Matthew 23

—for a pretence make long prayer:] Use long prayers for a disguise: their true motive was avarice, devotion was only their mask. Dr. Campbell. They sometimes continued three hours in prayer, and perhaps pretended that their prayers could avail to procure favours for others, and under this pretence received gifts and presents. Dr. Whitby.

Matthew 23:2

2. There shall not be left here one stone &c.] It appears from Josephus, that there was scarcely any thing more remarkable in this celebrated temple, than the stupendous size of the stones of which it was constructed. In the superstructure there were stones of the whitest marble, upwards of sixty-seven feet long, more than seven feet high, and nine broad. And in the accounts of St. Mark and St. Luke it is mentioned, that the disciples particularly pointed out to Him “the goodly stones.” This circumstance gives peculiar force to our Saviour’s prediction here, which was fulfilled almost in a literal sense. For when the Romans had taken Jerusalem, Titus ordered his soldiers to dig up the foundations both of the city and of the temple. The Jewish writers themselves acknowledge that Terentius Rufus, who was left to command the army, tore up with a ploughshare the foundations of the temple, hereby fulfilling the prophecy of Micah, chap. iii. 12. And, in confirmation of this remarkable circumstance, Eusebius assures us, that the temple was ploughed up by the Romans, and that he himself saw it lying in ruins. Bp. Porteus.

Respecting this prophecy of our Saviour, fulfilled in so literal and remarkable a manner, it may be observed, that St. Matthew and St. Mark were certainly deceased before the fulfilment of it took place, and that St. Luke was probably so likewise; and St. John, who survived the destruction of the city, does not notice the prediction. So that there can be no possible suspicion of the prophecy having been contrived after the event. Annotations on the Gospels.

Matthew 23:3

3.—of thy coming.] To destroy the Jewish state, as had just been foretold. “And of the end of the world!” Rather “of the end of the age!” that is, of the age when the Jewish Church and state were to last. Bp. Pearce.

On comparing together the parallel passages in St. Mark and St. Luke, it appears that the real questions here asked by the disciples are, at what time the predicted destruction of Jerusalem was to take place, and what were the signs that would precede it. Bp. Porteus.

Matthew 23:5

5. — make broad their phylacteries.] Make broad, that is, wear them larger than other men. Dr. S. Clarke. The Jewish superstition of wearing what were called phylacteries, took its rise from the words at Exod. xiii. 9. Phylactery is a word derived from the Greek, and properly signifies a preservative, such as the Pagans carried about them, to preserve them from evils, diseases, and dangers. The Jewish phylacteries were little boxes or rolls of parchment, in which were written certain words of the law. These they wore on their foreheads, or on the wrist of the left arm. The passages written on them were Exod. xiii. 2 — 10, 11—16. Deut. vi. 4—9, xi. 13—21. Bp. Patrick, Calmet.

— the borders] These are the fringes which the Jews were commanded to wear (Numb. xv. 38) as a mark and memorial of their being God’s peculiar people, to be distinguished from other nations. These the Pharisees enlarged for purposes of vanity and ostentation. Dr. Hammond.

5.—saying, I am Christ:] Meaning, that many should arise and delude the people with the hopes of delivering them from their miseries; which was what the Jews expected from their Messiah, as appears from Luke xxiv. 31. Of this sort was Theudas, mentioned by Josephus, in the time when Fadus was procurator of Judea. This impostor persuaded the multitude to follow him to the river Jordan, and pretended that he

Matthew 23:6

6. — the uppermost rooms] That is, the uppermost places. At the feasts of the ancients, each couch held three persons; and it was esteemed the greatest honour for the guest to be placed on the same couch with the master of the house. Bp. Pearce.

Our Saviour displayed the same preference for the meek and humble character, which was remarked in chap. v. 38, (see note there,) in His repeated correction of the ambition of His disciples; His frequent admonitions, that greatness was to consist in humility; His censure of that love of distinction, and greediness of superiority, which the chief persons amongst His countrymen were wont to display, ver. 5—8. Archdeacon Paley.

— the chief seats in the synagogues.] According to the most ancient custom of the Jews, those persons who held no office in the synagogues, used to sit according to the distinctions of age. But, afterwards, it became the custom for those, who had the highest character for erudition, to sit in the places of greatest honour. To this custom allusion is made in this expression. Rosemiller.

Matthew 23:7

7. — Rabbi.] That is, My master, or teacher, John i. 38; xx. 16; a title which the scribes had at that time assumed. Bp. Pearce.

