Luk 11:49 | KingComments | STEP | The Pharisee has apparently also invited lawyers. One of them feels addressed. He finds it all insulting to the Pharisees. And not only that, he wants to make it known that the Lord has not only insulted the Pharisees, but also them. For they are the creators of all those laws and commandments that the Pharisees so meticulously put into practice. The Lord makes it clear to them that the spotlight of truth is also on them, and that they too are subject to His judgment. The lawyers will also hear the “woe to you” from Him and the reason for it. They are as hypocritical as the Pharisees. They burden people with their self-invented applications of the law, which they themselves do not live up to at all. They’re twisting the law in a way that their conscience remains out of question, but that they can exercise authority over others. The lawyers are people with a great historical awareness. They know the history well. They greatly appreciate the prophets who have spoken in faithfulness to God and have been killed for it. You had to honor such people. However, to the lawyers they are nothing more than relics. They honor these prophets by building tombs for them that can serve as places of pilgrimage, but the message of the prophets is of no use to them. They do not realize that they are descendants of the fathers who killed them. The Lord exposes the reality of their outward actions. They act in line with their fathers. Their fathers killed the prophets, and they build the tombs for the prophets. They are not spiritual descendants of the prophets, because they do not identify themselves with their message. They reject the message of the prophets just like their fathers and by doing so they make themselves one with their fathers who killed the prophets. The future will make it clear that they are exactly like their fathers. This happens when prophets and apostles are sent to them, as the Lord announces. This sending takes place in the book of Acts. It concerns the prophets and the apostles of the New Testament. The Lord says emphatically that the wisdom of God does this. After all, people would never have thought of exposing others to rejection and death in order to reveal people’s hearts. According to human perception, this sending seems fruitless and even foolishness. With “the wisdom of God” the Lord can also mean Himself. For He is the wisdom of God ( ). He will send them. Those who build the tombs of the martyrs do not seem to be involved in the persecution and violence practiced by the fathers, but that is only apparent. The opposite will soon be the case. God will soon put them to the test by sending apostles and prophets, some of whom they will kill and others persecute to get rid of them somehow. Instead of being held back by the example of their fathers, they follow in their guilty footsteps. They are more to blame because they ignore such a serious warning. In the wisdom of God, the conduct of the people to whom the Lord speaks here, the measure of iniquity of “this generation”, which is this kind of hypocritical people, will be made full. God will then demand from them the blood of all prophets that through the ages has been shed by them from the very beginning. Abel is the first person whose blood was shed. We do not read from him a word he has spoken. Yet here the Lord calls him a prophet. By his way of life, which showed fellowship with God, he was a condemnation for Cain. What Abel did, casted light on Cain who rejected the light by killing Abel. Cain is the pious, legalistic Pharisee, who expresses his anger against someone who truly honors God. This generation will soon do the same with the Lord Jesus. As the last in the long line of prophets killed by the people the Lord mentions Zechariah. The history of Zechariah is at the end of the Bible book 2 Chronicles ( ). This book is in our Bible somewhere in the middle, but in the Hebrew Bible it is the last book of the Old Testament. So what the Lord says is true (of course!). He also mentions the place where this faithful man was killed. That is on the temple ground. Their anger had grown so great that they did not hesitate to enter that holy area and kill someone who had spoken to them on behalf of God. After this, the Lord repeats His announcement of the judgment on this generation, which He introduces with an affirmative “yes” and a powerful “I tell you”. In His last “woe” against the lawyers, He establishes their terrible guilt that they have taken away the key of knowledge. They have not accidentally lost the opportunity to gain knowledge of God, but have deliberately taken it away. The key of knowledge, and of wisdom, is to fear God. The true fear of God gives access to knowing Him and the wisdom of His counsels ( ; ) which are manifested in Christ. In Christ are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge“ ( ). They have taken away the key to that treasure room by focusing attention on themselves, putting themselves in the center and thinking only of their own honor. To enter, they should take the place of a pupil, the place of a needy and lost person, but they do not want that. Therefore they themselves have not entered into that glorious knowledge of God in Christ Who is the wisdom of God ( ). By imposing their own laws on others, they have also prevented those who did want to from entering. They want to continue to exercise power over others. It would also be a condemnation of their own position if they allowed others to enter. The lawyers shun the light and reject it, as do the Pharisees.

