Chapter 23
Mt.23. Parallel. Mark. 12, 38-40; Luke. 20, 45-47.
Mt23.1 Then Jesus, addressing the people and his disciples, spoke thus: – A brief introduction to Jesus' discourse. The particle SO determines the time when the indictment was delivered: it was immediately after the incidents described in the preceding chapter, therefore under the galleries of the Temple, Cf. 24, 1. The following words, to the people and his disciples, indicate the special part of the audience to which Our Lord was then addressing himself. As on a similar occasion, Cf. 15, 10, after having victoriously answered the insidious questions of his enemies, he turns to the people and to his disciples, to denounce the Pharisaic spirit and thus to stop its pernicious effects.
Mt23.2 «"The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' chair.". – Jesus begins by acknowledging and firmly establishing the authority of these men whom he will then attack abusesHe is keen to show, for the present and the future, that the divine ministry should not be despised because of the unworthiness of those who exercise it. Obedience and respect for legitimate authority, regardless of the moral worth of the men who have been invested with it: this is a great Christian principle that is too easily forgotten. In the Chair of Moses. – They are seated, designates an ancient and enduring act. The image contained in these words is easy to understand; we ourselves use it every day when we say, for example, of pope that he is seated on the Chair of Peter. This is a metaphor drawn from the custom of teachers instructing from a chair. Moses, being the Lawgiver, the preeminent Teacher of the Hebrews, was supposed to have been replaced in turn by all his authorized successors in the chair that symbolized his divine mission. Moreover, the expression, "to be seated on the chair" or "to be in the chair," had become, in rabbinic language, a technical term meaning "to succeed someone." Now, in the time of the Savior, Moses' successors were the Scribes and the Pharisees, charged with commenting on and interpreting the Law. Scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus often used these two names together, and indeed, for more than one reason, they deserved to be associated. We have seen (cf. 3:7 and the corresponding note) that the Doctors of the Law mostly belonged to the Pharisaic party, of which they were the leaders and regulators. "Pharisees" thus expresses the general category, "Scribes" a particular species within that category.
Mt23.3 Do and observe all that they tell you, but do not imitate their works, for they say, and do not do. – In the first part of this verse, Jesus draws the conclusion from the fact he has just pointed out, as can be seen from the particle SO. – Everything they tell you… It is quite clear that Our Lord is not speaking here in an absolute manner, despite the generality of the expressions he uses; otherwise, he would contradict himself, since he has elsewhere told his disciples (cf. 16:11-12) to beware of leaven, that is, the doctrine of the Pharisees; since, in this very discourse, verse 16 and following, he will attack several of their decisions. His current language must therefore be linked to the words of the preceding verse, and then, according to Grotius's correct distinction, we obtain this very acceptable meaning: "By virtue of their right to teach, and as interpreters of the law, they have prescribed for you what you must do." Jesus, therefore, currently views the Scribes as the custodians of Moses' authority, as the legitimate teachers of the people, and he assumes, on this basis, that they regularly fulfill their mandate, that there is nothing in their interpretations of the divine word contrary to dogma or morality. Having established this principle, he will treat them as ordinary citizens and he will condemn their vices and corruption. Do it and observe.. Repetition of the idea to instill obedience. Do not imitate their works. Having established the important principle we have just read, Jesus now treats the Scribes and Pharisees as ordinary men, and he attacks their personal vices and private errors without restraint. Respect their office, but detest their works. «Beware,» says St. Augustine poetically in Sermon 46 on Ezekiel, “that in plucking good doctrine like a flower among thorns, you do not let your hand be torn by bad example.” The Savior then sets forth two of the principal reasons why we must be careful not to imitate the Pharisees. The first is summarized in the words They say it, but they don't do it. Jesus, on the contrary, the model of the Doctors, acts in accordance with his teaching. St. Paul, in the Letter to the RomansGospel of John 2:21-23 offers a forceful commentary on the reproach Our Lord addressed to the Pharisees: “You who instruct others, do you not instruct yourself? You who proclaim against stealing, do you steal? You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit it? You who abhor idols, do you plunder their temples? You who pride yourself on the Law, do you dishonor God by transgressing the Law?” Saul, who had studied under the scribes, Saul the zealous Pharisee, was intimately familiar with the ways of his former teachers.
