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chapter 22
1. Yeshua again used parables in speaking to them:
2. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son,
3. but when he sent his slaves to summon the invited guests to the wedding, they refused to come.
4. So he sent some more slaves, instructing them to tell the guests, ‘Look, I’ve prepared my banquet, I’ve slaughtered my bulls and my fattened cattle, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding!’
5. But they weren’t interested and went off, one to his farm, another to his business;
6. and the rest grabbed his slaves, mistreated them and killed them.
7. The king was furious and sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.
8. “Then he said to his slaves, ‘Well, the wedding feast is ready; but the ones who were invited didn’t deserve it.
9. So go out to the street-corners and invite to the banquet as many as you find.’
10. The slaves went out into the streets, gathered all the people they could find, the bad along with the good; and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11. “Now when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who wasn’t dressed for a wedding; so he asked him,
12. ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
Kings would sometimes give banquets for their subjects and invite them all, regardless of status, providing suitable clothing for those unable to afford it. Therefore the one not wearing what the king had provided was without excuse. For the meaning of wedding clothes, see Rv 19:8.

13. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark!’ In that place people will wail and grind their teeth,
14. for many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Outside in the dark, literally, "into outer darkness." This seems to suggest an after-death state different from Gey-Hinnom (5:22N), Sh'ol (Hades, 11:23N) or heaven; the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is partly based on this verse. In that place.... Verses 13b-14 are Yeshua' s comment on the story, not the remarks of the king.

Yeshua continues addressing the P'rushim and leading cohanim. Compare the wedding imagery with Rv 19:7-9&NN, where Yeshua's own marriage and wedding banquet are described.

15. Then the P’rushim went away and put together a plan to trap Yeshua with his own words.
16. They sent him some of their talmidim and some members of Herod’s party. They said, “Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and really teach what God’s way is. You aren’t concerned with what other people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person’s status.
The P'rushim wanted the Jewish theocracy restored and opposed oppressor Rome and its taxes. Herod's party — political, not religious — supported the Herodian dynasty set up by Rome and encouraged abiding by the Roman tax laws; they were not usually friendly with the P 'rushim. The trap consisted in putting together an alliance of convenience in which both would ask Yeshua's opinion, hoping his response would alienate him from one group or the other.

17. So tell us your opinion: does Torah permit paying taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?”
18. Yeshua, however, knowing their malicious intent, said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me?
19. Show me the coin used to pay the tax!” They brought him a denarius;
20. and he asked them, “Whose name and picture are these?”
21. “The Emperor’s,” they replied. Yeshua said to them, “Nu, give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give to God what belongs to God!”
Nu Greek oun. Paragraph 1 of the entry on "oun" in Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, says, "Inferential, denoting that what it introduces is the result of or an inference from what precedes: so, therefore, consequently, accordingly, then." The all-purpose Yiddish word "лы" (see 11:9N. Lk 12:42N) is often used with this meaning, but with the inflection, "Can't you figure it out for yourself?!" — thus conveying precisely the tone of Yeshua's answer.

With the answer itself compare Rav Shmu'el's Talmudic dictum (N'darim 28a), Dina dimalkuta dina — "The [secularl law of the [reigning Gentile) government is the Law [binding as halakhah on Jews]." And contrast the Messianic pretender, Y'hudah HaG'lili (Ac 5:36&N), who, according to Josephus, said that people who paid Roman taxes were cowards (Wars of the Jews 2:8:1).

22. On hearing this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
23. That same day, some Tz’dukim came to him. They are the ones who say there is no such thing as resurrection, so they put to him a sh’eilah:
Sh'eilah. See JNT Glossary entry. The word in Hebrew means simply "question," but among Jews speaking English it means "a question about Torah or halakhah" usually posed to someone expected to be able to give an authoritative answer. Thus "sh'eilot utskuvof ("questions and answers") is the Hebrew term for the Response literature in Judaism. Verse 17 contains a.sh'eilah; see also vv. 35-36,41,46.

24. “Rabbi, Moshe said, 'If a man dies childless, his brother must marry his widow and have children to preserve the man’s family line'. (Dvarim - Deuteronomy 25:5–6)
The question posed by the Tz'dukim (see 3:7N) is based on the law of yibbum ("levirate marriage"), set forth in Deuteronomy 25:5-10 and elaborated in Talmud tractate Yevamot, wherein the brother of a man who dies without children is expected to marry his brother's widow in order to maintain the family line (as the Tz 'dukim correctly state). The firstborn son of the new marriage would count as the dead man's child for inheritance purposes. Should the yavam (brother-in-law) refuse to marry his brother's widow, Deuteronomy 25:7-10 provides for a ceremony called chalitzah which both humiliates him and releases the widow from her obligation to marry him. The stories of Onan and Tamar (Genesis 38) and of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4) are biblical examples of yibbum and chalitzah respectively. Curiously, rabbinic decrees over the centuries have reversed the Torah's priorities; the Chief Rabbinate of Israel requires chalitzah and bans yibbum entirely.

