And as he said these things unto them. — The better MSS. give, “When He had gone forth from thence...,” as though Jesus had left the house after uttering the “woe” of Luke 11:52, and was followed by the crowd of angry and embittered disputants.
To provoke him to speak. — The Greek verb has literally the sense of “causing to speak impromptu, without thought,” and is happily enough rendered by the English text.