And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees--"their disciples," says Matthew (Mat 22:16); probably young and zealous scholars in that hardening school.
and of the Herodians--(See on Mat 12:14). In Luk 20:20 these willing tools are called "spies, which should feign themselves just [righteous] men, that they might take hold of His words, that so they might deliver Him unto the power and authority of the governor." Their plan, then, was to entrap Him into some expression which might be construed into disaffection to the Roman government; the Pharisees themselves being notoriously discontented with the Roman yoke.
Tribute to CÃ&brvbr;sar (Mar 12:14-17).
we know that thou art true, and carest for no man; for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth--By such flattery--though they said only the truth--they hoped to throw Him off His guard.
Is it lawful to give tribute to CÃ&brvbr;sar, or not?--It was the civil poll tax paid by all enrolled in the "census." See on Mat 17:25.
He said unto them, Why tempt ye me?--"hypocrites!"
bring me a penny that I may see it--"the tribute money" (Mat 22:19).
and superscription?--the words encircling it on the obverse side.
And they said unto him, CÃ&brvbr;sar's.
and to God the things that are God's--How much is there in this profound but to them startling addition to the maxim, and how incomparable is the whole for fulness, brevity, clearness, weight!
and they marvelled at him--"at His answer, and held their peace" (Luk 20:26), "and left Him, and went their way" (Mat 22:22).
The Resurrection (Mar 12:18-27).
and they asked him, saying--as follows:
If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him . . . And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.
neither the power of God?--before which a thousand such difficulties vanish.
but are as the angels which are in heaven--In Luke (Luk 20:36) it is "equal unto the angels." But as the subject is death and resurrection, we are not warranted to extend the equality here taught beyond the one point--the immortality of their nature. A beautiful clause is added in Luke (Luk 20:36) --"and are the children of God"--not in respect of character, which is not here spoken of, but of nature--"being the children of the resurrection," as rising to an undecaying existence (Rom 8:21, Rom 8:23), and so being the children of their Father's immortality (Ti1 6:16).
how in the bush God spake unto him--either "at the bush," as the same expression is rendered in Luk 20:37, that is, when he was there; or "in the [section of his history regarding the] bush." The structure of our verse suggests the latter sense, which is not unusual.
saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?-- (Exo 3:6).
The Great Commandment (Mar 12:28-34).
"But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together" (Mat 22:34).
came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him--manifestly in no bad spirit. When Matthew (Mat 22:35) therefore says he came "tempting," or "trying him," as one of the Pharisaic party who seemed to enjoy the defeat He had given to the Sadducees, we may suppose that though somewhat priding himself upon his insight into the law, and not indisposed to measure his knowledge with One in whom he had not yet learned to believe, he was nevertheless an honest-hearted, fair disputant.
Which is the first commandment of all?--first in importance; the primary, leading commandment, the most fundamental one. This was a question which, with some others, divided the Jewish teachers into rival schools. Our Lord's answer is in a strain of respect very different from what He showed to cavillers--ever observing His own direction, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine; lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you" (Mat 7:6).
Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord--This every devout Jew recited twice every day, and the Jews do it to this day; thus keeping up the great ancient national protest against the polytheisms and pantheisms of the heathen world: it is the great utterance of the national faith in One Living and Personal God--"ONE JEHOVAH!"
Thou shalt love--We now come to the glorious Object of that demanded affection.
Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God--that is, Jehovah, the Self-Existent One, who has revealed Himself as the "I AM," and there is none else; who, though by His name JEHOVAH apparently at an unapproachable distance from His finite creatures, yet bears to thee a real and definite relationship, out of which arises His claim and thy duty--of LOVE. But with what are we to love Him? Four things are here specified. First, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God"
with thy heart--This sometimes means "the whole inner man" (as Pro 4:23); but that cannot be meant here; for then the other three particulars would be superfluous. Very often it means "our emotional nature"--the seat of feeling as distinguished from our intellectual nature or the seat of thought, commonly called the "mind" (as in Phi 4:7). But neither can this be the sense of it here; for here the heart is distinguished both from the "mind" and the "soul." The "heart," then, must here mean the sincerity of both the thoughts and the feelings; in other words, uprightness or true-heartedness, as opposed to a hypocritical or divided affection. But next, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" with thy soul. This is designed to command our emotional nature: Thou shalt put feeling or warmth into thine affection. Further, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God"
with thy mind--This commands our intellectual nature: Thou shalt put intelligence into thine affection--in opposition to a blind devotion, or mere devoteeism. Lastly, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God"
with thy strength--This commands our energies: Thou shalt put intensity into thine affection--"Do it with thy might" (Ecc 9:10). Taking these four things together, the command of the Law is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy powers--with a sincere, a fervid, an intelligent, an energetic love." But this is not all that the Law demands. God will have all these qualities in their most perfect exercise. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," says the Law, "with all thy heart," or, with perfect sincerity; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul," or, with the utmost fervor; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind," or, in the fullest exercise of an enlightened reason; and "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy strength," or, with the whole energy of our being! So much for the First Commandment.
Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself--Now, as we are not to love ourselves supremely, this is virtually a command, in the first place, not to love our neighbor with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. And thus it is a condemnation of the idolatry of the creature. Our supreme and uttermost affection is to be reserved for God. But as sincerely as ourselves we are to love all mankind, and with the same readiness to do and suffer for them as we should reasonably desire them to show to us. The golden rule (Mat 7:12) is here our best interpreter of the nature and extent of these claims.
There is none other commandment greater than these--or, as in Mat 22:40, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (see on Mat 5:17). It is as if He had said, "This is all Scripture in a nutshell; the whole law of human duty in a portable, pocket form." Indeed, it is so simple that a child may understand it, so brief that all may remember it, so comprehensive as to embrace all possible cases. And from its very nature it is unchangeable. It is inconceivable that God should require from his rational creatures anything less, or in substance anything else, under any dispensation, in any world, at any period throughout eternal duration. He cannot but claim this--all this--alike in heaven, in earth, and in hell! And this incomparable summary of the divine law belonged to the Jewish religion! As it shines in its own self-evidencing splendor, so it reveals its own true source. The religion from which the world has received it could be none other than a God-given religion!
thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he--The genuine text here seems clearly to have been, "There is one," without the word "God"; and so nearly all critical editors and expositors read.
he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God--for he had but to follow out a little further what he seemed sincerely to own, to find his way into the kingdom. He needed only the experience of another eminent scribe who at a later period said, "We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin": who exclaimed, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?" but who added, "I thank God through Jesus Christ!" (Rom 7:14, Rom 7:24-25). Perhaps among the "great company of the priests" and other Jewish ecclesiastics who "were obedient to the faith," almost immediately after the day of Pentecost (Act 6:7), this upright lawyer was one. But for all his nearness to the Kingdom of God, it may be he never entered it.
And no man after that durst ask any question--all feeling that they were no match for Him, and that it was vain to enter the lists with Him.
Christ Baffles the Pharisees Regarding David (Mar 12:35-37).
How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?--How come they to give it out that Messiah is to be the son of David? In Matthew (Mat 22:42), Jesus asks them, "What think ye of Christ?" or of the promised and expected Messiah? "Whose son is He [to be]? They say unto Him, The son of David." The sense is the same. "He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord?" (Mat 22:42-43).
And the common people--the immense crowd.
heard him gladly--"And no man was able to answer Him a word; neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions" (Mat 22:46).
The Scribes Denounced (Mar 12:38-40).
Beware of the scribes, which love--or like.
to go in long clothing--(see on Mat 23:5).
and love salutations in the market-places,
at feasts--On this love of distinction, see on Luk 14:7; Mat 6:5.