Matthew 23:1-4
THE INORDINATE AMBITION OF THE PHARISEES. Hypocrisy in high places:... [ Continue Reading ]
THE INORDINATE AMBITION OF THE PHARISEES. Hypocrisy in high places:... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SPAKE JESUS TO THE MULTITUDE AND TO HIS DISCIPLES,... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING, THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES' SEAT.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL, THEREFORE, WHATSOEVER THEY BID YOU OBSERVE, THAT OBSERVE AND DO; BUT DO YE NOT AFTER THEIR WORKS; FOR THEY SAY, AND DO NOT.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY BIND HEAVY BURDENS AND GRIEVOUS TO BE BORNE, AND LAY THEM ON MEN'S SHOULDERS; BUT THEY THEMSELVES WILL NOT MOVE THEM WITH ONE OF THEIR FINGERS. The evangelist has here recorded the most relentless, scathing denunciation from the mouth of Jesus of which we have knowledge. It is an arraignmen... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ALL THEIR WORKS THEY DO FOR TO BE SEEN OF MEN; THEY MAKE BROAD THEIR PHYLACTERIES, AND ENLARGE THE BORDERS OF THEIR GARMENTS,... [ Continue Reading ]
Their passion for honor from men:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LOVE THE UPPERMOST ROOMS AT FEASTS AND THE CHIEF SEATS IN THE SYNAGOGUES,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GREETINGS IN THE MARKETS, AND TO BE CALLED OF MEN, RABBI, RABBI. In public, where they were before the eyes of the people, the Pharisees and scribes were models of piety and virtue. Their works, all their public acts, were done with that object in mind, for they were actors that performed beauti... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT BE NOT YE CALLED RABBI; FOR ONE IS YOUR MASTER, EVEN CHRIST; AND ALL YE ARE BRETHREN.... [ Continue Reading ]
Humility required:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CALL NO MAN YOUR FATHER UPON THE EARTH; FOR ONE IS YOUR FATHER, WHICH IS IN HEAVEN.... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER BE YE CALLED MASTERS; FOR ONE IS YOUR MASTER, EVEN CHRIST.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE THAT IS GREATEST AMONG YOU SHALL BE YOUR SERVANT.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHOSOEVER SHALL EXALT HIMSELF SHALL BE ABASED; AND HE THAT SHALL HUMBLE HIMSELF SHALL BE EXALTED. With emphasis Christ singles out His disciples for this section of His discourse. They should stand out in shining contrast to such disagreeable craving for honor and cheap glory; they should not se... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WOES UPON THE HYPOCRISY OF THE PHARISEES. The first woe: BUT WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! FOR YE SHUT UP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AGAINST MEN; FOR YE NEITHER GO IN YOURSELVES, NEITHER SUFFER YE THEM THAT ARE ENTERING TO GO IN. This passage of denunciations does not represent a... [ Continue Reading ]
The second woe: WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! FOR YE DEVOUR WIDOWS' HOUSES, AND FOR A PRETENSE MAKE LONG PRAYER; THEREFORE YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GREATER DAMNATION. The Pharisees had little love for manual or mental labor, by which they might earn their living in an honest manner. A... [ Continue Reading ]
The third woe: WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! FOR YE COMPASS SEA AND LAND TO MAKE ONE PROSELYTE, AND WHEN HE IS MADE, YE MAKE HIM TWOFOLD MORE THE CHILD OF HELL THAN YOURSELVES. In their eagerness to make an impression upon the people, the scribes and Pharisees were zealously activ... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU, YE BLIND GUIDES, WHICH SAY, WHOSOEVER SHALL SWEAR BY THE TEMPLE, IT IS NOTHING; BUT WHOSOEVER SHALL SWEAR BY THE GOLD OF THE TEMPLE, HE IS A DEBTOR!... [ Continue Reading ]
The fourth woe:... [ Continue Reading ]
YE FOOLS AND BLIND! FOR WHETHER IS GREATER, THE GOLD, OR THE TEMPLE THAT SANCTIFIETH THE GOLD?... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, WHOSOEVER SHALL SWEAR BY THE ALTAR, IT IS NOTHING; BUT WHOSOEVER SWEARETH BY THE GIFT THAT IS UPON IT, HE IS GUILTY.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE FOOLS AND BLIND! FOR WHETHER IS GREATER, THE GIFT, OR THE ALTAR THAT SANCTIFIETH THE GIFT?... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSO THEREFORE SHALL SWEAR BY THE ALTAR SWEARETH BY IT AND BY ALL THINGS THEREON.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHOSO SHALL SWEAR BY THE TEMPLE SWEARETH BY IT, AND BY HIM THAT DWELLETH THEREIN.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE THAT SHALL SWEAR BY HEAVEN SWEARETH BY THE THRONE OF GOD, AND BY HIM THAT SITTETH THEREON. A typical example of the senseless distinctions that were allowed, because tradition had so spoken. Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees blind guides, such as undertook to lead other people, while they... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! FOR YE PAY TITHE OF MINT AND ANISE AND CUMIN, AND HAVE OMITTED THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF THE LAW, JUDGMENT, MERCY, AND FAITH; THESE OUGHT YE TO HAVE DONE, AND NOT TO LEAVE THE OTHER UNDONE.... [ Continue Reading ]
