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Verse 9. Hosanna to the son of David] When persons applied to the king for help, or for a redress of grievances, they used the word hosana, or rather from the Hebrew nwn HOSHIAH NA! Save now, or save, we beseech thee; redress our grievances, and give us help from oppression! Thus both the words and actions of the people prove that they acknowledged Christ as their king, and looked to him for deliverance. How casily might he have assumed the sovereignty at this time, had he been so disposed! For instances of the use of this form of speech, see 2 Sam. xiv. 4. 2 Kings vi. 26. Psal. cxviii. 25.

Son of David] A well known epithet of the Messiah. He who cometh in the name, &c. He who comes in the name and authority of the Most High.

same people (if the creatures of the high priest, be not only intended) should, about five days after, change their hosannas for, Away with him! Crucify him! crucify him! How fickle is the multitude! Even when they get right, there is but little hope that they will continue so long.

Verse 12. Jesus went into the temple of God, &c.] " Avarice," says one, "covered with the veil of religion, is one of those things on which Christ looks with the greatest indignation in his Church. Merchandize of holy things, simoniacal presentations, fraudulent exchanges, a mercenary spirit in sacred functions; ecclesiastical employments obtained by flattery, service, or attendance, or by any thing which is instead of money: collations, nominations, and elections made through any other motive than the glory of God; these are all fatal and damnable profanations, of which, those in the temple were only a shadow." QUESNEL.

Hosanna in the highest.] Either meaning, let the heavenly hosts join with us in magnifying this august Being, or, let the utmost degrees of hosannas, of salvation, and deliverance, be communicated to thy people! Probably there is an allusion Money-changers] Persons who furnished the Jews and prohere to the custom of the Jews in the feast of tabernacles.selytes who came from other countries, with the current coin During the first seven days of that feast, they went once round of Judea, in exchange for their own. the altar, each day, with palm and other branches in their hands, singing HOSANNA: but on the eighth day of that feast they walked seven times round the altar, singing the hosanna, and this was termed the hosanna rabba: the GREat hosanna, i. e. assist with the greatest succour. Probably answering to the Tos

Tos of the Evangelist, for on this day they beg the most speedy and powerful help against their enemies, and likewise pray for a prosperous and fruitful year. See STEHLIN's Jewish Traditions, vol. ii. p. 322.

Verse 10. All the city was moved] Or, the whole city was in motion. Eason, was in a tumult-they saw and heard plainly that the multitude had proclaimed Christ king, and Messiah. Who is this? Who is accounted worthy of this honour?

Verse 11. This is Jesus THE PROPHET] O go¢ning, THAT prophet whom Moses spoke of, Deut. xviii. 18. I will raise them up a prophet-like unto thee, &c. Every expression of the multitude plainly intimated that they fully received our blessed Lord as the promised Messiah.-How strange is it that these

Verse 13. My house shall be called the house of prayer] This is taken from Isai. Ivi. 7.

But ye have made it a den of thieves.] This is taken from Jerem. vii. 11.

Our Lord alludes here to those dens and caves in Judea, in which the public robbers either hid or kept themselves fortified.

They who are placed in the Church of Christ to serve souls, and do it not, and they who enjoy the revenues of the church, and neglect the service of it, are thieves and robbers in more senses than one.

Our Lord is represented here as purifying his temple; and this we may judge he did in reference to his true temple, the Church, to shew that nothing that was worldly or unholy should have any place among his followers, or in that heart in which he should condescend to dwell. It is marvellous that these interested vile men did not raise a mob against him: but it is probable they were overawed by the Divine power, or seeing

The chief priests are offended.

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saw the wonderful things that he did, || babes and sucklings thou hast perfect

An. Olymp. and the children crying in the temple,

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17 ¶ And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there. 18 Now in the morning, as he returned into the city, he hungred.

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19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way,

< Mark 11. 12.- d Mark 11. 13. Gr. one fig tree.

the multitudes on the side of Christ, they were afraid to molest customed to hail their celebrated Rabbins. This shouting of him. I knew a case something similar to this which did not || the children was therefore no strange thing in the land: only succeed so well. A very pious clergyman of my acquaintance, they were exasperated, because a person was celebrated, observing a woman keeping a public standing to sell nuts, against whom they had a rooted hatred. As to the prophecy gingerbread, &c. at the very porch of his church, on the Lord's that foretold this, they regarded it not. Some imagine day, “ desired her to remove thence, and not defile the house that babes and sucklings in the prophecy have a much more of God, while she profaned the Sabbath of the Lord." She extensive meaning, and refer also to the first preachers of paid no attention to him. He warned her the next Sabbath, the gospel of Christ. but still to no purpose. Going in one Lord's day to preach, and finding her still in the very entrance, with her stall, he overthrew the stall, and scattered the stuff into the street. He was shortly after summoned to appear before the royal court, which, to its eternal reproach, condemned the action, and fined the man of God in a considerable sum of money!