Mt23.4 They tie heavy, difficult-to-bear burdens together and place them on men's shoulders, but they do not want to lift a finger to move them. – They tie burdens. A beautiful metaphor. It is customary to tie together several small, cumbersome bundles so that they can be carried with less difficulty: the Jewish Doctors do the same. However, since these are the shoulders of others and not their own, the small burdens they accumulate become so numerous and so heavy that they soon overwhelm oneself. The epithets heavy And unbearable perfectly suit those meticulous, rigorous, and countless prescriptions that the Pharisees attempted to impose on the people, disguising them as traditions. We have already mentioned several, particularly those concerning the Sabbath and ablutions; even more intolerable ones can be found in the work of the English pastor McCaul, "Nethivot Olam." See especially chapter 53: How Onerous Rabbinic Laws Are for the poor. – Wiggle them with your finger…There is a striking and picturesque antithesis here, which led Bengel to say, in Gnomon in hl: «Writing has something incomparable in its description of the particular traits of souls.» What odious inconsistency in these pitiless directors! They don't even grasp the enormous burdens they order others to bear.
Mt23.5 They do all their actions to be seen by men, wearing larger phylacteries and longer fringes. – However, here is one point on which the Scribes and Pharisees show real zeal, without fearing a great display of activity: it is when it comes to acquiring the esteem of men by any means. All their actions.... In this sentence, Jesus condenses the second reason that was intended to encourage his listeners to flee from Pharisaic examples. To be seen, and consequently to be praised, to be esteemed. Everything is therefore external in the conduct of these men, everything tends toward effect, cf. v. 20: they do not work for God, but for themselves. – Our Lord points out in the second half of verse 5 and in the two following verses various aspects of the Pharisees' lives, both religious and secular, which justify this damning reproach. The Sermon on the Mount had already revealed several of them to us. Cf. 6, 2, 5. 16. – First characteristic: They carry large speech bubbles. The phylacteries, see in the Old Testament, Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6, 8; 11, 18 , were small strips of parchment on which were written the following four passages from the Pentateuch: Exodus 12, 2-10; 11-17; Deuteronomy 64-9; 11:13-22. Delicately folded, these strips were placed in a leather capsule, which was itself attached to a leather thong. The two ends of this thong served to fasten the entire apparatus either to the forehead or the left arm. Thus, there were two kinds of tefillin: head tefillin and hand tefillin. The obligation to wear them during prayer and several other religious acts is derived by the Jews from these words of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy6:6-8: “These words that I give you today shall remain in your heart… you shall fasten them as a sign on your wrist, they shall be a band on your forehead.” Their use, moreover, seems to date back to quite ancient times, and it is likely that it was widespread in the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The name given to the Tephilina by the Hellenistic Jews means “antidote, remedy”: perhaps it was chosen to express that this sacred ornament was a visible symbol reminding the Israelite that he must faithfully observe the divine commandments (St. Justus Martyr, Dialogue with Tryphus); perhaps it should also retain its usual meaning as an amulet, because of the superstitious ideas that Jews of old (cf. Targum ad Song of Songs 8:3) and of today have attached to its use. The dimensions of each part of the Tefillin had been mathematically determined, as was the case in Judaism. But the Pharisees delighted in making either the leather case containing the parchment membranes or the straps used to fasten the phylacteries to the arm and forehead excessively large, thus affecting greater piety and adherence to the smallest religious observances. This is what the Savior alludes to in his biting critique. – On the Tefillin, see Leo of Modena, *Jewish Ceremonies*, 1, 11, 4 (a Jewish scholar and rabbi of Venice). The Persians also had a prayer apparatus similar to that of the Jews; likewise the Indians, who equip themselves with the "holy cords" of the Brahmins. St. Jerome and St. John Chrysostom mention, but condemn, the custom in their time of certain Christian "flirts" hanging miniature editions of the Gospels ("parvula evangelia") around their necks to display their devotion and faith. And longer fringes. Another allusion to a Jewish religious practice. We had occasion to speak above, Cf. 9, 20, of the blue woolen fringes (in Hebrew, TzizithThe Hebrews, by divine commandment (see Numbers 15:38), wore tzipits on the corners of their cloaks to constantly remind themselves of God's commandments through this outward sign. Even today, some Israelites faithfully wear tzipits, like phylacteries, from the age of thirteen; however, they have modified them and placed them beneath their clothing. They are now simply two small cloth bags, one worn over the chest and the other over the back like a scapular, containing small fringes variegated with blue. When putting them on, the following prayer is recited: "Praise be to the Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments and given us the commandment of tzipits." The Pharisees also spread their fringes in the same way as their tefillin, and for a similar reason. St. Jerome adds in his commentary that they also inserted very sharp thorns which tore their feet with every step: in this way they gave themselves a greater air of holiness.
