And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.
| Word | Greek | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| And | καὶ kai | G2532 | and · conjunction |
| out | ἀποστέλλουσιν apostellousin | G649 | set apart · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural |
| him | αὐτῷ autō | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine |
| their | αὐτῶν autōn | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine |
| disciples | μαθητὰς mathētas | G3101 | a learner · noun — accusative plural masculine |
| with | μετὰ meta | G3326 | properly · preposition |
| Herodians | Ἡρῳδιανῶν Hērōdianōn | G2265 | Herodians · noun — genitive plural masculine, a title |
| saying | λέγοντες· legontes | G3004 | properly · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine |
| Master | διδάσκαλε, didaskale | G1320 | an instructor (genitive case or specially) · noun — vocative singular masculine, a title |
| know | εἴδω eídō | G1492 | used only in certain past tenses |
| that | ὅτι hoti | G3754 | demonstrative · conjunction |
| art | εἶ eî | G1488 | thou art |
| true | ἀληθὴς alēthēs | G227 | true (as not concealing) · adjective — nominative singular masculine |
| and | καὶ kai | G2532 | and · conjunction |
| teachest | διδάσκεις, didaskeis | G1321 | to teach (in the same broad application) · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person singular |
| way | ὁδὸν hodon | G3598 | a road · noun — accusative singular feminine |
| God | θεοῦ theou | G2316 | figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title |
| in | ἐν en | G1722 | "in · preposition |
| truth | ἀληθείᾳ alētheia | G225 | truth · noun — dative singular feminine |
| neither | οὐ ou | G3756 | the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative |
| carest | μέλει melei | G3199 | to be of interest to · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular |
| thou | σοί soí | G4671 | to thee |
| for | περὶ peri | G4012 | properly · preposition |
| any | οὐδενός, oudenos | G3762 | not even one (man · adjective — genitive singular masculine |
| for | γὰρ gar | G1063 | properly · conjunction |
| regardest | βλέπεις blepeis | G991 | to look at (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person singular |
| not | οὐ ou | G3756 | the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative |
| person | πρόσωπον prosōpon | G4383 | the front (as being towards view) · noun — accusative singular neuter |
| men | ἀνθρώπων. anthrōpōn | G444 | from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι)) · noun — genitive plural masculine |
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 from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
For many are called, but few are chosen--So Mat 19:30. See on Mat 20:16. Next: Matthew Chapter 23
And they sent out unto him their disciples,.... Who were trained up in the same way of thinking with themselves, had imbibed the same tenets, and were strenuous defenders of them; and no doubt they selected the most crafty and artful among them; and who were the best versed in their principles and sophistic method of arguing: these they the rather sent, imagining they would not be known, as they themselves were: and from their age and air of simplicity, might be taken for innocent persons, who in great sincerity, came to be instructed by him, with the Herodians: learned men are very much divided in their sentiments about these men; some think they were Gentiles under the government of Herod…
Read the whole note in the consoleMatthew 22:15-22 Matthew 22:15-22 Mark 12:13-17 Luke 20:20-26 15. Then the Pharisees went away, and took counsel how they might entrap him in his words. 16. And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men. 17. Tell us then, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? 18. But Jesus, perceiving their wickedness, saith, Why do you tempt me, hypocrites? 19. Show me the tribute money. And they presented to him a denarius. 20. And he saith to them, Whose is this image and inscription? 21. They say to him, Caesar'…
Read the whole note in the consoleThe Pharisees, strict nationalists who resented Roman rule, were normally at odds with the supporters of Herod. Here, the unlikely alliance arose from a mutual hatred of Jesus.
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
This is the commonest act of hypocrites, to commend those they would ruin. Thus, these break out into praises of Him, saying, Master, we know that Thou art true. They call Him Master, that, deceived by this show of honour and respect, He might in simplicity open all His heart to them, as seeking to gain them for disciples.
(Verse 16.) Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and you do not care about anyone's opinion. For you do not show partiality to people. So tell us, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? This is a clever and deceitful question, designed to trap the one being questioned and force him to fear God more than Caesar, and say that taxes should not be paid, so that the Herodians listening will immediately arrest him for sedition against the Roman ruler.
Jesus' opponents expect that one of two outcomes must result for them from Jesus' response. They think they can show clearly that Jesus was acting wrongly against the law of Moses or against the power of the Romans. "Indeed, if he responds that it is necessary for us to pay the tribute," the Pharisees will necessarily slander him alongside those who obey the Romans, saying, "He is guiding us outside the law of Moses away from the service of God. He is leading us to a foreign power and a foreign race." That is indeed why Luke says, "They could not catch him at fault in his teaching before the people." For it is publicly, that is to say, in the midst of the people, that they are questioning him, in order to set the people against him. And if he does not permit the tax to be paid, the Herodians will immediately lay their hands on him as on one who does not submit to the Roman authorities.Observe what is the passion of hypocrisy, how it has hidden all the hostility and the homicidal thought of the Jews beneath flattery's vile veil, and how those who hate involuntarily honor as they attempt to cause a death. Indeed, those who were saying, "We are the disciples of Moses, but we don't know where that one is from" call him "Master." Those who were calling him a "deceiver" and "seducer" say, "We know that you are truthful." Those who were doing their best to resist with jealousy and with ignorance, saying, "This man does not come from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath" and "he has a demon" witness that he teaches the way of God in all truth.
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).
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
