Matthew 23:1

People's Bible Notes for Matthew 23:1

Mt 23:1 The Last Appeal to Israel SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 23: The Scribes and Pharisees in Moses' Seat. The Burdens They Imposed. Their Eagerness for the Praise of Men. Religious Titles. Religious Masters. The Hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees. Straining Out the Great and Swallowing the Camel. Whited Sepulchres. Building the Tombs of the Murdered Prophets. The Lamentation Over Jerusalem. Jesus spake to the multitude, and to his disciples. This discourse, delivered in the courts of the temple on the Tuesday before the Lord was crucified, has never been surpassed in indignant rebuke, withering denunciation, and tearful sorrow over the coming fate of sinner who would not be saved. It contains Christ's last words to the Jewish nation. The contest had been growing fiercer, the opposition of his enemies was more bitter, their plots against his life were working, their utter perverseness was fully manifested, the time for tender appeal has passed by, and the Lord turns upon the "whited sepulchers" (Mt 23:27), the "generation of vipers" (Mt 23:33), the hypocritical pretenders, in a philippic that we believe has never been equaled. But even in the midst of it, like a rift of blue sky in the fearful storm-cloud, his love and pity shine forth with wonderful beauty in the pathetic exclamation of Mt 23:37. Only a part of the discourse is found in Mr 12:38-40; some similar sayings occur in Lu 11:39-52, and a reference to its occurs in Lu 20:45-47.