St Matthew Chapter XXIII : Verses 13-36
Contents
- Matt. xxiii. 13-36. Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Notes on the text.
- Additional Notes: Jewish literature on rabbis; Fulvia.
Matt. xxiii. 13-36
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| Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Væ autem vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, quia clauditis regnum cælorum ante homines! vos enim non intratis, nec introeuntes sinitis intrare.
14 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment.
Væ vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, quia comeditis domos viduarum, orationes longas orantes! propter hoc amplius accipietis judicium.
15 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.
Væ vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, quia circuitis mare, et aridam, ut faciatis unum proselytum, et cum fuerit factus, facitis eum filium gehennæ duplo quam vos.
16 Woe to you blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple, is a debtor.
Væ vobis duces cæci, qui dicitis : Quicumque juraverit per templum, nihil est : qui autem juraverit in auro templo, debet.
17 Ye foolish and blind; for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
Stulti et cæci : quid enim majus est? aurum, an templum, quod sanctificat aurum?
18 And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor.
Et quicumque juraverit in altari, nihil est : quicumque autem juraverit in dono, quod est super illud, debet.
19 Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Cæci : quid enim majus est, donum, an altare, quod sanctificat donum?
20 He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it:
Qui ergo jurat in altari, jurat in eo, et in omnibus quæ super illud sunt.
21 And whosoever shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in it:
Et quicumque juraverit in templo, jurat in illo, et in eo qui habitat in ipso :
22 And he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
et qui jurat in cælo, jurat in throno Dei, et in eo qui sedet super eum.
23 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone.
Væ vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, qui decimatis mentham, et anethum, et cyminum, et reliquistis quæ graviora sunt legis, judicium, et misericordiam, et fidem! haec oportuit facere, et illa non omittere.
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Duces cæci, excolantes culicem, camelum autem glutientes.
25 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.
Væ vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, quia mundatis quod deforis est calicis et paropsidis; intus autem pleni estis rapina et immunditia!
26 Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean.
Pharisæe cæce, munda prius quod intus est calicis, et paropsidis, ut fiat id, quod deforis est, mundum.
27 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness.
Væ vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, quia similes estis sepulchris dealbatis, quæ a foris parent hominibus speciosa, intus vero pleni sunt ossibus mortuorum, et omni spurcitia!
28 So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Sic et vos a foris quidem paretis hominibus justi : intus autem pleni estis hypocrisi et iniquitate.
29 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; that build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the just,
Væ vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, qui ædificatis sepulchra prophetarum, et ornatis monumenta justorum,
30 And say: If we had been in the days of our Fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
et dicitis : Si fuissemus in diebus patrum nostrorum, non essemus socii eorum in sanguine prophetarum!
31 Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets.
itaque testimonio estis vobismetipsis, quia filii estis eorum, qui prophetas occiderunt.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Et vos implete mensuram patrum vestrorum.
33 You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?
Serpentes genimina viperarum, quomodo fugietis a judicio gehennæ?
34 Therefore behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:
Ideo ecce ego mitto ad vos prophetas, et sapientes, et scribas, et ex illis occidetis, et crucifigetis, et ex eis flagellabitis in synagogis vestris, et persequemini de civitate in civitatem :
35 That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.
ut veniat super vos omnis sanguis justus, qui effusus est super terram, a sanguine Abel justi usque ad sanguinem Zachariæ, filii Barachiæ, quem occidistis inter templum et altare.
36 Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.
Amen dico vobis, venient haec omnia super generationem istam.
Notes
Note. — Jesus inaugurated His public life by promulgating the eight Beatitudes ; He closed it by denouncing the Pharisees, and prophesying that eight “Woes” should overtake them. “Christ speaks with great anger of the Scribes and Pharisees to the end of the chapter, especially accusing them of hypocrisy, not in any sudden outbreak of powerless anger or slander, but with the fixed plan and determination of warning the unhappy people before His approaching death not to be deluded by the false pretences of these men ” (Maldonatus, vol. ii. p. 249). In some Codices and Versions the first and second woe are transposed. The order given here, following that of the Vulgate, is preferable, and is accepted in the Revised Version.
First Woe, against spiritual selfishness.
13. wo to you .... because you shut, etc. By discrediting our Lord, by excommunicating His adherents and repressing the enthusiasm of the people. The Pharisees, as it were, stood at the door of the Messianic Church and prevented men from entering.
