” had begun to make plain. How our Saviour accepted it, in the first instance, and how He acted on it in the second—are what we have now to consider.

I. How our Saviour accepted this truth.—In the first place, with what expressions of meekness! The Saviour’s language is not that of merely reluctant acquiescence. “I submit because I can do nothing else.” Nor yet that of merely dutiful but sorrowful resignation. “I submit because I feel that I ought.” It is the language, rather—the express language—of satisfaction and joy. “I thank Thee—I praise Thee (R.V.)—for what Thou hast done.” In the next place, we may see with what reality of meekness the Saviour accepted these facts. This is evident from the reason given for His expressed satisfaction and praise. Why was this appointment so pleasing to Him? Because He found it to be pleasing to God—pleasing to Him towards whom He stood in the relation of Son. This was the exact reason—this, in fact, the only assigned reason—why it was pleasing to Him. “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (Mat_11:26). To His spirit that was almost more than enough. Lastly, we may see with what depth of meekness this submission is made. Who is this that thus rejoices in being limited thus? He is One so great that the Father Himself has entrusted all into His hands; so great, again, that no one knows Him fully except the Father Himself; so great, once more, that only He, and those whom He pleases to teach, can know the Father Himself (Mat_11:27). Yet, of all these “crowns”—and all involved in them—He openly divests Himself here. Distinctly claiming them all, He as distinctly accepts them all only in submission to His Father. Thus to be limited is part of His mission. It is, also, to Him, its chiefest privilege. Also, to Him, its crowning joy. No one is greater—no one meeker—than He!

II. How He acted upon it.—With what marked alacrity, in the first place. There is a beautiful abruptness about the beginning of Mat_11:28. From speaking of His glory and greatness, the Saviour turns suddenly to His duty. Is it so—though being such as He is—that He is sent unto “babes”? Unto “babes,” at once He will go. Unto “babes,” to those that are “weary,” and so in need of His help. Unto “babes,” to those “heavy laden” also, and so confessing their need (cf. Mat_9:13; Rev_3:17-18). All such He invites at once to “come” unto Him (Mat_11:28). With what precision and fulness, in the next place. Come unto Me and you shall have just that which your special condition requires. Are you weary? Here is “rest.” Have you no help in yourselves? Here is all in Me. Trust Me, in short, to do for you just that which you need. Trust Me, also, to do it for you without lacking or doubt. Whatever may be the case with others, I will give it unto you (end of Mat_11:28). Also see, finally, with what admirable consistency the Saviour acts in this case. Where would He have those who listen to Him find this contentment and “rest”? Where He has found it Himself. He seems to say to such, in short, as on another occasion (Joh_13:13-15), you “see what I have done.” How I, on my part, have submitted to a “yoke”! How completely and meekly I have done so! How bright has been the result; what seemed most exacting having turned out most full of joy in the end! I counsel you, on your part, to do the same kind of thing. Take this “My yoke” upon you! Learn to do in this as I do. Believe Me your doing so will cause you to be in this as I am. “Rest” indeed shall be yours.

Two principal stages of Christian experience seem portrayed to us here.

1. There is some rest—there is much rest—even in first “coming” to Christ.—In this sense he that has once believed has “entered into his rest” (Heb_4:3). In a certain wholesome and most true sense he rests from his “works.” In an equally wholesome, though different sense, he rests from his “sins.” And he rests, especially, and of course, from his harassing fears. It follows, therefore, that merely to have come into the great Sinbearer’s presence, merely to have accepted His offer—to have tasted His mercy—to have committed all to His grace (2Ti_1:12)—is the day-break of peace. The sun “has risen” where this is true of the soul (Rom_5:1; Rom_8:1, etc.).

2. On the other hand there is a fuller rest, even a “rest to the soul,” in having done more; in having thereby become conformed to His likeness; and especially in being conformed to it in that respect which is spoken of here. Good it is to have reached the presence of the Saviour at all. Better still, because a sure proof of this, to have reached His image as well. Best of all to have done so in this innermost matter of “will.” “Even Christ pleased not Himself” (Rom_15:3). Be that also our mark! Rest of this kind is rest from “self”—and so, from everything else!

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat_11:25-27. Christ’s thanksgiving.—Is it to be a thanksgiving, then, after such a series of disappointments and vexations? Even so. As He has looked to the cities of the plain His voice has been a wail; now that He looks up to His Father wailing ceases, and thanksgiving takes its place. So will it always be to faith which is genuine and deep enough. It is only when we look below and around that we are depressed. When we look up we are strong. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,” etc. (Psa_121:1-2). Was it the remembrance of this passage at the time of need which suggested the form of His thanksgiving: “I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth”? Surely we have heard the living original of that grand apostolic word, “In everything give thanks”; for if “at that season” (R. V.), the Saviour of men found occasion for thanksgiving, we may well believe that at any season, however dark, we may find something to stir our hearts to gratitude; and the very exercise of thanksgiving will bring a deep spiritual joy to set against the bitterest sorrow, even as it was with our Lord, who, as St. Luke informs us, “rejoiced in spirit” as He lifted up His soul in thanks to God that day. What, then, does He find to be thankful for?

I. He discovers a cause for gratitude in the very limitation which occasions His sorest disappointments.—“I thank Thee … because Thou hast hid these things,” etc. There is of course the cheering thought that amid the general unbelief and rejection there are some childlike souls who have welcomed the truth. Some are fain to make this the sole cause of thankfulness, as if He meant to say, “I thank Thee, that though Thou hast hid,” etc. But there is no authority for introducing this little word. The Saviour gives thanks, not merely in spite of this hiding, but because of it. It is true, indeed, that He uses the language of resignation, “Even, so Father,” etc., which makes it evident that the fact that so many of the wise and intelligent rejected His gospel presented a real difficulty to His mind, as it has done to earnest souls in all ages. But while it was, no doubt, enough for Him to feel sure that it was right in the sight of God, we are not without indication in what follows, that His faith not only led to resignation, but enabled Him to see for Himself that it was wisely ordered. For what is the great object of the gospel? Is it not to dethrone self, and enthrone God in the hearts of men? It is clear, then, that if it had in any way appealed to pride and self-sufficiency, it would have defeated its own end. Suppose the revealing of things had been to the wise and prudent as such, what would have been the result? The kingdom of heaven would have become a mere scholarship prize. And, however good a thing scholarship may be, and however important that it be encouraged, this is not the work of the Christ of God. His gospel is for all; so it is addressed not to the great in intellect, which would confine it to the few, but to the lowly in heart, which brings it within reach of all, for the very wisest and greatest in intellect may be, and ought to be, meek and lowly in heart. Indeed, is it not to the meek and lowly heart that even truths of science are disclosed? A man who approaches nature with a preconceived theory, about which his mind is already made up, is sure to miss the mark. In this connection one sees the special appropriateness of the reference to “the Lord of heaven and earth.” The principle is one which is not restricted in its range; it runs all through nature. Still more appropriate is the appeal to the Fatherhood of God. It is not for the Father to be partial to His clever children, and leave the less favoured ones to shift for themselves. So the more one thinks of it, the more in every point of view does it seem good and necessary that these things should not be made known to the “wise and understanding” (R.V.), as such, but should be revealed to “babes,” to those of childlike spirit.

II. The next great thought which comes to the relief of the Saviour in His discouragement is that, while there are barriers in the heart of man, there is no barrier in the heart of God, no limit whatever to the outpouring of Divine love and grace. “All things are delivered unto Me of My Father.” Even at the time when it is borne in upon Him that men will have none of Him, He exults in the thought that He has everything for them. As He thinks over it His heart yearns over the orphaned children of men, and He exults in the thought that He has for them the revelation of the Father’s heart and home, with enough and to spare for all His children (Mat_11:27). Then follows such an outpouring of heart as there never has been before (Mat_11:28-30).—J. M. Gibson, D.D.

The Johannine character of this passage.—The passage seems to me just one solitary flower testifying to the presence in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke of the same root of thought and feeling, which everywhere blossoms in that of St. John. It looks as if it had crept out of the fourth Gospel into the first and third, and seems a true sign, though no proof, that however much the fourth be unlike the other Gospels, they have all the same origin.—Geo. Macdonald, LL.D.

Mat_11:28-30. Christ’s universal invitation.—

I. The twofold designation of the persons invited.—They are such as “labour and are heavy laden.” These two expressions cover the active and the passive sides of our need. The former refers to work which, by reason of excess in amount, or distastefulness in kind, has become wearisome toil. The latter points not so much to the burden of duties or tasks as to the heavy and painful experiences which we all, sooner or later, have to carry—the burdens of sorrow and care. Both have a deeper significance when viewed in relation to God’s law of righteousness. There are painful and futile efforts to keep the law, which weary the doers; and there is the sore burden of failure, guilt, and habit, which bows down men’s backs always, whether they know it or no.

II. The twofold invitation.—“Come unto Me” and “Take My yoke upon you.” The former is faith; the latter, practical obedience. The former is the call to all the weary; the latter is the further call, which they only who have come will obey. The whole sum of practical obedience is further set forth as “learning of Him.” The imitation of Jesus is the one commandment of Christian morals; but it should never be forgotten that such imitation is only possible when His Spirit dwells in us and makes us like Him. There may be as much weariness and bondage in imitating Christ without His life in us, as in any other form of trying to work out our own righteousness.

III. The twofold rest.—Perhaps the variation in the form of the promise in the two clauses is intended to carry a great lesson. “I will give you rest,” seems more appropriate to describe the rest consequent on our first coming to Christ, which is simply and exclusively a direct bestowment, and “ye shall find rest” more fitted to describe a repose which is none the less His gift, though it is dependent on our practical obedience, in a way in which the former is not. There is an initial rest, the rest of faith, of pardon, of a quieted conscience, of filial communion with God; a rest involved in the very act of trust, as of a child sleeping secure on its mother’s breast. But there is a further rest in bearing Christ’s yoke. Obedience delivers us from the unrest of self-will. To obey an authority which we love is repose. It brings rest from the tyranny of passion, from the weight of too much liberty, from conflicting desires. There is rest in Christ-likeness. He is meek and lowly; and they who wear His image find in meekness tranquillity, and some quieting from His deep calm hushes their spirits. Such rest is like God’s rest, full of energy. His yoke is easy, and His commandments are not grievous, not because He lowers the standard of duty, but because He alters the motives which enjoin it, and gives the power to do them. Christ’s yoke is padded with love, and His burden is light, because, as St. Bernard says, it carries the man who carries it.—A. Maclaren, D.D.

Mat_11:28. Christ’s call to the weary.—This verse is frequently misquoted, as if “weary and heavy-laden.” This only brings out half its truth. The call would then be only to one side of human weariness, whereas it is to both—to the labouring as well as to the heavy-laden, to the active as well as the passive side of human weariness, to those weary in doing as well as those weary in bearing.

I. To the weary in active life.—“Come unto Me all ye that labour.”

1. To the weary worker.—We are too fond of spiritualising Christ’s words. He addresses the literal labourer and offers real rest.

(1) To the individual. The weary workman; tired business man. He gives body-rest, nerve-rest, mind-rest, because He gives spirit-rest.

(2) To the class. In the degree in which the community comes to Christ it finds rest both in and from labour. The spirit of Christ in human society allays the fever and fret.

2. To the weary worshipper.—

(1) Weary in religious observances. Some from custom. Need to come to Christ as well as to church; then there is rest and refreshment in worship. Others come as a duty. “Come to Me,” not to forms and ceremonies (Mat_23:4). Religion an inward thing; love and devotion to a Person. No rest in mere ritualism.

