---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Matthew 21"
description: "CHAPTER 21   :-. CHRIST"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/matthew/21"
---

CHAPTER 21

. CHRIST'S
TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
INTO JERUSALEM ON THE
FIRST DAY
OF THE WEEK. ( =
[Mark 11:1-11](../../../kjv/mark/11/1-11); [Luke 19:29-40](../../../kjv/luke/19/29-40);
[John 12:12-19](../../../kjv/john/12/12-19)).
For the exposition of this
majestic scene—recorded, as will be seen, by all the
Evangelists—see on [John 12:12-43](../../../kjv/john/12/12-43).
[John 12:12-43](../../../kjv/john/12/12-43). STIR ABOUT
HIM IN THE CITY—SECOND
CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE,
AND MIRACLES
THERE—GLORIOUS
VINDICATION OF THE
CHILDREN'S TESTIMONY—THE
BARREN FIG
TREE CURSED,
WITH LESSONS FROM
IT. ( = [Mark 11:11-26](../../../kjv/mark/11/11-26);
[Luke 19:45-48](../../../kjv/luke/19/45-48)).
For the exposition, see on [Luke 19:45-42](../../../kjv/luke/19/45-42); and [Luke 19:45-42](../../../kjv/luke/19/45-42).
[Luke 19:45-42](../../../kjv/luke/19/45-42). THE
AUTHORITY OF JESUS
QUESTIONED AND THE
REPLY—THE
PARABLES OF THE TWO
SONS, AND OF THE WICKED
HUSBANDMAN. ( = [Mark 11:27-12](../../../kjv/mark/11/27-12);
[Luke 20:1-19](../../../kjv/luke/20/1-19)).
Now commences, as ALFORD
remarks, that series of parables and discourses of our Lord with His
enemies, in which He develops, more completely than ever before, His
hostility to their hypocrisy and iniquity: and so they are stirred up
to compass His death.
*The Authority of Jesus
Questioned, and the Reply* ([Luke 20:1-42](../../../kjv/luke/20/1-42)).

**23. By what authority doest thou
these things!**—referring particularly to the expulsion of the
buyers and sellers from the temple,
**and who gave thee this
authority?**

**24. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, I also will ask you one thing,** &c.

**25. The baptism of John**—meaning
his whole mission and ministry, of which baptism was the proper
character.
**whence was it? from heaven,
or of men?**—What wisdom there was in this way of meeting their
question will best appear by their reply.
**If we shall say, From heaven;
he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?**—"Why
did ye not believe the testimony which he bore to Me, as the promised
and expected Messiah?" for that was the burden of John's whole
testimony.

**26. But if we shall say, Of men; we
fear the people**—rather, "the multitude." In Luke () it is, "all the people will stone us"—"stone
us to death."
**for all hold John as a
prophet**—Crooked, cringing hypocrites! No wonder Jesus gave you
no answer.

**27. And they answered Jesus, and
said, We cannot tell**—Evidently their difficulty was, how to
answer, so as neither to shake their determination to reject the
claims of Christ nor damage their reputation with the people. For the
truth itself they cared nothing whatever.
**Neither tell I you by what
authority I do these things**—What composure and dignity of
wisdom does our Lord here display, as He turns their question upon
themselves, and, while revealing His knowledge of their hypocrisy,
closes their mouths! Taking advantage of the surprise, silence, and
awe produced by this reply, our Lord followed it up immediately by
the two following parables.
*Parable of the Two Sons* ().

**28. But what think ye? A certain man
had two sons; and he came to the first and said, Son, go work to-day
in my vineyard**—for true religion is a practical thing, a
"bringing forth fruit unto God."

**29. He answered and said, I will
not**—TRENCH notices
the rudeness of this answer, and the total absence of any attempt to
excuse such disobedience, both characteristic; representing careless,
reckless sinners resisting God to His face.

**30. And he came to the second, and
said likewise. And he answered and said, I*****go,*****sir**—"I, sir." The emphatic "I," here,
denotes the self-righteous complacency which says, "God, I thank
thee that *I* am not as other men" ().
**and went not**—*He*
did not "afterward repent" and refuse to go; for there was
here no *intention* to go. It is the class that "say and do
not" ([Matthew 23:3](../../../kjv/matthew/23/3)) —a
falseness more abominable to God, says STIER,
than any "I will not."

