But there is a further thing brought out here, in a very distinctive manner. They were men who accepted the ever-increasing number of religious rules and regulations extracted from the Law. Making Religion A Burden ( Matthew 23:1-4), 23:1-4 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The Scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses's seat. The trouble was that such petty little deeds of scrupulosity were the PRINCIPAL concern of the scribes and Pharisees. 23:15 "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, for you range over the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and, when that happens, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves!". Yet does He accomplish everything, when He was but a sufferer; they nothing, when free to do all (for it was their hour, and the power of darkness) nothing but their iniquity; but even in their iniquity doing the will of God, spite of themselves, and contrary to their own plans. See Deuteronomy 6:13. At the same time, we show forth His death not on the day of death, but upon that of resurrection. They were all for the outside, and not at all for the inside, of religion. 1, 2. a T. Hieros. It is in no way confined to the children of God. (3.) Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Commentary. However that may be, the Lord vindicates her in the face of murmuring disaffected disciples. The fact is, there were two days or occasions in which the fig tree comes before us, according to the gospel of Mark, who gives us the details more particularly than any one, notwithstanding his brevity. You fools and blind: whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? If we might rightly use, in this case, the word "originality," then originality is stamped upon the account of the second. Jesus now directed His attention toward the scribes and the Pharisees in the temple courtyard (cf. There was that law in the Old Testament of these fringes on their garments that they were to make, and so they would enlarge these fringes.Now today they still have the fringes, but they put them on the prayer shawls that they wear. What was attempted by man completely broke down. It was, of course, but a transient action, yet was it of God for a testimony, this moving of hearts by the Spirit. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. There are women who are full of good works and who serve on all kinds of committees, and whose children are lonely for them at night. Thus it is in Mark and Luke we find some of the most important details; not in Matthew and John, though Matthew and John were eyewitnesses, Mark and Luke not. Does it carry him, or has he to carry it? His death was the death blow to the Jewish system, struck by one who was unmistakably the Maker of heaven and earth. They must not imagine that it would be like an ordinary judgment in providence, which sweeps here, not there, and sweeps here indiscriminately. they sought not mercy and healing at His hands; but if there were any to call on Him at Jericho, the Lord would hearken. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation ( Matthew 23:34-36 ). So here, the disciples of Jesus are exhorted to heed what was enjoined by those who sat in Moses' seat to follow what they taught, not what they did. For this is to be followed by great tribulation, exceeding any time of trouble since the beginning of the world up to that day. It would be vain to attempt an exposition of this prophetic discourse within my assigned limits. Jesus, according to our evangelist's account, comes to the temple and cleanses it. Was there anything answering to the welcome of the little ones who cried Hosanna, the type of what grace will effect in the day of His return, when the nation itself will contentedly, thankfully take the place of babes and sucklings, and find their best wisdom in so owning the One whom their fathers rejected, the man thereon exalted to heaven during the night of His people's unbelief? If it were, we should be undone. So should the blow fall suddenly on all its objects. He said, "How can He be the son of David, when David by the spirit called Him Lord?" for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. It is an appraisal then, founded on their relation to a brief testimony rendered at the close of the present dispensation (I doubt not, by Jewish brethren of the King, when all the world wonders after the beast, and in general men go back to idols, and fall into Antichrist's hands); a testimony suited to the crisis, after the Christian body has been taken to heaven, and the question of the earth is raised once more. And he that shall swear by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and him that sits thereon. The Lord, therefore, rebukes them on this acknowledged principle, that God was the God of the living, not of the dead. If they owned John, they must bow to the authority of Jesus; if they rejected John, they feared the people. The principle fully applied then, as it will in the latter day; the Church scene coming in meanwhile as a parenthesis. "For all of the works that they do, they do to be seen of men.". The scribes and Pharisees have reversed values. And yet for them it was but the merest reflection of that which He passed through. While they were such enemies to the conversion of souls to Christianity, they were very industrious in the perversion of them to their faction. These terms are divisive, sectarian, narrow. 