A man's foes shall be they of his own household - Our Lord refers here to their own traditions. So Sota, fol. 49. "A little before the coming of the Messiah, the son shall insult the father, the daughter rebel against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and each man shall have his own household fur his enemies." Again, in Sanhedrin, fol. 97, it is said: "In the age in which the Messiah shall come, the young men shall turn the elders into ridicule; the elders shall rise up against the youth, the daughter against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and the man of that age shall be excessively impudent; nor shall the son reverence his father." These are most remarkable sayings, and, by them, our Lord shows them that he was the Messiah, for all these things literally took place shortly after their final rejection of Christ. See the terrible account, given by Josephus, relative to the desolations of those times. Through the just judgment of God, they who rejected the Lord that bought them became abandoned to every species of iniquity; they rejected the salvation of God, and fell into the condemnation of the devil.
Father Quesnel's note on this place is worthy of deep attention. "The father (says he) is the enemy of his son, when, through a bad education, an irregular love, and a cruel indulgence, he leaves him to take a wrong bias, instructs him not in his duty, and fills his mind with ambitious views. The son is the father's enemy, when he is the occasion of his doing injustice, in order to heap up an estate for him, and to make his fortune. The mother is the daughter's enemy, when she instructs her to please the world, breeds her up in excess and vanity, and suffers any thing scandalous or unseemly in her dress. The daughter is the mother's enemy, when she becomes her idol, when she engages her to comply with her own irregular inclinations, and to permit her to frequent balls and plays. The master is the enemy of his servant, and the servant that of his master, when the one takes no care of the other's salvation, and the latter is subservient to his master's passions."

And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. His children, and his servants, such that he has either begotten and brought up, or are daily fed at his table, and maintained by him. This, with the former instances, are borrowed from Micah 7:6 and the times of the Gospel are set forth in the same dismal and black characters, as those in which the prophet lived; and much such a description do the Jews themselves give, of the times of their expected Messiah; which agreeing in words, as well as things, I cannot forbear transcribing.
"The government shall be turned to heresy (Sadducism), and there will be no reproof; the synagogue shall become a brothel house, Galilee shall be destroyed, and Gablan shall be laid waste, and the men of the border shall wander from city to city, and shall obtain no mercy; the wisdom of the Scribes shall stink, and they that fear to sin shall be despised, and truth shall fail; young men shall turn pale, or put to shame, the faces of old men, and old men shall stand before young men; the "son" shall deal basely "with his father, the daughter shall rise up against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and the enemies of a man shall be they of his own house": the face of that generation shall be as the face of a dog, and the son shall not reverence his father (o).''
All which characters, how exactly they agree with the generation in which Christ lived, is easy to observe.
(o) Misn. Sota, c. 9. sect. 15. T. Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 97. 1. Zohar in Numbers. fol. 102. 3. & Raya Mehimna in ib. in Leviticus. fol. 28. 2. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 11. 4. Derech Eretz Zuta, fol. 19. 4.

And a man's foes shall be they of his own household--This saying, which is quoted, as is the whole verse, from Micah 7:6, is but an extension of the Psalmist's complaint (Psalm 41:9; Psalm 55:12-14), which had its most affecting illustration in the treason of Judas against our Lord Himself (John 13:18; Matthew 26:48-50). Hence would arise the necessity of a choice between Christ and the nearest relations, which would put them to the severest test.

A man's foes shall be of his own household. This has been verified thousands of times. Many a convert has been turned out of home and banished by kindred, because he had confessed Christ.

And the foes of a man - That loves and follows me. Micah 7:6.