Matthew 23

1-12 Since there were no more questions for Jesus to try to tempt and trap Him. Jesus now say some things regarding the Pharisees and the scribes. He is speaking to the multitude and to the disciples and starts to share several woe’s upon the priest and rulers.

What is a woe? lament, sorrow, distress, and trouble for the wicked, which is a warning. Job 10:15; Isaiah 3:9-11; 5:20-21; 6:5; 30:1; Hosea 7:13; Micah 2:1; Jer 22:18 it’s an expression of someone trying to give a warning or express great sadness. Exclamations of sorrow, used in denunciation Romans 7:24; 1 Samuel 4:7-8; Isaiah 5:8, 11

Jesus says that the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat (Exodus 18:13, 16). Moses help the people know the will of God. The Pharisees made it a burden for the people and they didn’t even follow God’s will themselves. They are very judgmental and criticizing (Mark 7:1-2; 3:22; 2:24; 2:6-7, 16; John 5:16; John 8:3-6; 9:16-18). They were suppose to help people understand the book of the law (Nehemiah 8:8).

Jesus adds that we should do what they say according the law and do it, but don’t do their works because they say and don’t do. They do a lot of talking but no doing. They burden people with heavy burdens but they won’t assist not even with one finger. The Pharisees do things to be seen of men. They are very selfish and self seeking, all their works were a show. They love to be on a pedestal and love to be called Rabbi which means Master. We are not to give any man a title of honor which will indicate control of conscience or faith DA 613.2

Jesus also said not to call anyone father on earth because we have one Father which is heaven (Psalm 111:9; Matt 6:9). Neither should we call anyone master because one is our Master and that is Christ. Jesus rebuke these practices and things to foster pride and increase selfishness. Jesus teaches how we should be great and that is by serving. Who ever makes himself something will be humbled and who ever humbles himself will be exalted. This is why Jesus is always exalted because He humbled Himself so much that He took on human flesh and died for our sins.

13 Jesus starts to pronounce the first woe upon them and called them hypocrites. Jesus is pronouncing this at the end of his ministry. They shut up the kingdom of heaven so no one can go in. Because they will not go in themselves and those that are entering in they deter them. An example of this in found in Luke 11:52; they withheld access to salvation which is why they were called "lawyers" they knew about the law of God but did not make it available to the people and to pervert the scriptures so other will not understand it. Matthew 19:13-14. The disciples were also doing the same thing. But Jesus rebuke and corrected them. So the Pharisees and rulers did three things:

Closed access to the kingdom of heaven for others
Closed access so they themselves can’t enter the kingdom of heaven
Closed access to those who are entering but are a stumbling block

14 The scribes and Pharisees were taking advantage of widow’s and praying. So looking outwardly righteous and devouring and deceiving widow’s for their houses. We should be treating the widows with care and love, but the Pharisees were using them for gain. Matthew 15:4-6; Exodus 22:22-24; Acts 6:1; Malachi 3:5; 1 Timothy 5:4-5; James 1:27 they were scamming people and because of this they will receive the greater damnation. Using it for personal gain and for their own purposes. There was a widow who gave two mites for the cause of God and Jesus recognized her because of the sincerity of her heart to farther the gospel of God. Jesus said she gave more than all those who put their large sums into the treasury. Why? because her heart went with the gift. It’s valued was not the coin, but the love of God and the interest in His work that prompted the deed. DA615.1

15 the scribes and Pharisees would recruit gentiles and after they have gone through their school, they would be worst than the scribes and Pharisees. They make him twofold more the child of hell then the scribes and Pharisees (Malachi 2:8). A proselyte is a newcomer or one who has come over from being a Gentile to Judaism. The Pharisees also had disciples. This is found in 22:15-16 "their disciples" and the Herodians were bitter enemies with the Pharisees, but now they come together to go against Jesus.

16-22 The bible says that we shouldn’t swear at all, but let our yes be yes and no, no (5:33-37; Janes 5:12). But the priest and rulers were taken advantage of people for gain (Matthew 15:5, 6; Mark 7:10-13). If people would swear by the gold of the temple they made that person a debtor to the temple or if they swear by the gift in the altar they claim that person is guilty. Jesus said nothing about the gold and said if a person swear by the temple, they are swearing by him that dwelleth in the temple, not the gold and if they swear by the altar they are swearing by the altar and all the things on the altar. The rulers change things according to fit their purposes and wants. They would take money to excuse people from the vows and large payments to cover up horrible crimes. Then they would sentence severe judgment on those who did minor offenses. I pray I am not that blind and foolish as these priest and rulers. I can’t fathom how blind they are to their sins and ways. So I need to be mindful and aware of what the Holy Spirit is speaking and saying to me. Jesus is speaking very plain and straight forward to the priest and rulers about their ways.

