To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
Christ stopped his praise of John to condemn those who had both John's ministry and his own among them and profited not at all. The Jewish people of that generation were as barren and unprofitable as could be; nothing is more absurd than to have good preaching and be never the better for it.
AI summary
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.