Matthew 21:15

Mat_21:15-16

The children crying in the temple.

The blessedness of childrens piety

It is upon the child that this sarcastic question still falls. Some hardly think the children can be converted. The Saviours answer is splendid when He said, Have you never read? Never caught the inner sense, never read so as to understand, etc.

I. Children are capable of very deep piety,

1. They are capable of that early grace with which true religion usually begins-a deep repentance.

2. No one who has seen converted children will ever doubt their capacity for faith, in some respects greater than that of the adult. Their faith is more easy, vivid, effective.

3. When they come to love our Lord, they do love.

4. I have noticed in children other virtues-courage, patience, great understanding of the fear of God.

II. Children are capable of rendering, in the hands of God, good service.

1. They convey healing messages to those about them. The little maid who waited upon Naamans wife. Often guide blind souls to the light. Often guide strong men to some great action.

2. They serve the Lord wonderfully by their prayers.

III. The childrens piety and the childrens service are peculiarly glorifying to God.

1. Nothing seems to me to glorify God so much as His condescension when He takes a little child and instructs it, and manifests Himself to the child. And what power is there in the conversion of a child. If you have any doubt try it yourself.

2. They glorify God because they do so rebuke His enemies. Who can see what some of us have seen in children, and not feel ashamed we have lived so long, and yet never yielded to the Redeemers love?

3. They sometimes rebuke Gods own people and so glorify Him. Those who have never made confession of faith, etc. Sunday-school teachers, you are engaged in a most blessed work-persevere. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Children and missions

It is not well to overlook the influence of children, or to neglect them in making our efforts for the universal diffusion of the gospel. Let us:

I. Ascertain what is requisite in children if they would promote the cause of Jesus. That they should have

(1) a correct knowledge of the state of the heathen;

(2) just views of the gospel as adapted to save them;

(3) right conceptions of the value of immortal souls;

(4) experimental knowledge of the love of Christ.

II. What children may do for carrying on the blessed cause of Jesus in the world. They can-

(1) contribute of their means;

(2) collect from others;

(3) pray for Gods blessing to attend their efforts and give success;

(4) some children might seek gifts and talents for missionary work.

III. What should induce children thus to feel and word in the cause of Christ?

1. Gratitude to God for His goodness to them.

2. Gods command.

3. Their own happiness. (J. Burns, LL. D.)

Christs praise shouted by children in the temple

I. The doctrine of the text. Christ here refers to a composition of David in which he exalts the excellence of Gods power. In this verse He illustrates His power by giving an instance of it, that God makes the weakest of His creatures instruments who were able to subdue the greatest powers of the world.

1. The sovereignty of God.

2. The sufficiency of Gods strength.

3. The perfection of praise.

II. The circumstances connected with the text. Our Lord was making His last entry into Jerusalem.

1. A token of love.

2. A sign of hatred.

(1) God is never more glorified than in the religion of the young.

(2) All who acknowledge Christ are bound to promote this well-pleasing tribute to the glory of God. (W. Harrison, M. A.)

The childrens Divine Friend

I. The memorable events in the text.

1. The Saviours wonders. The wonders wrought by Christ were diversified in character, comprehensive in extent, and adapted to the circumstances of the times. The scene of the miracles is the temple of God. On the one part, He cast out (Mat_21:12-13); and on the other, He healed (Mat_21:14). What could have been better timed than following up the miracle of majesty with that of mercy?

2. The childrens praises.

(1) The object of the praise, The Son of David.

(2) The character of the praise.

(3) The parties engaged in rendering the praise.

II. The offence occasioned.

1. The persons who were the subjects of this uneasiness.

2. The height to which their anger rose.

3. The way in which their displeasure was manifested.

III. The concise but satisfactory vindication.

IV. The ample instruction derivable from the scenes and wonders that distinguish this eventful season.

1. They show the Saviour in the true dignity and glory of His character.

2. They show the glorious triumphs of the reign of grace, in the perfecting of the praise of babes.

3. Encouragement to parents to bring their children to Jesus and to His temple. (J. Gray.)

God glorified in little children

God is glorious in the smallest as in the greatest of His works; the least flower awakens admiration in an equal degree with suns.

I. It is to the glory of God that there is such a state as that of infancy and childhood. The infant mind is spread out to receive the impress of Christ. He has perfected praise in forming a period of human existence so capable of right impression.

II. God glorifies himself in little children by often making them powerful instruments of good to others. These will not defraud Him of praise.

III. God again perfects his praise in children in making them capable of receiving and reflecting the image of Christ.

IV. It is to the praise and glory of God that infants and children are so much the objects of his care.

V. But especially does God glorify Himself in the removal of so many little children at an early age.

VI. But it is especially in the assurances that the souls of departed children are happy in heaven, that Gods name is to be glorified. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)

Children glorify God by being useful to others

Often, too, have little ones been the messengers of strength and consolation to believers. In one of the darkest periods of the Reformation, when Luther, Melancthon, and others were assembled under great dejection of spirit, to consult upon what should be done, Melancthon retired from the council in the deepest depression of spirit, but in a few moments returned again with a countenance beaming with confidence and joy; and when all were surprised at the change, he told them that he had just seen a sight which assured- him of success-he had seen some little children engaged in prayer for the Reformation, whom their mothers, who were assembled for the same purpose, had brought together, and he was assured such prayers would be heard of God. Courage in the needful hour, for the greatest work ever accomplished by uninspired men, was thus breathed into the soul through infants prayers. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)

Children in the temple praising the Redeemer

1. We see here that real piety is not confined to men of years or learning.

2. That religion in its main substance is adapted to the capacity of the young.

3. From the example before us we learn that great benefit may accrue to youth, from a stated attendance on Divine institutions. Public worship is as much an ordinance of God under the gospel, as was the Passover under the Law. The example of Jews bringing their children to the temple reproves the neglect of many Christians.

4. The young are under special obligations to acknowledge and praise the Redeemer. True religion will operate in pious affections and exercises of heart toward Christ.

5. That youthful piety is peculiarly pleasing to Christ. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

Witnessing children

I. The children see, whilst others are blind. They see what scribe and priest, with all their learning, see not-the Son of David. Pride does not hinder their sight. There is fitness between the mind of youth and the truth as it is in Jesus.