Mt23.6 They love the first place at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues., – Second characteristic: these holy figures must have the first places everywhere. To each their rank: such was, in various kinds of placements, the rule of the Orientals, who are even more meticulous than we are in this respect. The Scribes and the Pharisees, believing themselves superior to all other men, acted accordingly in such a way as to obtain the first rank everywhere. The best seats at the feasts. If they were attending a meal, they needed the places of honor on the couch or divan: among the Hebrews (cf. Luke 14:8 ff.; Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 15, 2, 4), this was the uppermost extreme of the "lectus tricliniaris." Jesus once witnessed the despicable little maneuvers the Pharisees engaged in to conquer the most distinguished places (cf. Luke 11:1), and he made it the subject of a beautiful parable. The first seats in the synagogues. When attending religious services in the synagogues, they sought out the front seats, located at the entrance to what we would call the sanctuary, in front of the sacred cabinet containing the Bible scrolls. Those who occupied these seats had the entire congregation facing them: nothing could be better for the Pharisees, who were eager to be seen.
Mt23.7 greetings in public places, and being called Rabbi by men. – Third characteristic: the Scribes' love of respectful greetings and titles. Greetings in public places They wanted all passersby to bow before them; therefore, they had enacted a special law, obliging their inferiors to show them this mark of respect in the streets and public squares. Cf. Kidduschin, f. 33; Chullin, f. 54. To be called Rabbi. «Rabbi» was the title of respect given by the Jews to their teachers. We have seen the Pharisees themselves (cf. 22:16, 36) address it to Our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Apostles did. The fourth evangelist (1:38) translates it as «Teacher,» and this is also its usual equivalent in the Synoptic Gospels. Rabbi derives from the adjective rab, which means great. According to some Hebraists, this would be the first-person suffix pronoun, so that Rabbi would be equivalent to: My Master. Rabban or Rabbouni, cf. John 20:16, was an even higher title, according to the following rule found in Aruch: "The order respected by all is this: Rabbi is greater than Rab, and Rabban is greater than Rabbi." Rabbi, however, was the most commonly used. It has been preserved in the word Rabbin, just as Rab still survives in the appellation Rebb, which Jews in several regions assign to those of their coreligionists who demonstrate a certain knowledge of the Talmud. Cf. L. Kompert, Nouvelles juives, trans. by Stauben, Paris 1873, p. 2. In the "textus receptus," Rabbi is repeated twice in succession, and it is possible that Our Lord deliberately made this doublet to better depict the foolish vanity of the Doctors: They loved to hear themselves called, Rabbi, Rabbi! Several Talmudic passages, cited by Lightfoot, also repeat the title in the same way: "Rabbi Akiba said to Rabbi Eleazaro: Rabbi, Rabbi," Hieros, Moed Katon, f. 81, 1. "As a certain doctor approached his city, his friends went to meet him, saying: Greetings, Rabbi, Rabbi, Doctor, Doctor!" A disciple, the Scribes taught, who omits to greet his Master by saying Rabbi, causes divine majesty to depart from Israel. Babylonian Berach, f. 27, 2.
