Out of the Mouth of Babes - Matthew 21:16

Matthew the apostle wrote how, “Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,”, and in chapter twenty-one and verse sixteen of his book, Matthew shares how Jesus referred to scripture as He said, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise” where we read:

And said unto him, Do you Hear what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yes; have you never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise?

The verse reads, “And said unto him, Do you Hear what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yes;”. Matthew began with the words, “and said” or “and uttered, declared and proclaimed” “unto him” which refers to “to Jesus”, “Do you hear” or “are you endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf, able to attend to and consider” “what these say” which means “that which these children are uttering, declaring and proclaiming”? “And Jesus” or “the Son of God, the Savior of mankind and God incarnate whose name means Jehovah is Salvation” “said” which means “uttered, declared and proclaimed” “unto them” or “to the chief priests and scribes”, “Yes” which means “verily, truly, assuredly and even so”. Matthew shared how Jesus affirmed that He “heard” what the “children in Jerusalem” were saying to Him.

The verse goes on to say, “ have you never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise?” Matthew continued with the words, “have you never read” or “had the chief priests and scribes not and neither at any time known, recognized, distinguished and acknowledged the scriptures that says”, “Out of the mouth” which means “by and from the orifice in the face used for eating and speaking” “of babes” or “belonging to infants, little children who are untaught and unskilled” “and sucklings” which refers to “nursing babies” “you have perfected” which means “completed, equipped and strengthened” “praise” or “laudatory discourse”. Matthew wrote how Jesus questioned the “chief priests and scribes” as to whether they ever “read” the scriptures that prophesied about “little children and babes” worshiping the Messiah.

When we consider Matthew's words in this verse, we see how Jesus referred to Psalm chapter eight and verse two where we read, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have you ordained strength because of your enemies, that you might still the enemy and the avenger”, and He questioned whether the religious leaders ever read that scripture. God desires the praise and worship of every person through His Son Jesus, and when they yield their lives to Him as “Savior and Lord”, they shall join the “praises” of the “children of Jerusalem” and cry out “Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”.

Next time Matthew shares how Jesus “left them, and went out of the city into Bethany” when Jesus entered Jerusalem, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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