Matthew 23:13-24: “Jesus Begins To Pronounce ‘Woes’ On The
Pharisees And Scribes”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we saw that Jesus had now begun to directly
and broadly rebuke and condemn the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and sin as
leaders in Israel
1.1.1.
Jesus told His disciples to do what the Pharisees told
them to do, but not to follow their actions, for their walk did not match their
talk
1.1.2.
Jesus condemned them for laying heavy burdens upon
other people and yet themselves not being willing to lift a finger to move the
same burdens. In other words, they were
themselves openly disobeying God’s commands
1.1.3.
Jesus condemned them for doing all of their deeds in order
to be seen by men
1.1.4.
Jesus then began to condemn the Pharisees for
demanding or expecting people to call them by respectful titles:
1.1.4.1.They loved
the respectful greetings in the market place
1.1.4.2.They loved
being called, ‘Rabbi’
1.1.4.3.They loved
the chief seats in the synagogue and the chief seats at banquets
1.1.5.
Jesus then told His disciples not to call men,
‘Father’, or even ‘leader’, for to do these things would be to put men in the
place where God should be
1.1.6.
In application then, we learned that:
1.1.6.1.If we are
doing our deeds in order to be noticed by men that we will lose our reward in
heaven
1.1.6.2.We should
care about having God’s approval, not the approval of men
1.2.
In our study today, we see that Jesus begins to
pronounce ‘woes’ upon the Pharisees and Scribes, and in this chapter Jesus
pronounces seven or eight woes upon the leaders
1.2.1.
These ‘woes’ are divine curses which prophesy divine
judgment to follow, however Jesus pronounces them brokenheartedly and with the
utmost of sorrow and pity
1.2.2.
As Jesus pronounces these ‘woes’, He knows that they
will result in the harshest of punishments for the unrepentant, but He also
knows that many innocent people in
1.2.3.
The immediate judgment upon the nation of
1.2.4.
The secondary judgment upon the nation of Israel will
occur when the unrepentant onces stand before the Great White Throne Judgment
of unbelievers, and they are cast into the Lake of Fire which burns for
eternity
1.2.5.
As I have mentioned already a few times in this study
of Matthew, the Lord’s judgments have always been the most severe against those
who are supposed to be shepherds of His people, and Ezekiel 34:1-10, we read of
God’s judgments that were to come upon the shepherds of Israel who were not
caring for the sheep, feeding them, and protecting them as they should, “34:1
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, prophesy against
the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the
Lord God, “Woe, shepherds of
2.
VS 23:13 - “13
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the
kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you
allow those who are entering to go in.”” -
Jesus pronounces the first ‘woe’ upon the Pharisees and Scribes: they block people from heaven
2.1.
The Pharisees and Scribes were the appointed leaders of God’s people, and
as the highest leaders they were charged with a very solemn duty of being the
‘gate-keepers’ to God’s Kingdom.
2.1.1.
Being ‘gate-keepers’, it was their responsibility to lead the people into
fellowship with the Lord, and teach them to observe all of His commandments.
2.1.2.
Jesus pronounces a ‘woe’ upon them first because they themselves did not
enter into God’s Kingdom, for they were in reality not God’s people at all.
2.1.2.1.Jesus told the Pharisees on
one occasion in John 8:44 that they were of their father, the ‘devil’, and
thus they were doing the works of their father, “44 “You are of your father the
devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar,
and the father of lies.”
2.1.3.
Secondly, Jesus pronounces a ‘woe’ upon them because they were hindering
those who would otherwise come into the kingdom.
2.1.3.1.In John 9:22, we see that the parents of
the man born blind, whom Jesus healed of his sight, were afraid to openly
confess anything about the healing of their son because the Pharisees had
agreed that if anyone confessed Jesus to be the Messiah that he would be put
out of the synagogue.
2.1.3.2.In Zech. 11:17, Zechariah wrote about the
curses that are upon the worthless shepherds of God’s people, “ 17 “Woe
to the worthless shepherd Who leaves the flock!
A sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered, And his
right eye will be blind.””
2.1.3.3.In 1 Thess.
2:14-16, we
see that Paul wrote about how during the era of the early church that the Jews
were still trying to hinder people from coming to God, for they were hindering
the Gentiles from hearing the gospel and being saved, “14 For
you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are
in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own
countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus
and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile
to all men, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be
saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But
wrath has come upon them to the utmost.”
3.
VS 23:14 - “14
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’
houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you shall
receive greater condemnation.]” - Jesus
pronounces the second ‘woe’ upon the Pharisees and Scribes because they
devoured widows houses, but made a pretense by having a long prayer while they
were there
3.1.
This verse is not in the earliest manuscripts, and thus it is contained
within brackets.
3.1.1.