Mt23.8 As for you, do not call yourselves Rabbi, for you have only one Teacher, and you are all brothers. From this point until verse 12 inclusive, the Savior draws for his disciples the moral lesson from the reproaches he has just addressed to the Pharisees. Far from imitating the pride of the Jewish Doctors, they must instead love and practice to the fullest extent thehumility Christian. For you is emphatic: you, my disciples, in contrast to the Scribes and the Pharisees. Don't call yourself RabbiJewish books recount that the title of Rabbi did not predate the time of Herod the Great, and that before then the most illustrious men of Israel were simply called by their names, which, they add, was even more honorable. “In previous centuries, those who were most worthy did not need to have a title, Rabbi, Rabban, or Rab; for Hillel was from Babylon, and the title of Rabbi was not added to his name; and yet he was indeed among the noble prophets,” Aruch, 111. And these books were right; but they were hardly listened to. Jesus speaks the same language to his disciples: he does not want them to Christians They chase after honors and distinctions, they eagerly seek titles, just as the Pharisees did. But it is quite clear, on the other hand, that he does not absolutely prohibit titles in his Church. Mutual respect and the existence of a hierarchy require the use of certain honorific expressions: to want to suppress them in the manner of demagogues and Puritans, relying on verses 8-10, would be to force the meaning of Jesus' words and fall into another kind of Pharisaism. – Our Lord then indicates the reason for his recommendation: You have only one master… For ChristiansThere is only one true leader, who is Christ, as the "received text" adds following several manuscripts. He alone, therefore, truly deserves the name Rabbi. And you are all brothers. If Jesus' disciples are brothers, they are therefore equal; why then would they aspire to titles that would seem to protest against this fraternal equality?
Mt23.9 And do not call anyone on earth 'Father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. – Jesus shows that one should neither seek honorific titles nor use them affectedly towards others. Ab, «"Our Father" in Chaldean Abba, From which the names "abbas" and abbot are derived, it was a title favored by Rabbis. The Babylonian Talmud recounts that King Jehoshaphat, upon seeing a Doctor of the Law, descended from his throne and embraced him respectfully, saying: "Rabbi, Rabbi, O father, O master, O master!" (Maccoth, f. 24, 1). The name "father" is thus used here figuratively and not in its strict sense: it does not designate fathers according to nature, but spiritual fathers who engender either the intellect by instructing it, or the heart by forming and sanctifying it. On Earth, in contrast to heaven, where our true Father dwells, to whom we say every day: Our Father who art in heaven. If, therefore, "you are called father because you perform the function, it is delegated, it is borrowed. Return to the heart of the matter: you will find yourself brother and disciple," Bossuet, Meditations on the Gospel, Last Week, 57th day.
Mt23.10 Nor should anyone call you Master, for you have only one Master, the Christ. – Here «master» is probably used in the Hebrew sense of prince, lord: otherwise, we would have a pure and simple repetition of verse 8. It is clear that Jesus wants to establish a gradation in thought.
Mt23.11 The greatest among you will be your servant. – The Savior had expressed a few days earlier, in the presence of the Apostles alone (cf. 20:26), this great law of superiority among Christians He repeats it now to contrast it with the pride of the Pharisees and the Jewish Doctors. "As there is nothing comparable to the virtue of thehumilityJesus Christ takes care to speak of this often to his disciples… He exhorts his disciples to acquire what they desire, by a way that seems entirely contrary… Because it is necessary that he who wants to be first, become the last of all,” St. John Chrysostom, Hom. 72.
Mt23.12 But whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. – The divine Master concludes the first part of his indictment with this proverbial phrase, which seems to have been familiar to him. Cf. Luke 14:11; 18:14. A similar saying is attributed to the famous Hillel: “My humility "I exalt myself, and my exaltation humbles me," ap. Olshausen in hl – These two maxims, moreover, only give a new twist to a practical truth already taught by the Sage, Prov. 29, 23: Humiliation follows the proud, and glory accompanies the humble in spirit.Cf. Job. 22:29; Ezekiel 17:24; James 4:6; 1 Peter 55: 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders; all of you, clothe yourselves with honor toward one another.’humility, For "God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble."«
Mt23.13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor do you allow those who come to enter. – Because you close. Each time Jesus hurls a terrible "Woe" at the Pharisees, a curse from which they cannot escape, he justifies it by pointing to some grave sin they were guilty of. Here, he first reproaches them for damning those they were charged with leading to heaven. The idea is expressed through a striking metaphor. The kingdom of heaven.... The kingdom of heaven is like a palace meant to receive all people: the palace door is faith in Jesus Christ. Now, the Scribes hold the key to this door. By believing themselves in Jesus' divine mission, and by motivating their subordinates to believe in it, they could open the kingdom of heaven, and such was the noble role Providence had assigned them. But they prefer to close it, both for themselves and for others. You don't go in there They deliberately remain outside, because of their unbelief and their moral corruption. You don't let anyone in..This was a tremendous crime, one that truly deserved to open this long series of reproaches. The entire Gospel shows us the people well-disposed toward Jesus. They eagerly entered the Messianic kingdom, and a single word spoken by the Doctors would have been enough to transform this joyful enthusiasm into a lively and profound faith; but it was they, on the contrary, who stifled the good sentiments of the crowd, who incited them against Christ. «My people, for lack of knowledge, will also be silenced» (Hosea 4:6). Woe, then, he added, to those who should have provided him with knowledge and who did not give it to him.
