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Mat_11:11. Ἐν γενν . γυν .] among those born of woman. Intended to denote the category of men according to that nature which is peculiar to the whole race in virtue of its origin (mortality, weakness, sinfulness, and so on). Sir_10:18. Comp. éÀìåÌãÎàÄùÑÌÈä , Job_14:1; Job_15:14; Job_25:4; see also on Gal_4:4. For ἐγήγερται (by God), comp. Luk_7:16; Joh_7:52; Act_13:22 f.
μωίζων ] a greater, one more distinguished generally, and that just because he is this promised herald of God who was to precede the Messiah. The words do not warrant our interpreting them to mean: a greater prophet, as has been done by Rosenmüller, Kuinoel, and the older critics.
ὁ δὲ μικρότερος , κ . τ . λ .] he, however, who is less in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. It is to be observed, (1) that neither here nor elsewhere does the comparative stand for the superlative; (2) that, according to the context, the reference of the comparative (see μείζων Ἰωάννου , and afterwards μείζων αὐτοῦ ) need not be looked for elsewhere but in Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ ;[442] (3) that, since ὁ μικρότερος cannot refer to Jesus, it is (Mat_18:1; Mat_18:4) necessarily limited and defined by ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν , with which it has been connected by Isidore, Cyril, Theodoret, Heracleon (see Cramer, Cat. p. 85). Hence it is to be explained thus: But he who stands lower in the kingdom of the Messiah, stands (according to the divine standard) higher than he. Not as if John would be excluded (as against this, see Mat_10:41) from the kingdom of Messiah that was about to be established, but the standpoint of those who share in the kingdom is compared with the high position which, as still belonging to the ancient theocracy, the Baptist occupies in the αἰὼν οὗτος . There he is the greatest of all; yet he who is lower in the approaching kingdom of the Messiah, and can by no means compare himself with the eminent personage in question, is, nevertheless, greater than he. Thus the βασίλεια τῶν οὐρανῶν , raised above the Old Testament order of things, simply appears as the state of perfection towards which the theocracy, ending with John, its foremost representative, is only the first step. Others (Chrysostom, Hilary, Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, Erasmus, Luther, Melanchthon, Osiander, Jansen, Corn. a Lapide, Calovius, Fritzsche, Fleck, de regno div. p. 83) interpret: he who, as compared with him, retires into the shade (Jesus, μικρότερος κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν καὶ κατὰ τὴν πολλῶν δόξαν , Chrysostom) will, as Messiah, outshine him in the kingdom of heaven. These expositors have rightly understood the comparative μικρότερος as comparing some one with the Baptist; but how extremely improbable that Jesus, conscious as He was of a Messiahship that had been divinely confirmed at His baptism, and with the multitudes flocking around Him, would have spoken of Himself as μικρότερος than John the prisoner! And is it not utterly foreign to the context to suppose that He would here have compared Himself with the Baptist? Finally, were the ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν , again (referred to what follows), only an awkward toning down of the sharp character of the statement, it would have been far more sensible (since Jesus would mean Himself as the Messiah, whose greatness in the Messianic kingdom is a matter of course) if He had merely said with regard to Himself: ὁ δὲ μικρότερος μείζων αὐτοῦ ἐστιν .
[442] Therefore not: less than the others who participate in the kingdom, as it has been commonly understood of late (Winer, Buttmann, Bleek, Weizsäcker, Keim), according to which view the superlative sense is developed, as in Mat_18:1; Luk_22:24. So Bengel also: “minimus in regno coelorum est minimus civium regni.” Keim sarcastically observes that, according to the view I have given above, John “would still occupy a subordinate place even in heaven,” and I confess that I am at a loss to comprehend how one can understand ver. 11 in such a way as to exclude (so also Schenkel) the Baptist from the kingdom of heaven, in which, however, the patriarchs and prophets find a place. Where is the Baptist’s place to be? Outside the kingdom is τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον , Mat_8:12. And outside the church, if this be understood (though erroneously) as what is meant by the kingdom, is the κόσμος of unbelievers. This also in answer to Weizsäcker, p. 411 f.; Weissenbach, p. 31 f.; Weiss.