00750
00751
00752
 \\Shall marry\\ (\\epigambreusei\\). The Sadducees were "aiming at
 amusement rather than deadly mischief" (Bruce). It was probably
 an old conundrum that they had used to the discomfiture of the
 Pharisees. This passage is quoted from
 # De 25:5,6
 The word appears here only in the N.T. and elsewhere only in the
 LXX. It is used of any connected by marriage as in
 # Ge 34:9; 1Sa 18:22
 But in
 # Ge 38:8
 and
 # De 25:5
 it is used specifically of one marrying his brother's widow.

00753
00754
00755
00756
00757
00758
00759
00760
00761
 \\They were astonished\\ (\\exeplssonto\\). Descriptive imperfect
 passive showing the continued amazement of the crowds. They were
 struck out (literally).

00762
 \\He had put the Sadducees to silence\\ (\\ephimsen tous\\
 \\Saddoukaious\\). Muzzled the Sadducees. The Pharisees could not
 restrain their glee though they were joining with the Sadducees
 in trying to entrap Jesus. \\Gathered themselves together\\
 (\\sunchthsan epi to auto\\). First aorist passive, were gathered
 together. \\Epi to auto\\ explains more fully \\sun-\\. See also
 # Ac 2:47
 "Mustered their forces" (Moffatt).

00763
00764
 \\The great commandment in the law\\ (\\entol megal en ti nomi\\).
 The positive adjective is sometimes as high in rank as the
 superlative. See \\megas\\ in
 # Mt 5:19
 in contrast with \\elachistos\\. The superlative \\megistos\\ occurs in
 the N.T. only in
 # 2Pe 1:4
 Possibly this scribe wishes to know which commandment stood first
 # Mr 12:28
 with Jesus. "The scribes declared that there were 248 affirmative
 precepts, as many as the members of the human body; and 365
 negative precepts, as many as the days in the year, the total
 being 613, the number of letters in the Decalogue" (Vincent). But
 Jesus cuts through such pettifogging hair-splitting to the heart
 of the problem.

00765
00766
00767
00768
00769
00770
 \\The Christ\\ (\\tou Christou\\). The Messiah, of course, not Christ as
 a proper name of Jesus. Jesus here assumes that
 # Ps 110
 refers to the Messiah. By his pungent question about the Messiah
 as David's son and Lord he really touches the problem of his
 Person (his Deity and his Humanity). Probably the Pharisees had
 never faced that problem before. They were unable to answer.

00771
00772
00773
00774
00775
00776
 \\Sit on Moses' seat\\ (\\epi ts Muses kathedras ekathisan\\). The
 gnomic or timeless aorist tense, \\ekathisan\\, not the aorist "for"
 the perfect. The "seat of Moses" is a brief form for the chair of
 the professor whose function it is to interpret Moses. "The heirs
 of Moses' authority by an unbroken tradition can deliver _ex
 cathedra_ pronouncements on his teaching" (McNeile).

00777
 \\For they say and do not\\ (\\legousin kai ou poiousin\\). "As teachers
 they have their place, but beware of following their example"
 (Bruce). So Jesus said: "Do not ye after their works " (\\m\\
 \\poieite\\). Do not practice their practices. They are only
 preachers. Jesus does not here disapprove any of their teachings
 as he does elsewhere. The point made here is that they are only
 teachers (or preachers) and do not practice what they teach as
 God sees it.

00778
 \\With their finger\\ (\\ti daktuli autn\\). A picturesque proverb.
 They are taskmasters, not burden-bearers, not sympathetic
 helpers.

