make him two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say: Whosoever shall 16 swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Ye fools, and 17 blind for whether is greater? the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And: Whosoever shall swear by the 18 altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools, and blind! for whether is great- 19 er? the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? Whoso, 20 therefore, shall swear by the altar sweareth by it and by all so much from a religious as a cov- i. e. the oath by the temple is not etous and ambitious motive; for obligatory.-The gold of the temple. they made a gain and a boast of Probably the money in the treasury godliness. There were two kinds is meant, not the ornaments, with of proselytes; 1st, the proselytes which the building was decorated. of righteousness, i. e. complete, He is a debtor, i. e. is bound to who embraced the Jewish religion fulfil his oath. Unusual sanctity in its full extent, and shared in all seems to have been attributed to the rites and privileges of Jews the gold in the temple treasury. It themselves; 2d, the proselytes of was corban, devoted. Mark vii. 11. the gate; foreigners who lived Our Lord showed the futility of the among the Jews, who were not cir- distinction, by intimating that the cumcised, yet conformed to some temple was greater than the gold of the Jewish laws and customs; which it consecrated. It has been they were admitted into the outer conjectured, that the Pharisees took division of the temple, called the advantage of the feeling of sacredcourt of the Gentiles. The Tal- ness associated with this gold, to mudists speak against proselytes, obtain greater contributions from as injurious to the purity of their the people. religion. Make him two-fold, &c. Many critics translate this clause, Ye make him a child of hell more deceitful than yourselves. The simple idea is, that, by converting him, they made him far worse than themselves, for he probably retained his old errors, mixed with those of his formal, hypocritical teachers. Child of hell is an expression signifying worthy of, or doomed to hell, or the severest punishment; as the children of light means those who enjoy the light. 16, 17. Next he censures their absurd and wicked distinctions respecting oaths, which they divided into great and small. See notes on chap. v. 33-37.—It is nothing, 18, 19. They also attributed peculiar sanctity to the offerings upon the altar, as is supposed, from selfish considerations. 1 Cor. ix. 13. He is guilty. Rather, he is bound. The same word which is translated in verse 16, he is a debtor. It was absurd to believe that the gift could be more sacred than the altar, for it derived all its sacredness from the altar. 20-22. Jesus would sweep away their futile distinctions, and show that the validity of an oath depended, not on the particular thing by which it was taken, whether gift, altar, gold, temple, or heaven, but upon its tacit reference to God. Just so far as it was efficacious, by 21 things thereon; and whoso shall swear by the temple sweareth 22 by it and by him that dwelleth therein; and he that shall swear by heaven sweareth by the throne of God and by him that sit23 teth thereon. 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 24 leave the other undone. Ye blind guides! which strain at a Woe unto you, scribes and Phar 25 gnat, and swallow a camel. appealing to objects consecrated to the divine service, so far was it obligatory, since it called God to witness. By him that dwelleth therein. A visible symbol of the Divine presence, in the form of a cloud, rested upon the mercy-seat of the Holy of Holies. 1 Kings viii. 10, 11, 13. As God was the king of the Jews, the temple was his palace. In pursuance of the same idea, he is described as sitting upon a throne in heaven. 23. Pay tithe, i. e. a tenth part. Mint. Sweet-scented, garden mint, or spearmint. It was strewed by the Jews on the floors of their dwellings. - Anise. A mistake of the translators for dill, an aromatic plant used by perfumers. Cummin. An herb resembling fennel, with aromatic seeds of a hot and bitter taste. -The Scribes and Pharisees were not satisfied with paying the usual tithes for the support of the Levites and the poor, and for the service of the temple, Numb. xviii. 20-24; Deut. xiv. 22-24, 28, 29, but they paid also a tenth part of the small herbs.. Have omitted. Same word as is rendered below, leave undone. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Mic. vi. 8. A more approved translation is, justice, humanity, and fidelity, the great social virtues, unless by faith we understand man's duties to God. Luke, xi. 42, has recorded it, "judgment and the love of God."―These ought ye to have done, &c. The moral duties should have been discharged, whilst the ceremonial observances should not have been neglected. He did not object to their scrupulousness in tithes, provided they kept the spiritual commandments; though, in reality, the two courses of conduct could hardly be reconciled in the same person. 24. Strain at a gnat. It is remarkable that this error, which was at first merely a blunder in printing, should have been so long perpetuated. The correct reading is, strain out a gnat. It was the custom in the east, where insects abound, to strain or filter wine through a cloth or sieve. The Jews did it, partly from fear of swallowing any creature that was unclean in the eye of the law, as well as from motives of cleanliness. What is here called gnat is said by some to be a small animalcule bred in the liquor. The camel was the largest animal, with which the Jews were much acquainted. Hence, the smallest insect and the greatest animal are employed to make the antithesis stronger. The phrase is proverbial, and is similar to found among the Arabians : eats an elephant, and is strangled with a gnat.' Jesus places, in bold relief, their inconsistency, in carefully observing the little points one "He isees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee! cleanse first that which is within 26 the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are 27 like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous 28 unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye 29 build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of of ceremonial usage, and trampling under foot the first moral principles of religion. 25, 26. Woe unto you. See note on chap. xi. 21. The repetition of this phrase of condemnation carries with it an awful weight and solemnity. As he begins sentence after sentence with this word, it must have sounded in their ears like the first thunderings of those judgments, which were soon to roll over their nation. Make clean the outside. They were attentive to the washings and purifications of the law, but neglected that moral and inward purity, without which, all forms were but a cheat and a lie. Cup-Platter. The vessels for drink and food respectively. Within they are full of extortion and excess. Instead of excess, Griesbach reads injustice, which would be more consonant to the known character of the Pharisees. However scrupulously their vessels were washed, they were yet filled with food procured by extortion and injustice, and therefore most foul and unclean. Cleanse first, &c. See that their contents are the fruits of honesty and justice, and they will be truly clean. Purify the heart, and the conduct cannot be other wise than pure, for streams take their quality from the fountain out of which they flow. 27, 28. Whited sepulchres. Tombs are said to have been annually whitewashed, that they might be seen and shunned; for it was an unclean act, according to the law, to touch them. Numb. xix. 16. Their whiteness, contrasted with the green herbage or groves, must have possessed a degree of beauty, but within there was death and corruption. So it was with these hypocrites. Precise in the observance of forms, sanctimonious in their deportment, zealous for the law, they were yet chargeable with the grossest immoralities and stained with the foulest crimes. Luke xi. 44. 