Matthew 21 Study Notes

21:15-16 Both the wonders performed by Jesus and the words spoken by the children identified Jesus as the Son of David and Messiah (see notes at v. 14 and 1:1). Jesus argued from Ps 8:2 that the children’s celebration was appropriate and divinely inspired. After all, God had prepared praise from the mouths of infants.

Hosanna derives from two Hebrew words hoshi‘ah na’ via Aramaic hosha‘ na’, meaning “Please save!” The phrase first occurs in Ps 118:25 (similar expressions occur in Ps 12:1; 20:9; 28:9; 60:5; 108:6), and by the time of Jesus it had become a fixed liturgical expression used as a prayer for help, an exclamation of praise, and a shout of celebration. Sometimes, the phrase was interpreted messianically, and in this sense, the Gospels highlight Jesus’s triumphal entry by noting the crowds shouting hosanna (Mt 21:9 = Mk 11:9-10 = Lk 19:38 = Jn 12:13), as well as the cheering of the children in praise of Jesus (Mt 21:15).

21:17-19 On his way from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus passed again through Bethphage (v. 1), meaning, “the house of unripe figs.” In light of Mc 5:7, the fruitless fig tree symbolized Israel’s moral barrenness. The cursing of the tree forewarned of God’s coming judgment against Jerusalem and its temple.

21:20-22 Jesus’s disciples apparently overlooked the symbolic significance of Jesus’s miracle and simply focused on the power of his command. Although this mountain could be a reference to the Mount of Olives (Zch 14:4) or the temple mount, it probably referred to God’s power to do humanly impossible things in response to prayer (1Co 13:2).

21:23-27 John the Baptist said that Christ would pour out the transforming Spirit on his disciples and punish the unrepentant with fiery judgment (see note at 3:11). John also identified Jesus as the promised Christ (see note at 3:14). Admission that John was a prophet would require the Jewish leaders to acknowledge Jesus’s authority also.

21:28-32 The father here symbolizes God. The first son symbolizes notorious sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes who initially rebel against the Father’s will but later repent and obey. The other son represents the chief priests and elders who promised obedience to God but never fulfilled their commitment.

21:33-41 The landowner represents God; the vineyard stands first for Israel (Is 5:1-7), then Jerusalem, then the kingdom; the tenant farmers represent the Jewish leaders; the servants, the OT prophets; the son, Jesus. Because the Jewish leaders refused to give God the fruits of righteousness that he demanded and because they rejected and murdered his Son, God would destroy them, take his kingdom away from them, and entrust it to Jesus’s disciples.

21:42-44 Jesus quoted Ps 118:22-23, the same psalm from which the people in Mt 21:9 drew their expressions of praise. The image of a stone that was rejected as worthless by builders but later used as the cornerstone—the most important part of the structure—foreshadowed the fact that though Jesus was rejected by the Jewish leaders, he would be vindicated by God and would become the focal point of God’s kingdom. Verse 43 interprets and applies the parable of the vineyard owner: God would take his kingdom away from the Jewish leaders and entrust it to Jesus’s disciples. Verse 44 alludes to Is 8:14-15 and Dn 2:34,44-45. In Isaiah, the stone is the Lord over whom the people of Israel stumble, fall, and are broken. By identifying himself as the stone, Jesus strongly implied his deity. In Daniel, the stone symbolized a powerful kingdom that would destroy all others and endure forever. The OT allusion thus describes Jesus’s deity and kingship and the destruction of all who reject him.

21:45-46 The background for these verses is 21:10-11.