00779
 \\To be seen of men\\ (\\pros to theathnai tois anthrpois\\). See
 # 6:1
 where this same idiom occurs. Ostentation regulates the conduct
 of the rabbis. \\Phylacteries\\ (\\phulaktria\\). An adjective from
 \\phulaktr, phulass\\ (to guard). So a fortified place, station for
 garrison, then a safeguard, protecting charm or amulet. The
 rabbis wore \\tephillin\\ or prayer-fillets, small leather cases with
 four strips of parchment on which were written the words of
 # Ex 13:1-10,11-16; De 6:4-9; 11:13-21
 They took literally the words about "a sign unto thy hand," "a
 memorial between thine eyes," and "frontlets." "That for the head
 was to consist of a box with four compartments, each containing a
 slip of parchment inscribed with one of the four passages. Each
 of these strips was to be tied up with a well-washed hair from a
 calf's tail; lest, if tied with wool or thread, any fungoid
 growth should ever pollute them. The phylactery of the arm was to
 contain a single slip, with the same four passages written in
 four columns of seven lines each. The black leather straps by
 which they were fastened were wound seven times round the arm and
 three times round the hand. They were reverenced by the rabbis as
 highly as the scriptures, and, like them, might be rescued from
 the flames on a sabbath. They profanely imagined that God wore
 the _tephillin_" (Vincent). It is small wonder that Jesus
 ridiculed such minute concern for pretentious externalism and
 literalism. These _tephillin_ "are still worn at the present day
 on the forehead and left arm by Jews at the daily Morning Prayer"
 (McNeile) . "The size of the phylacteries indexed the measure of
 zeal, and the wearing of large ones was apt to take the place of
 obedience" (Bruce). Hence they made them "broad." The
 superstitious would wear them as mere charms to ward off evil.
 \\Enlarge the borders\\ (\\megalunousin ta kraspeda\\). In
 # 9:20
 we see that Jesus, like the Jews generally, wore a tassel or
 tuft, hem or border, a fringe on the outer garment according to
 # Nu 15:38
 Here again the Jewish rabbi had minute rules about the number of
 the fringes and the knots (
 See note on "Mt 9:20"
 ). They made a virtue of the size of the fringes also. "Such
 things were useful as reminders; they were fatal when they were
 regarded as charms" (Plummer).

00780
 \\The chief place at feasts\\ (\\tn prtoklisian en tois deipnois\\).
 Literally, the first reclining place on the divan at the meal.
 The Persians, Greeks, Romans, Jews differed in their customs, but
 all cared for the post of honour at formal functions as is true
 of us today. Hostesses often solve the point by putting the name
 of each guest at the table. At the last passover meal the
 apostles had an ugly snarl over this very point of precedence
 # Lu 22:24; Joh 13:2-11
 just two days after this exposure of the Pharisees in the
 presence of the apostles. \\The chief seats in the synagogues\\ (\\tas\\
 \\prtokathedrias en tais sunaggais\\). "An insatiable hunger for
 prominence" (Bruce). These chief seats (Zuchermandel) were on the
 platform looking to the audience and with the back to the chest
 in which were kept the rolls of scripture. The Essenes had a
 different arrangement. People today pay high prices for front
 seats at the theatre, but at church prefer the rear seats out of
 a curious mock-humility. In the time of Jesus the hypocrites
 boldly sat up in front. Now, if they come to church at all, they
 take the rear seats.

00781
 \\Salutations\\ (\\aspasmous\\). The ordinary courtiers were coveted
 because in public. They had an itch for notice. There are
 occasionally today ministers who resent it if they are not called
 upon to take part in the services at church. They feel that their
 ministerial dignity has not been recognized.

00782
 \\But be not ye called Rabbi\\ (\\humeis de m klthte Rabbei\\). An
 apparent aside to the disciples. Note the emphatic position of
 \\humeis\\. Some even regard verses
 # 8-10
 as a later addition and not part of this address to the
 Pharisees, but the apostles were present. Euthymius Zigabenus
 says: "Do not seek to be called (ingressive aorist subjunctive),
 if others call you this it will not be your fault." This is not
 far from the Master's meaning. Rabbi means "my great one," "my
 Master," apparently a comparatively new title in Christ's time.

