13.02.04 Mt. 21:14-16 In the Temple Courts
THE CHILDREN PRAISE JESUS
14 The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple complex, and He healed them. 15 When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children shouting in the temple complex, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?”
“Yes,” Jesus told them. “Have you never read:
You have prepared praise from the mouths of children and nursing infants?”
Beggars were not permitted in every part of the temple. Usually they were near the entrance of a “holy place” such as the temple gate, on along the road leading to a temple or synagogue.[1] It is significant that the blind and lame came to Jesus, since they were forbidden to enter the temple according to the Oral Law.[2] Once they were healed, they had to present themselves to the priests to be declared healed and they could then enter the temple sanctuary to worship God. The healing forced the priests to again deal with Jesus.
A Lesson in First Century Hermeneutics:
13.02.04.X Conveying A Verse Without Words
In a culture where the common people were probably more biblically literate than are many modern Christians, Jesus could recite half a verse and the audience know how to finish it. With that understanding, Jesus recited half a passage and left the condemning part silent – yet everyone knew what Jesus ment.
“You have prepared praise from the mouths of children and nursing infants?’” One of the unique features of how the rabbis taught, is, that at times, what was not said spoke the loudest. Jesus used this technique when addressing His critics, who were plotting His death. He quoted one half of Psalm 8:2 and left the other half unspoken. Since everyone in attendance knew the entire passage, His silent message was profound.
2 Because of Your adversaries,
You have established a stronghold
from the mouths of children and nursing infants
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
Psalm 8:2
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[1]. A few examples are: 1) The impotent man of Acts 3:2-10 was near the Gate Beautiful, also known as the Nicanor Gate. 2) The blind and lame people in the temple who asked Jesus for a healing were probably in the Court of the Gentiles (i.e., Mt. 21:14). 3) The man who was blind from birth probably met Jesus at one of the two southern temple gates (Jn. 9:1-8). 4) The blind men of Jericho were along the major road that festival caravans took to Jerusalem, and that is where they met Jesus. 5) Jesus also met a blind man at the Pool of Siloam, another place considered to be “holy.”
[2]. Mishnah, Hagigah 1:1.