Matthew 23:13 ¶ 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. 14 Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and
for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15 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. 16 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! 17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is
greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it
is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19 Ye fools and blind: for
whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the
altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth
by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22
And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by
him that sitteth thereon. 23 Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and
cummin, 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. 24 Ye blind guides, which
strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25
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. 26 Thou blind
Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that
the outside of them may be clean also. 27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto
whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous
unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the
sepulchres of the righteous, 30 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. 31
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of
them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill
ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape
the damnation of hell?
God, walking in human flesh, condemns the religious elite for
refusing to enter into God’s kingdom and holding back others who would do so. They
do unjust and mean-spirited things in their civil authority over the Jews and
then justify their oppression by long prayers. They went to great lengths to
get one Jewish proselyte, a convert to Judaism, and then corrupt him worse than
they are. The religious elite had come up with many rules and laws that
quibbled over oaths and swearing by holy things and Jesus gives them a sound
thrashing for their illogic and dishonesty.
This religious elite did a great job of focusing on minor things
and avoiding at all costs the more important matters of the Law. Always arguing
about tithing of spices in the garden but ignoring judgment, mercy, and faith
in their teachings made them spiritually powerless.
He uses the great metaphor that they strain at a gnat and swallow
a camel showing their illogic and dishonesty yet again. Outside of themselves
they appear clean and righteous but their inside is like a dirty cup or a tomb
of rotting flesh. Their outward appearance is a thin disguise for the fact that
they are filled with hypocrisy and iniquity.
These same Pharisees and scribes who claim that they would not
have committed the crimes of their ancestors against God’s prophets are,
contrary to their claim, cut from the same cloth. He calls them a generation of
poisonous snakes worthy of Hell itself. This is pretty strong speech against
the powers in Judaism of that day.
John the Baptist had also used strong language against them.
Matthew 3:7 But when he saw
many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O
generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
No comments:
Post a Comment