Matthew 12:38 ¶ Then
certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would
see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered
and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and
there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights
in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth. 41 The men of
Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it:
because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than
Jonas is here. 42 The queen of
the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn
it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,
he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44 Then he saith, I will return into my house
from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept,
and garnished. 45 Then goeth he, and
taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they
enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than
the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
Here Jesus speaks of His impending death and resurrection as the
only sign the Pharisees will get, a sign most of them will reject.
Verse
40 presents the modern man and woman with a dilemma. A whale is a large
sea creature and can be what we today would call a mammal or it can be one of
the many types of fish we observe. The scientific classifications of mammal and
reptile came after the Bible was written and are purely man’s way of categorizing
animals as the word mammal once had
to do with the breast and a reptile was any creeping or crawling thing, not
just a snake, but included an earthworm. Comparing Jonah 1:17 to verse 40 here
and then being appalled that the fish in Jonah is called a whale here is a sign
of the mental sickness of modernism. Look at not only what words mean but when
did they come to mean that. This is a very important thing in Biblical
interpretation and understanding.
Verse 41 is also a
reference to the events of the book of Jonah.
For verse 42
consider;
1Kings 10:1 ¶ And when the
queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD,
she came to prove him with hard questions. 2
And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare
spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to
Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. 3 And Solomon told her all her questions: there
was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. 4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all
Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built, 5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of
his servants, and the attendance of
his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his
ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit
in her. 6 And she said to the king, It
was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
7 Howbeit I believed not the words,
until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me:
thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. 8 Happy are thy men, happy are these thy
servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. 9 Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted
in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for
ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice. 10 And she gave the king an hundred and twenty
talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there
came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to
king Solomon. 11 And the navy also of
Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of
almug trees, and precious stones. 12 And
the king made of the almug trees
pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, harps
also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen
unto this day. 13 And king Solomon gave
unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which
Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own
country, she and her servants.
Here is another modern interpretation problem. Matthew says the
Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost parts of the earth. Modernism
says that could mean as far away as South America or perhaps Siberia but this
just means a long, long way off. Sheba or Sabea, was said to be in modern day
Yemen in Southern Arabia by some authorities. We have to be careful when taking
some Bible phrases too literally, confusing us or making the Bible contradict
itself when there is no contradiction. Hyperbole
is not exact but just as the stars of heaven for multitude does not mean
that there were that many Israelites but merely a vast number of them.
Jesus makes this statement to the Jewish nation and religious
elite that their state is like a man who was delivered of an evil spirit only
to find themselves possessed many more times by even worse spirits because of
that nation and that religious elite’s rejection of their messiah. If you think
you had it bad before just wait until you see what happens.
This can also be a warning to the church not to turn their back on
the doctrines they’ve been given by God to follow after worldly pursuits of big
numbers, big donations, and big churches lest the state of those people be
worse than when they started. It can also be a warning to us to not turn back
to the sin from which we’ve been delivered lest we have it ten times worse than
we did in the beginning. There are a lot of good sermon possibilities from
this.
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