CX.
JESUS' LAST PUBLIC DISCOURSE. DENUNCIATION
OF SCRIBES AND PHARISEES.
(In the court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.)
aMATT. XXIII. 1-39; bMARK
XII. 38-40; cLUKE XX. 45-47.
a1 Then spake Jesus
b38 And in his teaching cin the hearing of all the
people he said unto athe multitudes, and to his disciples
[he spoke in the most public manner],
2 saying, c46 Beware of the scribes, aThe
scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat:
3 all things whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but
do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. [As teachers
of the law of Moses the scribes and Pharisees were the only religious guides
whom the people had, so they were obliged to follow them as expounders
of that law, but they were no means to look to them as living exemplification
of that law.] 4 Yea, they bind heavy
burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but
they themselves will not move them with their fingers. [The law itself
was a heavy yoke (Acts xv. 10), but these teachers added to the burden
of it a vast volume of traditions, but they themselves did not keep these
traditions, excusing themselves by inventing subtle distinctions like those
in reference to the Corban (Matt. xv. 4-6) and to oaths (Matt. xv. 16-22).
See p. 314.]
5 All their works they do to be seen of men [what laws and traditions
they did keep were not kept privately and sincerely, but publicly that
they might secure to themselves a reputation for [606] sanctity]:
for they make broad their phylacteries [Literally, preservatives
or remembrances. They were probably so called because they were
designed to aid the wearer in remembering his obligations to the law. They
were strips of parchment on which were written four passages of the law,
viz.: Ex. xiii. 3-10; 11-16; Deut. vi. 4-9; xi. 13-21. These were enclosed
in a leather case and were fastened to the forehead and left arm. The authority
for wearing them was purely traditional, and the practice seems to have
arisen from a literal interpretation of Ex. xiii. 9, 16; Deut. vi. 8; xi.
18. The Pharisees made the leather case large, that their righteousness
might be more conspicuous], and enlarge the borders of their
garments [These were the fringes mentioned in Num. xv. 38, 39.
But the Pharisees offended again, even in their obedience, by wearing broader
fringes than other people, that they might appear more religious],
cwho desire to walk in long robes [This robe was a professional
dress, as marked as that worn by priests and kings. It showed that its
wearer was professionally religious], a6
and love the chief places at feasts [see p.
493],and chief seats in the synagogues,
7 and clove athe salutations in the marketplaces
[see p. 313], and
to be called of men, Rabbi. [The term "Rabbi" means master or teacher.]
c47 who {b40 they that} devour widows' houses, and
for a pretense make long prayers; these shall receive greater condemnation.
[It is doubtful in what way the Pharisees devoured widows' houses, or property.
Godet suggests that they extorted presents under pretense of interceding
for them in their prayers, and Lightfoot thinks that they got the goods
of widows "by subtle attractives," and by the management of their estates
as judges, and as men acquainted with the law and therefore fit to administer
estates. According to the later rabbinical teaching it is urged that a
rabbi should pray one hour, and that he should meditate for an hour before
and an hour after prayer. On days when they carried out this rule and the
other rule which required three seasons of prayer a day, they would spend
nine hours in prayer. But this was no doubt one [607] of
the cases where they said and did not. For thus making their religion a
cloak for their vices they would be more severely punished. As to the particular
blackness of the crime of robbing widows, see Ex. xxii. 22-24; Deut. xxvii.
19.] a8 But be not ye called
Rabbi: for one is your teacher [Christ], and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, even
he who is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye
called masters: for one is your Master, even the Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. [See pp.
557, 558.] 12 And whosoever shall
exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall
be exalted. [See pp. 431,
494, 537.
Thus Jesus reproves those who make religion a matter of praise-seeking
ostentation, whether they do so by seeking position, or by peculiarity
of dress, or by assuming or accepting titles of honor or distinction. This
sin of ostentation was the first enumerated sin of the Pharisees.]
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up
the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither
suffer ye them that are entering in to enter. [Our Lord's language
is figurative and presents the kingdom of God as a house around the door
of which the Pharisees have gathered, not entering in themselves, and blocking
the way against those who would enter. This they did by their opposition
to Jesus. For a similar charge see p.
315.] 15 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte;
and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves.
[Proselytes here meant are not those converted from heathenism to worship
God, but Jews converted to Phariseeism. These become worse than their instructors,
because each generation drifted farther from the law and became more zealously
and completely devoted to the traditions.]
16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides [Jesus above denounced them for their
hypocrisy, but this woe is pronounced upon them for their [608] ignorance
and folly], that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it
is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is
a debtor. [The word "debtor" is here meant to describe one who owes
it to himself and to God to keep his oath. The Pharisees graduated oaths
according to their own foolish conceptions of the sanctity of the object
invoked, so that if the object by which a man swore was not sacred enough,
he was not forsworn if he did not keep his oath. Esteeming the gold of
the temple more sacred than the temple itself, they held that an oath by
the former was binding while an oath by the latter was not. The gold meant
is probably the golden ornaments on the temple.]
17 Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that
hath sanctified the gold? 18 And, Whosoever
shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the
gift that is upon it, he is a debtor.
19 Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth
the gift? 20 He therefore that sweareth
by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And he that sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that
dwelleth therein. 22 And he that sweareth
by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
[Our Lord designed to teach that all oaths were binding. See p.
243.] 23 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and
have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy,
and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other
undone. [See p. 313. The
anise was used for medical purposes and also for culinary seasoning, so
that Pliny says "the kitchen can not be without it." Cummin also was a
condiment and a medicine, the bruised seed mixed with wine being used as
a styptic, especially after circumcision. It was also used as an ingredient
for salves and plasters such as were applied to the ulcers of cattle produced
from the bites, grubs, etc., of insects.]
24 Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and [609] swallow
the camel! [A proverbial expression, indicating care for little faults
and a corresponding unconcern for big ones.]
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the
outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion
and excess. [Jesus here compares the Pharisees to a woman who washes
the outside of her dishes and leaves the inside unclean. But in describing
that inner uncleanness he passes from the figure to the reality, and specifies
that it consists of extortion and self-indulgence. They made their outside
clean by traditionary ablutions. See pp.
393, 394.] 26 Thou blind Pharisee,
cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside
thereof may become clean also. [Here again the literal peeps through
the figurative: a pure inner life makes clean outward conduct.]
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto
whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full
of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye
are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. [Luke records Jesus as having taught
this lesson by an exactly opposite figure. See p.
313. There men were contaminated by the touch of a grave because there
was nothing outside to notify them of its presence. Here men are contaminated
by the same thing because the outside is rendered so white and beautiful
that men are deceived into thinking that the inside is harmless.]
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres
of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous,
30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have
been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew
the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the
measure of your fathers. [See p.
314.] 33 Ye serpents, ye offspring
of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? [See p.
73.] 34 Therefore, behold, I send
unto you [610] prophets, and wise men,
and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall
ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:
35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from
the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah,
whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
[See pp. 314, 315.]
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them
that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. [See pp.
491, 492.]
[FFG 606-611]
