But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 34. The Pharisees heard that he had silenced their adversaries, the Sadducees, and so forth Some of them, says Saint Luke, (20:39) applauded him, saying, Master, thou hast said well. Witham.—The Pharisees assembled themselves together, that they might confound him by their numbers, whom they could not by their arguments. Wherefore they said one to another: let one speak for all, and all speak by one, that if one be reduced to silence, he alone may appear to be refuted; and, if he is victorious, we may all appear conquerors. Hence it is said, And one of them, a doctor of the law, (S. Chrysostom) asked him, tempting him, if he were really possessed of that wisdom and that knowledge which people so much admired in him. V.