Mt23.14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For under the guise of long prayers you devour widows' houses. Therefore you will receive a greater condemnation. – Critics have long directed serious attacks against the authenticity of this verse. It is accused of having been omitted by the Greek manuscripts BDZ and Sinaiticus, by the Armenian, Saxon, and Itala versions, by several Vulgate manuscripts, and by several Church Fathers. Albertus Magnus already considered it an interpolation. Nevertheless, there are so many witnesses who support it that we do not hesitate to believe it to be authentic. Because you devour them..Another picturesque metaphor. The houses is taken in the sense of fortune, as in Genesis, 45, 48 , at Book of Esther, 8, 1 (according to the Greek translation) and in classical authors – Widows. This is a doubly aggravating circumstance, because it is easy to take advantage of a widow who has no one to defend her: she is easy prey for a skilled doctor; on the other hand, it is a greater crime to rob her, because it places her in a desolate situation for the rest of her days. Beneath the guise of your long prayers. Cf. Mark 12:40: «They devour widows» houses and for a show make long prayers: they will receive the greater condemnation,« and Luke 20:47: »They devour widows’ houses and for a show make long prayers: they will receive the greater condemnation.” Jesus indicates by these words the means used by the Rabbis of that time to extract money from widows: they offered to say long prayers on their behalf, in exchange for which they demanded, or at least accepted, considerable sums. But this infamous and sacrilegious practice will be punished as it deserves. That is why you will suffer… «Every man who commits a criminal act deserves to be punished; but he who then veils himself with a pretext of piety, and colors his malice with an appearance of virtue, deserves to be punished much more,» St. John Chrysostom, Hom. 73 in Matthew. Nothing, therefore, is more just than a greater punishment for such criminals.
Mt23.15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across seas and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. – Our Lord Jesus Christ now reproaches the Scribes and Pharisees for their ill-conceived proselytism, which even the pagans themselves mocked. His first words, you roam the seas and the land, They ironically describe the zeal of his enemies to make proselytes, all the trouble they went to for this purpose (cf. Josephus, Ant. 20:2, 3). They are equivalent to the proverbial Latin expression "omnem lapidem movere": to leave no stone unturned, therefore to leave nothing unworked. The Latin word "aridam" is modeled on the Hebrew (the feminine instead of the neuter) and represents the earth (cf. Genesis 1, 10; Agg. 2, 7; John 19:2, 11; etc. Caesar and other Latin authors use "aridum". – The following words, to make a proselytizer, indicate the result obtained by so many steps and counter-steps: one ends up making ONE proselyte! – The name proselyte comes from the Greek, "I approach," and it was used to designate pagans converted to Judaism (in Hebrew, "one who comes from outside"). There were two kinds of proselytes, the proselytes of the gate, and the proselytes of righteousness. The former limited themselves to abjuring paganism and observing the seven commandments known as the Noahide Laws because the Lord supposedly imposed them on this patriarch (these are: the avoidance of idolatry, blasphemy, murder, fornication, theft, the prohibition against eating blood or strangled meat, and the law of obedience); the latter were circumcised and included in the theocratic people, whose religious and civil customs they followed in every way. After he became so, Sci. «proselyte». Son of Gehenna, a Hebrew term meaning "worthy of hell". Twice as bad as youHerod in Jerusalem and Poppaea in Rome are striking examples of the fact alleged by Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Talmud itself shows, in a few forceful phrases, the opinion that honest Jews held of most proselytes: “Proselytes hinder the coming of the Messiah. Proselytes are like the scabies of Israel,” cf. Babylonian Niddah, f. 13, 2. It was a popular saying that no sensible person would trust a proselyte, even after 24 generations, cf. Jalkuth Ruth, f. 163, 1. So this is what the Doctors' efforts to save the pagans amounted to: they made them worse than themselves, scandalizing them after having enlightened them, so that a proselyte soon displayed a dreadful mixture of vices. Nothing is more accurate than this sad psychological observation. "We are by nature more inclined to imitate vices than virtues, and in matters of evil, the master is easily surpassed by his disciple," Maldonat in hl – It is unnecessary to point out that Jesus is not attacking proselytism in general, which is an act of zeal, but abuses who can become attached to it.
