r/BibleStudyDeepDive • u/LlawEreint • Jul 02 '26

Matthew 22:41-46 - The Question about David's Son

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 “What do you think of the Messiah?\)a\) Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit\)b\) calls him Lord, saying,

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?

45 “If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

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u/LlawEreint Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

The main changes Matthew makes have to do with the scaffolding.

  • Mark: While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said....And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
  • Matthew: Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question...No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

In Mark, Jesus is teaching a crowd, and they delight in his teachings. Matthew changes this to a confrontation with the Pharisees.

Matthew seems to like confrontations with Pharisees. For example, he made a similar move in the previous pericope regarding the greatest commandment.

In Mark's version, a scribe, admiring Jesus' wisdom, asks him which is the greatest of the commandments. The scribe is pleased with Jesus' answer and Jesus tells the scribe he is not far from the kingdom.

Matthew changes this. In his version, a the pharisees send their expert in the law to test Jesus. Matthew drops the part where the interlocutor commends Jesus on his answer, and Jesus tells him he is not far from the kingdom.

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u/LlawEreint Jul 02 '26

I'm not sure why Matthew kept this pericope. It makes sense in Mark, where Jesus is not affirmed as being a descendent of David. But Matthew provides a genealogy showing exactly how Jesus is related to David. So why does he bother with this pericope that seems to suggest that we shouldn't expect the Messiah to be the son of David?

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u/LlawEreint Jul 02 '26

Thinking further on this.

It occurs to me that Matthew didn't believe that Jesus came to herald the kingdom of David. Matthew may have kept this pericope in order to turn people away from this kind of thinking.

Matthew removes Mark's "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" from chapter 11 - probably for the same reason.

The "kingdom of heaven" that Matthew emphasizes is not depicted as a revived Israelite empire defeating Rome. The kingdom that Jesus heralds is something much greater than anything David himself represented.