The prophets had also accused the Jews of this. Cf. But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to stumble at the law : you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts (Mal. ii. 8).
The Scribes’ knowledge of the Law is compared to a key which opens the door of the Church. They have this key in their possession, but neither used it themselves nor allowed others to profit by it.
against men. Better, “before men” (ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων), i.e. they kept it closed in the face of men desirous of entering. Thus on another occasion Jesus accuses the lawyers : Wo to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge : you yourselves have not entered in, and those that were entering in you have hindered (St Luke xi. 52).
Second Woe, against covetousness under pretence of religion.
Note. — As this verse is missing in many Codices א B, D, L, Z) and some copies of the Vulgate and other ancient Versions, the Revised Version rejects it. This “ woe,” however, is found in some good Uncials (E, F, G, H, K, M) and in the Syriac and the accepted Vulgate Versions. Even if critics be correct in rejecting this passage here, it is undoubtedly genuine in St Mark xii. 40 and St Luke xx. 47.
14. Wo to you .... because you devour, etc. They may have devoured widows’ houses in various ways, e.g. —
(a) By obtaining gifts under a false pretence of devotion and piety.
(b) By embezzling the property when they were the guardians of widows’ estates. The Scribes were the lawyers of the nation, and were employed to draw up wills ; hence they had many opportunities of being dishonest.
There are many recommendations in the Holy Scriptures concerning the merciful treatment of widows and orphans, — e.g. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the fatherless and the widow (Deut. xxvii, 19). Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow (Is. i. 17)
praying long prayers. Some of the prayers which the Pharisees said were very long, e.g. the twenty-six prayers at ablutions, the eighteen benedictions, etc.
you shall receive, etc. These words shew our Lord’s strong indignation. The hypocritical Scribes, by their apparent piety and multiplied practices of devotion, won the confidence of their clients (the widows to whom Christ refers), and they profited by this ascendency, so basely obtained, to advance their own interests.
Third Woe, against indiscreet proselytism.
15. Wo to you .... because you go round, “ To compass sea and land ” is a proverbial expression signifying “ to take all possible means ” to attain some end.
proselyte. In the Septuagint this word is used of “a stranger” or “ sojourner,” but later it was applied to converts from Judaism to Christianity.
the child of hell, — i.e. worthy of hell. Compare this with such expressions as a child of death (2 Kings xii. 5), the son of perdition (St John xvii. 12). These proselytes added to their own vices those of their teachers, for “ they were more inclined by nature to copy vice than virtue, and thus the masters were easily surpassed in wickedness by their disciples ” (Euthymius, quoted by Maldonatus).
Fourth Woe, against wilful blindness.
16. Wo to you blind guides that say, etc. The Pharisees and Scribes made arbitrary distinctions as regards oaths, according to which some were binding, while others were not. Our Lord charges them three times in this discourse with spiritual blindness (verses 17, 19, 26).
the gold of the temple. This may mean the decorations of the Temple, the gold in the Temple treasuries, or the golden vessels used in the Temple.
is a debtor, i.e. is bound by his oath.
Verses 17-22. In these verses our Lord points out that, since the Temple sanctifies the
gold, and the altar the gift, therefore the Temple and the altar are greatev than the gold and the gift, and He goes on to explain that whoever swears by the Temple, the altar, or by heaven, swears by God Himself, who is present in all creatures. The question of oaths is also treated in the Sermon on the Mount, where it is more fully explained (see supra, v. 33-36).
18. it is nothing. St Jerome, Theophylact, and St Thomas (quoted by Maldonatus) explain these words thus: “If any man, in any suit or doubtful question, swore by the Temple, and was afterwards convicted of falsehood, he was not held guilty ; but if he swore by the gold and money which were offered by the priests in the Temple, he was at once compelled to make good that which he had sworn to do. Again, if a man swore by the altar, no one thought him guilty of perjury ; but if he swore by the oblations, that is, the victims or .sacrifices or other offerings to God on the altar, the vow was required to be most strictly performed. The above authors think that avarice was the original cause of the tradition” (Maldonatus, vol. ii. p. 254).
Fifth Woe, against attachment to trifles and neglect of essential duties.