‏ Luke 11:49

Speech Against the Lawyers

The Pharisee has apparently also invited lawyers. One of them feels addressed. He finds it all insulting to the Pharisees. And not only that, he wants to make it known that the Lord has not only insulted the Pharisees, but also them. For they are the creators of all those laws and commandments that the Pharisees so meticulously put into practice.

The Lord makes it clear to them that the spotlight of truth is also on them, and that they too are subject to His judgment. The lawyers will also hear the “woe to you” from Him and the reason for it. They are as hypocritical as the Pharisees. They burden people with their self-invented applications of the law, which they themselves do not live up to at all. They’re twisting the law in a way that their conscience remains out of question, but that they can exercise authority over others.

The lawyers are people with a great historical awareness. They know the history well. They greatly appreciate the prophets who have spoken in faithfulness to God and have been killed for it. You had to honor such people. However, to the lawyers they are nothing more than relics. They honor these prophets by building tombs for them that can serve as places of pilgrimage, but the message of the prophets is of no use to them. They do not realize that they are descendants of the fathers who killed them.

The Lord exposes the reality of their outward actions. They act in line with their fathers. Their fathers killed the prophets, and they build the tombs for the prophets. They are not spiritual descendants of the prophets, because they do not identify themselves with their message. They reject the message of the prophets just like their fathers and by doing so they make themselves one with their fathers who killed the prophets.

The future will make it clear that they are exactly like their fathers. This happens when prophets and apostles are sent to them, as the Lord announces. This sending takes place in the book of Acts. It concerns the prophets and the apostles of the New Testament. The Lord says emphatically that the wisdom of God does this. After all, people would never have thought of exposing others to rejection and death in order to reveal people’s hearts. According to human perception, this sending seems fruitless and even foolishness. With “the wisdom of God” the Lord can also mean Himself. For He is the wisdom of God (1Cor 1:24 ; 30). He will send them.

Those who build the tombs of the martyrs do not seem to be involved in the persecution and violence practiced by the fathers, but that is only apparent. The opposite will soon be the case. God will soon put them to the test by sending apostles and prophets, some of whom they will kill and others persecute to get rid of them somehow. Instead of being held back by the example of their fathers, they follow in their guilty footsteps. They are more to blame because they ignore such a serious warning. In the wisdom of God, the conduct of the people to whom the Lord speaks here, the measure of iniquity of “this generation”, which is this kind of hypocritical people, will be made full.

God will then demand from them the blood of all prophets that through the ages has been shed by them from the very beginning. Abel is the first person whose blood was shed. We do not read from him a word he has spoken. Yet here the Lord calls him a prophet. By his way of life, which showed fellowship with God, he was a condemnation for Cain. What Abel did, casted light on Cain who rejected the light by killing Abel. Cain is the pious, legalistic Pharisee, who expresses his anger against someone who truly honors God. This generation will soon do the same with the Lord Jesus.

As the last in the long line of prophets killed by the people the Lord mentions Zechariah. The history of Zechariah is at the end of the Bible book 2 Chronicles (2Chr 24:20-21). This book is in our Bible somewhere in the middle, but in the Hebrew Bible it is the last book of the Old Testament. So what the Lord says is true (of course!). He also mentions the place where this faithful man was killed. That is on the temple ground. Their anger had grown so great that they did not hesitate to enter that holy area and kill someone who had spoken to them on behalf of God.

After this, the Lord repeats His announcement of the judgment on this generation, which He introduces with an affirmative “yes” and a powerful “I tell you”. In His last “woe” against the lawyers, He establishes their terrible guilt that they have taken away the key of knowledge. They have not accidentally lost the opportunity to gain knowledge of God, but have deliberately taken it away.

The key of knowledge, and of wisdom, is to fear God. The true fear of God gives access to knowing Him and the wisdom of His counsels (Pro 1:7; Job 28:28) which are manifested in Christ. In Christ are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge“ (Col 2:3). They have taken away the key to that treasure room by focusing attention on themselves, putting themselves in the center and thinking only of their own honor.

To enter, they should take the place of a pupil, the place of a needy and lost person, but they do not want that. Therefore they themselves have not entered into that glorious knowledge of God in Christ Who is the wisdom of God (1Cor 1:30). By imposing their own laws on others, they have also prevented those who did want to from entering. They want to continue to exercise power over others. It would also be a condemnation of their own position if they allowed others to enter. The lawyers shun the light and reject it, as do the Pharisees.