Matthew 23:1-25

Jesus Passes Judgment On The Scribes And Pharisees And Describes the Devastations Coming On The World Prior To His Coming Again And The Judgment That Will Follow (23:1-25).

Having made clear that He has come to establish a new ‘congregation' and a new ‘nation' Jesus will now reveal what is to happen to the old nation that has rejected Him, and why. In chapter 23 He brings His severe indictment on ‘the Scribes and the Pharisees'. While His words appear to be fierce they are nothing less than we should expect in view of the situation (see below), and we must remember that in fact the Rabbis themselves later said equally fierce things about many of the Pharisees. They also were not unaware of their faults.

But such a huge change as the rejection of a people who are to be replaced by a remnant from among them (‘the congregation') who would form a ‘new nation' (Matthew 21:43), required justification, even though it was in fact simply a repetition of their previous history (see Numbers 14:28; Deuteronomy 1:35; Deuteronomy 2:14) and was in line with what the prophets had forewarned (Isaiah 4:3; Isaiah 6:11; Hosea 1:9; Zechariah 13:8). Thus here in chapter 23 we have Jesus official indictment on those who were seen by the majority of Jews as the cream of the people of Israel, so as to explain why the change is being made, and why He Himself has rejected them. He wants them to know without any doubt that those religious leaders, to whom supremely they had looked for the truth about God, have failed and therefore will have to be replaced (Matthew 21:33). And all would have agreed that if these were doomed, Israel also was doomed, for religiously they were the most respected men in Israel. This doom is what Jesus will reveal in Chapter s 24-25.

This combination of discourses falls into the following pattern;

Final Words in the Temple. Jesus' Indictment against those who represent the people, explaining what is to result from their attitude and behaviour (Matthew 23:1).

Words after leaving the Temple and on the Mount of Olives as He announces the coming destruction of the Temple, and His own coming in Judgment and final Triumph (Matthew 24:1 to Matthew 25:46).

This may be further analysed in detail as follows: