Matthew · Chapter 23

V. 1. Then-Leaving all converse with his adversaries, whom he now left to the hardness of their hearts.

Verses 1-3. Then spake Jesus to the multitude — Leaving all converse with his adversaries; whom he now gave up to the hardness of their hearts. The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’s seat — Or, chair — That is, read and expound the law of Moses, and are the appointed teachers of the people. The Jewish doctors, as is well known, always taught sitting. The name Pharisees being the appellation of a sect, it cannot be supposed that our Lord meant to say of all the party that they sat in Moses’s chair. Such a character was applicable to none but the doctors of the sect; for which reason we must suppose that the name scribes and Pharisees is a Hebraism for the Pharisean scribes. All therefore they bid you observe, &c. — That is, all that they read out of the law, and enforce on the manifest authority thereof, that observe and do — Readily and cheerfully: “All,” says Theophylact, “that they require, ek twn Mosewv biblwn, apo tou Qeou nomoou, from the law of God out of the books of Moses.” An interpretation which must be allowed of. Because Christ elsewhere requires his disciples to beware of the leaven, that is, the doctrine, of the scribes and Pharisees; because they taught for doctrines the commandments of men, and by their traditions made void the law of God; and were blind leaders of the blind. But do not ye after their works — By no means imitate their practices; for they say and do not — They give many precepts to their disciples, which they do not perform themselves. As we must not receive corrupt doctrines for the sake of any laudable practices of those that teach them; so we must not imitate bad examples for the sake of the plausible doctrines of those that give them.

AND PHARISEES WITH A DIVINE ELOQUENCE, 1-39.

1. To the multitude, and to his disciples — His active enemies have each made their assault and departed. He now turns to his own disciples and the multitude, warns them of the wickedness and danger of these his enemies, (1-12,) pronounces the approaching woes of Jerusalem, (13-36,) and closes with a strain of melting tenderness over the guilty city, (37-39.)

1 Christ admonisheth the people to follow the good doctrine, not the evil examples of the scribes and Pharisees. 5 His disciples must beware of their ambition. 13 He denounceth eight woes against their hypocrisy and blindness: 34 and prophesieth of the destruction of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 23. Verse 1. The multitude and his disciples. — Both these had been auditors of his disputes with the Sadducees and Pharisees and to them he now more immediately addresses himself.

V. 2. The scribes sit in the chair of Moses-That is, read and expound the law of Moses, and are their appointed teachers.

Verse 2. The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat] ekaqisan.-They sat there formerly by Divine appointment: they sit there now by Divine permission. What our Lord says here refers to their expounding the Scriptures, for it was the custom of the Jewish doctors to sit while they expounded the law and prophets, (Matthew 5:1; Luke 4:20-22,) and to stand up when they read them. By the seat of Moses, we are to understand authority to teach the law. Moses was the great teacher of the Jewish people; and the scribes, &c., are here represented as his successors.

Verses 1-3. Then spake Jesus to the multitude — Leaving all converse with his adversaries; whom he now gave up to the hardness of their hearts. The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’s seat — Or, chair — That is, read and expound the law of Moses, and are the appointed teachers of the people. The Jewish doctors, as is well known, always taught sitting. The name Pharisees being the appellation of a sect, it cannot be supposed that our Lord meant to say of all the party that they sat in Moses’s chair. Such a character was applicable to none but the doctors of the sect; for which reason we must suppose that the name scribes and Pharisees is a Hebraism for the Pharisean scribes. All therefore they bid you observe, &c. — That is, all that they read out of the law, and enforce on the manifest authority thereof, that observe and do — Readily and cheerfully: “All,” says Theophylact, “that they require, ek twn Mosewv biblwn, apo tou Qeou nomoou, from the law of God out of the books of Moses.” An interpretation which must be allowed of. Because Christ elsewhere requires his disciples to beware of the leaven, that is, the doctrine, of the scribes and Pharisees; because they taught for doctrines the commandments of men, and by their traditions made void the law of God; and were blind leaders of the blind. But do not ye after their works — By no means imitate their practices; for they say and do not — They give many precepts to their disciples, which they do not perform themselves. As we must not receive corrupt doctrines for the sake of any laudable practices of those that teach them; so we must not imitate bad examples for the sake of the plausible doctrines of those that give them.

Verse 2. Sit in Moses’ seat. The sanhedrim had seventy one chairs of gold, or rather gilt with gold. The council which sat at Alexandria had also chairs of gold. The highpriest was the president: he sat in the middle, with thirty five chairs on his right hand, and thirty five on his left. The number had its origin from the seventy elders consecrated by Moses. Whether our Lord meant to say that the scribes and pharisees were fairly put into power, or that they had usurped authority, is doubtful. Galatinus is of the latter opinion: yet the Lord would have them obeyed, and gave them all due reverence, as a judicial court, though he afterwards exposed their religious pretensions with just severity. Let all ministers, at proper seasons, learn of their Master how to address obdurate and incorrigible men.

2. Sit in Moses’ seat — By being the transcribers, readers, and teachers of Moses’ words. The seat or cathedra was also used by Grecian philosophers in lecturing, who were thence called cathedrarii. The synagogue expounders stood while reading the very words of the law, but sat while expounding it. These scribes and Pharisees were in no way the successors of Moses by ordination or lineal descent. They had not, any more than the Sadducees or Herodians, a regular organic office. Their seat was not an apostolic throne, an episcopal see, or any successional position whatever. All they had was a reading desk and chair, from which, as from Moses himself, the words of Moses could come forth. The Greek word for sit signifies, have seated themselves.

Verses 2, 3. The scribes and the Pharisees, &c. — That is, such of the Pharisees as were scribes, or professionally learned in the interpretation of the law. These are said to sit in Moses’ seat, because the doctors of the law delivered their discourses in that position; and as Moses was the great and first teacher of their law, he is figuratively represented as sitting to deliver his oracles, to which seat of his those who interpreted his law as doctors, and enforced it as judges, succeeded. Hence the scribes sat on seats in the sanhedrim and inferior councils. It is to this, their JUDICIAL office, that our Lord exclusively alludes; but when, like any other rabbins, they founded schools and taught disciples, to attend upon them or to observe their decisions was purely optional; and against various doctrines which they taught in this capacity, our Lord often strongly cautions his disciples, and often himself refutes their favourite tenets. As moral and religious teachers he held them in contempt, and taught his disciples so to regard them likewise; and that deservedly, for they were either always making void the moral law of God by their traditions; enforcing trivial rites, as though they were of the utmost importance; and toiling in intricate and endless disputes, “questions and strifes of words.” In this capacity of religious teachers our Lord could not, therefore, exhort his disciples and the multitude to observe and do whatsoever they bade them observe and do. It was different with them as expounders of the law of Moses, in those branches only of which their synagogue courts and councils of different degrees of dignity up to the great sanhedrim took cognizance, which it was their office to make known to the people, and which were enforced by the courts under lighter or heavier penalties. Many of the superstitious and trifling ceremonies which they enjoined upon their “proselytes” in their other characters as doctors, rabbins, or teachers, under the general influence of their names as great and learned men, were designed to show them how to attain the highest degrees of merit and sanctity; but in their judicial capacity they were confined to the letter of the law, or its general directions, which, however, required explanation and accommodation to particular circumstances that might arise. In this there was little room for the play of their own superstitious fancies, because penalties were to be enforced upon disobedience, which must rest upon the letter of the law, not on private interpretation. Our Lord therefore respects this, their public office, because he was himself under the ceremonial and judicial law, and observed it; and as the time was not come for the abolition of the Mosaic institute, he enforced respect to their decisions upon his hearers, as still bound to the laws of Moses. Thus he prevented that offence which might have arisen from the idea that he was a subverter of the laws of his country. But while he enjoins respect to the scribes as magistrates and judges, he proceeds to caution the people against their bad personal example.

This shows how unfounded those interpretations of this passage are, which draw from our Lord’s words a sanction and even an obligation to attend upon the instructions of bad ministers, provided their example be not followed; a notion which is founded upon the mistaken idea, that the scribes were the authorized preachers or religious teachers of the Jews, and exercised that office in religious assemblies of the synagogues, Of this there is no evidence whatever. In the synagogues prayers were offered, the appointed portion of Scripture read, and the interpretation of the Hebrew given in the common dialect, as literally as possible; but any one might address the people in exhortation. Many of the scribes, indeed, beside the judicial office they held in the Jewish courts, were public teachers of religion; but they had no authority for this from the law; none from inspiration, like the prophets; none from any public appointment. They took this office on their own authority, and trusted to their talents and character with the people to obtain disciples. It was only when they were introduced into the courts that they were vested with any authority; and then not as religious teachers, but as interpreters of the ceremonial and judicial law, and assessors with other judges. The whole foundation of the opinion, that men are bound by the words of Christ to attend a wicked ministry, is therefore baseless: on the contrary, he cautions his disciples from following the instructions of these very men in their assumed capacity of religious instructers, by declaring that “if the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch.” It was only when they were in Moses’ seat, in the chair of judicial authority, stating and enforcing the laws of Moses, that they were to be obeyed. But as to their example, it was to be shunned; for even those precepts of righteousness and mercy which Moses introduced into his law, although they enforced them upon others, they did not practise themselves; nor, as it would appear from what follows, did they even always observe those onerous and expensive ceremonials enjoined in the law which they were so zealous to uphold, and so strenuous to bind upon others. They say and do not; they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers; they will not take the least part of these burdens upon themselves. The words are not to be interpreted of those superstitious additions to the law which the scribes invented as constituting in their view a righteousness beyond the letter, for Christ would not have commanded his disciples “‘to observe and do them;” but the things truly commanded by the law of God, and particularly the ceremonial law, which is called, Acts 15:10, “a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.” Thus he declares their hypocrisy: in the next verse he reproves their religious affectation.

V. 3. All things therefore-Which they read out of the law, and enforce therefrom.

Verse 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, osa eipwsin, 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.

Verses 1-3. Then spake Jesus to the multitude — Leaving all converse with his adversaries; whom he now gave up to the hardness of their hearts. The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’s seat — Or, chair — That is, read and expound the law of Moses, and are the appointed teachers of the people. The Jewish doctors, as is well known, always taught sitting. The name Pharisees being the appellation of a sect, it cannot be supposed that our Lord meant to say of all the party that they sat in Moses’s chair. Such a character was applicable to none but the doctors of the sect; for which reason we must suppose that the name scribes and Pharisees is a Hebraism for the Pharisean scribes. All therefore they bid you observe, &c. — That is, all that they read out of the law, and enforce on the manifest authority thereof, that observe and do — Readily and cheerfully: “All,” says Theophylact, “that they require, ek twn Mosewv biblwn, apo tou Qeou nomoou, from the law of God out of the books of Moses.” An interpretation which must be allowed of. Because Christ elsewhere requires his disciples to beware of the leaven, that is, the doctrine, of the scribes and Pharisees; because they taught for doctrines the commandments of men, and by their traditions made void the law of God; and were blind leaders of the blind. But do not ye after their works — By no means imitate their practices; for they say and do not — They give many precepts to their disciples, which they do not perform themselves. As we must not receive corrupt doctrines for the sake of any laudable practices of those that teach them; so we must not imitate bad examples for the sake of the plausible doctrines of those that give them.

3. Bid you observe — Not certainly the traditions of men; for those he has most unsparingly condemned. Matthew 15:3. But whensoever truly sitting in Moses’ seat and truly delivering, in their own or Moses’ words, the law, that do. Meanwhile the copy of the law is ever in your reach, as your check upon them. Do not err by not knowing the Scriptures. No argument can be drawn from this entire passage in favour of apostolic succession, of submission of the people to wicked pastors, or of the closing of the Bible to popular perusal.

Verses 2, 3. The scribes and the Pharisees, &c. — That is, such of the Pharisees as were scribes, or professionally learned in the interpretation of the law. These are said to sit in Moses’ seat, because the doctors of the law delivered their discourses in that position; and as Moses was the great and first teacher of their law, he is figuratively represented as sitting to deliver his oracles, to which seat of his those who interpreted his law as doctors, and enforced it as judges, succeeded. Hence the scribes sat on seats in the sanhedrim and inferior councils. It is to this, their JUDICIAL office, that our Lord exclusively alludes; but when, like any other rabbins, they founded schools and taught disciples, to attend upon them or to observe their decisions was purely optional; and against various doctrines which they taught in this capacity, our Lord often strongly cautions his disciples, and often himself refutes their favourite tenets. As moral and religious teachers he held them in contempt, and taught his disciples so to regard them likewise; and that deservedly, for they were either always making void the moral law of God by their traditions; enforcing trivial rites, as though they were of the utmost importance; and toiling in intricate and endless disputes, “questions and strifes of words.” In this capacity of religious teachers our Lord could not, therefore, exhort his disciples and the multitude to observe and do whatsoever they bade them observe and do. It was different with them as expounders of the law of Moses, in those branches only of which their synagogue courts and councils of different degrees of dignity up to the great sanhedrim took cognizance, which it was their office to make known to the people, and which were enforced by the courts under lighter or heavier penalties. Many of the superstitious and trifling ceremonies which they enjoined upon their “proselytes” in their other characters as doctors, rabbins, or teachers, under the general influence of their names as great and learned men, were designed to show them how to attain the highest degrees of merit and sanctity; but in their judicial capacity they were confined to the letter of the law, or its general directions, which, however, required explanation and accommodation to particular circumstances that might arise. In this there was little room for the play of their own superstitious fancies, because penalties were to be enforced upon disobedience, which must rest upon the letter of the law, not on private interpretation. Our Lord therefore respects this, their public office, because he was himself under the ceremonial and judicial law, and observed it; and as the time was not come for the abolition of the Mosaic institute, he enforced respect to their decisions upon his hearers, as still bound to the laws of Moses. Thus he prevented that offence which might have arisen from the idea that he was a subverter of the laws of his country. But while he enjoins respect to the scribes as magistrates and judges, he proceeds to caution the people against their bad personal example.

This shows how unfounded those interpretations of this passage are, which draw from our Lord’s words a sanction and even an obligation to attend upon the instructions of bad ministers, provided their example be not followed; a notion which is founded upon the mistaken idea, that the scribes were the authorized preachers or religious teachers of the Jews, and exercised that office in religious assemblies of the synagogues, Of this there is no evidence whatever. In the synagogues prayers were offered, the appointed portion of Scripture read, and the interpretation of the Hebrew given in the common dialect, as literally as possible; but any one might address the people in exhortation. Many of the scribes, indeed, beside the judicial office they held in the Jewish courts, were public teachers of religion; but they had no authority for this from the law; none from inspiration, like the prophets; none from any public appointment. They took this office on their own authority, and trusted to their talents and character with the people to obtain disciples. It was only when they were introduced into the courts that they were vested with any authority; and then not as religious teachers, but as interpreters of the ceremonial and judicial law, and assessors with other judges. The whole foundation of the opinion, that men are bound by the words of Christ to attend a wicked ministry, is therefore baseless: on the contrary, he cautions his disciples from following the instructions of these very men in their assumed capacity of religious instructers, by declaring that “if the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch.” It was only when they were in Moses’ seat, in the chair of judicial authority, stating and enforcing the laws of Moses, that they were to be obeyed. But as to their example, it was to be shunned; for even those precepts of righteousness and mercy which Moses introduced into his law, although they enforced them upon others, they did not practise themselves; nor, as it would appear from what follows, did they even always observe those onerous and expensive ceremonials enjoined in the law which they were so zealous to uphold, and so strenuous to bind upon others. They say and do not; they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers; they will not take the least part of these burdens upon themselves. The words are not to be interpreted of those superstitious additions to the law which the scribes invented as constituting in their view a righteousness beyond the letter, for Christ would not have commanded his disciples “‘to observe and do them;” but the things truly commanded by the law of God, and particularly the ceremonial law, which is called, Acts 15:10, “a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.” Thus he declares their hypocrisy: in the next verse he reproves their religious affectation.

V. 4. Luke 11:46.

Verse 4. They bind heavy burdens] They are now so corrupt that they have added to the ceremonies of the law others of their own invention, which are not only burdensome and oppressive, but have neither reason, expediency, nor revelation, to countenance them. In a word, like all their successors in spirit to the present day, they were severe to others, but very indulgent to themselves.

Verse 4. For they bind heavy burdens — Not only insisting upon the most minute circumstances of the ceremonial law, called a yoke, Acts 15:10; and pressing the observation of them with more strictness and severity than God himself did; but by adding to his word, and imposing their own inventions and traditions under the highest penalties: witness their many additions to the law of the sabbath, by which they made that day a burden, which was designed to be a joy and delight: but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers — They press upon the people a strictness in religion which they themselves will not be bound by, but secretly transgress their own traditions, which they publicly enforce.

4. Heavy burdens and grievous to be borne — Namely, the unauthorized traditional observances which they impose. These our Lord repudiates in pointed terms. In binding these burdens, the scribes do not sit in Moses’ seat. They sit in their own seat, and deliver worthless and dead dogmas. Move them with one of their fingers — They are physicians who will not take their own medicines. Surely the most unscrupulous supporter of ecclesiastical succession will not claim that our Lord meant that such burdens should be carried by the backs of his own followers. On the contrary, he expressly taught his disciples to disregard the prescription of washing the hands, as a ritual observance, before they eat, although required by scribes who professedly sat in Moses’ seat.

V. 5. Their phylacteries-The Jews, understanding those words literally, It shall be as a token upon thy hand, and as frontlets between thine eyes, Exodus 13:16.

And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, Deuteronomy 6:8; used to wear little scrolls of paper or parchment, bound on their wrist and foreheads, on which several texts of Scripture were writ. These they supposed, as a kind of charm, would preserve them from danger. And hence they seem to have been called phylacteries, or preservatives. The fringes of their garments-Which God had enjoined them to wear, to remind them of doing all the commandments, Numbers 15:38. These, as well as their phylacteries, the Pharisees affected to wear broader and larger than other men. Mark 12:38.

Verse 5. All their works they do for to be seen of men] In pointing out the corruptions of these men, our Lord gives us the distinguishing characteristics of all false teachers, whether Jewish or Christian.

1. They live not according to the truths they preach. They say, and do not, Matthew 23:3.

2. They are severe to others, point out the narrowest road to heaven, and walk in the broad road themselves. They bind on burdens, &c., Matthew 23:4.

3. They affect to appear righteous, and are strict observers of certain rites, &c., while destitute of the power of godliness. They make broad their phylacteries, &c., Matthew 23:5.

4. They love worldly entertainments, go to feast wherever they are asked, and seek Church preferments. They love the chief places at feasts, and chief seats in the synagogues, Matthew 23:6.

5. They love and seek public respect and high titles, salutations in the market-place, (for they are seldom in their studies,) and to be called of men rabbi-eminent teacher, though they have no title to it, either from the excellence or fruit of their teaching. When these marks are found in a man who professes to be a minister of Christ, charity itself will assert he is a thief and a robber-he has climbed over the wall of the sheepfold, or broken it down in order to get in.

Phylacteries] fulakthria, from fulassw, to keep or preserve. These were small slips of parchment or vellum, on which certain portions of the law were written. The Jews tied these about their foreheads and arms, for three different purposes.

1. To put them in mind of those precepts which they should constantly observe.

2. To procure them reverence and respect in the sight of the heathen. And

3. To act as amulets or charms to drive away evil spirits. The first use of these phylacteries is evident from their name. The second use appears from what is said on the subject from the Gemara, Beracoth, chap. 1., quoted by Kypke. “Whence is it proved that phylacteries, (תפילינ, tephilin,) are the strength of Israel?-Ans. From what is written, Deuteronomy 28:10. All the, people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name [of hwhy Jehovah]-and they shall be afraid of thee.

The third use of them appears from the Targum, on Cant. Song of Solomon 8:3. His left hand is under my head, &c. “The congregation of Israel hath said, I am elect above all people, because I bind my phylacteries on my left hand, and on my head, and the scroll is fixed to the right side of my gate, the third part of which looks to my bed-chamber, that DÆMONS may not be permitted to INJURE me.”