29, 30. Because ye build. They were blamed, not because they paid marks of respect to the venerable dead, but because they did it hypocritically; because, whilst they thus honored the prophets and the righteous, they yet were ready to' imitate their persecutors. Garnish the sepulchres, &c. It was customary, both among the Jews and Gentiles, to show their reverence for the dead by building or beautifying their tombs. The Scribes and Pharisees pretended a respect for the martyred prophets, which they did not feel, for it was 30 the righteous, and say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the 31 blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the 32 prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the 34 damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in wholly inconsistent with their real character. They adorned indeed their tombs, but they violated their instructions. Even after the time of Christ, there were many tombs of the ancient worthies still to be found in Judea, which had been erected or rebuilt long after their death. - Partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Yet, at the same time they were indulging in a worse spirit than that of their persecuting forefathers, and desiring and plotting the death of him, who was greater than the prophets. They professed to honor the departed messengers of God, while they were ready to kill the Messiah, his, Son. 31. Ye are the children of them, c. They acknowledged that they were children, by natural descent, of those, who had slain the prophets of God. But, more than that, they were witnesses to themselves, they were conscious in their own hearts, that they were, in feelings and motives likewise, children of those bloody ancestors. 32. Fill ye up then, &c. The last verse may be regarded as parenthetical, and this one to be a conclusion drawn from the 30th. They pretended, that, if they had lived in the days of yore, they should not have been guilty of the barbarities of those periods; but they would go on, and in time fully equal the most wicked age. Despairing of their amendment, indignant at their hypocrisy, he says, Go on and fill up the measure of the sins of your fathers. A prediction is here expressed in the imperative mode, i. e. you will go on. 33. Ye generation of vipers. Better, brood of vipers. They possessed the venom and malignity of the most noxious reptiles. See note on chap. iii. 7. How then could they escape the severest punishment? The seeming harshness of this language is, perhaps, partly attributable to the oriental highly figurative mode of speech, which delights in the boldest metaphors, most startling paradoxes, and strongest hyperboles. Jesus spoke in the usual style. But until we possess his knowledge of mankind, and his authority from God, we are forbidden to judge our fellows and pronounce their condemnation. — Hell, i. e. Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, where the filth of the city and the bodies of malefactors were thrown, to be consumed by fire and worms. Hence it was used as a figure for a keen and terrible punishment. 34. Wherefore. The effect, rather than the design of the teachers' being sent, is here expressed.- I send has the sense of the future. I will send. - Prophets, and wise men, and scribes. The Saviour applies Jewish titles to his Apostles, Evangelists, and disciples. ·Ye shall kill your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city; that 35 upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall 36 come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and 37 and crucify, &c. These predictions were literally fulfilled in the early history of Christianity, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles. Stephen was stoned. James was killed by the sword. Some of the other Apostles were imprisoned, scourged, and driven from city to city; and, at least, four of the Twelve, according to tradition, were crucified. 35. That expresses the consequence, rather than the design. You have reached such a pitch of infatuation and wickedness, that the accumulated judgments of Heaven will eventually fall upon you for the slaughter of so many wise and good men. A figurative expression, describing their coming woes. They would be so overwhelming, as to seem sufficient for all the crimes that had been committed, from the creation of the world. Upon the earth, i. e. the land of Judea. Righteous Abel. Gen. iv. 8.-Zacharias, son of Barachias. He is probably the prophet whose death is related, 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21. The only material objection is, that he is called the son of Jehoiada. Luke does not mention the name of his father. As a solution of the difficulty, we may conjecture that the father of Zechariah had two names, as was frequently the case among the Jews, Barachias and Jehoiada. Thus Matthew is called Levi; Lebbeus, Thaddeus; and Simon, Cephas. Or, it is not wholly improbable, that some early transcriber, thinking only of Zechariah the prophet, the son of Barachias, wrote his name instead of that of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the murdered priest. This supposition may derive some additional strength, from the fact that Jerome found Jehoiada in a Hebrew Gospel of the Nazarenes.-Between the temple and the altar. This circumstance appears to harmonize with the account of the death of Zechariah, in Chronicles. The guilt of the crime was increased, if possible, by the sacred place, in which it was committed. 36. All these things shall come upon this generation. As much as to say, that the nation had sunk to such a state of degradation and wickedness, that it would be visited with judgments so overwhelming, as would seem to suffice for the crimes of all preceding ages. Josephus, one of their countrymen, an opposer of the Gospel, bears important, because impartial, testimony to their abandoned condition. He says, that they had carefully imitated, and even exceeded, all the most atrocious deeds of their ancestors. Though, at the time Jesus spoke, his predictions must have seemed highly improbable, yet that generation had not all passed off the stage, before all the vials of wrath were poured out upon their doomed city and country. 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. How natural and expressive of deep emotion is this repetition of the word! Can any reader fail to see, that every page of the Gospels has some |
