11:24 More tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment. Because it had poor opportunities. Sodom had fallen two thousand years before Christ, and had been extinct ever since, yet the Lord speaks of a future day of judgment for both Sodom and Capernaum. Therefore, (1) There is a judgment after death. (2) Temporal punishment for wickedness does not satisfy eternal justice. The Sodomites were held to a future judgment. (3) The inhabitants of Sodom had not been annihilated, but were alive, waiting for the judgment.
11:24 Moreover I say unto you - Beside the general denunciation of wo to those stubborn unbelievers, the degree of their misery will be greater than even that of Tyre and Sidon, yea, of Sodom.
11:16-24 Christ reflects on the scribes and Pharisees, who had a proud conceit of themselves. He likens their behaviour to children's play, who being out of temper without reason, quarrel with all the attempts of their fellows to please them, or to get them to join in the plays for which they used to assemble. The cavils of worldly men are often very trifling and show great malice. Something they have to urge against every one, however excellent and holy. Christ, who was undefiled, and separate from sinners, is here represented as in league with them, and polluted by them. The most unspotted innocence will not always be a defence against reproach. Christ knew that the hearts of the Jews were more bitter and hardened against his miracles and doctrines, than those of Tyre and Sidon would have been; therefore their condemnation would be the greater. The Lord exercises his almighty power, yet he punishes none more than they deserve, and never withholds the knowledge of the truth from those who long after it.