Verse 14. The blind and the lame came] Having condemned the profane use of the temple, he now shews the proper use of it. It is a house of prayer, where God is to manifest his goodness and power in giving sight to the spiritually blind; and feet to the lame. The church or chapel in which the blind and the lame are not healed, has no Christ in it, and is not worthy

of attendance.

Verse 17. And he left them (xaraw, finally leaving them) and went-into Bethany; and he lodged there.] Bethany was a village about two miles distant from Jerusalem, by Mount Olivet, John 11. 18. and it is remarkable that from this day till his death, which happened about six days after, he spent not one night in Jerusalem, but went every evening to Bethany, and returned to the city each morning. See Luke xxi. 37. xxii. 39. John viii. 1, 2. They were about to murder the Lord of Glory, and the true light, which they had rejected, is now departing from them.

Lodged there.] Not merely to avoid the snares laid for him by those bad men, but to take away all suspicion of his affecting the regal power. To the end of this verse is added by the Verse 15. The chief priests-were sore displeased] Or were Saxon lænde hi pan be Loder nice, And taught them of the incensed. Incensed at what? At the purification of the pro-kingdom of God. This same reading is found in some MSS. faned temple! This was a work they should have done themselves; but for which they had neither grace nor influence; and their pride and jealousy will not suffer them to permit others to do it. Strange as it may appear, the priesthood itself, in all corrupt times, has been ever the most forward to prevent a reform in the church. Was it because they were conscious that a reformer would find them no better than money-changers in, and profaners of the house of God, and that they and their system must be overturned, if the true worship of God were restored? Let him who is concerned answer this to his conscience.

Verse 16. Out of the mouth of babes] The eighth Psalm, out of which these words are quoted, is applied to Jesus Christ in three other places in the New Covenant, 1 Cor. xv. 27. Ephes. i. 22. Heb. ii. 6. Which proves it to be merely a prophetic psalm, relating to the Messiah.

Missals, and one copy of the Itala. It appears also in Wickliff, and my old folio English Ms. Bible, and taugt hem of the kyngdom of God; and in two MSS. copies of the Vulgate, in my possession; one, duodecimo, very fairly written, in 1300, the other a large folio, probably written in the 11th or 12th century, in which the words are, IBIQUE docebat eos de regno Dei. AND THERE he taught them concerning the kingdom of God.

Verse 18. Now in the morning, as he returned into the city] Which was his custom from the time he wholly left Jerusalem, spending only the day time teaching in the temple; see ver. 17. This was probably on Thursday, the 12th day of the month Nisan.. He hungred-Probably neither he, nor his disciples, had any thing but what they got from public charity; and the hand of that, seems to have been cold at this time.

Verse 19. He saw a fig tree in the way] Ex Tns odou, By, It was a common thing among the Jews for the children to the road side. As this fig tree was by the way side, it was no be employed in public acclamations; and thus they were ac-private property; and on this account our Lord, or any other.

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traveller, had a right to take of its fruit. For a full explanation of this difficult passage, relative to this emblematic fig tree, see on Mark xi. 13, &c.

Let no fruit grow on thee] Can a professor who affords Christ nothing but barren words and wishes, expect any thing but his malediction? When the soul continues in unfruitfulness, the influences of grace are removed, and then the tree speedily withers from the very root.

Verse 20. How soon is the fig tree withered away!] We often say to our neighbours, "How suddenly this man died! Who could have expected it so soon?" But who takes warning by these examples? What we say to-day of OTHERS, may be said to-morrow of oURSELVES. Be ye also ready! Lord, increase our faith!

Verse 21. If ye have faith, and doubt not] See on chap. xvii. 20. Removing mountains, and rooting up of mountains, are phrases very generally used to signify the removing or conquering great difficulties; getting through perplexities. So, many of the Rabbins are termed rooters up of mountains, because they were dextrous in removing difficulties, solving cases of conscience, &c. In this sense our Lord's words are to be understood. He that has faith, will get through every difficulty and perplexity, mountains shall become mole-hills or plains before him. The saying is neither to be taken in its literal sense, nor is it hyperbolical: it is a proverbial form of speech, which no Jew could misunderstand, and with which no Christian ought to be puzzled.