An original phylactery lies now before me. It is a piece of fine vellum, about eighteen inches long, and an inch and quarter broad. It is divided into four unequal compartments: in the first is written, in a very fair character, with many apices, after the mode of the German Jews, the first ten verses of Exod. 13, (Exodus 13:1-10); in the second compartment is written, from the eleventh to the sixteenth verse of the same chapter (Exodus 13:11-16), inclusive in the third, from the fourth to the ninth verse (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), inclusive, of Deut. 6., beginning with, Hear, O Israel, &c.; in the fourth, from the thirteenth to the twenty-first verse, inclusive, of Deut. 11 (Deuteronomy 11:13-21).

These passages seem to be chosen in vindication of the use of the phylactery itself, as the reader will see on consulting them: Bind them for a SIGN upon thy HAND-and for FRONTLETS between thy EYES-write them upon the POSTS of thy HOUSE, and upon thy GATES; all which commands the Jews took in the most literal sense.

Even the phylactery became an important appendage to a Pharisee’s character, insomuch that some of them wore them very broad, either that they might have the more written on them, or that, the characters being larger, they might be the more visible, and that they might hereby acquire greater esteem among the common people, as being more than ordinarily religious. For the same reason, they wore the fringes of their garments of an unusual length. Moses had commanded (Numbers 15:38, 39) the children of Israel to put fringes to the borders of their garments, that, when they looked upon even these distinct threads, they might remember, not only the law in general, but also the very minutiæ, or smaller parts of all the precepts, rites, and ceremonies, belonging to it. As these hypocrites were destitute of all the life and power of religion within, they endeavoured to supply its place by phylacteries and fringes without. See Clark’s note on “Exodus 13:9”.

Verses 5-7. All their works they do to be seen of men — They have the praise of men in view in all their actions. Hence they are constant and abundant in those duties of religion which come under the observation of men; but with respect to those that are of a more spiritual nature, and lie between God and their own souls, or should be performed in the retirements of their closets, they desire to be excused. As the mere form of godliness will procure them a name to live, which is all they aim at; they therefore trouble not themselves about the power of it, which is essential to being alive indeed. They make broad their phylacteries — The Jews understanding those words literally, It shall be as a token upon thy hand, and as frontlets between thine eyes, (Exodus 13:16;) And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, (Deuteronomy 6:8,) used to wear little scrolls of paper or parchment bound on their wrists and foreheads, on which several texts of Scripture were written. These they supposed, as a kind of charm, would preserve them from danger. And hence they seemed to have been called phylacteries, or preservatives. See the notes on these passages. And enlarge the borders (or fringes) of their garments — Which God had enjoined them to wear, to remind them of doing all the commandments, Numbers 15:38. These, as well as their phylacteries, the Pharisees affected to wear broader and larger than other men. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, &c. — In which guests of the first quality were used to sit; and the chief seats in the synagogues — “There showing their pride, where they ought to have taught others humility.” — Theophylact. And greetings, or salutations, in the markets — And other places of common concourse. And to be called of men, Rabbi, rabbi — A title of honour, which they were fond of having repeated at every sentence. “The word rabbi properly signifies great, and was prefixed to the names of those doctors who had rendered themselves remarkable by the extent of their learning, or who were the authors of new schemes in divinity; heads of sects, whose fame had gained them many followers. This title the Jewish doctors were particularly fond of, because it was a high compliment paid to their understanding, gave them vast authority with their disciples, and made them look big in the eyes of the world. It was the very next thing to infallible.”

Ver. 5. They make broad their phylacteries. Almost every jew to the present day has a phylactery, curiously made of leather or parchment, and worn on the left arm. The passages of the law usually written are such as the following. Exodus 13:3-10. 23:11-16. Deuteronomy 6:5-9. 9:13-21. Some wore them on their foreheads, covered in part by turbans. The word is untranslated, and the admonition of Moses is good. The point reproved by our Saviour, is a vain and ostentatious parade of piety.

5. Phylacteries — The Greek word signifying preservatives. The phylactery was a passage of Scripture, written on parchment, folded up, and tied on the forehead, so that it should be always in front of their eyes. This was a kind of mechanical observance of Deuteronomy 6:8, where Moses says of his laws: “Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” The phylactery became in popular estimation, an amulet to repel demons, diseases, and other evils. Enlarge the borders of their garments — Moses had ordered the Israelites to distinguish themselves from the heathen by fringes of blue, in the borders of their garments. So, as circumcision distinguished their bodies, these borders distinguished their dress. To mark their intense Judaism, these men affected a very broad border. A strong exhibition of national feeling in this way was intended to secure popularity. It was done in order to be seen of men.

Verse 5. Phylacteries. — The Jews were commanded to bind the words of the law as a sign on their hands, and as frontlets between their eyes, Deuteronomy 6:8. These were strong figurative expressions, denoting the constant regard to be paid to the commands of God, which were never to be absent from the thoughts, and to be constantly referred to in order to regulate the conduct. But the Pharisees chose to interpret them literally, and to wear cases of parchment, into which they put written sentences of the law, and bound them upon the forehead and wrists. They are called in Greek phylacteries, from fulattw, to guard or keep, because they were used to preserve the law in memory, in order to its observance. The Hebrew term is תפלינ, tephillin, or prayers, because these sentences were repeated at their devotions. The Pharisees wore these phylacteries, either broader than others, so that more might be written upon them, or they enlarged the case, so as to contain a greater number of sentences, so that they might appear to have a greater reverence for the law than others. The sentences written on the phylacteries are supposed to have been, Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Exodus 13:2-11, the eight last verses of the same chapter, and Deuteronomy 11:13-22.

Enlarge the borders of their garments. — The command to the Israelites to wear borders or fringes, kraspeda, on their garments, with a blue or purple band on the fringe, Numbers 15:38, could only be taken literally. It was probably designed to distinguish the Jews from other nations; and that, by looking upon it, and remembering that they were a peculiar people, they might be admonished to observe their laws. Our Lord conformed to the custom of his country in this respect; for what is translated “the hem of his garment,” ought to have been rendered the fringe. It is said that the Jews still wear a small square piece, sewed on the inside of their clothes, with four purple tufts, in compliance with this precept. The Pharisees enlarged these fringes from the same motive as they enlarged their phylacteries, that they might seem exuberantly regardful of the Divine commands.

Verses 5-7. All their works they do to be seen of men — They have the praise of men in view in all their actions. Hence they are constant and abundant in those duties of religion which come under the observation of men; but with respect to those that are of a more spiritual nature, and lie between God and their own souls, or should be performed in the retirements of their closets, they desire to be excused. As the mere form of godliness will procure them a name to live, which is all they aim at; they therefore trouble not themselves about the power of it, which is essential to being alive indeed. They make broad their phylacteries — The Jews understanding those words literally, It shall be as a token upon thy hand, and as frontlets between thine eyes, (Exodus 13:16;) And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, (Deuteronomy 6:8,) used to wear little scrolls of paper or parchment bound on their wrists and foreheads, on which several texts of Scripture were written. These they supposed, as a kind of charm, would preserve them from danger. And hence they seemed to have been called phylacteries, or preservatives. See the notes on these passages. And enlarge the borders (or fringes) of their garments — Which God had enjoined them to wear, to remind them of doing all the commandments, Numbers 15:38. These, as well as their phylacteries, the Pharisees affected to wear broader and larger than other men. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, &c. — In which guests of the first quality were used to sit; and the chief seats in the synagogues — “There showing their pride, where they ought to have taught others humility.” — Theophylact. And greetings, or salutations, in the markets — And other places of common concourse. And to be called of men, Rabbi, rabbi — A title of honour, which they were fond of having repeated at every sentence. “The word rabbi properly signifies great, and was prefixed to the names of those doctors who had rendered themselves remarkable by the extent of their learning, or who were the authors of new schemes in divinity; heads of sects, whose fame had gained them many followers. This title the Jewish doctors were particularly fond of, because it was a high compliment paid to their understanding, gave them vast authority with their disciples, and made them look big in the eyes of the world. It was the very next thing to infallible.”

6. And love the uppermost — Our Lord here explains the motive of all this display of external holiness and ultra Judaism. They desired to establish and enjoy the privileges of a religious caste or hierarchy. It was not the holiness of the people, or their salvation, or benefit they sought; but a self-exaltation into power. Uppermost rooms at feasts — It must never be forgotten that at their meals the ancients used not chairs, nor seats, but couches, and that they did not sit but recline. Three tables were so placed as to form the three sides of a square, with the fourth open for entrance. Upon the side opposite the open entrance was the master’s place; in the middle room of the couch occupied by himself, and the positions nearest him, were the places of honour. The uppermost room does not, therefore, signify a high room in the house, but the most noble reclining place, and this was the uppermost room, to which their ambition aspired. Chief seats in the synagogues — Seats in the front of the congregation and facing it. See note on Matthew 4:23. The passage might be more strictly rendered, they “love the uppermost reclining-places at feasts and the foreseats in the synagogues.” The ancients reclined at feasts but sat in synagogues.

Verse 6. Uppermost rooms. — That is, the most honourable seats. The custom of reclining at meals on couches had been long introduced into Judea. These couches generally contained three persons each. The most honourable place was the middle part of the middle couch, and the second was at the top. In still more ancient times, however, this distinction of honourable places was observed. “And Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden,” 1 Samuel 9:22.

The chief seats in the synagogues. — Seniority was the general rule of sitting in the synagogue; but respect being often shown to men learned in the law though younger in years, the scribes claimed that boldly and intrusively out of pure self-complacency, which had been sometimes rendered them through courtesy. In the synagogues the elders sat before the ark, or chest, in which the holy books were deposited, and the people in rows fronting them, so that “the faces of all the people,” says Maimonides, “were toward the elders and the ark.” It was this elevated position among the elders which the scribes and Pharisees affected in the synagogues, and even the chief seats there.

Verse 7. To be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.] ybr ybr, i.e. My teacher! my teacher! The second rabbi is omitted by several excellent MSS., by most of the ancient versions, and by some of the fathers. Griesbach has left it in the text, with the note of doubtfulness.

There are three words used among the Jews as titles of dignity, which they apply to their doctors-Rabh, Rabbi, and Rabban; each of these terms has its particular meaning: rabban implies much more than rabbi, and rabbi much more than rabh.

They may be considered as three degrees of comparison: rabh great, rabbi greater, and rabban greatest. These rabbins were looked up to as infallible oracles in religious matters, and usurped not only the place of the law, but of God himself.

Verses 5-7. All their works they do to be seen of men — They have the praise of men in view in all their actions. Hence they are constant and abundant in those duties of religion which come under the observation of men; but with respect to those that are of a more spiritual nature, and lie between God and their own souls, or should be performed in the retirements of their closets, they desire to be excused. As the mere form of godliness will procure them a name to live, which is all they aim at; they therefore trouble not themselves about the power of it, which is essential to being alive indeed. They make broad their phylacteries — The Jews understanding those words literally, It shall be as a token upon thy hand, and as frontlets between thine eyes, (Exodus 13:16;) And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, (Deuteronomy 6:8,) used to wear little scrolls of paper or parchment bound on their wrists and foreheads, on which several texts of Scripture were written. These they supposed, as a kind of charm, would preserve them from danger. And hence they seemed to have been called phylacteries, or preservatives. See the notes on these passages. And enlarge the borders (or fringes) of their garments — Which God had enjoined them to wear, to remind them of doing all the commandments, Numbers 15:38. These, as well as their phylacteries, the Pharisees affected to wear broader and larger than other men. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, &c. — In which guests of the first quality were used to sit; and the chief seats in the synagogues — “There showing their pride, where they ought to have taught others humility.” — Theophylact. And greetings, or salutations, in the markets — And other places of common concourse. And to be called of men, Rabbi, rabbi — A title of honour, which they were fond of having repeated at every sentence. “The word rabbi properly signifies great, and was prefixed to the names of those doctors who had rendered themselves remarkable by the extent of their learning, or who were the authors of new schemes in divinity; heads of sects, whose fame had gained them many followers. This title the Jewish doctors were particularly fond of, because it was a high compliment paid to their understanding, gave them vast authority with their disciples, and made them look big in the eyes of the world. It was the very next thing to infallible.”

7. Greetings in the market places — Perversions of the ordinary tokens of social respect to the purpose of establishing an abject submission on the part of the people and a spirit of man-worship. Thereby the Rabbi attained an exaltation to the rank of a popular demigod, without any quality entitling him to veneration. Rabbi — This was the honorary title of the Jewish doctor. It had three degrees, of which the first was Rab, the great or master. The second was Rabbi, my master. The third was Rabboni, my great master. The results of all this systematic titling were, 1. To place the Rabbi in a position of arbitrary authority, by which truth and falsehood were at his mercy. 2. To destroy all mental independence on the part of the people, which again reacted to produce a more despotic mastery in the hierarchy.

Verse 7. Greetings in the markets. — Aspasmouv en taiv agoraov, salutations in the public places. These salutations, short and simple among all in ancient times, had become disgustingly long and ceremonious, and especially when a person of superior rank was addressed. They were commenced at a distance, accompanied with various humble gestures, and continued till the parties met. These forms the scribes and Pharisees exacted of their disciples and the common people.

Rabbi, rabbi. — This word, which imports greatness or eminence, was doubled for the sake of the greater emphasis. Anciently it was only given to persons of superior civil rank, as magistrates and princes; nor was it assumed by any of the prophets or wise men among the Jews, till about the birth of Christ, when the pride of the Jewish doctors began to show itself more extravagantly. Our Lord was saluted by this title, Matthew 26:25; from which some have conjectured very vainly that he had taken that degree in the Jewish schools, which is entirely contradicted by the question of the Jews when Christ was teaching in the temple, “Whence hath this man letters,” or learning, “having never learned?” plainly meaning in the Jewish schools. And the argument of Vitringa, that unless he had so passed the schools he could not have preached in the temple and synagogues, is built upon a mistake; for any Jew might thus teach publicly, and even in the synagogue, by permission of the ruler. If, therefore, our Lord suffered himself to be called rabbi, we may conclude that, as a matter of courtesy to a superior, this title was not forbidden, any more than he condemns courteous salutations, because he reproves those elaborate and humiliating forms of greetings which the scribes and Pharisees affected. With these assuming men, the title rabbi is to be understood as a recognition of their office and authority as religious teachers; and it is for this reason that it is reproved by our Lord, and their example is forbidden to be imitated by his disciples. That it was assumed under this view appears from what follows, when our Lord equally forbids them to call any man father and master, kaqhghthv, guide; which, with rabbi, were the titles the Jewish doctors assumed; for the Talmud pretends “that King Jehoshaphat used to salute the wise men with the titles, Father, father; Rabbi, rabbi; Master, master,” which, however false as an historical fact, shows what the titles they affected were. Now our Lord, instead of conceding them to be authorized teachers of religion, by prohibiting his disciples from giving them these titles under this character, not as matter of civil respect, wholly disallows their authority to exercise this office, tacitly pronounces it an assumption, and warns his disciples from imitating them. This will confirm what was said in a preceding note as to the import of their “sitting in Moses’ seat.” Be not ye called rabbi, &c. — Though the disciples were to be constituted public teachers, this was only as servants conveying the words of their Master only to the people, without any mixture of their own. The Jewish teachers assumed an authority to set up tradition above the law, to pervert its meaning, and to make additions to it, on the sole authority of their own pretended wisdom. But the disciples were only to speak the words of another; and all titles, therefore, complimentary to their own wisdom, and which indicated any authority arising from their personal qualifications, were specially forbidden to them. This explains the reasons of the prohibition which follows: One is your Master, there is but one teacher, even Christ; and all ye are brethren, placed on equality in this respect, that ye are but the channels of communicating the wisdom ye receive from above to others: and call no man your FATHER upon earth; for one is your Father, a term here used also in the sense of instructer, which is in heaven: neither be ye called guides; for one is your guide, even Christ. One is your Master. — The received text reads kaqhghthv; but the Vatican, and many other MSS., have didaskalov, teacher, which is probably the true reading, as otherwise there would be a repetition in verse 10.

Even Christ. — O Cristov is omitted by Griesbach, and is wanting in several of the versions, and a few MSS.; but the evidence in its favour greatly preponderates. As Campbell, however, observes, ‘“it makes no difference in the sense, because if not read, the context manifestly supplies it.”

V. 8, 9, 10. The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their several disciples, whom they required,

1. To believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any farther reason; 2. To obey implicitly what they enjoined, without seeking farther authority.

Our Lord, therefore, by forbidding us either to give or receive the title of rabbi, master, or father, forbids us either to receive any such reverence, or to pay any such to any but God.

Verse 8. But be not ye called Rabbi] As our Lord probably spoke in Hebrew, the latter word rabbi, in this verse, must have been in the plural; but as the contracted form of the plural sounds almost exactly like the singular, the Greek writer would naturally express them both in the same letters.

None of the prophets had ever received this title, nor any of the Jewish doctors before the time of Hillel and Shammai, which was about the time of our Lord; and, as disputes on several subjects had run high between these two schools, the people were of course divided; some acknowledging Hillel as rabbi,-infallible teacher, and others giving this title to Shammai. The Pharisees, who always sought the honour that comes from men, assumed the title, and got their followers to address them by it. See on Matthew 19:3.

One is your Master] Instead of kaqhghthv, guide or leader, (the common reading here, and which occurs in Matthew 23:10,) the famous Vatican MS., upwards of fifty others, and most of the ancient versions, read didaskalov, master. The most eminent critics approve of this reading and, independently of the very respectable authority by which it is supported, it is evident that this reading is more consistent with the context than the other,- Be not ye called MASTERS, for one is your MASTER.

Even Christ] Griesbach has left this out of the text, because it is wanting in many of the most excellent MSS., versions, and fathers. Mill and Bengel approve of the omission. It might have been brought into this verse from Matthew 23:10. Our Lord probably alludes to Isaiah 54:13, All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.

Ye are brethren.] No one among you is higher than another, or can possibly have from me any jurisdiction over the rest. Ye are, in this respect, perfectly equal.

Verses 8-10. Be not ye called rabbi — Do not affect those titles of reverence and respect which give too much honour or authority to man. The Jewish doctors were called rabbis, fathers, and masters, by their several disciples, whom they required both to believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any further reason, and to obey unreservedly what they enjoined, without seeking for any further authority. But our Lord here teaches his apostles, and their successors in the ministry of the gospel, that they were to be very different from these Jewish teachers. They were to decline being called rabbi, because the thing signified by the term belonged solely to their Master, in whom the whole treasures of divine knowledge and wisdom are hid; and who, for that reason, is the only infallible teacher of his church; and also, because they owed none of their knowledge to themselves, but derived it entirely from him, in which respect they were all brethren, and on a level. And they were to call no man father upon earth — To consider no man as the father of their religion, that is, the founder, author, or director of it; to look up to no man with the reverence wherewith a child should regard a father, or so as to yield an absolute subjection to his will and pleasure, or be absolutely swayed and governed thereby; because one was their Father who is in heaven, the source, as of their being, so of all their blessings, and especially of their religion; the fountain and founder of it; the life and Lord of it. Our Lord adds, Neither be ye called masters — Gr. kaqhlhtai, leaders, or guides. That is, of the judgments and consciences of men, because, says he, one is your Master, even Christ — The infallible instructer and guide of his church in all matters of faith and practice; commissioned by his Father to reveal his will, and teach all that is needful to be known, believed, or done, in order to salvation; whose apostles even were only to be regarded as his ministers and ambassadors, and only to be credited because, by their gifts and miraculous powers derived from him, they manifested that they taught men those things which he had commanded, and by his Spirit had revealed to them. Thus our Lord, the more effectually to enforce this warning against an unlimited veneration for the judgments and decisions of men, as a most important lesson, puts it in a variety of lights, and prohibits them from regarding any man with an implicit and blind partiality as teacher, father, or guide. Upon the whole, the things forbidden are, 1st, a vain-glorious affectation of such titles as these, the ambitious seeking of them, and glorying in them; 2d, that authority and dominion over the consciences of men, which the Pharisaical doctors had usurped; telling the people that they ought to believe all their doctrines, and practise all their injunctions, as the commands of the living God.

Ver. 8. Be ye not called rabbi, my master, as the next words explain; for one is your Master, even Christ. No title is given, except that of scribes, to Nehemiah and Ezra, who came from Babylon. The title had its origin in the Hebrew schools, where we find rab and rabbam. Our Saviour does not reprehend a scholar for saying, my master, but the ambition of such as aimed at that distinction in religious matters. Every professor in the sciences has a name expressive of the nature of his official engagements, and this is plainly a matter of convenience. The clergy also at the reformation were distinguished by being called “Clerks.” The papists were the first that called their aged fathers “Reverend,” and hence it has become general to this day, as a term of courtesy, to distinguish a man’s profession.

