Matthew 23:23

“Woe/alas to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith, but these you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.”

This then brings Him to the central point in the main chiasmus, which emphasises and expands on the previous point. All their concentration is on the minutiae of religious observance and the Law, rather than on considering the more important matters of justice, mercy and faith. One thing that was unique about the Mosaic Law was its emphasis on the morality that was required by God. And this was the aspect that they should have mainly emphasised, the doing of His will (compare Matthew 7:21; Matthew 12:50). But this was something that, with their emphasis on ritual, they were overlooking and thrusting into the background. Instead of having broad minds, and seeing all in the light of the moral holiness and compassion of God, and recognising that herein was the distinctiveness of the Law of Moses, they rather saw the distinctiveness of Judaism as being found in terms of the peripheries which were intended to point them Godward. The observance of the Sabbath, fasting, washing and waiting on God, tithing, offerings and sacrifices, and all the other rituals were intended to turn their hearts and minds on God, but they got so tied up in what they were doing that God was kept in the background.

He points out that they were perfectly right in seeking to assiduously obey the ritual Law by tithing, even when it went beyond what had not been specifically required. Giving a tenth of their produce as an act of gratitude for deliverance from Egypt was an essential part of God's commandments, and to go beyond what was required because of love for God would be admirable. But where they were not right was in making that the most important part of their observance of the Law. Far more important was an emphasis on justice and fairplay, on revealing compassion and mercy, and on walking in faith and faithfulness before God (compare 1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 1:11). For it was for such a life as that that He had delivered them from Egypt. Jesus may well have had in mind the words of Micah 6:8, ‘what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy (covenant love) and to walk humbly with your God?' For His point is that justice, mercy and faithfulness were at the heart of the Law (compare Genesis 18:19; Exodus 34:7; Deuteronomy 1:16; Deuteronomy 1:21; Deuteronomy 1:32; Deuteronomy 17:8). And in this regard we should note how justice was administered at the outer veil of the inner Sanctuary, and mercy was obtained at the altar and dispensed through the inner veil of the inner Sanctuary, emphasising how important they were. This was where their thoughts should have been, on the otherness, holiness and mercy of God.

‘These you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.' That was not to dismiss the tithes. While the Temple still remained and the priests and Levites still ministered there, the tithes were necessary, and they also provided food for the poor, especially at the feasts. Jesus did not want His disciples to fail in their responsibilities towards the Temple and towards the poor. But they must recognise the tithes for what they were, a contribution, and not the be all and end all of their spiritual lives. They were not intended to be the means of showing how pious they were. The main contribution of the people was to be in justice, mercy and faithfulness.

In the case of these Pharisees they believed that they should tithe even the smallest thing. Well and good. In that case it continued to be right for them to do so. For where a man is convinced that something is right as a result of the way he interprets Scripture, for that person at that time it becomes obligatory. What we think we ought to do, actually becomes our responsibility to do. ‘Whatever is not of faith is sin' (Romans 14:23). But justice, mercy and faithfulness was even more important.