Mat 23 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Matt 23:1: 23:1–25:46 This final extended discourse (see study note on Matt 5:1–7:29) centers on judgment for rejecting the Messiah. 23:1 The religious leaders had sought a reason to accuse Jesus publicly (21:23–22:46 ) but found none. Jesus now turned to the crowds and to his disciples to openly indict the religious leaders for their numerous failures to conform to God’s righteous standards.

Summary for Matt 23:1: 23:1–25:46 ^a This final extended discourse (see study note on Matt 5:1–7:29) centers on judgment for rejecting the Messiah. 23:1 ^b The religious leaders had sought a reason to accuse Jesus publicly (21:23–22:46 ^c) but found none. Jesus now turned to the crowds and to his disciples to openly indict the religious leaders for their numerous failures to conform to God’s righteous standards.
23:2 ^d the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses: They transmitted the oral traditions that were associated with the law and thought to be from Moses, and they judged religious and social matters on the basis of these traditions (see 15:2 ^e).
23:3 ^f practice and obey: This was not a blanket endorsement of all that the Pharisees teach (see 15:1-20 ^g; 16:5-12 ^h; 23:13-39 ⁱ). It might refer only to what was in accord with the law of Moses, or it might be bitter irony or sarcasm. Jesus might also have been counseling conformity to the Pharisees’ teachings to avoid giving offense (17:24-27 ^j).
23:4 ^k unbearable religious demands: There were 613 legal prohibitions and commands, according to the rabbis (see 11:28-30 ^l; Acts 15:10 ^m, 28 ⁿ).

• never lift a finger: The religious leaders were unwilling to consider relaxing traditional legal statutes.
23:5 ^o prayer boxes: Pious Jews wore, on the head and upper left arm, a small pouch or box (phylactery) containing written copies of important Old Testament commands (see Deut 6:6-9 ^p; 11:18-19 ^q).

• Wearing tassels was another custom associated with piety (see Matt 9:20 ^r; see also Num 15:38-41 ^s). Lengthening the tassels called attention to their wearer’s pious practices.
23:6 ^t The seats of honor in the synagogues were near the scrolls of the Torah and facing the congregation.
23:7 ^u Rabbi was a title of authority and respect.
Summary for Matt 23:8-12: 23:8-12 ^v Jesus does not prohibit the use of titles (especially for one’s own father), but rather the assumption of undue honor by those who transmit knowledge about God. The community of Jesus is a group of equals, each of whom knows God (see 12:46-50 ^w; 18:15-20 ^x). The terms Rabbi, Father, and Teacher are roughly equivalent. 23:8 ^y Rabbi: These men functioned in Judaism as mediators for dispensing knowledge about God (see 23:7 ^z). The new covenant, by contrast, has only one teacher, Jesus himself as Messiah (see Jer 31:31-34 ^aa).
23:9 ^ab Writings from later Judaism provide ample evidence of revering the teachers by calling them Father (see, e.g., Mishnah Eduyyoth 1:4 ^ac).

• God ... is your Father: See 6:9 ^ad; Mal 2:10 ^ae; cp. 1 Cor 4:15 ^af.
23:10 ^ag Teacher: This title denotes the function and office of leading others into knowledge about God. Jesus, not the scribes and Pharisees, is the teacher of God’s will (5:17 ^ah).
Summary for Matt 23:11-12: 23:11-12 ^ai Jesus’ disciples should lead by serving, in stark contrast to Israel’s religious leaders (who are described in 23:5-7 ^aj).
Summary for Matt 23:13-36: 23:13-36 ^ak Matthew collected seven statements of what sorrow awaits you (literally woe to you), drawing upon similar Old Testament listings (Isa 5:8-23 ^al; Hab 2:6-20 ^am), and he arranged them to climax in the murder of the prophets. 23:13 ^an What sorrow awaits you: A stark warning of judgment from God.

• Hypocrites! In English, hypocrisy describes a contradiction between reality and appearance. But in biblical usage, hypocrisy is misperceiving God’s will, leading people astray, and thus incurring God’s judgment. Coupled with this is often a desire for prestige and power (23:5-12 ^ao), abuse of teaching authority, false teachings on doctrine or practice (23:13-22 ^ap), and preoccupation with ethical minutiae (23:23-28 ^aq). An accurate English term for this combination of factors is heresy. The Pharisees and teachers of religious law displayed all of these characteristics. As the Christian church began to grow, these characteristics continued to appear (e.g., 1 Tim 4:1-3 ^ar; 2 Pet 2:1-22 ^as), so God’s children always need to guard against them (Jas 4:7-10 ^at; 1 Pet 2:1-3 ^au).

