translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MAT

label: NET study note

text: See the note on Pharisees in 3:7 .


text: The Herodians are mentioned in the NT only once in Matt ( 22:16 = Mark 12:13 ) and twice in Mark ( 3:6; 12:13 ; some mss also read “Herodians” instead of “Herod” in Mark 8:15 ). It is generally assumed that as a group the Herodians were Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (or of Herod Antipas in particular). In every instance they are linked with the Pharisees. This probably reflects agreement regarding political objectives (nationalism as opposed to submission to the yoke of Roman oppression) rather than philosophy or religious beliefs.


text: Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.


text: Jesus’ answer to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s was a both/and, not the questioners’ either/or. So he slipped out of their trap.


text: See the note on Sadducees in 3:7 .


text: This remark is best regarded as a parenthetical note by the author.


text: A quotation from Deut 25:5 . This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12 ; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus , Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10 . The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.


text: 700 {sa}); this coupled with strong internal evidence argues for the shorter reading. Angels do not die, nor do they eat according to Jewish tradition ( 1 En. 15:6; 51:4; Wis 5:5; 2 Bar. 51:10; 1QH 3.21-23).


text: A quotation from Exod 3:6 .


text: He is not God of the dead but of the living. Jesus’ point was that if God could identify himself as God of the three old patriarchs, then they must still be alive when God spoke to Moses; and so they must be raised.


text: A quotation from Deut 6:5 . The threefold reference to different parts of the person says, in effect, that one should love God with all one’s being.


text: A quotation from Lev 19:18 .


text: It was a common belief in Judaism that Messiah would be the son of David in that he would come from the lineage of David. On this point the Pharisees agreed and were correct. But their understanding was nonetheless incomplete, for Messiah is also David’s Lord. With this statement Jesus was affirming that, as the Messiah, he is both God and man.


text: The Lord said to my Lord. With David being the speaker, this indicates his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord ). Jesus was arguing, as the ancient exposition assumed, that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of this figure and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great Messiah is.


text: A quotation from Ps 110:1 .