Matthew 16:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 16:4
A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular feminine
but
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
the sign
σημεῖονsēmeion
G4592
an indication · noun — nominative singular neuter
of the prophet
προφήτου.prophētou
G4396
a foreteller ("prophet") · noun — genitive singular masculine
Jonas
ἸωνᾶIōna
G2495
Jonas (i.e. Jonah) · noun — genitive singular masculine, a proper name
And
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
left
καταλιπὼνkatalipōn
G2641
to leave down · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
them
αὐτοὺςautous
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative plural masculine
departed
ἀπῆλθεν.¶apēlthen
G565
to go off (i.e. depart) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Luke 11:29-30 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be…
Matthew 12:39-40 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the…
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Mark 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be giv…
Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ash…
Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Mark 5:17-18 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 16:1-4
We have here Christ's discourse with the Pharisees and Sadducees, men at variance among themselves, as appears Act 23:7, Act 23:8, and yet unanimous in their opposition to Christ; because his doctrine did equally overthrow the errors and heresies of the Sadducees, who denied the existence of spirits and a future state; and the pride, tyranny, and hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who were the great imposters of the traditions of the elders. Christ and Christianity meet with opposition on all hands. Observe,
I. Their demand, and the design of it.
1. The demand was of a sign from heaven; this they desired him to show them; pretending they were very willing to be satisfied and convinced, when really…
A wicked and adulterous generation,.... He says the same things here, as he did to the Pharisees on a like occasion, in Matthew 12:39.
And he left them; as persons hardened, perverse, and incurable, and as unworthy to be conversed with:
and departed: to the ship which brought him thither, and went in it to the other side of the sea of Galilee; see Mark 8:13.
John Calvin on Matthew 16:1-4
Matthew 16:1-4
Matthew 16:1-4
Mark 8:11-13
Luke 12:54-57
1. And the Pharisees, together with the Sadducees, came, and tempting desired that he would show them a sign from heaven. 2. But he answering said to them, About the commencement of the evening you say, It will be fine weather; for the sky is red. 3. And in the morning, There will be a storm today; for the sky is red and lowering. Hypocrites, you can judge aright of the face of the sky; but can you not judge of the signs of the times? 4. A wicked and adulterous nation demandeth a sign, and no sign shall be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them, and departed.
11. And the Pharisees came, and began to disput…
The signs of the times were Jesus himself (16:4) and the various miracles that he performed (cp. 11:2-6; 12:28).
The Church Fathers
Observe, we do not read here as in other places, that He sent the multitudes away and departed; but because the error of unbelief held the minds of the presumptuous, it is said that He left them.
Now he called them evil because their wicked deeds had made them evil people (evil because of deliberate wickedness) and adulterous because when the Pharisees and Sadducees left their metaphoric spouse, the true word, they committed adultery, with falsehood and the law of sin.Assume there are two laws: the law of our bodies, which is in conflict with the law of our mind. We might say then that the law of the mind (that is, the law of the Spirit) is the husband to whom the soul was betrothed by God as wife according to the Scripture; a wife is married to a man by God. But the other law is a seducer of the soul and as such is called "adulterous."
Just as that whale was not able to digest Jonah nor was able to keep him alive inside himself for long, so too voracious Death assuredly received the Lord. But since he was not able to keep him alive and in custody inside himself, Death regurgitated him on the third day, just as the whale had regurgitated Jonah. For Death, though accustomed always to eat and digest the dead, was nauseated and vomited out the Lord alive. Truly he was not able to digest him, for he was a rock—as the apostle says: "Moreover, Christ was a rock." And indeed the whale gulped and expelled only Jonah. But Death in ingesting the Lord cast out not that very one alone but many with him. For we read that many corpses of the holy had risen up with the Lord.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jonah — A dove, the son of Amittai of Gath-hepher. He was a prophet of Israel, and predicted the restoration of the ancient boundaries (2 Kings 14:25-27) of the kingdom. He exercised his ministry very early…
Jonas — (1.) Greek form of Jonah (Matt. 12:39, 40, 41, etc.). (2.) The father of the apostles Peter (John 21:15-17) and Andrew; but the reading should be (also in 1:42), as in the Revised Version, “John,”…
Pharisees — Separatists (Heb. persahin, from parash, “to separate”). They were probably the successors of the Assideans (i.e., the “pious”), a party that originated in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in revolt…
Sadducees — The origin of this Jewish sect cannot definitely be traced. It was probably the outcome of the influence of Grecian customs and philosophy during the period of Greek domination. The first time they…
Jonah · Is a sign — Is a sign
Pharisees · .By Jesus — .By Jesus
Sign · A miracle to confirm faith — A miracle to confirm faith
Titles And Names Of The Wicked · Wicked generation — Wicked generation
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
