Matthew 13:16-17 - Exposition

Parallel passage: Luke 10:23 , Luke 10:24 , after the return of the seventy, and immediately following our Matthew 11:25 , Matthew 11:27 . The verses stand there, that is to say, in close connexion with the other great utterance contrasting God's revelation of spiritual things to some and his hiding them from others. Possibly he spoke the verses only once (cf. the repetitions in the Prophets), but, in view of the frequency with which Christ's utterances are placed out of their original connexion, the assumption should be the other way. If he really only spoke them once, we cannot be sure which the occasion was, but the possibility that they do not properly belong here is increased by the doubt whether also Matthew 11:12 was originally spoken now.