Matthew 22:33
in Matthew 22When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
KJV
And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.
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This verse in Matthew 22
Commentary
12 notes on this verse(Vers. 31 seqq.) But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken by God, saying to you: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching. To prove the truth of the resurrection, he could have used many other more obvious examples, among which is: The dead will be raised up, and those who are in the graves will rise again (Isaiah 26:19).
This site's exposition
touching the resurrection of the dead
on Matthew 22:31-33
Jesus answers the resurrection question itself from the one authority the Sadducees accepted, Moses at the burning bush, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and presses the tense of the statement rather than its content: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were centuries buried when God spoke those words to Moses, so the sentence only holds if the patriarchs still live to God, a resurrection argument drawn from a single verb in the Torah itself rather than from a text the Sadducees rejected. The multitude, hearing it, were astonished at his doctrine, a case built so tightly from their own accepted books that no rebuttal was offered.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
And see how the assault of the Jews against Christ becomes more faint. Their first challenge was in a threatening tone, By what authority doest thou these things, to oppose which firmness of spirit was needed. Their second was with guile, to meet which was needed wisdom. This last was with ignorant presumption which is easier to cope with than the others. For he that thinks he knows somewhat, when he knows nothing, is an easy conquest for one who has understanding.
Not the Sadducees but the multitudes were astonished. This is daily done in the Church; when by Divine inspiration the adversaries of the Church are overcome, the multitude of the faithful rejoice.
In proof of the resurrection there were many plainer passages which He might have cited; among others that of Isaiah, The dead shall be raised; they that are in the tombs shall rise again: (Is. 26:19. juxta LXX.) and in another place, Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. (Dan. 12:2.) It is enquired therefore why the Lord should have chosen this testimony which seems ambiguous, and not sufficiently belonging to the truth of the resurrection; and as if by this He had proved the point adds, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. We have said above that the Sadducees confessed neither Angel, nor spirit, nor resurrection of the body, and taught also the death of the soul. But they also received only the five books of Moses, rejecting the Prophets. It would have been foolish therefore to have brought forward testimonies whose authority they did not admit. To prove the immortality of souls therefore, He brings forward an instance out of Moses, I am the God of Abraham, &c. and then straight subjoins, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; so that having established that souls abide after death, (forasmuch as God could not be the God of those who had no existence any where,) there might fitly come in the resurrection of bodies which had together with their souls done good or evil.
A commentator
John ChrysostomHomily on the Gospel of Matthew 70 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
"And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His doctrine." Yet not even here the Sadducees; but these go away defeated, while the impartial multitude reap the benefit.
A commentator
Pseudo-Dionysius the AreopagiteThe Divine Names, Chapter I · Written before 532.
proposed
...but, then, when we have become incorruptible and immortal, and have reached the Christlike and most blessed repose, according to the Divine saying, we shall be "ever with the Lord," fulfilled, through all-pure contemplations, with the visible manifestation of God covering us with glory, in …
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
There follows the effect, for they wondered: and the multitudes hearing it were in admiration at his doctrine. Psalm 118:129: thy testimonies are wonderful, O Lord, etc.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And when the multitude heard this,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
This passage describes a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sadducees. These unhappy men, who said that there was “no resurrection” attempted, like the Pharisees and Herodians, to perplex our Lord with hard questions. Like them, they hoped “to entangle him in his talk” and to injure his reputation among the people. Like them, they were completely baffled. Let us observe in the first place, that absurd skeptical objections to Bible truths are ancient things.
This passage describes a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sadducees. These unhappy men, who said that there was “no resurrection” attempted, like the Pharisees and Herodians, to perplex our Lord with hard questions. Like them, they hoped “to entangle him in his talk” and to injure his reputation among the people. Like them, they were completely baffled. Let us observe in the first place, that absurd skeptical objections to Bible truths are ancient things. The Sadducees wished to show the absurdity of the doctrine of the resurrection and the life to come; they therefore came to our Lord with a story which was probably invented for the occasion. They told him that a certain woman had married seven brothers in succession, who had all died and left no children. They then asked, “whose wife” this woman would be in the next world, when all rose again. The object of the question was plain and transparent. They meant, in reality, to bring the whole doctrine of a resurrection into contempt; they meant to insinuate that there must needs be confusion, and strife and unseemly disorder if after death men and women were to live again. It must never surprise us if we meet with like objections against the doctrines of Scripture, and especially against those doctrines which concern another world. There never probably will be wanting unreasonable men who will intrude into things unseen and make imaginary difficulties their excuse for unbelief. Supposed cases are one of the favorite strongholds in which an unbelieving mind loves to entrench itself. Such a mind will often set up a shadow of its own imagining, and fight with it as if it was a truth; such a mind will often refuse to look at the overwhelming mass of plain evidence by which Christianity is supported, and will fasten down on some one single difficulty which it fancies is unanswerable.
