Matthew Chapter 23
1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,
2 saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses' seat.
3 All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don't do their works; for they say, and don't do.
4 For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.
5 But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments,
6 and love the place of honour at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,
7 the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi, Rabbi' by men.
8 But don't you be called 'Rabbi,' for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.
9 Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.
10 Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.
11 But he who is greatest amongst you will be your servant.
12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and as a pretence you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
14 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don't enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
16 "Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.'
17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
18 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?'
19 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
20 He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.
21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who has been living in it.
22 He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.
23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!
25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness.
26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.
27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,
30 and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'
31 Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgement of Gehenna?
34 Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;
35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.
36 Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.
37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!
38 Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' "
Footnotes
- Verse 5 (phylacteries)
- phylacteries (tefillin in Hebrew) are small leather pouches that some Jewish men wear on their forehead and arm in prayer. They are used to carry a small scroll with some Scripture in it. See Deuteronomy 6:8.
- Verse 5 (fringes)
- or, tassels
- Verse 14
- Some Greek texts reverse the order of verses 13 and 14, and some omit verse 13, numbering verse 14 as 13. Nestle-Aland/United Bible Societies critical text Greek New Testament omits verse 14.
- Verse 15 (Gehenna)
- or, Hell
- Verse 21 (been living)
- Nestle-Aland/United Bible Societies critical text Greek New Testament reads "lives"
- Verse 23 (cummin)
- cumin is an aromatic seed from Cuminum cyminum, resembling caraway in flavour and appearance. It is used as a spice.
- Verse 25 (unrighteousness)
- Textus Receptus reads "self-indulgence" instead of "unrighteousness"
- Verse 33 (Gehenna)
- or, Hell
- Verse 39
- Psalm 118:26
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Matthew Chapter 23 Guide
This chapter is one of the most sublime and awful in the whole inspired volume. It records the last words of Jesus to the crowds. He summed up, He reached His verdict, He pronounced sentence.
It is awful in its majesty, terrible in its resistless force. With what relentless persistence and unfailing accuracy He revealed the true condition of the leaders of the people, their occupation with externalities and pettiness, and their neglect of inward facts and weightier matters.
Here, indeed, if ever, we have "thoughts that breathe and words that burn." One can almost feel the withering force of His strong and mighty indignation - indignation directed, not against the people, but against their false guides. And yet behind it all is His heart, and the "woes" merge into a wail of agony, the cry of a mother over her lost child.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Matthew Chapter 23 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees. -- (1-12)
- Crimes of the Pharisees. -- (13-33)
- The guilt of Jerusalem. -- (34-39)
Verses 1-12
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylacteries. These were scrolls of paper or parchment, wherein were written four paragraphs of the law, to be worn on their foreheads and left arms, Ex 13:2-10; 13:11-16; De 6:4-9; 11:13-21. They made these phylacteries broad, that they might be thought more zealous for the law than others. God appointed the Jews to make fringes upon their garments, Nu 15:38, to remind them of their being a peculiar people; but the Pharisees made them larger than common, as if they were thereby more religious than others. Pride was the darling, reigning sin of the Pharisees, the sin that most easily beset them, and which our Lord Jesus takes all occasions to speak against. For him that is taught in the word to give respect to him that teaches, is commendable; but for him that teaches, to demand it, to be puffed up with it, is sinful. How much is all this against the spirit of Christianity! The consistent disciple of Christ is pained by being put into chief places. But who that looks around on the visible church, would think this was the spirit required? It is plain that some measure of this antichristian spirit prevails in every religious society, and in every one of our hearts.
Verses 13-33
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and the good of souls, but that they might have the credit and advantage of making converts. Gain being their godliness, by a thousand devices they made religion give way to their worldly interests. They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose in weightier matters. It is not the scrupling a little sin that Christ here reproves; if it be a sin, though but a gnat, it must be strained out; but the doing that, and then swallowing a camel, or, committing a greater sin. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. We are really, what we are inwardly. Outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if the heart and spirit be made new, there will be newness of life; here we must begin with ourselves. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or dressing up a dead body, only for show. The deceitfulness of sinners' hearts appears in that they go down the streams of the sins of their own day, while they fancy that they should have opposed the sins of former days. We sometimes think, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, that we should not have despised and rejected him, as men then did; yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is still no better treated. And it is just with God to give those up to their hearts' lusts, who obstinately persist in gratifying them. Christ gives men their true characters.
Verses 34-39
Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them safe, and nourishes them to eternal life. The present dispersion and unbelief of the Jews, and their future conversion to Christ, were here foretold. Jerusalem and her children had a large share of guilt, and their punishment has been signal. But ere long, deserved vengeance will fall on every church which is Christian in name only. In the mean time the Saviour stands ready to receive all who come to him. There is nothing between sinners and eternal happiness, but their proud and unbelieving unwillingness.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.