Matthew 23

The Jewish religious leaders tried to find a reason to accuse Jesus publicly but could not (Matthew 21:23–22:46). Jesus then addressed the crowds and his disciples to openly criticize the religious leaders for often failing to obey God's righteous standards.

This last extended teaching (see study note on Matthew 5:1–7:29) focuses on the judgment awaiting those who reject the Messiah.

The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: This means that they give authoritative explanations about the law of Moses. They passed down oral traditions associated with the law and thought to be from Moses. They judged religious and social issues based on these traditions (see Matthew 15:2).

practice and obey: This was not a full confirmation of everything the Pharisees taught (see Matthew 15:1–20; 16:5–12; 23:13–39). It might refer only to teachings that agreed with the law of Moses, or it could be bitter irony or sarcasm. Jesus might also have advised conforming to the Pharisees’ teachings to avoid causing offense (17:24–27).

• heavy, burdensome loads: According to the rabbis, there were 613 laws with commands and prohibitions (see 11:28–30; Acts 15:10, 28).

• not willing to lift a finger: The religious leaders were not willing to ease or change these traditional laws.

• phylacteries: Pious Jews sometimes wore small prayer boxes, called phylacteries. These were placed on the head and the upper left arm. Inside were written copies of important Old Testament commands (see Deuteronomy 6:6–9; 11:18–19).

• Another custom was wearing tassels, which were also a sign of devotion (see Matthew 9:20; see also Numbers 15:38–41). Some made their tassels extra long to draw attention to their religious devotion.

the chief seats in the synagogue: These were close to the Torah scrolls and faced the congregation.

Rabbi was a title given to an authoritative and respected Jewish teacher.

Rabbi: In Judaism, these men were authoritative mediators for sharing knowledge about God (see Matthew 23:7). But under the new covenant, there is only one authoritative teacher, Jesus himself as the Messiah (see Jeremiah 31:31–34).

Jesus does not forbid using titles (especially for one's father). Instead, he warns against claiming undue honor when teaching about God. In the community of Jesus, everyone is equal and knows God (see 12:46–50; 18:15–20). The titles Rabbi, Father, and Teacher are similar in meaning.

• Later Jewish writings show that people respected teachers by calling them Father (see, for example, Mishnah Eduyyoth 1:4).

• one Father: See Matthew 6:9; Malachi 2:10; compare 1 Corinthians 4:15.

Instructor: This title means the role and office of guiding others to understand God. Jesus, not the scribes and Pharisees, is the teacher of God's will (Matthew 5:17).

The disciples of Jesus should lead by serving others, in distinct contrast to Israel's religious leaders (described in 23:5–7).

• Woe to you: This is a distinct warning about God's judgment.

• hypocrites!: In English, hypocrisy means a contradiction between what is real and what seems to be real. In the Bible, it means misunderstanding God's will, misleading others, and facing God's judgment. This often includes: desire for fame and power (Matthew 23:5–12), misuse of teaching authority, false teachings (23:13–22), and focusing on minor ethical details (23:23–28).

  A suitable English word for these behaviors is heresy. The Pharisees and religious teachers showed these traits. As the Christian church grew, these traits continued to appear (for example, 1 Timothy 4:1–3; 2 Peter 2:1–22). So God's children must always be on guard against them (James 4:7–10; 1 Peter 2:1–3).

• you shut the kingdom: This comes through their false teachings and opposition to Jesus (see Matthew 9:32–34; 12:22–37; 15:12–14; 21:15; John 9:13–34). The Jewish religious teachers and Pharisees stopped others from hearing and believing the truth about the Messiah.

Matthew gathered seven warnings of sorrow to come (literally woe to you) inspired by similar Old Testament lists (Isaiah 5:8–23; Habakkuk 2:6–20). Matthew arranged them to reach a climax with the killing of the prophets.

• A convert (proselyte) fully accepted Judaism by performing ceremonies like baptism, sacrifice, and circumcision (see Acts 13:43).

  A convert differed from a "God-fearer." A God-fearer was a person who accepted some Jewish beliefs, especially monotheism (belief in one God), without fully converting to Judaism (see Luke 7:4–5; Acts 10:2). To win a single convert likely means persuading God-fearers to fully convert by becoming circumcised (compare Galatians 2:3, 14; 5:2–12; 6:12–13).

• of hell: The Greek word here is Gehenna. It was a valley outside Jerusalem used as a place of burning; See study note on Matthew 5:29.

The religious leaders said that some oaths were less binding, and this allowed them to deceive people. But Jesus called for honesty and for keeping every commitment (see Matthew 5:33–37).

The Jewish teachers of religious law and Pharisees believed that careful and precise tithing showed their dedication to the law. Without denying the importance of tithing, Jesus revealed that they completely ignored the more important parts of the law (Isaiah 1:16–17; Jeremiah 22:3; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:8; Zechariah 7:9).

gnat … camel: In Aramaic, the language Jesus likely spoke, these two words sound similar (qalma … gamla). This makes a wordplay or pun. Jesus used the contrast between a tiny gnat and a huge camel to show the hypocrisy of focusing on small details while ignoring much greater issues.

If a person is pure inside, it leads to doing the right things. But doing the right things does not make a person pure inside (Matthew 6:19–34; 12:33–37; 15:15–20).

Jewish people used to coat limestone tombs, like funerary urns or ossuaries, with a mixture of marble and lime. This filled the holes and made the tombs look nicer. It also helped visitors to Jerusalem see and avoid them, preventing contamination. Jesus did not criticize decorating tombs. Instead, he compared these whitewashed tombs to Jewish religious teachers and Pharisees. Both looked good on the outside but had contamination and impurity on the inside.

By building and decorating the tombs for the prophets, the teachers of religious law and Pharisees showed outward support for the prophets. But inwardly they were of the same sinful character as their ancestors who had murdered the prophets.

Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers: By killing God's Messiah, they would complete Israel's history of killing God's prophets (see 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16).

This covers the first and last murders recorded in the Hebrew Bible. Abel was killed in Genesis 4:8–11, and Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24:15–22, which is the last book in the Hebrew Bible order. Jesus implies that his generation would be held guilty for all the murders of God’s righteous servants in the Old Testament (compare Matt 27:25).

• Even though Jesus had just given a severe judgment against Israel (Matthew 23:29–36), he truly wanted them to repent and accept God's grace.

• as a hen: This is an image of protective care (see also Deuteronomy 32:11; Ruth 2:12; Psalms 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 91:4).

your house is left to you desolate: God would leave the temple (Ezekiel 10:18–19; 11:22–23; compare Matthew 1:23). Then God would allow the destruction of both the temple and Jerusalem.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord: his may point to a future time when the nation of Israel will turn to the Messiah (see also Romans 11:12–32).