Then shall ye begin to say
Or ye shall say; in favour of themselves, and in order to be admitted within, the following pleas will be made by them:
we have eaten and drank in thy presence:
which may be understood both literally of many, who were miraculously led by Christ, or at whose tables he had ate and drank, and they with him; as did not only publicans and sinners, but some of the Pharisees, who invited him to their houses; and in a religious sense, of many who eat of the legal sacrifices; and of others, who eat the bread, and drink the wine at the Lord's table; all which will be insufficient to introduce men into the kingdom and glory of Christ: natural relation to Christ, which the Jews may claim, being born of them, and personal acquaintance with him, and a bare profession of him, will be of no avail another day:
and thou hast taught in our streets;
in the streets of many cities in Galilee and Judea: it was customary with the Jewish doctors to teach in the streets:
``says Rabba, behold I am as Ben Azzai, in the streets of Tiberias F1;''the gloss upon it is,
``who was (yqwvb vrwd) , "expounding in the streets of Tiberias."''And it is said F2 of Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai,
``that he was sitting in the shade of the temple, and expounding all the whole day;''the gloss on the place is,
``the temple being an hundred cubits high, its shade went very far "in the street", which is before the mountain of the house; and because "the street" was large, and held abundance of men, he was expounding there by reason of the heat, for no school could hold them:''and it is also said of R. Chija F3, that
``he went out and taught his brother's two sons, (qwvb) , "in the street".''So that what our Lord did, was no other than what was usual with their doctors; nor is this contrary to what is said in (See Gill on Matthew 12:19): this is also a fruitless plea and which will be of no service; it will signify nothing, to have heard Christ preached, or Christ himself preach, unless there is faith in him, which works by love; for not hearers of the word only, but doers of it are regarded.