• shut the door of the Kingdom: By their false teaching and opposition to Jesus (see Matt 9:32-34 ^av; 12:22-37 ^aw; 15:12-14 ^ax; 21:15 ^ay; John 9:13-34 ^az), the teachers of religious law and Pharisees prevented others from hearing and believing the truth about the Messiah.
23:15 ^ba A convert (proselyte) made a full conversion to Judaism, performing such observances as baptism, sacrifice, and circumcision (see Acts 13:43 ^bb). A convert was thus distinct from a “God-fearer,” who adopted certain Jewish beliefs, most notably monotheism, without fully converting to Judaism (see Luke 7:4-5 ^bc; Acts 10:2 ^bd). It is likely that to make one convert means to persuade God-fearers to become full converts to Judaism by undergoing circumcision (cp. Gal 2:3 ^be, 14 ^bf; 5:2-12 ^bg; 6:12-13 ^bh).

• of hell: Greek of Gehenna; see study note on 5:29.
Summary for Matt 23:16-22: 23:16-22 ^bi The religious leaders declared certain oaths less binding in order to commit fraud. Jesus calls for honest fulfillment of commitments (see 5:33-37 ^bj).
23:23 ^bk The teachers of religious law and Pharisees thought that meticulous tithing demonstrated their zeal for the law. Without denying the validity of the tithe, Jesus revealed how they had utterly failed to attend to the more important aspects of the law (Isa 1:16-17 ^bl; Jer 22:3 ^bm; Hos 6:6 ^bn; Mic 6:8 ^bo; Zech 7:9 ^bp).
23:24 ^bq gnat ... camel: These words form a pun in Aramaic (qalma ... gamla), the language Jesus probably spoke.
23:26 ^br Internal purity will result in external righteousness, but the reverse is not true (6:19-34 ^bs; 12:33-37 ^bt; 15:15-20 ^bu).
Summary for Matt 23:27-28: 23:27-28 ^bv It was a Jewish custom to coat limestone tombs (perhaps funerary urns or ossuaries) with a mixture of marble and lime to fill their porous surfaces, giving them a more pleasing appearance and helping visitors to Jerusalem to notice the graves and avoid touching them so as not to contaminate themselves. Jesus is not criticizing the adorning of tombs; rather, he points to the similarity between these whitewashed tombs and the teachers of religious law and Pharisees. Both may have looked good on the outside, but both were contaminated and impure within.
23:29 ^bw By building and decorating the tombs for the prophets, the teachers of religious law and Pharisees showed outward solidarity with the prophets, while inwardly they were of the same sinful character as their ancestors who had murdered the prophets.
23:32 ^bx finish what your ancestors started: By killing God’s Messiah, they would bring to completion Israel’s history of killing God’s messengers (see 1 Thes 2:14-16 ^by).
23:35 ^bz The span from Abel (Gen 4:8-11 ^ca) to Zechariah (2 Chr 24:15-22 ^cb) follows the order of the Hebrew Bible, in which 2 Chronicles is the last book. The implication is that this generation will be guilty of every murder of the righteous in the Old Testament (cp. Matt 27:25 ^cc).
23:37 ^cd Despite the severe judgment Jesus had just leveled against Israel (23:29-36 ^ce), he truly longed for them to repent and receive God’s grace.

• as a hen: An image of protective care (see also Deut 32:11 ^cf; Ruth 2:12 ^cg; Pss 17:8 ^ch; 36:7 ^ci; 57:1 ^cj; 61:4 ^ck; 91:4 ^cl).
23:38 ^cm your house is abandoned and desolate: God would withdraw his presence from the Temple (Ezek 10:18-19 ^cn; 11:22-23 ^co; cp. Matt 1:23 ^cp), and both the Temple and Jerusalem would be destroyed.
23:39 ^cq Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord: This is possibly the prediction of an end-time conversion of the nation of Israel to the Messiah (see also Rom 11:12-32 ^cr).