00783
 \\Call no man your father\\ (\\patera m kaleste hmn\\). Jesus meant
 the full sense of this noble word for our heavenly Father. "Abba
 was not commonly a mode of address to a living person, but a
 title of honour for Rabbis and great men of the past" (McNeile).
 In Gethsemane Jesus said: "Abba, Father"
 # Mr 14:36
 Certainly the ascription of "Father" to pope and priest seems out
 of harmony with what Jesus here says. He should not be understood
 to be condemning the title to one's real earthly father. Jesus
 often leaves the exceptions to be supplied.

00784
 \\Masters\\ (\\kathgtai\\). This word occurs here only in the N.T. It
 is found in the papyri for teacher (Latin, _doctor_). It is the
 modern Greek word for professor. "While \\didaskalos\\ represents
 \\Rab\\, \\kathgtes\\ stands for the more honourable \\Rabban, -bn\\"
 (McNeile). Dalman (_Words of Jesus_, p. 340) suggests that the
 same Aramaic word may be translated by either \\didaskalos\\ or
 \\kathgtes\\. \\The Christ\\ (\\ho Christos\\). The use of these words here
 by Jesus like "Jesus Christ" in his Prayer
 # Joh 17:3
 is held by some to show that they were added by the evangelist to
 what Jesus actually said, since the Master would not have so
 described himself. But he commended Peter for calling him "the
 Christ the Son of the living God"
 # Mt 16:16
 We must not empty the consciousness of Jesus too much.

00785
00786
 \\Exalt himself\\ (\\hupssei heauton\\). Somewhat like
 # 18:4; 20:26
 Given by Luke in other contexts
 # 14:11; 18:14
 Characteristic of Christ.

00787
 \\Hypocrites\\ (\\hupokritai\\). This terrible word of Jesus appears
 first from him in the Sermon on the Mount
 # Mt 6:2,5,16; 7:5
 then in
 # 15:7
 and
 # 22:18
 Here it appears "with terrific iteration" (Bruce) save in the
 third of the seven woes
 # 23:13,15,23,25,27,29
 The verb in the active (\\hupokrin\\) meant to separate slowly or
 slightly subject to gradual inquiry. Then the middle was to make
 answer, to take up a part on the stage, to act a part. It was an
 easy step to mean to feign, to pretend, to wear a masque, to act
 the hypocrite, to play a part. This hardest word from the lips of
 Jesus falls on those who were the religious leaders of the Jews
 (Scribes and Pharisees), who had justified this thunderbolt of
 wrath by their conduct toward Jesus and their treatment of things
 high and holy. The _Textus Receptus has eight woes, adding verse
 # 14
 which the Revised Version places in the margin (called verse
 # 13
 by Westcott and Hort and rejected on the authority of Aleph B D
 as a manifest gloss from
 # Mr 12:40
 and
 # Lu 20:47
 The MSS. that insert it put it either before 13 or after 13.
 Plummer cites these seven woes as another example of Matthew's
 fondness for the number seven, more fancy than fact for Matthew's
 Gospel is not the Apocalypse of John. These are all illustrations
 of Pharisaic saying and not doing (Allen). \\Ye shut the kingdom of\\
 \\heaven\\ (\\kleiete tn basileian tn ourann\\). In
 # Lu 11:52
 the lawyers are accused of keeping the door to the house of
 knowledge locked and with flinging away the keys so as to keep
 themselves and the people in ignorance. These custodians of the
 kingdom by their teaching obscured the way to life. It is a
 tragedy to think how preachers and teachers of the kingdom of God
 may block the door for those who try to enter in (\\tous\\
 \\eiserchomenous\\, conative present middle participle). \\Against\\
 (\\emprosthen\\). Literally, before. These door-keepers of the
 kingdom slam it shut in men's faces and they themselves are on
 the outside where they will remain. They hide the key to keep
 others from going in.