II. The children SING, although others are silent.

III. The children receive the blessing which others lose. (J. M. L.)

Christs encouragement and vindication of young disciples

I. The childrens acclamation. Hosannah to the Son of David. This considered as the language

(1) of faith and trust in Christ;

(2) of desire and good will;

(3) of praise;

(4) of triumphant joy. Remarks-

1. Behold the power of Gods grace on young people!

2. How lovely and delightful is it to see such effects of it upon them!

3. How should this awaken a concern for the youth of our day!

II. The offence taken at these acclamations.

1. The persons who took the offence.

2. The matter of their offence.

3. The reasons of it.

Remarks-

1. Behold the necessity of a supernatural work upon the heart to bring it over to Christ!

2. How vile a part do they act, who go about to discountenance and destroy the good dispositions of young people toward Christ and religion.

3. Let not any young people be discouraged by what others may do or say, to turn them aside from Christ and His ways.

III. Our Lords vindication of those young ones in what they were doing.

1. He took notice of them.

2. The high account He made of what they did.

3. The reproof He gave to the chief priests and scribes for objecting against it.

Inferences-

1. That it should be our great concern to own and honour Christ.

2. That the earlier we begin to own and honour Him, the more Gods praise is thereby advanced.

3. That He will own and honour the young ones, who are brought to own and honour Him. (John Guyse.)

Childrens piety

How much better is it to see boys and girls showing a serious concern about Christ, about an interest in His favour and love, and in the benefits of His redemption, and about His honour and glory; and to see our sons and daughters preferring Him to all things else, and devoting themselves to His service; than to see them lavish away the sprightly parts of life in lightness and vanity, in rudeness and wickedness, and in thoughtless neglect, not to say contempt, of God and our Saviour, of religion, and everything that relates to their own real and eternal welfare! (John Guyse.)

Praise and help from children

In describing his early persecutions in Moorfields, Whitefield says: Several little boys and girls, who were fond of sitting round me on the pulpit while I preached, and handed to me peoples notes-though they were often pelted with eggs, dirt, etc., thrown at me-never once gave way, but, on the contrary, every time I was struck, turned up their weeping eyes, and seemed to wish they could receive the blows for me. God made them, in their tender years, great and living martyrs for Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Little things do the perfecting

How frequently are small things those which perfect anything! For instance: it is the bloom of the plum which perfects it, the scent in the flower, the cut of the nostril, or the dimples in a countenance, the short strings in a harp, the delicate finishing touches in a picture. What perfects a fireside but the children ]inks? what perfects a cathedral choir but the childrens notes? and what perfects Gods praise but the mouth of babes and sucklings? (W. J. BoIton.)

Children capable of deep repentance

I cannot help remembering when the Lord dealt with me as a child. If there was a child who knew the power of sin I did. Tenderly cared for, and kept from all sorts of evil company, yet there seemed in me as if the great deeps within my nature were broken up in vast masses of sin and rebellion against God. I have met with hundreds of persons every day in riper years who I am sure never felt the hundredth part of what I felt when I was as a child, under Gods Spirit, feeling a hatred of myself because I had not lived to God and loved and served Him. I am sure I speak here what I do know, and testify what I have seen in scores of children, that their repentance has been true, thorough, deep, intelligent, and lasting, and they have known their way to the foot of the cross, and seen the great sacrifice, and have wept all the more to think they should have offended against love so infinite which redeemed them and made them free. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Children capable of a high degree of faith

For there seems to me to be something so chaste and beautiful, like the early dew glistening in the rising sun-light, about this blessed faith of the children. They may teach some of us how to believe in God. There is a story of a child who went to a prayer meeting summoned that they might pray for rain, and she took her umbrella with her. We pray, but we do not take our umbrellas. That is the very essence of faith-to expect a blessing and to be prepared for it. Children often in that way show to us that faith is not to be a show-thing, a pious thing to talk about, but a thing to act upon in ordinary concerns of everyday life. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Courage in children

We dont always look for that in children, yet have they shown it. The martyr Laurence, who was burnt at Colchester, was so tortured in gaol that he had to be carried to the stake in a chair, and all the grown-up people, afraid that they might he burnt too, forsook him. But a child came up and said, Lord, strengthen Thy servant. When one was burnt in Smithfield a boy was seen going home after the burning. Some one said, Boy, why were you there? He said, Sir, I went to learn the way. It may be said, Oh, that was in the old days. But they are children like ours. A friend once said to the widow of a martyr, Will you not urge your boy to forsake his faith? … I have had many children, she said, but I never had one so well bestowed as this dear boy, though he is to be burnt to death. He cheered his elder companion, and stood back to back with him in the flames. They have taken their fair share of suffering in martyr days. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Children understated the fear of God

It has been my pleasure lately to admit to the church a large number of little children, and I can say of each of them as I have talked with them-and I put many rather difficult questions to them about the things of God-and whenever the question has been vital, there has never been any hesitancy as to the answer. I had years ago a good brother who felt it necessary to put questions to young children which I did not like. He asked one child, Have you given your heart to the Lord? The little boy said, Yes, sir. Oh, my friend said, you see his ignorance. I said, Has the Lord given you a new heart? Yes, sir, the Lord Jesus gave me a new heart when I believed in Him, and I know it was a good one. My friend was shut up, and he did not ask any more questions of children for a great time. Perhaps what they know is truer wisdom sometimes than what the elders know. I read some time ago that the Jews permit children to read the Scriptures when they are five years old, but not the Talmud till they are fifteen. God help me to keep on reading the Scriptures and never get to the Talmud at all. Some will get so old that it is all Talmud with them-very little Bible. With the children there is no Talmud; they just keep to the smooth road. What they know is worth the knowing, whereas much that we know is worse than nothing, and it would be a great blessing if we forget it. Children can be quick in understanding in the fear of the Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Children are capable of great service

I heard of a little child whose father was wont to curse and swear, and when the father was indulging in some horrible language she went behind the door. The father said, What are you doing there? Come out. Her eyes were red with weeping. What are you crying for? Because, dear father, I could not bear to hear you talk like that. Well, you shall never hear me talk like that again. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

A childs simple trust

A little girl, who had long nursed a sick sister, was getting worn out. One morning, as she trudged along to procure medicine, she thought how hard it was to be always waiting on the invalid when the other children were at play, and when she thought also how likely it was her sister would die, between weariness and grief she began to weep bitterly. But a sudden thought crossed her mind. The verse came to her memory, I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Day and night henceforward she never wearied in her attendance on the invalid. Her cheerful countenance did more good than the medicines; and ere long she had her reward, for her sister recovered.