(2) Weary in self-reformation. In struggle with evil tendencies or bad habits. Defeated and disappointed. Christ gives double rest—rest of pardon and rest of power.

3. To the weary worldling.—The sated pleasure-seeker or society-monger, who cries with the wisest and weariest of worldlings, “Vanity of vanities.”

II. To the weary in passive life.—“Come unto Me all ye that—are heavy-laden.” There is the weariness of still life as well as that of active life.

1. To those with a physical burden.—

(1) The aged. These have borne the burden and heat of the day, and feel the weight of years. Rest in faith, in contemplation.

(2) The feeble. Christ will give the rest of resignation and of quiet service.

(3) The suffering (see Mat_11:5). Rest to soul and ease to body. The spirit of Christ is in social, sanitary, and medical science for the mitigation and abolition of suffering. To the incurable He cries, “Come unto Me,” in heaven—where the weary are at rest.

2. To those with a mental burden.—

(1) The careworn. Christ cures carking care, gives rest from worry. “Your Heavenly Father knoweth,” etc.

(2) The sorrowful. He comforts.

(3) The doubting. To weary doubters. “Come unto Me.” “If any man will do His will,” etc. Come to a loving divine Person, not to creeds and arguments!

3. To those with a spiritual burden.—They need deliverance from the guilt and power of sin.

Conclusion:

(1) The call is wide as human misery, yet limited to the weary. If you are not yet tired of the world, of self and sin, it is not for you. You will not listen.

(2) But listen, ye weary! He who calls knows the weariness of doing and bearing. He was the weariest that ever walked the earth. He bore the burden of a world’s sin.—S. E. Keeble.

Christ our rest.—“I will rest you.” This is the literal translation, which means more than “give you rest.” It is not as if rest were a blessing He could bestow as a friend would make a present which might be retained after the giver had gone. Rest is not so much what He gives to us as what He is to us; and so He says, not “I will give you rest,” but, “I will rest you” (i.e. “I will be your rest).—J. M. Gibson, D.D.

“I.”—In “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” there is a picture drawn of a slave, weary and worn with toiling in the sultry sun. One quotes the words “Come unto Me all ye,” etc. “Them’s good words,” is the response, “but who says ’em?” Obviously all depends on that.

Mat_11:29. The lowly Teacher.—When Jesus sought disciples He professed Himself meek and lowly in heart. What was the attraction of this claim?

1. It was a promise to be kind and patient with slow learners.—In His school the lessons are often hard; the Teacher never is. We cannot learn from the brilliant. They dazzle us; they do not instruct us. We cannot learn from the austere; terror paralyses our slow faculty, and we lose heart to go on. But we may learn from One who, however far above us, is lowly of heart, who, however slow He finds us, never loses patience, but remains meek.

2. It was the claim of a Teacher who was also a Learner.—No human teacher is great if he is not learning. Over the teaching of Jesus our Lord, to whom all things were delivered of the Father, no cloud of error can rest. But in the days of His flesh He was a Learner. Though He were a Son, He learned obedience by the things that He suffered, and all His schooling is in His memory still.

3. It was proof that He loved the slow, dull scholars.—“Love never boasteth of herself.” Is it so? Then how did He say: “I am meek and lowly of heart”? Should He not have left another to praise Him? Nay, He never was so meek and lowly as when. He professed Himself such. Love opens her mouth and speaks the truth when she is claiming the place where she can render fittest service.—W. R. Nicoll, LL.D.

The yoke of Christ.—Have you ever noticed where this direction comes? It comes after the invitation, “Come unto Me.” It comes after the promise, “I will give you rest.” Christ’s yoke is:—

I. His will.—Salvation may be looked upon as a series of acceptances. We accept His pardon, His righteousness, His rest. We accept also His will. Our study now is, not what we shall choose, but, what is it that He has chosen for me?

II. His rule.—Liberty in Christ does not mean freedom from control; that would be lawlessness. Christ sets us free by translating us out of the reign of sin into the reign of grace. The best way to be free from sin’s dominion is to be well under Christ’s control.

III. His discipline.—We are under His correction and instruction as well as His protection. We are in His school. To take Christ’s yoke is a voluntary act and means submission and obedience.—Evan H. Hopkins, M.A.

A teacher should be meek.—The story is told of one of our most gifted poets, that when a little lad of six he was sent to what was called a “charity” school. Sensitive and timid, frightened at the master’s look and voice, and at the cane, without which nothing was done in those days, he could only tremble over his lesson, and blunder tearfully instead of saying it, going back beaten and bewildered to try again. Little wonder that he came to think himself as stupid as the master said he was, and despaired of ever knowing anything. At last the master’s patience was exhausted, the scoldings and the canings were alike in vain. Seizing the little fellow angrily, he thrust him out of the school, and sent him home as too dull to learn anything. The frightened child hid himself in his mother’s arms, and sobbed out all his grief. Then she sat beside him and patiently taught him his letters, and bore with a hundred failures, and praised his occasional success, and so led him on until he was a scholar almost before he knew it.—M. G. Pearse.

Mat_11:30. Christ’s yoke and burden.—The yoke of Christ is easy, and His burden light:—

I. Because we bear it with the approbation of conscience.—The yoke which is borne by a good conscience is always light; the burden which does not consist of sin is never heavy.

II. Because it is borne in love.—Love lightens labour, lessens adversity, sweetens care, and is unconscious of a yoke which otherwise would be heavy. When we are murmuring within ourselves at the cost of our Christianity, it is because we have not yet realised the value of Christ.

III. Because it is borne with the help of the Spirit of God.

IV. Because His burden becomes lighter the longer it is borne.—That which required effort at first is at length done with ease and enjoyment. Nobody will believe that until he has experienced it. But every Christian knows that it is true.

V. Because we are sustained under it by a good hope.—Heaven and endless happiness are before us, and the assurance that they are reserved for us, while we are kept for them, steadies us beneath a weight which else might bear us down.—W. M. Taylor, D.D.

Christ’s burden light.—Somewhere in Schiller’s poems a beautiful story is told illustrative of what I wish to tell you The story says that when God made the birds He made them with gorgeous plumage and sweet voices, but without wings. They knew not how to soar but how to sing, and the story runs that God laid wings on the ground and said, “Take these burdens and bear them.” They took them up on their backs, and struggled along with them, folding them over their hearts. Presently the wings grew fast to their breasts, and spread themselves out, and then they found that what they had thought were burdens were changed to pinions. So there are many things which God imposes upon us which seem too heavy for us to bear, but if in the name of Jesus, we take them up, we shall find they grow fast to us and become pinions.—A. T. Pierson, D.D.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. The Son of God displaying the full consciousness of His royal dignity while rejected of men

Mat_11:25-30

25At that time Jesus answered and said,32

I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

Because [That]33 thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,

And hast revealed them unto [to] babes.

26Even so,34 Father; for35 so it seemed good in thy sight.36

27All things are delivered unto me of [by, ἀπό] my Father:

And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;

Neither [Nor] knoweth any man the Father, save [but] the Son,

And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him [it].

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me [become my disciples]; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto [for] your souls. 30For my yoke is easy [good, wholesome], and my burden is light.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_11:24. Jesus answered.—̓Αποκρίνομαι, like עָנָח, to speak on some definite occasion. Meyer: This occasion is not here mentioned, and cannot be inferred. According to Luk_10:21, the return of the Seventy formed this occasion (Strauss and Ebrard); according to Ewald and older commentators, that of the Apostles. To this Meyer objects, that the expression ὲν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ implies that—however probable in itself—such was not the connection which Matthew had in view. In our opinion, the verses under consideration form, so to speak, a response to the denunciations in the preceding context. The two sections are intended as an antiphony by the Evangelist. Gerlach suggests that the words bear special reference to the disciples who stood before Him. Their presence was virtually an assurance on the part of His heavenly Father: Behold, I have given these unto Thee. And Jesus answered, I thank Thee, O Father, etc.—De Wette takes the expression in a more general sense, as equivalent to, He commenced: comp. Mat_22:1; Mat_28:5.37 We fully admit, however, that the outward and historical connection is more clearly marked in the Gospel of Luke than in that of Matthew.

I thank Thee [ἐξομολογοῦμαι, I fully confess, thankfully acknowledge the justice of Thy doings].—This thanksgiving refers equally to both the facts mentioned in the last clauses of the verse, to the ἀπέκρυψας and the ἀπεκάλυψας. “These are the two aspects of one and the same dealing on the part of God, the necessity of which Christ recognized (comp. Joh_9:39). Meyer. Some critics (as Kuinoel and others) hold, without good reason, that the first of these two antithetic clauses implies only permission.

O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.—The peculiar form of this address is determined by the idea of His administration. In hardening some and enlightening others, God manifests Himself as absolutely reigning both in heaven and on earth. The term πατήρ precedes κύριος, even as love absolute sovereignty.

[Observe that Christ does not address the Father as His Lord, but as the Lord of heaven and earth. We have four more (not two, as Alford says) instances of such a public address of our Saviour to His Father, Joh_11:41 (at the grave of Lazarus); Mat_12:28 (Father, glorify Thy name); Mat_17:1 (in the sacerdotal prayer); and Luk_23:34 (on the cross: Father, forgive them, etc.)—P. S.]

These things, ταῦτα.—From the preceding verses we gather that the expression refers to the principle of the great δυνάμεις, which He had revealed in the cities of Galilee, with special reference to Mat_11:15 (He that hath ears to hear, let him hear). Accordingly, the expression alludes to the evidence of His Divine character as the Messiah and Son of God, derived from His word and works.38

To the wise and prudent.—Applying not merely to the Pharisees and scribes [Meyer], but also to the wise and prudent courtiers of Herod, and to the worldly-wise among the people generally. Babes, νήπιοι. Originally, the פְּתִאִים, or those unacquainted with Jewish wisdom; here, the believing followers of Jesus generally, or those whom the Pharisees despised; comp. Joh_7:49.

Mat_11:26. For so, etc.—Gersdorf, Fritzsche, Meyer, suggest that ὄτι should be translated by that, as in Mat_11:25. De Wette defends the common translation, which is more suitable, as the εὐδοκία of the Father forms the ultimate ground of consolation. The former apparent paradox is here resolved. But by translating the particle ὅτι by that, the difficulty would only be increased, and the whole stress would be laid on the authority of the preceding ναί of Christ. Comp. Mat_3:17; Luk_2:14, etc.

Mat_11:27. All things are delivered unto Me.—Grotius, Kuinoel, and others, apply this exclusively to the doctrine of Christ. De Wette refers it to His rule over men, as in Joh_13:3; Mat_28:18. But Meyer rightly takes it in an absolute sense, as meaning that everything was committed to His government by the Father. This, however, does not imply that the rule of the Father had ceased, but that all things were by the Father brought into connection with, and subordination to, the economy instituted by Christ. His preaching of the gospel in Galilee had led to a twofold and contrary result. The salvation and the judgment initiated by it in that district were a pledge that the same results would follow in κόσμος generally. The main point lies in the idea, that not the saved only, but also the lost, are His. Their rejection of Christ might seem as if it arrested His arm and baffled His omnipotence. But even their unbelief becomes the occasion for a display of the full consciousness of His royal power. They also who rejected Him are subject to His power. Thus the gospel of Christ is absolute in its effects, and this fact is here clearly and pointedly brought out.