Verse 22. All things—ye shall ask in prayer, believing] In order to get salvation, there must be 1. a conviction of the

want of it: this begets 2. prayer, or warm desires, in the heart: then 3. the person asks, i. e. makes use of words expressive of his wants and wishes: 4. believes the word of promise, relative to the fulfilment of his wants: and 5. receives, according to the merciful promise of God, the salvation which his soul requires.

Verse 23. By what authority doest thou these things?] The things which the chief priests allude to, were his receiving the acclamations of the people as the promised Messiah, his casting the traders out of the temple, and his teaching the people publicly in it.

Who gave thee this authority?] Not them: for, like many of their successors, they were neither teachers nor cleansers; though they had the name and the profits of the place.

Verse 24. I also will ask you one thing] Our Lord was certainly under no obligation to answer their question: he had already given them such proofs of his divine mission, as could not possibly be exceeded, in the miracles which he wrought before their eyes, and before all Judea : and as they would not credit him on this evidence, it would have been in vain to have expected their acknowledgment of him, on any profession he would make.

Verse 25. The baptism of John] Had John a divine commission or not, for his baptism and preaching? Our Lord here takes the wise in their own cunning. He knew the estimation Jolin was in among the people; and he plainly saw, that if they gave any answer at all, they must convict themselves: and so they saw, when they came to examine the question. See ver. 25, 26,

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and his two sons.

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30 And he came to the second, and A. M. 4058. said likewise. And he answered and An. Olymp. said, I go, sir: and went not.

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31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

32 For John came unto you in the way of

29 He answered and said, I will not: but righteousness, and ye believed him not: but afterward he repented, and went.

the publicans and the harlots believed him:

Ch. 14. 5. Mark 6. 20. Luke 20. 6.— Ecclus. 19. 21,

Luke 7. 29, 50.4 ch. 3. 1, &c.

Luke 3. 12, 13.

Verse 27. We cannot tell.] Simplicity gives a wonderful confidence and peace of mind; but double dealing causes a thousand inquietudes and trouble. Let a man do his utmost to conceal in his own heart, the evidence he has of truth and innocence, to countenance his not yielding to it; God, who sees the heart, will, in the light of the last day, produce it as a witness against him, and make it his judge.

treated without ceremony or respect. They only are safe, who persist not in the denial.

Verse 30. I go, sir] This is all respect, complaisance, and professed obedience; but he went not: he promised well, but did not perform. What a multitude of such are in the world! professing to know God, but denying him in their works. Alas! what will such professions avail, when God comes to take away the soul?

We cannot tell, said they; which, in the words of truth, should have been, We will not tell, for we will not have this Verse 31. The publicans and the harlots] In all their former man for the Messiah: because, if we acknowledge John as his conduct they had said No. Now they yield to the voice of forerunner, we must, of necessity, receive Jesus as the Christ. truth when they hear it, and enter into the kingdom, emThey who are engaged against the truth, are abandoned to bracing the salvation brought to them in the gospel. The the spirit of falsity, and scruple not at a lie. Pharisaical others, who had been always professing the most ready and pride, according to its different interests, either pretends to willing obedience, and who pretended to be waiting for the know every thing, or affects to know nothing. Among such, kingdom of God, did not receive it when it came, but rather we may meet with numerous instances of arrogance and chose, while making the best professions, to continue memaffected humility. God often hides from the wise and pru-bers of the synagogue of Satan. dent, what he reveals unto babes: for when they use their wisdom only to invent the most plausible excuses for rejecting the truth when it comes to them, it is but just that they should be punished with that ignorance, to which, in their own defence, they are obliged to have recourse.

Verse 32. John came unto you in the way of righteousness] Proclaiming the truth, and living agreeably to it. Or, John came unto you who are in the way of righteousness. This seems rather to be the true meaning and construction of this pas sage. The Jews are here distinguished from the Gentiles, The former were in the way of righteousness, had the revelation of God, and the ordinances of justice established among them: the latter were in the way of unrighteousness, without the divine revelation, and iniquitous in all their conduct: John came to both, preaching the doctrine of repentance, and proclaiming Jesus the Christ. To say that it was John who came

Verse 28. A certain man had two sons] Under the emblem of these two sons, one of whom was a libertine, disobedient, and insolent, but who afterwards thought on his ways, and returned to his duty; and the second, a hypocrite, who promised all, and did nothing: our Lord points out on the one hand, the tax-gatherers and sinners of all descriptions, who, convicted by the preaching of John and that of Christ, turn-in the way of righteousness, and that to him the words refer, ed away from their iniquities and embraced the Gospel; and on the other hand, the Scribes, Pharisees, and self-righteous people, who, pretending a zeal for the law, would not receive the salvation of the gospel.

Verse 29. I will not] This is the general reply of every sinner to the invitations of God; and in it, the Most High is

is, in my opinion, saying nothing; for this was necessarily implied: as he professed to come from God, he must not only preach righteousness, but walk in it.

It is very difficult to get a worldly minded and self-right; eous man brought to, Christ. Examples signify little to him. Urge the example of an eminent saint, he is discouraged at

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it. Shew him a profligate sinner converted to God, him he is ashamed to own and follow: and as to the conduct of the generality of the followers of Christ, it is not striking enough to impress him. John, and Christ, and the Apostles preach; but to multitudes, all is in vain.

Verse 33. There was a certain housholder] Let us endeavour to find out a general and practical meaning for this parable. A housholder—the Supreme Being. The familythe Jewish nation. The vineyard-the city of Jerusalem. The fence the divine protection. The wine-press-the law and sacrificial rites. The tower-the temple, in which the divine presence was manifested. The husbandmen—the priests and doctors of the law. Went from home-entrusted the cultivation of the vineyard to the priests, &c. with the utmost confidence; as a man would do, who had the most trusty servants, and was obliged to absent himself from home for a certain time. Our Lord takes this parable from Isai. v. 1, &c. but whether our blessed Redeemer quote from the law, the prophets, or the Rabbins, he reserves the liberty to himself, to beautify the whole, and render it more pertinent.

and then he will miserably destroy those wicked men: indeed he has done so already to several, and let out his vineyard to more faithful husbandmen.

Digged a wine-press] Neue Anvov. St. Mark has о, the pit under the press, into which the liquor ran, when squeezed out of the fruit by the press.

Verse 34. He sent his servants] Prophets, which, from time to time, he sent to the Jewish nation to call both priests and people back to the purity of his holy religion.

Receive the fruits of it.] Alluding to the ancient custom of paying the rent of a farm in kind; that is, by a part of the produce of the farm. This custom anciently prevailed in most nations; and still prevails in the highlands of Scotland, and in some other places. The Boldon book, a survey made of the state of the bishoprick of Durham in 1183, shews how much of the rents was paid in cows, sheep, pigs, fowls, &c. the remaining part being made up, chiefly by manual labour. Verse 35. Beat one] Edigav, took his skin off, flayed him: probably alluding to some who had been excessively scourged. Killed another, &c.] Rid themselves of the true witnesses of God by a variety of persecutions.

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The true disciples of Christ have been persecuted in all ages, and the greatest share of the persecution has fallen upon the ministers of his religion; for there have always been good and bad husbandmen, and the latter have persecuted the former.

Some apply this parable also to Christianity, thus: The master or father-our blessed Lord. The family-professing Verse 36. Other servants] There is not a moment in which Christians in general. The vineyard-the true Church, or asGod does not shower down his gifts upon men, and require sembly of the faithful. The hedge-the true faith, which the fruit of them: various instruments are used to bring sinkeeps the sacred assembly enclosed and defended from theners to God. There are prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers: errors of heathenism and false Christianity. The wine-press-some with his gift after this manner, and some after that. the atonement made by the sacrifice of Christ, typified by the sacrifices under the Law. The tower-the promises of the divine presence and protection. The husbandmen—the apostles and all their successors in the ministry. The going from home -the ascension to heaven. But this parable cannot go on all fours in the Christian cause, as any one may see. In the case of the husbandmen especially, it is inapplicable; unless we suppose our Lord intended such as those inquisitorial Bonners, who always persecuted the true ministers of Christ, and consequently Christ himself in his members; and to these may be added the whole train of St. Bartholomew EJECTORS, and all the fire and faggot men of a certain Church, who think they do God service by murdering his saints. But let the persecuted take courage, Jesus Christ will come back shortly,

More than the first] Or, more honourable, so I think novas should be translated; for as the fulness of the time approached, each prophet more clearly and fully pointed out the coming Christ.

Our translation, which says, more than the first, conveys no meaning at all. Пo has the meaning I have given it above, in chap. vi. 25. πλuov τns tęopns, of MORE VALUE than food, and in Num. xxii. 15. #helous xa ertiμoteous, persons higher in dignity and office.

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