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Matthew 22

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The Parable of the Wedding Feast 1–14

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And Jesus answered and spake again in parables unto them, saying, ​
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The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son,
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and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the marriage feast: and they would not come.
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Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have made ready my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast.
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But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise;
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and the rest laid hold on his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. ​
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But the king was wroth; and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. ​
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Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they that were bidden were not worthy.
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Go ye therefore unto the partings of the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage feast.
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And those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was filled with guests.
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But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment: ​
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and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless.
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Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
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For many are called, but few chosen. ​

Paying Taxes to Caesar 15–22

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Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might ensnare him in his talk. ​
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And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any one: for thou regardest not the person of men. ​
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Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? ​
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But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why make ye trial of me, ye hypocrites?
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Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a denarius.
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And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
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They say unto him, Cæsar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. ​
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And when they heard it, they marvelled, and left him, and went away.

Jesus Debates the Sadducees on the Resurrection 23–33

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On that day there came to him Sadducees, they that say that there is no resurrection: and they asked him, ​
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saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
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Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first married and deceased, and having no seed left his wife unto his brother;
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in like manner the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
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And after them all, the woman died.
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In the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
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But Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. ​
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For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven. ​
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But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, ​
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I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. ​
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And when the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.

The Greatest Commandment 34–40

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But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together. ​
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And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him:
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Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? ​
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And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
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This is the great and first commandment.
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And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. ​
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On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets. ​

Jesus Questions the Pharisees on the Messiah 41–46

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Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, ​
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saying, What think ye of the Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. ​
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He saith unto them, How then doth David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, ​
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The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I put thine enemies underneath thy feet? ​
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If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son?
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And no one was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Matthew 22

Verse 1

answered and spake unto them again by parables — 'Answered' (apokrinomai) here means to begin to speak, since no question was asked; he answers their murderous thoughts. 'Again' returns to the vineyard parable, whose servants also came 'again' (Matt 21:36); this parable runs on the same lines.

Verse 6

the remnant took his servants — Loipoi, 'the rest', the others of those bidden. 'Entreated them spitefully' is hybrizo, to treat with outrage, and the end is murder. It is the history of the messengers sent to Israel (Matt 21:35), summed up in 'thou that killest the prophets' (Matt 23:37).

Verse 7

burned up their city — The king 'was wroth' (orgizo) and sends 'his armies' (strateuma) against 'those murderers'. The judgment fell on Jerusalem within a generation: 'Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles' (Luke 21:24). The feast still goes on (v.8), and the invitation passes to others.

Verse 11

a wedding garment — Enduma, the outer robe; the man had not 'put on' (endyo) one. Entering the hall was not enough. Scripture clothes the saints in white: 'fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints' (Rev 19:8; cf. Rev 3:5).

Verse 14

many are called, but few are chosen — 'Called' is kletos, invited; 'chosen' is eklektos, elect. The invitation went to bad and good alike (v.10), yet the man without a garment was cast out. Matt 20:16 ends another parable with the same words; 2 Pet 1:10 urges making 'your calling and election sure'.

Verse 15

entangle him in his talk — Pagideuo, to snare, as a bird or beast is trapped; the word is built on pagis, a snare. 'Took counsel' is symboulion. The Pharisees had joined the Herodians in a plot once before (Mark 3:6), and the same pair appear in Mark 12:13, sent 'to catch him in his words'.

Verse 16

the Herodians — Herodianoi, partisans of Herod's house, a party distinct from the Pharisees yet joined with them here (Mark 3:6). The flattery, that he 'regardest not the person of men', rests on prosopon, the face: he shows no favour to anyone. It was meant to make him speak freely and incriminate himself.

Verse 17

tribute unto Caesar — Kensos, from the Latin census, the tax paid to Rome (cf. Luke 2:1, Caesar Augustus' decree that 'all the world should be taxed'). 'Lawful' (exesti) asks whether the law of God allowed it. Either a yes or a no would give his questioners an accusation.