And no man knoweth.—̓Ε πι γινώσκειν means more than the simple γινώσκειν. The difference (to which Meyer rightly adverts) is similar to that between the words cognition (Erkenntniss) and knowledge (Kenntniss). Tholuck (Credibility of the Gospel History, against Strauss) has called attention to the affinity between this verse and the general import of the Gospel of John. In this respect, it may serve as an indirect evidence of the credibility of the Gospel according to John.39—Connection with the preceding context: The unlimited and unique cognition of Christ is connected with His unlimited and unique power. Connection with the succeeding context: The consequence of His infinite power, and of His infinite cognition of the Father, are his ability and willingness to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.

Mat_11:28. [Come unto Me, all, etc.—This is the great and final answer to the question of Joh_11:3 : “Art Thou He that should come, or shall we wait for another?” No mere man could have spoken these words. Alford.]

All ye that labor, κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι [the laboring and the burdened].—The first of these verbs refers to the idea of laboring and struggling, rather than to that of being wearied and faint. Both expressions refer to the burden of labor, only viewed from different aspects: 1. As voluntary, and undertaken by themselves; 2. as laid upon them by others. [The active and passive sides of human misery.] Both these remarks applied to the legal efforts of the Jews. Only those, however, who felt the spiritual import of the law of God realized the existence of such a burden. Accordingly, the expression is nearly akin to poverty in spirit. The law itself was a sufficient burden; add to this what was imposed by the traditions of the Pharisees and scribes (Mat_23:4). Hence, in general, those laboring under a sense of sin.

And I, κἀγώ.—Emphatically, in opposition to the teachers who laid those burdens on them.

Mat_11:29. My yoke.—“Allusion to the yoke of the law; a name commonly given to it by the Jews (Wetstein). Without any reference to the yoke which Christ Himself bore, or to His cross (Olshausen).” De Wette.—That is to say, it primarily refers not to the cross of Christ, but to His rule, doctrine, and leadership; which, however, also implies the bearing of His cross. The emphasis must be laid on the call, to learn of Him, in opposition to the legal teaching and the burden imposed by the Pharisees. This applies also to what follows.

For I am meek and lowly in heart.—In opposition to the meek and lowly appearance assumed by the scribes.40 These qualities were the reason why they should learn of Him, not the subject to be learned. They are, in the first place, to seek from Him rest for their souls, ἀνάπαυσιν, מַרְגּוֹצַ, Jer_6:16,—the final aim of all religious aspirations.

[Alford: Our Lord does not promise freedom from toil or burden, but rest in the soul, which shall make all yokes easy, and all burdens light. The main invitation, however, is to those burdened with the yoke of sin, and of the law, which was added because of sin. Owing to our continued conflict with sin and evil in this world, the ἀνάπαυσις of Christ is still a yoke and a burden, but a light one. Comp. 2Co_4:16-17. The rest and joy of the Christian soul is to become like Christ.—P. S.]

Mat_11:30. For My yoke is good.—Χρηστός, when applied to persons, kindly; here, good, beneficent. Meyer: salutary, or bringing safety. [Augustine, in one of his sermons, beautifully compares the yoke of Christ to a bird’s plumage, an easy weight which enables it to soar to the sky: “Hœc sarcina non est pondus onerati, sed ala volaturi.”—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The spiritual elevation of the soul41 of Jesus appears in all its glory from the passage before us. From a denunciation of the cities of Galilee, He passes to a solemn thanksgiving to the Father, and to a declaration of His majesty. In other words, from a deep sense of the dishonor cast upon Him by this generation, He turns in full and blessed consciousness of His exaltation far above all humanity, and the world. Similar transitions from sorrow to joy appear at His last passover, in Gethsemane, and on Golgotha. On the other hand, there is a transition from highest joy to deepest sorrow in His utterances in the temple, when the Greeks desired to see Him, at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem over the Mount of Olives, and in that awful conflict in Gethsemane which followed on His intercessory prayer. In these solemn transactions the divinity of Christ was, so to speak, reflected in the mirror of His human soul, and the eternal Spirit of God in the eagle-like ascension and descension of His feelings.

2. Christ displayed, on this occasion, most fully the sense of His royal dignity, which, indeed, seems to have been specially evoked by the rejection of the world. Even in the case of great and truly humble men, reviling and ill-treatment evoke the native sense of dignity and power. Comp. the history of Paul and of Luther. But Christ could in perfect truthfulness first pronounce a woe upon the cities of Galilee, then declare His own superiority over all, and finally add, “I am meek and lowly in heart.”

3. No one knoweth the Son.—There is an absolute and unique mystery of spiritual community, both in reference to power and to knowledge, between the Father and the Son. Thence we also infer the spiritual community of their nature, or co-equality of essence. But, as formerly the hiding and revealing of these things had been ascribed to the Father, so it is now assigned to the Son. It is the province of Christology to define the co-operation of the two Persons of the Trinity in these acts. The Father executes the decree according to the calling of the Son, and the Son the calling according to the decree of the Father.

4. Come unto Me.—One of the most precious gospel invitations to salvation in the New Testament. The call is addressed to those who labor and are burdened, fatigued and worn out. The promise is that of rest to the soul; its condition, to take upon ourselves the gentle yoke of Christ, in opposition to the unbearable yoke of the law and traditions. Christianity, therefore, has also its yoke, and demands obedience to the supremacy of the word of Christ and the discipline of His Spirit. Nor is the burden wanting which ultimately constitutes our cross. But the yoke is good and beneficial, and the burden easy (ἐλαφρός, related to ἕλαφυς, light as a roe). This burden, which is to be drawn or borne in the yoke, becomes a lever, and ever raises him who bears it higher and higher.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The humiliation and exaltation in the consciousness of Christ, a sign of His external humiliation and exaltation.—The deepest sorrows of Christians must be transformed into highest praise.—Every affliction becomes transfigured by the gracious purpose of the Father, who rules sovereignly in heaven and on earth.—Even judgment.—Love is enthroned above righteousness, because it is holy love.—The judgments of God always go hand in hand with His deliverances; the hiding with the revealing.—What serves to form and open heaven to believers, forms and opens hell to unbelievers.—The great Divine mystery, ignorance of which turns the wise and the prudent into fools, while it imparts knowledge and experience to babes.—Self-confident wisdom closes against us the heaven of revelation, while humble longing after truth opens it.42—Spiritual self-elevation in its varied manifestations: 1. It assumes different forms (wisdom, righteousness, strength), but is the same in spirit (closed against the influence of Divine grace); 2. different effects (loss of revelation, of reconciliation, of salvation), but its ultimate destruction is the same.—Christ manifesting the sense of His royal dignity amid the contempt and rejection of the world.—How the Redeemer anticipated His advent as Judge.—The omnipotence of Christ appearing amid His seeming impotence.—The unique knowledge of Christ: the source of all revelation to the world.—Connection between the power and the knowledge of Christ: 1. In His Divine person; 2. in His work; 3. in the life of His people.—How the Father draws us to the Son, Joh_6:44, and the Son reveals to us the Father.—Come unto Me; or, the invitation of Jesus: 1. On what it is based; 2. to whom it is addressed; 3. what it demands; 4. what it promises.—Rest of soul the promise of Christ.—The yoke and the burden of Christ as compared with other yokes and burdens (of the law, the world, etc).—Relationship between the yoke and the burden: 1. The difference; 2. the connection; 3. the unity.—Anyhow, we are put into harness in this life; but we have our choice of the yoke and of the burden.—The gospel ever new to those who labor and are heavy laden.—Christ the aim and goal of all genuine labor of soul.—Christ the Rest of souls: 1. Their sabbath, or rest from the labor of their calling; 2. their sabbath, or rest from the labor of the law; 3. their resurrection day from the labor of death.—Christ gives rest to the soul by revealing the Father.

Starke:—God claims honor and praise, both in respect of His justice upon those who harden themselves, and of His mercy toward the small band of His believing people, 1Co_1:26.—What the wisdom of God demands at our hands.—Quesnel: Let us adore with fear and trembling the holy government of God, in the way in which He dispenses His gifts. No man cometh to the Father but through Christ, Joh_14:6.—Cramer: Every search after rest or joy is vain without Christ.—The promises of the gospel are general; be alone is excluded who excludes himself.—Zeisius: There is no burden in the world more heavy than that of sin on the conscience.—Christ the Teacher in word and deed.—Let us learn meekness and humility in the school of Christ.—Quesnel: What Christ bestows, sweetens every affliction in the world.

Heubner:—Both the Christian faith and the Christian life are summed up in this: “revealed by God.”—Luther: We cannot instruct the heart.—God alone is its Teacher.—He that knoweth the Son knoweth the Father also, and vice versâ.

[Augustine: Tu nos fecisti ad Te, et cor nostrum inquietum est donec requiescat in Te. This famous sentence from the Confessions may also be so modified: Man is made for Christ, and his heart is without rest, until it rest in Him.—Christ’s invitation welcomes us back to the bosom of the Father, that original and proper home of the heart.—Comp. also the practical remarks of Matthew Henry, which are very rich, but too extensive to be transferred here.—P. S.]

Footnotes:

[32] Mat_11:25.—[We follow the division of Dr. Lange in the rhythmical arrangement of this incomparable prayer of our Saviour.—P. S.]

[33] Mat_11:25.—[That is the proper meaning of ὅτι here. So Luther, de Wette, Meyer. Lange. All the older English versions from Wiclif to that of James have because, following the Latin Vulgata: quia.—P. S.]

[34] Mat_11:26.—[Better: Yea, ναί; the Lat. Vulg. translates: ita; Luther, de Wette, Ewald, Lange: ja; Tyndale and Author. Vers.: even so; Cranmer and Geneva Vers.: verily; Rheims Vers. and Conant: yea.—P. S.]

[35] Mat_11:26.—[Meyer renders ὅτι: that (dass), as in Mat_11:25, and makes it dependent on ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι. So also Conant. But Lange: with Luther, de Wette, and most other versions (Vulg, Wiclif, Tyndale, Rheims, Author. V.), translates denn, for. Comp. Lange’s note.—P. S.]

[36] Mat_11:26.—[A far superior version of εὐδοκία ἕμπροσθέν σου, than that of the Romish N. T. of Rheims: for so hath it well pleased thee (Vulg.: sic fait placitum ante te); Tyndale: so it pleaseth thee; Cranmer and Geneva: so it was thy good pleasure. Lange translates: denn also geschah der Rathschluss, der vor dir stand. But Luther: denn es ist also wohlgefüllig gewesen vor dir; de Wette: denn also geschah dein Wille; Meyer: dass so geschah, was wohlgefällig ist vor dir; Ewald quite literally: dass (denn) solches ward ein Wohlgefallen vor dir.—P. S.]

[37][Alford: “The whole ascription of praise is an answer; an answer to the mysterious dispensations of God’s providence above recounted.” Unsatisfactory.—P. S.]

[38][Differently Alford: “ταῦτα, these mysterious arrangements, by which the sinner is condemned in his pride and unbelief, the humble and childlike saved, and God justified when he saves and condemns.”—P. S.]

[39][Alford and D. Brown likewise correctly observe, that “the spirit of this verse. and its form of expression,” are truly Johannean. We have here a connecting link between the synotists and John, and an incidental testimony of Matthew to the originality and credibility of the weighty discourses of Christ concerning His relation to the Father, which are only recorded in the fourth Gospel. Although the fourth Gospel may with the church fathers be emphatically called spiritual (πνευματικόν), and the synoptical Gospels corporeal (σωματικά), the difference is only relative, since John represents the real, incarnate, historical Christ, and the synoptists, especially in this passage and the corresponding section of Luke (Mat_10:21-22), rise to the pure height of the spirituality and sublimity of John. The bearing of this striking resemblance against Strauss, Baur, and all who deny the genuineness of the Gospel of John, must be apparent to every unprejudiced mind.—P. S.]