Even though this verse was not in the oldest manuscripts, and thus it’s
authenticity for this book is very much in question, we see that the synoptic
writers Mark and Luke, in Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47, quote Jesus as saying
these same things about the Pharisees and Scribes, however those writers do not
mention these statements in regard to ‘woes’ which Jesus pronounced against
these leaders.
3.2.
The Logos Bible quotes Bab. Berachoth as saying that many of the
supposedly very religious Pharisees and Scribes would pray sometimes nine hours
a day.
3.3.
In Ezekiel 22:22-24 (and other places in the scripture), we learn that the
Lord takes it very personally if anyone harms orphans and widows, therefore by
their actions these Pharisees and Scribes were making themselves huge enemies
of the Lord, “22 “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. 23
“If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear
his cry; 24 and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword;
and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.””
3.4.
The hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Scribes in robbing widows blind while
at the same time praying long prayers over their houses in order to appear to
men to be caring so greatly for them predicates this very solemn judgment and
curse or ‘woe’ over them.
3.5.
It could be that in these verses that Jesus was thinking specifically of
the Pharisees as going to widows houses and forcing or bribing them into
committing adultery with them.
4.
VS 23:15 - “15
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea
and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as
much a son of hell as yourselves.”” -
Jesus condemns the Pharisees and Scribes saying ‘woe’ to them for being
so zealous to make a new convert, yet once they have made one he will be twice
as evil as they are
4.1.
These religious leaders were very zealous for the Lord, and yet as we
often see in our world today, many times there can be such a thing as a
‘misguided zeal’ for the Lord.
4.1.1.
For instance, I see misguided zeal in men like Timothy McVeigh, who would
bomb a government building and kill hundreds of innocent civilians, and others
who are in the anti-government movement and who believe in God, Christ, and the
Bible, and yet they do not understand the heart of God and the things that are
really most important from the Lord’s perspective.
4.1.2.
Zeal for the Lord is an important thing to have, for it speaks of our
true love and devotion to the Lord, however if zeal is not mixed with knowledge,
true knowledge of God, His Word, and His ways, then that zeal cannot accomplish
the righteousness of God, nor be pleasing to Him.
4.2.
Jesus says here that these Pharisees and Scribes would make the man twice
the ‘son of Gehenna’, or ‘son of hell’, than themselves. Jesus taught that a person becomes like his
teacher, and thus any of the converts the Pharisees and Scribes made became
just a hypocritical and evil as they themselves were, for they followed all of
their wicked ways. However, Jesus says
that these Pharisees and Scribes were so wicked that the proselytes they made
actually became twice as wicked as themselves.
5.
VS 23:16-22 -
“16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that
is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ 17
“You fools and blind men; which is more important, the gold, or the temple that
sanctified the gold? 18 “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing,
but whoever swears by the offering upon it, he is obligated.’ 19 “You blind
men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the
offering? 20 “Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears both by the altar
and by everything on it. 21 “And he who swears by the temple, swears both by
the temple and by Him who dwells within it. 22 “And he who swears by heaven,
swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.”” - Jesus pronounces a ‘woe’ upon the Pharisees
and Scribes for their swearing by God’s temple
5.1.
In Matthew 5:33-37, we saw that Jesus told His disciples that it is wrong to ‘swear’ in the
first place, “33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were
told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’
34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the
throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by
Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 “Nor shall you make an oath
by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 “But let your
statement be, ‘Yes, yes‘ or ‘No, no‘; and anything beyond these is of evil.””
5.1.1.
The Lord takes any vows very seriously, therefore before anyone makes a
vow that they will or will not do any particular thing, then they must truly be
sure that they are not going to let anything stand in the way of keeping their
word.
5.1.2.
We also saw when we studied these verses from Matthew 5 that if we were
just to be men and women of our word, then we would not need to swear that we
were or were not going to do anything, because our word would stand for itself.
5.1.2.1.It is an incredible
testimony to the world when people can just simply count upon someone’s word
when they say something.
5.1.3.
We discussed that there are times when a person has to by law swear in
court before giving their testimony, and that really what Jesus was saying in
His teaching here was not so much that they should not swear at all, or in any
case, but rather that if we do swear that we had better be sure that we know we
are going to be able to back up what we are committing ourselves to.
5.2.
In our world today, many times people resort to swearing that they will
do things because they have relented upon their word so many times in the past
that people cannot count upon them doing what they say they are going to do,
and sometimes I have heard people say something that is very similar to what
the Pharisees and Scribes in Jesus’ day were saying. They will say, “I swear on a stack of Bibles
that…”, as if we should take their word with much more credibility because it
is a stack of Bibles upon which it is sworn.
5.3.