8. Be not ye called Rabbi — This does not forbid the ordinary diplomas of our literary institutions, any more than verse seven forbids the exchange of the ordinary civilities of life. Honour is due to learning; as wealth to industry, and authority to office. It is the thing, not the word, which our Lord here condemns under the word. Master — Our word mister is this same word master. If the title doctor is unscriptural, then the very word which we appropriate to the most ordinary man is equally so. We are thereby brought to a Quakerism. And Quakerism is, in another form, that same Phariseeism which is condemned in the fourth verse, which interpreted Deuteronomy 6:8, so as to require literal phylacteries.

V. 8, 9, 10. The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their several disciples, whom they required,

1. To believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any farther reason; 2. To obey implicitly what they enjoined, without seeking farther authority.

Our Lord, therefore, by forbidding us either to give or receive the title of rabbi, master, or father, forbids us either to receive any such reverence, or to pay any such to any but God.

Verse 9. Call no man your FATHER] Our Lord probably alludes to the AB, or father of the Sanhedrin, who was the next after the nasi, or president. See on Matthew 20:21. By which he gives his disciples to understand that he would have no SECOND, after himself, established in his Church, of which he alone was the head; and that perfect equality must subsist among them.

Verses 8-10. Be not ye called rabbi — Do not affect those titles of reverence and respect which give too much honour or authority to man. The Jewish doctors were called rabbis, fathers, and masters, by their several disciples, whom they required both to believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any further reason, and to obey unreservedly what they enjoined, without seeking for any further authority. But our Lord here teaches his apostles, and their successors in the ministry of the gospel, that they were to be very different from these Jewish teachers. They were to decline being called rabbi, because the thing signified by the term belonged solely to their Master, in whom the whole treasures of divine knowledge and wisdom are hid; and who, for that reason, is the only infallible teacher of his church; and also, because they owed none of their knowledge to themselves, but derived it entirely from him, in which respect they were all brethren, and on a level. And they were to call no man father upon earth — To consider no man as the father of their religion, that is, the founder, author, or director of it; to look up to no man with the reverence wherewith a child should regard a father, or so as to yield an absolute subjection to his will and pleasure, or be absolutely swayed and governed thereby; because one was their Father who is in heaven, the source, as of their being, so of all their blessings, and especially of their religion; the fountain and founder of it; the life and Lord of it. Our Lord adds, Neither be ye called masters — Gr. kaqhlhtai, leaders, or guides. That is, of the judgments and consciences of men, because, says he, one is your Master, even Christ — The infallible instructer and guide of his church in all matters of faith and practice; commissioned by his Father to reveal his will, and teach all that is needful to be known, believed, or done, in order to salvation; whose apostles even were only to be regarded as his ministers and ambassadors, and only to be credited because, by their gifts and miraculous powers derived from him, they manifested that they taught men those things which he had commanded, and by his Spirit had revealed to them. Thus our Lord, the more effectually to enforce this warning against an unlimited veneration for the judgments and decisions of men, as a most important lesson, puts it in a variety of lights, and prohibits them from regarding any man with an implicit and blind partiality as teacher, father, or guide. Upon the whole, the things forbidden are, 1st, a vain-glorious affectation of such titles as these, the ambitious seeking of them, and glorying in them; 2d, that authority and dominion over the consciences of men, which the Pharisaical doctors had usurped; telling the people that they ought to believe all their doctrines, and practise all their injunctions, as the commands of the living God.

9. Call no man your father — Here again we should obviously fall into absurdity by a bare verbal and literal mode of interpretation. Has not the child a right to call his own parent father? Our Lord does not condemn the greetings and appellations which express the cordial, affectionate, and respectful feelings of life. This is the reverse of the Gospel spirit. But under the symbol of the names father, master, and rabbi, he does forbid that submission to men which stands in the way of our submission to our father God, or master Christ, and our Rabbi, the Holy Spirit in his word and influences.

The word pope signifies father. If ever in the history of men the title father has been assumed in express transgression of Christ’s command, it is in his case. Never has the title been used to cover a more despotic or illegitimate authority, or to produce a more abject surrender of body and soul into the hands of ravenous and remorseless men. Yet even in this case the guilt is not in the title but in the spiritual despotism the title expresses.

Verse 9. Call no man father, &c. — That is, in the sense in which the scribes and Pharisees use the term, which also was with them a reverential designation, of themselves as eminent and authoritative INSTRUCTERS. Thus the Jews say, “The wise men are the fathers of us all;” and we read in their writings, not only Rabbi Saul; and Rabbi Jose, but Abba Saul, Abba Gorion, &c.

V. 8, 9, 10. The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their several disciples, whom they required,

1. To believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any farther reason; 2. To obey implicitly what they enjoined, without seeking farther authority.

Our Lord, therefore, by forbidding us either to give or receive the title of rabbi, master, or father, forbids us either to receive any such reverence, or to pay any such to any but God.

Verse 10. Neither be ye called masters] kaqhghtai, leaders. God is in all these respects jealous of his honour. To him alone it belongs to guide and lead his Church, as well as to govern and defend it. Jesus is the sole teacher of righteousness. It is he alone, (who is the word, light, and eternal truth,) that can illuminate every created mind; and who, as Saviour and Redeemer, speaks to every heart by his Spirit.

Though the title of Rabbi, mentioned above, was comparatively recent in the time of our Lord, yet it was in great vogue, as were the others-father and master, mentioned in this and the following verse: some had all three titles, for thus in Bab. Maccoth, fol. 24. It is feigned,” says Dr. Lightfoot, “that when King Jehosaphat saw a disciple of the wise men, he rose up out of his throne, and embraced him, and said, yrm yrm ybr ybr yba yba, Abbi, Abbi! Rabbi, Rabbi! Mori, Mori!-Father, Father! Rabbi, Rabbi! Master, Master!” Here then are the three titles which, in Matthew 23:7, 8, 10, our blessed Lord condemns; and these were titles that the Jewish doctors greatly affected.

Verses 8-10. Be not ye called rabbi — Do not affect those titles of reverence and respect which give too much honour or authority to man. The Jewish doctors were called rabbis, fathers, and masters, by their several disciples, whom they required both to believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any further reason, and to obey unreservedly what they enjoined, without seeking for any further authority. But our Lord here teaches his apostles, and their successors in the ministry of the gospel, that they were to be very different from these Jewish teachers. They were to decline being called rabbi, because the thing signified by the term belonged solely to their Master, in whom the whole treasures of divine knowledge and wisdom are hid; and who, for that reason, is the only infallible teacher of his church; and also, because they owed none of their knowledge to themselves, but derived it entirely from him, in which respect they were all brethren, and on a level. And they were to call no man father upon earth — To consider no man as the father of their religion, that is, the founder, author, or director of it; to look up to no man with the reverence wherewith a child should regard a father, or so as to yield an absolute subjection to his will and pleasure, or be absolutely swayed and governed thereby; because one was their Father who is in heaven, the source, as of their being, so of all their blessings, and especially of their religion; the fountain and founder of it; the life and Lord of it. Our Lord adds, Neither be ye called masters — Gr. kaqhlhtai, leaders, or guides. That is, of the judgments and consciences of men, because, says he, one is your Master, even Christ — The infallible instructer and guide of his church in all matters of faith and practice; commissioned by his Father to reveal his will, and teach all that is needful to be known, believed, or done, in order to salvation; whose apostles even were only to be regarded as his ministers and ambassadors, and only to be credited because, by their gifts and miraculous powers derived from him, they manifested that they taught men those things which he had commanded, and by his Spirit had revealed to them. Thus our Lord, the more effectually to enforce this warning against an unlimited veneration for the judgments and decisions of men, as a most important lesson, puts it in a variety of lights, and prohibits them from regarding any man with an implicit and blind partiality as teacher, father, or guide. Upon the whole, the things forbidden are, 1st, a vain-glorious affectation of such titles as these, the ambitious seeking of them, and glorying in them; 2d, that authority and dominion over the consciences of men, which the Pharisaical doctors had usurped; telling the people that they ought to believe all their doctrines, and practise all their injunctions, as the commands of the living God.

AND PHARISEES WITH A DIVINE ELOQUENCE, 1-39.

1. To the multitude, and to his disciples — His active enemies have each made their assault and departed. He now turns to his own disciples and the multitude, warns them of the wickedness and danger of these his enemies, (1-12,) pronounces the approaching woes of Jerusalem, (13-36,) and closes with a strain of melting tenderness over the guilty city, (37-39.)

Verse 10. Neither be ye called masters. — Kaqhghtai, guides, in the sense of affording direction by instruction. All these titles were nearly of the same import, were assumed for the same reason, and the pretence built upon by them is therefore beaten down by our Lord by their being equally prohibited. As our Lord knew that human nature was in all fallen and corrupt, but proud and ambitious, he adds, But he that is greatest among you, let him be your servant; thereby striking at the root of that vanity which gave rise among the Jewish teachers to this assumption of vain titles, and teaching that, in his religion, true greatness lies only in self-abasement, and honour in service.

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, &c. — This is the standing rule of the Divine administration. It was illustrated in the humiliation of the proud scribes and doctors of Judea, and in the glory put upon the humble teachers sent forth by our Lord. It often appears conspicuously in God’s dispensations to individuals and to nations; and an attentive observer will see it perhaps more uniformly illustrated by facts than any ether principle of God’s moral government in the present life. Even this was often noticed by the heathen, as appears from various passages both in Greek and Latin authors. “Do you see,” says one, “how the loftiest... houses and the highest trees are struck by the thunder? For God loves to cut short whatever rises superior.” “God suffers no one to have lofty thoughts but himself.”

V. 11. Matthew 20:26.

Verse 11. Your servant.] diakonov, deacon. See on Matthew 20:26.

Verses 11, 12. But he that is greatest among you, &c. — If any one among you would in reality be greater than another, let him be the more condescending, kind, and ready cheerfully to serve others in love. The words may either imply, 1st, a promise that such should be accounted greatest, and stand highest in the favour of God, who should be most humble, submissive, and serviceable: or, 2d, a precept enjoining the person who should be advanced to any place of dignity, trust, or honour in the church, to consider himself as peculiarly called thereby, not to be a lord, but a minister, and to serve others in love. Thus Paul, who knew his privilege as well as duty, though free from all, yet made himself servant of all, 1 Corinthians 9:19. And our Lord frequently pressed it upon his disciples to be humble and self-denying, mild and condescending, and to abound in all the offices of Christian love, though mean, and to the meanest; and of this he set a continual example. Whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be humbled, &c. — It is observable that no one sentence of our Lord’s is so often repeated as this: it occurs with scarcely any variation at least ten times in the evangelists.

11. Shall be your servant — The pope indeed styles himself servus servorum, servant of servants. And if the name fulfilled the thing this would be enough.

V. 12. Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted-It is observable that no one sentence of our Lord's is so often repeated as this: it occurs, with scarce any variation, at least ten times in the evangelists. Luke 14:11; 18:14.

Verse 12. Whosoever shall exalt himself, &c.] The way to arrive at the highest degree of dignity, in the sight of God, is by being willing to become the servant of all. Nothing is more hateful in his sight than pride; to bring it into everlasting contempt, God was manifest in the flesh. He who was in the likeness of God took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and humbled himself unto death. After this, can God look upon any proud man without abasing him? Spiritual lordship and domination, ecclesiastical luxury, pomp, and pride, must be an abhorrence in the sight of that God who gave the above advices to his followers. Another lesson, which our blessed Lord teaches here, is, that no man is implicitly to receive the sayings, doctrines, and decisions of any man, or number of men, in the things which concern the interests of his immortal soul. Christ, his Spirit, and his word, are the only infallible teachers. Every man who wishes to save his soul must search the Scriptures, by prayer and faith. Reader, take counsel with the pious; hear the discourses of the wise and holy: but let the book of God ultimately fix thy creed.

Verses 11, 12. But he that is greatest among you, &c. — If any one among you would in reality be greater than another, let him be the more condescending, kind, and ready cheerfully to serve others in love. The words may either imply, 1st, a promise that such should be accounted greatest, and stand highest in the favour of God, who should be most humble, submissive, and serviceable: or, 2d, a precept enjoining the person who should be advanced to any place of dignity, trust, or honour in the church, to consider himself as peculiarly called thereby, not to be a lord, but a minister, and to serve others in love. Thus Paul, who knew his privilege as well as duty, though free from all, yet made himself servant of all, 1 Corinthians 9:19. And our Lord frequently pressed it upon his disciples to be humble and self-denying, mild and condescending, and to abound in all the offices of Christian love, though mean, and to the meanest; and of this he set a continual example. Whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be humbled, &c. — It is observable that no one sentence of our Lord’s is so often repeated as this: it occurs with scarcely any variation at least ten times in the evangelists.

12. Whosoever shall exalt himself — By these various modes of assumption. Shall be abased — By the divine condemnation. Exalted — By the divine approbation, and the honour that cometh from God. This maxim Jesus is represented as repeating more times than any other.

V. 13. Wo to you-Our Lord pronounced eight blessings upon the mount: he pronounces eight woes here; not as imprecations, but solemn, compassionate declarations of the misery, which these stubborn sinners were bringing upon themselves.

Ye go not in-For ye are not poor in spirit; and ye hinder those that would be so.

Verse 13. - 14. Wo unto you, scribes] I think the fourteenth and thirteenth verses should be transposed. This transposition is authorized by some of the best MSS., versions, and fathers. The fourteenth is wanting in the BDL., and in many others of inferior note, as well as in several of the versions. Griesbach has left it out of the text, in his first edition; I hesitated, and left it in, thus transposed. I am happy to find that a more extensive collation of MSS., &c., afforded proof to that eminent critic that it should be restored to its place. In the second edition, he has transposed the two, just as I had done. The fifteenth reads best after the thirteenth. -Verse 13. Ye shut up the kingdom] As a key by opening a lock gives entrance into a house, &c., so knowledge of the sacred testimonies, manifested in expounding them to the people, may be said to open the way into the kingdom of heaven. But where men who are termed teachers are destitute of this knowledge themselves, they may be said to shut this kingdom; because they occupy the place of those who should teach, and thus prevent the people from acquiring heavenly knowledge.

In ancient times the rabbins carried a key, which was the symbol or emblem of knowledge. Hence it is written in Semachoth, chap. 8.,” When Rab. Samuel the little died, his key and his tablets were hung on his tomb, because he died childless.” See Schoettgen. The kingdom of heaven here means the Gospel of Christ; the Pharisees would not receive it themselves, and hindered the common people as far as they could.

Verses 13-15. But wo to you, scribes, &c. — Our Lord pronounced eight blessings upon the mount, he pronounces eight woes here, not as imprecations, but solemn, compassionate declarations of the misery which these stubborn sinners were bringing upon themselves. The reasons of his denouncing these woes are set forth in this and the subsequent verses. The first is here given: For you shut the kingdom of heaven against men — Namely, by the prejudices you are so zealous to propagate among the people, and by taking away, as it is expressed Luke 11:52, the key of knowledge, or the right interpretation of the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah, by your example and authority; for they both rejected Jesus themselves and excommunicated those who received him. In short, they did all they could to hinder the people from repenting of their sins, and believing in the gospel. Wo unto you, for ye devour widows’ houses, &c. — Here we have the second reason of these woes. They were covetous, rapacious, and committed the grossest iniquities under a cloak of religion; making long prayers in order to hide their villany. Ye compass sea and land — In these words we have the reason of the third wo. They manifested the greatest zeal imaginable in making proselytes, compassing sea and land, that is, making long journeys and voyages, and leaving no means untried to accomplish that end, while their intention in all this was not the glory of God and the salvation of men’s souls, but their own honour and profit; that they might have the credit of making men proselytes, and the advantage of making a prey of them when they were made. Ye make him two-fold more the child of hell — In the heathen countries these interested, worldly-minded zealots accommodated religion to the humours of men, placing it, not in the eternal and immutable rules of righteousness, but in ceremonial observances; the effect of which was, either that their proselytes became more superstitious, more immoral, and more presumptuous than their teachers; or that, taking them for impostors, they relapsed again into their old state of heathenism; and in both cases became two-fold more the children of hell than even the Pharisees themselves, that is, more openly and unlimitedly wicked than they.

EIGHT WOES UPON THE EXISTING POLITICO-RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM, 13-33.

13. Woe — This is a word of solemn denunciation of punishment. As here uttered, it implies that calamities of the most awful nature are impending over its guilty objects from the divine justice. It is the proclamation of a retributive destiny for years and ages of sin. Jesus apostrophises the scribes and Pharisees as if present.

Shut up the kingdom of heaven — They closed the doors of the Gospel by their false interpretations and by their wicked influence, and prevented the Jewish nation from receiving its Messiah. They will neither be saved themselves, nor allow others to be so. For this he pronounces the FIRST WOE.

Verse 13. But wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, &c. — Our Lord here assumes his office as Judge of men, and authoritatively pronounces a succession of woes upon this wretched class of hypocrites and deceivers. Shut the kingdom of heaven. — The kingdom of heaven is here the spiritual kingdom of Messiah, the Gospel dispensation. It had been opened by the joint preaching of John the Baptist and our Lord; and the people were on the point of entering in, but were hindered by the envious and malignant attempts of these false teachers to excite their prejudices and pervert their minds. Their example, their doctrine, especially their false interpretation of the prophecies, and their authority, were all employed to keep men from embracing that heavenly doctrine which they themselves rejected and despised.

V. 14. Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47.

Verse 14. See Clarke at “Matthew 23:13”.

-Verse 14. Ye devour widows’ houses] On this subject I am in possession of nothing better than the following note of Dr. Whitby. “This sect,” says Josephus, (Ant. l. xvii. chap. 3,) “pretended to a more exact knowledge of the law, on which account the women were subject to them, as pretending to be dear to God. And when Alexandra obtained the government, (Jewish War, b. I. ch. 4,) they insinuated themselves into her favour, as being the exactest sect of the Jews, and the most exact interpreters of the law, and, abusing her simplicity, did as they listed, remove and dispose, bind and loose, and even cut off men. They were in vogue for their long prayers, which they continued sometimes three hours; that perhaps they sold them, as do the Roman priests their masses, or pretended others should be more acceptable to God for them; and so might spoil devout widows by the gifts or salaries they expected from them. Now this being only a hypocritical pretence of piety, must be hateful to God, and so deserve a greater condemnation.” Long prayer] For proofs of long prayers and vain repetitions among Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, see Clarke’s notes on “Matthew 6:7”.

Verses 13-15. But wo to you, scribes, &c. — Our Lord pronounced eight blessings upon the mount, he pronounces eight woes here, not as imprecations, but solemn, compassionate declarations of the misery which these stubborn sinners were bringing upon themselves. The reasons of his denouncing these woes are set forth in this and the subsequent verses. The first is here given: For you shut the kingdom of heaven against men — Namely, by the prejudices you are so zealous to propagate among the people, and by taking away, as it is expressed Luke 11:52, the key of knowledge, or the right interpretation of the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah, by your example and authority; for they both rejected Jesus themselves and excommunicated those who received him. In short, they did all they could to hinder the people from repenting of their sins, and believing in the gospel. Wo unto you, for ye devour widows’ houses, &c. — Here we have the second reason of these woes. They were covetous, rapacious, and committed the grossest iniquities under a cloak of religion; making long prayers in order to hide their villany. Ye compass sea and land — In these words we have the reason of the third wo. They manifested the greatest zeal imaginable in making proselytes, compassing sea and land, that is, making long journeys and voyages, and leaving no means untried to accomplish that end, while their intention in all this was not the glory of God and the salvation of men’s souls, but their own honour and profit; that they might have the credit of making men proselytes, and the advantage of making a prey of them when they were made. Ye make him two-fold more the child of hell — In the heathen countries these interested, worldly-minded zealots accommodated religion to the humours of men, placing it, not in the eternal and immutable rules of righteousness, but in ceremonial observances; the effect of which was, either that their proselytes became more superstitious, more immoral, and more presumptuous than their teachers; or that, taking them for impostors, they relapsed again into their old state of heathenism; and in both cases became two-fold more the children of hell than even the Pharisees themselves, that is, more openly and unlimitedly wicked than they.

