UTN uW Translation Notes:

Matthew 22 General Notes

Structure and Formatting

9. Jesus ministers in Judea (19:1-22:46) * The parable of the wedding feast (22:1–14) * Jesus debates with the religious leaders (22:15–46) * Jesus debates with the Pharisees and Herodians about taxes (22:15–22) * Jesus debates with the Sadducees about the resurrection (22:23–33) * Jesus debates with a lawyer about the greatest commandment (22:34–40) * Jesus asks the religious leaders about the Christ (22:41–46)Some translations set each line of poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to make it easier to read. The ULT does this with the poetry in 22:44, which is a quote from Psalm 110:1.

Special Concepts in this Chapter

The poll tax

The word translated “poll tax” refers to a specific amount of money that each adult person had to pay to the government. In Jesus’ time period, the Roman government required Jewish adults to pay a high tax. The Pharisees ask whether this tax that the Roman government required contradicted the law that God gave Moses. Make sure that your readers understand that the Pharisees are asking about a tax that the Roman government required each adult Jewish person to pay.

A man marrying his brother’s widow

In 22:23–33, the Sadducees question Jesus in regard to a hypothetical situation in which a woman marries seven brothers in succession. This situation is based on a command in the Jewish law that can be found in Deuteronomy 25:5–6. The law requires a woman who is widowed without children to marry a brother of her late husband. The first child that they have together will be considered the child of the dead man. In this way, that man’s family line would continue. The Sadducees present an extreme application of this law, with seven brothers successively marrying the same woman and dying without having children. They use this example to try to make the idea of resurrection look strange or silly. Make sure that your readers understand the example that the Sadducees present.

The great commandment

Jewish teachers sometimes debated which specific commandment was the greatest or most important one. This was important because, if commandments seemed to contradict each other in a specific situation, the greater one would be the correct one to obey. When the lawyer asks Jesus about “the first and great commandment” in 22:36, he wants Jesus to offer an opinion about this debate. Make sure that your readers understand that this is what the lawyer is asking about.

King David and the Christ

In 22:41–45, Jesus asks the Pharisees about which important person the Christ is descended from. They give a commonly accepted answer: the Christ is King David’s descendant. Jesus then quotes from Psalm 110:1, in which King David, the author of the Psalm, calls God “Lord” but then also calls someone else, the Christ, “my Lord.” Since people in David’s culture called older and more important people “lord,” it does not make sense for David to call his own descendant “Lord.” When Jesus asks about this, he implies that the Christ is indeed King David’s descendant, but he is also more than that. Make sure that this the discussion about calling someone “Lord” is clear to your readers.

Important Figures of Speech in this Chapter

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

In 22:1–14, Jesus tells a story about a king whose son was getting married. He wanted to throw a feast, so he invited important people to come. However, they refused to come and even mistreated the king’s servants. In response, the king punished those people and instead invited many unimportant people whom his servants found. When the king went to visit these guests, he noticed that one of them was not wearing clothing appropriate for a wedding feast. He had him tied up and punished. He applies this parable by indicating that many people are “called” to be part of God’s kingdom but only a few of them are “chosen” to actually do so. In other words, just as the king invited many people to come to the feast, but only a few actually attended, so God invites many people to participate in his kingdom, but only a few actually do so. While you should not explain the meaning more than Jesus does, make sure that your translation fits with what Jesus is illustrating. (See: figs-parables)

Other Possible Translation Difficulties in this Chapter

Singular and plural forms of “you”Many of the forms of “you” in this chapter appear in speeches that Jesus gives to the Jewish leaders or in things that the king in the parable says to his servants. Because of this, many forms of “you” in this chapter are plural. You should assume forms of “you” are plural unless a note specifies that the form is singular. (See: figs-yousingular)

Paradox

A paradox is a statement that describes two things that seemingly cannot both be true at the same time. To the Jews, ancestors were greater than their descendants. However, in one psalm David calls one of his descendants “Lord.” Jesus tells the Jewish leaders that this is a paradox, asking, “If David then calls the Christ ‘Lord,’ how is he David’s son?” (22:45). He is trying to lead his hearers to the true understanding that the Christ will be divine, and that he himself is the Christ. So David is speaking to his son, that is, his descendant, as the Christ, and it is appropriate for him to address him as his “Lord.”