Verse 21

Render therefore unto Caesar — Apodidomi, to give back what is owed; Paul uses the same thought: 'Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due' (Rom 13:7). The coin bore Caesar's 'image' (v.20); man bears God's image (Gen 1:26), so 'the things that are God's' reach the whole person.

Verse 23

no resurrection — The Sadducees held, in Luke's words, 'that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit' (Acts 23:8); the Pharisees confessed both. Anastasis is a standing up again. Their question rests on a law of Moses (v.24), the writer they were claiming for their side.

Verse 29

Ye do err — Planao, to wander from the road. Two causes are named: 'not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God'. The answer takes them in reverse order: God's power in v.30, and the Scripture they accepted in vv.31–32. Mark 12:24 gives the same rebuke.

Verse 30

as the angels of God in heaven — 'Marry' is gameo and 'given in marriage' ekgamizo, the man's and the woman's part. The likeness is in this: 'neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection' (Luke 20:36).

Verse 31

have ye not read — This is a question Jesus asks his opponents elsewhere (Matt 12:3; 21:42). The words he cites were 'spoken unto you by God' at the burning bush (Exod 3:6; Mark 12:26), in the books of Moses the Sadducees accepted. Nekros is 'the dead', whose rising the Sadducees denied (v.23).

Verse 32

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living — God spoke to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exod 3:6) when those patriarchs had long been dead; to be their God is to hold them in life. Luke adds the reason: 'for all live unto him' (Luke 20:38).

Verse 34

put the Sadducees to silence — Phimoo, to muzzle, the verb of v.12, where the guest was 'speechless'. The Pharisees, who shared the doctrine of the resurrection, did not hold back; they 'were gathered together' (synago) to try him again, with a lawyer as spokesman (v.35).

Verse 36

the great commandment — Megas, great, and entole, an ordered charge. The man is a nomikos, an expert in the law, and asks 'tempting him' (v.35). Mark records the same question as 'Which is the first commandment of all?' (Mark 12:28). Jesus later rebukes those who 'omitted the weightier matters of the law' (Matt 23:23).

Verse 39

the second is like unto it — Homoios, of the same kind. The first command is from Deut 6:5; this one is from Lev 19:18. Paul says that 'love is the fulfilling of the law' (Rom 13:10) and that 'all the law is fulfilled in one word' (Gal 5:14): love of God and neighbour are joined together.

Verse 40

hang all the law and the prophets — Kremannymi, to hang. 'The law and the prophets' is the whole Old Testament; Jesus uses the same phrase to sum up the Golden Rule (Matt 7:12). Every command rests on these two.

Verse 41

Jesus asked them — Eperotao. After the questions put to him in vv.17, 28 and 36, he asks one of his own, in the temple (Mark 12:35), 'while the Pharisees were gathered together' (cf. v.34). It concerns the Christ, Christos, 'anointed', the title of the promised king.

Verse 42

The Son of David — The answer is correct: the LORD promised to 'raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign' (Jer 23:5), and Paul says Christ was 'made of the seed of David according to the flesh' (Rom 1:3). The question that follows asks what that answer leaves out.

Verse 43

in spirit call him Lord — En pneumati, by the inspiration of the Spirit; Mark has 'David himself said by the Holy Ghost' (Mark 12:36). David's words were not his own thought: 'The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue' (2 Sam 23:2). Kyrios is 'Lord'.

Verse 44

The LORD said unto my Lord — Quoted from Ps 110:1, where the first 'LORD' is the divine name and the second is adon, master. Peter applies it to the ascended Christ (Acts 2:34–35), and Hebrews asks which of the angels was ever told 'Sit on my right hand' (Heb 1:13).

Verse 46

no man was able to answer him a word — Apokrinomai, the verb of answering, which began this exchange in v.1. 'Durst' is tolmao, to venture. Luke has 'they durst not ask him any question at all' (Luke 20:40); Mark adds that after the scribe's answer 'no man after that durst ask him any question' (Mark 12:34).