A boys prayer

An American writer says, A boy, thirteen years of age, who attended one of our mission Sunday schools, was hopefully converted. His father was a dissipated, wicked man, who kept a drinking saloon, and thus not only got drunk himself, but caused others to do so. This dear boy asked his Sunday-school teacher what he should do, for his father would make him wait on the customers, handing out the poison to them; and if he had not better leave home. His teacher told him not to leave home, but begin at once to pray for his father, and she would pray for him, and for his father too; and they both commenced to pray for that father. In a few weeks he left off drinking, and soon after left off selling, too, and went to to work earn an honest living; for, said he, with tears running down his face, something has bean the matter with my dear boy for sometime; and the other day I heard a noise in the room where he sleeps; it was a kind of a mournful noise, and I listened; and dont you think he was praying for me! He prayed that I would quit selling-for I had quit drinking some time before; and I felt I was doing wrong, and I have quit it all; and the next time you have a meeting I am coming with my boy.

The weak made to perfect the praise of God

We do not wonder to see a man of strong constitution, who eats his bread heartily, and sleeps soundly, live; but for a crazy body, full of ailments and infirmities, to be so patched and shored up by the physicians art, that he stands to old age, this begets some wonder in the beholders. It may be thou art a poor trembling soul, thy faith is weak, and thy assaults from Satan strong, thy corruptions stirring and active, and thy mortifying strength little, so that in thy opinion they rather gain ground on thy grace than give ground to it; ever and anon thou art ready to think thou shalt be cast as a wreck upon the devils shore: and yet to this day thy grace lives, though full of leaks; now is it not worth the stepping aside to see this strange sight? A broken ship with masts and hull rent and torn, thus towed along by Almighty power, through an angry sea, and armadas of sins and devils, safely into His harbour. To see a poor dilling or rush candle in the face of the boisterous winds and not blown out: in a word, to see a weak stripling in grace held up in Gods arms till he beats the devil craven: this God is doing in upholding thee; thou art one of these babes, out of whose mouth God is perfecting His praise, by ordaining such strength for thee, that thou, a babe in grace, shalt yet foil a giant in wrath and power. (W. Gurnal.)

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

Mat 21:15-17. When the chief priests, &c., saw the wonderful things he did — The undeniable and astonishing miracles which he performed, and the children crying in the temple, and continuing the song which the multitude had begun, Hosanna to the son of David, they were sore displeased — Inwardly vexed and filled with indignation. The works that Christ did recommended themselves to every man’s conscience: if they had any sense, they could not but own the miracle of them; and if any good-nature, they could not but be in love with the mercy of them; yet, because they were resolved to oppose him, even for these works they envied and hated him. And said, Hearest thou what these (the children) say? — Insinuating that it was his duty to stop their mouths, by refusing the praises which they offered without understanding what they said. Jesus saith, Yea; have ye never read — Are you unacquainted with the Scriptures? You, that want the people to regard you as the great teachers of God’s law? Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise — These words are quoted out of the eighth Psalm, and imply that, “though all men should be silent, God has no need of other heralds to proclaim his praise than infants, who hang at their mothers’ breasts; because, notwithstanding they be dumb, the admirable providence of God, conspicuous in their preservation, is equal to the loudest and sublimest eloquence. And, by applying these words to the case in hand, Jesus signified that the meanest of God’s works are so formed as to declare the greatness of his perfections; that as the Father does not refuse the praise which arises from the least of his creatures, so the Son did not disdain the praise which was offered him by children. In the present instance their praise was peculiarly acceptable, because it implied that his miracles were exceedingly illustrious, inasmuch as they led minds wherein there was nothing but the dawnings of reason, to acknowledge his mission. The Messiah’s praise, therefore, might, with remarkable propriety, be said, on this occasion, to have been perfected out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.” — Macknight. But see the note on Psa 8:2; where the psalmist’s words, here referred to, are explained at large. And he left them — Namely, when the evening was come, both in prudence, lest they should have seized him before his hour was come, and in justice, because they had forfeited the favour of his presence: he left them as incorrigible. And went out of the city — Privately, with none to attend him but the twelve; to Bethany — Where the resurrection of Lazarus had procured him friends, among whom he was always in safety.

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

B. The Children in the Temple: the High Priests and Scribes. Mat_21:15-17

15And [But, δέ] when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things26 that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, 16And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected [prepared, κατηρτὶσω]27 praise (Psa_8:2)? 17And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_21:15. The wonderful things, τὰ θανμάσια—More comprehensive than wonders or miracles. The expression occurs in the New Testament only here, but in the Sept. and the Classics it is common. The moral miracle, in a wider sense, which exhibited the Lord as King in His temple, is combined with the miracles proper.

And the children.—According to Sepp (Leben Jesu, iii. 192), by these children we must understand the virgins and youths consecrated to the temple-service. There can be no doubt that there were such youths dedicated to the temple; but, as they were under the immediate authority of the priests, their jubilant cries would at once have been suppressed by these priests themselves.

Mat_21:16. Hearest thou what these say?—By this question they indirectly declared that they did not attribute to Him the Messianic dignity which this Messianic Hosanna involved. At the same time, they pronounced their judgment that children were not authorized to express any religious sentiment or opinion. It was contempt of the little ones. They laid the stress on the doctrinal utterance of the little ones; Christ, on the other hand, on their religious singing.