14. Devour widows’ houses — This was done sometimes by plotting with the children to deprive their widowed mother of her estate, and sometimes by inducing the widow to give up her estate to themselves for superstitious purposes. For this he pronounces the SECOND WOE. Long prayer — It is not the length of the prayer which is their crime, but the fact that it is a mere pretence. It is used as a cloak to cover their rapacity. A very religious rabbi would pray nine hours a day. Greater damation — The longer their prayers, the more their sin; for they were an appalling mockery of God.

Verse 14. Ye devour widows’ houses. — Oikiav, houses, is here used by metonymy for property. They made a prey of weak superstitious women who, being widows, had no protectors, and had property at their own disposal. And this they did under pretence of the greatest sanctity, making long and frequent prayers, and that so publicly, both in the synagogues and public places, as to be seen and praised of men. We learn the length of their prayers from Maimonides, who says, that “the ancient holy men used to stay an hour before prayer, and an hour after prayer, and spent an hour in prayer. Those who would be accounted the holiest, used to do this three times a day, thus occupying nine hours a day,” — a hard service when the heart was not right with God. “For one to be long in his prayer,” says the Talmud, “is an excellence.” Yet, says our Lord, for these long prayers — because they were made for a pretext, in order to carry on covetous and rapacious designs more effectually, — ye shall receive greater, more extreme damnation. Let it be remarked that neither is length nor shortness of prayer censured or approved. What Christ condemns is simply the hypocrisy, the pretence, or disguise, intended by them. Prayers may be long or short, according to the occasion and circumstances.

Verse 15. Compass sea and land] A proverbial expression, similar to ours, You leave no stone unturned; intimating that they did all in their power to gain converts, not to God, but to their sect. These we may suppose were principally sought for among the Gentiles, for the bulk of the Jewish nation was already on the side of the Pharisees. Proselyte] proshlutov, a stranger, or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country, to sojourn with another. See the different kinds of proselytes explained in Clarke’s note on “Exodus 12:43”. The child of hell] A Hebraism for an excessively wicked person, such as might claim hell for his mother, and the devil for his father. Twofold-the child of] The Greek word diploteron, which has generally been translated twofold, KYPKE has demonstrated to mean more deceitful. aplouv is used by the best Greek writers for simple, sincere, aplothv for simplicity, sincerity; so diplouv, deceitful, dissembling, and diploh, hypocrisy, fraudulence, and diploteron, more fraudulent, more deceitful, more hypocritical. See also Suidas in diploh. Dr. Lightfoot, and others, observe, that the proselytes were considered by the Jewish nation as the scabs of the Church, and hindered the coming of the Messiah; and Justin Martyr observes, that “the proselytes did not only disbelieve Christ’s doctrine, but were abundantly more blasphemous against him than the Jews themselves, endeavouring to torment and cut off the Christians wherever they could; they being in this the instruments of the scribes and Pharisees.”

Verses 13-15. But wo to you, scribes, &c. — Our Lord pronounced eight blessings upon the mount, he pronounces eight woes here, not as imprecations, but solemn, compassionate declarations of the misery which these stubborn sinners were bringing upon themselves. The reasons of his denouncing these woes are set forth in this and the subsequent verses. The first is here given: For you shut the kingdom of heaven against men — Namely, by the prejudices you are so zealous to propagate among the people, and by taking away, as it is expressed Luke 11:52, the key of knowledge, or the right interpretation of the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah, by your example and authority; for they both rejected Jesus themselves and excommunicated those who received him. In short, they did all they could to hinder the people from repenting of their sins, and believing in the gospel. Wo unto you, for ye devour widows’ houses, &c. — Here we have the second reason of these woes. They were covetous, rapacious, and committed the grossest iniquities under a cloak of religion; making long prayers in order to hide their villany. Ye compass sea and land — In these words we have the reason of the third wo. They manifested the greatest zeal imaginable in making proselytes, compassing sea and land, that is, making long journeys and voyages, and leaving no means untried to accomplish that end, while their intention in all this was not the glory of God and the salvation of men’s souls, but their own honour and profit; that they might have the credit of making men proselytes, and the advantage of making a prey of them when they were made. Ye make him two-fold more the child of hell — In the heathen countries these interested, worldly-minded zealots accommodated religion to the humours of men, placing it, not in the eternal and immutable rules of righteousness, but in ceremonial observances; the effect of which was, either that their proselytes became more superstitious, more immoral, and more presumptuous than their teachers; or that, taking them for impostors, they relapsed again into their old state of heathenism; and in both cases became two-fold more the children of hell than even the Pharisees themselves, that is, more openly and unlimitedly wicked than they.

Ver. 15. Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte. The proselytes to judaism were of two orders. The first were circumcised, and might enter the court of the Israelites; the second were proselytes of the gate, baptized, but not circumcised. The whole of these amounted, in our Saviour’s time, to about one fifth of the Hebrew nation. They are here indicated to be still immoral in their lives.

15. Proselyte — The THIRD WOE is pronounced upon their efforts to extend their unhallowed dominion. The Jews were very zealous to make proselytes, and in our Saviour’s day were not a little successful. Twofold more the child of hell — They did not sanctify the proselyte from his old heathen vices, and they imparted to him new Jewish wickedness. A proselyte was a convert from heathenism to Judaism. Proselytes have usually been divided into proselytes of righteousness, which included all who went so far as to worship the true God and observe the practice of primitive morality; and proselytes of the gate, including those who entered completely into Judaism by circumcision and the assuming the obligations of the whole Mosaic ritual. This is, however, comparatively a modern division.

Verse 15. Ye compass sea and land, &c. — This is a proverbial expression, used to denote the most strenuous exertions to accomplish an object. Proselytes are generally reckoned of two kinds; the first proselytes of the covenant, or of righteousness, who were converts made from the Gentiles to Judaism, submitted to circumcision, and in every respect conformed to the law. — The rule of Moses, with respect to these, was, that they should be “as those born in the land;” that is, be reckoned as Jews. — But many strangers and aliens dwelt among the Jews, on condition of their not practising idolatry, nor worshipping any other God beside Jehovah; and refraining from labour on the Jewish Sabbath; and were permitted to pay their worship to God in the outer court of the temple, or court of the Gentiles, but separated from the other courts by a “wall of partition.” These the later rabbins have called proselytes of the gate, obliged to observe the seven precepts of Noah, (which, however, are nowhere to be found but in their writings,) but not to conform to the law generally. The learned in Jewish antiquities are now, however, generally agreed that this distinction of proselytes of the gate had no existence, and that those only could with propriety be styled proselytes who fully embraced the Jewish religion.

That great zeal was shown after the captivity of Babylon, by the Jews, both in Palestine and in all the Greek and Roman cities where they were established, to bring the Gentiles from the worship of idols to serve the true God, appears from various circumstances and the statements of many writers; and that they succeeded to a great extent, is shown from the Acts of the Apostles, where we see that many of these Gentile proselytes were among the first to receive the Gospel in several principal cities. This zeal appears also to have been, in many, a very pious one, and to have given rise to efforts which God was pleased to crown with success, so that the light of the Old Testament Scriptures and of religion was largely diffused through the civilized world, and signally served to prepare the way for the dissemination of Christianity. The worst men among the Jews appear to have been the scribes and Pharisees of Judea, and especially those of Jerusalem; and their zeal in making proselytes could only be mischievous. They had a wide field of labour among the multitudes of Gentiles who resided among them; but their conversion to Judaism, when effected by them, was but the exchange of one superstition for another; and the teachers being vicious, the converts were rendered like them. Still, however, it is doubtful whether the word proselytes here is not used merely for those disciples whom these doctors, by every effort, endeavoured to collect from among their own people, being anxious to exhibit a long train of followers, devoted to their opinions, and employed in proclaiming the fame of their wisdom. The Hebrew word for proselyte, indeed, denotes one who comes from abroad; and the Greek, one who comes, generally meaning from a foreign people; but the term proselyte might be used in an adapted sense for the followers of the different rabbins, who had left their families or other teachers, to attend upon their favourite master. Twofold more the child of hell, &c. — Being filled with uncharitable zeal, the character of corrupt proselytes, and trained up by a wicked sophistry, which palliated vice, and substituted ceremony for piety, to practise evil with less remorse, and with greater subtlety, than in their former condition, whether Gentiles or Jews. A child of hell, uion geennhv, is one like Satan in his disposition, and doomed to the same punishment.

V. 16. Wo to you, ye blind guides-Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character: now he gives them another title, respecting their influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in the 23d and (Matthew 23:23, 25, 33) 25th verses; and this severity rises to the height in the 33d verse.

The gold of the temple-The treasure kept there.

He is bound-To keep his oath.

Verse 16. Whosoever shall swear by the gold] The covetous man, says one, still gives preference to the object of his lust; gold has still the first place in his heart. A man is to be suspected when he recommends those good works most from which he receives most advantage. Is bound thereby, i.e. to fulfil his oath.

Verses 16-22. Wo unto you, ye blind guides — Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character; now he gives them another title respecting their false doctrine and influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in verses 23-25: and this severity rises to the height in verse 33. Here we have the fourth reason of the woes denounced. Which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing — It constitutes no obligation to tell the truth or to perform one’s oath. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple — That is, by the treasure kept there, he is a debtor — Gr. ofeilei, he oweth, that is, is obliged to perform his oath. “It seems,” says Dr. Doddridge, “the Pharisees taught, that oaths by the creatures might be used on trifling occasions, and violated without any great guilt. But they excepted oaths by the corban, (the gift,) and by sacrifices; in which it is plain that, without any regard to common sense or decency, they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest; and therefore represented these to the people as things of more eminent sanctity than even the temple or altar itself.” Whoso shall swear by the altar, sweareth by all things thereon — Not only by the altar, but by the holy fire and the sacrifices, and above all by that God to whom they belonged; inasmuch as every oath by a creature, if it has any meaning, is an implicit appeal to the Creator himself. Whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by him that dwelleth therein — Consequently, the oath is a solemn wishing that he, who dwells in the temple, may hinder him from ever worshipping there, if he be telling a falsehood or neglect his vow. He that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, &c. — And therefore his oath is a solemn wishing that God, who dwells in heaven, may exclude him out of that blessed place for ever, if he falsify his oath. For a further explanation of the subject of oaths, see the note on Matthew 5:33-37.

16. Blind guides, which say — The next, or FOURTH WOE, is pronounced upon their false dogmas in regard to oaths. See on Matthew 5:34, 35. Swear by the gold of the temple — The gold here mentioned is not the gilding of the edifice, but the offerings of gold in its treasury.

Verse 16. Blind guides. — Guides that lead astray; referring not so much to their ignorance, as to their wilful and perverting casuistry, and especially in the sacred matter of oaths; thus ensnaring the consciences of men, and, by confounding the distinctions of right and wrong, making even conscience an ally of vice, which is the most hopeless state into which men can fall. Of this our Lord gives instances. They taught that whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; meaning that the oath has no force, and may be violated with impunity; but whosoever shall swear by the GOLD of the temple, not the golden ornaments, but the gold of the treasury, and the valuable golden vessels, which, as votive-offerings, were deposited within it, he is a debtor; he is bound, and commits the sin of perjury if he performs not his oath. The reason of this distinction was, that they might inculcate the idea that peculiar sanctity attached to these gifts to the temple, and so heighten the supposed meritoriousness of presenting them. The peculiar sanctity of gifts for sacred uses, and the binding nature of the oaths made by them, was held also by the Greeks and Romans. By the latter, they were called donaria; by the former anaqhmata, from their being placed in conspicuous situations so as to be admired, and to induce others to make their gifts splendid and worthy of observation. Thus all the mere religions of ceremony bear the same degenerate characters. These corrupt teachers made similar distinctions between swearing by the altar and that which was offered upon it; and swearing by heaven, and by God himself; but our Lord dissipates all these sophistical distinctions, by at once declaring that every oath, every appeal to any object whatever for the truth of what is affirmed, is in fact an appeal to the God of all creatures, the witness and judge of men, and the sure avenger of deceit and perjury. See the note on Matthew 5:33.

Verses 16-22. Wo unto you, ye blind guides — Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character; now he gives them another title respecting their false doctrine and influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in verses 23-25: and this severity rises to the height in verse 33. Here we have the fourth reason of the woes denounced. Which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing — It constitutes no obligation to tell the truth or to perform one’s oath. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple — That is, by the treasure kept there, he is a debtor — Gr. ofeilei, he oweth, that is, is obliged to perform his oath. “It seems,” says Dr. Doddridge, “the Pharisees taught, that oaths by the creatures might be used on trifling occasions, and violated without any great guilt. But they excepted oaths by the corban, (the gift,) and by sacrifices; in which it is plain that, without any regard to common sense or decency, they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest; and therefore represented these to the people as things of more eminent sanctity than even the temple or altar itself.” Whoso shall swear by the altar, sweareth by all things thereon — Not only by the altar, but by the holy fire and the sacrifices, and above all by that God to whom they belonged; inasmuch as every oath by a creature, if it has any meaning, is an implicit appeal to the Creator himself. Whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by him that dwelleth therein — Consequently, the oath is a solemn wishing that he, who dwells in the temple, may hinder him from ever worshipping there, if he be telling a falsehood or neglect his vow. He that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, &c. — And therefore his oath is a solemn wishing that God, who dwells in heaven, may exclude him out of that blessed place for ever, if he falsify his oath. For a further explanation of the subject of oaths, see the note on Matthew 5:33-37.

17. Temple that sanctifieth the gold — That renders the gold deposit sacred.

Verses 16-22. Wo unto you, ye blind guides — Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character; now he gives them another title respecting their false doctrine and influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in verses 23-25: and this severity rises to the height in verse 33. Here we have the fourth reason of the woes denounced. Which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing — It constitutes no obligation to tell the truth or to perform one’s oath. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple — That is, by the treasure kept there, he is a debtor — Gr. ofeilei, he oweth, that is, is obliged to perform his oath. “It seems,” says Dr. Doddridge, “the Pharisees taught, that oaths by the creatures might be used on trifling occasions, and violated without any great guilt. But they excepted oaths by the corban, (the gift,) and by sacrifices; in which it is plain that, without any regard to common sense or decency, they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest; and therefore represented these to the people as things of more eminent sanctity than even the temple or altar itself.” Whoso shall swear by the altar, sweareth by all things thereon — Not only by the altar, but by the holy fire and the sacrifices, and above all by that God to whom they belonged; inasmuch as every oath by a creature, if it has any meaning, is an implicit appeal to the Creator himself. Whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by him that dwelleth therein — Consequently, the oath is a solemn wishing that he, who dwells in the temple, may hinder him from ever worshipping there, if he be telling a falsehood or neglect his vow. He that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, &c. — And therefore his oath is a solemn wishing that God, who dwells in heaven, may exclude him out of that blessed place for ever, if he falsify his oath. For a further explanation of the subject of oaths, see the note on Matthew 5:33-37.

EIGHT WOES UPON THE EXISTING POLITICO-RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM, 13-33.

13. Woe — This is a word of solemn denunciation of punishment. As here uttered, it implies that calamities of the most awful nature are impending over its guilty objects from the divine justice. It is the proclamation of a retributive destiny for years and ages of sin. Jesus apostrophises the scribes and Pharisees as if present.

Shut up the kingdom of heaven — They closed the doors of the Gospel by their false interpretations and by their wicked influence, and prevented the Jewish nation from receiving its Messiah. They will neither be saved themselves, nor allow others to be so. For this he pronounces the FIRST WOE.

Verses 16-22. Wo unto you, ye blind guides — Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character; now he gives them another title respecting their false doctrine and influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in verses 23-25: and this severity rises to the height in verse 33. Here we have the fourth reason of the woes denounced. Which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing — It constitutes no obligation to tell the truth or to perform one’s oath. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple — That is, by the treasure kept there, he is a debtor — Gr. ofeilei, he oweth, that is, is obliged to perform his oath. “It seems,” says Dr. Doddridge, “the Pharisees taught, that oaths by the creatures might be used on trifling occasions, and violated without any great guilt. But they excepted oaths by the corban, (the gift,) and by sacrifices; in which it is plain that, without any regard to common sense or decency, they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest; and therefore represented these to the people as things of more eminent sanctity than even the temple or altar itself.” Whoso shall swear by the altar, sweareth by all things thereon — Not only by the altar, but by the holy fire and the sacrifices, and above all by that God to whom they belonged; inasmuch as every oath by a creature, if it has any meaning, is an implicit appeal to the Creator himself. Whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by him that dwelleth therein — Consequently, the oath is a solemn wishing that he, who dwells in the temple, may hinder him from ever worshipping there, if he be telling a falsehood or neglect his vow. He that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, &c. — And therefore his oath is a solemn wishing that God, who dwells in heaven, may exclude him out of that blessed place for ever, if he falsify his oath. For a further explanation of the subject of oaths, see the note on Matthew 5:33-37.

EIGHT WOES UPON THE EXISTING POLITICO-RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM, 13-33.

13. Woe — This is a word of solemn denunciation of punishment. As here uttered, it implies that calamities of the most awful nature are impending over its guilty objects from the divine justice. It is the proclamation of a retributive destiny for years and ages of sin. Jesus apostrophises the scribes and Pharisees as if present.

Shut up the kingdom of heaven — They closed the doors of the Gospel by their false interpretations and by their wicked influence, and prevented the Jewish nation from receiving its Messiah. They will neither be saved themselves, nor allow others to be so. For this he pronounces the FIRST WOE.

V. 20. He that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon-Not only by the gift, but by the holy fire, and the sacrifice; and above all, by that God to whom they belong; inasmuch as every oath by a creature is an implicit appeal to God.

Verse 20. Whoso-shall swear by the altar] As an oath always supposes a person who witnesses it, and will punish perjury; therefore, whether they swore by the temple or the gold, (Matthew 23:16,) or by the altar or the gift laid on it, (Matthew 23:18,) the oath necessarily supposes the God of the temple, of the altar, and of the gifts, who witnessed the whole, and would, even in their exempt cases, punish the perjury.

Verses 16-22. Wo unto you, ye blind guides — Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character; now he gives them another title respecting their false doctrine and influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in verses 23-25: and this severity rises to the height in verse 33. Here we have the fourth reason of the woes denounced. Which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing — It constitutes no obligation to tell the truth or to perform one’s oath. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple — That is, by the treasure kept there, he is a debtor — Gr. ofeilei, he oweth, that is, is obliged to perform his oath. “It seems,” says Dr. Doddridge, “the Pharisees taught, that oaths by the creatures might be used on trifling occasions, and violated without any great guilt. But they excepted oaths by the corban, (the gift,) and by sacrifices; in which it is plain that, without any regard to common sense or decency, they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest; and therefore represented these to the people as things of more eminent sanctity than even the temple or altar itself.” Whoso shall swear by the altar, sweareth by all things thereon — Not only by the altar, but by the holy fire and the sacrifices, and above all by that God to whom they belonged; inasmuch as every oath by a creature, if it has any meaning, is an implicit appeal to the Creator himself. Whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by him that dwelleth therein — Consequently, the oath is a solemn wishing that he, who dwells in the temple, may hinder him from ever worshipping there, if he be telling a falsehood or neglect his vow. He that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, &c. — And therefore his oath is a solemn wishing that God, who dwells in heaven, may exclude him out of that blessed place for ever, if he falsify his oath. For a further explanation of the subject of oaths, see the note on Matthew 5:33-37.

EIGHT WOES UPON THE EXISTING POLITICO-RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM, 13-33.

13. Woe — This is a word of solemn denunciation of punishment. As here uttered, it implies that calamities of the most awful nature are impending over its guilty objects from the divine justice. It is the proclamation of a retributive destiny for years and ages of sin. Jesus apostrophises the scribes and Pharisees as if present.

Shut up the kingdom of heaven — They closed the doors of the Gospel by their false interpretations and by their wicked influence, and prevented the Jewish nation from receiving its Messiah. They will neither be saved themselves, nor allow others to be so. For this he pronounces the FIRST WOE.

Verse 21. Whoso shall swear by the temple] Perhaps it is to this custom of swearing by the temple, that Martial alludes, lib. xi. epist. 95. Ecce negas, jurasque mihi per templa Tonantis;

Non credo; jura, Verpe, per Anchialum.