Mt23.16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say: If a man swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if he swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound. – In this fourth curse, Jesus attacks the false principles of the Scribes regarding oaths. He has already declared to them the war In this respect, from the very beginning of his Public Life, cf. 5, 33 ff.; but he wants to refute their perverse theories even further to make his indictment more complete. Moreover, the question is not treated from the same point of view, for we have new details here. Blind guides And as such, they will perish miserably, losing with them all those who place themselves under their guidance (cf. 15, 14). The examples that follow prove the extent of their blindness; this epithet is repeated up to three times in this passage. Cf. vv. 17 and 19. Through the temple. At that time, people frequently swore by the Temple, "per habitaculum hoc," as was the customary oath formula. It's nothing ; Therefore, nothing is owed in such a case, an oath of this kind being considered null and void. But one only has to slightly modify the formula, to swear by the rich gold ornaments of the Temple, its precious vessels, its treasures, and immediately one is bound to fulfill the oath.
Mt23.17 You fools and blind men, which is greater, gold, or the temple that sanctifies gold? Jesus demonstrates, through a simple reflection, the absurd inconsistency of such a course of action. To the question he poses to his adversaries, there could only be one answer: The Temple! But if the Temple is indeed superior to the gold it contains, is it not supremely foolish to behave in practice as if the gold of the Temple were worth more than the Temple itself, as if the gold of the Temple sanctified the Temple? Thus, we have a first principle of the Savior concerning the following: Swearing by something inferior cannot create a greater obligation than swearing by something superior.
Mt23.18 And again: If a man swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if he swears by the gift that is placed on the altar, he is bound. – The Savior here provides a second example of the oaths then in use among the Jews and the ridiculous distinctions established therein according to the teachings of the Doctors. To swear by the altar of burnt offerings was nothing; but if one swore by the victims offered and consumed on that altar, one had to fulfill one's oath under pain of perjury and sacrilege. – The first someone is in the nominative absolute, as in v. 16, the sentence remaining suspended.
Mt23.19 Blind men, which is greater, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Our Lord reasons on this example in the same way as he did on the previous one. Does the value of the altar come from the sacrifice offered upon it? Or is it not, on the contrary, the altar that imparts its full value to the victim, rendering sacred what had been profane until then? The Scribes were truly blind not to see such obvious things.
Mt23.20 Therefore, whoever swears by the altar swears by the altar and by everything on it, – With these words, Jesus Christ establishes a second principle regarding oaths: Swearing by a part of a whole does not create an obligation greater than that produced by the act of swearing in the name of the entire object. And by all that is above it… The victims receiving their true value from the altar, they are incorporated into it in such a way that they can no longer be separated from it, even in a formula of oath.
Mt23.21 And he who swears by the temple, swears by the temple and by him who dwells in it., – Third principle of the utmost gravity: To swear by the Temple, or by the altar, or by any similar object, is ultimately to swear by God himself, to whom all creatures relate. The Rabbis denied the existence of this relationship in matters of oaths. Indeed, here is what we read in the treatise Shebuoth, f. 35, 2: «Since, in addition to God, creator of heaven and earth, heaven and earth also exist, there is no doubt that he who swears by heaven and earth does not swear by him who created them, but by creatures.» But what would be the meaning of an oath that rested solely on an inanimate object? The Romans seem to have been aware of these peculiar distinctions of the Israelites; hence Martial’s biting epigram against a Jew, cf. Martial, Epigr 1, 97:
Now you deny it, and you swear it to me by the temple of Jupiter the Thunderer.,
I don't believe you: swear, you who are circumcised, by Anchialum.
Anchialum is undoubtedly a corrupted form of the Hebrew words Chai haëlohim, Chai haël, by which oaths were sometimes sworn.