Matthew 23:8

8. But be not ye called Rabbi:] Let no man among you contend for superiority or precedence, for ye have one supreme Head, which is Christ. Dr. S. Clarke. Our Saviour does not here forbid the use of such titles of respect as properly belong to superior rank or natural relation; but He forbids His disciples on the one hand to usurp an undue authority over the conscience, or on the other to yield an implicit obedi-

Matthew 23:9

9. 10. And call no man your father &c.] The import of these words seems to be, that no man should be called “father upon earth,” so that we should yield an absolute subjection to his will and pleasure, or be absolutely swayed and governed by it; also that we should call no man guide or master upon earth, so as absolutely to submit ourselves, in the concernment of our eternal interests, to the conduct of his judgment, or give him dominion over our faith and conscience; Christ being the sole Guide and Teacher of His Church, commissioned by His Father to reveal His will, and teach us what is needful to be known, believed, or done, in order to salvation, and His Apostles being His ministers and ambassadors teaching in His name. Dr. Whitby. The general meaning is, Hearken to God and not to man, in cases where it is evident that God teaches and requires one thing, and man another. Be not overruled by the authority of natural and earthly fathers, nor of spiritual fathers, that is, pastors and teachers, nor of political fathers, that is, of rulers and magistrates. They are all to be obeyed, but with this exception, that they require nothing contrary to the will of God. In such cases, “call no man father upon earth,” says our Lord, “for One is your Father, which is in heaven;” and call no man master, “for One is your Master, even Christ.” Dr. Jortin.

It clearly appears that, in this passage, “calling any man father upon earth,” signifies paying to any earthly teacher not a due regard and attention, but that deference which the Scribes and Pharisees were reproved by our Saviour for unjustly claiming. And the deference which they claimed was, that men should follow them implicitly and ignorantly in the traditions which they taught. Dr. S. Clarke.

Matthew 23:12

12. And whosoever &c.] It is worthy of observation, that no one sentiment of our Lord’s is so frequently repeated as this, which occurs at least ten times in the Evangelists. Dr. Doddridge.

Matthew 23:13

13. — ye shut up the kingdom of heaven &c.] Ye obstruct the entrance into the kingdom of heaven by your example, pretending to be guides to others, and yourselves refusing to enter—by your doctrine in cavilling at My words—by your authority in persecuting those who embrace the Gospel. Dr. Whitby.

Matthew 23:14

14. — ye devour widows’ houses.] Ye break the moral and eternal law of God by your rapine and extortion, oppressing the widows and fatherless whom God hath commanded you to support, and think to hide your covetousness under the specious formality of long prayers and great strictness in the external parts of religion. Dr. S. Clarke.

Christ denounceth eight woes against the Pharisees for Anno DOMINI 33. widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Matthew 23:15

15.—ye compass sea and land &c.] Ye pretend great zeal to convert a stranger to your religion; but, when ye have so done, ye corrupt his natural notions of good and evil with false doctrines and vain schemes of religion, and make him much worse than he was before. Dr. S. Clarke. —the child of hell] A Hebrew expression for one worthy of hell. Beausolee.

Matthew 23:16

16.—which say, Whosoever &c.] It appears that the Pharisees, in their traditions, established those oaths only to be binding, which were sworn by God or something immediately consecrated to Him; and therefore did not maintain the obligation of oaths made by the temple or altar, which had only a general consecration, but of those made by particular oblations and gifts, devoted to God by the voluntary piety of men, such as the gold on the temple and the gift on the altar, to which they attached more peculiar sanctity. This our Saviour considers to be a pitiful deceit to frustrate the obligation of oaths. It is probable that, by increasing the presumed sanctity of the gifts offered in the temple, they had the object of making men more liberal in this way, and thus of deriving gain from their doctrine. Dr. Hammond.

Matthew 23:18

18.—he is guilty.] Rather, “he is bound” (as in the margin) to make the oath good. Bp. Pearce.

Matthew 23:23

23.—ye pay tithe &c.] Ye are superstitiously scrupulous and precise in things of smaller moment; but matters of great and eternal obligation, justice and equity, mercy and charity, faithfulness and truth towards God and men, ye wholly slight and neglect. Dr. S. Clarke. As if He had said, Ye ought to perform your duty, not only to God, but to your neighbour also, and to your neighbour for God’s sake: as ye pretend to worship and obey God, ye ought to be merciful, just, and faithful unto men. Here let us observe how He calls judgment, mercy, and faith, or fidelity, the weightier matters of the law; because, without them, whatever else we do will avail nothing in procuring our salvation, these being the great and necessary duties which God requires of us one towards another. Bp. Beveridge.

Matthew 23:24

24.—which strain at a gnat.] In the old English translation this is rendered “which strain out a gnat,” and this is more conformable to the sense of the passage. Allusion is made to the custom which prevailed all over the East, of passing their wine and other liquors through a strainer, that no gnats or flies might get into the cup. Bp. Pearce. The Jews reckoned flies among unclean animals, and on that account were particularly careful to strain their wine. Lamy. There is a modern Arabick proverb to this effect; He swallowed an elephant, but was strangled by a flea. Fragments to Calmet. The meaning is, Ye are superstitiously exact in small things, but negligent in those of greater importance. Bp. Mann.

Matthew 23:26

26.—cleanse first that which is within] Implying, that the cleansing of the heart is of infinitely greater importance; that, after all their washings, their hands will be still unclean in a moral sense, if they be covetous and unjust in their dealings; and the true way to make them, in a moral sense, clean, is, to employ them, in a natural sense, in works of charity and compassion. Bp. Mann.

