Then answered him some of the scribes and Pharisees, saying, Teacher, we desire to see a sign from thee.
A group of scribes and Pharisees comes to Jesus with a polite request: they want to see a sign. It sounds fair enough, but the commentators read it as unbelief in a new form. The Lord answers by pointing to Jonah, and so to His own death and resurrection.
The request follows the Lord's words about the tree and its fruit, and about words that expose the heart.
The fruit proved the nature of the tree. It was essentially bad. They were a generation of vipers. John had told them the same. Their words condemned them. Then the scribes and Pharisees asked for a sign. This was nothing but wickedness. They had had signs enough. It was only stirring up the unbelief of the rest.
They address Him with a title of respect, and they have a particular kind of proof in view. One writer traces what "a sign" meant to a Jewish mind, and where that appetite finally leads.
"Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you" (v. 38). Older translations say "Master" here; the word means "Teacher", and they acknowledge Him as such. "We wish to see a sign" — that exposed their condition in the most solemn way. Were they blind to all He had done? But what was the sign they asked for? If we look back to the Old Testament, the sign of God's approval was often fire from heaven... The scribes and Pharisees ask the Lord for a sign, and He says in John 5, "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him." So in Revelation 13:13 the one they receive gives them the sign they wanted. Fire comes down from heaven. But it is deceptive and Satanic.
By this point in Matthew, the signs have been piling up for chapters.
Their request in verse 38 showed that the Pharisees were morally blind and unfeeling, as well as corrupt and evil. They ignored every sign God had already given — whether in ignorance or on purpose — and asked for a sign. We counted five signs in chapter 8 and five in chapter 9, besides those in this chapter. Being evil and adulterous, they could not see the plainest sign. So no sign would be given them but the greatest of all — His own death and resurrection.
William Kelly catches the strangeness of the request in one image:
The greatest sign God ever gave to man stood before them in the person of His Son, who outshone every other sign. But that is what unbelief is like. It can walk into the presence of the full display of God. It can gaze at a light brighter than the sun at noon. And right there it can ask God for a penny candle.
They made this demand more than once. One writer says no sign would have satisfied them anyway.
These Pharisees... had the same spirit as those who later cried, "Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him" (Matthew 27:42). Even if a sign had been given, they had no intention of believing. They were tempting the Lord to give in to them, as they did at other times (Matthew 12:38; John 2:18; John 6:30). They copied the request Satan made in the wilderness, when he said to the Lord, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread" (Matthew 4:3).
The Lord answers with Jonah. Kelly asks what marked Jonah out as a prophet, and finds two answers.
He was sent away from Israel to the Gentiles. And more than that: before Jonah could carry out his message properly, he had to pass through a picture of death and resurrection... This is the sign the Lord puts before the Pharisees. Israel was in such a state that He must leave them and go to the Gentiles. And He would do so after a real death and resurrection, when Israel's hopes had died. The Lord has blessing in store for Israel later on. But for now all is lost for them.
One writer sums up what a sign can and cannot do:
No signs can give faith; but miracles will confirm the faith that exists.
- Sequence. The demand follows the Lord's verdict on them: a bad tree, and words that condemned them.
- Sign. They wanted fire from heaven. One writer points out that a false copy of that very sign is what a deceived world will one day welcome.
- Blindness. They stood before the greatest sign God ever gave and asked for a lesser one. The request exposed them, not Him.
- Motive. They were testing Him, not seeking Him. One writer traces their words back to Satan's "If you are the Son of God" in the wilderness.
- Answer. The only sign given is Jonah: death and resurrection, and after it a message that goes out to the nations.
But he, answering, said to them, A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it save the sign of Jonas the prophet.
The Pharisees come to the Lord asking for a sign to prove Himself. His answer refuses them and passes sentence in the same breath, offering only the sign of Jonah.
This was not a fair question from open minds. It came after a long series of public works that had already answered it.
By their asking, recorded in verse 38, the Pharisees showed that they were morally blind and unfeeling as well as corrupt and evil. They ignored all the signs already given them, whether out of ignorance or on purpose, and asked for a sign. We noticed five signs in chapter 8 and five in chapter 9, besides those recorded in this chapter. Being evil and adulterous, they could not see the plainest sign. So no sign would be given but the greatest of all — His own death and resurrection, pictured long before in the remarkable history of Jonah.
The problem was never a shortage of evidence.
Why was that an "evil generation"? Because they sought a sign. In the presence of the light, they asked for a demonstration of the truth. The only sign given is that of Jonah the prophet — too late for that generation to be spared.
"Evil" and "adulterous" are not vague insults. Commentators read them as two distinct charges.
He answers that an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. Their evil was that of vicious hatred, as already seen. As adulterous, they were guilty of mixing something corrupt into their claimed service for God.
One writer traces the second word to Israel's idolatry, and reads Jonah's sign as pointing beyond Israel to the Gentiles — the nations outside it.