Have ye never read?—Psa_8:2 [ Mat_21:3 in the Hebrew and German text]. The passage of the Psalm finds the praise of God (in the original: a might; Sept.: praise) in the mouth of theocratical children, and even in the lispings of sucklings. Not that the Israelite sucklings might be three or four years old, and certainly not because of “the tender sounds of lisping sucklings.” The thought is, that the Great God of heaven is glorified by the seemingly insignificant men of this lower earth, including the very lowest of them, down to the very root of life. In the children and sucklings of the theocratic Church His praise begins to grow: it begins with the very life of human nature accepted by grace. The antitheses to be noted here, are the mouth of the infants, as also the sucklings and praising. But Christ gives this passage prominence, because in it the Old Testament expressly approved and praised just that which here took place. In the application of this Scripture, we find without doubt the following points:—1. The praise of the Messiah is the praise of God. 2. The praise of children is a praise which God Himself has prepared for Himself, the miraculous energy of His Spirit. 3. The scribes might fill up the rest: Thou hast prepared praise—“on account of Thine adversaries, to bring to silence the enemy and the accuser.” Not only are the passages themselves, which Christ quotes from the Old Testament, of the highest importance, but also the connection of those passages. The eighth Psalm is to be reckoned among the typical Messianic Psalms; it describes man in his higher Christological relations.

Mat_21:17. And He left them.—How often does this indicate the moment of His moral discomfiture of His enemies, and of His free withdrawal from the contest! He passed the night in Bethany, which was His stronghold. On Bethany, see above, Mat_21:1.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Christ rules in the midst of His enemies, Psalms 90.

2. God oft prepares for Himself a praise from the lips of infants and new-born babes, in opposition to the adult and aged who dishonor His name; and from the lips of a younger generation, who have not yet reached office and dignity, in opposition to a decaying generation of fathers who deny their official calling to give the Lord His praise.

3. The same children, whom they would denounce as wicked disturbers, Christ regards as a chorus of unconscious prophets of His own advent.

4. Not only the blind and the lame, the afflicted and the children, but the Greeks also who desired to see Jesus, illustrated this great day. Joh_12:20-36 belongs to the same history, but probably to the day following.

[5. Heubner: May God in mercy protect us from such theologians and priests as are offended by children and their harmless songs! Children, too, are to sing the praises of God and of Christ. Would that our children were trained from early infancy for such praise.—P. S.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The obduracy of the priests and scribes in the presence of the Lord’s miracles in the temple.—The question of the Pharisees; or, the evening clouds.—Not for one day did the hypocrites permit the Lord to rule undisturbed in His temple.—The jubilant children and the murmuring scribes: Earnest pastime and trifling earnestness in the temple; the free play of children a divine prophecy, and the constrained temple-service a godless play.28—The echo of the palm-entry in the hearts and lips of the children.—The Son of David, the beautiful dream of the youth in Israel.—The children’s Hosanna: 1. A significant act of childlike piety; 2. a noble blossom of the hope of Israel; 3. a divine testimony to the glory of Christ; 4. a sad echo of the elders’ dying Hosanna.—The mouth of babes and sucklings, in its vocation to condemn presumptuous tutorship in the Church.—Hearest Thou what these say? To unbelief, in the garb of bigotry, the most touching testimonies of faith are but blasphemies.—Those who are always reading, but do no more than read, must always hear the Lord’s question: Have ye never read?—They who read wrongly, objected to the Lord that He heard wrongly.—Christ and the Scriptures for ever bear witness to each other, against false scribes and false Christians.—Jesus leaves the contemners of His name to themselves, and goes His way. 1. He leaves them refuted and confounded; 2. He goes to His friends, to His rest and His work, with His own.—One day of the Lord is as a thousand years (Psa_90:4; 2Pe_3:8).—Christ in the temple the Restorer of all original rights in one right: 1. Of all rights (those of the Gentiles, of the poor, of the children); 2. in one right (that of God and His Anointed).

Starke:—Quesnel: The envy, covetousness, and ambition of corrupt clergy do more harm in the Church than its open enemies can do.—The world cannot bear that God and Christ should be honored.—Zeisius: The world mocks all pious simplicity.—Hardened and envious persecutors we must leave, and escape from danger.

Heubner:—Quench not the Spirit, especially among children.—Only Childlike hearts can praise Him aright.—Melanchthon (at the conference at Torgau): We need not be anxious; I have seen those who fight for us (praying mothers and children).

[Nast:—The children in the temple, proclaiming the honors of Christ, as emblems of the apostles and disciples, whom Christ calls “babes” in contrast to the wise and prudent of the world. “I thank thee, Father,” etc., Mat_11:25.—P. S.]

C. The Deceptive Fig-tree, rich in Leaves, but without Fruit on the Temple-mount. The Symbolical Cursing. Mat_21:18-22

(Mar_11:12-14; Mar_11:20-26.)

18Now in the morning, as he returned into the city, he hungered. 19And when he saw a fig tree in the way [seeing one (solitary) fig tree by the road side],29 he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and [And he] said unto it, Let no fruit30 grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently [forthwith] the fig tree withered away. 20And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!31 [And] 21Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not [do not doubt], ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree [not only shall ye do this with the fig tree],32 but also if ye shall say unto this mountain [of the temple], Be thou removed [taken up, Αρθητι], and be thou cast [and cast, καὶ βλήθητι] into the sea; it shall be done. 22And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_21:18. He hungered.—Mark gives us here the stricter note of time. On the day of the procession Jesus only looked round the temple observingly; He then went out to Bethany, for it was evening. On Monday morning, as He went back to the temple, He was hungry; and this gave occasion for the cursing of the fig-tree. A day later, on Tuesday morning (not the evening before), the disciples, again accompanying the Lord to the city, found the fig-tree dried up from the roots. Matthew combines the two separate points of this transaction in one, in order to make more prominent the meaning of the whole. He would bring before the reader’s mind the antitype of the barren fig-tree, the high priests and scribes in their unbelieving conduct.33 The Lord’s hunger on this morning shows us with what ardor He went to take up His abode in the temple: He had not taken time to eat His breakfast at Bethany.34

