Matthew 23:3

All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. ALL THEREFORE - that is, all which, as sitting in that seat and teaching out of that law, THEY BID YOU OBSERVE, THAT OBSERVE AND DO. The word "therefore" is thus, it will be seen, of great importance, as limiting those injunctions which He would have them obey to what they fetched from the law itself. In requiring implicit obedience to such injunctions. He would have them to recognize the authority with which they taught over and above the obligation of the law itself-an important principle truly; but He who denounced the traditions of such teachers () cannot have meant here to throw His shield over these. It is remarked by Webster and Wilkinson that the warning to beware of the scribes is given by Mark...

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, Exodus 13:2; Exodus 13:11-2; Deuteronomy 6:4; Deuteronomy 11:13-5. 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,...

Verse Matthew 23:3. _ALL THEREFORE WHATSOEVER_] That is, all those things which they read out of the law and prophets, and all things which they teach consistently with them. This must be our Lord's meaning: he could not have desired them to do every thing, without restriction, which the Jewish doctors taught; because himself warns his disciples against their false teaching, and testifies that they had made the word of God of none effect by their traditions. See Matthew 15:6, c. Besides, as our Lord speaks here in the past tense - _whatsoever they_ HAVE _commanded_, οσαειπωσιν, he may refer to the teaching of a former period, when they taught the way of God in truth, or were much less corrupted than they were now....

ALL, THEREFORE, WHATSOEVER ... - That is, all that they teach that is consistent with the Law of Moses - all the commands of Moses which they read to you and properly explain. The word “all” could not be taken without such a restriction, for Christ himself accuses them of teaching many things contrary to that law, and of making it void by their traditions, Matthew 15:1. THEY SAY, AND DO NOT - The interpretation which they give to the law is in the main correct, but their lives do not correspond with their teaching. It is not the duty of people to imitate their teachers unless their lives are pure; they are to obey the law of God, and not to frame their lives by the example of evil people....

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 23:1 _Denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, and lamentation over Jerusalem which followed their guidance to her own destruction. _(Peculiar to St. Matthew.) MATTHEW 23:1 THEN SPAKE JESUS. Some small portion of this discourse, the close of our Lord's public teaching, is found in Mark 12:38 and Luke 20:45-42 (comp. also Luke 11:1., Luke 11:13.). It is here addres

ALL THEREFORE WHATSOEVER THEY BID YOU OBSERVE,.... This must be restrained to things that were agreeable to the chair of Moses, in which they sat, to the law of Moses, which they read and explained, to other parts of Scripture and truth in general; for otherwise many of their glosses and traditions were repugnant to the law, and ought not to be observed, as appears from Matthew 5:1. The word "observe", in this clause, is omitted by the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, and in Munster's Hebrew Gospel; and Beza says, it is wanting in one ancient copy, but is in others; and is retained in the Syriac and Persic versions THAT OBSERVE AND DO; hearken to what they say, give diligent heed unto it, take notice of it, and act according to it: BUT DO NOT YE AFTER THEIR WORKS; let their doctrine be the rule of your lives, so far as it agrees with the law o

11. THE WOES OF THE KING AND HIS LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM. CHAPTER 23 _ 1. The Hypocrisy of the Pharisees.(Matthew 23:1 .) 2. The Woes of the King upon Them.(Matthew 23:13 .) 3. The Lamentation over Jerusalem. (Matthew 23:37 .)_ For the last time we have seen the Pharisees in the presence of the Lord in the previous chapter. What an important part these ecclesiastical leaders of the professing people of God play in this Gospel. They rejected Him; hated Him without a cause, and after they found they could not ensnare Him they resorted to that which Satan had put into their wicked hearts “that they might kill Him.” That which the Lord had foretold in His parable of the vineyard is now soo

WARNINGS TO THE PEOPLE AND THE DISCIPLES. Matthew 23:2 f. Loisy regards this as an interpolation (by a Judaising redactor) out of harmony with the attack that follows. Holtzmann thinks it is Mt.'s, breathing special respect for the Law, like Matthew 5:17 ff., but irreconcilable with Matthew 15:3. But, as Pfleiderer puts it, we must admit that in the attitude of Jesus towards the Mosaic Law different expressions which cannot be reconciled stand side by side, the most natural explanation of which may be found in a change of mood. _Cf._ p. 667. SIT: lit. sat. Plummer suggests that at the end of the verse we should supply when they taught you to observe the Law....

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The Scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses's seat. Therefore do and observe everything they tell you; but do not act as they act; for they speak, but they do not do. They bind burdens that are heavy and hard to bear, and place them on men's shoulders; but they themselves refuse to lift a finger to remove them." Here we see the lineaments of the Pharisees already beginning to appear. Here we see the Jewish conviction of the continuity of the faith. God gave the Law to Moses; Moses handed it to Joshua; Joshua transmitted it to the elders; the elders passed it down to the prophets; and the prophets gave it to the Scribes and Pharisees. It must not for a moment be thought that Jesus is commending the Scribes and Pharisees with all their rules and regulations. What he is saying is this, "In so far as these Scribes and Pharisees have taught you...

ALL. All things. This shows that the words following are not. command, for the whole chapter is taken up with. denunciation of the very things that they thus bade. Later (Matthew 27:20) they "bade" the People to ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. THAT. Omit this word as not being in the Greek, or required by the Figure of speech _Ellipsis._ OBSERVE AND DO. ye observe and do. The second person plural is exactly the same in the Indicative and Imperative, and nothing can determine which is the Mood but the context: and the Structure determines its meaning. OBSERVE. Inwardly. DO. Outwardly. BUT. Marking the contrast between "ye do"and"do ye not". after. according to. Greek. _kata._ App-104. THEY SAY. they say [ought to be done], but they do not do the works themselves....