Matthew 16:1

§ 70. A SIGN AGAIN ASKED, Matthew 16:1-12 .

1. The Pharisees also with the Sadducees These two sects were hostile to each other, but could be friends in order to resist the Saviour in concert. On this occasion they repeated the demand for a sign made on more than one occasion. See notes on Matthew 12:38-40.

Tempting… him Inasmuch as our Lord refused the sign formerly demanded, they now try again the same experiment. If he complies with their demands he will be such a Messiah as they desire. If he does not, they have an argument against him. From heaven As being less likely to be a magical or juggling performance than a terrestrial miracle. Alford says: “In the Jewish superstition it was held that demons and false gods could give signs on earth, but only the true God from heaven.”

Signs in the skies indeed there were. At his birth was the star. The angels announced from the skies his nativity. The dove from the skies descended upon him. Voices from heaven at different times acknowledged him Son of God. Finally, at his crucifixion darkness at midday and earthquake gave witness to him.

At a later date in Jewish history (about the year 136) a false messiah came and undertook to be just such a messiah as the Jews desired. He called himself Bar Cochevas, or son of a star, from the star prophesied by Balaam. He performed signs by legerdemain, gained thousands of followers, among whom were three of the greatest of rabbis. He raised an insurrection against the Roman government, and terrible slaughters ensued. After one of the most sanguinary wars in history, the rebellion was subdued in the blood of the impostor and his deluded followers.

It is a bloody messiah like this whose sign these Pharisees wished to see appear in the heavens. Miracles of mercy, sermons and parables, forgiveness of sin and reformation of life, were matters for which they had no taste. To have granted their request would have been to concede their notion.