Mat_21:19. One fig-tree (μίαν).—Bengel: Unam illo loco. The fig-tree, תְּאֵנָה ficus, carica, was, like the vine, one of the most extensive and best cared-for productions of Palestine: this appears in the saying, “Under his own vine and fig-tree,”—a figure of peace (1Ki_4:25). Compare on it the Bibl. Encyclops., especially Winer’s, and also Robinson and von Schubert on the Holy Land. The Rabbins studied under the shadow of the fig-tree, as in an arbor. It was often planted by the waysides, because the dust of the road was an absorbing counteraction to the strong flow of the sap,—so hindering a too great development of leaves, and promoting its fruitfulness. The fig itself was a common and much esteemed article of food. Three kinds were distinguished: 1. The early fig, Bicura, Boccore, which ripened after a mild winter at the end of June, and in Jerusalem still earlier. 2. The summer fig, Kermus, which ripened in August. 3. The winter fig, or later Kermus, which came to maturity only after the leaves were gone, and would hang through a mild winter into the spring: it was larger than the summer fig, and of a dark violet color. This last kind cannot here be meant, since a winter fig-tree might well have been long ago robbed of its fruit; and for the spring fig this might seem a too early period of the year. But its extraordinary show of leaves so early, gave a promise of early figs; since in the fig-tree the blossom and the fruit appear before the formation of the leaves.35 Thus it was this profusion of leaves which warranted the Lord in expecting to find figs on the tree. But the fruit was wanting. Mark explains: οὐ γὰρ ἦν καιρὸς σύκων.36 This does not mean, however, that at such a time of year figs were not to be expected; but that the tree had not yet been stripped, if it had ever borne fruit. The symbolical element, however, is the main thing here. A fig-tree laden with leaves promised fruit: if all fruit was wanting, it was a deceiver; and therefore an apt image of the hypocritical Jewish priesthood.

By the road-side: ἐπὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ.—“The tree stood over the way, either on an elevation in the way, or the way was a declining one.” Meyer. But a third supposition may be made, that the tree extended its branches over the level path.

Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever.—The same criticism which objected against the treatment of the Gergesenes, that it was an invasion of private property, objects against the cursing of the fig-tree, that it was an outrage upon the forest laws. But as the driving out of the demons was no wild hunt, so the word of cursing was no felling axe. It cannot be said that a miracle of punishment was alien to Christ’s spirit. But this was not properly a miracle of punishment: it was a symbolical sign of the punishment which the people had to expect from God, but which our Lord exhibited as a sign of His own retribution, as being already the glorified King. And in this warning act—which was to seal to the disciples the subsequent judicial prophecies, and especially to release their hearts from all faith in the seeming sanctity of the temple-worship—lay the great design of the whole transaction. Jesus made a symbolical use of the attractive appearance of the leaves, and executed a symbolical judgment of the deceptive tree, which deluded and mocked the hungry traveller, in order to teach His disciples that they also must at last cease to seek spiritual nourishment from the leaf-covered, but fruitless priesthood, and look forward to the Divine judgments which would cause the withering away of the theocratic people.37

And forthwith (παραχρῆμα) the fig-tree withered away.—The tree was diseased through the overflow of its false life, which exhausted itself in luxuriant foliage. But the word of curse was miraculous, and the first prelude of that great miraculous work of Christ which at His advent will blast all the evil of this present world. But primarily it was an earnest of the speedy withering of the land, when the palms should vanish, the fig-trees wither, the fountains be sealed up, and Canaan become a waste. Paulus explained it as an announcement of the speedy natural death of the tree in popular language; Strauss, as a mythical construction of the parable in Luk_13:6; Origen, Chrysostom, and the moderns generally, as a prophetic symbolical representation of the doom upon the spiritual unfruitfulness of Israel. [The absence of any instruction on this symbolical meaning of the destruction of the fig-tree, is no valid objection against it; for this meaning readily suggested itself in view of the time and place of the act, and the whole series of denunciatory discourses which follow are an eloquent commentary, as Meyer correctly remarks, on the silent symbolical eloquence of the withered fig-tree.—P. S.]

Mat_21:21. If ye say to this mountain.—The mountain to which the Lord pointed, wag doubtless the hill of the temple itself. It was, like the fig-tree, a figure of the hypocritical character, of the Jewish worship, as it lay in the way of the spread of the gospel, a future hindrance to His disciples in their work. This mountain, the theocratic Judaism, must be cast into the sea of the nations (destruction of Jerusalem), before the Church of Christ could reach its consummation and free development. Certainly this was not to be effected by judicial punishment on the part of the disciples themselves; but it was for them to exhibit symbolically the judgment of God, which would issue in such a translation of the temple mountain, by turning away from the Jews, and carrying the gospel, the true Zion, to the sea of the Gentile world. The displacement of the temple mountain had therefore two points, which, however, here coalesce.

Mat_21:22. [And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, etc.—This promise is confined, of course, to prayers of faith ( Mat_21:21-22), which implies agreement with the will of God, and excludes the abuse of this promise.—In John, Christ defines believing and effective prayer to be prayer in His name, Joh_14:13; Joh_15:16; Joh_16:24.—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

[1. The cursing of the fig-tree is both a Parable and a Prophecy in action, performed on the public road near the city and the temple, on Monday of the Passion-week, exhibiting Christ as the final Judge of that people which soon afterward crucified Him.—P. S.]

2. Jesus did not so much curse the fig-tree, as make manifest the curse of its internal blight It was, as it respects a fig-tree, only dead wood, fit only for the fire. To this destination He now gave it up. That Jesus had in view the spiritual condition of His people as figured by this tree, is plain from the parable, Luk_13:6. Yet Israel was, in God’s purpose, the early fig-tree among the nations, Hos_9:10.

3. The withered fig-tree was a sign of many judgments: (1) A sign of the withering congregation of the temple or the expiring of the theocracy; (2) of withering Canaan; (3) of withering external church organizations and sects; (4) of the withering old earth: The sudden blight was a token of the instantaneousness of the judgment—of the catastrophes which had been in secret long prepared for.

[4. The Saviour performed innumerable miracles of mercy on living and feeling men, but only one miracle of judgment, and that not on a human being, which He came to save, but on an unfruitful, unfeeling tree, and with a view to benefit all impenitent sinners by timely warning them of their danger. Thus we have even here a proof of Christ’s goodness in His severity. Thus even the barren fig-tree bears constant fruit in the garden of Holy Scripture as a symbol of the fearful doom of hypocritical ostentation and unfruitfulness. (Comp. similar remarks of Hilary, Grotius, Heubner, Trench, and Wordsworth.)—P. S.]

