Jesus and His Mission.
Matthew 11:25-27 treats of the relation between the Father and the Son (Luke 10:21 f.), Matthew 11:28-30 of the yoke of Jesus (Mt. only). No stress can be laid on at that time, though these things might mean the significance of the wonders which Chorazin and the other towns had not perceived, or (excluding Matthew 11:20-24) the methods of the Divine wisdom. Lk. makes the words refer to the theme of the preaching of the Seventy, and we may well place them after Mark 6:31. They mark that period in the ministry when the refusal of the religious teachers of Israel to accept Christ's teaching became unmistakably clear. Answered and said is merely an OT idiom. Jesus is thankful, not that the wise and prudent (Isaiah 29:14; 1 Corinthians 1:19-28) are blind, but that the poor and simple see. After Even so (Matthew 11:26) supply I thank thee. It is possible that the Aramaic word Abba, which lies behind father in Matthew 11:27, should be taken as a vocative.
All is now revealed to me, O
Father, And no one knows Thee, O Father, except Thy Son;
No one knows Thy Son, O Father, but Thou,
And those to whom the Son reveals Himself.
This would preserve the same type of prayer as is found in the previous stanza. The passage furnishes a strong link between the Synoptic Gospels and the Fourth Gospel, where the peculiar gift of Christ is the knowledge of God and of Himself, i.e. eternal life (John 17:3).
Matthew 11:27. There is no vital difference between the words for know used by Mt. (epiginô skei) and Lk. (ginô skei). The prefix does not imply fuller knowledge, but knowledge directed to a particular point. There are several variant readings in the verse, e.g. knew for knoweth, and the transposition of the two clauses about the Son knowing the Father and the Father the Son (see Harnack, Sayings of Jesus, pp. 272- 310; also JThS, July 1909). all things: a complete revelation. have been delivered: not necessarily in a state of pre-existence. The verb implies the communication of a mystery. M-' Neile's additional note should be studied. He paraphrases the passage thus: I thank Thee, O Father, that it was Thy good pleasure to reveal these things to babes through My teaching. I alone can do it because the whole truth has been entrusted to Me. None except Thee could know My Sonship so as to reveal it to Me; and none except Myself, the Son, could know Thee, the Father. Thus I can reveal both truths to whomsoever I will.
Matthew 11:28-30. The passage shows the influence of Sir_51:23 ff. and Jeremiah 6:16. It need not have been originally connected with Matthew 11:25-27, but it forms a happy prelude to Matthew 12:1-13. The weary and heavy laden are those who toil under the demands of the Law and its Rabbinical amplifications. Jesus offers them rest or refreshment; His demands are few and easy all He asks is trust and love. The yoke is a common figure in Jewish literature, e.g. the yoke of the Law (cf. Acts 15:10), the yoke of the Kingdom, the yoke of the commandments. Jesus goes on to say that His desire is to help and save; He is meek, i.e. not overbearing like the Scribes, and gentle (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:1, and C. H. Robinson, Studies in the Character of Christ, i.). your souls =yourselves. The gentleness of Jesus guarantees the gentleness of His yoke. For complementary truth see Matthew 5:20; Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24. The yoke of Jesus is an inspiration rather than a code, and it gives those who accept it vigour and buoyancy fully and joyfully to fulfil demands greater than any imposed by the Jewish Law.
Montefiore and Loisy, like other scholars, notably Pfleiderer, contest the genuineness of Matthew 11:25-30. Harnack (Sayings of Jesus, Excursus I) stoutly defends the whole passage. [The discussion has recently passed into a new stage with the investigation devoted to the passage by Norden in his Agnostos Theos (1913), pp. 277- 308, 394- 396 (see also Bacon's article in the Harvard Theological Review for Oct. 1915). A. S. P.]