Matthew 23

Chap. XXIII. Ver. 1—22. Jesus commends the teaching of the Pharisees, but severely censures their conduct.—The Scribes and Pharisees, while they sat in the seat of Moses,—that is, while they delivered the precepts of his law, were entitled to reverence and respect; and whatever they taught under that authority, commanded obedience; but it was a terrible drawback upon their character, when our Lord added, “Do not after their works; for they say, and do not.” Let ministers of every denomination consider this. If they wish to obtain respect, let them, above all things, study moral consistency; that is, practise what they teach: for neither learning or eloquence on the one hand, nor rank or riches on the other, will balance the want of this.

So Pope says, “Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; The rest is all but leather, or prunello.” But even this respectability should not be the ultimate object of the preacher: he “must give an account of himself to God.” And at the judgment-seat of Christ, it will not do for him to plead popularity among the multitude, or high promotion in the church: for many in that day will say, “Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils?” to whom he will certainly reply, “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” ((Matthew 7:22-23).) But what did the Scribes and Pharisees? They “bound heavy burdens”—namely, of rites and ceremonies, and voluntary offerings—“upon the shoulders of men,” which they contrived themselves to evade, without feeling any of the burden.

They made a great parade of outward religion, “to be seen of men,” without a particle of spiritual religion in their hearts. They loved the chief places at feasts and in their synagogues, greetings in the markets, and other places of public concourse, and the high sounding titles of Rabbi, Father, and Master, to distinguish them from other men. Such men only act a character to which they have no claim; they are literally hypocrites. Our Lord’s precepts must not, however, be taken too rigidly. It is the spirit, and not the letter of them, to which we must adhere. The doctrine of this chapter is humility. We may be called to fulfil all the duties of father, master, and Rabbi, or teacher, without a vain-glorious parade of such titles; nor do we consider the titles themselves improper, when not assumed without due authority.

Some persons, indeed, have hence contended against the use of former degrees: and nothing can be more contemptible than the obtaining of such distinctions by improper means; yet when acquired in a course of liberal education, we consider them neither useless nor improper. If the degree of Doctor in Divinity be taken only as a teacher of Scripture doctrines, it is well; but Christ is the only Master, the only Rabbi, the only Doctor, to whom we may listen on his own authority. But we have still greater charges against these hypocrites. They assume the keys of the kingdom of heaven, but they lock the door against mankind; and, instead of promoting the knowledge of truth and righteousness, they neither enter in themselves, nor suffer others.

They “devour widows’ houses;” or, according to the English proverb, when they once get into a widow’s house, they will “eat her out of house and home,” covering their real designs with long and florid prayers; and by these pretences of piety, only increase their condemnation. They put on zeal, but it was only as a cloak to their crimes; and when they made a proselyte to their corrupt system of Judaism, they led him into all their follies and their vices, and made him, if possible, even worse than themselves. They introduced a system of shuffling and evasion into their religion even into their oaths, and trifled with the sacred name and character of God! This was truly awful; but we must not quit this topic without confessing that we verily believe the trade of swearing, or evasive perjury, is carried to a greater length in England than ever it was in Judea.

We will briefly refer to three classes of oaths. 1. Judicial oaths: it is too well known, that but a few years ago, there were many persons who made a livelihood in the purlieus of our (English) courts of judicature, by being always ready to swear to any thing that might be required. Some of our judges have, indeed, laudably attempted to correct this evil; but we fear that their success hitherto has been very partial; we hope, however, that they will persevere. 2. Customary (or custom-house) oaths, which are so numerous and complicated, that it is to be feared the greater part of those who take them, pay little regard to their contents. The writer was much shocked, some years since, with being informed by one of the partners in a respectable wholesale house in the city, that they kept a simple, half-witted man, on purpose to go through this drudgery of swearing, which none of their better informed servants would undertake!

And, 3dly, Electioneering oaths, which many, both candidates and electors, seem to suppose merely matters of course, and that at such times all moral obligations are suspended. And after the election is closed, it is not at all unnatural for members who have bought their seats, to suppose they have a right to sell their votes. Let it not be thought the writer is wandering from the province of an expositor, in feebly attempting to enforce a topic on which, not only the Old Testament prophets repeatedly insisted, but likewise our Lord himself. It is a dangerous error to consider any point of moral truth inculcated by our Saviour as below the dignity of a Christian teacher; yet, at the same time, preachers should be very careful not to set the law in the place of the gospel.