"An evil and adulterous generation." Idolatry is adultery. The sign of Jonah is death and resurrection and turning to the Gentiles. On His rejection, Christ turns to the Gentiles after His resurrection.
Refusing them was not impatience. When someone has decided not to believe, more proof changes nothing.
The end had come morally. It was useless to give proofs to hearts that had decided not to believe. Perfect patience, love, deep pity, and sorrow over the unbelief of the leaders of the people were all there in Him. They showed themselves all the more clearly as those leaders hardened their hearts. Signs were useless for hearts that would not believe. And it did not suit God's majesty to give any to men who would not receive Him.
Two things about Jonah matter here. He passed through a picture of death and resurrection, and God sent him out of Israel to the Gentiles.
What was special about Jonah as a prophet? To whom did he prophesy? He was sent away from Israel to the Gentiles. More than that, before Jonah could carry out his message rightly, he had to pass through the figure of death and resurrection… This is the sign which the Lord puts before the Pharisees. The Jewish nation was in such a state that He must leave them and go to the Gentiles. And that would come after a real death and resurrection, when Israel's hopes had perished. The Lord has blessing in store for Israel by and by; but for the present all is lost for them.
One writer asks who the sign was aimed at.
He speaks of both Jonah and the Son of man as signs. Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, and both Jonah and the Son of man were signs to that generation of Israel… The death and resurrection of Jonah was a sign to Nineveh of what the Lord required from them, and of how He would deal with them. In the same way the death and resurrection, whether of Jonah or of the Son of man, is a sign to Israel of what the Lord expects from them, and of how He will deal with them.
The sign granted is not a rescue but a witness in court. Nineveh had far less and did far more with it.
The Son of man would really be in the grave three days and nights, rejected and cast out. But when He preached to them by His resurrection, they would not repent. They were more hardened than Nineveh. The Ninevites would rise up in the judgment to condemn them; so much the more as the Son of man was greater than Jonah.
- Evidence. They were not short of signs. Chapters 8 and 9 alone hold ten of them, and they still asked for one.
- Diagnosis. "Evil" names their active hatred. "Adulterous" names the corrupt mixture in their service to God, since idolatry is adultery.
- Refusal. Proof is useless to a will already made up. His refusal held perfect patience, pity and sorrow, not irritation.
- The one sign. Jonah's three days point to a real death and resurrection. After that, blessing goes out to the Gentiles, and Israel's hopes are set aside for a time.
- Verdict. The people of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment and condemn a generation that refused One greater than Jonah.
For even as Jonas was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, thus shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
The Pharisees had seen miracle after miracle, yet they still asked Jesus for a sign. He pointed them past every healing to one event: His burial and rising again. Jonah in the fish raises three questions. Why this sign and no other? What is "the heart of the earth"? And how do three days and three nights fit a Friday death and a Sunday resurrection?
Their demand was not honest curiosity. They had seen sign after sign, and the question they asked exposed the men who asked it.
By their request in verse 38, the Pharisees showed that they were morally blind and unfeeling, as well as corrupt and evil. They ignored every sign already given them, whether from ignorance or on purpose, and asked for a sign... Being evil and adulterous, they could not see the plainest sign. So they would get no sign but the greatest of all — His own death and resurrection, pictured long before in the remarkable story of Jonah.
The words are more than a prediction. By naming His own death, Jesus accepts what these men had already planned for Him.
He responds that an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign. Their evil was bitter hatred, as we have already seen. They were adulterous in that they mixed corruption into the service they claimed to give God... They had already plotted His death. He would accept their rejection of Himself. He would die and be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth — the grave. Jonah had spent that same time in the belly of the great fish. Jonah came out alive, and that was a great miracle. But it pointed to a greater one: Christ's resurrection from among the dead.
The phrase sounds like a place deep underground. Commentators read it more simply, and warn against pressing the picture too far.
By "the heart," or "lower parts," of the earth, we understand the grave. Our Lord not only died, but was buried and "rose again the third day." Of this Jonah was a sign. Psalm 139:15 can guard us from taking the words too literally. There "the lowest parts of the earth" plainly means what is out of sight — "in secret." They made the tomb secure and sealed the stone (Matthew 27:66). So no human eye should look into that holy place where the body of Jesus lay.
The old objection is arithmetic. Friday afternoon to Sunday morning is not three full days and nights. The answer given is that the Jews counted days another way.
But note that by the Jewish way of counting time there is no error in this statement... Scripture speaks of an evening and a morning making a day. Non-Jews today say instead that a day is made up of a morning and an evening, and they count that way. The Jews counted any part of a day as a whole night and day, since in Genesis 1 the evening and the morning made a day. Count like that, and the supposed error disappears. Friday up to six o'clock would be called one night and day. Friday evening and Saturday morning would be another night and day. So the difficulty is gone.
Jonah and Jesus match in going down and coming up again. They differ in why each went down.
