Matthew 16:1 - 4

1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.

2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;

3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were two sects of the Jewish hierarchy. They were usually opposed to each other in various respects but often forgot their differences and united in opposing Jesus or His apostles.

The Pharisees instilled many traditions for the people to observe based on the beliefs of the previous generations and made them as binding as the scripture itself, which goes against the word of God. They also sought honor and praise of men because of the public rites and outward forms of good which they would do, such as ablutions, fasting, prayers, and alms-giving. And given their negligent neglect of genuine doing of good, prided themselves on their fancied good works.

The Sadducees were distinguished by birth, wealth, and official position, and were not against using their influence to hone favor with the “Herod family” and the Roman government, they also hated the common people and were opponents of the Pharisees. They rejected traditions and acknowledged the authority of the Old Testament alone in matters of faith and morals. But they denied the existence of the immortality of the soul, they did not believe in angels or spirits and denied the resurrection and the eternal existence of heaven and a hell.

Summary:

Pharisees taught a false doctrine of traditions being equal to the Word of God.

Sadducees did not believe in an eternal life of either heaven or hell.

Members of both of these groups came together to tempt or test Jesus, had they been honestly seeking for evidence of Jesus power or wisdom He would have granted their request, but Jesus never performed miracles to gratify curiosity or to satisfy a challenge.

Jesus refers to their own belief of being able to forecast the weather by looking at the conditions of the sky.

The signs of Jesus were as clearly portrayed through the prophecies of the scriptures as were the weather signs in the sky above. Since they pretended there was nothing on the record in the word of God to signify the work and purpose of Jesus as the Son of God and this was only a pretended necessity of wanting to gain additional evidence, Jesus called them hypocrites.

Jesus gave them one sign, they knew of Jonah being in the belly of the great fish for three days and nights. So he told them that would be their sign and then He left them.