00788
00789
 \\Twofold more a son of hell than yourselves\\ (\\huion geenns\\
 \\diploteron hmn\\). It is a convert to Pharisaism rather than
 Judaism that is meant by "one proselyte" (\\hena prosluton\\), from
 \\proserchomai\\, newcomers, aliens. There were two kinds of
 proselytes: of the gate (not actual Jews, but God-fearers and
 well-wishers of Judaism, like Cornelius), of righteousness who
 received circumcision and became actual Jews. But a very small
 per cent of the latter became Pharisees. There was a Hellenistic
 Jewish literature (Philo, Sibylline Oracles, etc.) designed to
 attract Gentiles to Judaism. But the Pharisaic missionary zeal
 (compass, \\periagte\\, go around) was a comparative failure. And
 success was even worse, Jesus says with pitiless plainness. The
 "son of Gehenna" means one fitted for and so destined for
 Gehenna. "The more converted the more perverted" (H.J.
 Holtzmann). The Pharisees claimed to be in a special sense sons
 of the kingdom
 # Mt 8:12
 They were more partisan than pious. \\Diplous\\ (twofold, double) is
 common in the papyri. The comparative here used, as if from
 \\diplos\\, appears also in Appian. Note the ablative of comparison
 hmn. It was a withering thrust.

00790
 \\Ye blind guides\\ (\\hodgoi tuphloi\\). Note omission of "Scribes and
 Pharisees, hypocrites" with this third woe. In
 # 15:14
 Jesus had already called the Pharisees "blind guides" (leaders).
 They split hairs about oaths, as Jesus had explained in
 # 5:33-37
 between the temple and the gold of the temple. \\He is a debtor\\
 (\\opheilei\\). He owes his oath, is bound by his oath. A.V., \\is\\
 \\guilty\\, is old English, obsolete sense of guilt as fine or
 payment.

00791
 \\Ye fools\\ (\\mroi\\). In
 # 5:22
 Jesus had warned against calling a man \\mros\\ in a rage, but here
 he so terms the blind Pharisees for their stupidity, description
 of the class. "It shows that not the word but the spirit in which
 it is uttered is what matters" (McNeile).

00792
00793
00794
00795
00796
00797
 \\Ye tithe\\ (\\apodekatoute\\). The tithe had to be paid upon "all the
 increase of thy seed"
 # De 14:22; Le 27:30
 The English word tithe is tenth. These small aromatic herbs, mint
 (\\to hduosmon\\, sweet-smelling), anise or dill (\\anthon\\), cummin
 (\\kuminon\\, with aromatic seeds), show the Pharisaic scrupulous
 conscientiousness, all marketable commodities. "The Talmud tells
 of the ass of a certain Rabbi which had been so well trained as
 to refuse corn of which the tithes had not been taken" (Vincent).
 \\These ye ought\\ (\\tauta edei\\). Jesus does not condemn tithing. What
 he does condemn is doing it to the neglect of the \\weightier\\
 \\matters\\ (\\ta barutera\\). The Pharisees were externalists; cf.
 # Lu 11:39-44

00798
 \\Strain out the gnat\\ (\\diulizontes ton knpa\\). By filtering
 through (\\dia\\), not the "straining at" in swallowing so crudely
 suggested by the misprint in the A.V. \\Swallow the camel\\ (\\tn de\\
 \\kamlon katapinontes\\). Gulping or drinking down the camel. An
 oriental hyperbole like that in
 # 19:24
 See also
 # 5:29,30; 17:20; 21:21
 Both insects and camels were ceremonially unclean
 # Le 11:4,20,23,42
 "He that kills a flea on the Sabbath is as guilty as if he killed
 a camel" (Jer. _Shabb._ 107).

00799
 \\From extortion and excess\\ (\\ex harpags kai akrasias\\). A much more
 serious accusation. These punctilious observers of the external
 ceremonies did not hesitate at robbery (\\harpages\\) and graft
 (\\akrasias\\), lack of control. A modern picture of wickedness in
 high places both civil and ecclesiastical where the moral
 elements in life are ruthlessly trodden under foot. Of course,
 the idea is for both the outside \\ektos\\ and the inside (\\entos\\) of
 the cup and the platter (fine side dish). But the inside is the
 more important. Note the change to singular in verse
 # 26
 as if Jesus in a friendlier tone pleads with a Pharisee to mend
 his ways.
