Mt. 23:1 Then Yeshua spoke to the multitude and to His disciples,
Lk. 20:45 Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples,
Mt. 23:2 Saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.”
In answer to the modern Christian concept that Yeshua criticized the Pharisees as hypocrites, it should be stated that His was not actually a criticism of the Pharis4ees, but rather an expression of hypocrisy within their movement. He did not criticize their doctrine, but actually called them the real guardians of the truth. It becomes clear by studying Jewish literature of that day, Yeshua was, as other Rabbis were doing, criticizing their practices, probably the same practice of which all believers are most guilty. This was a criticism from within and should be viewed as constructive, in-house criticism of one who believed the same things. Nothing was more despicable to true Pharisees than hypocrisy and Yeshua was not any more harsh against it than other Rabbis who described these hypocrites as their “plagues” or “sore spots.”
Source: M:Sotah 3:4
Mt. 23:3 “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their work; for they say, and do not do.”
There can be little doubt that Yeshua considered the Oral Law to be authoritative as He quoted it often and encouraged His disciples to “Observe and practice what they (the Pharisees, the interpreters of the Oral Law) say.” Yeshua’s own teaching style reveals that He accepted the Pharisaic system of Scriptural interpretation, the Oral Law. Most scholars agree He is referring to the Pharisees’ Oral tradition and interpretations of the Written Law. The Written Law could not have been in question, since it was accepted completely by all sects of Judaism.
Now is a good time to insert Josephus’ description of the Pharisees. “Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despite delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; and what that prescribes to them as good for them they do; and if they think they ought earnestly strive to observe reason’s dictates for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years; nor are they so bold as to contradict them in anything which they have introduced; and when they determine that all things are done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men of acting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it has please God to make a temperament, whereby what He wills is done, but so that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe that souls have a immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatever they do about divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on account of their virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their discourse also.
Source: Jo. Ant. 18.2.3 12-15
Mt. 23:4 “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”
Hillel the Elder, who lived during the early first century, had set before himself the main principle of bringing men closer to the Torah in opposition to Shammai. Hillel consented to the admission of proselytes, even when they laid down unreasonable conditions for admission (BT:Shabbath 31a).. It is said that some in the School of Shammai considered Gentiles a leprosy in Israel. It was this group that Yeshua referred to when He said, “they bind heavy and grievous burdens on others,” in contrast to His yoke which was easy and accessible. Hillel, like Yeshua, was I favor of taking the message to all mankind and had 80 personal disciples, 30 o which had the Shekhinah rested upon them, 30 of whom the sun would stand still for like it did for Joshua, and 20 who were average (BT:Sukkoth 28a).
Sources: BT:Shabbat 31a; BT:Sukkoh 28a
Mt. 23:5 “But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the boarders of their garments.”
The term Tefillin is reminiscent of the word tefillah (prayer). The quadrangular capsules of the tefillin are made of the skins of animals described in the Torah as clean and fit for Jewish food. They are spoken of as Shel Rosh (head phylactery) and Shel Yad (hand phylactery Shel rosh consists of four components containing four separate strips of parchment on which are written four passages from Exodus 13:1-10; 11-16; Deut. 6:4-9, 11:13-20. Shel Yad consists of a single compartment containing the same four passages written in four parallel columns on a single piece of parchment.
Sources: Exod. 13: 1-10, 11-1616; Deut. 6:4-9, 11:13-20
Mt. 23:6 “They love the be places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues.”
Mk. 12:39 “The best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts.”
Lk. 20:46b “The best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at the feasts.”
Mt. 23:7 “Greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, “Rabbi, Rabbi”
Mk. 12:28 Then He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go
around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces.”
Lk. 20:46a “Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces.”
Mt. 23:8 “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi,” for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.”
Mt. 23:9 “Do not call anyone one on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in Heaven.”
Mt. 23:10 “And do not be call teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.”
Mt. 23:11 “But he who is the greatest among you shall be your servant.”
Mt. 23:12 “And whosoever exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This same quote is found two places in the Talmud (BT:Erubin 13b; BT:Sanhedrin 13b).
Mt. 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”
It is thought that the Shammaites, a group who were not interested in taking the message to the Gentiles, that Yeshua spoke these words, “For you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer them that are entering to go in.” Once a person did convert to faith in HaShem Judaism referred to this act as a new creation or a new birth.