“Behold, thou deniest, and swearest to me by the temples of Jupiter; I will not credit thee: swear, O Jew, by the temple of Jehovah.” This word probably comes from hy lkyh heical Yah, the temple of Jehovah. This seems a better derivation than yj אם אלהים im chai Elohim, as God liveth, though the sound of the latter is nearer to the Latin. By him that dwelleth therein.] The common reading is katoikounti, dwelleth or INHABITETH, but katoikhsanti, dwelt or DID inhabit, is the reading of CDEFGHKLM, eighty-six others; this reading has been adopted in the editions of Complutum, Colineus, Bengel, and Griesbach. The importance of this reading may be perceived by the following considerations. In the first Jewish temple, God had graciously condescended to manifest himself-he is constantly represented as dwelling between the cherubim, the two figures that stood at each end of the ark of the covenant; between whom, on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark, a splendour of glory was exhibited, which was the symbol and proof of the Divine presence. This the Jews called hnykv Shekinah, the habitation of Jehovah. Now the Jews unanimously acknowledge that five things were wanting in the second temple, which were found in the first, viz., 1. The ark; 2. The holy spirit of prophecy; 3. The Urim and Thummim; 4. The sacred fire; and 5. The hnykv Shekinah. As the Lord had long before this time abandoned the Jewish temple, and had now made the human nature of Jesus the Shekinah, (see John 1:14, the Logos was made flesh, eskhnwsen, and made his tabernacle-made the Shekinah,-among us,) our Lord could not, with any propriety, say that the supreme Being did now inhabit the temple; and therefore used a word that hinted to them that God had forsaken their temple, and consequently the whole of that service which was performed in it, and had now opened the new and living way to the holiest by the Messiah. But all this was common swearing; and, whether the subject was true or false, the oath was unlawful. A common swearer is worthy of no credit, when, even in the most solemn manner he takes an oath before a magistrate; he is so accustomed to stake his truth, perhaps even his soul, to things whether true or false, that an oath cannot bind him, and indeed is as little respected by himself as it is by his neighbour. Common swearing, and the shocking frequency and multiplication of oaths in civil cases, have destroyed all respect for an oath; so that men seldom feel themselves bound by it; and thus it is useless in many cases to require it as a confirmation, in order to end strife or ascertain truth. See Clarke’s note on “Matthew 5:37”.

Verses 16-22. Wo unto you, ye blind guides — Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character; now he gives them another title respecting their false doctrine and influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in verses 23-25: and this severity rises to the height in verse 33. Here we have the fourth reason of the woes denounced. Which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing — It constitutes no obligation to tell the truth or to perform one’s oath. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple — That is, by the treasure kept there, he is a debtor — Gr. ofeilei, he oweth, that is, is obliged to perform his oath. “It seems,” says Dr. Doddridge, “the Pharisees taught, that oaths by the creatures might be used on trifling occasions, and violated without any great guilt. But they excepted oaths by the corban, (the gift,) and by sacrifices; in which it is plain that, without any regard to common sense or decency, they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest; and therefore represented these to the people as things of more eminent sanctity than even the temple or altar itself.” Whoso shall swear by the altar, sweareth by all things thereon — Not only by the altar, but by the holy fire and the sacrifices, and above all by that God to whom they belonged; inasmuch as every oath by a creature, if it has any meaning, is an implicit appeal to the Creator himself. Whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by him that dwelleth therein — Consequently, the oath is a solemn wishing that he, who dwells in the temple, may hinder him from ever worshipping there, if he be telling a falsehood or neglect his vow. He that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, &c. — And therefore his oath is a solemn wishing that God, who dwells in heaven, may exclude him out of that blessed place for ever, if he falsify his oath. For a further explanation of the subject of oaths, see the note on Matthew 5:33-37.

EIGHT WOES UPON THE EXISTING POLITICO-RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM, 13-33.

13. Woe — This is a word of solemn denunciation of punishment. As here uttered, it implies that calamities of the most awful nature are impending over its guilty objects from the divine justice. It is the proclamation of a retributive destiny for years and ages of sin. Jesus apostrophises the scribes and Pharisees as if present.

Shut up the kingdom of heaven — They closed the doors of the Gospel by their false interpretations and by their wicked influence, and prevented the Jewish nation from receiving its Messiah. They will neither be saved themselves, nor allow others to be so. For this he pronounces the FIRST WOE.

Verses 16-22. Wo unto you, ye blind guides — Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character; now he gives them another title respecting their false doctrine and influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in verses 23-25: and this severity rises to the height in verse 33. Here we have the fourth reason of the woes denounced. Which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing — It constitutes no obligation to tell the truth or to perform one’s oath. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple — That is, by the treasure kept there, he is a debtor — Gr. ofeilei, he oweth, that is, is obliged to perform his oath. “It seems,” says Dr. Doddridge, “the Pharisees taught, that oaths by the creatures might be used on trifling occasions, and violated without any great guilt. But they excepted oaths by the corban, (the gift,) and by sacrifices; in which it is plain that, without any regard to common sense or decency, they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest; and therefore represented these to the people as things of more eminent sanctity than even the temple or altar itself.” Whoso shall swear by the altar, sweareth by all things thereon — Not only by the altar, but by the holy fire and the sacrifices, and above all by that God to whom they belonged; inasmuch as every oath by a creature, if it has any meaning, is an implicit appeal to the Creator himself. Whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by him that dwelleth therein — Consequently, the oath is a solemn wishing that he, who dwells in the temple, may hinder him from ever worshipping there, if he be telling a falsehood or neglect his vow. He that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, &c. — And therefore his oath is a solemn wishing that God, who dwells in heaven, may exclude him out of that blessed place for ever, if he falsify his oath. For a further explanation of the subject of oaths, see the note on Matthew 5:33-37.

EIGHT WOES UPON THE EXISTING POLITICO-RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM, 13-33.

13. Woe — This is a word of solemn denunciation of punishment. As here uttered, it implies that calamities of the most awful nature are impending over its guilty objects from the divine justice. It is the proclamation of a retributive destiny for years and ages of sin. Jesus apostrophises the scribes and Pharisees as if present.

Shut up the kingdom of heaven — They closed the doors of the Gospel by their false interpretations and by their wicked influence, and prevented the Jewish nation from receiving its Messiah. They will neither be saved themselves, nor allow others to be so. For this he pronounces the FIRST WOE.

V. 23. Judgment-That is, justice:

Faith-The word here means fidelity.

Verse 23.. Ye pay tithe of mint, &c.] They were remarkably scrupulous in the performance of all the rites and ceremonies of religion, but totally neglected the soul, spirit, and practice of godliness.

Judgment] Acting according to justice and equity towards all mankind. Mercy-to the distressed and miserable. And faith in God as the fountain of all righteousness, mercy, and truth. The scribes and Pharisees neither began nor ended their works in God, nor had they any respect unto his name in doing them. They did them to be seen of men, and they had their reward-human applause.

These ought ye to have done, &c.] Our Lord did not object to their paying tithe even of common pot-herbs-this did not affect the spirit of religion; but while they did this and such like, to the utter neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, they showed that they had no religion, and knew nothing of its nature.

Verses 23, 24. Wo unto you, for ye pay tithe, &c. — Here we have the fifth wo, which is denounced for their superstition. They observed the ceremonial precepts of the law with all possible exactness, while they utterly neglected the eternal, immutable, indispensable rules of righteousness. Judgment — That is, justice; mercy — Charity, or compassion toward the poor; faith — Fidelity. “The word pistiv has undoubtedly this signification in many places; (compare Titus 2:10; Galatians 5:22; Romans 3:3.) But there are many more in which it signifies, the confidence reposed in another; and it is of great importance to observe this. See Colossians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:21.” Ye blind guides, which strain at [or rather, strain out] a gnat — Namely, from the liquor you are going to drink, lest it should choke you. “In those hot countries, as Serrarius well observes, gnats were apt to fall into wine, if it were not carefully covered; and passing the liquor through a strainer that no gnat, or part of one, might remain, grew into a proverb for exactness about little matters.” And swallow a camel — “The expression is proverbial, and was made use of by our Lord on this occasion to signify that the Pharisees pretended to be exceedingly afraid of the smallest faults, as if sin had been bitter to them like death, while they indulged themselves secretly in the unrestrained commission of the grossest immoralities.” — See Doddridge and Macknight.

Ver. 23. Judgment, mercy, and faith. The best way of acquainting ourselves with the meaning and difference of these three terms, will be from the observations of Maimonides, who in More Nevoc, part 3. chap. 53, says, they are most accurately distinguished among the Hebrews. The first signifies justice, or equity in judging. The second is the highest degree of mercy, or bounty. The third denotes that virtue of honesty in all kinds, which by the law of God is due from us to our brethren, whether by way of strict justice or of charity. Thus when John the baptist acquaints all the different kinds of men who came to him, what was their righteousness, the prescription he gives to the multitude is, to communicate to him that hath not. Now the whole difference of this from the second is, that a man performs all acts of charity which the law requires, as often as occasion presents itself; but in the other, the merciful man seeks out for opportunities, and performs more than the law requires, which Christ therefore calls perfection. Now to the first of those in Maimonides, the two former are exactly agreeable, judgment being clearly answerable to the first, and mercy to the second. All the difficulty lies in the third, or faith, which at first sight may appear probable to be equivalent to righteousness; for the Hebrew word which is directly translated faith, very often means righteousness and truth. So that it is not improbable that faith here, understood for righteousness, should not be rendered faith but fidelity. But if we extend our observations somewhat farther, it will appear that there is no room for these probabilities, the express words of Luke, in setting down this passage, enforcing another interpretation. Luke’s words are, “Ye tithe mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God.” Whereas by judgment must be understood all the duties of justice and charity to our neighbours; so the love of God, which comprehends all the duties of the first table, is set down as directly answerable to faith, which must therefore of necessity be the believing in God, as faith is the foundation of our love to him, according to the apostle. 1 Timothy 1:5. The end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of faith unfeigned; the love of God, and of our neighbour.

23. Woe — ”The four first woes are past,” says Dr. Stier. “The four others follow in quick succession, ever heavier on the head, ever deeper into the heart.” The four following woes are pronounced upon different forms of hypocrisy. This FIFTH WOE is upon an extreme scrupulousness in regard to the slightest of ritual performances, with a slight remorse for the grossest immoralities. Our Lord does not condemn the strictness, but the laxity. Pay tithe — The law of tithes is found in Leviticus 27:31, upon which the following note by Prof. Bush gives a concise view: “The ‘tithe’ of a thing is its tenth part. Of the yearly products of the land of the Israelites the first fruits were deducted; out of the rest the tenth part was taken for the Levites. Numbers 18:21.” Mint — The herbs mentioned in this verse correspond mainly to those of the same name in Europe and America. They were abounding in Palestine and so of little value. Anise — The aromatic plant, by us called dill. Cummin — Corresponding to the caraway, and used by the Orientals as a condiment?

Verse 23. For ye pay tithe of mint, &c. — By the law, a tenth of all FRUITS was set apart for the priests; but by this it was not understood that insignificant herbs were included, as not properly coming under that denomination, and being of little value. The Pharisees, however, in their affectation of being more scrupulous in the observance of the law than others, or seeking to increase the merit of their righteousness by a work of supererogation, gave the tithe of mint, anise, (rather dill, anhqon) and cummin. These are mentioned as specimens; for St. Luke adds, “all manner of herbs.” That the law did not require them to pay tithe of herbs appears from the Talmud, where it is said, “The tithing of corn is from the law, the tithing of herbs from the rabbins.”

Weightier matters of the law, &c. — These are said by St. Matthew to be judgment, mercy, and faith; by St. Luke, more briefly, “judgment and the love of God.” Both are of the same import: JUDGMENT is justice, giving to all their due; MERCY is that pity for the distressed which leads to the administration of bountiful relief; and FAITH must be understood of a devout confidence in God. — Many eminent commentators indeed take faith here in the sense of fidelity; so Calvin, “Mihi non est ambiguum quin veritatem erga homines designet;” but this is manifestly comprehended in justice. Now both mercy, and faith in God, are included in the “love of God;” and they necessarily suppose it as the only source from which, when genuine, they can flow. St. Luke therefore sums up both in that high and practical affection. By that are we rendered tender and compassionate to others: and he that loves God supremely must confide in him absolutely. Of these hallowed affections, which constitute the very substance and reality of religion, the heart of a Pharisee was wholly destitute, and the very rigidness of his attention to trifling matters in religion only served to turn his thoughts, from its great and vital principles. Our Lord, in speaking of these as “the weightier matters of the law,” probably adverted to their distinguishing the legal precepts into “weighty” and “light.” With them the true order was reversed, and moral duties and vital religious affections were postponed to trivial observances. The true order was restored by our great Teacher for the instruction of his disciples in all ages. — “These WEIGHTIER matters” ought ye to have done; and not to have left the other undone. This last clause, however, is not to be interpreted into a sanction, by our Lord, of this superstitious and self-righteous payment of a tithe on herbs. It is a concession on their own principles; for to pay tenths of these things was a trifling matter in itself, and might be innocently observed or not, according to the principle which actuated each individual; but allowing them that they ought to do this, “judgment, mercy, and faith,” were the duties bound upon their consciences, and which could not be neglected without the highest guilt and danger. Our Lord, in this passage, appears to allude to Micah 6:6-8, where the superior acceptableness to God of moral habits and acts to sacrifices and offerings themselves, however costly, is forcibly expressed.

V. 24. Ye blind guides, who teach others to do as you do yourselves, to strain out a gnat-From the liquor they are going to drink! and swallow a camel-It is strange, that glaring false print, strain at a gnat, which quite alters the sense, should run through all the editions of our English Bibles.

Verse 24. Blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.] This clause should be thus translated: Ye strain out the gnat, but ye swallow down the camel. In the common translation, Ye strain AT a gnat, conveys no sense. Indeed, it is likely to have been at first an error of the press, AT for OUT, which, on examination, I find escaped in the edition of 1611, and has been regularly continued since. There is now before me, “The Newe Testament, (both in Englyshe and in Laten,) of Mayster Erasmus translacion, imprynted by Wyllyam Powell, dwellynge in Flete strete: the yere of our Lorde M.CCCCC.XLVII. the fyrste yere of the kynges (Edwd. VI.) moste gracious reygne.” in which the verse stands thus: “Ye blinde gides, which strayne out a gnat, and swalowe a cammel.” It is the same also in Edmund Becke’s Bible, printed in London 1549, and in several others.-Clensynge a gnatte. -MS. Eng. Bib. So Wickliff. Similar to this is the following Arabic proverb [Arabic]. He eats an elephant and is choked by a gnat.

Verses 23, 24. Wo unto you, for ye pay tithe, &c. — Here we have the fifth wo, which is denounced for their superstition. They observed the ceremonial precepts of the law with all possible exactness, while they utterly neglected the eternal, immutable, indispensable rules of righteousness. Judgment — That is, justice; mercy — Charity, or compassion toward the poor; faith — Fidelity. “The word pistiv has undoubtedly this signification in many places; (compare Titus 2:10; Galatians 5:22; Romans 3:3.) But there are many more in which it signifies, the confidence reposed in another; and it is of great importance to observe this. See Colossians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:21.” Ye blind guides, which strain at [or rather, strain out] a gnat — Namely, from the liquor you are going to drink, lest it should choke you. “In those hot countries, as Serrarius well observes, gnats were apt to fall into wine, if it were not carefully covered; and passing the liquor through a strainer that no gnat, or part of one, might remain, grew into a proverb for exactness about little matters.” And swallow a camel — “The expression is proverbial, and was made use of by our Lord on this occasion to signify that the Pharisees pretended to be exceedingly afraid of the smallest faults, as if sin had been bitter to them like death, while they indulged themselves secretly in the unrestrained commission of the grossest immoralities.” — See Doddridge and Macknight.

Ver. 24. Which strain at a gnat, passing your wine through a lawn, and swallow a camel. You tithe garden herbs; but for gifts, and corban, excuse a son from supporting his aged parents. This is to swallow a camel, a keen proverb, cutting like a razor.

24. Strain at a gnat — Rather strain out a gnat. Our Lord here uses a proverbial figure, by which a person in drinking is represented as filtrating a gnat from the liquid, while he will at another time swallow down a camel. It is a physical impossibility, indeed, but its meaning is none the less possible in matters of religion and morality.

Alford remarks: “The straining of a gnat is not a mere proverbial saying. The Jews (as do now the Budhists in Ceylon and Hindostan) strained their wine, etc., carefully, that they might not violate Leviticus 11:20, 23, 41, 42, (and it might be added Leviticus 17:10-14.) The camel is not only opposed as of immense size, but is also unclean.” Indeed, in warm countries, where insect life is exceedingly exuberant, straining liquors for drinking is often necessary.

Verse 24. Which strain at a gnat. — To strain, does not here signify a difficult attempt to swallow, but to strain off or out; the meaning of the verb used, diulizein, being to filter or percolate. Accordingly, in the older English translations, it is rendered by “strain out.” The Septuagint, in Amos 6:6, uses diulismhlon oinon, from which it appears that it was the practice of the Jews to filter their wine; which was done, not only to free it from the insects, which in warm climates infest every open vessel in which any thing to their taste is exposed, but also because the Jews reckoned flies in the number of unclean animals, as being accounted a “creeping thing,” Leviticus 11:41. “One that eats a flea or a gnat,” says the Talmud, “is an apostate;” and many other passages show the ridiculous importance which they attached to this construction of the Levitical law against “creeping things.” The kwnwy, which is said to be bred in the lees of wine, is probably the same as the wine gnat of the Talmudists. Our Lord’s meaning is explained by the connection of this with the preceding verse. Their consciences made a scruple of trifling faults against rules laid down by fallible men; such as paying tithe of herbs, which at best was but a very doubtful duty; while they lived in the ready commission of flagrant violations of the greatest and most weighty precepts of the law of God. Thus they assiduously strained out the gnat and swallowed the camel, or elephant; for the Jews had both proverbs. For this reason, also, our Lord calls them blind guides, as they surely must in all ages be deemed who, in conducting others, so stumble in a plain path, and yet walk fearlessly over a precipice; in other words, who fill men’s consciences with scruples as to things indifferent, and sear them as with a hot iron, rendering them wholly insensible to great transgressions.

V. 25. Full of rapine and intemperance-The censure is double (taking intemperance in the vulgar sense.) These miserable men procured unjustly what they used intemperately. No wonder tables so furnished prove a snare, as many find by sad experience. Thus luxury punishes fraud while it feeds disease with the fruits of injustice. But intemperance in the full sense takes in not only all kinds of outward intemperance, particularly in eating and drinking, but all intemperate or immoderate desires, whether of honour, gain, or sensual pleasure.

Verse 25. Ye make clean the outside] The Pharisees were exceedingly exact in observing all the washings and purifications prescribed by the law; but paid no attention to that inward purity which was typified by them. A man may appear clean without, who is unclean within; but outward purity will not avail in the sight of God, where inward holiness is wanting. Extortion and excess.] ‘arpaghv kai akrasiav, rapine and intemperance; but instead of akrasiav, intemperance, many of the very best MSS., CEFGHKS, and more than a hundred others, the Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Slavonic, with Chrysostorn, Euthym., and Theophylact, have adikiav injustice, which Griesbach has admitted into the text instead of akrasiav. The latter Syriac has both. Several MSS. and versions have akaqarsiav, uncleanness; others have pleonexiav, covetousness; some have ponhriav, wickedness; and two of the ancients have iniquitate, iniquity. Suppose we put them all together, the character of the Pharisee will not be overcharged. They were full of rapine and intemperance, injustice and uncleanness, covetousness, wickedness, and iniquity.