[40][The word καρδία is only here used of Christ. There is, as Olshausen suggests, an essential difference between humility of heart, which Christ possessed in the highest degree from free choice and condescending lore and compassion, and poverty of spirit (Mat_5:3) which cannot be predicated of Him, but only of penitent sinners conscious of their unworthiness and longing for salvation. Compare the rich remarks of Olshausen on this whole passage, for the elucidation of which his genial, lovely, gentle spirit peculiarly fitted him (in Kendrick’s revised translation, vol. i., p. 434–437). But Lange has gone still deeper in the doctrinal reflections and homiletical hints which follow.—P. S.]

[41][An imperfect rendering of religiöse Schwungkraft des Gemüths.—P. S.]

[42] [Compare the lines of Schiller, the best he ever wrote:

“Was kein Verstand der Verstandigen usht,

Das übes [glaubst] in Einfalt sin sindlich Geüth.”—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE WISE & THE PRUDENT

Mat 11:25. “At that time, Jesus responding, said, I praise Thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Yea, Father, because thus it was well pleasing in Thy sight.” Here our Savior calls His apostles and disciples babes, and very appropriately, as the whole gospel Church remained in spiritual babyhood till Pentecost. Here, Jesus says that the Father was pleased to withhold these deep, sweet, and wonderful revelations from the wise and the prudent, and has revealed them to babes. We are frequently admonished to be “wise and prudent.” Good Lord, deliver me from the wisdom and prudence which would disqualify me to get down to the bottom of the valley of humiliation, from which I can look up and see the beauty of holiness!

THE SON THE ONLY REVELATOR OF THE FATHER

Eight hundred millions identified with the paganistic Churches, one hundred and seventy-five millions belonging to the Churches of Islam, and all the Unitarians in the Protestant world, ignore and reject the Divinity of Christ. You see their awful dilemma, claiming to worship the Father when they never can know Him, as they reject the Son, who alone can reveal Him.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11:25-30 This passage focuses on the remnant who, despite the present generation’s overall rejection of the Messiah, willingly embrace him and follow his teachings.

11:25 those who think themselves wise and clever: The Pharisees and teachers of religious law thought their access to God was guaranteed through their knowledge and practice of the law. Jesus’ disciples were more childlike (see 21:15-16).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 11:25. Ἀποκριθεὶς, answering) Sc. to those things which He was considering concerning His Father’s design, His own thoughts, and the character of His disciples.[539]—ἐξομολογοῦμαι, I praise) Nothing can be predicated with praise of God,[540] which is not so in fact: תּודה, praise,[541] is predication.[542] Jesus returned thanks to His Father afterwards in the same words, when the seventy disciples had well performed the work which He had appointed them.—Πάτερ, Κύριε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, Father, Lord of heaven and earth) He is frequently called the Father of Jesus Christ, sometimes also His God; never His Lord, but the Lord of heaven and earth. Let us learn, from the example of Jesus Christ, to apply to God those titles which are suitable to the subject of our prayers. The Jews also forbid to cumulate divine titles in prayers. The address in this passage is indeed most magnificent.—ὅτι ἀπέκρυψας—καὶ ἀπεκάλυψας, κ.τ.λ., because Thou hast hid—and revealed, etc.) A double ground of praise. For ἀπέκρυψας, Thou hast kept concealed, cf. Mat 11:27; for ἀπεκάλυψας, Thou hast revealed, cf. again Mat 11:27, at the end.—ταῦτα, these things) Concerning the Father and the Son, concerning the kingdom of heaven.—σοφῶν, the wise) i.e. those who arrogate to themselves the character of wisdom.[543]—συνετῶν, prudent) i.e. those who arrogate to themselves the character of prudence.[544] Cf. 1Co 1:19.—ἀπεκάλυψας, Thou hast revealed) See ch. Mat 16:17.—νηπίοις, to infants) Such as the twelve apostles and seventy disciples were: See Luk 10:21; they were very young, for they bore witness for a long time afterwards. They were infants, as being ready to believe and simple-minded; see Mat 18:3.

[539] He uttered the words which follow with an exulting spirit.—V. g.

[540] The word used by Bengel is “Confiteor,” which occurs in the Vulgate, both here and in 1Ch 16:35 with the same sense. That such is his meaning, is clear from his employing in his German Version the phrase, Ich preise Dick, which, when applied to God, signifies “I PRAISE or MAGNIFY Thee.” Bengel employs the word “Confiteor” in preference to any other, because, like the Greek ἐξομολογοῦμαι, it signifies both generically, with an accusative, to confess, acknowledge, proclaim, etc., and specifically, with a dative, to laud, praise, or magnify [GOD].—See Riddle and Schleusner in voce.—E. V. renders ἐξομολογοῦμαι, I thank.—(I. B.)

[541] The word used by Bengel is “Confessio,” which he employs with direct reference to his previous “Confiteor,” on which see preceding footnote.

[542] And conversely, therefore, Predication is Praise. They are the two sides of an eternal and immutable equation. Much to the same effect, Bengel says elsewhere (ch. Mat 6:9), “Deus est sanctus, i.e., Deus sanctificatur ergo, quando ita, ut est, agnoscitur et colitur et celebratur.” Consequently, in confessing, acknowledging, and proclaiming, or in any other mode PREDICATING the truth cuncerning GOD (and not otherwise), we PRAISE Him.—(I. B.)

[543] Beng. attributes to the σοφοὶ the “habitus noëticus;” to the συνετοὶ, the “habitus dianoëticus;” the same difference as between νοῦς and διάνοια, mind and discriminative intelligence or discernment.—Ed.

[544] Beng. attributes to the σοφοὶ the “habitus noëticus;” to the συνετοὶ, the “habitus dianoëticus;” the same difference as between νοῦς and διάνοια, mind and discriminative intelligence or discernment.—Ed.

On the meaning of תּי̇דָה, Gesenius says:—(1.) Confession, Jos 7:19; Ezr 10:11. (2.) Thanksgiving, Psa 26:7; Psa 42:5. זָבַח תּו̇דָה to offer praise to God (for a sacrifice), Psa 50:14; Psa 50:23; Psa 107:22; Psa 116:17 (where the phrase is not to be taken as though proper sacrifices were spoken of). זֶבַח תּו̇דָה, Lev 22:29; זֶבַח תּיֹדַת הַשְׁלָמִים Lev 7:13; Lev 7:15, comp. 12, and ellipt. תּו̇דָה, a sacrifice of thanksgiving, Psa 56:13. (3.) A choir of givers of thanks, praising God. Neh 12:31; Neh 12:38; Neh 12:40.—(I. B.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_11:25. Ἀποκρ. means, like עָנָה, to take up speech, and that in connection with some given occasion, to which what is said is understood to refer by way of rejoinder. Comp. Mat_22:1, Mat_28:5; Joh_2:18; Joh_5:17, al. However, the occasion in this instance is not stated. According to Luk_10:21 (Strauss, Ebrard, Bleek, Holtzmann), it was the return of the Seventy, of whom, however, there is no mention in Matthew. Ewald, Weissenborn, and older expositors find it in the return of the apostles. See Mar_6:12; Mar_6:30; Luk_9:6; Luk_9:10. This is the most probable view. Luke has transferred the historical connection of the prayer to the account of the Seventy, which is peculiar to that evangelist; while in Mat_12:1, Matthew assumes that the Twelve have already returned. The want of precision in Matthews account, which in Mat_10:5 expressly records the sending out of the Twelve, but says nothing of their return, is, of course, a defect in his narrative; but for this reason we should hesitate all the more to regard it as an evidence that we have here only an interpolation (Hilgenfeld) of this pearl of the sayings of Jesus (Keim), which is one of the purest and most genuine, one of Johannean splendour (Joh_8:19; Joh_10:15; Joh_14:9; Joh_16:15).

For ἐξομολογ. with dative, meaning to praise, comp. on Rom_14:11; Sir_51:1.

ταῦτα] what? the imperfect narrative does not say what things, for it introduces this thanksgiving from the collection of our Lords sayings, without hinting why it does so. But from the contents of the prayer, as well as from its supposed occasion,viz. the return of the Twelve with their cheering report,it may be inferred that Jesus is alluding to matters connected with the Messianic kingdom which He had communicated to the disciples (Mat_13:11), matters in the proclaiming of which they had been labouring, and at the same time been exercising the miraculous powers conferred upon them.

The σοφοί and συνετοί are the wise and intelligent generally (1Co_1:19; 1Co_3:10), but used with special reference to the scribes and Pharisees, who, according to their own opinion and that of the people (Joh_9:40), were pre-eminently so. The novices (פְּתָאִים), the disciples, who are unversed in the scholastic wisdom of the Jews. Comp. on this subject, 1Co_1:26 ff. Yet on this occasion we must not suppose the reference to be to the simple and unsophisticated masses (Keim), which is not in keeping with Mat_11:27, nor with the idea of ἀποκάλυψις (comp. Mat_16:17) generally, as found in this connection; the contrast applies to two classes of teachers, the one wise and prudent, independently of divine revelation, the others mere novices in point of learning, but yet recipients of that revelation.

Observe, further, how the subject of thanksgiving does not lie merely in ἀπεκάλυψ. αὐτὰ νηπίοις, but in the two,the ἀπέκρυψας etc., and the ἀπεκάλυψας, etc., being inseparably combined. Both together are the two sides of the one method of proceeding on the part of His all-ruling Father, of the necessity of which Christ was well aware (Joh_9:39).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 11:25-27 . Jesus worshipping (Luk 10:21-22 ). It is usual to call this golden utterance a prayer, but it is at once prayer, praise, and self-communing in a devout spirit. The occasion is unknown. Matthew gives it in close connection with the complaint against the cities ( ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ ), but Luke sets it in still closer connection ( ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ ) with the return of the Seventy. According to some modern critics, it had no occasion at all in the life of our Lord, but is simply a composition of Luke’s, and borrowed from him by the author of Matthew: a hymn in which the Pauline mission to the heathen as the victory of Christ over Satan’s dominion in the world is celebrated, and given in connection with the imaginary mission of the Seventy ( vide Pfleiderer, Urchristenthum , p. 445). But Luke’s preface justifies the belief that he had here, as throughout, a tradition oral or written to go on, and the probability is that it was taken both by him and by Matthew from a common document. Wendt (L. J., pp. 90, 91) gives it as an extract from the book of Logia , and supposes that it followed a report of the return of the disciples (the Twelve) from their mission.

