Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 16:1

"And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and trying him asked him to show them a sign from heaven." — Matthew 16:1 (ASV)

The Pharisees also with the Sadducees — The presence of members of the latter sect, who do not appear elsewhere in our Lord’s Galilean ministry, is noticeable. It is probably explained by Mark’s version of the warning in Matthew 16:6, where “the leaven of Herod” appears as equivalent to “the leaven of the Sadducees” in Matthew’s report. The Herodians were the Galilean Sadducees, and the union of the two hostile parties was the continuation of the alliance that had begun after our Lord’s protest against the false reverence for the Sabbath, which was common to both parties (Mark 3:6).

That he would show them a sign from heaven — The signs and wonders that had been performed on earth were not enough for the questioners. There might be collusion or a power—like that implied in the charge of “casting out demons by Beelzebub”—that was preternatural, but not divine. What they asked for was a sign like Samuel’s thunder from the clear blue sky (1 Samuel 12:18) or Elijah’s fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:38). Or, possibly, following the train of thought suggested by the discourse at Capernaum, they were now definitively asking for what they had only hinted at before (John 6:30–31): bread, not multiplied on earth, but coming straight from heaven.