1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The
teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
1. What is Moses seat?
chair of Moses.The expression is equivalent to a university’s “chair of philosophy.” To “sit in the chair of Moses” was to have the highest authority to instruct people in the law. The expression here may be translated, “[they] have seated themselves in Moses’ seat”—stressing the fact that this was an imaginary authority they claimed for themselves. There was a legitimate sense in which the priests and Levites had authority to decide matters of the law (Dt 17:9), but the scribes and Pharisees had gone beyond any legitimate authority and were adding human tradition to the Word of God MSBN
In a word: Hypocrisy, “for they do not practice what they preach”. People looked to them for the interpretation of the truth. Instead of using their p0stions to give the truth of the scriptures to those who desperately were looking for direction, they twisted the scriptures and put legalistic burdens on the Jewish believers which had nothing to do with God. To top this off, they were not willing to live under the same burdens they demanded others to follow.
3. What is a phylactery?
Leather boxes containing a parchment on which is written
in 4 columns (Ex 13:1–10, 11–16; Dt 6:4–9; 11:13–21). These are worn by men during prayer—one on the middle of the forehead and one on the left arm just above the elbow. The use of phylacteries was based on an overly literal interpretation of passages like Ex 13:9, 10; Dt 6:8. Evidently the Pharisees would broaden the leather straps by which the phylacteries were bound to their arms and foreheads, in order to make the phylacteries more prominent. the tassels of their garments. The rabbi would wear a robe with 613 tassels at the bottom, one for every one of the Mosaic laws. Jesus Himself wore them (see note on 9:20), so it was not the tassels themselves that He condemned, only the mentality that would lengthen the tassels to make it appear that one was especially spiritual. MSBN
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”
3 Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. 5 And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. 6 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. 8 You shall tell your son on that day,‘It is because of what the Lorddid for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. 10 You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.Ex 13:1-10 (ESV)
It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” Ex 13:16 (ESV)
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deut 6:7-9 (ESV)
This was supposed to be a picture or a metaphor meaning that they should always remember the strong hand of the Lord. The focus became more on the little boxes than on what the scriptures in the little boxes actually meant and why and what God wanted them to remember.
4. Are we not to call our fathers, father?
This does not, of course, forbid us to apply the term
to our real father. Religion requires all proper honor to be shown to Him, Exo 20:12; Mat 15:4;Eph 6:1-3. But the word “father”also denotes “authority, eminence, superiority, a right to command, and a claim to particular respect.” In this sense it is used here. In this sense it belongs eminently to God, and it is not right to give it to people. Christian brethren are equal. Only God has supreme authority. He only has a right to give laws; to declare doctrines that shall bind the conscience; to punish disobedience. The Jewish teachers affected that title because they seem to have supposed that a teacher formed the man, or gave him real life, and sought, therefore, to be called father. Christ taught them that the source of all life and truth was God, and they ought not to seek or receive a title which properly belongs to him.BN
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
As Jesus laid out the manifesto for the Kingdom with the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5, here he shows the contrast with the religious leaders of His day.
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
5. Pretty strong language for a gentle man of peace?
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Luke 12:49-51 (ESV)
The leaders were hypocrites because they professed to teach God’s will but kept people from entering the kingdom that was God’s will for His people then to enter. They kept people from entering the kingdom by not preparing to enter it themselves and by discouraging others from doing so.
There is a tacit comparison of the kingdom to a walled city, and of the conduct of the Pharisees to men standing at the gate but refusing to go in, and shutting the gate against those who would go in. The application is easy. Their refusal to go in represents their refusal to accept the doctrine of the kingdom of Christ; and their shutting the gate, their efforts to keep those who would accept this doctrine from doing so. NTCMM
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. Matt 23:14 (KJV)
Verse 14 is a textual variant This verse does not appear in the earliest available manuscripts of Matthew, but does appear in Mark. See Mk 12:40.
15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
7. Aren’t we supposed to win people to God?
Second woe: entrapped converts. Jesus does
not criticize proselytism per se, but the manner in which the Pharisees zealously sought converts, only to place them under the burdensome weight of the many requirements in their extrabiblical traditions. child of hell. Literally, “child of Gehenna,”a reference to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, just south of Jerusalem, where refuse was burned. Jewish and NT writings used it as a metaphorical picture of eternal punishment.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
8. Swear to God and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye?
This is what we used to say as children. This was supposed to lend more credibility to our statements.
The Pharisees were saying much like when you make a promise and have your fingers crossed, it isn’t binding.
Here is a specific example of what Jesus condemned in the second woe (v. 15). By differentiating between what was binding in their oaths and what was not, the Pharisees and teachers of the law were encouraging evasive oaths that amounted to lying. Jesus’ point was that people should tell the truth. Jesus condemned His critics for mishandling the Scriptures that they claimed to defend and expound. Whenever a Jew took an oath he connected it in some way with God. All their oaths were therefore binding. Jesus disallowed all evasive oaths and viewed them as untruthful speech.CN
The Pharisees distinguished between oaths made by the temple and those made by the gold of the temple, and between oaths made by the altar and those made by the gift on it. As in much of their belief system, they focus on misguided superficial distinctions and overlook the higher principles of the law.whoever swears. Those with faith in God who recognize their constant accountability in his presence need only give a simple “yes” or “no” as a binding oath ESV
This was an arbitrary distinction the Pharisees had made, which gave them a sanctimonious justification for lying with impunity. If someone swore “by the temple” (or the altar, v. 18; or heaven, v. 22), his oath was not considered binding, but if he swore “by the gold of the temple,” he could not break his word without being subject to the penalties of Jewish law. Our Lord makes it clear that swearing by those things is tantamount to swearing by God Himself. MSBN
But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. James 5:12
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
9. Yeah but I’m supposed to bring my offering.
The Mosaic Law required the Israelites to tithe grain, wine, and oil (Deut. 14:22-29). How far they had to take this was a matter of debate. Jesus did not discourage scrupulous observance of this law. He directed His condemnation to the leaders’ failure to observe more important “weightier”commands in the Law while dickering over which specific plants, spices, and seeds to tithe. He went back to Micah 6:8He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lordrequire of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? for the three primary duties that God requires. He probably chose the gnat (Gr.qalma) and the camel (Gr. gamla) as examples because of their sizes and their similar sounding names. “It is usually the case that legalists are sticklers for details, but blind to great principles.” This judgment constitutes the center of the chiasm and the most important failure of the scribes and Pharisees. They were distorting the will of God as He had revealed it in Scripture. It is important to recognize that Scripture reveals God’s will and that we should never elevate the authority of human interpretations to the level of Scripture itself. However, it is also important to recognize that within Scripture some commands are more important than others and that we should observe these distinctions and not confuse them. This involves wisdom and balance in interpretation and application. CN
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
10. Doesn’t the bible say that “cleanliness is next to godliness”?
Despite what our mothers told us, no, that is not in the bible.
This fifth woe pictures the Pharisees with their emphasis on the externals. This is a picture of the average church today that is so busy making the outside of the cup and platter clean. They go through all the ceremonies. They want to have the best equipment. They talk so nice and piously on the outside, but inside they do not deal with sin. In most cases, they do not even like the word sin. But all of the external ceremonies cannot clean up their inner corruption. The Pharisees substituted ritual for reality, formality for faith, and liturgy for God. Don’t misunderstand Him. He is not saying that the outside should not be clean. But you give a wrong impression when the inside is dirty and the outside is not. The place to start is on the inside. JVM
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
11. Why use the expression “white washed tombs”?
Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. Num.19:16
In affect Jesus was saying to stay away from these spiritually dead religious leaders.
29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.30 And you say,‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!
12. How were the Pharisees like their ancestors?
Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” John 13:27 (ESV)
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34
Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
13.Who were Abel and Zechariah?
Abel … Zechariah. The first and last OT martyrs, respectively. son of Berechiah. (Zec 1:1). The OT does not record how he died. However, the death of another Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, is recorded in 2Ch 24:20, 21. He was stoned in the court of the temple, exactly as Jesus describes here. All the best manuscripts of Matthew contain the phrase “Zechariah, son of Berechiah”(though it does not appear in Lk 11:51). Some have suggested that the Zechariah in 2Ch 24 was actually a grandson of Jehoiada, and that his father’s name was also Berechiah. But there is no difficulty if we simply take Jesus’ words at face value and accept His infallible testimony that Zechariah the prophet was martyred between the temple and the altar, in a way very similar to how the earlier Zechariah was killed.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
14. If Jesus is so condemning of the religious establishment which controlled the temple, Jerusalem, and the Nation, why does he seem so emotional?
Jerusalem was the city of David and the city of peace. It was the city God had chosen to reveal Himself to Israel through the temple and as the capital of His kingdom on earth. However it had killed the prophets God had sent to His people with His messages. Stoning was the penalty for the worst crimes in Israel, including false prophecy. The people had used this form of execution on those who faithfully brought God’s Word to them. Jesus’ words recall His ancestor David’s sorrow over the death of his son Absalom. The repetition of “Jerusalem” reveals the strong emotion that Jesus felt. Many times during His ministry Jesus had sought to gather and shelter Jerusalem. He wanted the people to take refuge in Him as chicks do under their mother hen physically and as God’s people had done under God’s care spiritually. In spite of God’s loving initiatives Israel had willfully rejected Him repeatedly. We see Luke gives us more of what Jesus feels.
41 Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will demolish you”you and your children within your walls”and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God”Luke 19:41-44
15. What house is Jesus talking about?
The house in view is the temple. Jesus had formerly claimed the temple as His own house. Now He spoke of it as their house, the house of prayer that they had converted into a den of thieves. Jesus and God would leave the temple desolate by removing Jesus’ presence from it. Instead of it becoming the focal point of worship during the messianic kingdom, it would be devoid of Immanuel, God with us, until He returns to it Instead of bringing promised rest and blessing to Israel, Messiah would leave her desolate, uninhabited.Jesus quoted Psalm 118:26. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.He was referring to His return to the temple in power and great glory when He returns at His second coming, not to some return to the temple before His ascension. The negative is very strong in the Greek text (ou me). When He returns, all will acknowledge Him instead of rejecting Him.Moreover He will come in judgment’ “It is extremely important for one to note that Christ’s rejection of Israel is not an eternal one. The word ‘until’ (eos) of verse thirty-nine together with the following statement affirms the fact that Christ will come again to a repentant nation to establish the promised millennial kingdom.” CN
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great Zech 12:10-11 (ESV)
· ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes
· MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes
· NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.
· JVM ….J Vernon McGee,
· ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
· BN …..Barnes Notes
· WBC…… Wycliffe Bible Commentary
· CN ……Constables Notes
· IC……….Ironside Commentary
· NET………Net Bible Study Notes.
· JFB…………..Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
· VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies
· CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark
· BDB…………..Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
· Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT
· Johnson………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.
· NTCMM…………..The New Testament Commentary: Matthew and Mark.
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