14 For many are called, but few are chosen. that thou art true, and teachest the way of God a Ch. 8. 12.- b ch. 20. 16. Mark 12. 13. Luke 20. 20. by my name, while living without a preparation for my kingdom? He was speechless.] En, he was muzzled, or gagged. He had nothing to say in vindication of his neglect. There was a garment provided, but he neither put it on, nor applied for it. His conduct, therefore, was in the highest degree insulting and indecorous. As this man is the emblem, by general consent, of those who shall perish in the last day, may we not ask without offence, Where does the doctrine of absolute reprobation or preterition appear in his case? If Christ had never died for him; or, if he had applied for the garment, and was refused, might he not well have alledged this in behalf of his soul? and would not the just God have listened to it? But there is not the smallest excuse for him: Christ died, the sacrifice was offered, for him, the ministers of the Gospel invited him, the Holy Spirit strove with him, he might have been saved, but he was not: and the fault lies so absolutely at his own door, that the just God is vindicated in his conduct, while he sends him to hell; not for the lack of what he could not get, but for the lack of what he might have had, but either neglected or refused it. Verse 15. In his talk.] Ev hoy, by discourse: intending to ask him subtle and ensnaring questions; his answers to which might involve him either with the Roman government, or with the great Sanhedrin. Verse 16. The Herodians] For an account of this sect, see the note on chap. xvi. 1. The preceding parable had covered the Pharisees with confusion: when it was ended they went out, not to humble themselves before God, and deprecate the judgments with which they were threatened; but to plot afresh the destruction of their teacher. The depth of their malice appears, 1. In their mode of attack. They had often questioned our Lord on matters concerning religion; and his answers only served to encrease his reputation, and their confusion. They now shift their ground, and question him concerning state affairs, and the question is such as must be answered; and yet the answer to all human appearance, can be none other than what may be construed into a crime against the people, or against the Roman government. 2. Their profound malice appears farther in the choice of their companions in this business, viz. the Herodians. Herod was at this very time at Jerusalem, whither he had come to hold the pass Verse 13. Then said the king to the servants] To the mi- over. Jesus, being of Nazareth, which was in Herod's jurisnistering angels, executors of the divine will. Cast him into outer darkness] The Jewish marriages were performed in the night season, and the hall where the feast was made, was superbly illuminated; the outer darkness means, therefore, the darkness on the outside of this festal hall; rendered still more gloomy to the person who was suddenly thrust out into it, from such a profusion of light. See all this largely treated of on chap. viii. 12. Verse 14. Many are called, &c.] This verse is wanting in one of Colbert's MSS. marked 33. in Griesbach. See the note on chap. xx. 16. Many are called by the preaching of the gospel into the outward communion of the Church of Christ; but few, comparatively, are chosen to dwell with God in glory, because they do not come to the master of the feast for a marriage garment, for that holiness without which none can see the Lord. This is an allusion to the Roman custom of raising their militia; all were mustered, but only those were chosen to serve, who were found proper. See the note on chap. xx. 16. Reader! examine thy soul, and make sure work for eternity! diction, was considered as his subject. Herod himself was extremely attached to the Roman emperor, and made a pub lic profession of it: all these considerations engaged the Pharisees to unite the Herodians, who, as the Syriac intimates, were the domestics of Herod, in this infernal plot. 3. Their profound malice appears farther, in the praises they gave our Lord. Teacher, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God. This was indeed the real character of our blessed Lord; and now they bear testimony to the truth, merely with the design to make it subserve their bloody purposes. Those whose hearts are influenced by the spirit of the wicked one, never do good, but when they hope to accomplish evil by it. Men who praise you to your face, are ever to be suspected. The Italians have a very expressive proverb on this subject: Chè ti fa carezze più che non suole, He who caresses thee more than he was wont to do, has either DECEIVED thee, or is ABOUT TO DO IT. I have never known the sentiment in this proverb to fail: must cover them with confusion, when they saw their motives thus discovered; and tend much to lessen their influence in the sight of the people, when it was manifest that they acted not through a desire to receive information, by which to re and it was notoriously exemplified in the present instance. Flatterers, though they speak the truth, ever carry about with them a base or malicious soul. 4. Their malice appears still farther in the question they propose. Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not? ver. 17. The constitution of the Jew-gulate their conduct, but merely to ensnare and ruin him. ish republic, the expectations which they had of future glory 2. Christ shews his profound wisdom in not attempting to and excellence, and the diversity of opinions which divided discuss the question at large; but settled the business by seizthe Jews on this subject, rendered an answer to this questioning a maxim that was common among all people, and acextremely difficult. 