Mat 16:1-4 | Family | STEP | Pharisees--Sadducees ; opposite sects among the Jews. Chap . Tempting ; trying him, in order to get something against him. Sign from heaven ; some miracle in the skies besides those he had wrought upon the earth, and which they pretended would more clearly show his real character.

Matthew 16:1-4

Pharisees--Sadducees; opposite sects among the Jews. Chap Mt 3:7.

Tempting; trying him, in order to get something against him.

Sign from heaven; some miracle in the skies besides those he had wrought upon the earth, and which they pretended would more clearly show his real character. Hypocrites; pretending to one thing, while they sought another.

Signs of the times; these had been numerous and decisive. They were far more convincing than many on which they daily acted with regard to this life. The sceptre had departed from Judah, and the lawgiver from between his feet; that is, the government of the country had departed from the tribe of Judah, and was then in the hands of the Romans, which Jacob, in blessing his sons, said should not be till Shiloh, or the Messiah, should come. Ge 49:10. John, the predicted messenger and forerunner of Christ, had come, chap Mt 3:3; Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1; 4:5; the Holy Ghost had descended from heaven visibly upon Jesus, and the Father had declared him to be his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased. Chap Mt 3:16,17. He had wrought many incontestable miracles, and many predictions and promises of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah had been fulfilled in him, proving, most abundantly and conclusively, that he was the Christ. Yet they rejected all, and pretended that they wanted more evidence that he was the Messiah; while what they really wanted was, to put him to death, lest, as the Messiah, the people should believe in him. Evidence which fully satisfies men, and on which they readily act, with regard to this world, often fails to satisfy them in religion.