At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
At that time Jesus answered and said. We are not to understand by this, that the previous discourse had been concluded; and that this is a record only of something said about the same period. For the connection is most close, and the word "answered" - which, when there is no one to answer, refers to something just before said, or rising in the mind of the speaker in consequence of something said-confirms this. What Jesus here "answered" evidently was the melancholy results of His ministry, lamented over in the foregoing verses. It is as if He had said, 'Yes; but there is a brighter side of the picture: even in those who have rejected the message of eternal life, it is the pride of their own hearts only which has blinded them, and the glory of the truth does but the more appear in their inability to receive it: Nor have all rejected it even here; souls thirsting for salvation have drawn water with joy from the wells of salvation; the weary have found rest; the hungry have been filled with good things, while the rich have been sent empty away.'
I thank thee, х Exomologoumai (G1843) soi (G4671)] - rather, 'I assent to thee.' But this is not strong enough. The idea of 'full' or 'cordial' concurrence is conveyed by the preposition х Ex (G1537)]. The thing expressed is adoring acquiescence, holy satisfaction with that law of the divine procedure about to be mentioned. And as, when He afterward uttered the same words, He "exulted in Spirit" (see the note at Luke 10:21), probably He did the same now, though not recorded.
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. He so styles His Father here, to signify that from Him of right emanate all such high arrangements.
Because thou hast hid these things (the knowledge of these saving truths) from the wise and prudent, х sofoon (G4680) kai (G2532) sunetoon (G4908)]. The former of these terms points to the men who pride themselves upon their speculative or philosophical attainments; the latter to the men of worldly shrewdness-the clever, the sharp-witted, the men of affairs. The distinction is a natural one, and was well understood. (See 1 Corinthians 1:19; etc.) But why had the Father hid from such the things that belonged to their peace, and why did Jesus so emphatically set His seal to this arrangement! Because it is not for the offending and revolted to speak or to speculate, but to listen to Him from whom we have broken loose, that we may learn whether there be any recovery for us at all; and if there be, on what principles-of what nature-to what ends. To bring our own "wisdom and prudence" to such questions is impertinent and presumptuous; and if the truth regarding them, or the glory of it, be "hid" from us, it is but a fitting retribution, to which all the right-minded will set their seal along with Jesus.
Hast revealed them unto babes - But Thou hast revealed them unto babes-to babe-like men; men of unassuming docility, men who, conscious that they know nothing, and have no right to sit in judgment on the things that belong to their peace, determine simply to "hear what God the Lord will speak." Such are well called "babes." (See Hebrews 5:13; 1 Corinthians 13:11; 1 Corinthians 14:20; etc.)