John the Baptist (Luke 7:18-35). In place of Mk.'s narrative of John, deferred to ch. 14, Mt. gives material from Q.
Matthew 11:2-6. John's Perplexity. It is a question whether doubt was supervening upon the Baptist's first faith, or whether Matthew 3:14 f. is unhistorical, and John had all along been uncertain. In 2 Cod. Bezæ reads the works of Jesus. In Matthew 11:5 we have to decide whether Jesus refers the embassy to a series of physical miracles ending with the preaching of good tidings to the poor (Harnack, Plummer), or metaphorically (cf. Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 61:1) to the spiritual work He was doing (Schmiedel, Loisy, Wellhausen). Jesus never paraded or made capital out of His miracles, and it would be like Him to meet John's question by emphasising His spiritual mission. Mt. and Lk., however, held that Jesus appealed to physical miracles, and in illustration of raising the dead (but see Matthew 9:24 *) Mt. has given the case of Jairas-' daughter from Mk. With Lk., Jairas-' daughter comes later, so he inserts just before John's inquiry the story of the Nain widow's son. Jesus, while appropriating Isaiah 61:1-3 to Himself, and feeling sure that the rule of Satan was shaken, is unwilling as yet directly to declare Himself Messiah. It is for others to recognise the new light and truth; failing to do so, they increase their darkness and peril (Matthew 11:6).
Matthew 11:7-19. The Baptist and the Son of Man.
Matthew 11:7-10 may be independent of and earlier than Matthew 11:2-6, and Matthew 11:11-14 in turn independent of Matthew 11:7-10, and dealing rather less favourably with John. In Matthew 11:7-10 Jesus declares that the popular enthusiasm for the Baptist, now perhaps waning, was right. He was no weakling, but a strong man; no silken courtier, but a stern ascetic, a prophet true, but the outstanding prophet predicted by Malachi. Yet John belongs to the old era, and so falls into the background. The humblest Christian is, as a Christian, more than the greatest Jew (Montefiore; see also his fine passage on Jesus as marking an era, pp 592- 4). Between new and old there is a great gulf fixed. J. Weiss thinks, on the other hand, that John was not excluded from the new, and that Jesus meant, he who is smaller is in the kingdom greater than he. This is not so tenable. Perhaps, as Oort suggests, we have in Matthew 11:11-14 not so much Jesus-' own view as that of the Church towards the end of the first century, reflected again in the Fourth Gospel, where, however, the Baptist himself is made to declare his inferiority.
Matthew 11:7 f. Perhaps we should assimilate these verses to Matthew 11:9, and read: Why. wilderness? To see. wind? Why went ye out? To see. raiment?
Matthew 11:12. The following varied explanations have been offered: (a) Since John's day rash attempts have been made to speed the advent of the Kingdom, a reference to the Zealot propaganda. (b) The Kingdom suffers violence from men who steal it away, not to benefit by it, but to prevent believers from enjoying it (Loisy, cf. Matthew 23:13). (c) The Kingdom came with Jesus, but was hindered by the malice of men. (Loisy suggests this as the point of view of early Christians arguing against the Jews, and especially against followers of John.) (d) The Kingdom suffers violence (ironical) because the wrong people are taking possession of it chance victors, tax-gatherers and sinners (cf. Matthew 21:28-32). (e) The Kingdom is violently treated in the persons of its messengers and heralds (so Dalman and Allen; cf. Luke 7:29 f.). The words are then an editorial paraphrase of a saying like Luke 16:16 inserted as a link between Matthew 11:7-11 and Matthew 11:16-19, in which John's career is viewed as closed.
Matthew 11:13 does not naturally follow Matthew 11:12, and should perhaps precede it as in Luke 16:16, which is easier but possibly less original. The OT pointed forward to John as the herald of the Messianic age; that period of preparation is now closed. Matthew 11:7-15 brings out the cleavage between the old and the new era. Christianity is severed from Judaism. John had great gifts, but he lacked the one thing needful; he never became a disciple of Jesus. Yet (Matthew 11:16-19), as opposed to the Jews, John and Jesus stand together.
Matthew 11:16-19. The contemporaries of Jesus are like children, not those who play at weddings and funerals, but their fellows who are unwilling to dance or to mourn, understanding neither John's asceticism and warnings, nor Jesus-' good news and geniality. Jesus seems to be looking back on His mission, now drawing to an end.
Matthew 11:19 b. The verdict of the early Church. Wisdom, incarnate in Jesus, though doubted by many, has been proved right by its works. Lk. has children (so Syr. Sin. here, almost certainly correct), i.e. those who accepted Jesus; or, less probably, the Jews as the children of the Divine Wisdom (cf. Matthew 8:12, where they are called children of the Kingdom). In this case we must take by in the sense of before or over against, or possibly far from, i.e. amongst people remote from those who deemed themselves her children.