The multitude were astonished at his doctrine - God uses the infidelity of some for the edification of others. Had no false doctrine been broached in the world, we had not seen the full evidence of the true teaching. The opposition of deists and infidels has only served to raise up men in behalf of the truth of God, who not only have refuted them, but shown, at the same time, that the sacred testimonies are infinitely amiable in themselves, and worthy of all acceptation. Truth always gains by being opposed.
How the passage was read
On Matthew 22:23-46On Matthew 22:23-46
The Sadducees' riddle, the greatest commandment, and David's son
The Sadducees, the priestly party that denied the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8), build their riddle on levirate marriage: the Torah's command that a man marry his brother's childless widow (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the law behind Ruth; the Mishnah's tractate Yevamot regulates its cases). Seven brothers, one widow: “in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?” Jesus answers them from the Torah alone, the canon they granted: “I AM the God of Abraham” (Exodus 3:6), the living God of living men. Note where the parties stand: the Pharisees affirmed the resurrection so strongly that the Mishnah excludes from the world to come anyone who says the resurrection is not from the Torah (Sanhedrin 10:1). On this doctrine the Pharisaic tradition and Christian confession stand together against the Sadducees.
The lawyer's question that follows, “which is the great commandment?”, belongs to a genuine rabbinic genre: the search for a kelal gadol, a great governing principle. Hillel, asked to teach the whole Torah while a challenger stood on one foot, answered “what is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow; that is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary; go and learn” (Shabbat 31a); Rabbi Akiva later called “love your neighbor as yourself” the all-embracing principle of the Torah (Sifra on Leviticus 19:18). Jesus' first answer IS the Shema, the confession every observant Jew prays morning and evening (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), joined to Leviticus 19:18. The materials are the tradition's own; what is His alone is the authority with which He joins and ranks them, and the counter-question He then asks from Psalm 110: whose son is the Messiah?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1 (the resurrection as core doctrine) · Shabbat 31a (Babylonian Talmud, Hillel on one foot) · Sifra, Kedoshim 4:12 (Akiva's great principle) · Mishnah Yevamot 1:1 (the levirate tractate)
The words behind it
9 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἀκούσαντες | akousantes | having heard | G191 → | 425 times |
| οἱ | hoi | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὄχλοι | ochloi | crowds | G3793 → | 175 times |
| ἐξεπλήσσοντο | exeplessonto | were astonished | G1605 → | 13 times |
| ἐπὶ | epi | at | G1909 → | 883 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| διδαχῇ | didachea | teaching | G1322 → | 30 times |
| αὐτοῦ.¶ | autou | of Him. | G846 → | 5565 times |
ΚαὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἀκούσαντεςhaving heard
akousantesG191 →425 times
οἱthe
hoiG3588 →19766 times
ὄχλοιcrowds
ochloiG3793 →175 times
ἐξεπλήσσοντοwere astonished
exeplessontoG1605 →13 times
ἐπὶat
epiG1909 →883 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
διδαχῇteaching
didacheaG1322 →30 times
αὐτοῦ.¶of Him.
autouG846 →5565 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Mark 6:2When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these ideas?” they asked. “What is this wisdom He has been…
it leads to
- John 6:42
They were asking, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can He say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 7:15
The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man attain such learning without having studied?”
- Mark 1:21–22
Then Jesus and His companions went to Capernaum, and right away Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach.
- John 6:42
Through
Mark 12:17Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” And they marveled at Him.
it leads to
- Romans 13:7
Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
- Romans 13:7
Through
Luke 4:22All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” they asked.
it leads to
- Matthew 13:54–56
Coming to His hometown, He taught the people in their synagogue, and they were astonished. “Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers?” they asked.
- Psalms 45:2
You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips, since God has blessed you forever.
- Acts 6:10
but they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
- Matthew 13:54–56
Through
John 7:46“Never has anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered.
it leads to
- Matthew 7:28–29
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching,
- Matthew 7:28–29
Where this verse is studied
About Matthew
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew; Jerome, Commentary on Matthew; Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 70; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Pseudo-Chrysostom, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, The Divine Names, Chapter I; Remigius of Rheims, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew.