And, when he was come, &c.— The rulers, much alarmed at the proceedings of Jesus, were very desirous of putting him to death; but they wished to do it under the pretext of law. See Matthew 21:46 and Mark 11:18. In consequence of their intentions to do so, the chief priests, scribes and elders, that is to say, some of the first men of the nation, came by appointment of the Sanhedrim to Jesus, as he was teaching in the temple, and before all the people put two questions to him. The first was, concerning the nature of the authority by which he acted, whether as a prophet, a priest, or a king. The second question was, that if he claimed the authority of any, or all these characters, they desired to know whence he derived it, Matthew 21:23. Jesus, that he might at once reprove the impropriety of the question in those circumstances, and, in fact, return an unexceptionable, though oblique answer to it, said to them in reply, I also will ask, &c. Matthew 21:24-25. This question reduced the priests to an inextricable dilemma. They considered on the one hand, that if they should acknowledge John's mission to be from God, it would oblige them to acknowledge Christ's authority; John having more than once borne testimony to him as the Messiah. On the other hand, if they denied John's authority, they did not know but the people who stood round them listening to Jesus might stone them, for they generally believed John to have been a prophet: many of them had submitted to his baptism, and his reputation by no means ended with his life; not a few then holding him in high esteem, both on Christ's account and his own. See Luke 20:6 and the note on ch. Matthew 14:10. Wherefore, as matters stood, they judged it safest to answer, that they could not tell whence John's baptism was. By returning this answer, the priests left Jesus at liberty to decline giving the Sanhedrim that satisfaction which they were demanding. That court whose prerogative it was to judge of prophets, required our Lord to make good his pretensions to the character that he assumed: but by the question which he put, he obliged them to confess, that they had not been able to pass any judgment upon John the Baptist, notwithstanding he claimed the character of a messenger from God, and they had sent to examine his pretensions: this, in effect, was to acknowledge themselves incapable of judging of any prophet whatever. "Ye are come," said he, "to inquire into the proofs of my mission. I agree to submit myself to your examination, on condition that you will tell me what your determination was concerning John. Was he a true, or a false prophet? You say, you cannot tell. If then you are not able to form a judgment concerning John, how can you take upon you to judge of me?" In this light our Lord's question, in answer to theirs, appears to have been formed with the greatest wisdom and address; because whether the priests replied in the affirmative or negative, or gave no reply at all, they absolutely condemned themselves. See Macknight, Grotius, Calmet.
Related Commentaries of Matthew 21:23
Matthew 21:23-26
23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?
26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.