This discourse (peculiar to Matthew) was delivered on Tuesday preceding the crucifixion, although similar sayings (found in Luke 11:13) were uttered on a previous occasion. The intercourse with the Pharisees had been used by our Lord as a means of warning them. The warning had been unheeded; the int... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:1. TO THE MULTITUDES, AND TO HIS DISCIPLES. Luke (Luke 20:45): ‘then in the audience of all the people, he said to his disciples.' His disciples were probably close about Him, the people gathering about them; Matthew 23:8-12 appear to be addressed especially to His disciples.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:2. THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES. Joined together, because the scribes were mostly Pharisees. Study of the Scriptures would be of comparatively little interest to the indifferent Sadducees. Theologians, from the nature of their pursuits, are in more danger of becoming Pharisees than Saddu... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:3. ALL THINGS THEREFORE WHATSOEVER THEY BID YOU, THESE DO AND OBSERVE. Their official position and authority are respected, because the law was still an element in their teaching. The office did not sanctify the officer. Men's official utterances are often vastly superior to their lives.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:4. YEA THEY BIND, etc. They so presented the correct law as to make its precepts HEAVY BURDENS, like loads, packs on beasts of burden (comp. Acts 15:16). The reference is not simply to the traditions they added, but also to the mode of presenting the law itself, as demanding a servile obe... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:5. BUT ALL THEIR WORKS. Their extensive routine of duty was not really religious, but performed with this motive: TO BE SEEN OF MEN. Self-righteousness rests on pride, and, inevitably becoming exhibitional, betrays its origin. FOR THEY MAKE BROAD THEIR PHYLACTERIES. Small slips of parchm... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:6. THE CHIEF PLACE AT FEASTS. The place on the middle couch at the upper table (which joined the other two) was considered most honorable. CHIEF SEATS IN THE SYNAGOGUES. The places nearest the reading desk, where the elders sat. Being in such places (at feasts, in synagogues or elsewher... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:7. THE SALUTATIONS IN THE MARKET PLACES. The places of public resort, where their importance would be recognized. Salutations of courtesy and kindness in public places are certainly not forbidden. In these days Pharisaical pride may desire some other form of public recognition. RABBI, l... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:8. BUT BE NOT YE CALLED RABBI. But this prohibition includes all the manifestations of religious pride spoken of, since it prohibits the pride itself. FOR ONE IS YOUR MASTER, or, ‘Teacher.' The word ‘Christ' is to be omitted here. Because One is our Teacher, all are our brethren; hence t... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:9. YOUR FATHER UPON EARTH. A natural father is not meant. Nor are titles of respect to the aged forbidden. Stephen (Acts 7:2) began his defence: ‘Brethren and fathers,' and Paul too calls himself the spiritual father of the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:15), speaks of Timothy as his son in... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:10. LEADERS. Higher than ‘Rabbi,' leaders of sects, etc. FOR ONE IS YOUR LEADER, EVEN THE CHRIST. Hence the disciples were and ought to be called Christians, not by any human name (comp. 1 Corinthians 1:12). As Matthew 23:9-10 refer distinctly to the Father and the Son, some have referr... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:11. THE GREATER AMONG YOU SHALL BE YOUR SERVANT (or ‘minister,' as the word is translated in chap. Matthew 20:26). Not, ‘shall be called.' The Pope, whose usual title is a violation of Matthew 23:9, is called: ‘Servant of servants.' ‘The greater among you,' implies a difference among Chri... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:12. AND WHOSOEVER SHALL EXALT HIMSELF, etc. A universal rule of God's dealings, including both worlds in its scope. Here it points to the speedy humiliation of the Pharisees. The possession of humility is the first requisite in entering the kingdom of heaven (chap. Matthew 18:3-4) and the... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:13 ff. THE WOES. Lange compares these woes and the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. This comparison follows the order of some ancient manuscripts, in placing Matthew 23:14 before Matthew 23:13. The best authorities leave out Matthew 23:14 altogether. It was probably inserted from Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:13. WOE UNTO YOU. This repeated formula is followed in each case by a reason, derived from evil character and conduct. Sin results in ‘woe.' BECAUSE YE SHUT UP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, here represented as a wedding hall, or palace, with open doors. AGAINST MEN; in their face. This was e... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:14. This verse, though misplaced, is a part of the word of God (Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47). YE DEVOUR WIDOWS' HOUSES, _i.e.,_ seize upon the property of the unprotected, here represented by a particular class. EVEN WHILE, the force of ‘and' is best represented thus. FOR A PRETENCE YE M... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:15. YE COMPASS SEA AND LAND, _i.e.,_ spare no effort, TO MAKE ONE PROSELYTE. Among the Jews there were two kinds of proselytes. 1. Those who embraced the Jewish religion, conforming to all its requirements, ‘proselytes of righteousness.' 2. Those who approved of it, accepting some of its... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:16. YE BLIND GUIDES. Wilfully blind, self-deluded (‘fools and blind,' Matthew 23:17), they persisted in leading others astray. The method here spoken of is that of arbitrary distinctions in regard to oaths, perverting religion and morality. WHO SAY. Thus they taught. BY THE TEMPLE. A... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:17. Fools and blind. The distinction was foolish and false, revealing the character of those making it. THE TEMPLE THAT HATH SANCTIFIED THE GOLD. Any sanctity in the gold came from the temple, and the sanctity of the temple came from God. No inanimate thing can witness an oath. Hence Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:18. THE ALTAR; in the temple, the only authorized one. THE GIFT. The offering placed upon it. The order of hallowed things is again reversed (Matthew 23:19). Since all are holy, our Lord declares that no oath can distinguish between them (Matthew 23:20).... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:19. YE BLIND. The briefer reading is better supported.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:21. BY THE TEMPLE. This oath, which they did not consider binding (Matthew 23:16), is now traced back to God Himself. THAT DWELLETH THEREIN. God came into the temple of Solomon with visible glory (1 Kings 8:11-12); nothing is affirmed or denied in regard to the second temple. The Pharis... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:22. BY HEAVEN, the great temple of God, hallowed by the presence of God enthroned there. The sum of the whole is: Every oath is by God; hence make no distinctions between oaths; ‘swear not at all' (chap. Matthew 5:34). These verses really refer, not only to swearing, but to truthfulness,... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:23. FOR YE TITHE THE MINT, AND THE DILL AND THE CUMMIN. In Leviticus 27:30, the Israelites were bidden to pay a tithe (tenth part) of the fruits of the field and of the trees, as an offering to the Lord. Other demands were made (Numbers 18:21; Deuteronomy 12:6; Deuteronomy 14:22-28), exac... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:24. STRAIN OUT THE GNAT, _i.e.,_ to filter wine, so as to avoid swallowing a gnat. The common version may have been intended to express this, but more probably contains a misprint. The saying is proverbial; this straining actually took place to avoid defilement (Leviticus 11:20; Leviticus... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:25. YE CLEANSE THE OUTSIDE OF THE CUP AND OF THE DISH. The ‘cup' and ‘dish' refer to drink and meat, the enjoyment of life. They would give a formal legal purity to sinful gratification. On the Pharisaical washings of pots and cups, see Mark 7:8. BUT WITHIN THEY ARE FULL FROM EXTORTION... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:26. THOU BLIND PHARISEE. ‘Blind,' failing to see that the great matter should come first. CLEANSE FIRST. Begin with inward purity. THAT THE OUTSIDE THEREOF MAY BECOME CLEAN ALSO. Outward morality is very important, but it naturally follows purity of heart. The former without the latte... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:27. WHITED SEPULCHRES. On the 15 th of Adar, before the Passover, the Jews whitewashed all spots where graves were situated. This was done to prevent the passage over them, which occasioned Levitical defilement (Numbers 19:16; comp. Ezekiel 39:15, from which passage the custom is derived)... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:28. BUT INWARDLY YE ARE FULL OF HYPOCRISY AND INIQUITY. ‘Your heart is not a temple of the living God, but a grave of pestilent corruption: not a heaven, but a hell. And your religion is but the whitewash hardly skin-deep' (Alford). ‘Hypocrisy' is the whitewash. ‘Iniquity,' literally ‘law... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:29. FOR YE BUILD THE SEPULCHRES OF THE PROPHETS. (Comp. Luke 11:47-48). According to the universal custom of building monuments to ancient and celebrated persons. AND GARNISH THE TOMBS OF THE RIGHTEOUS, those considered especially saintly. ‘The prophets,' the higher class, are represent... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:30. AND SAY. By the act of building the tombs, and also in word. IF WE HAD BEEN IN THE DAYS OF OUR FATHERS, etc. Their ‘fathers' by natural lineage. The moral relationship they deny, but our Lord affirms it (Matthew 23:31).... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:31. SO THEN. ‘You acknowledge the sins of your fathers, but hypocritically deny your own, adding hypocrisy to impiety,' YE WITNESS TO YOURSELVES, your own consciences condemning you, THAT YE ARE THE SONS (morally as well as naturally) OF THEM THAT SLEW THE PROPHETS. Some find here an all... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:32. FILL YE UP THEN. Not irony, but a terrible prediction, and a judicial consignment of them to their own ways. Every merciful means of influence had been used before this was spoken. To leave them now to show their true spirit was an act of mercy to others. THE MEASURE OF YOUR FATHERS... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:33. YE SERPENTS, YE BROOD OF VIPERS, etc. Comp. the similar language of John the Baptist (chap. Matthew 3:7). That was the first, and this the last recorded address to the unchanged Pharisees. John had said: ‘who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come,' our Lord speaks to them, as... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:34. THEREFORE BEHOLD I SEND UNTO YOU. Comp. Luke 11:49. ‘Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them,' Here Christ, having already spoken as Judge, says, ‘I send.' He is ‘the wisdom of God.' ‘Therefore;' because they were determined to go on in the way of their fathers, and we... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:35. THAT UPON YOU MAY COME. The result would be further guilt, filling up the cup of iniquity; the end would be judgment. The inevitableness, suddenness, power, and grandeur of the judgment is intimated. ALL THE RIGHTEOUS BLOOD, _i.e._, the punishment for it. Comp. Sam. Matthew 4:13; 2... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:36. ALL THESE THINGS SHALL COME UPON THIS GENERATION. Referring to the fearful calamities to come upon the Jewish people culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem, about forty years afterwards. The punishment was a national one, to be executed in this world upon that generation, ‘as the... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:37. O JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM. A mighty emotion of compassion follows the stem language of denunciation; both are aroused by guilt: in the one case, that of the blind misleaders; in the other, that of the misled people. THAT KILLETH THE PROPHETS. Habitually does so. The crimes against God'... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:37-39. Luke (Luke 13:34-35) inserts this lamentation at an earlier point of the history. It was probably uttered twice, if but once, on this occasion, when it was peculiarly fitting. Comp. also Luke 19:41-44, where we find another lamentation over the city on His triumphant progress towar... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:38. YOUR HOUSE, the temple, which is no longer God's house, but yours. DESOLATE, a spiritual ruin to be followed by temporal ruin. Our Lord shortly afterwards (chap. Matthew 24:1) left the temple, as a sign that this had taken place.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 23:39. YE SHALL NOT SEE ME HENCEFORTH. A solemn declaration of His withdrawal from His ministry among them. After this He taught only His own people. TILL YE SHALL SAY, etc. This refers to the future conversion of the Jews (comp. Romans 11:25-32.) BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH, etc. Our Lord... [ Continue Reading ]