Matthew 23:23-24

Their Failure To Observe The More Important Aspects Of The Law Because Of Their Concentration On The Detail (23:23-24).

Analysis.

a “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” (Matthew 23:23 a).

b “But these you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone” (Matthew 23:23 b).

a “You blind guides, who strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!” (Matthew 23:24).

In ‘a' they concentrate on the minutiae and ignore what matters most, and in the parallel they strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Centrally in ‘b' they ought to pay attention to both, especially the weightier matters.