16 Woe unto you, ye blindi guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. 17 Ye fools, and blind! for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19 Ye fools, and blind! for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him1 that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the thronem of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. i ch. 15: 14....j Ps. 94: 8....k Ex. 29: 37; 30: 29....I 2 Chron. 6: 2; Ps, 26: 8....m ch. 5: 34; Ps. 11:4; Isa. 66 1....n Luke 11: 42.... o ch. 9:13; 1 Sam, 15: 22; Jer. 22: 15, 16; Hos. 6:6; Mich. 68. elyting, which recalls the more familiar methods of the Jesuits. “When they had power they used force; when they had not. power they resorted to fraud. They appeared as soothsayers, divines, exorcists, and addressed themselves especially to the fears and superstitions of women. The proselytes are divided in the rabbinical books into two classes. The proselytes of the gate, a phrase derived from Exod. 20: 10, were such heathen as dwell in the land of Israel, or even out of it, and who, without submitting to circumcision or any other part of the ceremonial law, feared and worshipped the true God. Of such we probably have examples in Luke, ch. 7; Acts, ch. 10; John 12: 20; Acts 13: 42; and it is generally believed that the phrases "religious proselytes" (Acts 13:43), "devout Greeks" (Acts 17:4), and "devout men (Acts 2: 5) refer to this class. The proselytes of righteousness were circumcised and baptized, and took upon them the whole Jewish law and its observances. These were rare, and it is to these, doubtless, Christ here refers. Such a proselyte could but be made worse by his pseudo conversion; he was "a disciple of hypocrisy merely, doubly the child of hell, condemned by the religion he had left, condemned again by that which he had taken.”— (Alford.) Twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. The Pharisees taught that no heathen could become a member of the Jewish nation except he were "born again (see note on John 3:3). Jesus here asserts that the proselyte of the Pharisees is born from below, not from above. "Out of bad heathen they were made worse Jews."-(Erasmus.) And the reason was, not merely because those who were the most zealous proselytizers were most indifferent to moral and spiritual life, but, as Meyer, because "Experience proves that proselytes become worse and more extreme than their teachers.' The warning applies to all attempts to add numbers without spiritual life to the church, school, or sect. Of the effect of such endeavors Jesuit missions afford a mournful illustration. 16-22. The gold of the temple (verse 16). Possibly the ornaments of the temple, but more probably the sacred treasure, made up of gifts devoted to the temple by the worshippers. Thus the Pharisees made the gift to the temple, which was in reality a gift to the ecclesiastics (see note on verse 14) more sacred than the temple itself-He is guilty (verse 18) should be rendered He is bound. The word is the same rendered He is debtor in verse 16. The precise nature of the Pharisaic precepts here condemned is largely a matter of surmise. It is clear, however, that by nice casuistical distinctions the Pharisees made vows and oaths of none effect. The modern application is to all casuistry the object or effect of which is to lessen the sense of obligation to the law of God. Of a like casuistry in the Jesuit fathers, Pascal in his "Provincial Letters," gives numerous illustrations. These permitted miserliness, envy, falsehood, private revenge, duelling, and even assassination, on grounds as frivolous as those which Christ here exposes. The application to oaths of all forms, is also apparent. The appeal, however framed, is never to an inanimate thing, but to God, either directly, or through one of his attributes, or to some one as a witness in the place of God. To release, therefore, from an oath, because it is by the temple rather than by the gold, or by the altar rather than by the gift, is folly, not only because it reverses the true order of relative importance (verse 17-19) but also because it ignores the fact that every oath, however phrased, is really an appeal to God (verses 21, 22). Compare Matt. 5: 33-36 and notes. 23. Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin. Under the Mosaic law the tenth of all produce belonged to Jehovah and must be offered to him in kind, or redeemed with money (Lev. 27: 30-33). The mint, our modern mint, the anise, probably the modern dill, and the cummin, were all insignificant plants used for sauces, or for perfume; the dill or anise was also used as a medicine. These were, according to the letter of the law, liable to tithe, for it required "the seed of the land" as well as "the fruit of the tree.' And our Lord does not condemn but impliedly approves the Pharisees' scrupulousness in paying the tithe of these herbs. What he condemns is the conscience that pretends to be scrupulous in matters of insignificant detail, and is indifferent | the Pharisees to avoid partaking anything ceremonially unclean (Lev. 11: 23, 41, 42). The Hindoos have a similar proverb: Swallowing an elephant and being choked with a flea. The camel was also ceremonially unclean, because it did not divide the hoof (Lev. 11:4). "It is not the scru in matters of real importance. The modern application is to the spirit which is scrupulous in ritualistic observance and indifferent to the weightier matters of the law as interpreted as interpreted below. And have neglected, not merely omitted but dismissed from mind; the weight ier matters of the law, not the more bur-pling of a little sin that Christ here reproves; densome but the more important requirements: if it be a sin though but a gnat, it must be judgment, mercy, and faith. By judgment strained out; but the doing of that, and then is meant, not justice, i. e. “giving to all their swallowing a camel. In the lesser matters of just dues" (Barnes), for the original word (zgioig) the law to be superstitious, and to be profane in never bears this significance in the N. T.; but the greater, is the hypocrisy here condemned." spiritual discrimination. Our English version -(Matthew Henry.) exactly represents the spirit of the original. The Pharisees by their casuistry showed an utter lack of capacity to judge of moral and spiritual things. Compare Luke 12: 57; John 7: 24. Mercy is the exercise and manifestation of sympathy and goodwill to all mankind, especially the suffering and the sinful, precisely the opposite of the proud and uncharitable disposition of Pharisaism. See note on Matt. 5: 7, and for illustrations of their lack of mercy see Luke 7: 39; John 8:3-5. Faith is not equivalent here to fidelity, as some of the commentators interpret it. So to render it is to miss entirely the spiritual meaning of Christ's words. Our English version renders the original correctly. The whole passage is interpreted by Micah 6: 8, and Hosea 12:6. Clear spiritual discernment, love to one's neighbor, humble trust in God - these are the important matters of the law. Compare 1 Tim. 1: 5.-These ought ye to have done. Observe that Christ does not condemn scrupulousness in small matters, but demands that which is higher. The way to emancipate the conscience from bondage is not to denounce unnecessary scruples, but to fill the soul with a larger and higher idea of the religious life. 24. Blind guides which strain out a gnat. The word at before strain was originally a printing error for out, which first appeared in King James' version in 1611, and has been faithfully copied ever since. To strain at a gnat represents the stomach rising as it were against the little insect, but kept down by a strain or vigorous effort. To strain out a gnat is to pass. the water or wine through a strainer before drinking, to purify it of insects. This is a common practice in the East, and it was done by 25, 26. Ye make clean the outside of the cup and platter. There is perhaps a reference to the scrupulousness of the Pharisees in the washing of their dishes, etc., to avoid ceremonial pollution (see Mark 7: 7. 2-5, note). The meaning of the metaphor is clear; Pharisaism is always solicitous for the external appearance, and indifferent to the inner spirit. Compare Matt. 15: 19, 20.-But within they are full of extortion, i. c. ravening, covetousness, greed, and excess, self-indulgence. Of the opposite spirit, Paul in 1 Cor. 9: 27 affords an illustration. These two words suggest the two characteristic vices of Pharisaism, ancient and modern—a spirit of covetousness, and a spirit of self-indulgence, covered by a pretence of virtue and piety. 26. Christ indicates the only true method of radical reformation, from within working outward, not from without working inward. Religion is the preparation for morality, not morality for religion. But only God can cleanse that which is within (Psalm 51 7, 10, Ezek 36 25, 26; John 3; 3, 5). 27, 28. Whitewashed sepulchres. The Jews whitened the sepulchres annually with lime or chalk that all might know that the place was unclean and to be avoided. For this practice Ezek. 39: 15 was cited. Dead bodies were unclean according to the Mosaic law, and the touch of them defiled (Num. 5 2; 6 6). In Luke 11:44 an analogous but different figure is used. There the Pharisees are compared to concealed graves, with which the people come in contact and by which they are defiled, unconsciously-Are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Greek drouía.) Pretending to be scrupulous in his obedience to the law, the Pharisee is oblivious * of its character (Matt. 5: 17, 20, 22, &c.) and of its object, the development of love (Rom. 13; 8; Gal. 5 14 1 Tim. 1:5). That soul is truly lawless which is without the spirit of love. Such are men now also, decking themselves indeed outwardly, but full of iniquity within. * If one should tear open each man's conscience, many worms and much corruption would he find, and an ill-savor beyond utterance; unreasonable and wicked lusts I mean, which are more unclean than worms."