Matthew 23:27

27.—ye are like unto whited sepulchres.] It was the custom of the Jews to whiten their sepulchres, both for Anno DOMINI 33.

Matthew 23:29

29.—because ye build the tombs &c.] While ye yourselves are no less wicked than those who anciently murdered God’s messengers and Prophets, ye pretend to have a great honour for the memory of these Prophets, and to testify your respect for the holy men of old, by building and adorning their tombs. Dr. S. Clarke.

—and garnish the sepulchres] Windus, speaking of persons reverenced as saints among the Mahometans, mentions, among other things, “after their death, some great man hears of their fame, and makes it an act of devotion to beautify their tombs.” Harmer.

Matthew 23:31

31.—ye be witnesses unto yourselves, &c.] Ye prove yourselves their genuine offspring, by being like unto them, and imitating their wickedness. Dr. S. Clarke.

Matthew 23:32

32. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.] The judgments which our Saviour denounces in this passage were temporal, such as were likely to reclaim the Jews, such as they had provoked God to send upon them, by not only imitating, but far exceeding and filling up the measure of their fathers’ iniquities, by withstanding a clearer light, crucifying the Son of God, and murdering those that bore testimony to His resurrection. Thus we should well observe, in vindication of the justice of Providence, that every man’s own sins are the true and proper cause of his own punishments. The sins of ancestors may be the occasion of God’s choosing to punish the descendants in this or that particular way; but it is because they themselves have deserved punishment from their offended Lord, that their parents’ sins, and their own repetition of them, may reasonably be

Matthew 23:34

34.—and some of them ye shall kill &c.] They fulfilled this prediction by stoning St. Stephen, Acts vii. 59; cutting off St. James with the sword, Acts xii. 2; scourging St. Peter and the other Apostles, Acts v; and persecuting St. Paul and St. Barnabas from city to city, Acts xiv. 5, 6. Dr. Whitby.

Matthew 23:35

35. That upon you may come &c.] That the punishment of all the blood shed in the land may come upon you, who take pleasure in the works of your fathers, and by the same bloody actions fill up the measure of their sins, by killing your Messiah, the Chief of all Prophets, and those Apostles whom He sent last of all to offer to you terms of pardon and salvation. Dr. Whitby.

Our Saviour seems to express, that the punishment of the Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem should be so horrible, as if God had once for all arraigned them of all the righteous blood that ever had been shed in the world, and brought the punishment of it upon them, though in truth the punishment did not exceed the desert of their own sins. Abp. Tillotson.

—Zacharias son of Barachias.] It has been the subject of various opinions, who is the Zacharias here mentioned. Zacharias, or Zechariah the Prophet, who wrote the book bearing his name, was the son of Barachias, or Berachiah, Zech. i. 1; and accordingly it is most obvious to suppose that he is the person here intended. But we have no account of his having been put to death in the manner here related. On the other hand, it is expressly mentioned of another Zacharias, that he was slain by the people, at the command of Josah, between the temple and the altar, 2 Chron. xxiv. 19—21. And he was the last of the Prophets whose death is mentioned in the Old Testament. Accordingly, many interpreters have considered him to be the person here designed. It is true that he is stated to be the son of Jehoads, not of Barachias; but against this objection it is alleged, that it was not unusual among the Jews for the same person to bear two names. Edit.

Matthew 23:37

37.—how often would I &c.] There is an expression similar to this at 2 Eadr. i. 30, also Ps. xci. 4. The meaning is, How many instances of the tenderest affec-

Anno DOMINI 33.

Matthew 23:38

38. Behold, your house &c.] Behold now the time of mercy is past; and the final desolation of the city and temple, with the terrible destruction of the Jewish people, is irreversibly decreed by God. Dr. S. Clarke.

Matthew 23:39

39.—Ye shall not see me henceforth.] The meaning is, Ye who have now with so much indignation heard the children and the people saluting me thus, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,” (chap. xxi. 9,) after a while shall lie under so great calamities for the punishment of your infidelity, that ye would be glad of a deliverer whom ye might hail with these same words. Dr. Whitby.

Chap. XXIV. This chapter contains one of the clearest and most important prophecies that is to be found in the sacred writings; that which our blessed Lord delivered respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, to which the whole of this chapter in its primary acceptation refers. At the same time it must be admitted, that the forms of expression, and the images employed, are for the most part applicable also to the day of judgment; and that an allusion to that great event runs through almost every part of the prophecy. It is by no means uncommon in the prophetic writings, that two subjects, a principal and a subordinate one, should be carried on together. In this manner our Saviour here seems to hold out the destruction of Jerusalem, which is His principal subject, as a type of the dissolution of the world, which is the under part of the representation. This general remark is a key to the whole prophecy, and will afford an easy solution to several difficulties that occur in it. Bp. Porteus.

Our blessed Saviour, as He was the great subject of prophecy, so was an illustrious Prophet Himself: as He excelled in all other spiritual gifts and graces, so was He eminent in this also; and gave ample proofs of His divine commission by His prophecies, as well as by His miracles. Bp. Newton.

Ver. 1.—to shew him the buildings of the temple.] That is, to draw His attention to the magnitude, the