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| Chapter 23 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ Then spoke Jesus to the multitude and to His disciples, 2 saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do ye not according to their works; for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 and love the uppermost places at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and greetings in the markets, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But be not ye called ‘Rabbi,’ for One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 "And call no man your father upon earth, for One is your Father, who is in Heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters, for One is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. 13 ¶ "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16 "Woe unto you, ye blind guides, who say, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ 17 Ye fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18 And ye say, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is liable.’ 19 Ye fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it and by all things thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it and by Him that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that shall swear by Heaven, sweareth by the throne of God and by Him that sitteth thereon. 23 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Therefore ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye are the children of them that killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! How can ye escape the damnation of hell? 34 ¶ Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, 35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah, son of Barchias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. 37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!’" |
23:1 - 25:46 Jesus gives warnings and prophecies of judgment. Jesus makes a public announcement about the wrong and evil of the Pharisees. v1-12 This warning is given to the disciples but is also open to the listening multitude. v2 "Sit in Moses’ seat." They have taken the place of Moses to explain and control the interpretation of the Law. v3,4 As the Pharisees explain how to obey the Laws, the people were required to obey what they said. However, the Pharisees did not obey the laws or interpretation themselves. There was also some doubt about their interpretations, this was allowing them to misuse the spiritual teaching of the Old Testament. They added to the Law, by doing so made the burden of obeying the Law much more difficult. The Pharisees realized the interpretations could be wrong but still did not make changes, yet because they knew ways of avoiding the obedience of the laws for themselves they were not doing what they insisted must be done. v5 Phylacteries, two small hollow boxes made of skins, each divided to make four compartments, each compartment contained one of the following Old Testament passages written on strips of parchment (skins of animals). The normal passages were from Exodus 13:2-10, 11-17; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Deuteronomy 11:13-22. These boxes were tied across the persons forehead with leather straps. This action came from an exact (literal) meaning of the words from Exodus 13:16. Sometimes these boxes were attached to the left hand. These boxes were occasionally worn by the common people but all Pharisees wore them as a sign of spirituality. "Enlarge the borders of their garments," Tassels worn on the four corners of the outer coat according to the instruction of Numbers 15:38-41; Deuteronomy 22:12. The priests made them large, again as a sign of spirituality. Many Jews, including Jesus, also had these tassels on the bottom of their outer garment. Matt 9:20; Matt 14:36. v6,7 "Seats of honour, - greetings in markets," The Pharisees wanted to draw attention to their position, become the object of attention. "Rabbi, Rabbi." A title indicating teacher or doctor indicating they were the ‘spiritual instructors.’ v8-12 The following words of warning were given to the disciples. The followers of Christ should not seek position of these titles Rabbi, Father or Master. This does not prohibit the use of these titles as Paul called himself "father" when referring to Timothy as his "son" in the faith, 1 Cor 4:14-17. v11 "He that is greatest," shows that there will be different ranks in the Kingdom but it is the spirit of humility which controls and guides the believer, not as with the Pharisees who were out to be as important as possible, often ‘taking the place of God’ in the decision of how to worship. v13-36 Seven woes and wretchedness of Pharisees. See also Mark 12:38-44; Luke 20:45-47. Jesus now turns to the Pharisees who were in the crowd and gives them warnings. v13 "Hypocrites!" The Pharisees were ‘acting,’ pretending holiness and righteousness. By their behaviour they were "shutting up the Kingdom of Heaven," if they had understood the scriptures they should have been encouraging the people to follow Jesus. In addition, any who were trying to "enter in" were being stopped. v14 Not only do you play act righteousness but you use your power to rob poor people, then make fake long prayers as a sign of your ‘righteousness’ which is fake. v15 The Pharisees were going out into the world persuading people to change their religion to follow their teachings, make "proselytes," adopt the Jewish faith, but really taking them to hell because of their wrong teaching and behaviour. v16-22 Pharisees are guides but totally blind, introducing oath-taking. It is sad that a person’s word cannot be accepted or trusted unless they make an oath. However the Pharisees were saying that there were different binding, legal holding levels of oaths. An oath which involved the general temple or alter had very little force, but mention the gold of the alter, gifts of the temple, or even the throne of God and the oath was binding, legal. Jesus points out the stupidity of this teaching as the temple, as a whole also contains all the other area’s which they considered more important, the ‘alter,’ ‘gold,’ ‘gift,’ ‘heaven’ and ‘throne of God.’ Jesus taught "swear not at all," Matt 5:33-37. v23,24 The Pharisees were very concerned with the tithe (tenth) payment of the various herbs according to Leviticus 27:30 "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S: it is holy unto the LORD." These herbs were used for adding to food for seasoning. This payment they considered more important than "weightier matters of the law." Jesus said that they were more interested in looking for the small fly, ‘gnat’ in their drink and ignored and swallowed the ‘camel’ in the cup. v25,26 The fifth woe shows that the Pharisees were more interested in the external. The Pharisees had great concern in ritual purifying, this did not come from the Mosaic law. They cleaned the outside of the cup but did not notice the rubbish in the cup, in their own life. v27,28 The hidden evils of the Pharisees. Each spring, after the rain of winter, the graves were whitewashed to stop people defiling themselves by accidentally touching the grave. "And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days." Numbers 19:16. See also Luke 11:44. This action of whitewashing also made the graves more attractive in appearance, but contained rotting bodies. Jesus said that this is what the Pharisees were like, righteous on the outside, full of outward show, but rotten inside. v29-31 The Pharisees are now told that they were as bad as their ancestors. By the act of building and taking care of the tombs of those who attacked and murdered the prophets they were proving that they supported these people and their acts. Their own plotting to kill Jesus confirms and proves this, John 11:47-53. v32 Jesus here is saying "Whatever you have to do, do it quickly," just as Jesus told Judas, John 13:27. v33 See Matt 3:5-8 for John’s reaction to the Pharisees and Sadducees. v34 Jesus is claiming that He is sending the messengers, He is claiming to be God. See Luke 11:49; 1 Cor 1:24. v35 Persecution of the messengers, "Abel unto the blood of Zechariah," including all the murders of the Old Testament. Jesus tells the religious leaders that they are part of this group because they have failed to learn the lessons from history. In the sight of God they share the guilt, being completed in the coming crucifixions of the Messiah. v36 A severe prophesy for these listeners, fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem ending in the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. v37-39 Jesus is expressing sadness and grief for the city of Jerusalem, Luke 13:34,35. "You that kill the prophets, and stone them," links this remark with those of verse 33 and 34. See also Luke 13:34,35; Luke 19:41-44. v38 "House," can be translated as ‘the Nation,’ ‘the City’ and ‘the Temple.’ As these words were given by Jesus as He left the Temple for the last time, then the most likely meaning is ‘the Temple.’ The Temple was about to be rejected by the Messiah as not the ‘house of God,’ v39 "you shall not see Me henceforth," the public ministry of Jesus was now finished. After the resurrection Jesus only appeared to His followers. v39 "Till ye shall say," When Jesus returns at His ‘Second Coming’ the Jews will welcome the rejected Messiah. Consider Rom 11:1ff. |
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