Verses 25, 26. Wo unto you, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup, &c. — This is the sixth wo. They were at great pains to appear virtuous, and to have a decent external conduct, while they neglected to beautify their inward man with true holiness, and a conformity to the divine goodness, or with the graces of God’s Holy Spirit, which in the sight of God are ornaments of great price, and render men dear and valuable to all who know what true religion and virtue are. But within they — Namely, the cup and platter; are full of extortion and excess — Which ye swallow down without the least scruple. Gr. arpaghv kai akrasiav, rapine and intemperance. The censure is double, (taking intemperance in the vulgar sense.) These miserable men procured unjustly what they used intemperately. No wonder tables so furnished prove a snare, as many find by sad experience. Thus luxury punishes fraud, while it feeds disease with the fruits of injustice. But intemperance, in the full sense, takes in not only all kinds of outward intemperance, particularly in eating and drinking, but all intemperate or immoderate desires, whether of honour, gain, or sensual pleasure. It must be observed, however that instead of akrasiav, intemperance, very many manuscripts and ancient versions have the word adikiav, which, says Dr. Campbell, “suits much better with all the accounts we have in other places of the character of the Pharisees, who are never accused of intemperance, though often of injustice. The former vice is rarely found with those who, like the Pharisees, make great pretensions to religion.” Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup, &c. — And is not so much exposed to view. Cleanse first thy mind, thy inward man, from evil dispositions and affections, and of course thy outward behaviour will be righteous and good.

25. Extortion and excess — The SIXTH WOE is pronounced upon moral hypocrisy, in which men will show a fair exterior of conduct, while they are in secret practising the most abundant wickedness. The two forms of profligacy which our Lord selects are secret commercial dishonesty and secret licentiousness.

Verse 25. Make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter. — The allusion here is not to the purification of vessels and cups used at meals, in which indeed they were somewhat superstitiously exact; but our Lord speaks metaphorically, and compares them to those who should cleanse the outside only of a vessel, while its interior, the most important part to be kept in a state of cleanliness, was left filthy. Thus the Pharisees were scrupulously careful of external and ceremonial purity, practising all the prescribed ablutions with due attention, and maintaining in all things a fair show of piety; but within they were full, a strong expression, of extortion and excess. The word here tendered excess is akrasia, intemperance. — Griesbach reads adikiav, injustice; which, however, but repeats the same thought by another word. The general word akrasia comprehends excess of every kind, whether of the passions or the bodily appetites; to both which many of the scribes and Pharisees, notwithstanding their “form of godliness,” were secretly addicted. In some MSS. we have uncleanness, in others covetousness, and in others wickedness.

Whited sepulchres. — The public burying places of the Jews were without the cities. The more opulent hewed them out of rocks in their own grounds, and ornamented them. Graves are distinguished by Jewish writers into deep sepulchres, to which answers Luke 11:44, “graves that appear not;” and marked or painted sepulchres. These, beside their architectural or other ornaments, were marked with resemblances of bones in chalk, annually renewed on the fifteenth of the month of Adar, that priests, Nazarites, and travellers might avoid the pollution of touching them. Many of these tombs, especially those erected in honour of prophets and kings, were grand and beautiful. A stronger metaphor than this, or one more just, cannot be conceived. As an adorned tomb is but a garniture of death and corruption, which at once marks them and makes them noticeable; so the external sanctity of the Pharisees was in disgusting contrast with their inward turpitude, and, when once exposed by our Lord, became, in the eyes of his followers, a visible sign of that hypocrisy and iniquity which they were thus taught to avoid, lest they should be morally contaminated, as the Jews were ceremonially polluted by graves, and whatever appertained to the dead. The mark of spiritual death was upon these false teachers, who were to be avoided as a pollution.

V. 26. Ye build the tombs of the prophets-And that is all, for ye neither observe their sayings, nor imitate their actions.

Verses 25, 26. Wo unto you, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup, &c. — This is the sixth wo. They were at great pains to appear virtuous, and to have a decent external conduct, while they neglected to beautify their inward man with true holiness, and a conformity to the divine goodness, or with the graces of God’s Holy Spirit, which in the sight of God are ornaments of great price, and render men dear and valuable to all who know what true religion and virtue are. But within they — Namely, the cup and platter; are full of extortion and excess — Which ye swallow down without the least scruple. Gr. arpaghv kai akrasiav, rapine and intemperance. The censure is double, (taking intemperance in the vulgar sense.) These miserable men procured unjustly what they used intemperately. No wonder tables so furnished prove a snare, as many find by sad experience. Thus luxury punishes fraud, while it feeds disease with the fruits of injustice. But intemperance, in the full sense, takes in not only all kinds of outward intemperance, particularly in eating and drinking, but all intemperate or immoderate desires, whether of honour, gain, or sensual pleasure. It must be observed, however that instead of akrasiav, intemperance, very many manuscripts and ancient versions have the word adikiav, which, says Dr. Campbell, “suits much better with all the accounts we have in other places of the character of the Pharisees, who are never accused of intemperance, though often of injustice. The former vice is rarely found with those who, like the Pharisees, make great pretensions to religion.” Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup, &c. — And is not so much exposed to view. Cleanse first thy mind, thy inward man, from evil dispositions and affections, and of course thy outward behaviour will be righteous and good.

26. Cup — Or drinking vessel. Platter — Or dish for meats or sweetmeats. Our Lord compares these men to such utensils, which by a cleanly outside promised cleanly contents, while they contained filthy matter.

Verse 27. For ye are like] paromoiazete, ye exactly resemble-the parallel is complete.

Whited sepulchres] White-washed tombs. As the law considered those unclean who had touched any thing belonging to the dead, the Jews took care to have their tombs white-washed each year, that, being easily discovered, they might be consequently avoided.

Verse 27. Wo unto you, for you are like whited sepulchres — Here we have the seventh wo. Dr. Shaw, (Trav., p. 285,) gives a genial description of the different sorts of tombs and sepulchres in the East — concluding with this paragraph — “Now all these, with the very walls of the enclosure, being always kept clean, white-washed, and beautified; continue to this day to be an excellent comment upon Matthew 23:27.” The scribes and Pharisees, like fine whited sepulchres, looked very beautiful without, but within were full of all uncleanness, and defiled every one who touched them. This was a sore rebuke to men who would not keep company with publicans and sinners for fear they should have been polluted by them! Verse 29-31. Wo unto you, because ye build the tombs of the prophets — Here we have the eighth and last wo. “By the pains they took in adorning the sepulchres of their prophets, they pretended a great veneration for their memory; and, as often as their happened to be mentioned, condemned their fathers who had killed them, declaring that if they had lived in the days of their fathers, they would have opposed their wickedness; while, in the mean time, they still cherished the spirit of their fathers, persecuting the messengers of God, particularly his only Son, on whose destruction they were resolutely bent.” Ye build the tombs of the prophets — And that is all, for ye neither observe their sayings nor imitate their actions. And say, We would not have been partakers, &c. — Ye make fair professions, as did your fathers. Wherefore ye be witnesses, &c. — By affirming that if you had lived in the days of your fathers you would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, ye acknowledge that ye are the children of them who murdered the prophets. But I must tell you, that you are their children in another sense than by natural generation; for though you pretend to be more holy than they were, you are like them in all respects; particularly in that you possess their wicked, persecuting spirit, and cover it by smooth words, thus imitating them, who, while they killed the prophets of their own times, professed the utmost veneration for those of past ages.

EIGHT WOES UPON THE EXISTING POLITICO-RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM, 13-33.

13. Woe — This is a word of solemn denunciation of punishment. As here uttered, it implies that calamities of the most awful nature are impending over its guilty objects from the divine justice. It is the proclamation of a retributive destiny for years and ages of sin. Jesus apostrophises the scribes and Pharisees as if present.

Shut up the kingdom of heaven — They closed the doors of the Gospel by their false interpretations and by their wicked influence, and prevented the Jewish nation from receiving its Messiah. They will neither be saved themselves, nor allow others to be so. For this he pronounces the FIRST WOE.

Verse 28. Even so ye also-appear righteous unto men] But what will this appearance avail a man, when God sits in judgment upon his soul? Will the fair reputation which he had acquired among men, while his heart was the seat of unrighteousness, screen him from the stroke of that justice which impartially sends all impurity and unholiness into the pit of destruction? No. In the sin that he hath sinned, and in which he hath died, and according to that, shall he be judged and punished; and his profession of holiness only tends to sink him deeper into the lake which burns with unquenchable fire. Reader! see that thy heart be right with God.

28. Righteous unto men… full of hypocrisy and iniquity — The SEVENTH WOE is pronounced upon pious hypocrisy, or religious insincerity. Our Lord illustrates this by a most striking metaphor, taken from a class of objects very familiar around Jerusalem.

“There is one [custom] to which our Saviour alludes, that of whitewashing the sepulchres, which should not pass unnoticed. I have been in places where this is repeated very often. The graves are kept clean and white as snow, a very striking emblem of those painted hypocrites, the Pharisees, beautiful without, but full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness within.” — Dr. Thomson.

Verse 29. Ye build the tombs of the prophets] It appears that, through respect to their memory, they often repaired, and sometimes beautified, the tombs of the prophets. M. Deuteronomy la Valle, in his Journey to the Holy Land, says, that when he visited the cave of Machpelah, he saw some Jews honouring a sepulchre, for which they have a great veneration, with lighting at it wax candles and burning perfumes. See Harmer, vol. iii. p.

416. And in ditto, p. 424, we are informed that building tombs over those reputed saints, or beautifying those already built, is a frequent custom among the Mohammedans.

29. Build the tombs of the prophets — The EIGHTH WOE is pronounced upon their ancestral hypocrisy. When the men looked into the history of Israel they took not the side of those who murdered the holy men of old, whose tombs are round Jerusalem. No, they were on the side of the prophets and martyrs. So they gave themselves much imaginary credit for being about as good as those holy martyrs.

Verse 29. Ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish, beautify the sepulchres of the righteous. — To honour illustrious men by building them splendid tombs has been the practice of all civilized nations, and prevailed among the Jews. Extraordinary honours were paid to the tombs of Mordecai and Esther; Herod repaired the tomb of David with great splendour; and the Pharisees, among popular acts, both erected sepulchral monuments to the different prophets who had appeared in their nation, and added new ornaments to those still standing. It was the eulogy of a rabbi by one of his disciples, that he had adorned the sepulchres of Adam and of Abraham. And such was their sacredness, that the rule was, “All sepulchres might be removed but those of a king and a prophet.” St. Jerome speaks of the tombs of several of the prophets as in existence in his day. We are not to understand that our Lord condemns any thing in this practice but its hypocrisy, as far as the Pharisees were implicated. By these acts they professed their veneration for those ancient prophets, and yet wholly disregarded their words: they said, in doing this, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets; and yet they persecuted John the Baptist, the acknowledged prophet of their own day, and were even at that moment plotting and confederating to take away the life of Christ. “Wherefore,” says our Lord, “ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye are the SONS of them that killed the prophets;” the force of which observation arises from the term children or sons, uioi, signifying not only DESCENDANTS, but IMITATORS, or persons of the same dispositions. It is as though he had said, “The spirit in which ye do these hypocritical honours to the prophets of old confesses not only that ye are descended lineally from haters and murderers of good men: so that the disgrace of being of a sanguinary and persecuting ancestry attaches to you; but that you inherit also their hatred of the truth and their malevolent temper.”

V. 30. We would not have been partakers-So ye make fair professions, as did your fathers.

Verse 30. We would not have been partakers] They imagined themselves much better than their ancestors; but our Lord, who knew what they would do, uncovers their hearts, and shows them that they are about to be more abundantly vile than all who had ever preceded them.

30. If we… in the days of our fathers — They little realized how dark a picture history would draw of themselves,

V. 31. Wherefore ye testify against yourselves-By your smooth words as well as devilish actions: that ye are the genuine sons of them who killed the prophets of their own times, while they professed the utmost veneration for those of past ages.

From the 3d to the 30th verse Matthew 23:3-30 is exposed every thing that commonly passes in the world for religion, whereby the pretenders to it keep both themselves and others from entering into the kingdom of God; from attaining, or even seeking after those tempers, in which alone true Christianity consists. As,

1. Punctuality in attending on public and private prayer, Matthew 23:4-14. 2. Zeal to make proselytes to our opinion or communion, though they have less of the spirit of religion than before, Matthew 23:15. 3. A superstitious reverence for consecrated places or things, without any for Him to whom they are consecrated, Matthew 23:16-22. 4. A scrupulous exactness in little observances, though with the neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, Matthew 23:23, 24. 5. A nice cautiousness to cleanse the outward behaviour, but without any regard to inward purity, Matthew 23:25, 26. 6. A specious face of virtue and piety, covering the deepest hypocrisy and villany, Matthew 23:27, 28 7. A professed veneration for all good men, except those among whom they live.

Verse 31. Ye be witnesses] Ye acknowledge that ye are the children of those murderers, and ye are about to give full proof that ye are not degenerated.

There are many who think that, had they lived in the time of our Lord, they would not have acted towards him as the Jews did. But we can scarcely believe that they who reject his Gospel, trample under foot his precepts, do despite to the Spirit of his grace, love sin, and hate his followers, would have acted otherwise to him than the murdering Jews, had they lived in the same times.

EIGHT WOES UPON THE EXISTING POLITICO-RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM, 13-33.

13. Woe — This is a word of solemn denunciation of punishment. As here uttered, it implies that calamities of the most awful nature are impending over its guilty objects from the divine justice. It is the proclamation of a retributive destiny for years and ages of sin. Jesus apostrophises the scribes and Pharisees as if present.

Shut up the kingdom of heaven — They closed the doors of the Gospel by their false interpretations and by their wicked influence, and prevented the Jewish nation from receiving its Messiah. They will neither be saved themselves, nor allow others to be so. For this he pronounces the FIRST WOE.

V. 32. Fill ye up-A word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. The measure of your fathers-Wickedness: ye may now be as wicked as they.

Verse 32. Fill ye up then] Notwithstanding the profession you make, ye will fill up the measure of your fathers-will continue to walk in their way, accomplish the fulness of every evil purpose by murdering me; and then, when the measure of your iniquity is full, vengeance shall come upon you to the uttermost, as it did on your rebellious ancestors. The 31st verse should be read in a parenthesis, and then the 32d will appear to be, what it is, an Inference from the 30th.

Ye will fill up, or fill ye up-plhrwsate but it is manifest that the imperative is put here for the future, a thing quite consistent with the Hebrew idiom, and frequent in the Scriptures. So John 2:19, Destroy this temple, &c., i.e. Ye will destroy or pull down this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days-Ye will crucify me, and I will rise again the third day. Two good MSS. have the word in the future tense: and my old MS. Bible has it in the present-Genesis (ye) fulfillen the mesure of youre (your) fadris.

Verses 32-36. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers’ wickedness — Ye may now be as wicked as they: a word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. Ye serpents — Our Lord having now given up all hope of reclaiming them, speaks thus to deter others from the like sins. Wherefore — That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: behold, I send — Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets — Men with supernatural credentials; Wise men — Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes — Men of learning: but all will not avail. That upon you may come all the righteous blood — The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the punishment of the blood of all the righteous men; shed upon the earth — Temporal punishment must be intended, because in the life to come men shall not be punished for the sins of others to which they were not accessary. From the blood of righteous Abel — The first prophet and preacher of righteousness, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias — Most commentators think that Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, mentioned 2 Chronicles 24:20, (where see the note,) is here meant: and that either the words, son of Barachias, are the officious addition of some early transcriber of this gospel, (who might confound this martyr with Zechariah, one of the twelve minor prophets,) or that Jehoiada was also called Barachiah, having, as was not then uncommon, two names, both which, it may be observed, signify nearly the same thing: the latter word signifying one that blesses the Lord, and Jehoiada one that confesses him. Dr. Blayney, however, is confident that Zechariah, the minor prophet, is here intended, and that he was actually murdered, as is here said, though the Scriptures of the Old Testament are silent concerning the barbarous action. See the argument to my notes on Zechariah. Whom ye slew — So he says, because by imitating their fathers’ conduct, they made the murder, committed by them, their own; between the temple — That is, the house properly called the temple; and the altar — Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than to any other, because he was the last of the prophets that was slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness; and we may add, (supposing Zechariah the son of Jehoiada to be meant,) because God’s requiring his blood, as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture, that holy man’s last words being, The Lord look upon it, and require it, 2 Chronicles 24:22. All these things — The punishment of all these murders; shall come upon this generation — This Jesus foreknew would be the case; and that though every possible method would be tried in order to their conversion, they would make light of all, and by so doing pull down upon themselves such terrible vengeance, as should be a standing monument of the divine displeasure against all the murders committed on the face of the earth from the beginning of time.

32. Fill… measure of your fathers — Our Lord judicially gives them over, (just as Jehovah gives the devil over,) to do what he knows they will do. Genesis 15:16.

The meaning of these two verses may thus be summed: Inasmuch as, even in the condemnation of your fathers, you confess yourselves their sons, there is no obstacle to your supplying all they lacked in wickedness.

Verse 32. Fill ye up then, &c. — There is no reason for considering this imperative as used for a future indicative, ye will fill up, &c., which renders the passage tame and spiritless. The words express hopeless abandonment: the case of this class of men had become desperate; they had set themselves to resist all conviction; and now, after repeated warnings and calls, they are utterly renounced by Christ, and surrendered to the power of their sins. The force of this expression is therefore most natural, and indicates strong emotion: “Go, since ye are yourselves wilfully bent upon it, and since ye reject all counsel, and contemn every effort to bring you to a better mind, fill up the measure of your fathers: ye have rejected me, and I now solemnly and judicially reject you.” Our Lord, in these words, intimates the punishment of the Jewish nation of which the scribes and Pharisees were the ecclesiastical leaders, and whose corrupting doctrines the people generally approved. There is a measure of sins which when filled up never fails to bring down upon nations the special visitations of judgment. To fill up this measure is seldom the work of one age. Successive generations adopt the principles, and imitate the practices of their ancestors, adding “sin to sin, and iniquity to iniquity,” until either by the natural consequence of such public vices as tend to subvert the strength and security of society, or by the special visitations of Divine vengeance, now no longer corrective, but in the strictest sense penal, they receive the full reward of their sins. The punishment of individuals may he deferred to another life; but nations, who are treated under the Divine administration as political persons, have no existence but in time, and in this life therefore are rewarded according to their works; subject, however, to this consideration, that they, as well as individuals, are under a mediatorial government, receive greater blessings than they could claim of right, are treated with “much long suffering,” and can turn away God’s anger by repentance and prayer. But when that point is once reached, beyond which it is inconsistent with the character of a wise and righteous government, though founded in mercy, to extend impunity, the measure is full, and the terribleness of the judgments of God proves to all the world, that none ever hardened his heart against God and prospered. This measure was filled up by the Jews, in rejecting the offers of mercy made them by the publication of the Gospel throughout the land by the apostles and disciples of our Lord, after the day of pentecost. Many indeed were gathered into the Christian Church; but the majority, still influenced by the increased malignity and persecuting spirit of their chief men and ecclesiastical leaders, not only rejected Christianity with contempt, but were enraged to fierce opposition and blasphemies, because of the calling of the Gentiles.

V. 33. Ye serpents-Our Lord having now lost all hope of reclaiming these, speaks so as to affright others from the like sins.

Verse 33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers] What a terrible stroke!-Ye are serpents, and the offspring of serpents. This refers to Matthew 23:31: they confessed that they were the children of those who murdered the prophets; and they are now going to murder Christ and his followers, to show that they have not degenerated-an accursed seed, of an accursed breed. My old MS. translates this passage oddly-Gee serpentis, fruytis of burrownyngis of eddris that sleen her modris. There seems to be here an allusion to a common opinion, that the young of the adder or viper which are brought forth alive eat their way through the womb of their mothers. Hence that ancient enigma attributed to LACTANTIUS:-

Non possum nasci, si non occidero matrem.

Occidi matrem: sed me manet exitus idem.

Id mea mors faciet, quod jam mea fecit origo.

Cæl. Firm. Symposium, N. xv.

I never can be born, nor see the day,

Till through my parent’s womb I eat my way.

Her I have slain; like her must yield my breath;

For that which gave me life, shall cause my death.

Every person must see with what propriety this was applied to the Jews, who were about to murder the very person who gave them their being and all their blessings.