The fifth woe:... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Another instance of the religious observance of insignificant things. So strictly did they interpret the law of tithes, Leviticus 27:30, that they were very careful to include even the smallest herbs and vegetables of the garden, the swee... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! FOR YE MAKE CLEAN THE OUTSIDE OF THE CUP AND OF THE PLATTER, BUT WITHIN THEY ARE FULL OF EXTORTION AND EXCESS.... [ Continue Reading ]
The sixth woe:... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU BLIND PHARISEE, CLEANSE FIRST THAT WHICH IS WITHIN THE CUP AND PLATTER, THAT THE OUTSIDE OF THEM MAY BE CLEAN ALSO. A picture taken from the well-known strictness of the Pharisees in the matter of washings and purifications prescribed by law. In all such outward forms, also in the precepts conc... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! FOR YE ARE LIKE UNTO WHITED SEPULCHERS, WHICH INDEED APPEAR BEAUTIFUL OUTWARD, BUT ARE WITHIN FULL OF DEAD MEN'S BONES, AND OF ALL UNCLEANNESS.... [ Continue Reading ]
The seventh woe:... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SO YE ALSO OUTWARDLY APPEAR RIGHTEOUS UNTO MEN, BUT WITHIN YE ARE FULL OF HYPOCRISY AND INIQUITY. It was a custom among the Jews, derived by the Rabbis from Ezekiel 39:15, and said to extend back to the time of Joshua, that every year on the fifteenth of Adar, one month before the Passover, the... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! BECAUSE YE BUILD THE TOMBS OF THE PROPHETS, AND GARNISH THE SEPULCHERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS,... [ Continue Reading ]
The eighth woe:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAY, IF WE HAD BEEN IN THE DAYS OF OUR FATHERS, WE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN PARTAKERS WITH THEM IN THE BLOOD OF THE PROPHETS.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE YE BE WITNESSES UNTO YOURSELVES THAT YE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THEM WHICH KILLED THE PROPHETS.... [ Continue Reading ]
FILL YE UP, THEN, THE MEASURE OF YOUR FATHERS.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SERPENTS, YE GENERATION OF VIPERS, HOW CAN YE ESCAPE THE DAMNATION OF HELL? The actual and reputed graves of the prophets of the Old Testament were held in great veneration by the Jews of the time of Christ, a sign which usually characterizes a dead orthodoxy: building tombs and decorating graves... [ Continue Reading ]
>WHEREFORE, BEHOLD, I SEND UNTO YOU PROPHETS AND WISE MEN AND SCRIBES; AND SOME OF THEM YE SHALL KILL AND CRUCIFY, AND SOME OF THEM YE SHALL SCOURGE IN YOUR SYNAGOGUES, AND PERSECUTE THEM FROM CITY TO CITY:... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PERORATION AND THE LAMENT OVER JERUSALEM.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT UPON YOU MAY COME ALL THE RIGHTEOUS BLOOD SHED UPON THE EARTH FROM THE BLOOD OF RIGHTEOUS ABEL UNTO THE BLOOD OF ZACHARIAS, SON OF BARACHIAS, WHOM YE SLEW BETWEEN THE TEMPLE AND THE ALTAR.... [ Continue Reading ]
VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, ALL THESE THINGS SHALL COME UPON THIS GENERATION. It is the beginning of the judgment upon the Jewish nation for their consistent refusal to accept the Messiah, visited first of all upon their leaders. With great seriousness Jesus states this fact, because the present generati... [ Continue Reading ]
O JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM, THOU THAT KILLEST THE PROPHETS, AND STONEST THEM WHICH ARE SENT UNTO THEE, HOW OFTEN WOULD I HAVE GATHERED THY CHILDREN TOGETHER, EVEN AS A HEN GATHERETH HER CHICKENS UNDER HER WINGS, AND YE WOULD NOT!... [ Continue Reading ]
The lament:... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE.... [ Continue Reading ]
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! A most touching cry of merciful solicitude, wrung from a heart full of the Savior's sincere love. "It is evident that our blessed Lord seriously and earnestly wished the salvation... [ Continue Reading ]