23:1 The Last Appeal to Israel
SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 23:
The Scribes and Pharisees in Moses' Seat. The Burdens They Imposed. Their Eagerness for the Praise of Men. Religious Titles. Religious Masters. The Hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees. Straining Out the Great and Swallowing the Camel. Whited Sepulchres. Building the Tombs of the Murdered Prophets. The Lamentation Over Jerusalem.
Jesus spake to the multitude, and to his disciples. This discourse, delivered in the courts of the temple on the Tuesday before the Lord was crucified, has never been surpassed in indignant rebuke, withering denunciation, and tearful sorrow over the coming fate of sinner who would not be saved. It contains Christ's last words to the Jewish nation. The contest had been growing fiercer, the opposition of his enemies was more bitter, their plots against his life were working, their utter perverseness was fully manifested, the time for tender appeal has passed by, and the Lord turns upon the whited sepulchers (Mt 23:27), the generation of vipers (Mt 23:33), the hypocritical pretenders, in a philippic that we believe has never been equaled. But even in the midst of it, like a rift of blue sky in the fearful storm-cloud, his love and pity shine forth with wonderful beauty in the pathetic exclamation of Mt 23:37. Only a part of the discourse is found in Mr 12:38-40; some similar sayings occur in Lu 11:39-52, and a reference to its occurs in Lu 20:45-47.
23:1 Then - Leaving all converse with his adversaries, whom he now left to the hardness of their hearts.
23:1-12 The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylacteries. These were scrolls of paper or parchment, wherein were written four paragraphs of the law, to be worn on their foreheads and left arms, Ex 13:2-10; 13:11-16; De 6:4-9; 11:13-21. They made these phylacteries broad, that they might be thought more zealous for the law than others. God appointed the Jews to make fringes upon their garments, Nu 15:38, to remind them of their being a peculiar people; but the Pharisees made them larger than common, as if they were thereby more religious than others. Pride was the darling, reigning sin of the Pharisees, the sin that most easily beset them, and which our Lord Jesus takes all occasions to speak against. For him that is taught in the word to give respect to him that teaches, is commendable; but for him that teaches, to demand it, to be puffed up with it, is sinful. How much is all this against the spirit of Christianity! The consistent disciple of Christ is pained by being put into chief places. But who that looks around on the visible church, would think this was the spirit required? It is plain that some measure of this antichristian spirit prevails in every religious society, and in every one of our hearts.
