Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
Denunciation of the Sa ibes and Pharisees. MATTHEW XXIII. Woes Threatened against their Sin».
men : in Luke 11. 52 they are charged with what WM worse, taking away the key—" the key of knowledge"— which means, not the key to open knowledge, but knowledge as the only key to open heaven. A right knowledge of God's revealed word is eternal life, as our Lord says (John 17. 3 and 5. 39); but this they took away from the people, substituting for it their wretched traditions. H. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites > for ye devour widows' houses, &c.—Taking advantage of the helpless condition and confiding character of "widows," they contrived to ot:)tain possession of tlieir property, wliile by their "long prayers" they made them believe they were raised far above "filthy lucre." So much "the greater damnation" awaits them. Wliat a lifelike description of tlie Romish clergy, the true successors of those scribes ! 15. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte-from heathenism. We have evidence of this in Josephus. and when he is made, j't make him two-fold more the cliild of liell tlian yourselves—condemned, for the hypocrisy he would learn to practice, botli by the religion he left and that he embraced. 16. Woe unto you, ye blind guides—Striliing expression this of tlie ruinous effects of erroneous teaching. Our Lord, here and in some following verses, condemns the subtle distinctions they made as to the sanctity of oaths—distinctions invent.ed only to promote their own avaricious purposes, which say. Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing—he has incurred no debt—but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple—meaning not the gold that adorned the temple italone. But, as it l.s only an extended repetition of denunciations uttered not long before at the table of a Pharisee, and recorded by Luke (11.37-61), we may take both together in the exposition.
Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees (v. 1-36). The first twelve verses were addressed more Immediately to the disciples, the rest to the scribes and Pharisees. 1. Then spake .Testis to the mixltltude—
' to the multitudes' —anil to his disciples. 3. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees slt The Jewish teachers stood to read, but sai to expound the Scriptures, as will be seen by comparing Luke 4. 16 with t,'. 20—li» Moses' seat i. e., as interpreters of the law given by Moses. 3. All tlierefore—i. e., all which, as sitting in that seat and teaching out of that law— they bid you observe, that observe and do—The word "therefore" is thus, it will be seen, of great importance, as limiting those injunctions wliich He would have them obey to what they fetched from the law itself. In requiring implicit obedience to such injunctions. He would have them to recognize the authority with which they taught over and above the obligations of tlie law itself— an important principle truly ; but He who denounced the traditions of such teachers (ch. 15. 3) cannot have meant here to throw His shield over these. It is remarked by Webster and Wiikinson that tlie warning to beware of the scribes is given by Mark and Luke witliout any qualification : the charge to respect and o6ey them being reported by Matthew alone, indicating for whom this Gospel was especially written, and the writer's desire to conciliate the Jews. 4. For tliey bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders ; but tltey themselves will not move them—" touch them not" (Luke 11. 46)—with one of their fingers—referring not so much to the irksoraeness of the legal rites, though they were irksome enough (Acts 15. 10), as to the heartless rigour with which they were enforced, and by men of Shameless inconsistency. 5. But all their worUg tliey do for to be seen of men—Whatever good they do, or zeal they show, has but one motive—human applause, they make broad their phylacteries—strips of parchment with Scripture-texts on them, worn on the forehead, arm, and side, in time of prayer, and enlarge the borders of tlielr garments—fringes of their upper garments (Numbers 15. 37^0). 6. And love the uppermost rooms—The word "room" is now obsolete in the sense here intended. It should be ' the uppermost self, but the Corban, set apart for sacred uses (see on ch. 15. 5). he is a debtor I—i. e., it is no longer his own, even tliougli the necessities of the parent might require It. We know who the successors of these men are. but wliosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, lie is guilty—Ii, should have been rendered, " he is a debtor," as in v. 16. 19. Ye fools, and blind ! for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sancti Aeth the gift I—(See Exodus 29. .37.) aO-3!J. Whoso therefore sliall swear by the alt«r, &c.— See on eh. 5. 33-37. 33. Woe unto you, sci-lbes and Pharisees, hypocrites 5 for ye pay tithe of mint ajid anise rather, 'dill,' as in margin—and cummin—In Lnke(11.42) it is "and rue, and all manner of herbs." Tliey grounded this practice on Leviticus27. 30, which they interpreted rigidly. Our Lord purposely names the most trifling products of the earth as examples of what they punctiliously exacted the tenth of. and have omitted the weiglitier matters of the law, Judgment, mercy, and faith—In Luke place,' i. e., the place of highest honour, at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues. See on Luke 14. 7, 8. 7. And greetings In the markets, and to be called of men. Rabbi, Rabbi—It is the spirit rather-than the letter of this that must be pressed ; though tlie violation of tlie
(11. 42) it is "judgment, mercy, and the love of God"—the expression being probably varied by our Lord Himself on the two different occasions. In both His reference is to Micah 6. 6-8, where the prophet makes all acceptable religion to consist of three elements^" doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God;" which third element presupposes and comprehen<ls botl. the " faith"' of Matthew and the " love" of Luke. See on Mark letter, springing from spiritual pride, has done incalculable evil in the Church of Christ. The reiteration of the word " Rabbi" shows how it tickled the ear and fed the spiritual pride of those ecclesiastics. 8. But be not ye called Rabbi ; for one is your Master—
' your Guide, your Teacher.' 9. And call no man your father upon the earth : for one is your Fatlier, which Is iu heaven, Ac.—To construe these Injunctions into a condemnation of every title by which Church rulers may be distinguished from the flock which they rule, is virtually to condemn that rule itself; and accordingly the same persons doboth—but against the whole strain of the New Testamentand sound Christian Judgment. But when we have guarded ourselves against these extremes, let us see to it that we retain the full spirit of this warning against that itch for ecclesiastical superiority which has been the bane and the scandal of Christ's ministers in every age. (On the use of the word " Christ" here, see on ch. 1. 1.) 11. But lie tliat la greatest among you shall be your servant—This plainly means, 'shall show that he is so by becoming your servant;' as In cli.20. 27, compared with Mark 10. 44. Iti, And wliosocver sitall exnlt himself hall be abased—See on Luke 18. 14. What follows was addressed more immediately to the scribes and Pliarisees. 13. But woe unto you, scrllies and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for yc shut up the kingdom of heaven against men—Here they are charged with shu Uinij heaven against
12. 29, 32, 33. Tlie same tendency to merge greater duties in less besets even tlie children' of God; but it is the characteristic of hypocrites, tliese ought ye to have done, and not to leave tl>e otlier undone—There is no need for one set of duties to jostle out another; but it is to ho carefully noted that of the greater duties our Lord saj s, "Ye ought to have done" them, while of the lesser He merely says, "Ye ought not to leave them undone." 21. Ye l>llnd guides, which strain at a gnat—The proper rendering—as In the older Englisli translations, and perhaps our own as itcame from tlie translators" hands—evidently is, ' strain out.' It was the custom, says TketcH, of the stricter Jews to strain their wine, vinegar, nml other potables through linen or gauze, lest unawares they should drink down some little uncle.an insect therein and thus transgress (Leviticus 11. 20, 23, 41, 1'2)—just as the Buddhists do now in Ceylon and Hindostan—and to this custom of theirs our Lord Iiere refers, and sruilow n camel—the largest animal the Jews knew, as the "gnat" was the smallest; both were by tlio law unclean. JJO. within they are full of extortion—In Luke (11. 39) the