Jonah was thrown into the raging sea because of his own sin, and God kept him alive by a miracle in a fish's belly for three days and nights. In the same way Jesus would enter the full flood of God's judgment on sin — not His own, but the sin of others. Dying, He would lie in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, and God Himself would raise Him, the Saviour of His people. Only faith could read the sign or solve the riddle. To reason it looked like nonsense.
Some commentators see a second meaning in the sign. What happened to Christ is traced again in the story of Israel.
Jonah is, in general, the witness of burial and resurrection... But the sign of Jonah also sets out the history of Israel. That nation is now doomed to the judgment of death and the grave. Yet in the purpose of God's love it is destined to be called out from under the power of death, and to rise again into the life and liberty of God's people (see Ezekiel 37:1-14).
- Demand. They could not read the signs already given, so they asked for one more. The problem was their heart, not the evidence.
- Sign. They got only one, and it was the greatest — His death and resurrection, pictured long before in Jonah.
- Grave. "The heart of the earth" means the grave — the hidden place behind a sealed stone, not a spot underground.
- Reckoning. Three days and three nights fits Jewish counting, where any part of a day counted as a whole day and night.
- Difference. Jonah went down for his own sin; Christ went down under God's judgment for the sin of others — and God raised Him.
Ninevites shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, more than Jonas [is] here.
The Lord has just refused the Pharisees' demand for a sign. He points them to Jonah instead, and He names the people of Nineveh — a foreign city with no knowledge of God — as witnesses who will stand up against His own nation at the judgment. Two hard questions follow. How could outsiders believe when God's own people would not? And what did it mean that One "greater than Jonah" stood among them, ignored?
The Lord picks Jonah for a reason. His story matched what was about to happen to Israel and to Christ.
What was the special feature of Jonah as a prophet? To whom did he prophesy? He was sent away from Israel to the Gentiles. And more than that: before Jonah could carry out his message properly, he had to pass through a picture of death and resurrection... This is the sign the Lord puts before the Pharisees. The Jewish nation was in such a state that He had to leave them and go to the Gentiles. And that would come after a real death and resurrection, when Israel's hopes had perished.
The men of Nineveh condemn by their conduct, not by a verdict of their own. What they did with little stands against what God's own people did with much.
By their conduct the Ninevites will condemn this generation in the day of judgment, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah — and One greater than Jonah was here... Poor, ignorant Gentiles understood the wisdom of God in His word, whether it came through the prophet or through the king, better than His beloved people did. And that was so even when the Great King and Prophet was among them.
Nineveh had no Bible, no history with God, no religious training. One spoken message was enough.
And first as to the instrumentality. That is the word of God. The Searcher of hearts and future Judge of men declared that "the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah" (Matt. 12:41). So a deep knowledge of God's revelation is not a qualification you need beforehand. The Ninevites had no earlier revelation from God. Education, scholarship and spare time are not essential either, as that history shows.
One writer weighs the word itself and stops short of calling this conversion.
Again, the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah. Matthew 12:41. We cannot say they were converted. Fear caused it, but they believed the testimony, judged themselves, fasted and put on sackcloth.
This is one of three such claims packed into Matthew 12, and each one points to a different glory of Christ.
There are three "greater" passages in this chapter: "greater than the temple" (v. 6); "greater than Jonah" (v. 41); and "greater than Solomon" (v. 42). He was "greater than the temple" because the revelation of God was shining out from Him at that moment. The display of light is the thought in the temple. "Greater than Jonah" relates to the effect of His death. "Greater than Solomon" relates to the glory that came as the fruit of His death.
Now remember what kind of messenger Jonah was. Nineveh listened to a man who had tried to run from his errand.
They were willing to admit their own evil, their sinfulness, their forgetful ignorance of God. And they did this at the preaching of Jonah — a prophet who was, by comparison, unfaithful, and who tried to escape the mission God sent him on. "And behold, something greater than Jonah is here."
One lesson from Jonah comforts; the other warns.
Our Lord draws two great lessons from the story of Jonah (Matt. 12:41). One is that there is hope for anyone who repents, however low he has sunk. The other is that there is condemnation for anyone who refuses to repent, however privileged he is.
Nineveh still puts a question to every generation that hears the message and shrugs.
The Ninevites were pagans. The Jews were God's chosen people, and the One who came to His own was their own Messiah... but they turned a deaf ear to His pleading cries. What clearer proof could there be of how corrupt their hearts were? And are "the men of this generation" any better?
- Sign. Jonah pictured Christ. He was sent away from Israel to the Gentiles, and only after death and resurrection.
- Preaching. Nineveh had no Scriptures, no schooling, no religious background. The bare word of God reached them, so no one can plead disadvantage.
- Repentance. They believed the message, judged themselves, and showed it by fasting and sackcloth. One writer stops short of calling that conversion.
- Witness. They repented with very little light. So they will condemn, by contrast, a generation that had the Messiah standing among them.
- Greater. The whole weight falls on the last phrase. One greater than Jonah stood there in person. The more privileged the hearer, the heavier the guilt of ignoring Him.