Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 21:23

"And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?" — Matthew 21:23 (ASV)

Jesus’ teaching takes place in the “temple courts,” probably in one of the porticos surrounding the Court of the Gentiles. The chief priests and the elders were both members of the Sanhedrin, described here in terms of their clerical status rather than their theological positions (e.g., Sadducees and Pharisees). They approached Jesus and challenged his authority to cleanse the temple, to do the miraculous healings, and perhaps to teach the crowds. Their first question was therefore not narrowly theological but concerned Jesus’ authority; yet their concern in asking who gave him this authority sprang less from a desire to identify him than from a desire to stifle and perhaps ensnare him.