Ver. 1. A certain man planted, &c.] [See Trapp on “Mt 21:33”]
Ver. 3. And beat him] Properly, they hild (tanned) him; but by a metonymy, they beat him. Sic percutimus vulpem, ut pellis ei detrahatur; so men beat a fox that they may the better skin him. (Δερω proprie excorio, pellem detraho. Gerhard.) A figure of speech which consists in substituting for the name of a thing the name of an attribute of it or of something closely related. ŒD
Ver. 4. Wounded him in the head] Caput comminuerunt, they brak e his head. Theophylact interpreteth it, They completed their villany, and spent all their spite upon him (συνετελεσαν και εκορυφωσαν την υβριν).
Ver. 6. They will reverence my son] They will surely be ashamed to look him in the face. This is the proper signification of the word εντραπησονται. But sin had woaded an impudence in their faces, that they could blush no more than a sackbut. To dye, colour, or stain with woad, sometimes (in dyeing) as a ground for another colour. ŒD
Ver. 13. To catch him in his words] As hunters catch the beast in a toil, αγρευσωσι, as fowlers catch the bird in a snare, as St Matthew’s word here signifies (παγιδευσωσι). “ Fistula dulce canit, voluerem dum decipit auceps. ”
Ver. 14. To give tribute] This tribute the Jews then paid to the Romans as now they do to the Turks, for the very heads they wear. And yet they had the face to say to our Saviour, “We never were in bondage to any man,” John 8:33. But perhaps these Jews were of the sect of Judas Gaulonites, who would not be drawn by any torments to acknowledge any lord upon earth; believing that God only was to be held their Lord and King. (Joseph. Ant. xviii, c. 2.)
Ver. 15. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:19”]
Ver. 16. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:20”]
Ver. 17. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:21”]
Ver. 18. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:23”]
Ver. 19. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:24”]
Ver. 20. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:25”]
Ver. 21. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:26”]
Ver. 22. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:26”] [See Trapp on “Mt 22:27”]
Ver. 23. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:28”]
Ver. 24. Not knowing the Scriptures] And yet they alleged and argued out of Scripture, but upon a false ground; viz. that the state of men should continue in the other world such as it is here; as to eat, drink, marry, generate, &c.
Ver. 25. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:30”]
Ver. 26. I am the God of Abraham] Therefore thy God also, if thou walk in the footsteps of faithful Abraham, Romans 4:23,24.
Ver. 27. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:32”]
Ver. 28. Asked him, which is the first] All Christ’s disciples must be Ζητητικοι, Questionists, and do the same to learn that this scribe here doth for a worse purpose.
Ver. 29. Is one Lord] This the wiser heathens, as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle with his Ens Entium miserere mei (if that were his), acknowledged, Exodus 34:14. (εις θεος εστι μονος, Pythag. Bu xtorf. Tib.) “Thou shalt worship none other God.” Where the word רתא rendered other hath ר greater than ordinary, to show the greatness of the sin of serving other gods, and to set forth a difference betweeen acher, other, and echad, one God; one in three, and three in one. [Hebrew Text Note]
Ver. 30. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:37”]
Ver. 31. [See Trapp on “Mt 22:39”]
Ver. 34. Answered discreetly] That he was better than the Pharisees used to be. He was Egregie cordatus homo, and began to lift up his head out of the mud towards heaven.
Ver. 35. How say the Scribes] They were great genealogists; how was it then that they were no better versed in the genealogy of Christ? that they could give no better an account of his twofold nature? of other things one may be ignorant, and yet be saved: not so here.
Ver. 36. Said by the Holy Ghost] The Psalms then are a part of Holy Writ by Christ’s own testimony, who also, Luke 24:44, divideth the Old Testament into the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. Yea, Psalmorum liber quaecunque utilia sunt ex omnibus confinet, saith Augustine after Basil; the Psalms are a treasury of all holy truths.
Ver. 37. The common people] The lesser fishes commonly bite best.
Ver. 38. Love to go in long clothing] Down to the heels, as senators, or counsellors. A garment that Christ himself wore, as being a citizen or free denizen of Capernaum. But he loved not to go in it, as these Pharisees, these glorious masters of the Jews; he affected not this habit more than another out of pride and vain glory, to be looked at, and admired by the common people. This they thought a goodly business. οι θελοντες, voluerunt cum summa cupiditate.
Ver. 39. [See Trapp on “Mt 23:6”]
Ver. 40. [See Trapp on “Mt 23:14”]
Ver. 41. And beheld] He still sits and seeth the condition, gift, and mind of every almsgiver; and weighs all, not by the worth of the gift, but by the will of the giver. Lycurgus enjoined the Lacedaemonians to offer small sacrifices. For God, said he, respects more the internal devotion than the external oblation. How the people cast money] χαλκον, brass; the worst was thought good enough for God and his poor. Something men will do, b ut as little as they can.
Ver. 42. Two mites] A mite is valued of our money to be three parts of one cent. (Godw. Ant.) Her mite could weigh but little, but her heart weighed heavy; and so her heart, being put to her mite, gave it weight above the greater (but far more heartless) largesses of the Pharisees.
Ver. 43. This poor widow] Women are noted in the parable of the lost groat to be fond of money; widows especially, and poor widows, make much of that little they have, as their life; so it is called here, Mark 12:44, even all her life (ολον τον βιον), that is, her livelihood. All this she cast in, it being rather to and for the service of God than to the poor. She resolves, as a widow indeed, to trust wholly in God.