Mat 21:42, 22:29 | Barnes | STEP | Verses 42,43. Jesus saith , etc. Jesus, having led them to admit the justice of the great principle on which God was about to act towards them, proceeds to apply it by a text of Scripture, declaring that this very thing which they admitted in the case of the husbandmen , had been predicted respecting themselves. This passage is found in . It was first applicable to David; but no less to Jesus. The stone . The figure is taken from building a house. The principal stone for size and beauty is that commonly laid as the corner stone. Which the builders rejected . On account of its want of beauty, or size, it was laid aside, or deemed unfit to be a corner-stone. This represents the Lord Jesus, proposed to the Jews as the foundation, or corner-stone on which to build the church: rejected by them--the builders --on account of his want of comeliness or beauty; i.e., of what they esteemed to be comely or desirable, . The same is become , etc. Though rejected by them , yet God chose him, and made him the foundation of the church. Christ is often compared to a stone, a corner-stone, a tried , i.e. a sure , firm foundation--all in allusion to the custom of building, ; . Lord's doing . The appointment of Jesus of Nazareth to be the foundation of the church, is by miracle and prophecy proved to be the work of God. Marvellous in our eyes . Wonderful in the sight of his people. An object of gratitude and admiration. That he should Select his only Son; that he should stoop so low, be despised, rejected, and put to death; that God should raise him up, and build a church on this foundation, embracing the Gentile as well as the Jew, and spreading through all the world, is a subject of wonder and praise to all the redeemed. (c) "stone"

Matthew 21:42

Verses 42,43. Jesus saith, etc. Jesus, having led them to admit the justice of the great principle on which God was about to act towards them, proceeds to apply it by a text of Scripture, declaring that this very thing which they admitted in the case of the husbandmen, had been predicted respecting themselves. This passage is found in Ps 118:22,23. It was first applicable to David; but no less to Jesus.

The stone. The figure is taken from building a house. The principal stone for size and beauty is that commonly laid as the corner stone.

Which the builders rejected. On account of its want of beauty, or size, it was laid aside, or deemed unfit to be a corner-stone. This represents the Lord Jesus, proposed to the Jews as the foundation, or corner-stone on which to build the church: rejected by them--the builders --on account of his want of comeliness or beauty; i.e., of what they esteemed to be comely or desirable, Isa 53:2,3.

The same is become, etc. Though rejected by them, yet God chose him, and made him the foundation of the church. Christ is often compared to a stone, a corner-stone, a tried, i.e. a sure, firm foundation--all in allusion to the custom of building, Acts 4:11; Rom 9:33, Eph 2:20, 1Pet 2:7.

Lord's doing. The appointment of Jesus of Nazareth to be the foundation of the church, is by miracle and prophecy proved to be the work of God.

Marvellous in our eyes. Wonderful in the sight of his people. An object of gratitude and admiration. That he should Select his only Son; that he should stoop so low, be despised, rejected, and put to death; that God should raise him up, and build a church on this foundation, embracing the Gentile as well as the Jew, and spreading through all the world, is a subject of wonder and praise to all the redeemed.

Matthew 22:29

Verse 29. Ye do err, not knowing, etc. They had taken a wrong view of the doctrine of the resurrection. It was not taught that men would marry there. The Scriptures, here, mean the books of the Old Testament. By appealing to them, he showed that the doctrine of the future state was there, and that the Sadducees should have believed it as it was, and not have added the absurd doctrine to it that men must live there as they do here. The way in which the enemies of the truth attempt to make a doctrine of the Bible ridiculous is by adding to it, and then calling it absurd. He produced a passage from the books of Moses, Mt 22:32, because they had also appealed to his writings, Mt 22:24. Other places of the Old Testament asserted it more clearly, Dan 12:2, Isa 26:19; but he wished to meet them on their own ground. None of those Scriptures asserted that men would live there as they do here, and therefore their reasoning was false.

Nor the power of God. They probably denied, as many have done since, that God could gather the scattered dust of the dead, and remould it into a body. On this ground they affirmed that the doctrine could not be true--opposing reason to revelation, and supporting that Infinite Power could not reorganize body that it had at first organized, and raise a body for its own dust which it had at first raised from nothing.

(e) "not knowing" Jn 20:9