Matthew 23:4

καὶ δυσβάστακτα omitted after βαρέα. The grounds of omission are not quite decisive. א (μεγάλα βαρέα) and L omit the words but BD and the majority of uncials and versions retain them.

αὐτοὶ δὲ τῷ δακτύλῳ αὐτῶν] The restoration of αὐτοὶ to the text emphasises the contrast.

4. δεσμεύουσιν … κινῆσαι αὐτά. The picture is of the merciless camel- or ass-driver, who makes up (δεσμεύειν) burdens, not only heavy but unwieldy and so difficult to carry, and then placing them on the animals’ shoulders, stands by indifferent, raising no finger to lighten or even adjust the burden.

The three steps or degrees in the triplet answer to three points in the Pharisaic condemnation. They make hard rules, they impose them upon others, and themselves fail to observe them. Contrast with this the Saviour’s invitation ch. Matthew 11:30, ὁ ζυγός μου χρηστός, καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.

δεσμεύειν, is to tie in bundles, as corn into sheafs: ᾤμην ὑμᾶς δεσμεύειν δράγματα ἐν μέσῳ τῷ πεδίῳ, Genesis 37:7. That this is the correct force of δεσμεύειν, rather than that of binding on the shoulder (Schleusner), appears partly from the parallelism which requires the three acts, and partly by the thing meant—the procedure of the Pharisees.