Mat 11:25 . ἀποκριθείς , answering, not necessarily to anything said, but to some environment provocative of such thoughts. ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι (= הוֹדָה לְ , Psa 75:2 , etc.). In Mat 3:6 this compound means to make full confession (of sin). Here it = to make frank acknowledgment of a situation in a spirit partly of resignation, partly of thanksgiving. ἔκρυψας . The fact stated is referred to the causality of God, the religious point of view; but it happens according to laws which can be ascertained. ταῦτα : the exact reference unknown, but the statement holds with reference to Christ’s whole teaching and healing ministry, and the revelation of the kingdom they contained. σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν : the reference here doubtless is to the Rabbis and scribes, the accepted custodians of the wisdom of Israel. Cf. σοφὸς καὶ ἐπιστήμων in Deu 4:6 applied to Israel. The rendering “wise and prudent ” in A. V [70] is misleading; “wise and understanding ” in R. V [71] is better. νηπίοις (fr. νη and ἔπος , non-speaking) means those who were as ignorant of scribe-lore as babes ( cf. Joh 7:49 and Heb 5:13 ). Their ignorance was their salvation, as thereby they escaped the mental preoccupation with preconceived ideas on moral and religious subjects, which made the scribes inaccessible to Christ’s influence ( vide my Parabolic Teaching , pp. 333, 334). Jesus gives thanks with all His heart for the receptivity of the babes, not in the same sense or to the same extent for the non-receptive attitude of the wise (with De Wette and Bleek against Meyer and Weiss). No distinction indeed is expressed, but it goes without saying, and the next clause implies it.

[70] Authorised Version.

[71] Revised Version.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Through the ministry of Christ, who only showeth the truth of all things pertaining to God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

At that time Jesus answered and said--We are not to understand by this, that the previous discourse had been concluded, and that this is a record only of something said about the same period. For the connection is most close, and the word "answered"--which, when there is no one to answer, refers to something just before said, or rising in the mind of the speaker in consequence of something said--confirms this. What Jesus here "answered" evidently was the melancholy results of His ministry, lamented over in the foregoing verses. It is as if He had said, "Yes; but there is a brighter side to the picture; even in those who have rejected the message of eternal life, it is the pride of their own hearts only which has blinded them, and the glory of the truth does but the more appear in their inability to receive it. Nor have all rejected it even here; souls thirsting for salvation have drawn water with joy from the wells of salvation; the weary have found rest; the hungry have been filled with good things, while the rich have been sent empty away."

I thank thee--rather, "I assent to thee." But this is not strong enough. The idea of "full" or "cordial" concurrence is conveyed by the preposition. The thing expressed is adoring acquiescence, holy satisfaction with that law of the divine procedure about to be mentioned. And as, when He afterwards uttered the same words, He "exulted in spirit" (see on Luk 10:21), probably He did the same now, though not recorded.

O Father, Lord of heaven and earth--He so styles His Father here, to signify that from Him of right emanates all such high arrangements.

because thou hast hid these things--the knowledge of these saving truths.

from the wise and prudent--The former of these terms points to the men who pride themselves upon their speculative or philosophical attainments; the latter to the men of worldly shrewdness--the clever, the sharp-witted, the men of affairs. The distinction is a natural one, and was well understood. (See Co1 1:19, &c.). But why had the Father hid from such the things that belonged to their peace, and why did Jesus so emphatically set His seal to this arrangement? Because it is not for the offending and revolted to speak or to speculate, but to listen to Him from whom we have broken loose, that we may learn whether there be any recovery for us at all; and if there be, on what principles--of what nature--to what ends. To bring our own "wisdom and prudence" to such questions is impertinent and presumptuous; and if the truth regarding them, or the glory of it, be "hid" from us, it is but a fitting retribution, to which all the right-minded will set their seal along with Jesus.

hast revealed them unto babes--to babe-like men; men of unassuming docility, men who, conscious that they know nothing, and have no right to sit in judgment on the things that belong to their peace, determine simply to "hear what God the Lord will speak." Such are well called "babes." (See Heb 5:13; Co1 13:11; Co1 14:20, &c.).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 25. I thank thee] εξομολογουμαι σοι, I fully agree with thee-I am perfectly of the same mind. Thou hast acted in all things according to the strictest holiness, justice, mercy, and truth.

Wise and prudent] The scribes and Pharisees, vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds, and having their foolish hearts darkened, refusing to submit to the righteousness of God (God's method of saving man by Christ) and going about to establish their own righteousness, (their own method of saving themselves,) they rejected God's counsel, and God sent the peace and salvation of the Gospel to others, called here babes, (his disciples,) simple-hearted persons, who submitted to be instructed and saved in God's own way. Let it be observed, that our Lord does not thank the Father that he had hidden these things from the wise and prudent, but that, seeing they were hidden from them, he had revealed them to the others.

There is a remarkable saying in the Talmudists, which casts light upon this: "Rab. Jochanan said: 'From the time in which the temple was destroyed, wisdom was taken away from the prophets, and give a to fools and children.' Bava Bathra, fol. 12. Again: 'In the days of the Messiah, every species of wisdom, even the most profound, shall, be revealed; and this even to children.'" Synop. Sohar. fol. 10.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(25) Answered and said.—The phrase is more or less a Hebraism, implying that the words rose out of some unrecorded occasion. St. Luke connects them (Luk_10:17-24) with the return of the Seventy; but as their mission is not recorded by St. Matthew, it seems reasonable to connect them, as here recorded, with the return of the Twelve, and their report of their work (Mar_6:30; Luk_9:10). Their presence, it may be noted, is implied in the narrative with which the next chapter opens. The words, however, were probably repeated as analogous occasions called for them.

I thank thee.—Literally, I confess unto Thee—i.e., “acknowledge with praise and thanksgiving.” The abruptness with which the words come in points to the fragmentary character of the record which St. Matthew incorporates with his Gospel. The context in St. Luke implies a reference to the truths of the kingdom which the disciples had proclaimed, and makes special mention of the joy which thus expressed itself. The two grounds of that joy are inseparably linked together. The “wise and prudent” (comp. the union of the same words in 1Co_1:19) were the scribes and Pharisees, wise in their conceit, seeking men’s praise rather than truth as truth, and therefore shut out from the knowledge that requires above all things sincerity of purpose. The “babes” were the disciples who had received the kingdom in the spirit of a little child, child-like, and sometimes even childish, in their thoughts of it, but who, being in earnest and simple-hearted, were brought under the training which was to make them as true scribes for the kingdom of heaven. He, their Lord, taught them as they were able to bear it, giving (to use St. Paul’s familiar image) the milk that belonged to babes (1Co_3:2); but beyond His personal teaching there were the flashes of intuition by which (as, conspicuously, in the case of Peter’s confession, Mat_16:17) new truths were suddenly disclosed to them, or old truths seen with increasing clearness.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. answered and said] A Hebraism=“spake and said.”

prudent] Rather, intelligent, acute. The secrets of the kingdom are not revealed to those who are wise in their own conceit, but to those who have the meekness of infants and the child-like eagerness for knowledge. In a special Jewish sense “the wise and prudent” are the Scribes and Pharisees.

25–27. The revelation to “Babes.”

St Luk_10:21-22, where the words are spoken on the return of the Seventy.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Or, "so is the good will", or "pleasure before thee": thus, "let it be the good will before thee", or "in thy sight, O Lord", is a phrase often to be met with in the Jews' forms of prayer (x). Here the word designs the sovereign counsel and purpose of God, to which, and to which only, our Lord refers the different dispensations of God towards the sons of men: this is a reason which ought to satisfy everyone, and is better than ten thousand others that can be thought of, or devised by men. This difference among men, with respect to the Gospel revelation, cannot be owing to natural sagacity, prudence, and penetration; for these things are with those from whom it is hid; nor to any worthiness in those to whom it is revealed; for they are the poor, the base, the foolish things of this world, and even things that are not; nor to any foresight of their making a better use and improvement of such a revelation, but to the good will and pleasure of God only.

(x) Seder Tephillot, fol. 4. 2. & 5. 1. & passim. Ed. Amsterdam.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Ver. 25. At that time Jesus answered] Here to answer is to continue to speak. Albeit if we compare herewith Luk 10:21, it may seem to be spoken in answer to the seventy disciples now returning, and relating what they had said and done in their voyage.

" Laetius est quoties magno sibi constat honestum."

(Lucan.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

From the wise and prudent - That is, from those who “thought” themselves wise - “wise” according to the world’s estimation of wisdom, 1Co 1:26-27.

Hast revealed them unto babes - To the poor, the ignorant, and the obscure; the teachable, the simple, the humble. By the wise and prudent here he had reference probably to the proud and haughty scribes and Pharisees in Capernaum. They rejected his gospel, but it was the pleasure of God to reveal it to obscure and more humble people. The reason given, the only satisfactory reason, is, that it so seemed good in the sight of God. In this the Saviour acquiesced, saying, “Even so, Father;” and in the dealings of God it is proper that all should acquiesce. “Such is the will of God” is often the only explanation which can be offered in regard to the various events which happen to us on earth. “Such is the will of God” is the only account which can be given of the reason of the dispensations of his grace. Our understanding is often confounded. We are unsuccessful in all our efforts at explanation. Our philosophy fails, and all that we can say is, “Even so, Father; for so it seems good to thee.” And this is enough. That God does a thing, is, after all, the best reason which we “can” have that it is right. It is a “security” that nothing wrong is done; and though now mysterious, yet light will hereafter shine upon it like the light of noonday. I have more certainty that a thing is right if I can say that I know such is the will of God, than I could have by depending on my own reason. In the one case I confide in the infallible and most perfect God; in the other I rely on the reason of a frail and erring man. God never errs; but nothing is more common than for people to err.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jesus answered, &c. lit. Jesus answering, said: where we may take notice, that answering, in the style of the Scripture, is often put when it is no answer to any thing that was said before. (Witham) --- Because thou hast hid, &c. Jesus gives thanks to his heavenly Father, because he had revealed the secrets of his coming to his disciples, who, according to the false opinion of men, are called children and fools, and had hid it from the Scribes and Pharisees, whom he in ridicule calls the wise and prudent. By this prayer, he also begs that his heavenly Father would complete what he had begun in his apostles. (St. Jerome) --- Christ does not rejoice that it was not revealed to the wise and prudent, but because it was revealed to his little ones. (St. Thomas Aquinas)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Luk 10:21, hath the same thing, only he thus prefaces, In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, & c. He rejoiced in spirit, his heart was inwardly affected with this grace of God his Father. Then he answered and said. Answering in Scripture doth not always signify replying to the words of others, but a speaking upon some fit occasion offered, a beginning of a speech.

I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. In the Greek the same word is used which signifieth to confess. In all thanksgiving and praising there is a confession of the power, wisdom, or goodness of God, so as all praising is a confessing, though all confession be not praising. By calling his Father

Lord of heaven and earth, he acknowledgeth his absolute power to have done otherwise, even as it pleased him.

Because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. By the wise and prudent he here plainly means the scribes and Pharisees, the learned doctors of that age, who should have been wise and prudent, and were so both in their own and in their followers’ opinion. By

these things he means the mysteries of the gospel, as Mat 13:11, The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. God is said to have hid them, because he had not revealed them to them; nor can it be understood of a mere external revelation by the preaching of the gospel, but of an internal revelation by his Spirit, so as they embraced and believed them, 1Co 2:10; in which sense Paul saith, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, 2Co 4:3.

And hast revealed them unto babes, nhpioiv. It signifieth persons that are young in years, infants, and weak in understanding. He principally means his apostles, together with those ordinary persons that believed in him, for the Pharisees said, Joh 7:48,49, Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. O Father, (saith our Saviour), thou hast all power in thine hand, thou art the Lord of heaven and earth, thou couldest by thy Spirit have caused these learned men to have received and embraced thy gospel, and followed me, as well as these poor fishermen, and other Jews of none of the highest quality; in that thou hast not done it, thou hast declared thy justice, for their rejecting of thy counsel for their salvation, but in that thou hast revealed these things to any, especially to these persons, not under the same worldly advantages for reputation, wisdom, and wit, herein thou hast showed thy special and abounding grace, as well as the greatness of thy power. Lord, I rejoice in thy dispensations, and I give thee thanks that out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected thy praise. There can be no other reason given of this, but thy good pleasure;

Even so, Father; so it pleased thee. We may from hence observe,

1. That the further revelations of Christ some souls have more than others enjoying the same outward means, are not to be ascribed to the power or goodness of the will of man, but solely to the good pleasure of God.