1. In the presence of the people, who professed to have no other king but God; and looked on their independance as an essential point of their religion. 2. In the presence of the Pharisees, who were ready to stir up the people against him, if his decision could be at all construed to be contrary to their prejudices, or to their religious rights. 3. In the presence of the Herodians, who, if the answer should appear to be against Casar's rights, were ready to inflame their master to avenge, by the death of our Lord, the affront offered to his master the emperor. knowledged among the Jews, That the prince who causes his image and titles to be stamped on the current coin of a country, is virtually acknowledged thereby as the governor. See Maimou. Gezel. c. v. in Wetstein. When Sultan MAHMOUD, king of Maveralnahar, Turquestan, and the Indies, wished to seize on the dominions of SEIDEH, queen of Persia, who governed in the place of her young son Meged-edde-vlet, about A. D. 999. he sent an ambassador to her with the following order: You must acknowledge me for your KING, cause the kootbah to be read, i. e. pray for me in all the mosques of the kingdom, and GET YOUR MONEY recoined, with the IMPRESSION THAT IS ON MINE: thus denoting that she must become ab 453. Esau Afghan carried his conquest into Bhatty, in the viceroyalty of Bengal, and caused the kootbah to be read, and coin to be struck in the naine of the emperor Akbar. Ayeen Akbery, vol. ii. p. 5. See also p. 38, 92, 94, 130, 139, 187. 4. The answer was difficult, because of the different senti-solutely subject to him. See Bibliot. Orient. de Galand. p. ments of the Jews on this subject; some maintaining that they could not lawfully pay tribute to a heathen governor : while others held, that as they were now under this strange government, and had no power to free themselves from it, it was lawful for them to pay what they had not power to refuse. 5. The answer was difficult, when it is considered that multitudes of the people had begun now to receive Jesus as the promised Messiah, who was to be the deliverer of their nation from spiritual and temporal oppression, and therefore had lately sung to him the Hosanna Rabba : see chap. xxi. 9. If then he should decide the question in Casar's favour, what idea must the people have of him, either as zealous for the Law, or as the expected Messiah? If against Caesar, he is ruined. Who that loved Jesus, and was not convinced of his sovereign wisdom, could help trembling for him in these circumstances? Verse 19. They brought unto him a penny.] A denarius: probably the ordinary capitation tax, though the poll tax in the Law, Exod. xxx. 13, 14. was half a shekel, about twice as much as the denarius. The Roman denarius had the emperor's image with a proper legend stamped on one side of it. It was not therefore the sacred shekel, which was to be paid for the repairs of the temple, which was now demanded, but the regular tribute required by the Roman governinent. Verse 20. Whose is this image and superscription?] He knew well enough whose they were; but he shewed the excellency of his wisdom, 4thly, in making them answer to their Jesus opposes the depth of his wisdom, to the depth of own confusion. They came to ensnare our Lord in his distheir malice, and manifests it 1. By unmasking them, and course, and now they are ensnared in their own. He who shewing that he knew the very secrets of their hearts. Ye HY-digs a pit for his neighbour, ordinarily falls into it himself. POCRITES! why tempt ye me? i.e. why do ye try me thus? This Verse 21. They say unto him, Casar's.] The image was the The captious question of the A. D. 29. a ST. MATTHEW. brother. Sadducees concerning the resurrection. A.M. 4033. he unto them, Render therefore un- his wife, and raise up seed unto his A. M.4033 are God's. A. D. 9. An. Olymp. ccli. 1. 25 Now there were with us sevenbrethren and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased; and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh : 27 And last of all, the woman died also: 28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Deut. 25. 5. Le Tob. 3. 8.- _f Gr. seven. these things Caesar is not to be obeyed; he is taking the things of God, and he must not get them. Give not therefore God's things to Cæsar, and give not Cæsar's things to God. That which belongs to the commonwealth, should, on no account whatever, be devoted to religious uses; and let no man think he has pleased God, by giving that to charitable or sacred uses, which he has purloined from the state. The tribute of half a shekel, which the Law (Exod. xxx. 13, 14.) required every person above twenty years of age to pay to the temple, was, after the destruction of the temple, in the time of Ves Kender therefore unto Casar] The conclusion is drawn from their own premises. You acknowledge this to be Casar's coin; this coin is current in your land, the currency of this coin shews the country to be under the Roman government; and your acknowledgment that it is Cæsar's, proves you have submitted. Don't therefore be unjust, but render to Cæsar the things which you acknowledge to be his : at the same time, be not impious, but render unto God, the things which pasian, paid into the emperor's exchequer. This sum, Mebelong to God. This answer is full of consummate wisdom. It establishes the limits, regulates the rights, and distinguishes the jurisdiction of the two empires of heaven and earth. The image of princes stamped on their coin denotes, that temporal things belong all to their government. The image of God stamped on the soul denotes, that all its faculties and powers belong to the Most High, and should be employed in his service. But while the earth is agitated and distracted with the question of political rights and wrongs; the Reader will naturally ask, What does a man owe to Cæsar? to the civil government under which he lives? Our Lord has answered the question-That which is Cæsar's. But what is it that is Cæsar's? 1. Honour. 