2. The distinction of the commandments of the law into lighter and heavier, or weightier, to which Christ here refers, is frequent with the Jews. In other words, many of them kept the trifles of the Law and forgot the things which really matter. Is a man helped by his religion or is he haunted by it? Spite of opposition, the expectation spreads far and wide. You who say, 'If any one swears by the Temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Temple is bound by his oath.' Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But He was not content with merely thus touching conscience in a way that was painful enough to the flesh; for they found that, spite of authority or anything else, those who professed most, if disobedient, were counted worse than the most depraved, who repented and did the will of God. Yes, but this doth not warrant us to do so. Their inward part was very wickedness (Psalms 5:9); and that we are really, which we are inwardly. The law required the Jews to devote a tenth part of all their property to the support of the Levites, Numbers 18:20-24. But far more than that, He speaks as one who not merely had relations with them, but had made promises to them, which never yet were accomplished. Was it without moral import? 4-14.) But when a person who is characteristically meek and lowly, gentle and loving, suddenly erupts into blazing wrath, even the most thoughtless person is shocked into taking thought. "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." In Matthew, as we saw the providential dealing with the Jews, so we find the closing scene very particularly described, when the king judges individually in the day that is coming. So again, they paraphrase the words in Isaiah 33:18 "where is the scribe?" But to those who had this pretense of being so spiritual, those who had the pretense of being so righteous and were trying to foster themselves off on the common people as spiritually superior, I mean Jesus really got heavy. Under Ezra and Nehemiah the people were allowed to come back to Jerusalem, and to rebuild their shattered city, and to take up their national life again. The Lord knew them not. But it will not be so in the days of the Son of man, when He returns to deal with mankind at the end of the age. 4. d Oketzim, c. 1. sect. Undoubtedly, the Lord in those days was giving signs and tokens of the world to come; and it was continued by His servants afterwards, as we know from the end of Mark, the Acts, etc. July 14, 2023. But let us turn aside to the company of our Lord for a little while at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. That is why the anger of Jesus is so awe-inspiring a sight. John Piper Mar 5, 2012. Malice, envy, and cruelty, were bred in the bone with them, and they had formerly espoused it for a principle, to do as their fathers did,Jeremiah 44:17. 1:19). Such men walked in such ostentatious humility that they were bent like a pestle in a mortar or like a hunch-back. It was not the resurrection, but the death of Jesus, that rent the veil of the temple; it was not His resurrection that opened the graves, but His cross, though the saints rose not till after He rose. "I swear by the gold in the temple." The prospect of a potential end to interest rate hikes also helped to propel growth over value stocks, with the Russell Midcap Growth Index returning 6.23% compared to the 3.86% return of the . Accordingly the covenant takes place a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell. 129. 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. But this was not the only testimony which God gave. The cross remained a few brief hours, but of eternal value and unfathomable import, with which indeed nothing can compare. Does it make it wings to lift a man up, or a deadweight to drag him down? Faith - Piety toward God; confidence in him. "Show me," says He, "the tribute money . They honoured the relics of the prophets, they built their tombs, and garnished their sepulchres. Such people existed in large numbers, and were to be found listening and worshipping in every synagogue, and indeed provided Paul with his most fruitful field for evangelization. c. 4. sect. Jesus' charge is that the history of Israel is the history of the murder of the men of God. True teaching, Jesus says, manifests itself at two levels. The gold? These ought ye to have done, &c.] Our Lord did not object to their paying tithe even of common pot-herbs - this did not affect the spirit of religion but while they did this and such like, to the utter neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, they showed that they had no religion, and knew nothing of its nature. "Where is the receiver?" How little it was in her eyes, how precious in His, spent on one whom she loved, for whom she felt the impending danger; for love is quick to feel, and feels more truly than man's most sharpened prudence. They are like little