Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Matthew Capítulo 23

Matthew 23:3. All therefore, &c.— The morality of the Pharisees, as appears from many examples mentioned in the Gospel, was of a very loose kind; and as for the traditions which they taught, they often made void the law of God altogether. It is not therefore to be thought, that Jesus would recommend the doctrines and precepts of the Pharisees without exception; and for this reason we must limit the general expressions here made use of, by what goes before in this discourse; thus, "While these men sit in Moses' seat, while they rightly explain the doctrines and precepts of the law, be sure to obey them; but by no means imitate their practices."

return to '

Matthew 23:4. For they bind heavy burdens— It is well known that the Pharisees gloried in the exactness with which they obeyed the ceremonial part of the law. Nay, they carried matters so high, that, not content with the commandments which God had enjoined, they took upon them to prescribe a variety of traditionary precepts of their own invention. Therefore, if it was this kind of duties that our Lord meant, when he said they bind heavy burdens, &c. their zeal must have shewn itself chiefly in public: or, by the grievous burdens which the Pharisees bound up, may be understood the ceremonial precepts of the law; which are called grievous, not because they were reckoned so by the Pharisees. This interpretation agrees well with the character given of the precepts in question. They were delivered from Moses' seat, that is to say, were taken out of the book of Moses; and the disciples were to observe and do them, which our Lord would by no means have ordained, had he been speaking of the traditionary precepts of the elders. Besides, in this light the character given of the Scribes and Pharisees is palpably just, namely, that they bound up heavy burdens, &c. For while they themselves neglected both the moral and ceremonial precepts of the divine law, as often as they coulddo it with secrecy, they wreathed the ceremonial precepts of it fast about the necks of the people, and would not give them the smallest respite from its most burdensome ceremonies on any occasion whatsoever. The words of our Lord allude to the practice of those who load and drive beasts of burden: they first make, or bind up their loads, then lay them on their backs, and, in driving them through bad roads, support the loads, and keep them steady by taking hold of them. Our Lord's meaning, therefore, was, "They will neither bear these loads themselves, nor will they give the people the least respite from them, even in cases where it is due." See Macknight.

return to '

Matthew 23:12. Whosoever shall exalt himself— Dr. Doddridge observes, that our Saviour, by the frequent repetition of this maxim, seems to intimate, that he intended it not only for those who were to be the teachers of others, but for all his disciples without exception; and it is well worthy of our observation, that no one sentence of our Lord's is so frequently repeated as this, which occurs at least ten times in the Evangelists.

return to '

Matthew 23:13. But wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites— The above discourse against the Scribes and Pharisees was pronounced in the hearing of many of the order; they were therefore greatly incensed, and watched for an opportunity to destroyJesus: but it was not a time for him now to conceal from them any necessary reproof, this being the last sermon that he was ever to preach in public. It was necessary to use violent remedies, especially as gentle medicines had hitherto proved ineffectual; wherefore, with a kind of severity he threatened them in the most aweful and solemn manner, denouncing dreadful woes against them, not on account of the personal injuries they had done him, although they were many, but on account of their excessive wickedness. They were public teachers of religion,who abused every mark and character of goodness to all the purposes of villany. Under the grimace of a severe and sanctified air, they were malicious, implacable, lewd, covetous, and rapacious; in a word, instead of being reformers, they were corrupters of mankind; so that their wickedness being of the very worst sort, it deserved the sharpest rebuke that could be given. Our Lord pronounced eight blessings upon the mount; here he pronounced eight woes; not as imprecations, but solemn compassionate declarations of the misery which these stubborn sinners were bringing upon themselves. The reasons, why these woes were denounced against the Scribes, are set forth in the subsequent verses, 1. The first is, because they shut up the kingdom of heaven from men, by taking away the key of knowledge, (Luke 11:52.) or the right interpretation of the ancient prophesies concerning the Messiah, by their example and authority; for theyboth rejected Jesus themselves, and excommunicated those who believed in him; in short, by doing all they could to hinder the people from repenting of their sins and believing the Gospel. Dr. Moore, with great propriety, observes, that the word hypocrites, υποκριται, in its most exact application, signifies players, who, according to the unnatural custom of the ancients, acted a part under a mask. See his Theological Works, p. 293. Vitringas' Observ. Sacr. and the note on chap. 6:

return to '

Matthew 23:14. For ye devour widows' houses— 2. This verse contains the second reason of the woes; because they committed the grossest iniquities, being covetous and rapacious under a cloke of religion; they devoured widows' houses, and at the same time made long prayers in order to hide their villany. "This," says Calvin, "was as if, pretending to kiss the feet of Christ, one should rise up, and audaciously spit in his face." See Mark 12:40.

return to '

Matthew 23:15. Ye compass sea and land, &c.— 3. The third woe is denounced, because theyexpressed the greatest zeal imaginable in making proselytes, compassing sea and land; that is to say, using the most indefatigable pains and ardour, and leaving no art unpractised for that end; while at the same time their intention in all this was, not that the Gentiles might become better men through the knowledge of true religion, but more friendly to them; yielding them the direction of their purses, as well as of their consciences. Accordingly, in the heathen countries these worldlings accommodated religion to the humours of men; placing it, not in the eternal and immutable rules of righteousness, but in ceremonial observances; the effect of which was, either that the proselytes became more superstitious, more immoral, and more presumptuous than their teachers; or that, taking them for impostors, they relapsed again into their old state of heathenism; and in both cases became two-fold more the children of hell than even the Pharisees themselves; that is to say, more openly and unlimitedly wicked than they. The zeal of the Jews in making proselytes was so remarkable, that it was taken notice of by the heathens, and turned into a proverb:

——— Ac veluti te Judaei, cogamus in hanc concedere turbam. HOR. Lib. 1: Sat. 4 ver. 142.