—(Chrysostom.) 29-31. Because ye repair the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the monuments of the righteous. That is, this is your only mode of honoring them, in lieu of observing their words, imbibing their spirit, or imitating their lives. Thus Herod the Great, a monster of cruelty (see note on Matt. 2 : 1), rebuilt the sepulchre of David.—And say, if we were in the days of our fathers we would not be partak ers with them. The language of self-confidence; very like much modern language concerning the bigotry and intolerance of past ages. Whenever, instead of chiding ourselves for our present faults, we exult because we do not repeat the faults of the past, we subject ourselves to Christ's condemnation here. Wherefore ye witness to yourselves that ye are the children of them that killed the proph▪ ets. Compare Luke 11 : 47, 48. Certainly, building the tombs and decorating the monuments of the murdered did not indicate an approval of the murderers. I can only understand this passage thus: By calling the murderers your fathers you testify that you are their children, and by building the tombs of the murdered prophets you testify to their guilt in murdering the prophets. Of this guilt, as shown in the parable of the wicked husbandmen (Matt. 21: 37-39), and in the following verses of this discourse, they were partakers. The spirit of Pharisaism honors the martyrs of past ages and repeats its persecutions in the present. u Acts 7:59....v Acts 5: 40; 2 Cor. 11 : 24, 25....w Heb. y Gen. 4 : 8.......... .z 2 Chron. 24 : 20, 21. quiescence we ratify the sins of past eras we fill up its measure of guilt, and render ourselves accountable therefor. 33. Compare the language of John the Baptist, Matt. 3:7 and note. Observe, however, the difference. There it is, Who hath warned you to flee? a door seems still to be left open; here it is, How can ye escape? the door is shut. 34. Wherefore. The words, It is written, must be understood. In the analogous discourse reported in Luke the hiatus is supplied, Therefore, saith the wisdom of God, behold, &c. (Luke 11:49). Christ does not say, Because of your blood-guiltiness I send prophets and wise men that you may kill them, but, Because of your blood-guiltiness one of your own prophets has described your character in these words. But we do not find in the O. T. any passage which answers exactly to Christ's language here. Alford, Olshausen and Stier refer to 2 Chron. 24 : 18-22. "The words in our text are not indeed," says Alford, "a citation, but an amplification of verse 19 there-a paraphrase, giving the true sense of what the wisdom of God intended.” There is in the apocryphal book, 2 Esdras, 1:30-33, a passage which answers remarkably to the present. It is as follows: "I gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings: but now what shall I do unto you? I will cast you out from my face. When ye offer unto me, I will turn unto me, I will turn my face from you for your solemn feast days, your new moons, and your circumcisions have I forsaken. I have sent unto you my servants the prophets, whom ye have taken and slain, and torn their bodies in pieces, whose blood I will require of your hands, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Almighty Lord, your house is deserted, I will cast you out as the wind doth stubble." — Prophets and wise men and Scribes. Prophets are the inspired teachers of the Jews; wise men, those who possess natural or acquired wisdom, e. g. Solomon; Scribes, those who simply copy and teach the wisdom of others, "In these last the character is for the most part acquired; in wise men, innate; in prophets, inspired.”—(Bengel.)—Crucify. There is perhaps a reference to the crucifixion of Christ. Subsequently many of his followers were crucified; but in general, crucifixion appears to have been a heathen not a Jewish mode of pun 32. Fill ye up then the measure of others, the measure of your fathers. The language both of prophecy and of terrible irony and invective. Somewhat analogous in spirit is the language of Eccles. 11:9. This whole discourse (see verse 35 and note) is founded on the responsibility of nations as nations, and of the race as a race. If by act or ac : 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 37 Oa Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children togeth er, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.c 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. a Luke 13: 34... b Deut. 32: 11, 12; Psalm 91:4....c Zec. 11 : 6. d ch. 21:9; Psalm 118: 26. ishment.-Scourge in your synagogues. | word (yɛvɛú) here rendered generation, see note There is abundant evidence that the synagogue was a place both of trial and of punishment. (Matt. 10: 17; Acts 22: 19). 