leather boxes, strapped one on the wrist and one on the forehead. but inside they are full of [just skeletons] dead men's bones, and all of the putrefying rotten flesh. These regulations seem to us fantastic, and yet these are the regulations the Pharisees meticulously kept. So now Jesus was condemned, not for their testimony, but for His own. The successors of those that of old suffered for God are those who suffer now; the heirs of their persecutors may build them sepulchres, erect statues, cast monumental brasses, pay them any conceivable honour. The little donkeys, they really load those little donkeys down. Wherefore ye testify against yourselves By your smooth words as well as devilish actions: that ye are the genuine sons of them who killed the prophets of their own times, while they professed the utmost veneration for those of past ages. "Lord, that our eyes should be opened." In fact, they call them the "tombs of the prophets". ", Matthew 23:13-26 form the most terrible and the most sustained denunciation in the New Testament. The Jews had a deep and lasting sense of the continuity of their religion; and we can see best what the Pharisees and Scribes stood for by seeing where they came into the scheme of Jewish religion. There is a common strong emphasis in both addresses on the leaders failure to understand and submit to the Scriptures. They loved the upper places in the feast and all. They say unto Him, "He will miserably destroy these wicked men, and let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.". The allusion is to the ceremonial practice of carefully straining out ones beverages before drinking in case an unclean insect has fallen into it. Today, any good housekeeper would throw a glass of milk in the garbage if it had a gnat in it; but in those days, such things as germs were unknown. Note, Weak heads commonly admire those shows and ceremonies which wise men (however for public ends they countenance them) cannot but think meanly of. And you say, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it's nothing; but whosoever swears by the gift that is upon the altar, he is guilty. You yourselves are not going into it; nor do you allow those who are trying to get into it to enter it. [2.] As Shakespeare had it, a man may smile and smile and be a villain. Now all is changed through His death, which the disciples so little estimated, the bare shadow of which, however, was enough to overwhelm them all, and silence every confession of their faith. And they said, "Well, the one that went out." Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society. "All the nations" or Gentiles are in question: there can be no mistake as to this. When there is no longer the testimony of God that pierces the obdurate heart, when they who render it are no longer there, the names of these departed saints or prophets become a means of gaining religious reputation for themselves. Demai, c. 2. sect. It rather alludes to the custom of whitening the sepulchres of eminent persons, for the beautifying of them. You're all brothers. And is that sin even yet gone from the world, when it would still be insisted in certain quarters that a man must leave one Church and become a member of another before he can be allowed a place at the Table of the Lord? Or these little tassels that they would put on their garments, and again they were to be more or less symbols. To Jesus these Scribes and Pharisees were men who, under a mask of elaborate godliness, concealed hearts in which the most godless feelings and emotions held sway. Present application of the truth is lacking, the sword of the Spirit is no longer in the hands of those who wielded it so well To honour those who have passed away is the cheapest means, on the contrary, for acquiring credit for the men of this generation. You must not be called Rabbi; for you have only one teacher, and you are all brothers. The pretences of religion, with which hypocrites disguise or excuse their sin now, will aggravate their condemnation shortly. Note, (1.) For him who most of all presumed on the strength of his love, it was enough to prove how little he yet knew of the reality of death, spite of his too ready boasts. Christ himself continued all night in prayer to God, and we are commanded to pray without ceasing too soon; where there are many sins to be confessed, and many wants to pray for the supply of, and many mercies to give thanks for, there is occasion for long prayers. An oath is an appeal to God, to his omniscience and justice; and to make this appeal to any creature is to put that creature in the place of God. No matter how many plants my wife and I remove, there are always more. To the Sadducee there was no part of Scripture possessed of such authority as the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses. They loved the uppermost rooms at the feast, and the chief seats in the synagogue ( Matthew 23:6 ). Giving perfectionistic attention to the details while neglecting true service to God and our fellow man will only result in our condemnation as one who strains out the gnats and swallows the camel. The idea was that, if God's name was actually used, then God was introduced