TEXT [Commentary]

I. The Sign of Jonah (12:38-45)

38 One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”

39 But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

41 “The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent. 42 The queen of Sheba[*] will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen.

43 “When an evil[*] spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. 45 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”

NOTES

12:38 One day. In the Gr. this is lit. “then”; it need not imply the beginning of a separate event. It is best to understand 12:38 as a response by the Pharisees to Jesus’ previous rejoinder (12:25-37) to their accusation that he had cast out demons by the power of the prince of the demons (12:22-24).

Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign. Those who call Jesus “teacher” in Matthew are not believers in him (cf. 8:19; 9:11; 17:24; 22:16, 36). Jesus’ solemn words about the Pharisees’ accountability for their accusation led them to ask him to prove himself with a sign (16:1, 4; 24:3, 30; cf. Mark 8:11-12; Luke 11:16, 29-32). But Jesus had performed many miracles before the Pharisees, and his last miracle led them to slander the Holy Spirit. So why should he perform an especially significant miracle, a “sign” (sēmeion [TG4592, ZG4956]; cf. John 6:30)? Although there was precedence for Israel’s leaders to perform signs (Exod 4:30-31), Jesus simply answered that this evil and adulterous generation (cf. 11:16-19; 16:4; 17:17; 23:29-36; 24:34) would see no more signs except that of the prophet Jonah (cf. 16:4).

12:39 an evil, adulterous generation. Jesus’ description of his contemporaries as adulterous uses a common biblical metaphor for sin (Deut 32:5; Jer 2:23; Ezek 16; Jas 4:4). This incident is similar to that of 16:1-4.

12:40 Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights. The reference to Jonah 1:17 provides a cryptic prophecy of the death of Jesus. Jonah himself is the sign—his three days and nights in the belly of the great fish are to be compared to Jesus’ three days and nights in the earth. This language need not mean that Jesus would be in the grave for seventy-two hours, since in Jewish reckoning any part of a day could count as a day (cf. Gen 42:17-18; 1 Kgs 20:29; Esth 4:16-5:1). Thus, the traditional passion week chronology of Jesus’ death on Friday and resurrection on Sunday is not necessarily challenged. This appears to be the first time Jesus hints at his upcoming death in Matthew (cf. 16:21; 17:9, 22-23).

12:41 The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation. The allusion to Jonah continues with Jesus’ unfavorable comparison of his contemporaries to Jonah’s audience. In language reminiscent of 11:21-24, Jesus underlines the severity of their sin—the Ninevites repented when Jonah preached (Jonah 3:2), but Jesus’ contemporaries would not repent when one greater than Jonah preached (cf. 12:6).

12:42 The queen of Sheba. Lit., “the queen of the south.” She came from a distant land to hear Solomon’s wisdom (1 Kgs 10:1-10; 2 Chr 9:1-9), but Jesus’ contemporaries would not accept the wisdom of one greater than Solomon. Compare the implicit comparison with David in 12:3. Thus, both the Ninevites and the queen of Sheba will condemn Jesus’ contemporaries on the day of judgment.

12:43-45 When an evil spirit leaves a person. This parabolic passage about the activities of an unclean spirit (cf. Matt 10:1 and several texts in Mark and Luke) returns to the matter of exorcism with which Jesus’ debate with the Pharisees began (12:22). The spirit leaves its human abode for the desert and later returns with seven other spirits to the man, who has become a more attractive abode (cf. Isa 13:21; 34:14 concerning spirits inhabiting the desert). Now inhabited by the original spirit and seven others, the man becomes thoroughly dominated by them, much worse off than he was before the first spirit left. Evidently, nothing good came into the man to fill the vacuum left when the first spirit left. For various views of this enigmatic passage, see Davies and Allison (1991:359-362).

COMMENTARY [Text]

Matthew 12:38-45 contains two parts, both of which stress the gravity of the unbelief of Jesus’ contemporaries. In fact, Jesus’ words in this section begin and end by mentioning “this evil generation,” and there are two additional references to it (12:39, 41-42, 45). The first part contrasts the Pharisees’ unbelief with notable and surprising cases of belief in the OT (12:38-42). The second part portrays this unbelief parabolically, evidently to point out that Israel would be worse off after not believing in Jesus than it was before he came. It seems to be a cryptic warning against superficial repentance and a veiled prophecy of the eschatological doom of Jesus’ contemporaries (cf. Luke 11:24-26).

This passage underlines the evils of hardened unbelief as do few others. After the Pharisees had seen Jesus do many miracles, instead of believing, they outrageously attributed the miracles to Satan. When they were shown the untenability of that position, they responded not with belief but with an evidently insincere request for another miracle. Their unbelief in the face of overwhelming evidence is contrasted with the belief of the Ninevites and the queen of the south in the face of relatively little evidence. Thus, they provide a grim illustration of what Jesus spoke of in 11:25—that God had hidden the message of the Kingdom from those who were wise and clever in their own estimation and had revealed it to those who were childlike. No amount of further signs would avail for such people, not even the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (12:40; cf. 28:11-15; Luke 16:27-31; 1 Cor 1:22). This passage also illustrates why Jesus did miracles. Miracles were deeds of power done with compassion for those in need, not spectacular feats designed to convince those already hardened in skepticism. For hearts not hardened in rebellion, comparatively little evidence was needed, as in the case of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba.

The parable of 12:43-45 is enigmatic. The mere absence of evil spirits does not accomplish redemption. The house has been cleaned, but a good tenant has not taken up residence. Perhaps this refers to the response of Jesus’ contemporaries to John’s and Jesus’ ministries. Some repented, but many did not, with the result that there was no genuine national repentance, and bleak prospects for the future (23:36).