The Pharisees were doing wrong by swearing and not keeping their word,
but they were also doing wrong by swearing by God’s temple, whether it be by
the gold of the temple, the offering in the temple, or the altar of the temple,
for to do so is to use God for your own selfish purposes.
5.4.
Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for their bad sense of values:
5.4.1.
They said that a person was not obligated if he swore by the temple
unless he swore by the ‘gold’ of the temple.
5.4.1.1.Their swearing in this way
really stated that they valued earthly riches more than heavenly riches.
5.4.2.
They said that a person was not obligated if he swore by the altar in the
temple but only if he swore by the offering on the altar.
5.4.2.1.Their swearing in this way
really stated that they valued the accomplishments of men more that the
accomplishments of God.
5.4.3.
The Pharisees’ wrong sense of values made them to be ‘blind men’, ‘blind
guides’ of God’s people, and really this issue of their swearing was only a
very small reflection of the corruption of true justice and righteousness which
the Pharisees and Scribes had made.
5.4.3.1.Because of their corruption
of justice and righteousness, being leaders of the people, God would judge them
in His wrath for their sins if they continued on unrepentant.
6.
VS 23:23 - “23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill
and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and
mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without
neglecting the others.”” - Jesus
pronounces a ‘woe’ upon the Pharisees and Scribes because they tried to carry
out the Law to a ridiculous degree and upon the points which were of small
significance, and yet they openly violated the Law upon the points of greatest
significance
6.1.
It is interesting in this verse that Jesus tells us that there are
‘weightier’ points in God’s Law that a person ought to take to heart to
perform, and therefore we know that if we follow the heart of God that we will
not be people who place the wrong emphasis upon obedience to some commands from
the scriptures.
6.2.
Jesus tells the people that the Pharisees and Scribes were people who
‘majored on the minors’.
6.2.1.
Many in the church today do the same things. For instance, I have seen churches split for
the silliest of reasons:
6.2.1.1.The most recent example of
this was that a church I know in
6.2.1.2.I have heard of church
splits over the color of the carpet.
6.2.1.3.Some churches that are
legalistic do this constantly.
6.2.1.3.1.I have heard of churches
that were so legalistic that they taught such things as that a woman would be
going to hell if her dress came two inches above her ankles, or if she wore
make up or jewelry, or if she curled or died her hair.
6.2.1.4.Etc., etc.
6.3.
Mint, dill, and cumin were spices that someone might hang in their
kitchen window, and the Law of Moses did require that a person should have to
tithe for any increase received in their lives, however these small little
household plants amounted to next to nothing in relation to all of the other
possessions in a persons life. However,
in order for people to know the seriousness in which they took tithing a 10th
part of everything, the Pharisees and Scribes would give a tithe of these
plants.
6.4.
‘Justice’, ‘mercy’, and ‘faithfulness’ were conduct that the Pharisees
and Scribes really did not value highly in their personal lives, even in spite
of the fact that they spent much of their energy in trying to do external works
so that they might be able to be looked up to by the people as being
spiritually minded and committed to God.
6.4.1.
The Pharisees and Scribes tried hard to keep most of the external
requirements of the Law, yet the ‘weightier’ commandments of the Law which they
didn’t keep touched upon a person’s heart and motives. The ‘weightier’ commandments of the Law were
commandments that a person carried out because of having a godly ‘love’ for
others, the keeping of which were really the ‘love of God’ coming out through
their lives.
6.4.2.
Remember that Jesus taught that all of God’s commandments really could be
summed up in two commandments: To love
the Lord with all of your heart, mind, and strength; and, to love your neighbor as you love
yourself.
6.4.2.1.Keeping the external
requirements of the Law without having love in your heart for others (love that
results in actions consistent with love) was to not keep them at all in God’s
sight.
6.4.2.2.In 1 Cor.
13:1-13,
Paul wrote about how that you can do any kind of service for Christ that you
want to do, however it doesn’t matter how radical that service to God may be if
you are not exercizing agape love, for then you are nothing, and your service
is not pleasing to God, “13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge;
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am
nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver
my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is
patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not
arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not
provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in
unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there
are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will
cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part, and
we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done
away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child,
reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For
now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but
then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now abide
faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
7.
VS 23:24 - “24
“You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”” - Jesus condemns the Pharisees for straining
out a gnat and swallowing a camel
7.1.
In this verse, Jesus just uses an visual illustration to demonstrate the
degree to which the Pharisees and Scribes majored on the minors, and visa
versa.
7.1.1.
The Pharisees and Scribes would title to the ‘inth’ degree, even
regarding the most insignificant of things such as spice plants in their
kitchen, and thus they were ‘straining
out a gnat’ by the degree that they would try to follow God’s guidelines for
tithing, however they would openly disobey God’s commandments, such to not
steal or commit adultery, and thus they were ‘swallowing a camel’ in doing
these things.