23. you tithe, — i.e. you pay as tithes the tenth portion of certain things.
mint. An aromatic herb used as a condiment. It was one of the ingredients of the sauce of bitter herbs served at the Paschal Supper. Bunches of mint were also hung up in the synagogues to perfume the air with its fragrance.
anise. The plant known as “ dill.” It bears brown flowers, and small, flat, oval seeds, which have medicinal properties, and are also used for seasoning.
cummin. An umbelliferous plant, the seeds of which resemble caraways and are somewhat pungent. They are used medicinally and as a condiment. The Pharisees gave tithes of these herbs in obedience to the precept of the Law. Cf. Every year thou shalt set aside the tithes of all thy fruits that the earth bringeth forth (Deut. xiv. 22). Jesus does not condemn this practice, though the Law did not exact tithes of such small herbs, but He blames the Pharisees for substituting these insignificant practices in place of judgment and charity.
the weightier things, etc. Christ contrasts the three essential duties of judgment (i.e. justice, mercy, and faith) with the tithes of mint, anise, and cummin.
judgment. Injustice, i.e. sins against judgment, is frequently denounced in the Old Testament. St John the Baptist also reproved men for it. Cf. Do violence to no man, neither calumniate any man : and be content with your pay (St Luke iii. 14).
mercy. By judgment we give every man his due, but mercy goes beyond this and prompts us to give that which our neighbour cannot strictly claim.
faith. Not the theological virtue of faith, but the moral virtue of fidelity which makes us true and honest in our dealings with our fellows and faithful to our engagements.
24. Blind guides, who strain out, etc. A Jewish proverb, expressing inconsistency of conduct. The strict Jews were accustomed to filter their wine lest they should swallow any unclean insects or animalcula.
Cf. But of flying things whatsoever hath four feet only, shall he an abomination to you (Lev. xi. 23). The Buddhists of Hindostan and Ceylon observe a similar custom, partly from fear of pollution, and partly to avoid killing any insect, which is against their tenets.
camel. The largest of the unclean animals, as the gnat was one of the smallest. Jesus chooses two extremes, as when He contrasted the mote and the beam (ch. vii. 3-5) in order to bring home the lesson more forcibly. “ It was a very elastic conscience which tithed a potherb and neglected judgment.”
Seventh Woe, against attachment to mere exterior purity.
25. Woe to you . . . because you make clean, etc. They were very particular about the washing of cups, and of pots, and of brazen vessels, and of beds (St Mark). The inner surface of vessels was also purified.
According to the tradition of the ancients, hollow earthen vessels could only be purified by destruction, flat earthen vessels were not susceptible of defilement (I a plate). Hollow earthen vessels could only be defiled on the inner surface. If the utensil was of bone, glass, or leather, it could be polluted both inside and outside, irrespective of shape. When such a vessel was broken, the fragments were “ clean.”
Triclinia or couches were sprinkled with rain or spring water. If a heathen reclined on one of these couches it was defiled.
within you are full of rapine. While they were extremely scrupulous about accomplishing all the ceremonies prescribed by the rabbis, they were utterly indifferent as regards contracting the moral defilement of sin. Further, even those actions which appeared good were prompted by unworthy or sinful motives.
26. first make clean the inside, etc. Our Lord points out that the exterior impurity of the cup or the dish cannot defile the contents, as the Pharisees taught ; but, on the contrary, the cup will be defiled by the impurity of the contents.
27. whited sepulchres. Jesus goes on to illustrate what He has just said by comparing the Pharisees to whited sepulchres which no Jews could touch without being legally polluted, so those who held intercourse with the Pharisees were corrupted by them, not perceiving their wickedness.
The Jews used to whitewash all tombs on the fifteenth of Adar, i.e. a month before the Pasch.
This was done lest the pilgrims should inadvertently be defiled, and thus prevented from celebrating the Pasch. Cf. If any man .... touch the corpse . ... or his grave, he shall be unclean seven days (Numb. xix. 16).
Eighth Woe, against hypocritical piety.
29. Woe to you . . . that build, etc. It is praiseworthy to shew respect to the dead, and particularly to those who died with a reputation of holiness, but the Pharisees erected these stately monuments in a proud spirit of self-righteousness and as a protest against the crimes which their fathers had committed in murdering the prophets. There still exist near Jerusalem certain sepulchres called “The Tombs of the Prophets.”
“ The Tombs of the Prophets are here, near the southern summit of Olivet. I have never examined them with much care, but they are regarded as very mysterious excavations by antiquarians . Through a long gallery, first serpentine and then direct, but winding as you advance, one passes into a circular hall, rising into a conical dome about twenty-four feet in diameter. From this hall run three passages, communicating with two semicircular galleries connected with the hall, the outer one of which contains in its back wall numerous recesses for the corpses, radiating toward the centre hall. No inscriptions or remains of any kind have been discovered to elucidate the mysteries of these mansions for the dead ” (Thomson, The Land and the Book, pp. 637-8).
