{How say the scribes} (P(9373) legousin hoi grammateis). The
opponents of Jesus are silenced, but he answers them and goes on
teaching (didask(936e)) in the temple as before the attacks began
that morning ( 11:27 ). They no longer dare to question Jesus,
but he has one to put to them "while the Pharisees were gathered
together" ( Mt 22:41 ). The question is not a conundrum or
scriptural puzzle (Gould), but "He contents himself with pointing
out a difficulty, in the solution of which lay the key to the
whole problem of His person and work" (Swete). The scribes all
taught that the Messiah was to be the son of David ( Joh 7:41 ).
The people in the Triumphal Entry had acclaimed Jesus as the son
of David ( Mt 21:9 ). But the rabbis had overlooked the fact that
David in Ps 110:1 called the Messiah his Lord also. The deity
and the humanity of the Messiah are both involved in the problem.
Mt 22:45 observes that "no one was able to answer him a word."
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