A Warning Against Hypocrisy
23 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 [That is, boxes containing Scripture verses, worn on forehead and arm ] 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. 9 And 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. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who
humble themselves will be exalted.
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
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. [14] [Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47. ]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 28 In the same
way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are
full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
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!
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. 35 And 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.
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. 38 Look, 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.’[Psalm 118:26 ]”
23:1–39 The final section of the narrative part of the fifth
book of the gospel is a denunciation by Jesus of the scribes and the Pharisees
(see note on Mt 3:7). It depends in part on Mark and Q (cf. Mk 12:38–39; Lk
11:37–52; 13:34–35), but in the main it is peculiar to Matthew. (For the
reasons against considering this extensive body of sayings-material either as
one of the structural discourses of this gospel or as part of the one that
follows in Mt 24–25, see note on Mt 19:1–23:39.) While the tradition of a deep
opposition between Jesus and the Pharisees is well-founded, this speech
reflects an opposition that goes beyond that of Jesus’ ministry and must be
seen as expressing the bitter conflict between Pharisaic Judaism and the church
of Matthew at the time when the gospel was composed. The complaint often made
that the speech ignores the positive qualities of Pharisaism and of its better
representatives is true, but the complaint overlooks the circumstances that
gave rise to the invective. Nor is the speech purely anti-Pharisaic. The
evangelist discerns in his church many of the same faults that he finds in its
opponents and warns his fellow Christians to look to their own conduct and
attitudes.
23:2–3 Have taken their seat…Moses: it is uncertain whether
this is simply a metaphor for Mosaic teaching authority or refers to an actual
chair on which the teacher sat. It has been proved that there was a seat so
designated in synagogues of a later period than that of this gospel. Do and
observe…they tell you: since the Matthean Jesus abrogates Mosaic law (Mt
5:31–42), warns his disciples against the teaching of the Pharisees (Mt 14:1–12),
and, in this speech, denounces the Pharisees as blind guides in respect to
their teaching on oaths (Mt 23:16–22), this commandment to observe all things
whatsoever they (the scribes and Pharisees) tell you cannot be taken as the
evangelist’s understanding of the proper standard of conduct for his church.
The saying may reflect a period when the Matthean community was largely Jewish
Christian and was still seeking to avoid a complete break with the synagogue.
Matthew has incorporated this traditional material into the speech in
accordance with his view of the course of salvation history, in which he
portrays the time of Jesus’ ministry as marked by the fidelity to the law,
although with significant pointers to the new situation that would exist after
his death and resurrection (see note on Mt 5:17–20). The crowds and the
disciples (Mt 23:1) are exhorted not to follow the example of the Jewish
leaders, whose deeds do not conform to their teaching (Mt 23:3).
23:4 Tie up heavy burdens: see note on Mt 11:28.
23:5 To the charge of preaching but not practicing (Mt
23:3), Jesus adds that of acting in order to earn praise. The disciples have
already been warned against this same fault (see note on Mt 6:1–18).
Phylacteries: the Mosaic law required that during prayer small boxes containing
parchments on which verses of scripture were written be worn on the left
forearm and the forehead (see Ex 13:9, 16; Dt 6:8; 11:18). Tassels: see note on
Mt 9:20. The widening of phylacteries and the lengthening of tassels were for
the purpose of making these evidence of piety more noticeable.
23:6–7 Cf. Mk 12:38–39. ‘Rabbi’: literally, “my great one,”
a title of respect for teachers and leaders.
23:8–12 These verses, warning against the use of various
titles, are addressed to the disciples alone. While only the title ‘Rabbi’ has
been said to be used in addressing the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:7), the
implication is that Father and ‘Master’ also were. The prohibition of these
titles to the disciples suggests that their use was present in Matthew’s
church. The Matthean Jesus forbids not only the titles but the spirit of
superiority and pride that is shown by their acceptance. Whoever exalts…will be
exalted: cf. Lk 14:11.
23:13–36 This series of seven “woes,” directed against the
scribes and Pharisees and addressed to them, is the heart of the speech. The
phrase woe to occurs often in the prophetic and apocalyptic literature,
expressing horror of a sin and punishment for those who commit it. Hypocrites:
see note on Mt 6:2. The hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees consists in the
difference between their speech and action (Mt 23:3) and in demonstrations of
piety that have no other purpose than to enhance their reputation as religious
persons (Mt 23:5).
23:13 You lock the kingdom of heaven: cf. Mt 16:19 where
Jesus tells Peter that he will give him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. The
purpose of the authority expressed by that metaphor is to give entrance into
the kingdom (the kingdom is closed only to those who reject the authority);
here the charge is made that the authority of the scribes and Pharisees is
exercised in such a way as to be an obstacle to entrance. Cf. Lk 11:52 where
the accusation against the “scholars of the law” (Matthew’s scribes) is that
they “have taken away the key of knowledge.”
23:14 Some manuscripts add a verse here or after Mt 23:12,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You devour the houses of
widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. Because of this, you will
receive a very severe condemnation.” Cf. Mk 12:40; Lk 20:47. This “woe” is
almost identical with Mk 12:40 and seems to be an interpolation derived from
that text.
