Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 20:47

κατεσθίουσιν κ.τ.λ. Josephus tells us that the Pharisees had absolute sway in the women’s apartments, Jos. Antt. XVIII. 2, § 4. We know from mediæval history how common is the crime of these religious haeredipetae.

προφάσει. ‘In pretence.’ Their hypocrisy was so notorious that even the Talmud records the warning given by Alexander Jannaeus to his wife on his deathbed against painted Pharisees. And in their seven classes of Pharisees the Talmudic writers place “Shechemites”—Pharisees from self-interest; Stumblers—so mock-humble that they will not raise their feet from the ground; Bleeders—so mock-modest, that because they will not raise their eyes, they run against walls, &c. Thus the Jewish writers themselves depict the Pharisees as the Tartuffes of antiquity.

μακρὰ προσεύχονται. Such as the twenty-six forms of prayer at ablution; the Eighteen Benedictions (Shemoneh Esreh), &c.

κρίμα. ‘Judgment.’ The word is not even κατάκριμα, or ‘condemnation.’ Their ‘judgment’ shall be more severe than that of those who practised none of these religious ordinances.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 20:47

Old Testament

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