“Then certain scribes and Pharisees replied to Him saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see from you a sign.’ So, answering He said to them, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation eagerly seeks a sign, and a sign will not be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea-monster three days and three nights, thus the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. Nineveh’s men will arise in the judgment with this generation, and they will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold! Something greater than Jonah is here! The queen of the south will be raised up in the judgment with this generation and she will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold! Something greater than Solomon is here!”
In close connection with Jesus' denial of demonic involvement (vv. 25-30), His warning of the consequences of slandering the Spirit (vv. 31-32), and His charge against such calloused accusations (vv. 33-37), the Israelite leaders form a new approach. Once again, they seek to oppose Jesus through a thinly veiled expression of unbelief (v. 38). Jesus responds by rebuking them (vv. 39-40), and condemning them (vv. 41-42). The glue that holds Jesus’ argument together for the reader to follow is the repeated phrase “this generation” (vv. 39, 41, 42, 45). This new opposition is now explicitly stated as representing the whole generation of Israelites and not reserved for a fringe group. This generation is thus rebuked, condemned, and exposed for what they are.
This Generation Rebuked (vv. 38-40)
It is almost necessary to understand this scene occurring within the same context of vv. 22-37. While the initial “then” (τότε) does not demand that these events followed immediately upon the heels of the Pharisees’ blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, the fact that they answered (ἀπεκρίθησαν) Jesus strongly implies that v. 38 is a response to Jesus’ lengthy statements in vv. 25-37. Thus, the setting of this confrontation is straightforward: the religious leaders make a renewed frontal attack (v. 38) and Jesus responds with vigor (vv. 39 and following).
Demand for a Sign (v. 38)
“Then certain scribes and Pharisees replied to Him saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see from you a sign.’”
The Pharisees seem to return to their previous tactic of ambush (12:2, 9-14). Muttering among themselves and to any who would listen (12:24) did not have the desired effect. Thus, they returned to the tactic of the wolf, wait for your enemy to make a mistake and then close in. It would seem that Jesus obliged them by providing several claims that, if untrue, would provide the Pharisees and their new colleges, the scribes, with ample ammunition with which to destroy Him (12:14).
Jesus had made overt claims to be (1) against Satan, (2) more powerful than Satan, (3) the bringer of the kingdom, (4) the central focus of all things, (5) and the anticipated Son of Man. To this we might add that Jesus assumed a position of authority in daring to condemn the Pharisees who whispered blasphemy against Him and against God the Holy Spirit. Rather than picking any one of these things to counter, the Pharisees demand that Jesus provide some sort of proof that would either confirm or deny everything He stated since v. 25.
That the Pharisees are now joined by certain scribes is an interesting detail. This is the first time that the two are mentioned in the narrative as working together even though Jesus had particularly called them out in unison on a previous occasion (5:20). The scribes (γραμματεύς) were not synonymous with the Pharisees in that the former were trained scholars of the Scriptures while the latter were mostly professional men who adopted a rigorous application of the Scriptures. Doubtlessly, the two groups saw eye-to-eye most of the time. It’s best to understand the two working together with scribes providing the theological and legal backbone for Pharisaical muscle used to keep society running as they thought it should. If Jesus is upsetting the Pharisees’ applecart, the scribes would also feel the turmoil. Therefore, they are united against Jesus.
The two approach Jesus with thinly veiled flattery. “Teacher” (διδάσκαλε) may seem quite the improvement from “slave of Beelzebul” (v. 24). Yet it reeks of hypocrisy and insincerity as evidence by their demand. The sign they ask for is based purely on their desire, their want for it (θέλομεν). The best that they can come up with for sign of validation regarding Jesus’ claims and charges is that they want it.
One might wonder why Jesus’ miraculous healing of the demoniac in v. 22 is not a sufficient sign for them. For that matter, Jesus provided numerous such demonstrations of His power and authority since 8:1. Why not tell the scribes and Pharisees to take their pick? The answer is simple: they do not accept anything Jesus has done here or before as meeting their specifications of a validating sign. They demand an undeniable and unambiguous display of proof that Jesus is who He claims to be.
Irony abounds in this demand, for Israel was warned long ago to beware of false prophets who perform signs in an attempt to validate their apostasy (Deut. 13:1-5). It is not the signs that validate a true prophet, but that he speaks in accordance with Yhwh’s word. The prophet will speak the words of Yhwh as He puts them in His mouth (Deut. 18:15-18). This is nothing more than an ill-conceived plot to tempt Jesus into exploiting His power so that they might accuse Him of being a false prophet. The problem with this plot is that (1) the sign neither affirms nor denies the validity of the prophet and (2) Jesus has never spoken in contrast to God’s word.
A last note of irony serves to confirm Jesus’ assessment of the Pharisees as Satan’s brood (v. 34). The last person that tempted Jesus to use His power as a means of validation and self-preservation was the prince of darkness himself (4:1-11). It is now clear whom the scribes and Pharisees serve.
A Sign Denied Except the Sing of Jonah (vv. 39-40)
Any inclination that the scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus with genuine interest is immediately dashed by Jesus’ response. After all, He knows their thoughts (v. 25). Their request for a sign is instantly and definitively denied (v. 39a). Jesus then informs them that a sign of the Father’s choosing is imminent, the sign of Jonah (v. 39b), which is then explained (v. 40).
Jesus Denounces “This Generation” (v. 39a)
“So, answering He said to them, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation eagerly seeks a sign.”
Jesus doesn’t just say “no” to their request, but instantly exposes the implications behind it. To seek for signs is to reveal the fact that they are both wicked and adulterous. Attributing these characteristics to the “generation” (γενεά) indicates that Jesus considers the scribes and Pharisees accurate representatives of their people. This is not just the rebellious musing of a few but the impious desire of the whole. The wicked and adulterous scribes and Pharisees are accurate representatives of the nation in their day. Ironically, it was popular Jewish belief that Messiah would appear in the midst of just such a generation.
“Wicked” (πονηρός) is a generic term used to describe anything from moral perversion (wicked, evil, bad, base) to something/one of poor quality (worthless, unhealthy, sick). This generation’s wickedness is thus defined by adultery (μοιχαλίς). While it is possible that our Lord meant to describe the sexual perversion of this generation (which would have been accurate), it is more likely that He uses the term as did the Old Testament prophets to describe Israel’s lack of fidelity to Yhwh as adultery and harlotry (Hos. 3:1; Mal. 3:5; Ezek. 16:38; 23:45). To put it simply, Jesus addresses these self-appointed representatives of the nation as if they were the generation who went into exile.
“The Sign of Jonah” (v. 39b)
“And a sign will not be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.”
A sign will be given this generation but not the one they expected, much less asked for. No external, cosmic, awe-inspiring signs will be given this generation except (εἰ μὴ) the sign of Jonah the prophet. What is the sign of Jonah? The answer to this question lies in two lines of reasoning: grammar and context.
Grammatically speaking we must determine the nature of the genitive phrase τὸ σημεῖον Ἰωνᾶ. That is to say, what does “of” mean. There are only three legitimate options: (1) The sign which Jonah performed (a subject genitive), (2) The sign given to Jonah (an object genitive), or (3) The sign which is Jonah (genitive of apposition). Transitioning to the context of Jonah, we are not told of any sign given to Jonah (object genitive) or that he performed any sign (subject genitive). Thus, we are left with the fact that Jesus means to say that this generation will receive only the sign which is Jonah (genitive of apposition). After all of this, we are still left with the obvious questions: in what way was Jonah a sign and to whom? That part is explained in the next verse.
The Sign Explained (v. 40)
“For just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea-monster three days and three nights, thus the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.”
Here is a more explicit explanation of Jonah as a sign. The historical event of Jonah being swallowed by the great fish is compared to the future event of the Son of Man burial. While this is the most explicit reference to Jonah in Matthew’s gospel, it is hardly the first. Jesus’ instruction to His disciples before sending them out to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (10:1-42) included the iconic language of the serpent and the dove (10:16). While there is much to be said about the nuance of the dove in Scripture, it is not a coincidence that Jonah’s name (יוֹנָה) literally means “dove”. To this we must include the description of Jesus being asleep in a boat during a great storm (8:24). The language is unmistakably drawing our attention to Jonah 1:4-16. Thus, Matthew seems to have prepared for this moment by previous allusions. There seems to be a connection between Jonah and Jesus. Clearly, the differences are just as significant as the similarities.
Jonah | Jesus |
1. A prophet of God given a specific mission to fulfill. | 1. The Son of God sent on a specific mission: to save His people from their sins. |
2. A member of rebellious and apostate Israel. | 2. A member of rebellious and apostate Israel, yet there was no sin in Him. |
3. An accurate representative of Israel as they were among Gentiles. | 3. An accurate representative of Israel as they were meant to be among His own people. |
4. Object of God’s wrath. | 4. As a representative, He received God’s wrath. |
5. His “death” appeased God’s wrath, shielded the Gentile sailors from that same wrath, and led to their conversion. | 5. His death appeased the wrath of God and was accepted as a substitute for all who believe in Him, Jew or Gentile. |
6. He was in the belly of the great fish for three days. | 6. He was in the tomb for three days. |
7. God protected Jonah from death and brought him back to dry land. | 7. God raised Him from the dead to the living. |
8. He preached reluctantly yet with tremendous success. | 8. He preached obediently yet with minimal success. |
If Jonah is the sign and Jonah’s significance focuses on his salvation from death in the belly of the fish, then we are forced to ask the question of the sign’s point. Simply put, for whose benefit was this sign? We can answer that question by asking who knew about Jonah being swallowed by the great fish? The answer is that no one would have known about it unless they read Jonah’s account recorded in his prophecy. The “sign of Jonah” was a sign for Israel.
There is nothing in the text to suggest that the people of Nineveh knew about Jonah’s ordeal with the fish. In fact, to suggest that Jonah’s being regurgitated by the fish motivated Nineveh to repentance contradicts explicit statements in Jonah (Jonah 3:5) and undermines Jesus’ argument in v. 41.[1] Jonah’s “death” in the belly of the fish and his “resurrection” three days later is a sign for Israel to whom the book of Jonah was written. To this Jesus points as the only sign that will be given this generation. The death, burial, and resurrection of the Son of Man will be the only sign they will receive, a point that the apostles drive home time and again (Acts 2:24, 32, 36; 3:15; 13:30, 33, 34, 37; 17:31). Just as God had the final word to Jonah, so God had the final word when He raised Jesus from the dead.