as a partner into the transaction, and to break the oath was not only to break faith with men but to insult God. Tithe is tenth; also in older English, tethe, as tethe hest, the tenth commandment. This judgment constitutes the center of the chiasm and the most important failure of the scribes and Pharisees. Matthew's gospel twenty-three. The honour they paid those who had suffered in times past was the proof that they succeeded not them but their enemies, the true legitimate successors of those that slew the friends of God. I am seeking to impress people. Ye blind guides that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel! His advent in the clouds of heaven will be to take the throne, not of Israel only, but of all people, nations, and languages. But He adds more than this. They were hypocrites. But the case is bad, when the leaders of the people cause them to err,Isaiah 9:16. He stands with outstretched hands of appeal, an appeal which men have the awful responsibility of being able to accept or to refuse. Sheviith, c. 7. sect. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? Let me observe, however, that there is a clause in Matthew 25:13 which has a little falsified the application. Jesus contrasted this straining of such a thing as a gnat out of a glass of water with swallowing a camel! Their fathers killed the witnesses of God who, while living, condemned them; they, the sons, only built to their memory when there was no longer a present testimony to their conscience, and their sepulchral honours would cast a halo around themselves. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! Christ therefore affirms that he has no intention to lessen the authority even of the smallest commandments, though he recommends and demands due order in keeping the Law. Now a camel is also an unclean beast. [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . 51. The suitability of such instruction to this gospel of Matthew is also obvious, as indeed here only it is found. Jesus gave two specific reasons for his condemnation of the scribes. Now it is interesting as you go over to the Holy land and see the laborers and the heavy burdens that they bind, and lay on these laborers' shoulders, it's unreal. Matthew 23:23 Matthew 23:22 Matthew 23 Matthew 23:24 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Maimon. It's what's within that the Lord is really counting and looking at. 7. Matthew 23:1 Matthew 23:2 Matthew 23:3 Matthew 23:4 Matthew 23:5 Matthew 23:6 Matthew 23:7 Matthew 23:8 Matthew 23:9 Matthew 23:10 Matthew 23:11 Matthew 23:12 Matthew 23:13 You will but fill up the measure of guilt, which will then overflow in a deluge of wrath." When all other graves are opened, these whited sepulchres will be looked into, and the dead men's bones, and all the uncleanness, shall be brought out, and be spread before all the host of heaven,Jeremiah 8:1; Jeremiah 8:2. The doom passed upon them for this; Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. They were fair without, like sepulchres, which appear beautiful outward. Jerusalem had killed the prophets and stoned the messengers of God; yet God did not cast her off; and in the end he sent his Son. Observe here. There it is rather the idea of grace that began with one sending out to those invited, and a very full exposure of their excuses in a moral point of view, followed by the second mission to the streets and lanes of the city, for the poor, maimed, halt, and blind; and finally, to the highways and hedges, compelling them to come in that the house might be filled. But their whole outlook on religion had one fundamental effect. [1.] And then when Jesus, crying with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, that ensued which particularly would strike the heart of the Jew. God, therefore, must raise again the fathers in order to fulfil His promise to them; for they certainly never got the promises in this life. Besides, Matthew adds various particulars peculiar to himself, and quite falling in with the Spirit's desire by him; as we find also in Luke his own characteristics. In view of that the fine art of evasion is one to which a Christian should be foreign. Let it suffice us from the word of wisdom to show the folly of sinful opinions and practices: but, for the fastening of the character upon particular persons, leave that to Christ, who knows what is in man, and has forbidden us to say, Thou fool. The distinction of the commandments of the law into lighter and heavier, or weightier, to which Christ here refers, is frequent with the Jews. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests." Note, The deceitfulness of sinners' hearts appears very much in this, that, while they go down the stream of the sins of their own day, they fancy they should have swum against the stream of the sins of the former days; that, if they had had other people's opportunities, they should have improved them more faithfully; if they had been in other people's temptations, they should have resisted them more vigorously; when yet they improve not the opportunities they have, nor resist the temptations they are in.
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