Verses 32-36. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers’ wickedness — Ye may now be as wicked as they: a word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. Ye serpents — Our Lord having now given up all hope of reclaiming them, speaks thus to deter others from the like sins. Wherefore — That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: behold, I send — Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets — Men with supernatural credentials; Wise men — Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes — Men of learning: but all will not avail. That upon you may come all the righteous blood — The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the punishment of the blood of all the righteous men; shed upon the earth — Temporal punishment must be intended, because in the life to come men shall not be punished for the sins of others to which they were not accessary. From the blood of righteous Abel — The first prophet and preacher of righteousness, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias — Most commentators think that Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, mentioned 2 Chronicles 24:20, (where see the note,) is here meant: and that either the words, son of Barachias, are the officious addition of some early transcriber of this gospel, (who might confound this martyr with Zechariah, one of the twelve minor prophets,) or that Jehoiada was also called Barachiah, having, as was not then uncommon, two names, both which, it may be observed, signify nearly the same thing: the latter word signifying one that blesses the Lord, and Jehoiada one that confesses him. Dr. Blayney, however, is confident that Zechariah, the minor prophet, is here intended, and that he was actually murdered, as is here said, though the Scriptures of the Old Testament are silent concerning the barbarous action. See the argument to my notes on Zechariah. Whom ye slew — So he says, because by imitating their fathers’ conduct, they made the murder, committed by them, their own; between the temple — That is, the house properly called the temple; and the altar — Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than to any other, because he was the last of the prophets that was slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness; and we may add, (supposing Zechariah the son of Jehoiada to be meant,) because God’s requiring his blood, as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture, that holy man’s last words being, The Lord look upon it, and require it, 2 Chronicles 24:22. All these things — The punishment of all these murders; shall come upon this generation — This Jesus foreknew would be the case; and that though every possible method would be tried in order to their conversion, they would make light of all, and by so doing pull down upon themselves such terrible vengeance, as should be a standing monument of the divine displeasure against all the murders committed on the face of the earth from the beginning of time.

Ver. 33. The damnation of hell. Literally, “the judgment of Gehenna,” or of hell fire.

33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers — See our commentary on chap. 3:7. The severity of our Lord’s language is a precedent for rebuke, but no precedent for such authority and power of rebuke. He had a divine attribute to see the character as it was, and a divine authority to pronounce its nature, and a right to inflict punishment which no mere mortal has. How can ye escape the damnation of hell? — The question is sometimes the strongest mode of affirmation. Our Lord here means to assert that they cannot escape the damnation of hell. The word here used for hell is in the original Gehenna.

These EIGHT WOES are reduced by Dr. Stier to the sacred number seven, as he considers the last as a simple summation of the whole.

Verse 33. Ye serpents, &c. — The character of the hypocrites he reproves is here marked by our Lord in the express terms of his servant John the Baptist. See note on Matthew 3:7. These words were uttered not in anger, but in the spirit of calm piercing judgment, by him who knew the hearts of men, and as it has often been justly observed, afford no precedent to justify us in using harsh terms in reproving the most notorious sinners. John the Baptist acted and spoke under special inspiration; our Lord spoke as a sovereign and a judge. We are to deal faithfully with men in showing them their true character, and endeavouring to open their eyes to their spiritual dangers; but we are to remember that we, who address them, are their fellow sinners. To us it belongs to instruct, persuade, and reason; but it does not belong to us to pronounce the sentence.

How shall ye escape the damnation of hell? — How shall ye escape capital conviction? the phrase apofugein krisin being used for escaping condemnation in a court of judicature. Here, too, the punishment is stated: it is that of geenna, the fire of hell, which figuratively denotes the terribleness of that visitation which overwhelmed their city and nation in unheard of calamities, and literally the punishment to which they individually rendered themselves obnoxious in a future life. See note on Matthew 5:22. — The phrase, “the judgment of damnation of hell,” often occurs in the Talmud for future torment, and the everlasting wrath of God.

V. 34. Wherefore-That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: Behold, I send-Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets-Men with supernatural credentials:

Wise men-Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes-Men of learning: but all will not avail. Luke 11:49.

Verse 34. Wherefore] To show how my prediction, Ye will fill up the measure of your fathers, shall be verified, Behold, I send (I am just going to commission them) prophets, &c. and some ye will kill, (with legal process,) and some ye will crucify, pretend to try and find guilty, and deliver them into the hands of the Romans, who shall, through you, thus put them to death. See on Luke 11:49. By prophets, wise men, and scribes, our Lord intends the evangelists, apostles, deacons, &c., who should be employed in proclaiming his Gospel: men who should equal the ancient prophets, their wise men, and scribes, in all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit.

Verses 32-36. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers’ wickedness — Ye may now be as wicked as they: a word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. Ye serpents — Our Lord having now given up all hope of reclaiming them, speaks thus to deter others from the like sins. Wherefore — That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: behold, I send — Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets — Men with supernatural credentials; Wise men — Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes — Men of learning: but all will not avail. That upon you may come all the righteous blood — The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the punishment of the blood of all the righteous men; shed upon the earth — Temporal punishment must be intended, because in the life to come men shall not be punished for the sins of others to which they were not accessary. From the blood of righteous Abel — The first prophet and preacher of righteousness, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias — Most commentators think that Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, mentioned 2 Chronicles 24:20, (where see the note,) is here meant: and that either the words, son of Barachias, are the officious addition of some early transcriber of this gospel, (who might confound this martyr with Zechariah, one of the twelve minor prophets,) or that Jehoiada was also called Barachiah, having, as was not then uncommon, two names, both which, it may be observed, signify nearly the same thing: the latter word signifying one that blesses the Lord, and Jehoiada one that confesses him. Dr. Blayney, however, is confident that Zechariah, the minor prophet, is here intended, and that he was actually murdered, as is here said, though the Scriptures of the Old Testament are silent concerning the barbarous action. See the argument to my notes on Zechariah. Whom ye slew — So he says, because by imitating their fathers’ conduct, they made the murder, committed by them, their own; between the temple — That is, the house properly called the temple; and the altar — Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than to any other, because he was the last of the prophets that was slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness; and we may add, (supposing Zechariah the son of Jehoiada to be meant,) because God’s requiring his blood, as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture, that holy man’s last words being, The Lord look upon it, and require it, 2 Chronicles 24:22. All these things — The punishment of all these murders; shall come upon this generation — This Jesus foreknew would be the case; and that though every possible method would be tried in order to their conversion, they would make light of all, and by so doing pull down upon themselves such terrible vengeance, as should be a standing monument of the divine displeasure against all the murders committed on the face of the earth from the beginning of time.

OUR LORD’S DENUNCIATION OF JUDGMENTS AND DEFINITE FAREWELL TO JERUSALEM, 34-39.

34. Wherefore — In consequence of all this wickedness. That is, inasmuch as you are thus reprobate, the following course of events will transpire: namely, messengers will be sent to you, but you will so treat them as to bring the full measure of wrath upon you. Behold, I send — Our Lord here assumes divine authority. It is he who sends the prophets, and wise men, and scribes of the New Testament. Prophets — Preachers, for as the word of God is a great prophecy of the world to come, so he who preaches it, truly prophesies. Wise men — Deep thinkers in divine things, and true doctors in theology. For though the preacher stands first in the kingdom of God, yet the man who deeply studies and understands the things of God has his place, and is truly sent of Christ into his Church, whether ordained or not. Scribes — Who hold the pen of the ready writer. How measureless the amount of good the Christian author has done since our Lord spoke these words. First, the inspired writers of the New Testament; then come the early fathers of the church; and then the Christian historians, essayists, and poets. Ye shall kill — A large share of the first preachers, thinkers, and writers of the Church were martyrs.

Crucify — There is no recorded instance of martyrdom by crucifixion, unless we include the cases of our Lord and Peter, who is said to have been crucified with his head downwards. But of the many violent deaths of our Lord’s first followers, comparatively few are recorded.

Verse 34. Wherefore, behold I send unto you prophets, &c. — The words dia touto can scarcely be understood in any other way than as marking the connection of the discourse. The prophets, &c., were not sent to heighten the condemnation of the Pharisees; but their persecution is introduced as a farther illustration of the character of these bad men, and as justifying the severity of the sentence which Christ denounces against them. At the same time it ought to be remembered that it was no impeachment of the justice of God, when he had ends of mercy to accomplish as to others, to send his ministers among the Jews, although he foresaw that the result would be to excite the wicked scribes and Pharisees to more malignant opposition, and that it would hasten the filling up of their iniquities. These were not the reasons of their being sent, but the contrary; yet, in Scripture idiom, the UNDESIGNED EFFECT is sometimes expressed, as though it had been the FINAL CAUSE. — See the note on Matthew 10:34. Prophets, wise men, and SCRIBES were the three classes of public teachers among the Jews, and held by them in the highest reverence; and these venerated names he now transfers to the humble fishermen of Galilee, who, by his teaching and inspiration, were to be raised above the greatest of the PROPHETS, the wisest of their WISE MEN, and the most learned of their SCRIBES; who were to displace all those lofty pretenders to a wisdom by which the world knew not God, and to become the infallible guides of men, in the affairs of religion, in all ages, and the only authorized teachers of his Church. Yet these Divinely qualified men were rejected, though “filled with the Holy Ghost,” and though they wrought “signs and wonders among the people” to attest their mission from God. Stephen they stoned; James was cut off by the sword; Peter and other apostles were scourged. Our Lord adds, Some ye shall crucify, referring probably both to his own death, and the like punishment inflicted upon some of his disciples in Judea, and before the destruction of Jerusalem, not recorded.

V. 35. That upon you may come-The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the vengeance of all the righteous blood shed on the earth-Zechariah the son of Barachiah-Termed Jehoiada, 2 Chronicles 24:20, where the story is related:

Ye slew-Ye make that murder also of your fathers your own, by imitating it:

Between the temple-That is, the inner temple, and the altar-Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than any other, because he was the last of the prophets on record that were slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness: and because God's requiring this blood as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture.

Verse 35. Upon the earth] epi thv ghv, upon this land, meaning probably the land of Judea; for thus the word is often to be understood. The national punishment of all the innocent blood which had been shed in the land, shall speedily come upon you, from the blood of Abel the just, the first prophet and preacher of righteousness, Hebrews 11:4; 2 Peter 2:5, to the blood of Zachariah, the son of Barachiah. It is likely that our Lord refers to the murder of Zachariah, mentioned 2 Chronicles 24:20, who said to the people, Why transgress ye the commandments of God, so that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath forsaken you. And they conspired against him and stoned him-at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the Lord. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon and require it: 2 Chronicles 24:21, 22. But it is objected, that this Zachariah was called the son of Jehoiada, and our Lord calls this one the son of Barachiah. Let it be observed,

1. That double names were frequent among the Jews; and sometimes the person was called by one, sometimes by the other. Compare 1 Samuel 9:1, with 1 Chronicles 8:33, where it appears that the father of Kish had two names, Abiel and Ner. So Matthew is called Levi; compare Matthew 9:9, with Mark 2:14. So Peter was also called Simon, and Lebbeus was called Thaddeus. Matthew 10:2, 3.

2. That Jerome says that, in the Gospel of the Nazarenes, it was Jehoiada, instead of Barachiah.

3. That Jehoiada and Barachiah have the very same meaning, the praise or blessing of Jehovah.

4. That as the Lord required the blood of Zachariah so fully that in a year all the princes of Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Syrians, and Joash, who commanded the murder, slain by his own servants, 2 Chronicles 24:23-25, and their state grew worse and worse, till at last the temple was burned, and the people carried into captivity by Nebuzaradan:-so it should also be with the present race. The Lord would, after the crucifixion of Christ, visit upon them the murder of all those righteous men, that their state should grow worse and worse, till at last the temple should be destroyed, and they finally ruined by the Romans. See this prediction in the next chapter: and see Dr. Whitby concerning Zachariah, the son of Barachiah.

Some think that our Lord refers, in the spirit of prophecy, to the murder of Zacharias, son of Baruch, a rich Jew, who was judged, condemned, and massacred in the temple by Idumean zealots, because he was rich, a lover of liberty, and a hater of wickedness. They gave him a mock trial; and, when no evidence could be brought against him of his being guilty of the crime they laid to his charge, viz. a design to betray the city to the Romans, and his judges had pronounced him innocent, two of the stoutest of the zealots fell upon him and slew him in the middle of the temple. See Josephus, WAR, b. iv. chap. 5. s. 5. See Crevier, vol. vi. p. 172, History of the Roman Emperors. Others imagine that Zachariah, one of the minor prophets, is meant, who might have been massacred by the Jews; for, though the account is not come down to us, our Lord might have it from a well known tradition in those times. But the former opinion is every way the most probable.

Between the temple and the altar.] That is, between the sanctuary and the altar of burnt-offerings.

Verses 32-36. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers’ wickedness — Ye may now be as wicked as they: a word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. Ye serpents — Our Lord having now given up all hope of reclaiming them, speaks thus to deter others from the like sins. Wherefore — That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: behold, I send — Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets — Men with supernatural credentials; Wise men — Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes — Men of learning: but all will not avail. That upon you may come all the righteous blood — The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the punishment of the blood of all the righteous men; shed upon the earth — Temporal punishment must be intended, because in the life to come men shall not be punished for the sins of others to which they were not accessary. From the blood of righteous Abel — The first prophet and preacher of righteousness, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias — Most commentators think that Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, mentioned 2 Chronicles 24:20, (where see the note,) is here meant: and that either the words, son of Barachias, are the officious addition of some early transcriber of this gospel, (who might confound this martyr with Zechariah, one of the twelve minor prophets,) or that Jehoiada was also called Barachiah, having, as was not then uncommon, two names, both which, it may be observed, signify nearly the same thing: the latter word signifying one that blesses the Lord, and Jehoiada one that confesses him. Dr. Blayney, however, is confident that Zechariah, the minor prophet, is here intended, and that he was actually murdered, as is here said, though the Scriptures of the Old Testament are silent concerning the barbarous action. See the argument to my notes on Zechariah. Whom ye slew — So he says, because by imitating their fathers’ conduct, they made the murder, committed by them, their own; between the temple — That is, the house properly called the temple; and the altar — Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than to any other, because he was the last of the prophets that was slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness; and we may add, (supposing Zechariah the son of Jehoiada to be meant,) because God’s requiring his blood, as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture, that holy man’s last words being, The Lord look upon it, and require it, 2 Chronicles 24:22. All these things — The punishment of all these murders; shall come upon this generation — This Jesus foreknew would be the case; and that though every possible method would be tried in order to their conversion, they would make light of all, and by so doing pull down upon themselves such terrible vengeance, as should be a standing monument of the divine displeasure against all the murders committed on the face of the earth from the beginning of time.

Ver. 35. The blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias. The gospel of the Nazarenes reads, son of Jehoiada, which confirms the exposition given of 2 Chronicles 24:20. Our Saviour’s declaration is, that the jews who murdered the christians, should have the heaviest share of punishment, with all those who have shed the blood of his saints, in the unquenchable fire of hell.

35. That — In order that. This word depends upon the verbs kill, crucify, scourge, and persecute. Ye shall persecute them as if with the purpose that all this wrath may come upon you. This may be considered, however, a case where the inevitable effect is spoken of as the intended effect. All the righteous blood shed upon the earth — That is, righteous blood of the history and line of Israel. Our Lord is not speaking of righteous men, for instance, among pagan nations. This is shown by the fact that he speaks only of martyrs in the Old Testament pedigree, from Abel to Zacharias. From the blood of righteous Abel — Who was the first martyr. Blood of Zacharias — The last of the prophets whose martyrdom is, according to the arrangement of the Hebrew canon, recorded in the Old Testament. There has been much discussion upon the true identity of this Zechariah, inasmuch as the martyr in 2 Chronicles 24:21, was the son of Jehoiada. But Jehoiada and Barachia are words of the same meaning. This Zechariah was the subject of Jewish legends, and it is not improbable, though there is no proof, that in our Lord’s day the one name was substituted for the other in ordinary discourse. The place where Zechariah the son of Jehoiada was slain accords with the words of Jesus; and his dying exclamation, “The Lord require it,” accords with the thought our Lord here expresses very strikingly. Jesus here couples the first and last of Old Testament martyrs. Ye slew — Our Lord here identifies them with the whole guilty line of the wicked party of Israel in all ages. A nation has its youth, its manhood, its age, its death. The vices and crimes of its earlier generations are often inherited by its later. Punishment is often delayed until the crimes of whole ages are temporarily expiated. And this is in no way unjust. Each man may repent, and be saved in the world to come. But the nation must be publicly made an example of divine justice upon national crimes, continued through a long series of years. And though the temporal punishment be commensurate with the guilt of their whole history, not a man really suffers more than his own sins deserve.

Between the temple and the altar — Referring to our ground plan of the temple, the reader can designate the sacred locality between the great brazen altar of burnt offering and the temple edifice.

A-Upper City

B-Lower City

C-Temple

E-Milo

F-Antonia, Court with Tower

G-New City

a-The Tyropoeon

b-Calvary

c-Valley of the Kedron

d-Valley of Hinnom

f-Mount of Offense

g-Road to Jericho

h-Mount of Olives

5-Water Gate

6-Valley Gate

7-Gate of the Essenes

8-Pottery Gate

9-Fountain Gate

10-Sheep Gate

BRANCH WALL

11-Stairs

12-Giants’ Tower

13-Gate

14-Entrance

15-Armory

16-Bridge

25-Ephraim Gate

26-Old Gate

27-Fish Gate

OUTER WALL

28-Tower of Paephinos

29-Women’s Tower

30-Corner Tower

31-Fuller’s Monument

32-Tower of Hananeel

GENERAL

33-“Golden Gate”

34-Tower of Meah

35-Tower of Antonia

i-Hill Scopus

j-Mizpeh

k-Plain along the

Mediterranean

l-Gethsemane.

OLD WALL

1-Hippicus

2-Phasaelus

3-Mariamne

4-Gate Gennath

17-Horse Gate

18-Prison Gate

19-Out-lying Tower

20-Prison

21-Council House

MIDDLE WALL

22-Tower of the Furnace

23-Corner Gate

24-Broad Wall

36-Palace of Helena

37-King’s House

38-Herod’s Palace

39-Palace of

Monobazus

40-Pool of Bethesda

41-Pool of Siloam

42-Tomb of David

43-Pillar of Absalom

Verse 35. That upon you may come all the righteous blood, &c. — The blood of Abel is specially mentioned, because it is said to cry from the ground to God. For the same reason, the blood of Zacharias, the son of Barachias is mentioned; by whom is probably meant the Zechariah mentioned in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22; for though he is there called the son of Jehoiada, the Jews, as it has been well remarked, had frequently two names, and especially when the name Jehovah entered into the composition of one of them; thus Jehoiakim is called Eliakim, 2 Kings 22:34. This Zechariah is the only one of that name of whom mention is made in Scripture, as having fallen a victim to his fidelity in declaring the truth. He, when “he died, said, The Lord LOOK upon it, and require it;” so that both cases mentioned, that of Abel and that of Zacharias, are those of men persecuted to death for righteousness’ sake, and whose deaths were expressly connected with the awful circumstance, a cry to heaven for RIGHTEOUS RETRIBUTION. The conjectures of commentators as to the other persons of this name are without foundation, that especially which would refer it prophetically to a Jew called Zacharias who was slain by the Jewish zealots in the temple a little before the destruction of Jerusalem; an irrelevant fact, which has been singled out under the false assumption that our Lord’s words in this verse mean that the Jews of that generation were to be held guilty of the blood of all righteous men, from Abel downward, to the last righteous blood shed by the Jews before their city was destroyed. This is not only a monstrous supposition, but plainly contrary to that principle of the Divine government which is so expressly laid down in the words, “visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation, of them that hate me.” Besides, that the Jews should be held particularly responsible for the blood of Abel, when they stood in no nearer relation to him than the persecutors of good men of any other nation, cannot be conceived; and that they should be chargeable with even the murder of those prophets whom their fathers put to death, when our Lord himself declares that they disavowed the deeds of their ancestors in this respect, although they would act as to him and his disciples in a similar manner, is as little reconcilable with the known equity of the Divine proceedings. The interpretations founded upon this view of the meaning of our Lord’s words create, therefore, a difficulty which does not exist. Their meaning is, that the VENGEANCE of all the righteous blood shed upon earth, from Abel to Zacharias, should come upon that generation; that is, a punishment equal to the accumulated woes brought upon men for the crime of rejecting the truth, and persecuting its righteous preachers in all these ages, should be heaped upon the devoted heads of the Jews. And this was an act of manifest justice, since they put one infinitely greater than all the prophets to death, even the Messiah himself; and in opposition to stronger evidences of a Divine mission than any former prophets had given, wreaked their persecuting hate both upon him and his disciples. The punishments brought upon the Jews bear a remarkable correspondence to those inflicted both upon the murderer of Abel, and upon those of Zacharias. The Jews have borne, ever since the subversion of their nation by the Romans, the curse of Cain; a “mark” has been set upon them; and “fugitives” and “vagabonds” have they been in the earth. And as in consequence of the murder of Zechariah, at the command of Joash, “the host of Syria came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people,” so it was, only in a severer degree, in the Roman invasion. And with respect to other prophets, “because they mocked his messengers, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy; therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age; he gave them all into his hand: and all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, — all these he brought to Babylon; and they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire,” &c., 2 Chronicles 36:16-19. This too was realized with aggravated severity, and this terrible type of vengeance was accomplished in an accumulation of similar woes when the prophetic words of our Lord in the text were fully accomplished. These especially were the calamities which Christ had in view when he adds, Verily I say unto you, that all these things shall come upon this generation. — But these terrible denunciations proceed from no resentment, no indignant feeling at the wrongs he himself had endured; they are wrung from this lover of his country, this lover of the souls of his own people, by the stern necessity of reluctant justice; and they are uttered amid the heavings of compassion and sorrow.