Ver. 23—39. Farther proofs of Pharisaical hypocrisy; and warnings respecting the destruction of Jerusalem.—Nothing can be more just than the remark often made, that those who are most minute and exact in ritual observances, are at the same time often the most negligent in the weightier matters of God’s law. This is instanced in the case of the Pharisees, who while they were very exact in tithing their medicinal herbs, were very deficient in the moral virtues of “justice, mercy, and fidelity.” Again, our Lord represents these hypocrites as persons very particular in exterior cleanliness, but equally negligent of moral purity; within, “full of extortion and excess.” Thirdly, he resembles them to whited sepulchres, clean and white without, but internally “full of rottenness and dead men’s bones;” like the tombs of the prophets whom their fathers had slain, and which they builded and embellished. “Hypocrisy,” says Mr. J. P. Robinson, “is well characterized by its affected veneration for virtuous predecessors. Dion says, the emperor Caracalla, one of the worst of men, hated good men as long as they lived, and honoured them after they were dead. Herod, who murdered Aristobulus for his virtues, paid him the highest funeral honours after his death. Thus the Jews dealt with the prophets; and thus papists erect statues of the apostles, procure fine pictures of Jesus Christ and his renowned disciples, and cherish the same bloody dispositions that brought them all to the grave.” (Claude.) Some difficulty has been felt in the words, (verse 32,) “Fill ye up the measure of your fathers.”

The expression is evidently elliptical, and we think, with Dr. Campbell, spoken ironically; as our Lord said to the Pharisees in another instance, “Full well (do) ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own traditions!” ((Mark 7:9).) So here it is as if our Lord had said, “Go on in this your fatal career of sin, till you fill up the measure of your iniquities, as did the Canaanites of old, ((Genesis 15:16),) and bring upon yourselves, as they did, the full vengeance of the Almighty, which shall certainly fall on this generation!” The heart of Jesus was, however, so far from being insensible of these calamities, that we find him immediately lamenting over the woes he had predicted.

“O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” We shall have a farther occasion to consider these words more fully; (on (Luke 19:41-42);) at present we shall conclude this section with a short practical remark from the excellent Howe: “The general intention of this lamentation, though directly applied to a community, is equally applicable to persons living under the gospel; or to whom the ordinary means of their conversion and salvation are vouchsafed, but are neglected by them, and forfeited. We may, therefore, thus sum up the meaning of these words: that it is, in itself, a thing very lamentable,….

When such as, living under the gospel,…. have had an opportunity of knowing the things belonging to their peace, (but) have so lost the opportunity, that the things of their peace are now hidden from their eyes!” and that for ever!

Notes on the verses

Ver. 31. Have ye not read? &c.—Warburton maintained, that the doctrine of a future state was revealed to Abraham, Moses, &c., and a few more inspired men under the Old Testament, but not received by the pious Jews in general. This is sufficiently refuted by our Lord.

Ver. 34. They were gathered together.—Campbell, “Flocked about him.”

Ver. 35. Tempting him—Means to entrap, to seduce, as illustrated in Ma.

Ver. 40. On these two commandments hang.—Doddridge, “Depend.” So 2 ag oe er.

42. What think ye of Christ?—Or bys ist,” siah.—Doddridge, Campbell ye of Or, of “The Christ,” or Messiah.

Ver. 43. David in spirit.—Ma. xii. 36, “By the Holy Ghost.”

Ver. 44. The Lord said.—[This passage is expressly referred to the Messiah by several of the Jews.

Rabbi Joden says, “In the world to come, the Holy Blessed God shall cause the king Messiah to sit at his right hand, as it is written, The Lord said to my Lord,” &c. So Saadias Gaon, on (Daniel 7:13). says, This is Messiah our righteousness, as it is written, The Lord said to my Lord,” &c.]—Bagster.

CHAP. XXIII. Ver. 2. Sit in Moses’ seat.—They were accustomed to teach sitting; and considering themselves as the successors, or representatives of Moses, wished to be so considered by the people.

Ver. 3, Observe and do—That is, so far as the God’s word. Doddridge justly observes, that “if this limitation be not supposed, this passage will be inconsistent with all those in which Jesus condemns the doctrines of the scribes and Pharisees.”

Ver. 5. Phylacteries.—“These were four sections of the law, written on parchments, folded up in the skin of a clean beast, and tied to the head and hands. The four sections were the following: (Exodus 13:1-10); Ditto, 11—16; (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), and xi. 13—21. Those that were for the head, were written on four pieces of skin, rolled up separately, and fastened with strings to the crown of the head, towards the face. Those that were for the hands, were written in four columns on one parchment, which, being rolled up, was fastened to the inside of the left arm, between the shoulder and the elbow, that it might be over against the heart. The Jews call them Tephillin. The Greek tei Phylacteries, means preservatives; namely, against evil spirits.”—The borders, &c.—Doddridge, “Fringes.” See note, (Matthew 5:20).