[5. The tree was not cursed so much for being barren, as for being false. No fruit could be expected of any nation before Christ; for the time of figs was not yet. The true fruit of any people before the Incarnation would hare been to own that they had no fruit, that without Christ they could do nothing. The Gentiles owned this; but the Jews boasted of their law, temple, worship, ceremonies, prerogatives, and good works, thus resembling the fig-tree with pretentious, deceitful leaves without fruit Their condemnation was, not that they were sick, but that, being sick, they counted themselves whole. (Condensed from Trench and Witsius.)—P. S.]

[6. Striking simultaneous exhibition of Christ’s humanity in hungering, and of His divinity in the destruction of the fig-tree by a word of Almighty power which can create and can destroy. Bengel: Maxima humanitatis et deitatis indicia uno tempore edere solitue est. Joh_11:35; Joh_11:40. Wordsworth: “He hungers as a Man, and withers the tree as God. Whenever He gives signs of human infirmity, some proof of His divine power is always near.” Comp. the poverty of His birth, and the song of angels and the adoration of the shepherds and magi; the circumcision, and the name of Christ; the purification in the temple, and the hymn of Simeon and Hanna; His obedience to His parents, and astonishing wisdom in the temple; the baptism on Jordan, and the voice from heaven and the Holy Spirit descending on Him; the announcement of His passion, and the transfiguration on the mount; the payment of tribute-money to the temple, and the miracle of the fish with the stater; the cross, and the royal inscription, etc.—P. S.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

How Jesus, with holy self-forgetfulness, early hastened to the scene of His great day’s work.—He spiritualized everything natural: even His own hunger and thirst were made awakening sermons.—Christ everywhere, in the best sense of the phrase, made a virtue out of necessity.—The barren fig-tree on the mountain of the temple a perpetual exhortation to the Church: 1. A faithful image of the priestly community in Israel as it then appeared (full of leaves, empty of fruit); 2. a warning example in its sudden blight under the curse (revealed as a dead tree, and as such given up to the fire).—The withering fig-tree as a warning to self-examination also for individual believers.—A sound fig-tree must put forth blossom earlier than leaves.—The interpretation of His act by His word: 1. The fig-tree has a close reference to the temple mountain; 2. as the fig-tree stopped Jesus in His way, so the temple mountain stopped the disciples; 3. as the Lord removed the hindrance by His miraculous word, so the disciples must overcome it by a miraculous faith, which should remove the hill of Zion into the midst of the nations (although, in doing so, the Jews were dispersed among the peoples).—All that the Christian asks in faith is given to him: 1. In faith it is given to him what he should ask; 2. in faith he asks what shall be given to him.

Starke:—The world often lets Christ’s servants suffer hunger and need.—When we are in want, we suffer what Jesus suffered.—Faith lays low all imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, 2Co_10:4-5.—Teachers remove mountains when they overcome in faith, and remove out of the way, the hindrances which are thrown in the way of their vocation.—Faith and prayer: Faith is the source of prayer; prayer the voice of faith.

Lisco:—Jesus in His human necessity, Mat_21:18; and in His divine power and dignity, Mat_21:19.

Heubner:—Warnings in nature: Life killed by frost; blossom cankered by worms; fruit poisoned from within.—There was one even among the twelve disciples to whom this curse applied; and every one who is unfaithful to Christ has such a judgment of hardening, abandonment of God, to expect.—Jesus, after miracles of love, performs yet one miracle, which should demonstrate His power to punish and to ruin, as it belongs to the Judge of all flesh; He did not, however, perform this on man, whom He was not come to destroy, but on an inanimate object—Faith is here, and everywhere, the firm assurance of the heart concerning that which God wills.

Rieger:—We are reminded of the weeping over Jerusalem, Luke 19; of the parable of the two sons, Mat_21:28-31; of Rom_11:20 : “Be not high-minded, but fear.”

Footnotes:

[26]Mat_21:15.—[Wonderful thing is better for τὰ θαυμάσια mirabilia (Vulg.), than wonders, which Conant substitutes here for the Authorized Version. See the Exeg. Notes on Mat_21:15.—P. S.]

[27] Mat_21:16.—[Καταρτιζειν is variously translated in the English Version: to mend (Mat_4:21), to restore (Gal_6:1) to perfect (1Co_2:10; 2Co_13:13; Heb_13:21), to fit (Rom_9:22), to frame (Heb_11:3). to prepare (Heb_10:5). In Psa_8:2, whence the above passage is quoted, the English Version reads: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained (or founded, established, Sept: κατηρτίσω for the Hebrew יִסַּד) strength (עֹז) because of thine enemies.” The proper translation here is: hast prepared, as in Heb_10:5 : σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι a body hast thou prepared for me, as a sacrifice to thee. The translation: perfected, is from the Latin Vulgate: perjecisti. But Tyndale and Cranmer have: ordained (as in Psa_8:2); Fritzsche: parasti tibi laudem; Luther: du hunt sugerichtet; de Wette, van Ess, Lange: du hast Lob bereitet; Ewald: ich will Preis oufrichten. As to the difference between strength in the Hebrew (עז) and praise in the Sept. and here (αἶνος), the latter is to be regarded as an explanation of the former. עֹז means both (Exo_15:2; Psa_29:1; Isa_12:2. etc.), and as it is here ordained out of the mouth, it must mean strength of speech or praise. The strength of the weak is praise, and the praise of God and Christ gives strength and power.—P. S.]

[28][In German: Das freis Kinderspiel sins göttlichs Prophtetie, der unfreie Tempelditnst sin ungöttiches Schauspiel geworden.—P. S.]

[29] Mat_21:18.—[Ἰ δὼν συκῆν μίαν ἐπὶ ὁ δοῦ Lange, emphasizing μίαν, Er sahe Einen (einzelnen. single) Feigenbaum über dem Wege. Bengel: One in that place (unam illo loco). So also Meyer and Winer (ein vereinz elt dastehender Feigenbaum). Possibly it may have a symbolical reference to the singular position of the Jews as the one tree of God’s planting, standing conspicuous and alone both in favor and in guilt Others, however, explain the μίαν In this case from the later usage of the Hebrew אָחַד and the Aram. חַד.—P. S.]

[30] Mat_21:19.—B., L. read: οὐμηκέτι. The Recepta omits οὐ as superfluous.