Verse 36. Shall come upon this generation] epi thn genean tauthn, upon this race of men, viz. the Jews. This phrase often occurs in this sense in the evangelists.

Verses 32-36. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers’ wickedness — Ye may now be as wicked as they: a word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. Ye serpents — Our Lord having now given up all hope of reclaiming them, speaks thus to deter others from the like sins. Wherefore — That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: behold, I send — Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets — Men with supernatural credentials; Wise men — Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes — Men of learning: but all will not avail. That upon you may come all the righteous blood — The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the punishment of the blood of all the righteous men; shed upon the earth — Temporal punishment must be intended, because in the life to come men shall not be punished for the sins of others to which they were not accessary. From the blood of righteous Abel — The first prophet and preacher of righteousness, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias — Most commentators think that Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, mentioned 2 Chronicles 24:20, (where see the note,) is here meant: and that either the words, son of Barachias, are the officious addition of some early transcriber of this gospel, (who might confound this martyr with Zechariah, one of the twelve minor prophets,) or that Jehoiada was also called Barachiah, having, as was not then uncommon, two names, both which, it may be observed, signify nearly the same thing: the latter word signifying one that blesses the Lord, and Jehoiada one that confesses him. Dr. Blayney, however, is confident that Zechariah, the minor prophet, is here intended, and that he was actually murdered, as is here said, though the Scriptures of the Old Testament are silent concerning the barbarous action. See the argument to my notes on Zechariah. Whom ye slew — So he says, because by imitating their fathers’ conduct, they made the murder, committed by them, their own; between the temple — That is, the house properly called the temple; and the altar — Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than to any other, because he was the last of the prophets that was slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness; and we may add, (supposing Zechariah the son of Jehoiada to be meant,) because God’s requiring his blood, as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture, that holy man’s last words being, The Lord look upon it, and require it, 2 Chronicles 24:22. All these things — The punishment of all these murders; shall come upon this generation — This Jesus foreknew would be the case; and that though every possible method would be tried in order to their conversion, they would make light of all, and by so doing pull down upon themselves such terrible vengeance, as should be a standing monument of the divine displeasure against all the murders committed on the face of the earth from the beginning of time.

36. All… upon this generation — And yet, had they repented, had this generation turned to him, their Saviour, they might every man have been redeemed, whether or not their nation could have been saved from its national ruin. This is shown in the pathetic declaration of the following verse.

V. 37. Luke 13:34.

Verse 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem] 1. It is evident that our blessed Lord seriously and earnestly wished the salvation of the Jews. 2. That he did every thing that could be done, consistently with his own perfections, and the liberty of his creatures, to effect this. 3. That his tears over the city, Luke 19:41, sufficiently evince his sincerity. 4. That these persons nevertheless perished. And 5. That the reason was, they would not be gathered together under his protection: therefore wrath, i.e. punishment, came upon them to the uttermost. From this it is evident that there have been persons whom Christ wished to save, and bled to save, who notwithstanding perished, because they would not come unto him, John 5:40. The metaphor which our Lord uses here is a very beautiful one. When the hen sees a beast of prey coming, she makes a noise to assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her wings from the danger. The Roman eagle is about to fall upon the Jewish state-nothing can prevent this but their conversion to God through Christ-Jesus cries throughout the land, publishing the Gospel of reconciliation-they would not assemble, and the Roman eagle came and destroyed them. The hen’s affection to her brood is so very strong as to become proverbial. The following beautiful Greek epigram, taken from the Anthologia, affords a very fine illustration of this text.

ceimeriaiv nifadessi palunomena tiqav orniv

teknoiv eunaiav amfecee pterugav.

mesfa men ouranion kruov wlesen h gar emeinen

aiqerov ouraniwn antipalov nefewn.

proknh kai medeia, kat~ aidov aidesqhte,

mhterev, orniqwn erga didaskomenai.

Anthol. lib. i. Tit. 87: edit. Bosch. p. 344.

Beneath her fostering wing the HEN defends

Her darling offspring, while the snow descends;

Throughout the winter’s day unmoved defies

The chilling fleeces and inclement skies;

Till, vanquish’d by the cold and piercing blast,

True to her charge, she perishes at last!

O Fame! to hell this fowl’s affection bear;

Tell it to Progne and Medea there:-

To mothers such as those the tale unfold,

And let them blush to hear the story told!-T. G.

This epigram contains a happy illustration, not only of our Lord’s simile, but also of his own conduct. How long had these thankless and unholy people been the objects of his tenderest cares! For more than 2000 years, they engrossed the most peculiar regards of the most beneficent Providence; and during the three years of our Lord’s public ministry, his preaching and miracles had but one object and aim, the instruction and salvation of this thoughtless and disobedient people. For their sakes, he who was rich became poor, that they through his poverty might be rich:- for their sakes, he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! HE died, that THEY might not perish, but have everlasting life. Thus, to save their life, he freely abandoned his own.

Verse 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem — The Lord Jesus having thus laid before the Pharisees and the Jewish nation their heinous guilt and impending ruin, was exceedingly moved at the thought of the calamities coming upon them. A day or two before he had wept over Jerusalem; now he bewails it in the most mournful accents of pity and commisseration. Jerusalem, the vision of peace, as the word signifies, must now be made the seat of war and confusion: Jerusalem, that had been the joy of the whole earth, must now be a hissing, and an astonishment, and a by-word among all nations: Jerusalem, that had been a city compact together, was now to be shattered and ruined by its own intestine broils: Jerusalem, the place that God had chosen to put his name there, must now be abandoned to spoilers and robbers. For, 1st, As its inhabitants had their hands more deeply imbrued in the blood of the prophets than those of other places, they were to drink more deeply than others in the punishment of such crimes: Thou that killest the prophets, &c. And, 2d, Jerusalem especially had rejected, and would persist in rejecting the Lord’s Christ, and the offers of salvation made through him, and would persecute his servants divinely commissioned to make them these offers. The former was a sin without remedy; this a sin against the remedy. How often would I have gathered thy children, &c. — See the wonderful grace, condescension, and kindness of the Lord Jesus toward those who he foresaw would in two or three days maliciously and cruelly imbrue their hands in his blood! What a strong idea do these tender exclamations of our Lord, which can hardly be read without tears, give us of his unparalleled love to that ungrateful and impenitent nation! He would have taken the whole body of them, if they would have consented to be so taken, into his church, and have gathered them all, (as the Jews used to speak of proselytes,) under the wings of the divine majesty. The words, how often would I have gathered, &c.,mark his unwearied endeavours to protect and cherish them from the time they were first called to be his people, and the following words, declarative of the opposition between his will and theirs, but ye would not, very emphatically show their unconquerable obstinacy in resisting the most winning and most substantial expressions of the divine goodness. Thus does the Lord Jesus still call and invite perishing sinners. But alas! the obstinacy of their own perverse and rebellious wills too generally withstands all the overtures of his grace: so that eternal desolation becomes their portion, and they in vain wish for a repetition of those calls when it is for ever too late.

Ver. 37. As a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings. This, the tenderest sentiment of nature, intimates that Christ had repeated all the efforts of the ancient prophets to save and retrieve his country from ruin, but that the obduracy of their hearts, and their blindness as a priesthood, had frustrated the gracious efforts of love. Hence they perished in the sins of their fathers, as stated in the last chapter of the book of Chronicles.

37. Thou that killest the prophets — Identifying the Jerusalem of the then present day with the Jerusalem of past ages. How often would I — The beautiful tenderness of this verse shows that the warnings of the previous verses are the language, not of human anger, but of terrible divine justice. Love, deep love, may dwell in the breast of the judge who pronounces the sentence of death. As a hen — A simple and beautiful image of tender protection. His wing would have protected them when the storm hovered or the enemy approached.

Verse 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, &c. — Every part of this apostrophe is charged with feeling and beauty. The repetition of the word Jerusalem, denoting how intensely the mind was fixed upon an object of interest; the comparison of his own intense desire to save the people of his own nation from these impending calamities, with the restless anxiety of the parent bird to shelter her brood, from birds of prey, under her wings; the frequency of his calls and warnings: and the despairing conclusion — and ye would not! are all deeply touching. Nor is this expression of our blessed Saviour’s compassion to be confined to the Jews. It is an exhibition of his character instructive to all ages. It was this tender concern for human salvation which brought him from heaven, and carried him through his painful course of humiliation, shame, and sorrow; and now every annunciation of his Gospel is a call to us to the shelter of his wings from impending danger. He WOULD gather us together there, and be our eternal refuge from the vengeance which we have so justly provoked; and if we are not saved, this is not only against his intention, but his anxious attempts and most sincere endeavours to bring us, by the use of a variety of means, to a better mind. I WOULD AND YE WOULD NOT, are words which at once declare the fulness of his grace, and place the sole and aggravated fault of the final destruction of men upon themselves alone.

V. 38. Behold your house-The temple, which is now your house, not God's:

Is left unto you-Our Lord spake this as he was going out of it for the last time:

Desolate-Forsaken of God and his Christ, and sentenced to utter destruction.

Verse 38. Behold, your house] o oikov, the temple:-this is certainly what is meant. It was once the Lord’s temple, God’s OWN house; but now he says, YOUR temple or house-to intimate that God had abandoned it. See Clarke’s note on “Matthew 23:21”; see also Clarke on “Luke 13:35”.

Verses 38, 39. Behold, your house — The temple, which is now your house, not God’s; is left unto you desolate — Forsaken of God and his Christ, and sentenced to utter destruction. Our Lord spake this as he was going out of it for the last time. For I say unto you — Ye Jews in general, ye men of Jerusalem in particular; shall not see me henceforth — Ap’ arti, hereafter, as the words signify, Matthew 26:64; till — After a long interval of desolation and misery, Ye shall say, Blessed, &c. — Till ye receive me with joyful and thankful hearts; that is, till your nation is converted: for the state of the nation, and not of a few individuals, is here spoken of, as it is also in the parables of the vineyard and marriage-supper. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, was the cry of the believing multitude when Jesus made his public entry into Jerusalem a few days before. Hence, in predicting their future conversion, he very properly alluded to that exclamation by which so many had expressed their faith in him as the Messiah. This was the last discourse Jesus pronounced in public, and with it his ministry ended. From that moment he abandoned the Jewish nation, gave them over to walk in their own counsels, and devoted them to destruction. Nor were they ever after to be the objects of his care, till the period of their conversion to Christianity should come, which he now foretold, and which also shall be accomplished in its season.

38. Your house is left… desolate — Jerusalem is pictured as a person whose habitation has been completely desolated and abandoned to the pillager. The house may be an allusion to the temple, in which indeed Jesus uttered the words. It is now not God’s house, but your house.

Verse 38. Behold, your house, &c. — House, oikov, is here used for the city of Jerusalem, the words being manifestly taken from Jeremiah 22:5, “But if ye will. not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation,” oti eiv erhmsin estai o oikov outov; which is another indication that the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and the deportation of the people from the land, were a type of the still severer punishment inflicted by Roman severity. The word oikov is used not only in this enlarged sense, but for country. So also the Latins use domus.

V. 39. Ye-Jews in general; men of Jerusalem in particular: shall not see me from this time-Which includes the short space till his death, till, after a long interval of desolation and misery, ye say,

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord-Ye receive me with joyful and thankful hearts. This also shall be accomplished in its season.

Verse 39. Ye shall not see me] I will remove my Gospel from you, and withdraw my protection.

Till ye shall say, Blessed] Till after the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, when the word of life shall again be sent unto you; then will ye rejoice, and bless, and praise him that cometh in the name of the Lord, with full and final salvation for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See Romans 11:26, 27.

Our Lord plainly foresaw that, in process of time, a spiritual domination would arise in his Church; and, to prevent its evil influence, he leaves the strong warnings against it which are contained in the former part of this chapter. As the religion of Christ is completely spiritual, and the influence by which it is produced and maintained must come from heaven; therefore, there could be no master or head but himself: for as the Church (the assemblage of true believers) is his body, all its intelligence, light, and life, must proceed from him alone. Our forefathers noted this well; and this was one of the grand arguments by which they overturned the papal pretensions to supremacy in this country. In a note on Matthew 23:9, in a Bible published by Edmund Becke in 1549, the 2nd of Edward VI., we find the following words:-Call no man your father upon the earth. Here is the Bishoppe of Rome declared a plaine Antichrist, in that he woulde be called the most holye father; and that all Christen men shoulde acknowledge hym for no lesse then their spyritual father, notwithstandinge these playne wordes of Christe. It is true, nothing can be plainer; and yet, in the face of these commands, the pope has claimed the honour; and millions of men have been so stupid as to concede it. May those days of darkness, tyranny, and disgrace, never return!

From the 13th to the 39th verse, our Lord pronounces eight woes, or rather pathetic declarations, against the scribes and Pharisees. 1. For their unwillingness to let the common people enjoy the pure word of God, or its right explanation: Ye shut up the kingdom, &c., Matthew 23:13.

2. For their rapacity, and pretended sanctity in order to secure their secular ends: Ye devour widows houses, &c., Matthew 23:14.

3. For their pretended zeal to spread the kingdom of God by making proselytes, when they had no other end in view than forming instruments for the purposes of their oppression and cruelty: Ye compass sea and land, &c., Matthew 23:15.

4. For their bad doctrine and false interpretations of the Scriptures, and their dispensing with the most solemn oaths and vows at pleasure: Ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, &c., Matthew 23:16-22.

5. For their superstition in scrupulously attending to little things, and things not commanded, and omitting matters of great importance, the practice of which God had especially enjoined: Ye pay tithe of mint and cummin, &c., Matthew 23:23, 24.

6. For their hypocrisy, pretended saintship, and endeavouring to maintain decency in their outward conduct, while they had no other object in view than to deceive the people, and make them acquiesce in their oppressive measures: Ye make clean the outside of the cup, Matthew 23:25, 26.

7. For the depth of their inward depravity and abomination, having nothing good, fair, or supportable, but the mere outside.-Most hypocrites and wicked men have some good: but these were radically and totally evil: Ye are like unto whited sepulchres-within full-of all uncleanness, Matthew 23:27, 28.

8. For their pretended concern for the holiness of the people, which proceeded no farther than to keep them free from such pollutions as they might accidentally and innocently contract, by casually stepping on the place where a person had been buried: and for their affected regret that their fathers had killed the prophets, while themselves possessed and cultivated the same murderous inclinations: Ye-garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been, &c., Matthew 23:29, 30. It is amazing with what power and authority our blessed Lord reproves this bad people. This was the last discourse they ever heard from him; and it is surprising, considering their wickedness, that they waited even for a mock trial, and did not rise up at once and destroy him. But the time was not yet come in which he was to lay down his life, for no man could take it from him.

While he appears in this last discourse with all the authority of a lawgiver and judge, he at the same time shows the tenderness and compassion of a friend and a father: he beholds their awful state-his eye affects his heart, and he weeps over them! Were not the present hardness and final perdition of these ungodly men entirely of themselves? Could Jesus, as the Supreme God, have fixed their reprobation from all eternity by any necessitating decree; and yet weep over the unavoidable consequences of his own sovereign determinations? How absurd as well as shocking is the thought! This is Jewish exclusion: Credat Judæus Apella-non ego.

ST. MATTHEW

Verses 38, 39. Behold, your house — The temple, which is now your house, not God’s; is left unto you desolate — Forsaken of God and his Christ, and sentenced to utter destruction. Our Lord spake this as he was going out of it for the last time. For I say unto you — Ye Jews in general, ye men of Jerusalem in particular; shall not see me henceforth — Ap’ arti, hereafter, as the words signify, Matthew 26:64; till — After a long interval of desolation and misery, Ye shall say, Blessed, &c. — Till ye receive me with joyful and thankful hearts; that is, till your nation is converted: for the state of the nation, and not of a few individuals, is here spoken of, as it is also in the parables of the vineyard and marriage-supper. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, was the cry of the believing multitude when Jesus made his public entry into Jerusalem a few days before. Hence, in predicting their future conversion, he very properly alluded to that exclamation by which so many had expressed their faith in him as the Messiah. This was the last discourse Jesus pronounced in public, and with it his ministry ended. From that moment he abandoned the Jewish nation, gave them over to walk in their own counsels, and devoted them to destruction. Nor were they ever after to be the objects of his care, till the period of their conversion to Christianity should come, which he now foretold, and which also shall be accomplished in its season.

39. Ye shall not see me — In the word ye Jesus still considers Jerusalem as being the same historical and national person through all ages. Till ye — In your posterity in a future age. Blessed is he — The language by which the children in the temple recognized him as the Messiah. Psalm 118:6. The meaning of the whole is, that the Jews shall be converted to Christ as a race, and doubtless Jerusalem as a city be restored, before the second coming of Christ.

Thus does this most terrible of all discourses first soften to the language of tender pity, and at last close with a valid promise. He could now bid Jerusalem farewell; to that generation a final farewell. Yet not final to Jerusalem, for she shall see his face again. But before that time one condition was foreseen as to be fulfilled. She should have acknowledged him as her true Messiah. How long the interval between that conversion and that advent, he does not say. In the prospective of the vast distance, the two events seem not now far apart. Yet long ages may intervene between the two. Jesus only declares that the latter shall not take place until after the former. See note on Matthew 24:14. Our Lord’s public ministry has now closed. He departs from the temple, in whose court he had delivered this last discourse of terror and tenderness. Henceforth he retires to the bosom of his own disciples to prepare himself for the sacrifice.

There is a locality outside the wall which now encloses the grounds of the ancient temple, called, “The wailing place of the Jews.” By paying for the privilege, the Jews of Jerusalem resort to this spot every Friday, and bewail the fall of their nation and temple. This scene of sorrow, mournfully illustrates how truly their house is left unto them desolate. Yet it suggests the hope that Israel is preserved for purposes yet unfulfilled.

Verse 39. Ye shall not see me henceforth., &c. — The word ap’ arti is, in Matthew 26:64, rendered hereafter; and, in the sense of henceforth, it cannot certainly be taken here, because they saw him many times after this, After a while best expresses the meaning. — Ye shall not after a while see me, until ye shall say, &c.

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. — These words imply the acknowledgment of our Lord by the Jews as the Messiah. In these terms the multitudes that attended his entry into Jerusalem saluted him, and joined them with their “Hosanna to the Son of David.” They cannot therefore relate to his coming in his vengeance to destroy Jerusalem, for then the Jews did not more acknowledge him in his judgments than before; nor can they be so properly referred to his coming to judge the world, as to that acknowledgment of him as the Christ by the Jews as a people, which shall long precede that event. His COMING, therefore, is here to be taken in a spiritual sense; and the words contain a remarkable instance of a threatening and a promise, and that each of the most emphatic import, being couched under the same terms. A long and dark interval was to take place in which they should not SEE him, have no perception of the truth of his mission, and be separated from his peculiar mercies, — a long night in which they should wander in ignorance and unbelief, denationalized, unchurched, and deserted by God; but still ultimately they shall SEE him in all the demonstrations of his divinity and redeeming offices, shall acknowledge him as the true Christ, and take up that very acclamation of the multitudes in the streets of Jerusalem, at which their fathers were maddened into rage, and cry with them, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.