Matthew 21
Gospel of Matthew 21:34–37 on the recto side of Papyrus 104, from c. AD 250
BookGospel of Matthew
CategoryGospel
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part1

Matthew 21 is the twenty-first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. Jesus triumphally or majestically arrives in Jerusalem and commences his final ministry before his Passion.

Structure

The narrative can be divided into the following subsections:

Text

Matthew 21:19-24 on Uncial 087, 6th century.

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 46 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Old Testament references

New Testament parallels

Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (21:1–11)

The narrative takes some topics from previous chapters:

  • the fulfillment of prophecies (cf. 1:22-3, etc.)
  • Jesus' entry into Jerusalem (cf. 16:21; 20:17)
  • his 'meekness' (cf. 11:29)
  • his status as 'king' (cf. 2:1-12)
  • 'Son of David' (cf. 1:1—18)
  • 'the coming one' (cf. 3:11; 11:3), and
  • 'prophet' (cf. 13:57)[4]

The "great multitude" (verse 8) had followed Jesus through the neighbouring city of Jericho in the previous chapter.[5]

The initial part of the narrative also offers two "firsts":

  • (1) Jesus' (indirect) 'public claim to messianic kingship', and
  • (2) the crowds' 'recognition of that kingship' (contrast 16:13–14).

These two "firsts" challenge the people of Jerusalem to make a decision about "who is this Jesus" (cf. verse 10).[4]

Verse 2

"Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me."[6]

Commentator Dale Allison is reminded of the finding of donkeys for King Saul recorded in 1 Samuel 10:1–9.[7]

Verse 3

"If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

For Arthur Carr, this account "leads to the inference that the owner of the ass was an adherent of Jesus, who had perhaps not yet declared himself".[8] To William Robertson Nicoll, "it was to be expected that the act would be challenged".[9] For Henry Alford, it is the LORD Jehovah who needs them, for the service of God;[10] for Nicoll, it is Jesus who is the Lord or master who needs them, using the term Ὁ κύριος, ho kurios, in the same manner as where it refers to Jesus in Matthew 8:25: "Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!"[9]

Verse 4

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:[11]

Some versions read "All this took place ...",[12] but the word ὅλον (holon, "all") does not appear in a number of early texts.[13]

Verse 11

And the multitude said,
This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.[14]

Cleansing of the Temple (21:12–17)

Verse 12

And Jesus went into the temple of God,
and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple,
and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers,
and the seats of them that sold doves,[15]

"Money changers": are certain people who sat in the temple at certain times, to receive the "half shekel", and sometimes change the money for it to themselves. It was a custom for every Israelite, once a year, to pay half a shekel towards the temple charge and service, based on the orders given by God to Moses in the wilderness during the numbering of the Israelites, to take half a shekel out of everyone twenty years of age and older, rich or poor (Exodus 30:13), though this does not seem to be designed as a perpetual rule. However, it became a fixed rule, and was annually paid.[16] Every year a public notice was given in all the cities in Israel, that the time of paying the half shekel was nearing, so the people will be ready with their money, for everyone was obliged to pay it, as stated,[17] Notice being thus given,[18] "on the fifteenth day (of the same month), "tables" were placed in the province, or city (which Bartenora [18] interprets [as] Jerusalem; but Maimonides says,[17] the word used is the name of all the cities in the land of Israel, excepting Jerusalem), and on the twenty fifth they sit "in the sanctuary". The same is related by Maimonides.[19] This gives a plain account of these money changers, their tables, and their sitting in the temple, and on what account. These exchangers had a profit, called "Kolbon", in every shekel they changed.[20] This "Kolbon" gives the name "Collybistae" for these exchangers in this text.[21][22] The large gain must amount to a great deal of money. They seemed to work within the frame of law when Christ overturned their table, unless it should be objected, that this was not the time of their sitting, because that happened a few days before the Passover, which was in the month Nisan (the tenth of Nisan, when Christ entered the temple), whereas the half shekel should be paid in the month Adar until the twenty fifth of Adar. Moreover, these men had other business, such as money exchange, especially at such a time as the passover, when persons came from different parts of world to attend it; and might want to exchange their foreign money for current money.[23][24]

Verse 13

And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.[25]

Citing from Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 7:11
Cross reference: Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46

Authority of Jesus questioned (21:23–27)

Verses 24–27

Jesus ... said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: the baptism of John — where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven’, He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’, we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet”. So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.”[26]

Allison notes that "this section is less about Jesus ... or [John] the Baptist than it is about the chief priests and elders, characterising these as (a) less spiritually aware and perceptive than the multitudes over whom they preside, and (b) moral cowards driven by expediency.[7]

Parable of two sons (21:28-32)

Occurring only in Matthew, this parable refers to two sons. Their father asked both of them to work in his vineyard. One of the sons said that he wouldn't do it, but he later changed his mind and did the work anyway. The other son said he would do it, but he didn't go.

Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (21:33–46)

Verse 43

Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.[27]

Protestant biblical commentator Heinrich Meyer notes that "Jesus is not here referring to the Gentiles, as, since Eusebius’ time, many ... have supposed, but, as the use of the singular already plainly indicates, to the whole of the future subjects of the kingdom of the Messiah, conceived of as one people, which will therefore consist of Jews and Gentiles, [the] new Messianic people of God",[13] the "holy nation" addressed as such in 1 Peter 2:9. The phrase "the fruits of it" means "the fruits of the kingdom".[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Liste Handschriften". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  2. ↑ Thomas, J. David. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXIV (London: 1997), pp. 7–9.
  3. ↑ Kirkpatrick, A. F. (1901). The Book of Psalms: with Introduction and Notes. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Vol. Book IV and V: Psalms XC-CL. Cambridge: At the University Press. p. 838. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  4. 1 2 Allison 2007, p. 871.
  5. ↑ Matthew 20:29
  6. ↑ Matthew 21:2 NKJV
  7. 1 2 Allison 2007, pp. 871–2.
  8. ↑ Carr, A. (1893), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges: Matthew 21, accessed 12 March 2021
  9. 1 2 Nicoll, W. R., The Expositor's Greek Testament: Matthew 21, accessed 12 March 2021
  10. ↑ Alford, H., Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary: Matthew 21, accessed 12 March 2021
  11. ↑ Matthew 21:4: New International Version
  12. ↑ Matthew 21:4: NKJV
  13. 1 2 Meyer, H. A. W., Meyer's NT Commentary on Matthew 21, accessed 5 October 2019
  14. ↑ Matthew 21:11 NKJV
  15. ↑ Matthew 21:12 NKJV
  16. ↑ "On the first day of Adar (corresponds to February) they proclaimed concerning the shekels. Misn. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 1.
  17. 1 2 Maimonides. Hilch. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 1. 7. Quote: "it is an affirmative command of the law, that every man in Israel should pay the half shekel every year; even though a poor man that is maintained by alms, he is obliged to it, and must beg it of others, or sell his coat upon his back and pay it, as it is said, Exodus 30:15. The rich shall not give more, etc.--All are bound to give it, priests, Levites, and Israelites, and strangers, and servants, that are made free; but not women, nor servants, nor children."
  18. 1 2 Misn. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 3.
  19. ↑ Maimonides. Hilch. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 9. Quote: "On the first of Adar they proclaim concerning the shekels, that every man may prepare his half shekel, and be ready to give it on the fifteenth; "the exchangers" sit in every province or city, and mildly ask it; everyone that gives them it, they take it of them; and he that does not give, they do not compel him to give: on the twenty fifth, they sit in the sanctuary to collect it; and henceforward they urge him that does not give, until he gives; and everyone that does not give, they oblige him to give pledge, and they, take his pledge, whether he will or not, and even his coat."
  20. ↑ Maimonides. Hilch. Shekalim, c. 3. sect. 1. Quote: "When a man went to an exchanger, and changed a shekel for two half shekels, he gave him an addition to the shekel; and the addition is called "Kolbon"; wherefore, when two men gave a shekel for them both, they were both obliged to pay the "Kolbon".
  21. ↑ The gain which these men had, is clarified in Misn. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 7. Quote: "How much is the "Kolbon?" A silver "meah", according to R. Meir; but the wise men say, half an one." (Maimonides. Hilch. Shekalim, c. 3. sect. 7)
  22. ↑ Maimonides & Bartenora in Misn. Shekalim, c. 1, sect. 7. & Cholin, c. 1. sect. 7. Quote: "what is the value of the "Kolbon?" At that time they gave two pence for the half shekel, the "Kolbon" was half a "meah", which is the twelfth part of a penny; and since, "Kolbon" less than that is not given." A "meah" was the half of a sixth part of the half shekel, and the twenty fourth part of a shekel, and weighed sixteen barley corns: half a "meah" was the forty eighth part of a shekel, and weighed eight barley"
  23. ↑ Maimonides. Hilch. Shekalim, c. 2. sect. 2. Quote "In the sanctuary there were before them, "continually", or "daily", thirteen chests (and there were as many tables according to Misn. Shekalim, c. 6. sect 1.); every chest was in the form of a trumpet: the first was for the shekels of the present year, the second for the shekels of the year past; the third for everyone that had a "Korban", or vow upon him to offer two turtledoves, or two young pigeons; the one a burnt offering, the other a sin offering: their price was, cast into this chest: the fourth for everyone that had the burnt offering of a fowl only on him, the price of that was cast into this chest. The fifth was for him, who freely gave money to buy wood, to be laid in order on the altar; the sixth, for him that freely gave money for the incense; the seventh, for him that freely gave gold for the mercy seat; the eighth, for the remainder of the sin offering; as when he separated the money for his sin offering, and took the sin offering, and there remained of the money, the rest he cast into this chest; the ninth, for the remainder of the trespass offering; the tenth, for the remainder of the doves for men and women in fluxes, and women after childbirth; the eleventh, for the remainder of the offerings of the Nazarite; the twelfth, for the remainder of the trespass offering of the leper: the thirteenth, for him that freely gave money for the burnt offering of a beast."
  24. ↑ John Gill. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Published in 1746-1763.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  25. ↑ Matthew 21:13 KJV
  26. ↑ Matthew 21:24–27 NKJV
  27. ↑ Matthew 21:43 NKJV
  28. ↑ Matthew 21:43 footnote in Holman Christian Standard Bible

Sources

Preceded by
Matthew 20		 Chapters of the New Testament
Gospel of Matthew		 Succeeded by
Matthew 22
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