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matthew 23:13-33

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Matthew 23:13-33

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”

— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in [yourselves], neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16. Woe unto you, [ye] blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17. [Ye] fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18. And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19. [Ye] fools and blind: for whether [is] greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24. [Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26. [Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men’s] bones, and of all uncleanness. 28. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 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. 31. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33. [Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Matthew 23:13-33 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Matthew 23:13

Theological / Devotional

Woe. Gr. ouai, an exclamation of grief or denunciation (see on ch. 11:21). The seven woes (eight if that of ch. 23:14 be included; see on v. 14) illustrate the observations made in vs. 3-5 concerning the scribes and Pharisees. For Jesus’ purpose in uttering these scathing denunciations of the religious leaders of the nation see on v. 1.

Hypocrites. See on chs. 6:2; 7:5. The epithet appears seven times in ch. 23:13-29.

Shut up the kingdom. Primarily, the kingdom of divine grace, but eventually the kingdom of divine glory as well (see on chs. 4:17; 5:2). The scribes and Pharisees had made it almost impossible for the sincere in heart to find their way to salvation, first, by making religion an insufferable burden (ch. 23:4), and second, by their own hypocritical example (v. 3). Instead of illuminating the way of salvation, rabbinical tradition so obscured it that at best men could only grope their way along, as in a dense fog (see on Mark 7:5-13).

Ye neither go in. Their hypocritical way of life would bar them from entering.

Neither suffer ye. That is, neither permit ye. It was as if the scribes and Pharisees stood outside the gateway (see on ch. 7:13, 14) to keep men from entering in, and as if after bolting and barricading the door, they had thrown away the key, determined that none should enter. They were so exclusive as to think that the kingdom of heaven was a sort of private club into which only men who measured up to their standards might secure admission.

By SdaBc

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