**31. Whether of them twain did the
will of his Father? They say unto him, The first**—Now comes the
application.
**Jesus saith unto them, Verily
I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go**—or, "are
going"; even now entering, while ye hold back.
**into the kingdom of God
before you**—The publicans and the harlots were the first son,
who, when told to work in the Lord's vineyard, said, I will not; but
afterwards repented and went. Their early life was a flat and
flagrant refusal to do what they were commanded; it was one continued
rebellion against the authority of God. The chief priests and the
elders of the people, with whom our Lord was now speaking, were the
second son, who said, I go, sir, but went not. They were early
called, and all their life long professed obedience to God, but never
rendered it; their life was one of continued disobedience.

**32. For John came unto you in the
way of righteousness**—that is, calling you to repentance; as
Noah is styled "a preacher of righteousness" (), when like the Baptist he warned the old world to "flee
from the wrath to come."
**and ye believed him not**—They
did not reject him; nay, they "were willing for a season to
rejoice in his light" (); but they would not receive his testimony to Jesus.
**but the publicans and the
harlots believed him**—Of the publicans this is twice expressly
recorded, [Luke 3:12](../../../kjv/luke/3/12); [Luke 7:29](../../../kjv/luke/7/29).
Of the harlots, then, the same may be taken for granted, though the
fact is not expressly recorded. These outcasts gladly believed the
testimony of John to the coming Saviour, and so hastened to Jesus
when He came. See [Luke 7:37](../../../kjv/luke/7/37);
[Luke 15:1](../../../kjv/luke/15/1), &c.
**and ye, when ye had seen it,
repented not afterward, that ye might believe him**—Instead of
being "provoked to jealousy" by their example, ye have seen
them flocking to the Saviour and getting to heaven, unmoved.
*Parable of the Wicked
Husbandmen* ([Luke 15:1](../../../kjv/luke/15/1)).

**33. Hear another parable: There was
a certain householder, which planted a vineyard**—(See on ).
**and hedged it round about,
and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower**—These details
are taken, as is the basis of the parable itself, from that beautiful
parable of [Isaiah 5:1-7](../../../kjv/isaiah/5/1-7), in
order to fix down the application and sustain it by Old Testament
authority.
**and let it out to
husbandmen**—These are just the ordinary spiritual guides of the
people, under whose care and culture the fruits of righteousness are
expected to spring up.
**and went into a far
country**—"for a long time" ([Isaiah 5:1-23](../../../kjv/isaiah/5/1-23)), leaving the vineyard to the laws of the spiritual
husbandry during the whole time of the Jewish economy. On this
phraseology, see on [Isaiah 5:1-23](../../../kjv/isaiah/5/1-23).

**34. And when the time of the fruit
drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen**—By these
"servants" are meant the prophets and other extraordinary
messengers, raised up from time to time. See on .
**that they might receive the
fruits of it**—Again see on .

**35. And the husbandmen took his
servants, and beat one**—see [Jeremiah 37:15](../../../kjv/jeremiah/37/15);
[Jeremiah 38:6](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/6).
**and killed another**—see
[Jeremiah 26:20-23](../../../kjv/jeremiah/26/20-23).
**and stoned another**—see
[2 Chronicles 24:21](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/24/21). Compare with this
whole verse [Matthew 21:35](../../../kjv/matthew/21/35); [Matthew 23:37](../../../kjv/matthew/23/37),
where our Lord reiterates these charges in the most melting strain.

**36. Again, he sent other servants
more than the first; and they did unto them likewise**—see
[2 Kings 17:13](../../../kjv/2-kings/17/13); [2 Chronicles 36:16](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/16);
[2 Chronicles 36:18](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/18); [Nehemiah 9:26](../../../kjv/nehemiah/9/26).

**37. But last of all he sent unto
them his son, saying, They will reverence my son**—In Mark () this is most touchingly expressed: "Having yet
therefore one son, His well-beloved, He sent Him also last unto them,
saying, They will reverence My Son." Luke's version of it too
([Luke 20:13](../../../kjv/luke/20/13)) is striking: "Then
said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send My
beloved Son: it may be they will reverence Him when they see Him."
Who does not see that our Lord here severs Himself, by the sharpest
line of demarcation, from all merely *human* messengers, and
claims for Himself *Sonship* in its loftiest sense? (Compare [Luke 20:13](../../../kjv/luke/20/13)). The expression, "*It may be* they will
reverence My Son," is designed to teach the almost unimaginable
guilt of *not* reverentially welcoming God's Son.