30. If we had been, etc. Yet in spite of their proud boast of superiority, they had rejected St John the Baptist, and were plotting to kill our Lord. Thus they bore witness against themselves that they consented to the doings of their fathers.
32. Fill ye up then the measure, etc. The metaphor is taken from a cup filled to the brim, so that a few drops more will cause it to overflow. Jesus here speaks ironically, and His words are virtually a prophecy. The measure would be filled to overflowing when they compassed His death.
Conclusion of the Denunciation of the Pharisees.
The Judgment that would fall upon them.
33. You serpents, generation of vipers. The Baptist also denounced them as “ serpents ” and “ vipers ” (see supra, iii. 7).
the judgment of hell, — i.e. condemnation to eternal punishment.
34. I send to you prophets. Jesus thus teaches that those who persecute the apostles and their successors are guilty of as great a crime as those who persecuted the prophets. Hence the Pharisees of that generation were no better than their forefathers.
35. That upon you may come, etc. These words do not set forth a simple consequence, nor are they a prediction of what will happen, but they express “real purpose both on the part of the offenders, who willingly and knowingly commit their misdeeds in spite of the predicted punishment, and on the part of God, who provides for the wicked an occasion of practically manifesting their evil dispositions” (cf. Pasch, St Thom.).
from the blood of Abel, etc. This seems to have been a proverbial Jewish expression signifying all the prophets. Abel was the first just man who was put to death, and Zacharias the last prophet but one whom the Jews killed. Urias, whose death is related in Jeremias (xxvi. 23), was put to death after Zacharias, but the latter stands as the last, because the books of Paralipomenon, in which the martyrdom of Zacharias is recorded, close the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures (see 2 Paral. xxiv. 20-22).
Although the father of the prophet is given as Joiada, and not as Barachias, it is generally held that Jesus refers to him.
Commentators have suggested that as the incident was so well known to the Jews, St Matthew, when writing his Hebrew gospel, did not give the name of Zacharias’ father, but that the Greek translator erroneously inserted “ Barachias” for “Joiada” in his version.
Additional Notes
Jewish literature endorses our Lord’s judgments on them and bids men fear, “not true Pharisees, but greatly painted Pharisees.” Rabbi Nachamau says : ‘‘The supreme tribunal will duly punish hypocrites who wrap their talliths around them to appear what they are not, true Pharisees.” “ The Talmud also satirizes those Pharisees who are not sincere in their professions of piety. There is the ‘ shechemite ’ Pharisee, who obeys the law from self-interest (cf. Gen. xxxiv. 19) ; the tumbling Pharisee, who is so humble that he is always stumbling because he will not lift his feet from the ground ; the bleeding Pharisee, who is always hurting himself against walls, because he is so modest as to be unable to walk about with his eyes open, lest he should see a woman ; the mortar Pharisee, who covers his eyes as with a mortar for the same reason ; the tell-me-anothe -duty-and-I-will-do-it Pharisee, several of whom occur in our Lord’s ministry ; and the timid Pharisee, who is actuated by fear alone. The seventh class only is the class of ‘ Pharisees from love,’ who obey God because they love Him from the heart ” (Farrar).
Josephus frequently refers to the avarice and hypocrisy of the Pharisees, of which the subjoined quotation is an example.
“ There was a man who was a Pharisee, but had been driven away from his own country by an accusation laid against him for transgressing their laws, and by the fear he was under of punishment for the same ; but in all respects a wicked man : — he then living at Rome, professed to instruct men in the wisdom of the law of Moses. He procured also three other men, entirely of the same character with himself, to be his partners. These men persuaded Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one that had embraced the Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to the temple at Jerusalem ; and, when they had gotten them, they employed them for their own uses, and spent the money themselves ; on which account it was that they at first required it of her. Whereupon Tiberius, who had been informed of the thing by Saturninus, the husband of Fulvia, who desired inquiry might be made about it, ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome ; at which time the consuls listed four thousand men out of them, and sent them to the island of Sardinia ; but punished a greater number of them, who were unwilling to become soldiers on account of keeping the laws of the forefathers. Thus were these Jews banished out of the city by the wickedness of four men ” (Josephus, Antiq., xviii. 3. 5).
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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