This Generation Condemned (vv. 41-42)
After Jesus rebukes Israel’s present generational representatives, He turns and condemns them for their stubborn unbelief and refusal to repent. Yet, it is not Jesus who condemns them, but previous generations of those who received far less than this generation but repented, nonetheless.
Nineveh’s Future Condemnation of This Generation (v. 41)
“Nineveh’s men will arise in the judgment with this generation, and they will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold! Something greater than Jonah is here!”
Having only just mentioned the “sign of Jonah”, it is natural that Jesus would mention the repentance of Nineveh. The mention of Nineveh’s men is an interesting detail for the term ἄνδρες is used exclusively of males (man, husband). That Jesus did not use ἄνθρρποι (men, humans, people, mankind) at this point is a curious thing. The point however is that the generation of Nineveh to whom Jonah preached will arise (ἀναστήσονται) alongside this wicked and adulterous generation in the judgment and will condemn it. The implication of resurrection continues from v. 40 both linguistically and thematically. Thematically, the judgment is the final judgment where all will give an account before God. Clearly, this is an eschatological reality. Linguistically, the verb ἀνίστημι (to raise, erect, stand, raise up) might simply mean that the men of Nineveh will literally stand up in the judgment to give an account against this present generation. Yet, given the context, it is interesting that the LXX uses this same verb in Dan. 12:2 to speak of the future resurrection of all men. Some to everlasting life and others to reproach and everlasting contempt.
The reason the men of Nineveh will resurrect to condemn this wicked and adulterous generation is because they repented because of Jonah’s preaching. Jonah came with a simple message without validating miracles to a people who had not previous prophetic instruction. Yet the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.
Given nothing but the proclamation of God through Jonah, Nineveh repented. Yet something greater than Jonah, God-incarnate who was preceded by the prophets and whose preaching was accompanied by many miracles, this generation refuses to repent. Nineveh will arise as exhibit “A” during this generation’s judgment. They stand as a precedence of repentance. For the men of Nineveh, the word of God was sufficient while this wicked and adulterous generation rejected even the Word incarnate. If salvation were not of Yhwh (Jon. 2:9), their rejection would be a greater mystery than Nineveh’s repentance.
The Queen of the South’s Future Condemnation of This Generation (v. 42)
“The queen of the south will be raised up in the judgment with this generation and she will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold! Something greater than Solomon is here!”
A second historical example to condemn this generation is given in v. 42. In the “queen of the south” (i.e., the queen of Sheba – 1 Kings 10:1-10; 2 Chr. 9:1-12) we see another Gentile and a woman at that. Now it becomes clear why Jesus referred to the men (ἄνδρες) of Nineveh rather than the people (ἄνθρρποι) of Nineveh. Historically speaking, both men and women, Jew and Gentile have responded positively to God’s revelation. Just not in this wicked and adulterous generation.
This ancient queen will also be raised up (ἐγερθήσεται) in the judgment with this generation. The change in verb along with the passive voice nearly demands that resurrection is in view. At the final judgment, the queen of the south will be raised to serve as a second witness (Deut. 17:6) against this generation.
The reason this queen is to serve as a second witness is because she came from far away to hear the wisdom of Solomon, the immediate son of David and another figure of the Christ to come. The account in 1 Kings makes it clear that it was not only Solomon she wanted to see, but that his fame was in connection with the name of Yhwh (1 Kings 10:1). She did not hear rumors about a man, but a man who exhibited the wisdom of Yhwh on earth and had to find out if the stories were true. Like the Pharisees, she tested Solomon with difficult questions. But unlike the Pharisees, she did not seek to trap Solomon but only desired to know if the myth lived up to the report.
How much greater the condemnation for this generation since there is something infinitely greater than Solomon in their midst. This is the third time Jesus has said that something greater than something else (i.e., the temple, Jonah, Solomon) is here (12:6, 41, 42). That something is the arrival of Messiah. Here is a greater priesthood, a greater prophet, and a greater king. Here is the eternal priest, the promised prophet, and the true Son of David. Yet, in the face of overwhelming evidence, this wicked and adulterous generation refuse to repent.
[1] This by no means contradicts Lk. 30 which states that Jonah was a sign to Nineveh. Just because Jonah was a sign to Nineveh does not mean that he was not also a sign to Israel. Luke purposefully leaves out this statement of Jonah being in the belly of the fish, meaning that this fact is not necessary for Jonah as a sign to Nineveh. The context of Lk. 11:29-32 emphasizes faith in Jesus’ words vs. His works. Thus, Jonah’s preaching is emphasized in Luke as the sign to Nineveh, not his being swallowed by a fish. Thus, we are free to pursue Matthew’s intention (writing to an exclusively Israelite audience) without slavishly attempting to harmonize his account with Luke’s.