Mat 23:13-36 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Matt 23:13-36: 23:13-36 Matthew collected seven statements of what sorrow awaits you (literally woe to you ), drawing upon similar Old Testament listings (Isa 5:8-23 ; Hab 2:6-20 ), and he arranged them to climax in the murder of the prophets. 23:13 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 ), abuse of teaching authority, false teachings on doctrine or practice (23:13-22 ), and preoccupation with ethical minutiae (23:23-28 ). 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 ; 2 Pet 2:1-22 ), so God’s children always need to guard against them (Jas 4:7-10 ; 1 Pet 2:1-3 ). • shut the door of the Kingdom: By their false teaching and opposition to Jesus (see Matt 9:32-34 ; 12:22-37 ; 15:12-14 ; 21:15 ; John 9:13-34 ), the teachers of religious law and Pharisees prevented others from hearing and believing the truth about the Messiah.

Summary for Matt 23:13-36: 23:13-36 ^a Matthew collected seven statements of what sorrow awaits you (literally woe to you), drawing upon similar Old Testament listings (Isa 5:8-23 ^b; Hab 2:6-20 ^c), and he arranged them to climax in the murder of the prophets. 23:13 ^d 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 ^e), abuse of teaching authority, false teachings on doctrine or practice (23:13-22 ^f), and preoccupation with ethical minutiae (23:23-28 ^g). 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 ^h; 2 Pet 2:1-22 ⁱ), so God’s children always need to guard against them (Jas 4:7-10 ^j; 1 Pet 2:1-3 ^k).

• shut the door of the Kingdom: By their false teaching and opposition to Jesus (see Matt 9:32-34 ^l; 12:22-37 ^m; 15:12-14 ⁿ; 21:15 ^o; John 9:13-34 ^p), the teachers of religious law and Pharisees prevented others from hearing and believing the truth about the Messiah.
23:15 ^q A convert (proselyte) made a full conversion to Judaism, performing such observances as baptism, sacrifice, and circumcision (see Acts 13:43 ^r). 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 ^s; Acts 10:2 ^t). 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 ^u, 14 ^v; 5:2-12 ^w; 6:12-13 ^x).

• of hell: Greek of Gehenna; see study note on 5:29.
Summary for Matt 23:16-22: 23:16-22 ^y The religious leaders declared certain oaths less binding in order to commit fraud. Jesus calls for honest fulfillment of commitments (see 5:33-37 ^z).
23:23 ^aa 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 ^ab; Jer 22:3 ^ac; Hos 6:6 ^ad; Mic 6:8 ^ae; Zech 7:9 ^af).
23:24 ^ag gnat ... camel: These words form a pun in Aramaic (qalma ... gamla), the language Jesus probably spoke.
23:26 ^ah Internal purity will result in external righteousness, but the reverse is not true (6:19-34 ^ai; 12:33-37 ^aj; 15:15-20 ^ak).
Summary for Matt 23:27-28: 23:27-28 ^al 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 ^am 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 ^an 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 ^ao).
23:35 ^ap The span from Abel (Gen 4:8-11 ^aq) to Zechariah (2 Chr 24:15-22 ^ar) 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 ^as).