21:16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast {h} perfected praise?

(h) You have made most perfect. We read in David, Thou hast established or grounded, and if the matter is considered well, the evangelist says here the same thing, for that which is most perfect is stable and sure.

21:16 Hearest thou what these say? Christ's answer to the priests is a rebuke to all who would check religious enthusiasm on the part of children.

Out of the mouths of babes, etc. The quotation is from Ps 8:2. The praise of the innocent child is the perfection of praise.

21:16 Psalm 8:2.

21:12-17 Christ found some of the courts of the temple turned into a market for cattle and things used in the sacrifices, and partly occupied by the money-changers. Our Lord drove them from the place, as he had done at his entering upon his ministry, Joh 2:13-17. His works testified of him more than the hosannas; and his healing in the temple was the fulfilling the promise, that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former. If Christ came now into many parts of his visible church, how many secret evils he would discover and cleanse! And how many things daily practised under the cloak of religion, would he show to be more suitable to a den of thieves than to a house of prayer!



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