2. Obedience. And 3. Tribute. 1. The civil government under which a man lives, and by which he is protected, demands his honour and reverence. 2. The laws which are made for the suppression of evil doers, and the maintenance of good order, which are calculated to promote the benefit of the whole, and the comfort of the individual, should be religiously obeyed. 3. The government that charges itself with the support and defence of the whole, should have its unavoidable expences, however great, repaid by the people, in whose behalf they are incurred: therefore we should pay tribute. But remember, if Casur should intrude into the things of God, coin a new creed, or broach a new gospel, and aflect to rule the conscience, while he rules the state; in l lancthon supposes, amounted annually to THREE TONS OF GOLD. Verse 22. When they had heard these words, they marvelled] And well they might-never man spake like this man. By this decision, CESAR is satished-he gets his own to the uttermost farthing. GOD is glorified-his honour is in every respect secured. And the PEOPLE are edified-one of the most difficult questions that could possibly come before them, is answered in such a way, as to relieve their consciences, and direct their conduct. Verse 23. The same day] Malice is ever active, let it be defeated ever so often, it returns to the charge. Jesus and his gospel give no quarter to vice; the vicious will give no quarter to him or it. The Sadducees] For an account of these see on chap. xvi. 1. Verse 24. Raise up seed unto his brother.] This law is mentioned Deut. xxv. 5. The meaning of the expression is, that the children produced by this marriage should be reckoned in the genealogy of the deceased brother, and enjoy his estates. The word seed should be always translated children or posterity. Verse 25. Seven brethren] It is very likely the Sadducees increased the number, merely to make the question the more difficult. Verse 28. Whose wife shall she be of the secer, The Rab The resurrection proved from the Law, A.M. 4033. A. D. 29. 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God An. Olymp. Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, CCII. 1. nor the power of God. b 30 For in the resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. 31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, CCII. 1. 34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. f 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, C John 20. 9.-b 1 John 3. 2.- Exod. 3. 6, 16. Mark 12. 26. Luke 20. 37. Acts 7. 32. Heb. 11. 16. d Ch. 7. 28.- Mark 12. 28. Luke 10. 25. bins have said, That if a woman have two husbands in this world, she shall have the first only restored to her in the world to come. Sohar. Genes. fol. 24. The question put by these bad men is well suited to the mouth of a libertine. Those who live without God in the world, have no other God than the world—and those who have not that happiness which comes from the enjoyment of God, have no other pleasure than that which comes from the gratification of sensual appe- || tites. The stream cannot rise higher than the spring: these men, and their younger brethren, atheists, deists, and libertines of all sorts, can form no idea of heaven as a place of blessedness, unless they can hope to find in it the gratification of their sensual desires. On this very ground Mohammed built his paradise. Verse 29. Ye do err] Or, Ye are deceived-by your impure passions: not knowing the scriptures, which assert the resurrection :—nor the miraculous power of God, (Ty SuvaHY TOU LOU) by which it is to be effected. In Avoda Sara, fol. 18. Sanhedrin, fol. 90. it is said, "These are they which shall have no part in the world to come: Those who say, the Lord did not come from heaven: and those who say, the resurrection cannot be proved out of the Law." Their deception appeared in their supposing, that if there were a resurrection, men and women were to marry and be given in marriage as in this life; which our Lord shews is not the case: for men and women there, shall be like the angels of God, immortal, and free from all human passions; and from those propensities which were to continue with them only during this present state of existence. There, there shall be no death; and consequently no need of marriage to maintain the population of the spiritual world. Verse 31. Have ye not read] This quotation is taken from Exod. iii. 6, 16. and as the five books of Moses were the only part of scripture, which the Sadducees acknowledged as divine; our Lord, by confuting them from those books, proved the second part of his assertion, "Ye are ignorant of these very scriptures, which ye profess to hold sacred." Verse 32. I am the God of Abraham] Let it be observed, that Abraham was dead upwards of 300 years before these words were spoken to Moses: yet still God calls himself the God of Abraham, &c. Now Christ properly observes, that God is not the God of the dead, (that word being equal, in the sense of the Sadducees, to an eternal annihilation) but of the living; it therefore follows, that if he be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these are not dead, but alive; alive with God, though they had ceased, for some hundreds of years, to exist among mortals. We may see from this, that our Lord combats and confutes another opinion of the Sadducees, viz. that there is neither angel nor spirit; by shewing that the soul is not only immortal, but lives with God, even while the body is detained in the dust of the earth, which body is afterwards to be raised to life, and united with its soul, by the miraculous power of God, of which power they shewed themselves to be ignorant, when they denied the possibility of a resurrection. Verse 33. 