A PLAIN COMMENTARY ON THE SIXTEENTH CHAPTER OF St. Matthew's Gospel. 1 The Pharisees require a sign. 6 JESUS warneth His Disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 13 The people's opinion of CHRIST, 16 and Peter's confession of Him. 21 JESUS foresheweth His Death, 23 reproving Peter for dissuading Him from it: 24 and admonisheth those that will follow Him, to bear the Cross. XVI. THE Pharisees also with the Sad- 1 ducees came, and tempting desired Him that He would shew them a sign from Heaven. The Pharisees and Scribes had already made the same demand of our LORDa. Here we find the former sect conspiring with their rivals, the Sadducees, to ensnare the Holy One. Take notice what readiness is found in those who are opposed to each other in every thing else, to combine for an unholy purpose,—to unite in their common hostility against the Truth. Herod and Pontius Pilate are made friends,' when the LORD of Glory is to be crucified. The Stoics and Epicureans can unite in order to encounter St. Paul". Some a St. Matthew xii. 38. b Consider Acts xxiii. 6 to 10. e St. Luke xxiii. 12.-1 Cor. ii. 8. 2 thing similar is witnessed at the present day in the unholy alliance which is ever and anon formed against the Church of these Realms by the various sects, whether of home or foreign growth, which are (wisely) tolerated among us. Even the unbeliever is hailed as a welcome ally, when the Church of CHRIST is the object of active enmity. Concerning the 'sign from Heaven' required by these evil men, the Reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew xii. 38, and St. Mark viii. 11. They desired to see Manna descend, or the Sun stand still, or thunder and rain appears, or fire come down from Heaven; or again, that the shadow should return backward ten degreesi. But,— He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather; 3 for the sky is red: and in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day; for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? It is well remarked by a living writer,-" Our LORD calls them Hypocrites,' because they pretended a desire to be satisfied as to His being the CHRIST, while they were really determined not to acknowledge Him as such." See what has been said on this subject in the note on the last part of St. Mark viii. 11; and on St. Mark viii. 15. e Exodus xvi. 4, 15. h f Joshua x. 12, 13. 1 Sam. xii. 16 to 18. 2 Kings i. 10, 12. i 2 Kings xx. 10, 11. "The signs of the times," or rather, "of the Seasons,"-clearly denotes those many indications which a watchful and attentive spirit might have discovered that 'the fulness of Time' had arrived, and that the Reign of MESSIAH was, at last, actually at hand. The preaching of the Baptist, (the promised Elijah,)-His own Miracles,-and the unexpected fulfilment in Himself of so many dark places of Prophecy,—were perhaps the chief things to which the Blessed Speaker may be thought to have alluded.—He proceeds, A wicked and adulterous generation seek- 4 eth after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas. "This saying, St. Matthew has already given; whence we may store up for our information that the LORD spoke the same thing many times. Where there are contradictions, therefore, which cannot be explained, it may be understood that the same sayings were uttered on two different occasions." So far, an ancient Father. See the note on St. Mark viii. 12.-Strange, that the sign of His Resurrection oftenest insisted upon by our Blessed LORD, the only one to which He condescended to appeal,-had been exhibited by the first of the Prophets ! St. Mark introduces these sayings of our LORD, (which, however, he gives far more briefly,) with the k St. Matth. xii. 39. statement that "He sighed deeply in His Spirit1." With the deepest sorrow, we may be sure, were the words spoken. After which, it is solemnly added, And He left them, and departed. That is, He embarked with His Disciples; and crossing the Northern part of the Sea of Galilee, repaired to the Eastern shore, -the scene of His two recent miracles of feeding. See the notes on St. Mark viii. 13 and 14, concerning this and the next verse. 5 And when His Disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 In which statement, (remarks an ancient writer,) "it should be observed how far the Disciples were from any longing for luxuries, when they took so small care even for the very necessaries of life.” Then JESUS said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. His Human Soul was yet filled with heavy thoughts concerning the hard-hearted persons with whom He had so recently had to do. Not so, the Disciples. Their hearts soared not, like His. The mention of leaven' suggested to them nothing beyond the notion of bodily food, and St. Mark viii. 12. anxiety concerning the scanty supply of bread with which they had set out from home. Full of deep meaning, we may be sure, was this caution concerning "leaven" on our SAVIOUR'S lips. Consider how it had been threatened in the Ancient Law, that whosoever of the people ate leavened bread at certain seasons, "that soul should be cut off from Israelm." And was it not the true Israel,-the Israel of GOD,-to whom the language of the text was addressed?... See more in the note to St. Mark viii. 15. And they reasoned among themselves, say- 7 ing, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when JESUS perceived, He said unto 8 them, Rather," And JESUS, knowing it, said to them"," O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? "They were perplexed about the meaning of their Master's saying, and imagined that He intended by it to caution them against supplying their present want with such leavened bread as had been made by any Pharisee or Sadducee. We are told that the Jews had religious scruples about the persons from whom they got their leaven; and Exodus xii. 15. Concerning which words see the note on St. Mark ii. 8. |