35. So that upon you may come all the righteous blood which is being poured out upon the earth. The verb is in the present and represents this bloody stream as still flowing. It should come on them, because by slaying the Son they became participators in the crimes of those who had slain the heralds, because the guilt of murder lies not in the amount of blood shed, but in the spirit which sheds it, and bebecause the nation is treated here, as in the parable of the wicked husbandmen (Matt. 21: 33-46 and notes), as a unit. The language is figurative, and represents the stream of innocent blood, flowing from the days of Abel, as coming upon and whelming the Jews in condemnation. Compare Matt. 27: 25; Acts 5:28. Unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias. For different explanations of this verse see Lange on this passage. It is hardly doubtful that it refers to the Zacharias mentioned in 2 Chron. 24 : 20-22. He was slain "in the court of the house of the Lord" by the people, and dying, cried, "The Lord look upon it and require it." It is true that this Zacharias was the son of Jehoida, not of Barachias, who was the father of Zechariah the minor prophet. But the Sinaitic manuscript omits the words "son of Barachias," as does Tischendorf, and it is not improbable that the phrase was added by an early copyist, who mistook this Zacharias for Zechariah. Luke does not have the addition "son of Barachias.' "" It is true also that Zacharias was not the last martyr in the O. T. history; but his martyrdom was one of the most notable. Concerning it the Jews had a saying that the blood was never washed away until the temple was burned at the captivity. In the arrangement of the Hebrew canon of the O. T. it was narrated last, though chronologically that of Urijah (Jer. 26: 23) was later.-Between the temple, i. e. the inner holy of holies, and the altar, altar, i. e. of burnt-offering, which stood outside, in the priests' court. Two Greek words are used in the N. T. both of which are rendered in our version, Temple. The word used here (vaós) generally signifies the innermost court or holy of holies. 36. All these things shall come upon this nation. On the true meaning of the on Matt. 24: 34. The meaning of the verse is that all their crimes were treasured up and should return in punishment upon the Jewish nation. Compare Rom. 2: 5. 37. That killest the prophets. See 1 Kings 18: 4; Neh. 9: 26; Jer. 2:30; 26: 23And stonest them which are sent unto thee. See Matt. 21:35; John 10: 31, 39; Acts 7:58; 21: 31; 22: 22, 23. The earthly ambassador is inviolable; observe how God's ambassadors have been treated.-How often would I have gathered thee together. To protect from impending danger and destruction. This Christ sought to do, not only in his earthly life, and by his preaching in Jerusalem (comp. Acts 1 ; 8), but by Divine messages and providences in the earlier history of the Jews. The verse is an indirect testimony to the divinity of Christ. For a similar figure used concerning God, see Psalms 17:8; 57: 1; 61: 4; 91: 4.-I would * ye would not. God's will for our salvation may be defeated by our will resisting it. Compare Prov. 1: 24, 25; Ezek. 18: 32. 38. Behold your your house. The temple: God's house no longer.-Desolate. Literally desert. The church is desolate when God departs; so is the soul, the temple of God, when godless. 39. Till ye shall say. Not except ye shall say, for the original will not bear that meaning, but until ye shall say. Alford sees in this a reference to such prophecies as Hosea 3 : 4, 5; Zech. 12: 10; 14: 8-11. It certainly looks toward a spiritual conversion of the Jews, a time when Jew as well as Gentile shall recognize whosoever cometh in the name of the Lord. Compare Rom. 11 : 11, 15, 26; Phil. 2: 10, 11. Ch. 24. CHRIST'S DISCOURSE ON THE LAST DAYS.THE PREPARATION: TRIBULATION (5–7); PERSECUTION (9); SECTARIAN CONFLICTS (10); FALSE TEACHING (11) • APOSTACY (12); UNIVERSAL DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL (14).—THE TYPE: THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM (15-22).—THE GREAT DANGER OF THE CHURCH: FALSE CHRISTS AND FALSE SCHEMES OF REDEMPTION (23-27).—THE HOUR: NOT UNTIL JUDGMENT SHALL BE COTERMINOUS WITH CORRUPTION (28).—THE FINAL COMING: MANIFEST, GLORIOUS, RECOGNIZED BY ALL (29-31); IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIAL PERIOD, AS SUMMER FOLLOWS SPRING (32, 33); CERTAIN (34, 35); SURPRISING (36-39); SEPARATING COMPANIONS (40, 41).-PRACTICAL LESSONS; THE DUTY OF WATCHFULNESS (42-44), AND FIDELITY (45-47); THE DANGER OF UNBELIEF AND | question to be determined respecting this twenLAPSE INTO SIN (48–51). ty-fourth chapter of Matthew, and it is one on which the ablest scholars are not agreed, is this: How far are its prophecies to be regarded as fulfilled in and by this siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the consequent dispersion of the Jews? PRELIMINARY NOTE.-Mark (ch. 13) and Luke (21:5-38) both report this discourse. John gives no account of it, but his report of Christ's last words to his disciples (ch. 14-16), which were also Hints toward its Solution.