Mat 23:23-28 | TNotes | STEP | 23:23 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 ; Jer 22:3 ; Hos 6:6 ; Mic 6:8 ; Zech 7:9 ).

a23:23►

bIsa 1:16-17►

cJer 22:3►

dHos 6:6►

eMic 6:8►

fZech 7:9►

g23:24►

h23:26►

i6:19-34►

j12:33-37►

k15:15-20►

l23:27-28►

‏ Matthew 23:23-28

23:23 ^a 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 ^b; Jer 22:3 ^c; Hos 6:6 ^d; Mic 6:8 ^e; Zech 7:9 ^f).
23:24 ^g gnat ... camel: These words form a pun in Aramaic (qalma ... gamla), the language Jesus probably spoke.
23:26 ^h Internal purity will result in external righteousness, but the reverse is not true (6:19-34 ⁱ; 12:33-37 ^j; 15:15-20 ^k).
Summary for Matt 23:27-28: 23:27-28 ^l 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.