[31] Mat_21:20.—[Lange I kewise takes the sentence as an exclamation, πως=quam. But the Lat. Vulgate (Quomodo continuo aruit?), Luther, van Ess, Meyer, Ewald, Winer, Conant take it as a question, and render πως παραχρῆμα ἐξηράνθη ἡ συκῆ How did the fig-tree forthwith wither away? So also the editions of Stier and Thei’e, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford in their punctuation. The former view agrees better with the parallel passage in Mar_11:21, and to not inconsistent with the use of ἀποκριθεις which follows in both accounts. But we may regard it perhaps best as an interrogative exclamation. In any case the is of the E. V. ought to be stricken out and withered away substituted for is withered away; for εξηράνθη, as here used, expresses the act past and gone, while ἐξήρανται in Mar_11:21 signifies the result.—P. S.]

[32] Mat_21:21.—[Οὐμόνον τὸ τῆς συκῆς ποιήσετε, lit.: this of the fig-tree, or: this with the fig-tree, as Luther, Ewald, and Lange have it (das mit dem Feigenbaum thun).—P. S.]

[33][Similarly Trench, On the Miracles, p. 43, who calls those who exaggerate such small chronological differences, “the true Pharisees of history, straining at [out] gnats and swallowing camels.”—P. S.]

[34][Bengel observes on ἐπείνασε esurivit: “rex ille gloriœ, Mat_5:5. Miranda exinanitio.”—P. S.]

[35][Pliny, Hint. Nat. 16:49: Ei demum serius folium nascitur quom pomum.]

[36][On this passage of Mark there are different interpretations. See Com. in loc. and a long note in Trench (p. 441 sq.). Trench considers it very doubtful whether at that reason of the year, March or April, either fruits or leaves ordinarily appear on the fig-tree; but this tree, by putting forth leaves, nude pretension to be something more than others, to have fruit on it which in the fig-tree appears before the leaves. This tree vaunted itself to be In advance of all the other trees, and challenged the passer-by that he should come and refresh himself with its fruit. Yet when the Lord drew near, He found it like others without fruit, for, as Mark says, the time of figs had not yet arrived. The fault lay in the hypocritical pretension, the chief sin of Israel.—P. S ]

[37][Trench calls attention to the fact that the only times that the fig-tree appears prominently In the New Testament It appears as a symbol of evil; here and at Luk_13:6, According to an old tradition, it was the tree of temptation in Paradise. It is noticeable, also, that Adam attempted to cover his nakedness and shame with fig-leaves and to assume a false appearance before the Lord. But the Saviour, of course, in destroying the fig-tree because of its unfruitfulness, did not attribute to it any moral responsibility and guilt but simply a fitness as a symbol of moral unfruitfulness worthy of punishment—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.

21:15 The Jewish leaders’ stubborn refusal to believe is contrasted with the exuberant faith and praise of little children (see 18:1-14; 19:13-15).

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

Mat 21:15. Τὰ θαυμάσια, the wonderful things) see Mat 21:12; Mat 21:14.

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

Mat 21:15 . τὰ θαυμάσια : here only in N.T., the wonderful things, a comprehensive phrase apparently chosen to include all the notable things done by Jesus (Meyer), among which may be reckoned not only the cures, and the cleansing of the temple, but the enthusiasm which He had awakened in the crowd, to the priests and scribes perhaps the most offensive feature of the situation. τοὺς παῖδας , etc.: the boys and girls of the city, true to the spirit of youth, caught up and echoed the cry of the pilgrim crowd and shouted in the temple precincts: “Hosanna, etc.”. ἠγανάκτησαν , they were piqued, like the ten (Mat 20:24 ).

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

Such as should be masters of godliness, are they that do most envy the glory of Christ: but in vain.

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

Verse 15. The chief priests - were sore displeased] Or, were incensed. Incensed at what! At the purification of the profaned temple! This was a work they should have done themselves, but for which they had neither grace nor influence; and their pride and jealousy will not suffer them to permit others to do it. Strange as it may appear, the priesthood itself, in all corrupt times, has been ever the most forward to prevent a reform in the Church. Was it because they were conscious that a reformer would find them no better than money-changers in, and profaners of, the house of God, and that they and their system must be overturned, if the true worship of God were restored! Let him who is concerned answer this to his conscience.

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

(15) The chief priests.—These, as commonly in the Gospels, were the heads of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, as well as Annas and Caiaphas, who were designated by the title in its higher sense, the one as actually high priest, the other as president of the Sanhedrin. (See Note on Luk_3:2.)

The children.—Literally, the boys, the noun being masculine. Taking the Jewish classification of ages, they would probably be from seven to fourteen years old, but in such a narrative as this the general phrase does not exclude younger children.

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

15, 16. The Children’s Praise. Peculiar to St Matthew

15. the chief priests] The heads of the twenty-four priestly courses, as well as the high-priest and those who had served that office. See note ch. Mat_26:3.

children crying in the temple] Children were taught at an early age to join in the temple services. These caught the familiar feast-day strain from the Galilæan pilgrims, and unconscious of all that their words meant, saluted Jesus.

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.

And when the chief priests and Scribes,.... The inveterate enemies of Christ; who upon hearing the shouts of the people at Christ's entrance into the city, and passage through it to the temple; and understanding that it was Jesus of Nazareth that was come thither, they came also to awe the people, and pick up what they could against him: who, when they

saw the wonderful things that he did; as the overturning the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those that sold doves, without any opposition, when these traders were so many, and in great power, and he a single person, and unarmed; and that the blind received their sight, and the lame were cured,

and the children crying in the temple; who came from the various parts of the city, with their parents, to see the sight; who, when the multitude had done, they began the same ditty:

and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah, and ascribing praise and glory to him, and wishing him all happiness and prosperity: the form they had taken up from the people, and might be encouraged by their parents; and which they pronounced without fear of the high priests, and Scribes, being disposed, directed, and overruled hereunto by the providence of God. It was indeed no unusual thing for children to sing the "Hosanna" at the feast of tabernacles; for, according to the Jewish canons (k),

"a child that knew how to shake, was obliged to carry the "Lulab",''

or bundle of myrtle, and willow boughs, and palm tree branches, at the shaking of which "Hosanna" was said: but that they should cry "Hosanna" to Jesus, as David's son was very extraordinary, and what the high priests, and Scribes, took notice of with great resentment:

they were sore displeased; at the children, that so said, at their parents that suffered them, and especially at Christ, who did not forbid them. The Persic version renders it, "it displeased the priests"; the Arabic reads, "they murmured"; and the Ethiopic has it, "it was not pleasant to them".

