Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Matthew 7:3-5

Proverb of the mote and beam. Also current among Jews and Arabs (vide Tholuck). κάρφος, a minute dry particle of chaff, wood, etc. δοκός, a wooden beam (let in, from δέχομαι) or joist, a monstrous symbol of a great fault. A beam in the eye is a natural impossibility; cf. the camel and the needle eye. The Eastern imagination was prone to exaggeration. This is a case of tu quoque (Romans 2:2), or rather of “thou much more”. The faults may be of the same kind: κάρφος, a petty theft, δοκός, commercial dishonesty on a large scale “thou that judgest doest the same things” (Romans 2:2); or of a different sort: moral laxity in the publican, pride and inhumanity in the Pharisee who despised him (Luke 18:9-14). βλέπεις, οὐ κατανοεῖς : the contrast is not between seeing and failing to see, but between seeing and not choosing to see; ignoring, consciously overlooking. The censorious man is not necessarily ignorant of his own faults, but he does not let his mind rest on them. It is more pleasant to think of other people's faults.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Matthew 7:3-5

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