2. That from the beginning of the gospel, the special and effectual revelations of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven have, from the good pleasure of God, been made generally not to the most learned and wise men in men’s account, but mostly to persons of a meaner rank. Surgunt indocti, et coelum rapiunt: Nos cum doctrina nostra in Gehennam trudimur. 1Co 1:26-28; Jam 2:5.

3. That wheresoever God by his Spirit reveals the mysteries of the kingdom of God, it is matter of great joy and thanksgiving; especially where God reveals these mysteries to persons most unlikely to have received them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 25-30. In close connexion with the preceding.

Vers. 25, 26 Christ professes his full acceptance of his Father"s plan, on both its sides.

Vers. 25-27. Parallel passage: Luk_10:21, Luk_10:22, where the verses are recorded immediately after the return of the seventy. We know no other occasion which would be so likely to evoke this utterance. Although it is just possible that the seventy returned when our Lord was addressing the people in the manner related in the preceding verses of this chapter, it seems much more likely that a sense of a moral and not of a temporal connexion guided St. Matthew in his arrangement. What is true in a time of success (Luk_10:17, Luk_10:18) is equally true in a time of failure (vers. 20-24). Observe the difference in the style of ver. 27 (Luk_10:22) from that of vers. 25, 26, suggesting the use of another, apparently Johannine, source. But this must have been added before either St. Matthew or St. Luke incorporated the passage. Observe that the comparatively early date thus indicated for Johannine phraseology suggests that the language and form of the Fourth Gospel underwent a long process of development before St. John completed his work.

At that time; season (Revised Version); en ekeinw tw kairw . St. Luke"s phrase ("in that very hour," en auth th wra) is more precise, definitely connecting the utterance with the return of the seventy. St. Matthew"s refers rather to that stage or period in his ministry. (cf. Mat_12:1 Mat_14:1) Jesus answered. Only in Matthew. If we could suppose this to be the original context of the passage, the" answer" would probably refer to some expression of astonishment or complaint at his solemn statement in vers. 20-24. Professor Marshall"s derivation of both "answered" and "rejoiced" (Luke) from a common Aramaic original (Expositor, April, 1891) appears very strained. And said, I thank thee; better, as the Revised Version margin, praise (exomologoumai soi). There is no thought of gratitude, but of publicity in assent, (Luk_22:6) in confession (Mat_3:6) and in acknowledgment, (Rom_14:11 Php_2:11) and thus of praise. (Jos_7:19 2Ch_30:22 Rom_15:9) It implies a profession of personal acceptance by Christ of God"s methods. "I profess to thee my entire and joyful acquiescence in what thou doest." Hence St. Luke introduces the utterance by hgallasato , adding tw pneumati tw agiw , thus giving us a glimpse of the unity of purpose and feeling inherent in the Trinity, even during the time that the Word "tabernacled among us." O Father. Father occurs in Mat_6:9 Mat_26:39 Luk_23:34, 46 Joh_11:41 Joh_12:27 Joh_17:1; in fact, in all the recorded prayers of our Lord except Mat_27:46, which is a quotation, and where the phrase, "My God, my God," emphasizes his sense of desolation. The word expresses perfect relationship and intimate communion. It points to the trust, the love, and the obedience of Christ, and to the depth of natural affection and confidence (if we may say so) between him and the First Person of the Trinity. It suggests mercies in the past, care in the present, and provision for the future. Lord of heaven and earth. Act_17:24, by St. Paul, who may have derived it from these words of our Lord (Resch, " Agmpha," p. 150), or perhaps from Psa_146:6 or Isa_42:5. As "Father" was the note of personal relationship, so is this of sovereign majesty. Christ unites the thought of God"s love to himself with that of his ownership of all creation, thus paving the way for the main subject of the prayer his Father"s method of dealing with men of various kinds and tempers. Because; that (Revised Version), perhaps as more idiomatic with "thank." But oti here gives, not the contents of the "thanksgiving," but the reason for it. Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. The laws by which religious impressions are received, whether ultimately for good or for evil, (2Co_2:15, 16 Joh_9:39) are here attributed to God. Observe that the sentence is not a kind of hendiadys, but that Christ accepts his Father"s action in both directions. The one is the subject of his entire acquiescence as much as the other. Hast hid... hast revealed. The aorists (cf. ver. 19, note) may be understood here as either describing what took place in each case, or regarding God"s action as a whole from the standpoint of the hereafter. (cf. Rom_8:29, Rom_8:30) These things. The truths respecting Christ"s teaching and work. In this context the reference would be to the general contents of vers. 2-24. From the wise and prudent; i.e. as such (there is no article). For mental excellence and intelligence (vide infra)in themselves cannot grasp spiritual truths, but are, on the contrary, often means by which the veil between man and God is made thicker. On the difference between "wise" (sofoi) and "prudent" (sunetoi , understanding, Revised Version), see Bishop Lightfoot, on Col_1:9. (For the general truth, cf. Job_37:24 1Co_1:19-27) And hast revealed them; (Mat_13:11, note) for even the most guileless heart has no power to see spiritual truths unless God draws back the veil. Unto babes (nhpioiv). The thought is of their helplessness and dependence. In comparison with the Pharisees and scribes, all our Lord"s disciples were little more. (cf. Mat_11:16)

Vers. 25-30. The joy of Christ over the penitent.

I THE THANKSGIVING.

1. The Fathers care for the lowly minded.

(1) The connection as given by St. Luke seems best to explain the Lord"s thanksgiving. The seventy had just brought back tidings of their success; the Lord gives thanks for it. But if this discourse as recorded by St. Matthew is to be regarded as a continuous whole, we note here a transition in the Lord"s thoughts from the hard-hearted and impenitent to the faithful few. He seems to answer his own thoughts. He had grieved over the impending condemnation of those who had rejected him. In holy communion with the Father he turns to Divine joy over those to whom he had given power to become the sons of God. Such transitions from sorrow to joy are common in the Christian life.

(2) The Lord"s joy. He rejoiced in spirit, St. Luke tells us. He was "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." An apocryphal account of his life says that he was often seen to weep, never to smile. But here we read of his joy. It is very sweet and touching to think that amid the bitter sorrows of his self-sacrificing life the Lord Jesus had his hours of joy. It comforts us, as we strive in earnest meditation to sympathize with the suffering Lord, to remember that the long anguish which he endured for us was relieved by some gleams of holy gladness. It is enough for the disciple if he be as his Master. The most afflicted, the most sorrowful life will have its joys, if it is a Christian life; for the Christian who learns of Christ will learn to share his joy. The Lord rejoices, not in earthly comforts, earthly successes, but in the salvation of souls; he layeth the lost sheep on his shoulder, rejoicing; he saith unto his friends, "Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." The true disciple rejoices in the Lord, in his presence, in communion with him, in his triumphs over evil. And the true disciple, loving the Lord above all things, strives to give him that joy in which he himself tells us that he rejoices, by a deeper repentance, by an increasing hatred of sin, by a closer walk with Christ, by earnest efforts to draw the wanderers into the fold of the good Shepherd, to feed the sheep which the good Shepherd loved.

(3) The cause of his joy. These things, the deep spiritual truths of his kingdom, his exceeding great love, his Divine wisdom, his message of atonement and reconciliation with God, had been hidden from the wise and prudent, from the Pharisees and rabbis of Capernaum; but they were revealed unto babes. Not that Christ rejoiced over the rejection of the wise and prudent. He wept over them. "Ye will not come to me," he said, "that ye might have life." The relation of the two clauses of the sentence is like that in Rom_6:17. The wise and prudent would not come to Christ; they would not see the things that belonged to their peace; now they were hidden from their eves. The Lord rejoices because, although God the Father in his awful justice had now hidden these great truths from those who wilfully closed their eyes to them, he had revealed them unto babes. There were simple-hearted, humble men, even in Capernaum, who received the Saviour"s message. To such God had revealed all the blessed truth. They saw it in its beauty and glory. It was to him that all praise was due. He is the Lord of heaven and earth, sovereign in his dealings with men. He doeth all things according to the counsels of his almighty will. But that will is not arbitrary; it is the will of an all-holy Being, who is infinitely just and infinitely merciful. We must believe, in simple trustfulness, in his love and mercy. Only let us come to him, as little children come to a wise and good father; then he will reveal to us all those most holy truths which can be realized in the heart only by a revelation from God. God shines into his people"s hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He reveals his Son in all his grace and love to those who seek him. He had revealed these things, these secrets of peace and holiness, to the lowly disciples of the Saviour; he doth reveal them still to all faithful and humble hearts. For this the Lord Jesus, the incarnate Son, praised the eternal Father. For this we praise him now. "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." His will is sovereign; it is holy, just, and good; his will is best.

2. The Father"s love for the Son. The Lord Jesus seemed a man among men. He was rejected and despised. But, in truth, he was the almighty Son of God. All things had been given into his hand; all power was his. None knew him fully, in all the mystery and glory of his Divine personality, save only God the Father. Nor can any know the Father fully, save the Son. But the Lord adds at once the gracious words, "and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." "No man hath seen God at any time;" he is invisible, he dwelleth in the unapproachable light which no human eye can penetrate; but the only begotten Son hath declared him. He reveals to his chosen all that we need to know, all that man can know, of God and of his relations with mankind. Then the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and died for us, is one in the mystery of his being with the adorable Father. Here is our hope and joy. As Man, he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities; as God, he is able to save us to the uttermost.

II THE GRACIOUS INVITATION.

1. He invites all. He had said that no man could know the Father unless the Son willeth to reveal him. But God willeth that all men should be saved. Christ Jesus gave himself a Ransom for all; now he invites all. He knew that not all would come; not all felt the need of a Saviour; therefore he addresses those that labour and are heavy laden. There is much toil in this life of ours endless, unsatisfactory toil; the poor toil hard for their daily bread; the rich toil in the life of ambition or literature, or in the pursuit of pleasure. That toil will only end in weariness. "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity." Many, too, are heavy laden, some with the cares of this life, some with pain and sickness, some with the consciousness of sin. All such the gracious Saviour calls.

2. He bids them come to himself. There is need of effort in the spiritual life. Men must not lie still, listless, lukewarm, indifferent. They must come. Coming implies spiritual effort; there must be thought, meditation, earnest prayer, a diligent use of all the appointed means of grace. We must rouse up our souls. The prodigal son would never have recovered his lost home if he had remained in the far country. He said," I will arise, and go." And we must come to Christ. He himself the Centre of his religion. It is not a philosophy, or a code of morals, or a theology, that is to save our souls; it is a Person the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He can give rest to the weary; he can refresh the toiling, anxious soul; he can give peace to the mind distracted by bewildering doubts. None could dare say this but only God. Put the words into the mouth of St. Paul or St. John, or any the very greatest of saints; for them to say such things would be arrogant, presumptuous in the extremest degree. But from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ those great words were only the simple truth, words of tenderness and lowliness. The very fact that he stood there in human form, that he uttered those words in human language, that he had submitted to contradiction and rejection, proved his lowliness, his condescension. It would be far otherwise were he not, what we know that he was, the Almighty God.

3. His yoke and his burden. But these who would come to him must take up his yoke and his burden. And his yoke is obedience, and his burden is the cross. The yoke seems irksome at first; but we must learn of him. He himself learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And he is meek and lowly in heart. He will teach by his example, by the voice of his Spirit speaking in the soul, all who come to him. He will teach them ever deeper lessons of the calm peace of submission of will, the sweetness of holy obedience. The cross seems at first a heavy burden, sharp and hard to bear. But the Lord Jesus, who himself bore the cross for us in his blessed love, helps his suffering people. He bears the cross for them; he lifts it on their shoulders; he supports it by his strength; and in time the heavy burden comes to be light, according to his gracious promise. He bids us take up our cross daily; only thus can we follow him. He goeth before his people, leading the way to the everlasting rest. Those who follow him shall find rest; rest even here the restfulness of trusting faith; and at the last, rest in the Paradise of God, where the holy dead rest from their labours; where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.

LESSONS.

1. The Lord rejoiced in the salvation of souls; so shall we, if we are truly his.

2. Let us come to Christ as little children; to such he revealeth the deep truths of religion.

3. He invites all to come to him. Let us come. None can give rest, but only he.

4. Let us take up the cross. We must, if we would follow him. Men would separate the cross from the crown; the thing is impossible. God hath joined them together; they cannot be put asunder.

The revelation to babes.

St. Luke associates these words with the return of the seventy from their triumphant mission. (Luk_10:21) Therefore we see that our Lord is not thinking only or chiefly of children, but rather of the childlike. To these God has revealed great truths which he has not given to the worldly wise. So, following the context of St. Matthew, we are reminded that the citizens of Capernaum and other towns missed the truth which a handful of fishermen had laid hold of. At first the gospel began to spread among the lower classes of the Roman empire. The same is seen in India to-day.

I WHY THE REVELATION IS HIDDEN FROM THE WISE. This cannot be owing to an arbitrary decision of God without need or reason. We must look for the explanation in the character and conduct of the wise. Now, it is not to be supposed that our Lord would depreciate intellect as such, because that would be to speak ill of one of the great works of God; moreover, he had a great intellect himself. Neither could he wish to discourage mental activity, to praise indolence and carelessness of thought. Where, then, do the disadvantages of the wise lie?

1. The wise have no special privilege in regard to religious truth. This does not reach us through intellectual efforts, nor does it rest on a foundation of scientific or literary acquirements. The child and the philosopher, the simple and the learned, must find God"s greatest truth in the same way, and that a way as open to the babe in intellect as to the intellectual giant.

2. The wise are tempted to look in the wrong direction for religious truth. The man of science cannot easily escape from the thraldom of his scientific methods; the scholar is often so buried in his learning that he finds it hard to lift up his eyes from his books and, alas! the truth he most needs is not in them; the thinker cannot escape from the notion that he by his thought must reach truth more readily than those who have not his trained faculties, and he tries to climb to religious truth on the aerial ladder of speculation.

3. The wise are in danger of pride. It is difficult for them to confess their ignorance and helplessness. The truly wise are perhaps most ready to do this; but Christ rather referred to those who accounted themselves wise or who had a reputation for wisdom, such as the scribes.

II HOW THE REVELATION IS REVEALED TO BABES.

1. We must remember that it is a revelation. The truth of Christ is not a product of human thinking, nor is it a discovery that men have to make for themselves. It could never be got by the pursuit of science or learning. It is a gift of God, and he can give it as readily to a babe as to a wise man.

2. This revelation only comes to those who are receptive. A feeling of wisdom is rather one of fulness and satisfaction. It is necessary, however, to feel empty and needing light and guidance. Now, the childlike soul is just in this condition.

3. The knowledge of truth is conditioned by faith. Some despise religious faith as lacking in foundation, and treat knowledge or even doubt as superior to it. But this is to misapprehend religious faith, which is not the acceptance of a creed, but trust in a Person. We want grounds for this confidence, but when we trust God we are prepared to receive his revelation, and the most childlike are the most ready to trust him. W.F.A.

Vers. 25-30. The knowledge of the Holy.

The "things" to which our Lord here refers may be better gathered Item what follows than from what goes before. They arc evidently spiritual things; (Luk_19:42) things pertaining to

I THE HIGHEST KNOWLEDGE.

1. The knowledge of the Father.

(1) As the "Lord of heaven and earth." Thus known, he is recognized as the Source of all created things. Moreover, he is so constantly recognized as never to be merged or lost in second causes. He is the Ruler as well as the Creator of all.

(2) As the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". (1Pe_1:3) This knowledge recognizes the relationship of the Father to the Son in the mystery of the Incarnation. It moreover recognizes the covenant relationship in which the Father stands to the Son.

(3) As "our Father," viz. in respect to our creation in his image and his care over us in nature. (Gen_1:26 Mat_5:45) In respect to our redemption through the Son of his love, by which we receive adoption into his family and renewal in his likeness.

2. The knowledge of the Son.

(1) This knowledge recognizes the reality of his manhood. It was no phantom. He was "bone of our bone.

(2) It recognizes also the reality of his Godhead. Those who only saw the manhood of Jesus never saw the Son of God. The discernment of the Father dwelling in him is essential to our seeing him as the Son. (see Joh_14:8-11)

(3) The knowledge of the Son of God recognizes the beatification of the manhood in the Godhead. Christ as God is one with the Father; as Mediator he receives his power and glory from the Father. (cf. ver. 27; Mat_28:18 Joh_5:22, Joh_5:27) We are encouraged to deliver our souls for their salvation into the hands into which the Father hath delivered "all authority and power". (see Zec_6:13)

II THE METHOD OF ITS COMMUNICATION.

1. It is not attained by natural reason.

(1) Deists boast of the powers of reason, and plead for natural theology. They would substitute this for the theology of the Bible.

(2) But where would our natural theologians be but for the Bible? There are no natural theologians where the Bible has not been before them. Clearly, therefore, they credit their reason with the hints which they got from the Bible, whether they acknowledge it or not.

(3) But, after all, how far has their natural theology carried them? In its chapters they discourse of the Creator. But what about the Fatherhood of God? What about the Son of God and the Saviour of the world? These are matters about which sinners need to be certainly informed.

2. It is attained by Divine revelation.

(1) To this source we are indebted for the Bible. The evidence upon this subject is ample. The fact that there are no natural theologians without the Bible shows that human reason is not its source.

(2) "No one knoweth the Son, save the Father." The mystery of the Incarnation is only perfectly known to God. "Neither doth any know the Father, save the Son." The being and attributes of God are only perfectly known to Christ.

(3) These great subjects are only known to us just so far as they are revealed. We are drawn to the Son by the Father. (Joh_6:44) The Son reveals himself by personal manifestation to the believer. This is a higher evidence than that of the miraculous works of the Father. (see Joh_14:11)

(4) The happiness of man lies in his knowledge of God. It is "life eternal". (see Joh_17:1-3) There is no comfortable intercourse between a sinful man and a holy God but through the one competent Mediator. (see Joh_14:6)

III THE PERSONS WHO ARE HONORED WITH IT.

1. Not the wise and understanding.

(1) This phrase is used in irony. The reference is to the scribes and Pharisees, who were "wise and understanding," viz. in their own conceits. They looked down upon the common "people who knew not the Law" as "accursed;" while they themselves, confounding the traditions of the elders with the Law, made the latter void. And so wise and understanding were they in their care net to be deceived by appearances, that they failed to discern the Messiah whom they sought.

(2) There are many who in our day expose themselves to the same irony. Some of the darkest upon spiritual questions are amongst the great scholars in human literature and science. (see 1Co_1:21) And some have taken a leading part in opposition to the transcendent truth. (see 1Ti_6:20)

(3) Such persons become subjects of judicial blindness. "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and understanding." Spiritual ignorance comes as a punishment upon obstinate unbelievers. (cf. Joh_12:39, 40 Act_28:26, 27 Rom_11:7, Rom_11:8)

(4) Moreover, Christ thanks the Father for this judicial dealing. Note: We must not let false compassion displace in us a proper jealousy for the justice and honour of God. Thanksgiving is the proper "answer" to dark and. disquieting thoughts. And mercy may be thankful for a judgment that is mingled with mercy in hiding from the obstinate a knowledge which would aggravate their doom.

2. The revelation is to babes.

(1) This is a Jewish term for unlearned persons. (see Rom_2:20) It is, therefore, applied to the disciples of Jesus, who were simple men. (cf. Psa_8:2 Mat_21:15, 16 Act_4:13 1Co_2:6-10) In this sense "to our children" belong "things that are revealed". (Deu_29:29)

(2) To the simple people Jesus gives his invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The poor people are first called who groan under the burdens heavy and grievous to be borne, of laws and traditions laid on their shoulders by the scribes and Pharisees. (see Mat_23:4 Act_15:10) If the Pharisee would himself come to Jesus, he must first become a babe. (see Mat_18:3)

(3) These only will implicitly submit to the guidance of Jesus who labour for the "rest" of his love. Others will seek rest in titles, riches, pleasures, extremes of ambition and avarice. They do but increase their unrest. True rest is in the "meek and lowly" heart the heart that is in sympathy with the blessed heart of Jesus.

(4) Those only will take the yoke of Christ upon them who feel the burden of sin. The distressing sense of guilt and depravity. Taking upon us the yoke of Christ is submitting to him as our Ruler. (cf. 1Ki_12:10 1Ti_6:1) If he releases us from the drudgery of sin, it is that we may serve him in the bonds of truth and love. One yoke gives place to another; we cannot be "as gods independent.

3. The revelation is heavenly.

(1) Its rest is glorious. Rest from the weary ways of sin. For the wicked there is no rest. The peace that passeth understanding. The anticipation of heaven.

(2) Its yoke is easy. It is the sweet yoke of love. "It is a yoke that is lined with love" (Henry). The commandments of love are not grievous. The gospel law is the liberty of the purest love. It is a wonderful contrast to the bondage of sin. (see Deu_28:47, 48 Isa_10:27 Dan_9:24)

(3) Its burden is light. It is sweet to the loyal servant to know that the cross he bears is Christ"s. The love of Christ lightens the burden, and so he sustains it himself. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee". (Psa_55:22) He will carry thyself and thy load. Thou art thyself thy load. J.A.M. (cf. Isa_43:2 Isa_63:9 Dan_3:25 2Co_1:5 2Co_4:17)

The Divine reserve.

From some the higher truth is hidden; to some the higher truth is revealed. This cannot be explained by what is called the "sovereignty" of God; because we must think of God as acting on good judgment, though the materials of his judgment may be more than we can comprehend, or beyond our power to appreciate aright. Here the difficulty of the Divine reserve is not great. We can easily recognize the wisdom of leaving those who think themselves wise to their fancied wisdom; and bestowing gifts on those who are conscious of their ignorance and want to be taught.

I GOD REVEALS TRUTH FREELY, BUT WITH DISCRIMINATION. Jesus spoke quite freely; anywhere, everywhere, on all occasions, he dropped the seeds of Divine truth; and yet he observed that only some of the seeds went into the soul, germinated, and brought forth fruit. This found expression in his parables. This was sometimes a distress to him. Freely he had preached in Galilee, but the fickle people heard him for a while, and then turned against him. Capernaum saw his mighty works, but evil influences closed the avenues of faith, and the well-to-do, and the Pharisee proud of his religion, and the scribe proud of his learning, united to leave him alone to be the Friend of the poor, who "know not the Law." In the manner characteristic of the pious Jew, and eminently characteristic of himself, Jesus saw the workings of Divine wisdom in this. His revelation of God was proving a touchstone; God was making the truth tell on some, and fail in making its way to others. And apostles saw the gospel to be "a savour of life unto life, and of death unto death." Preached to all, the gospel is reserved from some.