(k) T. Bab. Succa, fol. 42. 1. Erachin, fol. 2. 2. Maimon. Hilch. Lulab, c. 7. sect. 19.

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

15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,

Ver. 15. And the children crying, &c.] To the great grief and regret of those cankered earls the priests and scribes; but to the singular commendation of their parents who had so well taught and tutored them. So the children of Merindol answered the popish bishop of Cavaillon with such grace and gravity as was admirable. So, when John Lawrence was burnt at Colchester, the young children came about him, and cried in the audience of the persecutors, "Lord, strengthen thy servant, and keep thy promise."

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.

Hosanna. St. Augustine (lib. de doct. christ. chap. xi.) thinks this word is an interjection of joy, without any particular meaning, denoting only affection, as Rocha is an expression of indignation. This opinion seems supported by the interpreters not having translated either of these words, but retained them in the Greek and in the Latin versions. It seems more than probable, according to St. Jerome, that the whole sentence is taken from Psalm cxvii. 25 and 26, in which the supposition, hosanna will signify God save; the word me, though in the verse of the Psalm just mentioned, is not in the Hebrew. It is a familiar acclamation among the Jews, which they sung every day on the feast of the tabernacles, carrying branches in their hands. (The feast of the tabernacles was figurative of Christ’s divinity, resting under the tabernacle of our humanity.) The manner in which it was chanted, was not unlike our litanies. First some name or attribute of the Deity was sung, as "For thy own sake, O Lord of Lords," to which the people answered, "hosanna," or "save us," "by thy covenant," "save us," "thy holy temple," "Hosanna, save us." These litanies were very long, and are said at present by the Jews in their synagogues. Many things have undoubtedly been added in process of time, but they most probably were in use from the beginning. (Jansenius)

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).

The other evangelists say nothing of this part of this history. The wonderful things here mentioned, are his healing the blind and lame, of which we read Mat 21:14. The cry of the children doubtless more displeased them; it was of the same nature with that of the multitude in the way, and in the streets, when our Lord came into Jerusalem; they owned Christ as the Messiah, and gave him praise, and wished all manner of felicity to him. The Pharisees showing a displeasure at the acclamation, Christ refers them to what was written, Psa 8:2; there it is, thou hast founded, or ordained, strength, that is, a solid and firm praise; a prediction that from the testimony of such weak persons, the glorious power of Christ should be proclaimed, and from such mean and despicable beginnings great and glorious things should come to pass.

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

15. Children crying in the temple — How fitting that childlike voices should shout the praises of Him who allowed not children to be forbidden to come to him! Children in the temple above will forever chant his praises, nor can there be a doubt that these children were moved by a divine impulse to utter these praises, which were so truly emblematic of the place of the child in the merciful dispensation of Christianity.

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

The chief priests. This term is generally applied to the high priest"s deputies and the heads of the twenty-four courses, but it seems here to mean certain sacerdotal members of the Sanhedrin, to whom supreme authority was delegated by the Romans or Herodians (see Josephus, "Ant.," 20:10, 5). They formed a wealthy, aristocratical body, and were many of them Sadducees. They joined with the scribes in expressing their outraged feeling, whether simulated or real. The wonderful things (ta yaumasia); an expression found nowhere else in the New Testament. It refers to the cleansing of the temple and the cures lately performed there. Children crying in the temple. This fact is mentioned only by St. Matthew. Jesus loved children, and they loved and followed him, taking up the cry which they had heard the day before from the multitude, and in simple faith applying it again to Christ. While grown men are silent or blaspheming, little children boldly sing his praises. Were sore displeased. Their envious hearts could not bear to see Jesus honoured, elevated in men"s eyes by his own beneficent actions, and now glorified by the spontaneous acclamations of these little ones.

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

15. The chief priests and scribes … were sore displeased. These inveterate enemies were displeased, not only at the authority he had assumed over the temple, but at the acclamations of approval, the cries of the children, and the evident favor of the people.

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 verse 16, Jesus quotes from the Psalms to justify how the people had responded to him.

the marvelous things

"the wonderful things" or "the miracles." This refers to Jesus healing the blind and lame people in Matthew 21:14.

Hosanna

This word means "save us" but can also mean "praise God!" See how you translated this in Matthew 21:09.

the Son of David

Jesus was not David's literal son, so this may be translated as "descendant of king David." However, "Son of David" is also a title for the Messiah, and the children were probably calling Jesus by this title. See how you translated this in Matthew 21:09.

they became very angry

It is implied that they were angry because they did not believe Jesus was the Christ and they did not want other people praising him. AT: "they became very angry because people were praising him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

Do you hear what they are saying?

The chief priests and scribes ask this question to rebuke Jesus because they are angry with him. AT: "You should not allow them to say these things about you!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

But have you never read ... praise'?

Jesus asks this question to remind the chief priests and scribes of what they have studied in the scriptures. AT: "Yes, I hear them, but you should remember what you read in the scriptures ... praise.'" (See: Rhetorical Question)

Out of the mouths of little children and nursing infants you have prepared praise

The phrase "out of the mouths" refers to speaking. AT: "You caused little children and nursing infants to prepare to give praise to God" (See: Metonymy)

Jesus left them

"Jesus left the chief priests and scribes"

translationWords

chief priests

scribe

temple

David

Jesus

praise

Bethany

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

15, 16. THE CHILDREN’S PRAISE

Peculiar to St Matthew.

15. οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς. (1) The high-priest, (2) those who had served that office, (3) the priests who were members of the high-priest’s family, and (4) perhaps, the heads of the twenty-four priestly courses. See note ch. Mat 26:3.

τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς κράζοντας. Children were taught at an early age to join in the temple services. These caught the familiar feast-day strain from the Galilæan pilgrims, and unconscious of all that their words meant, saluted Jesus.

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.

(E) 15. And the chief priests and scribes seeing the marvellous things that He did, and the children who were crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, were vexed.]

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