We'll force you, like the proselyting Jews, To be like us.— FRANCIS. Upon which St. Ambrose observes, that "this pleasantry of the poet arises from the proselyting spirit of the Jews, who insinuated themselves into families, entered into the courts of justice, disturbed the judges, andwere always more successful in proportion as they were more impudent." To the same purpose is what Justin Martyr said to Tryphothe Jew: "Your proselytes not only disbelieve Christ's doctrine, but blaspheme his name as much again as yourselves." Child of hell, and son of perdition, were terms of reproach made use of among the Jews.

return to '

Matthew 23:16. Ye blind guides— 4. The fourth woe is denounced for their false doctrine. Our Saviour had before stiled them hypocrites from their personal character; now he gives them another title, blind guides, respecting their influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in Mat 23:23-25 and this holy severity rises to the height in the 33rd verse. Our Saviour mentions particularly their doctrine concerning oaths, and declares, in contradiction to their execrable tenets, that every oath is obligatory, the matter of which is lawful; because when men swear by the creature, if their oath has any meaning, it is an appeal to the Creator himself: in any other light, an oath by the creature is absolutely ridiculous, because the creature neither has knowledge with respect to the matter of the oath, nor power to punish the perjury. See on ch. Matthew 5:33., &c. It is nothing, means, "it constitutes no obligation to tell the truth, or, to perform one's vow," He is a debtor, means, "he is bound to speak the truth, or, to perform his vow." And in like manner he is guilty, Mat 23:18 means, he is bound by his oath. The Pharisees taught, that oaths by the creature might be used on trifling occasions, and violated without any great guilt; but they excepted oaths by the corban, and by sacrifices: in which it is plain, that, without any regard to common sense or decency, they were influenced merely by a view to their own interest, and therefore represented these to the people, as things of more eminent sanctity than even the temple or altar itself. The gold of the temple means the treasure kept in the temple, otherwise called corban. See ch. Matthew 27:6.

return to '

Matthew 23:32. Fill ye up then the measure, &c.— That is, the measure of your fathers' sin, (the measure fixed upon by God for punishment.) See John 13:27. This expression implies, that there is a certain measure fixed for every nation to which its iniquity is allowed to rise; and that before decisive punishment, amounting to excision, or to the entire overturn of their polity, is inflicted on nations, the measure of their iniquity, or of that of their rulers, must be filled up, by the succeeding generations adding to the iniquity of the preceding, till the measure is full; an idea which receives great countenance from Genesis 15:16. According to Glassius, and other critics,— και πληρωσατε, is here the imperative for the future,—you will fill up; but it may be understood as a word of permission, not of command. As if our Lord had said, "I contend with you no longer; I leave you to yourselves; you have conquered; you may now follow the devices of your own hearts."

return to '

Matthew 23:33. Ye serpents, &c.— See Luke 3:7. Men of warm tempers are apt to mistake this part of Christ's discourse; they fancy that his giving the Pharisees names expressive of their characters, and his denouncing woes against them, justifies those censorious judgments, which, without reason, or, it may be, contrary to reason, they pass on persons who happen to be at variance with them. It is very true that Jesus pronounced the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, blind guides, serpents, &c. and declared that they could not escape the damnation of hell; but it is equally true, that they were hypocrites and fools, as wicked as he has painted them, and that he knew them certainly to be such. Wherefore, till we can make it evident that we have the faculty of knowing men's hearts, which Christ possessed, we have no pretensions to imitate him in an action not designed for our imitation, being done by him as a prophet and in virtue of his prophetical gifts, or as God over all, not as an ordinary man. Instead of making free with the characters of others, as too many do, it is far safer, and in every respect better, both for ourselves and for society, that we keep close to the precept forbidding rash judgments, evil surmisings, and all backbitings. See ch. Matthew 7:1-5. The phrase Αποφυγειν κριμα, which is the same in sense with the original, rendered to escape the damnation, properly signifies, to evade conviction in a court of judicature; which is often done by the artifice of the criminal. See Raphaelius and Macknight.

return to '

Matthew 23:34. Wherefore— Δια τουτο, "for this cause—that ye are serpents, and a brood of vipers, who will fill up the measure of your fathers' iniquities." Our Saviour's meaning was, not that he would send them prophets to be killed, that they might escape the damnation of hell; but that every possible method might be tried for their conversion, though he well knew that they would make light of all, and, by so doing, pull down upon themselves such terrible vengeance, as should be a standing monument of the divine displeasure against all the murders committed on the face of the earth from the beginning of time. For, "even as Sodom and Gomorrah anciently, and the cities about them, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire;" just so the Jewish nation was singled out, and that generation of the nation pitched upon to be the subjects of God's vengeance against murder, and an example of punishment to all generations, as they were the most atrocious bodyof murderers that ever lived. The titles mentioned by our Lord in this verse, prophets, wise men, Scribes, correspond with thatdiversity of gifts mentioned in the first epistle to the Corinthians: they are stiled prophets, because inspired to foretel things to come; wise men, because they were enlightened with the knowledge of heavenly mysteries; and Scribes, from their superior knowledge of the law. Among the first martyrs, whose death verified this prophesy, were Stephen, who was stoned; Paul, who was scourged and killed; and Peter, who was crucified. See Macknight and Hammond. Instead of ye shall kill,—shall scourge, we may read, ye will kill, &c.

return to '