Interpretation 1:
The wise and understanding are the philosophers during the ages.

Summary: 

Contrary to what is generally explained, Christ did not refer to people who think themselves wise and prudent (such as the scribes at that time) as opposed to people who, in their simplicity, are still like amenable children. He meant the wise and understanding in this world (such as philosophers, scientists, politicians…) who are able to bring to light much that was previously hidden, but who for centuries could not apprehend or discover the secret of the Father who caused his heavenly Son to become man.

Arguments in favour of this view:

The common interpretation assumes that Christ says something here about the nature of God’s revelation of his work of redemption through his heavenly Son: it presents itself so simply and humbly that it eludes the haughty and wise, yet finds acceptance by the simple ones who embrace it in a childlike manner.
This explanation reads more into the text than it actually says. Christ merely points to the fact of God’s revelation, which can be observed by all.

The common interpretation holds that God’s revelation does reach both the foolish and the wise, but because they haughtily shut themselves off from it, God causes them to become blind to it.
This explanation therefore detects an element of punishment in Christ’s words. But that element does not resonate with what he says. Christ merely points to the fact of God’s concealment.

The common exegesis makes the mistake of regarding the hiding as an action of the Father that occurs simultaneously with the revealing. The matters that he reveals to the one, he hides from the other at the same time. However, something is either hidden or revealed. And when something that had been hidden is now revealed, it no longer remains concealed. What was hidden by his Father has now become public (see Acts 17:22–31, 1 Corinthians 1:18 – 2:16).

In this text, the common exegesis thinks of the spiritual leaders in Israel who do not want to recognize Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah, while the simple people (the children: adulterers and tax collectors) do. Keeping the third argument in mind, we should rather think here of the philosophers and the scientists of this world who for centuries did not predict the appearance of God’s heavenly Son as Saviour man on earth, or did not see it coming, because God had still hidden it from them. But now, in Jesus’ appearance in Israel, it is being brought to light, in such a way that even children recognize it (i.e., him!).

Arguments against this view:

This interpretation restricts the verb to reveal to merely a factual disclosure. But in the New Testament, to reveal often has a broader, deeper dimension: even though the facts are heard and seen, the heart remains closed to it—because the Son (by the Holy Spirit) does not reveal it (see, e.g., Matthew 16:17, John 14:22, 1 Corinthians 2:10–16, Colossians 1:6).

In Matthew 11:27, Christ himself says that even though that which had been hidden for ages has now been revealed through his coming and his appearance (see also 1 Corinthians 2:7), yet it remains hidden—except from those to whom he, the Son of the Father, wants to reveal it.

The appeal to 1 Corinthians 1:18 – 2:16 is not justified. In 1 Corinthians 2:8, Paul writes that the leaders of this world would not have crucified the Lord of glory, had they known the hidden wisdom of God. But the world rulers responsible for the crucifixion of Christ—Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate—lived at a time when, according to interpretation 1, God’s plan of salvation had already been revealed for at least three years.

In 2 Corinthians 3:14 – 4:4, the apostle Paul writes that what God has revealed in Christ remains hidden from unbelievers. They are blinded by the god of this world (thus not: of previous centuries!), such that they cannot see the light that shines in abundance. The apostle links here to what Christ himself said about those who love darkness rather than light (John 3:19).

The argument in interpretation 1 that Christ only points to a fact, and that we are therefore not allowed to find an element of punishment in it, is not tenable. After all, a fact can indeed carry a punishment. Matthew links this statement of Christ (In those days…) directly to his announcement of judgment to a number of cities that, in their unbelief, had rejected God’s revelation of him as their Saviour, shown through the mighty works done in these towns (Matthew 11:20–24). The evidence of God’s revelation of the Saviour could be seen as Jesus walked through the city streets (see Mark 1:21 – 2:12). And yet it remained hidden from most of the inhabitants. 

In the Greek translation (Septuagint) of Isaiah 29:14 the same words are used for wise and understanding as in Matthew 11:25 and there they must refer to men and women among God’s own people. And there the Lord did in fact announce his punishment (see Isaiah 29:10). Even then, God announced that he was to keep hidden from them the wonderful work that he was about to do with his people. In the Septuagint the same verb functions twice, as in Matthew 11:25 (see Isaiah 29:14 and Isaiah 29:10, where the Lord speaks of closing the eyes of the prophets and covering the heads of the seers). At the same time the Lord did announce in Isaiah 29:18–19 whose ears and eyes would in fact be open to see his redeeming work.

In Isaiah 29:1–24 an echo can be heard of the announcement of punishment that God already gave Isaiah when he was called (Isaiah 6:8–10). This echo also resonates in the New Testament—according to interpretation 2 this is the time of revelation after centuries of concealment. Christ decides to speak in parables without immediately giving the application, so as to hide the mysteries of God’s kingdom from those who will not believe him (Matthew 13:10–16; see also John 12:37–41).

Interpretation 1 fails to take into account the contrast Christ mentions between the wise and understanding—from whom his Father has hidden his saving intervention—and the children—to whom he did reveal it. The explanation that the mystery that has been hidden for centuries from even the deepest thinkers is now emerging of its own accord and even approaches children in the flesh—Immanuel in the street—ignores Matthew’s choice of words in Greek. He does not use the word “teknoi” (see, e.g., Matthew 15:26, Matthew 15:26, Matthew 18:25), or paidia (Matthew 18:2, Matthew 19:13), but nèpioi. This word especially typifies the child as rather small: an infant (Matthew 21:16), still foolish (Romans 2:20; see also 1 Corinthians 3:1, 1 Corinthians 13:11, Galatians 4:1, Hebrews 5:13 and Hebrews 5:13). In any case, they are not children who, at their young age, could already recognize the revelation of God’s salvation as coming toward them. And so Christ, in line with Isaiah 29:18–19, must have chosen this word as a characterization: by yourself—as an ignorant person—you will not recognize salvation, unless the Son, according to the good pleasure of the Father, reveals it to you (Matthew 11:27).

The apostle Paul also uses this contrast starting in 1 Corinthians 1:19.

Interpretation 2:
The wise and understanding are those who see themselves as wise.

Summary: 

Christ is not speaking here of a change from a distant past, during which it pleased God to hide his plan of redemption from even the most intellectual of men: now he does show it—even to children.

Instead, Christ praises his Father for his deliberately chosen method in the present: he hides his plan of redemption, which he is now carrying out in his Son, from people who are wise and prudent in their own estimation, but he reveals it to people who need to drink it with their mother’s milk.

Arguments in favour of this view:

The arguments against Interpretation 1.