23:15 In the first century A.D. until the First Jewish
Revolt against Rome (A.D. 66–70), many Pharisees conducted a vigorous
missionary campaign among Gentiles. Convert: literally, “proselyte,” a Gentile
who accepted Judaism fully by submitting to circumcision and all other
requirements of Mosaic law. Child of Gehenna: worthy of everlasting punishment;
for Gehenna, see note on Mt 5:22. Twice as much as yourselves: possibly this
refers simply to the zeal of the convert, surpassing that of the one who
converted him.
23:16–22 An attack on the casuistry that declared some oaths
binding (one is obligated) and others not (it means nothing) and held the
binding oath to be the one made by something of lesser value (the gold; the
gift on the altar). Such teaching, which inverts the order of values, reveals
the teachers to be blind guides; cf. Mt 15:14. Since the Matthean Jesus forbids
all oaths to his disciples (Mt 5:33–37), this woe does not set up a standard
for Christian moral conduct, but ridicules the Pharisees on their own terms.
23:23 The Mosaic law ordered tithing of the produce of the
land (Lv 27:30; Dt 14:22–23), and the scribal tradition is said here to have
extended this law to even the smallest herbs. The practice is criticized not in
itself but because it shows the Pharisees’ preoccupation with matters of less
importance while they neglect the weightier things of the law.
23:24 Cf. Lv 11:41–45 that forbids the eating of any
“swarming creature.” The Pharisees’ scrupulosity about minor matters and
neglect of greater ones (Mt 23:23) is further brought out by this contrast
between straining liquids that might contain a tiny “swarming creature” and yet
swallowing the camel. The latter was one of the unclean animals forbidden by
the law (Lv 11:4), but it is hardly possible that the scribes and Pharisees are
being denounced as guilty of so gross a violation of the food laws. To swallow
the camel is only a hyperbolic way of speaking of their neglect of what is
important.
23:25–26 The ritual washing of utensils for dining (cf. Mk
7:4) is turned into a metaphor illustrating a concern for appearances while
inner purity is ignored. The scribes and Pharisees are compared to cups
carefully washed on the outside but filthy within. Self-indulgence: the Greek
word here translated means lack of self-control, whether in drinking or in
sexual conduct.
23:27–28 The sixth woe, like the preceding one, deals with
concern for externals and neglect of what is inside. Since contact with dead
bodies, even when one was unaware of it, caused ritual impurity (Nm 19:11–22),
tombs were whitewashed so that no one would contract such impurity
inadvertently.
23:29–36 The final woe is the most serious indictment of
all. It portrays the scribes and Pharisees as standing in the same line as
their ancestors who murdered the prophets and the righteous.
23:29–32 In spite of honoring the slain dead by building
their tombs and adorning their memorials, and claiming that they would not have
joined in their ancestors’ crimes if they had lived in their days, the scribes
and Pharisees are true children of their ancestors and are defiantly ordered by
Jesus to fill up what those ancestors measured out. This order reflects the
Jewish notion that there was an allotted measure of suffering that had to be
completed before God’s final judgment would take place.
23:34–36 There are important differences between the
Matthean and the Lucan form of this Q material; cf. Lk 11:49–51. In Luke the
one who sends the emissaries is the “wisdom of God.” If, as many scholars
think, that is the original wording of Q, Matthew, by making Jesus the sender,
has presented him as the personified divine wisdom. In Luke, wisdom’s
emissaries are the Old Testament “prophets” and the Christian “apostles.”
Matthew’s prophets and wise men and scribes are probably Christian disciples
alone; cf. Mt 10:41 and see note on Mt 13:52. You will kill: see Mt 24:9.
Scourge in your synagogues…town to town: see Mt 10:17, 23 and the note on Mt
10:17. All the righteous blood shed upon the earth: the slaying of the
disciples is in continuity with all the shedding of righteous blood beginning
with that of Abel. The persecution of Jesus’ disciples by this generation
involves the persecutors in the guilt of their murderous ancestors. The blood
of Zechariah: see note on Lk 11:51. By identifying him as the son of Barachiah
Matthew understands him to be Zechariah the Old Testament minor prophet; see
Zec 1:1.
23:37–39 Cf. Lk 13:34–35. The denunciation of Pharisaic
Judaism ends with this lament over Jerusalem, which has repeatedly rejected and
murdered those whom God has sent to her. How many times: this may refer to
various visits of Jesus to the city, an aspect of his ministry found in John
but otherwise not in the Synoptics.
As a hen…under her wings: for imagery
similar to this, see Ps 17:8; 91:4. Your house…desolate: probably an allusion
to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. You will not see me…in the name of
the Lord: Israel will not see Jesus again until he comes in glory for the final
judgment. The acclamation has been interpreted in contrasting ways, as an
indication that Israel will, at last, accept Jesus at that time, and as its
troubled recognition of him as its dreaded judge who will pronounce its
condemnation; in support of the latter view see Mt 24:30.
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