23-24 Jesus pronounces another woe against them and continued to call them hypocrites. The Pharisees and scribes paid tithe, but it was herbs which they paid and it cost them little to nothing. Jesus said they left out the thing which was weightier and left it undone. Which was mercy, judgment, truth, and faith. Jesus still said not to leave tithing undone and to have done the other things which were left undone. We need the love of God first and then everything else will work out because we love God. The Pharisees were also strict and would be careful to strain their drinking water so no gnat would be in their water, but then they would swallow a camel. They would eat unclean meats DA617.2 It’s like we are picking and choosing what we want to do and keep to follow God. It doesn’t work that way( Isaiah 5:21)

25-26 Another rebuke for the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus said they make clean the outside, but inside they are full of extortion (robbery or want of spoil; Ezekiel 22:12, 25-27) and excess (no self-control or wickedness Luke 11:39). Then He gives the proper order of what needs to be done first which is to clean first that which is in the cup and then the outside may also be clean (Isaiah 1:16; 55:7; Ezekiel 18:31; Matthew 15:19 20; Romans 8:13; Ephesians 4:22-24; Jeremiah 32:39)

27-28 After telling them that they are to cleanse inside first so the outside may also be clean, Jesus says unto them they are full of dead men’s bones and unclean. They appear righteous in their appearances, but they are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Jesus used this word "full" in both verses. When attending a funeral the casket is nice in the outside to disguise the body being broken down in the inside and rioting. Jesus compares the Pharisees and scribes to a tomb. To use the word "full" indicates they are at a limit and the grave is nigh Ecc 9:3; Jeremiah 23:10-14; Romans 1:28-32; Job 20:11; Luke 19:41-44. Matthew 22:4-7; Daniel 9:26; Revelation 18:5-6. The Pharisees and scribes were reaching a limit to completely reject the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Although, they have already called the work of the Holy Spirit "Beelzebub" back in chapter 12:24, 31

29-33 The Pharisees and scribes would put flowers and decorations on a prophet’s tomb, but they do not benefit from the words they shared and taught while they were alive. The Pharisees would rather do this for a dead person than for the living. In funeral’s today people spend so much money for the dead and there are needs out there like the widow, homeless, and sick who are suffering. God consider this decoration of tombs idolatry (DA618.1). People do need a proper burial, but sometimes it is taken to the point of excess. Duties to the dead are sometimes freely spent, rather than duties to the living.

The Pharisees at the funeral would say things like "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets" but at the same time they are plotting to kill Jesus. How deceived these Pharisees and scribes were is unimaginable. Jesus said you are the children of those who killed the prophets. In other words, the people that killed the prophets are your fathers. Then Jesus said, you are fulling up what your fathers have begun. 2 Chronicles 36:15-16; Jeremiah 25:4; 26:5; 26:20-23; 29:19; 44:4; Zech 1:4; 7:7

Jesus spoke some severe words to the Pharisees and scribes, but it was with compassion and sympathy. He told them that they were serpents, a generation of vipers. How are they going to escape the damnation of hell? This was a question that Jesus asked them to get them to think. Jesus told them that they cannot escape the damnation that is coming. Here we see that the damnation is associated hell and hell is a companion to death Psalm 55:15; Proverbs 5:5; Revelation 6:8; 20:3. At the end of the day or when that times comes, these Pharisees and scribes will realize that the wages of sin is death.

34-39 Jesus says that He will send them more prophets, wise men and others to warn them, but they will persecute them and the result will be that all the righteous blood shed from Abel to Zacharias, son of Barachias, who they killed between the temple and the altar. Apparently, this is not the Zacharias in the old testament as far as the book named after him in Zachariah 1:1. There is a Zachariah the son of Jehoiada the priest during the days of Joash the king 2 Chron 24:19-22, but the question is why would Jesus says Zacharias son of Barachias? In the book of Luke 11:51, it still says Zacharias, but does not mention Barachias. In the hebrew arrangement of the bible, the book of Chronicles was placed at the end of the scriptures. So Jesus mentions the first martyrdom of Abel down to Zacharias, showing how those within who shed righteous blood because of telling the truth. 1 John 3:12; Revelation 6:9-10; 2 Chron 24:20-22; 1 Kings 18:13; 19:10; 2 Chron 36:16; Jer 26:20-23; Acts 7:52; Nehemiah 9:26

When Cain murdered Abel for telling the truth, the bible says (Gen 4:10-11) that the voice of Abel’s blood crieth unto God from the ground Revelation 6:9-10; (Job 16:18). That cry is a cry for vengeance (Revelation 6:10; Deut 32:42-43; 18:20, 24; 19:2; Isaiah 26:21) But God’s mercy offer them repentance and forgiveness (2 Peter 3:9; Romans 9:22; 2 Timothy 2:4; 1 John 1:9) and if they don’t God allows them to chose their own way (Proverbs 14:12; Gal 6:8) will feed them their own doings (Isaiah 49:26; 1 Samuel 25:38-39)

At the close of time, when the people of God are condemned to death because of being true to God. Although, the wicked have not yet shed the blood of the saints, but they will be accounted guilty as if they did because they pronounce condemnation upon them. Just like Christ told the Jews in His time that they were guilty of all the blood of holy men since the days of Abel because they possessed the same spirit in which to do the same work to murder the prophets and God’s people. GC 628

That same spirit since the beginning has reached it’s limit when the people of God are condemned to die by a decree from the whole world. As a result, God gives them blood to drink Revelation 16:4-6

Jesus says all these things that will come upon this generation. What generation is this? at this point in time it was 31 A.D. Jesus says that the house (temple) is left desolate and He also mentions not one stone will be left of the temple and that refers to the destruction of Jerusalem which occurred in 70 A.D.

But Jesus gives a tearful sigh saying "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem" it’s like a child misbehaving and you come to that child and say "O Absalom, Absalom" there is a sadness and a concern. Then Jesus said they kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to them to warn them and how He would gather them together as a chicken would gather her chicks under her wings, but they would not do it or listen. As a result, Jerusalem is left empty, God will not be there which means Satan will have control.

Then Jesus says these startling words, you will not see me until you say "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" They say this at the end of the millennium when they are resurrected to receive the second death. Jesus leaves the temple with these last words.