25. There were seven brothers. The first one married and then died; and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother.
26. The same thing happened to the second brother, and the third, and finally to all seven.
27. After them all, the woman died.
28. Now in the Resurrection — of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all married her.”
29. Yeshua answered them, “The reason you go astray is that you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God.
30. For in the Resurrection, neither men nor women will marry; rather, they will be like angels in heaven.
31. And as for whether the dead are resurrected, haven’t you read what God said to you,
32. "I am the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov"? (Shmot - Exodus 3:6) He is God not of the dead but of the living!”
31-32 Yeshua derives the doctrine of resurrection from the Torah because the Tz 'dukim accepted only the Pentateuch as absolutely authoritative. This is why he cites Exodus 3:6 rather than the more obvious Scriptural refutations at Isaiah 26:19 (quoted below), Daniel 12:2 (especially) and Job 19:26.

Compare the following extract from the Talmud:
"Minim ["sectarians"] asked Rabban Gamli'el: 'How do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, will resurrect the dead?' He answered them from the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings, yet they did not accept it [as conclusive proof]. From the Torah, as it is written, 'The Lord said to Moses, "Here, you will sleep with your fathers and rise up'" (Deuteronomy 31:16). 'But maybe,' they said to him [by way of objection], 'the verse reads, "and the people will rise up'" fas in fact it does read]. From the Prophets, as it is written, 'Your dead will live and arise with my dead body.

Wake up, sing, you who dwell in the dust! for your dew is like the dew on herbs, and the earth will throw out the shades of its dead' (Isaiah 26:19). 'But maybe this refers to the dead whom Ezekiel resurrected?' (Ezekiel 37). From the Writings, as it is written, "And the roof of your mouth, like the best wine of my beloved, that goes down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak' (Song of Songs 7:9 [taken to refer to Israel]). 'But maybe it means only that their lips will move....' [They did not accept his proof] until he cited this verse:'... which Adonai swore to your fathers to give to them' (Deuteronomy 11:21) — not to you, but to them [to your fathers, who are now dead]; hence resurrection is derived from the Torah...." (Sanhedrin 90b)

The passage gains interest from the fact that "minim" often means Messianic Jews, and Rabban Gamli'el is mentioned in the New Testament (Ac 5:34&N, Ac 22:3). Travers Herford suggests they did not reject the doctrine of resurrection but questioned its derivability from the Tanakh (Christianity in the Talmud, pp. 232-233). I think these minim were other sectarians and not Messianic Jews at all, for, Herford's reasoning notwithstanding, there is no reason why Messianic Jews would object to deriving resurrection from the Scriptures.

There are several other passages in the same part of tractate Sanhedrin which derive resurrection from the Tanakh. One example: "Ourrabbis taught: 'It is written, "I kill, and I make alive" (Deuteronomy 32:39). I could understand: I kill one person and give life to a different one, as the world goes on [some die, others are born]. This is why Scripture says [immediately afterwards, in the same verse], "I wound, and I heal." Just as the wounding and healing [clearly] refer to the same person, likewise putting to death and bringing to life refer to the same person. This refutes those who claim that resurrection is not implied by the Torah. '"(Sanhedrin 91b)

33. When the crowds heard how he taught, they were astounded;
34. but when the P’rushim learned that he had silenced the Tz’dukim, they got together,
35. and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh’eilah to trap him:
36. “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?”
Mitzvot, literally, "commandments" (see 5:19N), but here better understood as "central principles"; see Mk 12:28N.

37. He told him, "You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength". (Dvarim - Deuteronomy 6:5)
From the parallel passage at Mk 12:28-34 one learns that Yeshua quoted also Deuteronomy 6:4, the central affirmation of Judaism, "Sh'ma Israel, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai echad" ("Hear, О Israel, Adonai our God, Adonai is one"); see Mk 12:29N.

38. This is the greatest and most important mitzvah.
39. And a second is similar to it, "You are to love your neighbor as yourself". (Vaikra - Leviticus 19:18)
40. All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.”
41. Then, turning to the assembled P’rushim, Yeshua put a sh’eilah to them:
42. “Tell me your view concerning the Messiah: whose son is he?” They said to him, “David’s.”
43. “Then how is it,” he asked them, “that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord,’ when he says,
44. "Adonai said to my Lord, “Sit here at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet"? (Tehelim - Psalm 110:1)
All of Psalm 110 is considered Messianic and is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament more than any other passage of the Tanakh, namely, here and at 26:64; Mk 12:36: Lk 20:42; Ac 2:34-35; 1С 15:25; Ep 1:20; Co 3:1; MJ 1:3,13; 5:6,10; 6:20; 7:17,21; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Ke 3:22.

45. If David thus calls him ‘Lord,’ how is he his son?”
46. No one could think of anything to say in reply; and from that day on, no one dared put to him another sh’eilah.