Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Matthew 23:23,24

The fourth woe refers to tithe-paying (Luke 11:42). ἀποδεκατοῦτε : a Hellenistic word = ye pay tithes, as in Genesis 28:22; to take tithes from in Hebrews 7:5-6. ἡδύοσμον, ἄνηθον, κύμινον : garden herbs mint (literally, sweet smelling), dill, also aromatic, cumin (Kümmel, German) with aromatic seeds. All marketable commodities, used as condiments, or for medicinal purposes, presumably all tithable, the point being not that the Pharisees were wilful in tithe-paying, but that they were extremely scrupulous. Vide articles in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. The Talmud itself, however, in a sentence quoted by Lightfoot (“decimatio oleorum est a Rabbinis”) represents tithing of herbs as a refinement of the Rabbis. τὰ βαρύτερα : either, the weightier, in the sense of Matthew 22:36 (Meyer), or the more difficult to do, in the sense of Matthew 23:4 (Weiss after Fritzsche). The idea seems to be: they made a great show of zeal in doing what was easy, and shirked the serious and more arduous requirements of duty. τ. κρίσιν, righteous judgment, implying and = the love of righteousness, a passion for justice. τὸ ἔλεος, neuter, after the fashion of later Greek, not τὸν ἔλεον, as in T. R.: mercy; sadly neglected by Pharisees, much insisted on by Jesus. τ. πίστιν, faith, in the sense of fidelity, true-heartedness. As a curiosity in the history of exegesis may be cited the use of this text by Schortinghuis, a Dutch pietist of the eighteenth century, in support of the duty of judging the spiritual state of others (κρίσιν)! vide Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus, i., 329. ταῦτα the greater things last mentioned. ἔδει, it was your duty to do. κἀκεῖνα, and those things, the tithings, etc.: this the secondary duty; its subordinate place might be brought out by rendering: “while not neglecting to pay tithes as scrupulously as you please”. Bengel thinks ταῦτα and ἐκεῖνα here refer not to the order of the words but to the relative importance of the things (“non pro serie verborum, sed pro ratione rerum”). On this view “these” means tithe-paying.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Matthew 23:23,24

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