“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,
Christ was going on in the praise of John the Baptist and his ministry, but here stops on a sudden, and turns that to the reproach of those who enjoyed both that, and the ministry of Christ and his apostles too, in vain.
Commenting on Matthew 11:16-24
And saying, we have piped unto you, and ye have not danced,.... The allusion is to Jewish children, who having seen their parents and friends at their festivals and weddings, some play upon the pipe, and others dance to them, mimicked the same in their diversions; and also having observed, at funerals, the mourning women, making their doleful ditties, and others answering to them, acted...
Verses 16-19. But whereunto shall I liken, etc. Christ proceeds to reprove the inconsistency and fickleness of that age of men. He says they were like children. Nothing pleased them. tie refers here to the plays or sport of children. Instrumental music, or piping, and dancing, were used in marriages and festivals, as a sign of joy.