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 shewn at the same time, that the sacred testimonies are infinitely amiable in themselves, and worthy of all acceptation. Truth always gains by being opposed. Verse 34. They were gathered together.] Em To auto-they came together with one accord, or, for the same purpose; i. e. of ensnaring him in his discourse, as the Sadducees had done, ver. 16. The Codex Bezæ and several of the Itala have auto, against him. Camen tegierz into con-Old MS. Eng. Bib. * Deut. 6. 5. & 10. 12. & 30. 6. Luke 10. 27. 1 Sam. 7. S. 2 Kings 10. S1. Psal. 119. 2. 1 Tim. 1.5. 1 John 4. 7, 8, 17, 18, 20, 21. who know what love means, that they throw much light upon the subject, and manifest it in a variety of striking points of view. same as the Scribes, or what Dr. Wotton calls letter-men, whom he supposes to be the same as the Karaites, a sect of The ancient author of a MS. Lexicon in the late the Jews who rejected all the traditions of the elders, and ad- || French king's library, under the word yz, has the followmitted nothing but the written word. See Wotton's Mishna, ing definition : Ασπαρος πρόθεσις επι τη φιλία του Φιλουμένου vol. i. p. 78. These are allowed to have kept more closely to Συμψυχία. "A pleasing surrender of friendship to a friend: the spiritual meaning of the law and prophets, than the Pha- Exım. risees did; and hence the question proposed by the lawyer, an identity or sameness of soul." A sovereign preference (Mark xii. 28. calls him one of the Scribes) or Karaïte, was given to one above all others, present or absent: a concen- › of a more spiritual or refined nature than any of the pre-tration of all the thoughts and desires in a single object, which ceding. Verse 36. Which is the great commandment] We see here three kinds of enemies and false accusers of Christ and his disciples; and three sorts of accusations brought against them. 1. The Herodians, or politicians and courtiers, who form their questions and accusations on the rights of the prince, and matters of state, ver. 16. 2. The Sadducees, or libertines, who found theirs upon matters of religion and articles of faith, which they did not credit, ver. 23. 3. The Pharisees, lawyers, Scribes, or Karaïtes, hypocritical pretenders to devotion, 'who found theirs on that vital and practical godliness, (the love of God and man) of which they wished themselves to be thought the sole proprietors, ver. $6. Verse 37. Thou shalt love the Lord] This is a subject of the greatest importance, and should be well understood, as our Lord shews that the whole of true religion is comprized in thus loving God and our neighbour. a man prefers to all others. Apply this definition to the love which God requires of his creatures, and you will have the most correct view of the subject. Hence it appears, that by this love, the soul eagerly cleaves to, affectionately admires, and constantly rests in God, supremely pleased and satisfied with him as its portion: that it acts from him, as its author; for him, as its master; and to him, as its end. That by it, all the powers and faculties of the mind are concentrated in the Lord of the universe. That by it, the whole man is willingly surrendered to the Most High: and that through it, an iden tity or sameness of spirit with the Lord is acquired-the man being made a partaker of the divine nature, having the taind in him which was in Christ, and thus dwelling in God, and God in him. But what is implied in loving God with all the heart, soul, mind, strength, &c. and when may a man be said to do this? 1. He loves God with all his heart, who loves nothing in com ready to give up, do, or suffer any thing in order to please It may not be unnecessary to enquire into the literal mean-parison of him, and nothing but in reference to him :—who is ing of the word love. Ayan, from ayanaw, I love, is supposed to be compounded either of ayay and Toy, to act vehemently or intensely: or, from aун xатα таν, because love is always active, and will act in every possible way; for he who loves, is with all his affection and desire carried forward to the beloved object, in order to possess and enjoy it. Some derive it from ayar and zavoda, to be completely at rest, or, to be intensely satisfied: because he who loves is supremely contented with, and rests completely satisfied in that which he loves. Others, from and παω, because a person eagerly embraces, and vigorously holds fast, that which is the object of his love. Lastly, others suppose it to be compounded of I admire, and avoμas, I rest, because that which a man loves intensely, he rests in, with fixed admiration and contemplation. So that genuine love changes not, but always abides steadily attached to that which is loved. ayaw, ayav Whatever may be thought of these etymologies, as being either just or probable; one thing will be evident to all those 3. He loves God with all his strength, (Mark xii. 30. Luke x. 27.) who exerts all the powers of his body and soul in the service of God:-who, for the glory of his Maker, spares neither labour nor cost-who sacrifices his time, body, health, |