II THE DISCRIMINATION CONCERNS THE CHARACTER OF THE PROPOSED RECIPIENTS. Not their circumstances. Truth is not reserved for the poor only. The contrast presented by our Lord is between guileful, self-satisfied man and simple, receptive child. He does but give expression to a recognized universal law of teaching. The man who thinks he knows will not learn. The man who feels that he does not know is glad to learn. But our Lord searchingly suggests, what we well know to be the case, that these two men represent types of character. It is not that the one knows and the other does not know; it is that the one is guileful and conceited, and feels as if he knew; while the other is humble and diffident, and feels as if he did not know. Christ"s revelation of the Father, and the redemption, never can be interesting to any but simple, childlike souls. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jesus answering - This word does not always imply, that something had been spoken, to which an answer is now made. It often means no more than the speaking in reference to some action or circumstance preceding. The following words Christ speaks in reference to the case of the cities above mentioned: I thank thee - That is, I acknowledge and joyfully adore the justice and mercy of thy dispensations: Because thou hast hid - That is, because thou hast suffered these things to be hid from men, who are in other respects wise and prudent, while thou hast discovered them to those of the weakest understanding, to them who are only wise to Godward. Luke x, 21.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The Gospel Call.

A most devout prayer of thanksgiving:

v. 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

v. 26. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.

The final purpose of the entire work of salvation, in all its various branches, is the glorification of God. These things, the mysteries of the kingdom of God, are hidden from those that are wise in their own conceit, that believe themselves to be above the eternal revelations of God’s wisdom in His Word. The scribes and Pharisees of Israel deemed themselves the custodians of the wisdom and understanding of the Law in all its applications. To them the Gospel is hidden, because they deliberately close their hearts and minds against its beauties. But to babes, those that are as ignorant of this world’s wisdom as little children, God has revealed the glory of the Gospel. It is necessary for him that would know the beauties of God’s message of salvation to men and of the entire Bible which contains this message that he rid himself of all preconceived ideas on moral and religious subjects, and be ready and eager to give unqualified assent to all that God says in His Word, 2Co 10:5-6. For such a condition of heart on the part of believers Christ glorifies His heavenly Father, through whose power the hearts are made ready to receive the Scriptures with all humility. That is the Father’s good pleasure, although it also redounds to His glory if the proud and wise of this world reject the Word of grace. So far as the Bible with its glorious and saving truths is concerned, especially that truth that a man is saved, not by works, but by grace through faith alone it must always be the anxious endeavor of every Christian, aided by the strength from above, to avoid the doubting and doubt-instilling wisdom of this world, and present evermore such a heart that has a childlike trust and faith in Jesus and His merits, and in all the revealed truths of Holy Writ. "There are two things over which Jesus here is glad. The first, that God has hidden such mystery from the wise and understanding. The other, that He has revealed it to the little ones, the simple, the babes. Those are the children and babes that do not talk against the Word of God, that do not murmur against God’s will, but, as He deals with them, they are well pleased with it. This includes all those that are not wise and understanding in their own conceit, nor fall into God’s work and Word with their reason."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In these verses our Saviour glorifies his Father for the wise and free dispensation of his gospel-grace to the meanest and most ignorant; whilst the great and learned men of the world undervalued and despised it.

By wise and prudent, Christ means worldy-wise men, particularly scribes and pharisees from whom God in judgment did hide the mysteries of the gospel, and said ye shall not see; because they had closed their eyes, and said, ye shall not see.

By babes, understand such as are at the greatest distance in natural consideration from a capacity for such rich and heavenly manifestations. By hiding these things from the wise and prudent, we are not to understand God’s putting darkness into them, but his leaving them to their own darkness, or denying them that light which they had no desire to see; plainly intimating, that God judicially hides the mysteries of heavenly wisdom from worldy wise men.

Learn, 1. That till God reveals himself, his nature and will, no man can know either what he is, or what he requires; Thou hast revealed.

2. That the wise men of the world have in all ages despised the mysteries of the gospel, and therefore been judicially given up by God to their own wilfull blindness; Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.

3. That the most ignorant and most humble, not the most learned, if proud, do stand ready to receive and embrace the gospel revelation: thou hast revealed them unto babes.

4. That this is no less pleasing to Christ, than it is the pleasure of the Father; Even so, Father, as it seemed good in thy sight. As if Christ had said, Father, thy election and choice pleaseth me, as being the choice and good pleasure of thy wisdom.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. At that time. Immediately after this judgment upon the impenitent cities was denounced. O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Christ addresses God as his Father, not as his Lord. The obedience he yields is that of a Son, not of a subject. Four more times, in deep emotion, Christ thus addresses the Father (John 11:41; 12:28; 17:1; Luke 23:34). That thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent. From the worldly wise Pharisees and Jews. God had hid these things from this latter class through the natural operation of their own corrupted hearts and perverted minds. Babes. The simple and believing.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

In verses 25 and 26, Jesus prays to his heavenly Father while still in the presence of the crowd. In verse 27, he begins to address the people again.

Father

This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)

Lord of heaven and earth

"Lord who rules over heaven and earth." The phrase "heaven and earth" is a merism that refers to all people and things in the universe. AT: "Lord who rules over the whole universe" (See: Merism)

you concealed these things ... and revealed them

It is not clear what is meant by "these things." If your language needs to specify what is meant, an alternative translation might be best. AT: "you concealed these truths ... and revealed them"

you concealed these things from

"you hid these things from" or "you have not made these things known to." This verb is the opposite of "revealed."

from the wise and understanding

These nominal adjectives can be translated as adjectives. AT: "from people who are wise and understanding" (See: Nominal Adjectives)

the wise and understanding

Jesus is using irony. He does not think these people are really wise. AT: "people who think they are wise and understanding" (See: Irony)

revealed them

"made them known." The pronoun "them" refers to "these things" earlier in this verse.

to little children

Jesus compares ignorant people to little children. Jesus is emphasizing that many of those who believe him either are not well educated or do not think of themselves as wise.

for so it was well-pleasing in your sight

The phrase "in your sight" is a metonym that stands for how a person considers something. AT: "for you considered it good to do this" (See: Metonymy)

All things have been entrusted to me from my Father

This can be stated in active form. AT: "My Father has entrusted all things to me" or "My Father has given everything over to me" (See: Active or Passive)

All things

Possible meanings are 1) God the Father has revealed everything about himself and his kingdom to Jesus or 2) God has given all authority to Jesus.

my Father

This is an important title for God that describes the relationship between God and Jesus. (See: Translating Son and Father)

no one knows the Son except the Father

"only the Father knows the Son"

no one knows

The word "knows" here means more than just being acquainted with someone. It means knowing somoene intimately because of having a special relationship with him.

the Son

Jesus was referring to himself in the third person. (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

Son

This is an important title for Jesus, the Son of God. (See: Translating Son and Father)

no one knows the Father except the Son

"only the Son knows the Father"

translationWords

Jesus

praise

God the Father

lord

heaven

earth

wise

understand

reveal

Son of God

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

25–27. THE REVELATION TO ‘BABES’

St Luk 10:21-22, where the words are spoken on the return of the Seventy.

The close connection between this section and that which follows has been pointed out by Dean Perowne (Expositor, Vol. VIII.). In this section two divine moral laws are set forth: (1) The revelation is made to humility. (2) The revelation is made through Christ alone. The invitation which follows (Mat 11:28-30) is given (1) not to the self-assertion of man, but to his need and the confession of that need, by One who is ‘meek and lowly in heart;’ (2) with a promise of rest to those, and those only, who take upon them Christ’s yoke and learn of Him.

25. ἀποκριθείς. This use of ἀποκριθείς, ‘answering,’ where no question precedes, is a Hebraism.

ἐξομολογοῦμαι. Strictly, ‘to speak forth, ‘confess,’ τὰς ἁμαρτίας, ch. Mat 3:6; cp. Php 2:11, then to ‘utter aloud’ praise or thanks, as here and Rom 14:11 (quoted from Isa 14:23), ὅτι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ θεῷ.

τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς. The expression points to God as the author of law in nature and in religion.

ὅτι ἔκρυψας. ‘That thou hidest,’ not by an arbitrary and harsh will, but in accordance with a law of divine wisdom. Truth is not revealed to the philosophical theorist, but the humility that submits to observe and follow the method of nature and working of God’s laws is rewarded by the discovery of truth. For this use of the aorist see note Mat 11:27, last clause.

ἀπὸ σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν, for the classical construction, κρύπτειν τί τινα, or τι πρός τινα. There is a sense of separation in ‘concealment’ denoted by ἀπό. The secrets of the kingdom are not revealed to those who are wise in their own conceit, but to those who have the meekness of infants and the child-like eagerness for knowledge. In a special Jewish sense ‘the wise and prudent’ are the Scribes and Pharisees. In a purely Greek sense, σοφοὶ καὶ συνετοὶ are they to whom especially the apprehension of the highest truths belonged. σοφία is wisdom in its highest philosophic sense; it is the most exact of sciences—ἀκριβεστάτη τῶν ἐπιστημῶν, and is said μὴ μόνον τὰ ἐκ τῶν ἀρχῶν εἰδέναι ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἀληθεύειν (Arist. Eth. Nic. VI. 7). σύνεσις is ‘critical intelligence.’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. The editor here inserts a paragraph which, in Luk 10:21-22, occurs after the return of the Seventy.

(L) 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I praise Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou didst hide these things from wise and prudent men, and didst reveal them to babes.] Lk. has: “In that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said,” etc.

ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησο͂ς εἶπεν] For the Hebraistic ἀποκριθείς, see Dalm. Words, pp. 24 f.—ἐξομολογῦμαι] used as in the LXX. = הודה ל, “to give praise to”; Cf. 2 S 22:56, and see Kennedy, Sources, p. 118. In view of the dependence of vv. 28, 29 upon Ecclus 51:23-27 cf. also Ecclus 51:1, 17. ταῦτα in this connection means the δυνάμεις which the men of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capharnaum failed to recognise in their true bearing, and the methods of the divine Wisdom which the Jews misunderstood.—σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν] i.e. the Jews, with their arrogant condemnation of Wisdom’s methods.—νηπίοις] i.e. the children of Wisdom who justified her methods. There is an underlying contrast here between the stereotyped orthodox Jew, who misunderstood Christ’s teaching, and the unlearned, childlike simplicity of His disciples, the “children of Wisdom,” who accepted it.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Answered. In reply to something which is not stated.

I thank [εξομολογουμαι] . Compare Mt 3:6, of confessing sins. Lit., I confess. I recognize the justice and wisdom of thy doings. But with the dative, as here (soi, to thee), it means to praise, with an undercurrent of acknowledgment; to confess only in later Greek, and with an accusative of the object. Rev. gives praise in the margin here, and at Rom 14:11. Tynd., I praise.

Prudent [συνετων] . Rev., understanding; Wyc., wary. From the verb sunihmi, to bring together, and denoting that peculiarity of mind which brings the simple features of an object into a whole. Hence comprehension, insight. Compare on Mr 12:33, understanding [συνεσεως] . Wise [σοφων] and understanding are often joined, as here. The general distinction is between productive and reflective wisdom, but the distinction is not always recognized by the writer.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.