Saying,
What think you of Christ? whose son is he?
They said unto him, The son of David.
All Commentaries on Matthew 22:42 Go To Matthew 22
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Whose Son is Christ? They say unto Him, David"s. They ought to have said, that Christ, as God, will be the Son of God; Christ, as Prayer of Manasseh , will be the son of David. But as to the first, the Pharisees were either ignorant or unbelieving. Wherefore they only made the second reply. But even from it Christ draws and proves the former. When Peter was asked, whom he thought Christ to be, being inspired by God he answered, Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God. But the Pharisees were devoid of the Divine inspiration, wherefore they savoured only of human things, and believed Christ to be only a man.
Observe: Luke and Mark relate these things somewhat differently; but the apparent discrepancy is to be reconciled by considering that the meaning of the two former Evangelists Isaiah , that Christ, in the first place, asked the Pharisees, "Whose son was Christ?" They replied that the Scribes, or Doctors of the Law, said, "that He was the son of David." Then Christ rejoined, "How say the Scribes that Christ is the son of David, when David calls Him his Lord?"
David in Spirit, being, inspired by the Holy Ghost. For the Holy Ghost dictated the Psalm to David, endued him with their living sense. Therefore it was not so much David in Spirit, as Spirit in David, which thus spake.
Calleth Him lord, for the son is less than his father. Wherefore the father is not wont to call the son his lord, but the son his father, as is common with the Italians and other nations. From this passage the modern Rabbins are confuted, who expound this110th Psalm not of Messiah, or Christ, but of Abraham, or David, or Hezekiah. For the Scribes and Pharisees of Christ"s time understood it of Christ, and regarded it as a prophecy of Him. For had they not done Song of Solomon , they would have replied that Christ wrongly applied the Psalm to Messiah, when it ought to be understood of Abraham or David, &c. That it does apply to Christ is evident from the4th verse of the same Psalm , With Thee is the beginning (secum principium, Vulg.), the headship, which is the force of the Heb. × ×“×‘×•Ö¹×ª, nedabot, and the Gr. α̉Ïχή, in the day of thy strength, in the splendours of the saints: from the womb, before the day-star, I have begotten Thee (Vulg.). This can refer to no one save Christ. Lastly, Jonathan, the Chaldee, Rabbi Barachias, R. Levi, and the ancient Rabbins take it as referring only to Christ.