**38. But when the husbandmen saw the
son, they said among themselves**—Compare [Genesis 37:18-20](../../../kjv/genesis/37/18-20);
[John 11:47-53](../../../kjv/john/11/47-53).
**This is the heir**—Sublime
expression this of the great truth, that God's inheritance was
destined for, and in due time is to come into the possession of, His
own Son *in our nature* ([John 11:47-43](../../../kjv/john/11/47-43)).
**come, let us kill him, and
let us seize on his inheritance**—that so, from mere *servants,*
we may become *lords.* This is the deep aim of the depraved
heart; this is emphatically "the root of all evil."

**39. And they caught him, and cast
him out of the vineyard**—compare ("without the gate—without the camp");
[1 Kings 21:13](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/13); [John 19:17](../../../kjv/john/19/17).
**and slew him.**

**40. When the lord therefore of the
vineyard cometh**—This represents "the settling time,"
which, in the case of the Jewish ecclesiastics, was that judicial
trial of the nation and its leaders which issued in the destruction
of their whole state.
**what will he do unto those
husbandmen?**

**41. They say unto him, He will
miserably destroy those wicked men**—an emphatic alliteration not
easily conveyed in English: "He will badly destroy those bad
men," or "miserably destroy those miserable men," is
something like it.
**and will let out his vineyard
unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their
seasons**—If this answer was given by the Pharisees, to whom our
Lord addressed the parable, they thus unwittingly pronounced their
own condemnation: as did David to Nathan the prophet (), and Simon the Pharisee to our Lord (, &c.). But if it was given, as the two other Evangelists
agree in representing it, by our Lord Himself, and the explicitness
of the answer would seem to favor that supposition, then we can
better explain the exclamation of the Pharisees which followed it, in
Luke's report ([Luke 20:16](../../../kjv/luke/20/16)) —"And
when they heard it, they said, God forbid"—His whole meaning
now bursting upon them.

**42. Jesus saith unto them. Did ye
never read in the scriptures**— ([Psalms 118:22](../../../kjv/psalms/118/22);
[Psalms 118:23](../../../kjv/psalms/118/23)).
**The stone which the builders
rejected,** &c.—A bright Messianic prophecy, which reappears
in various forms ([Isaiah 28:16](../../../kjv/isaiah/28/16),
&c.), and was made glorious use of by Peter before the Sanhedrim
([Acts 4:11](../../../kjv/acts/4/11)). He recurs to it in
his first epistle ([Acts 4:11](../../../kjv/acts/4/11)).

**43. Therefore say I unto you, The
kingdom of God**—God's visible Kingdom, or Church, upon earth,
which up to this time stood in the seed of Abraham.
**shall be taken from you, and
given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof**—that is,
the great evangelical community of the faithful, which, after the
extrusion of the Jewish nation, would consist chiefly of Gentiles,
until "all Israel should be saved" ([Romans 11:25](../../../kjv/romans/11/25);
[Romans 11:26](../../../kjv/romans/11/26)). This vastly important
statement is given by Matthew only.

**44. And whosoever shall fall on this
stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind
him to powder**—The Kingdom of God is here a Temple, in the
erection of which a *certain stone,* rejected as unsuitable by
the spiritual builders, is, by the great Lord of the House, made the
keystone of the whole. On that Stone the builders were now "falling"
and being "broken" (). They were sustaining great spiritual hurt; but soon that
Stone should "fall upon *them*" and "grind them
to powder" ([Daniel 2:34](../../../kjv/daniel/2/34);
[Daniel 2:35](../../../kjv/daniel/2/35); [Zechariah 12:2](../../../kjv/zechariah/12/2))
—in their *corporate* capacity, in the tremendous destruction
of Jerusalem, but *personally,* as unbelievers, in a more awful
sense still.

**45. And when the chief priests and
Pharisees had heard his parables**—referring to that of the Two
Sons and this one of the Wicked Husbandmen.
**they perceived that he spake
of them.**

**46. But when they sought to lay
hands on him**—which Luke () says they did "the same hour," hardly able to
restrain their rage.
**they feared the
multitude**—rather, "the multitudes."
**because they took him for a
prophet**—just as they feared to say John's baptism was of men,
because the masses took him for a prophet (). Miserable creatures! So, for this time, "they left
Him and went their way" ().

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