14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant; 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise’?” 17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. Matt. 21:14-17
As Messiah moved about the temple porches, healing the blind and the lame. What joy there must have been. But the priests and scribes were not happy. This was not the Warrior King they longed for. He was not preparing the people for battle with the Romans. That was what they wanted; that is what they were expecting. They knew the prophecies they liked, yet they did not know the man who was fulfilling them before their eyes.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; Is. 35:5
. . . then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; Is. 35:6
We mustn’t be too hard on them. God Himself had blinded their eyes. We are concerned that the Church will make the same mistake at His return. Many Christians are so sure they have figured out the prophecies that they might not recognize Him. They have created so many fabulous expectations about His return that events may not occur as they anticipate. Even though there is no consensus on the order of events, because there are four different schools of Eschatological Hermeneutics. Many have varied solutions to the problematic prophecies. Is He returning on a white horse with an army? [Rev. 19:11] Or is He alone covered in Blood? [Is. 63:1] Are there one or two battles with Gog and Magog? [Ezek. 38:2 , Rev. 20:8] etc.
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.” John 12:40
For the Lord has sent on you a spirit of deep sleep; and by him your eyes, the prophets, are shut, and your heads, the seers, are covered. Is. 29:10
The Children
Even the children began shouting Hosanna, i.e., “save us,” to the Son of David. They are repeating what they heard the adults shouting earlier when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. The priests clearly thought He should stop the shouting. Either because Son of David is a messianic name, or because it was disruptive to the services. Messiah stood in the temple in the presence of everyone, priests and worshippers alike, showing that He was, in fact, the long-expected Son of David. This was the first official rejection.
They knew the prophecies, yet they did not know the man.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; Is. 35:5-6
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; Is. 61:1
The lame were walking, and the blind had their sight restored. Prophecy fulfilled, and the priests were indignant! They were shocked that a good man would allow such praise to be applied to Himself. After all, that kind of praise is meant only for God. So, foolishly, they rejected Him, refusing to acknowledge Him as their Messiah. He walked out of the temple and spent the night in Bethany, about 2 miles from Jerusalem.
There is a little strangeness in His quote. Messiah answers by quoting the Septuagint (LLX) version of Ps 8:2 where the Hebrew “ordained strength” is translated as “perfect praise” or “restored praise.”
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Ps 8:2 KJV
. . . by the mouth of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. Psa. 8:2 RSV
Our Messiah was making known through the fulfillment of this Scripture that the children understand more of what is going on than the priests do. The priests had no intention of restoring the praise in the temple. The children were the ones restoring, mending, creating, or strengthening praise. All this implies that the priests do not understand this praise. They had lost the praise. How sad to have spent your life in the service of the temple and then to have missed what it all represented.
One does wonder what the night in Bethany was like. By this time, the group would have acquired a lamb for the Passover. It would have probably been frolicking about the courtyard. Any children present would have naturally played with it. Yet no one understood that the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world was with them!
When Messiah returns, will some be as blind as those who could not see?
Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:8b