Yeshua issued seven woes against the hypocritical Pharisees. The word “woe” means overwhelming sorrow or grief and was given as a warning of calamity. According to Essene and Rabbinic literature, there were in ancient times hypocritical Pharisees like the ones Yeshua addressed. Is it possible that Yeshua was illustrating the seven kinds of Pharisees found in the Talmud with these seven woes?
Source: JT:Sotah 22b
Mt. 23:14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widow’s houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”
Mk. 12:40 “Who devour widow’s houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
Lk. 20:47 “Who devour widow’s houses and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
Mt. 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
Mt. 23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘whoever swears by the Temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Temple, he is obliged to perform it.”
Mt. 23:17 “Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the Temple that sanctifies the gold?”
Mt. 23:18 “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’”
Mt. 23:19 “Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?”
Mt. 23:20 “Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by all things on it.”
Mt. 23:21 “He who swears by the Temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.”
Mt. 23:22 “And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.”
Mt. 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law; justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
The next order in the tractate Zera’im is called Ma ‘aserot, meaning “tithes”. Tithes were brought before the establishment of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 10th century B.C.E. They were collected by the Levites around the countryside and by the priests at the Temple during the Second Temple Period (538 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.) There are some major distinctions between Ma’aser Rishon, the first tithe, and the Ma’aser Sheni, the second. The first tithe was given to the priests abs was given every year. The second tithe was given in years one, two, four, and five of the seven year cycle. In years three and six, the Ma’aser Ani (the Poor Tithe) was given.
The tithe was a 10th part of one’s income, set aside for a specific purpose. The untithed portions of one’s produce is called tevel and may not be eaten except incidentally while it is in the field. The first tithe is given to the Levites who himself could own no land and who in turn must give one tenth (heave offering) to the priest (Numbers 18:26). The Levite could then use the remainder of the tithe as he wished. The second tithe (Lev. 27:30,31; Deut. 14:22-26) had to be taken to Jerusalem and consumed there. The third or poor tithe could be distributed anywhere (Deut. 14:28,29; 26:12).
Sources: Num. 18:26; Lev. 27:30,31; Deut. 14:22-26; Deut. 14:28,29; 26:12
Mt. 23:24 “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
Mt. 23:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the out side of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.”
Mt. 23:26 “Blind Pharisees, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of the cup may be clean also.”
Although Yeshua uses the phrase “woe to you scribes and Pharisees,” He then in this verse singles out the “blind Pharisees” and seems to stick to His separation between the scribes and Pharisees. Verse 23 appears to be divided with 23:1-22, 29-36 dealing with the scribes, while 23:23-28 is leveled at the Pharisees.
Mt. 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead mean’s bones and all uncleanness.”“
Mt. 23:28 “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Mt. 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous.”
Mt. 23:30 “And say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’”
Mt. 23:31 “Therefore you are witness against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.”
Mt. 23:32 “Fill up, then, the measure of your father’s guilt.”
Mt. 23:33 “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
Mt. 23:34 “Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.”
Mt. 23:35 “That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar.
In the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh), II Chronicles is the last book of the canon. What Yeshua is saying here is that they will be responsible for all the blood shed from the beginning (Genesis) to the end(II Chronicles) and everything in between. However, according to the story in the Protevangelium of James, Zechariah, the father of Yochanan haMatbil was the Zechariah that was murdered at the alter.
Sources: Genesis 4:4; II Chron. 24:21,22; Jos. Ant. 19.5.1, note @1,: Protevangelium of James 16:16
Mt. 23:36 “Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”
Mt. 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather her children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”
Mt. 23:38 “See! Your house is left to you desolate.”
Mt. 23:39 “For I say to you, you shall see Me no More till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
The point that Yeshua makes in this verse is very critical. He is saying. He is saying that He will not return until the Jewish leaders ask Him to return. Just as the Jewish leaders once led the nation to the rejection of the Messiahship of Yeshua, the Jewish leader must dome day lead the nation to the acceptance of the Messiahship of Yeshua. The basis of the Second Coming is that He will not return until they ask Him to.
Source: Psalm 118:26
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