Ver. 6. Uppermost rooms.—Doddridge and Campbell, “Places.”

Ver. 7. Rabbi, Rabbi—That is, “great,” merely, in respect of learning; and is equivalent to our term Doctor, and was conferred with no less ceremony, on which occasion they were presented with a table-book and a key; the latter, implying their ability to open the mysteries of the law, was afterwards worn as a badge of honour. Orient. Lit. No. 1220. Compare (Matthew 16:19).

Ver. 8. One is your master—Greek, Kuthegetes, teacher, or guide. Campbell says, a great number of MSS. here read Didascalos; the Greek term usually answering to Rabbi. This is also sanctioned by the Syriac interpreter, by Origen and Chrysostom, and by many modern critics.

He adds, “The internal reduce the authority of evidence is entirely in favour of this reading.”

Ver. 12. Whosoever shall exalt himself.—Doddridge remarks, “No one sentence of our Lord’s is so frequently repeated as this, which occurs at least ten times in the Evangelists.”

Ver. 13. Hypocrites.—Dr. More observes, that “this word, in its most exact application, signifies players, who, according to the unnatural custom of the ancients, acted a part under a mask.”

Ver. 14. The greater damnation.—Campbell, “Punishment.” So Booth-Fen.

Ver. 15. Ye compass sea and land.—The zeal of the Jews in making proselytes, even at Rome, was so remarkable, that it became almost proverbial. See Orient. Cust. No. 1207.

Ver. 17. It is nothing—That is, “it has not the power of binding.” Campbell. So in ver. 18.

Ver. 17. Ye fools and blind.—See Fen v.33—37, and notes. Our Lord here subjoins a specimen of the various ridiculous subterfuges adopted by these men to cheat their consciences, and evade the guilt of perjury.

Ver. 23. Ye pay tithe of mint and anise.—Campbell, “dill,” a medicinal herb resembling fennel. But Doddridge and others retain the term anise, which is said to be a native of Tartary, though brought to us from the Philippine islands; it resembles fennel, and is sometimes called the Chinese fennel, and used by them in the preparation of their tea. With us it is only used medicinally.—And cummin.—This was another medicinal plant, cultivated by the Jews, (see (Isaiah 28:25, 27),) and very similar to the preceding. See Dr. Harris’s Nat. Hist. of the Bible.—Faith.—Rather “fidelity.” The word (pistis) Doddridge remarks, “has undoubtedly this signification in many places;” he refers to (Titus 2:10). (Galatians 5:22). (Romans 3:3).

Ver. 24. Strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.—Doddridge, “Strain out a gnat, and swallow down a camel;” i.e. you affect to scruple little things, and disregard those of the greatest moment. “In those hot countries, gnats were apt to fall into wine, if it were not carefully covered; and passing liquor through a strainer, that no gnat, nor part of one, might remain, grew into a proverb for exactness about little matters.” Orient. Cust. No. 412.

Ver. 25. They are full—That is, the cup and platter, the emblems of their own characters.—Excess.—Many MS. versions read (adikios) injustice.

Ver. 27. Whited sepulchres.—Harmer says, the Turks whitewash their sepulchres against the feast of Ramadan; perhaps the Jews might do the same against the passover. The primary object with the latter is supposed to be, to prevent ceremonial defilement; afterwards, probably, the object was embellishment. See ver. 29. According to Dr. Shavo, the Py is so continued.

Ver. 31. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that, &c.—Doddridge, So that ye bear witness to yourselves, that you are the sons of those that murdered the prophets.”

Ver. 32. Fill ye up then, &c.—Add ye to their perversity and guilt, perpetuate the crimes that they have left undone.—Rob. Wahl.

Ver. 33. Ye serpents.—See (Matthew 3:7).—How can ye escape the damnation (Campbell, “punishment”) of hell.—(Gr. Gehenna.) See (Matthew 25:41).

Ver. 34. Behold, I send.—This refers to the ministers and writers of the New Testament, who were “scribes well instructed.” (Matthew 13:52).

Ver. 35. Son of Barachias.—We have no hesitation in referring this to Zacharias, son of Jehoiada, mentioned (Matthew 24:20-21), whose father might possibly have two names, as was not uncommon.

Ver. 39. Till ye shall say—That is, until ye are ready to join in those Hosannas which, but a few days since, ye were so much offended.

See ch.