Jesus set the Pharisees' two beliefs side by side. They agreed the Christ is David's son (Matthew 22:42), and they accepted the psalm in which David calls Him "my Lord" (Matthew 22:44). How could David, the forefather, call his own descendant Lord? Gill says the question is "unanswerable upon the principles of the Pharisees," who expected a Messiah who was only a man. Barnes gives the only way through: "the admission that the Messiah was divine as well as human." Jesus asked so they would face that truth.

No one answered. "No man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions" (Matthew 22:46). Gill says they saw they would have either to acknowledge the deity of the Messiah or confess their ignorance, and they judged it wisest to be silent. The questioning that began in Matthew 22:15 ends here, with Jesus asking the last question.

The Pharisees expected the Messiah to come from David's family line (John 7:42). Matthew Henry, in his short commentary, explains the difficulty: if the Christ was "to be a mere man, who would not exist till many ages after David's death, how could his forefather call him Lord?"

Mark adds that after this question "the common people heard him gladly" (Mark 12:37), In Luke the silence comes just before this question: some scribes told Him, "Master, thou hast well said" (Luke 20:39), "And after that they durst not ask him any question at all" (Luke 20:40).

This question is not a riddle meant to embarrass. It points to the heart of who Jesus is. He is truly David's son, born in David's line, and truly David's Lord. Barnes says the Messiah "had an existence at the time of David, and was his lord and master, his God and king."

Matthew Henry writes that without this truth "we run ourselves into inextricable difficulties." The Pharisees' silence shows how far a mind can go with the right facts and still miss the Person. God's answer to Jesus' question would come in His resurrection and exaltation, when the One who was crucified was seated at God's right hand (Acts 2:34-36).