For John came neither eating, &c.— Our Lord justifies the application of the proverb in the preceding verse to the Pharisees, by observing, that the divine Wisdom had tried every method proper for converting them, but in vain; for, first of all, the Baptist was sent unto them, in the stern dignity of their ancient prophets, so that it was natural to think they would have reverenced him; nevertheless they rejected him altogether. Such, it seems, was the pride and malice of the Pharisees, that when theyfound their own ostentatious and hypocritical mortifications utterly eclipsed by the real austerities of this holy man's life, they impudently affirmed, that his living in deserts, his shunning the company of men, the coarseness of his clothing, the abstemiousness of his diet, with the other severities which he practised, were all the effects of madness, religious melancholy, and diabolical agency: John came neither eating bread nor drinking wine (see Luke 7:24; Luke 7:50.), and they say he hath a devil; literally, he hath a demon. This method of converting the Pharisees proving unsuccessful, God sent his only Son in a more familiar manner, Matthew 11:19. Jesus did not practise those mortifications which rendered the Baptist remarkable: he in general fared like other men, and went into mixed companies, not avoiding the company of publicans and sinners. But neither would they hear him: for notwithstanding he maintained the strictest temperance himself, and never encouraged the vices of others, either by dissimulation or example, they attributed that easy but temperate way of living to a certain looseness of disposition; but Wisdom is justified by her children. These words appear to be a Jewish proverb. See Isaiah 45:25.Luke 7:29. Wisdom here implies the method which God followed in bringing the Jews to Christianity. The children of Wisdom mean the truly wise, the disciples of wisdom: they are the babes mentioned in the 25th verse of this chapter. The clause may be paraphrased, "They who are truly wise and religious must needs approve this beautiful variety in the conduct of Providence, and see that the difference in our mode of living suits the purposes of our respective appearances, and is adapted to promote the general design of God's glory, and man's salvation."
Related Commentaries of Matthew 11:18
Matthew 11:18-19
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.