John Gill

‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless.

“And he saith unto him, friend,.... Either in an ironical way, or because he professed to be a friend of God and Christ: how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? Which way didst thou come in hither?”

Show Me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought Him a denarius.

“Shew me the tribute money,.... Not any money, or any sort of coin that was current among them; but that in which the tribute was usually paid, which was Roman money: and they brought unto him a penny; not as, being what was the usual…”

That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him.

“These understanding that the former had not succeeded, came with a knotty question, with which they had often puzzled the Pharisees, and hoped they should nonplus Christ with it, showing the absurdity of the doctrine of the resurrection, an article which they denied; as it…”

“Teacher,” they said, “Moses declared that if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.

“Saying, master,.... Rabbi, or doctor, as he was usually called; Moses said, in Deu 25:5 if a man die having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother; which, though not expressed in the self same words, yet…”

In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For all of them were married to her.”

“Therefore in the resurrection,.... As asserted by the Pharisees and by Christ, supposing that there will be such a thing, though not granting it; for these men denied it, wherefore the Ethiopic version reads it hypothetically, "if therefore the dead will be raised"; upon such…”

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

“And the second is like unto it,.... For there is but a second, not a third: this is suggested in opposition to the numerous commandments in the law, according to the opinion of the Jews, who reckon them in all to be "six hundred and…”

No one was able to answer a word, and from that day on no one dared to question Him any further.

“And no man was able to answer him a word,.... They saw the dilemma they were reduced to, either to acknowledge the deity of the Messiah, or confess their ignorance; and neither of them they cared to do, and therefore judged it to be the…”

They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

“For they bind heavy burdens,.... Meaning not the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses, circumcision, and other rituals, which obliged to the keeping of the whole law, which was a yoke men were not able to bear; but the traditions of the elders…”

They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,

“And love the uppermost rooms at feasts,.... Or the first and chief places to sit, or lie down on, at ordinary meals, and especially at large entertainments, where the great ones sat, as in 1Sa 9:22 where Jarchi on the place observes, that by the…”

The greatest among you shall be your servant.

“But he that is greatest among you,.... Either who really is so, having more grace, and greater gifts bestowed upon him, than others; which doubtless was the case of some of the disciples, or who desired to be the greatest, was ambitious of, and affected…”

You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?

“Ye fools, and blind,.... This is very justly repeated, since this is no less an instance of their folly, blindness, and stupidity.”

And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it.

“And whoso shall swear by the temple,.... As we have before seen they used to do, and as appears from what the poet says (w): Ecce negas, jurasque mihi per templa tonantis Non credo: jura, verpe, per Anchialum.”

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“Ye blind guides,.... As in Mat 23:16. who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel: the Syriac and Persic versions read the words in the plural number, gnats and camels.”

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

“Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,.... Our Lord cannot be thought to bear too hard upon these men, nor does he continue this character of them, and denunciations of woe against them, without a reason: for ye make clean the outside of the cup…”

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and…

“Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,.... It is much these men could bear to hear themselves so often called by this name; and it shows great courage in our Lord, so freely to reprove them, and expose their wickedness, who were men of so…”

In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

“Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous,.... By making broad their phylacteries, enlarging the borders of their garments, praying long prayers, compassing sea and land to make one proselyte, paying tithes of all manner of herbs, and cleansing the outside of the cup and platter…”

So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

“Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves,.... Or "against yourselves", as the Syriac reads; for what they said was a plain acknowledgment, and a full confession, what their fathers had done, and whose offspring they were; and from whom better things were not to be expected…”

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under…

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,.... The metropolis of Judea, the seat of the kings of Judah, yea, the city of the great king; the place of divine worship, once the holy and faithful city, the joy of the whole earth; wherefore it was strange that the following…”

For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

“For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth,.... Meaning in a very little time after the passover, from the time of his crucifixion and death; otherwise they saw him many times after this, as in the palace of the high priest, in…”

As Jesus left the temple and was walking away, His disciples came up to Him to point out its buildings.

“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple,.... He not only went out of it for that time, but took his final leave of it, never to return more to it; having foretold its desolation, which he, in part, by so doing, immediately fulfilled…”

While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately.

“And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives,.... Which was on the east of the city of Jerusalem (a), "over against the temple", as Mark says, and where he could sit and take a full view of it; for the wall on the east…”

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars,.... This is the second sign of the destruction of Jerusalem: it is observable that this, and some of the following signs, are given by the Jews, as signs of the Messiah's coming; whereas they were…”

Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house.

“Let him which is on the housetop,.... Who should be there either for his devotion or recreation; for the houses of the Jews were built with flat roofs and battlements about them, which they made use of both for diversion and pleasure, and for private…”

And let no one in the field return for his cloak.

“Neither let him which is in the field,.... Ploughing, or sowing, or employed in any other parts of husbandry, or rural business, return back to take clothes; for it was usual to work in the fields without their clothes, as at ploughing and sowing.”

For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,.... Such as the above mentioned: these false Christs had their false prophets, who endeavoured to persuade the people to believe them to be the Messiah, as Barcochab had Akiba, who applied many prophecies to him.”