-The student may prophetic, should be studied in connection with obtain some light from a consideration of the this chapter. The unfulfilled prophecies are the | foliowing facts: (a.) The discourse is elicited by most difficult portions of Scripture, and this, the question of verse 3. The disciples, who had the most definitely prophetic of our Lord's dis- anticipated that Christ's kingdom was immecourses, is confessedly one of the most difficult. diately to appear, awed by Christ's solemn denunciation of the Jewish nation (chap. 23: 37–39), and his solemn assertion of the destruction of the Temple (verse 2), but still supposing that the destruction of Jerusalem, the coming of the Messiah, i. e. the public manifestation of Jesus as the Messiah, and the end of the world, were to be contemporaneous, desire to know when this will be accomplished. (b.) Though Christ's discourse is elicited by this question, he does not satisfy their curiosity. On the contrary, he asserts in express terms that no man knows the day or the hour (verse 36), makes this assertion of their ignorance the ground of the practical exhortation to "watch" (verse 42), and even asserts his own ignorance of it (Mark 13: 32, note). (c.) His object is practical, not theoretical; he speaks not to inflame the imagination, nor to gratify curiosity, but to enforce the duty of patience, fidelity, and watchfulness. And whatever difficulty there may be in understanding the prophetic meaning of the discourse, there can be none in understanding and applying its practical and spiritual instructions. (d.) It thus resembles all unfulfilled prophecy. For the object of prophecy is not to give us foreknowledge, but 1st, to inspire with hope and incite to courage, and 2d, to give such outlines of future events as, when fulfilled, shall become evidences of the truth of God's word. "I have told you," says Christ, "before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe." (John 14: 29, comp. The Problem.--After the death of Jesus Christ, the violence of the Jewish people and their intestine feuds, of which, even in the Gospels, we get glimpses, rapidly increased. Friends were alienated, families broken up, and a man's worst foes were those of his own household. Brigandage, imposture, and assassinations were rife. Even the Temple was not a place of safety. The high priest was slain while performing public worship. The priests quarrelled, openly and shamelessly, over the tithes. At length, possessed by a seeming frenzy, the Jews broke into open revolt against the Romans, seized on the most important posts in the country, and inflicted a severe though temporary defeat on the Roman arms. Vespasian and Titus were sent to chastise them back to submission. In the spring of A. D. 70, when the city was crowded with the multitudes who came up to the feast of the Passover, Titus surrounded Jerusalem with his legions. Within, the people were divided into factions, and fought with one another. The horrors of famine were added to those of riot, pillage, murder, and siege. According to the accounts of Josephus, which are not altogether trustworthy, but which constitute our chief source of information, awful prodigies added terror to the scene: a comet hung above the city; a bright light shone in the Temple; the immense Temple gates swung open of their own accord; armed squadrons were seen in the heavens. The Jews themselves, given over to madness, profaned the Temple, setting up as high priest an ignorant rustic. At length, after five months of a siege which has no parallel in its commingled horrors of famine, internal feuds, and external assault, the city was taken by storm, the Temple was set on fire and consumed, and the walls of the city were demolished. Of the Jews, the aged and infirm were killed; the children under seventeen were sold as slaves; the rest were sentenced, some to the Egyptian mines, some to the provincial amphitheatres, some to grace the triumph of the conqueror. For fuller descriptions of this siege the reader is referred to the Bible Dictionaries, to Milman's History of the Jews, and to Josephus' Wars of the Jews. See also note on verse 21 below. The Luke 24:8; John 2: 22; 16: 4; Isaiah 48:5; Jer. 44: 28). (e.) History is itself in God's hands prophetic. The partial fulfilment becomes an historical prophecy of a further fulfilment; in this case the judgment of God on Jerusalem and the Jewish nation, is itself a prophecy of God's final judgment on all who reject the Messiah of the world, and is indeed the beginning of his judgment of the nations, the end of which is not yet. To this chapter the words of Lord Bacon are peculiarly applicable: "Divine prophecies, being of the nature of their author, with whom a thousand years are as one day, are not punctuaЛly fulfilled at once, but have springing and germinant accomplishment throughout many ages." (f.) The interpretation of this discourse depends largely on the meaning given to certain verses in |