Mt23.22 And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it. – This is a further development of the third principle. We swear by God every time we swear by nature. Here again, Jesus' conclusions are diametrically opposed to those of the Pharisees. They said, in fact, as did their subsequent interpreters: "If anyone swears by heaven, earth, sun, etc., it is not an oath" (Maimonides, Halicarnassus, Chapter 12). – Thus ends the fourth curse, in which Our Lord, through brilliant and logical argumentation, overturns the immoral and absurd conclusions of his adversaries regarding oaths.
Mt23.23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and good faith. These are the things that needed to be practiced, without neglecting the others. – In this fifth curse, the Savior reproaches the Scribes for being scrupulous in small matters and excessively lax in very serious obligations. He provides two examples to support his censure, one in this verse, the other in the following one. Who pays the tithe. To pay a tithe of something (cf. Luke 18:12, "I give a tenth of all that I earn"), to give to the rightful owner a tenth part, either in value or in kind. This tithe, traces of which are found among all ancient peoples, had been prescribed to the theocratic nation as a tribute to God their king (cf. Leviticus 27:30 ff.; Numbers 18:21; Deuteronomy 14:22 ff.). It was annual and encompassed all the produce of the land and livestock. The Levites and the priests were the beneficiaries. With regard to the fruits of the earth, the general principle had been established that all edible items fell under the law of the tithe. But custom had considerably restricted its application, so that, strictly speaking, only the tithe of the three crops specifically mentioned in Deuteronomy, chapter 14, verse 23, was required. The rest was left to individual devotion (cf. Carpzov, Biblical Apparatus, pp. 619-620). The Scribes, on this point as on many others, affected meticulous precision, and they were seen bringing the Levites even the tithe of the most insignificant vegetables, according to this rule they had adopted: "Everything that is transformed into food, everything that is preserved, everything produced by the earth, must be subject to the tithe" (Maaseroth, chapter 1, paragraph 1). – Jesus mentions three special plants to show the extent of Pharisaic scrupulousness: 1° there mint, in Greek, the sweet-smelling herb, probably mint, which grows abundantly in Syria, or at least one of its many varieties. The Jews liked either its taste or its aroma; so they mixed it with their food as a condiment; they even hung branches of it in the synagogues to spread fresh air. – 2° Dill, Dill, an aromatic plant of the Apiaceae family, whose leaves and seeds were used by the ancients either as a seasoning or as a remedy (cf. Pliny, Natural History, 19, 61; 20, 74). "Dill," say the Rabbis, "must be subject to the tithe, as both seed and herb" (R. Solom ap. Lightfoot in hl – 3°). Cumin Or Cammôn, another umbellifer whose fragrant seeds also had medicinal properties, cf. Pliny, Natural History, 19, 8. The Jews cultivated it in their gardens, along with mint and dill. – Not all divine commandments were treated by the Pharisees with such fidelity and rigor: while a vain ostentation made these hypocrites exact in the minor laws of easy observance, they totally neglected, as Jesus reproaches them, the commandments of the utmost gravity, among others those concerning justice, mercy, that's to say charity with regard to one's neighbor (in the Old Testament cf. Micah 68; Hosea 12:6; Zechariah 7:9), finally loyalty to their promises. “He cites three obligations, opposed to the three easy ones, and much more important,” Bengel. – After establishing the immoral contrast that exists in the conduct of the Scribes, Our Lord gives a serious lesson to these proud Doctors. This needed to be done… «this» refers to the three things named last; these were the things that had to be done first. That This relates to the tithes mentioned above. It is therefore good to be faithful to the laws, even the smallest in their subject matter, but it is even better and more necessary not to disregard the great moral principles on which true religion is based.
Mt23.24 Blind guides, who filter out the gnat, and swallow the camel. Jesus continues developing the same reproach and cites a second example of the Scribes' astonishing inconsistency. On the one hand, they filter the midge, on the other hand, they swallow the camel. This striking antithesis rests on the practice, prevalent in the time of Our Lord, not only among the Jews but also among the Greeks and Romans, of filtering wine, vinegar, and other liquors («liquare vinum» in classical Latin). However, while this custom was mostly performed for the sake of cleanliness, for the Pharisees it was a religious act they would not have dared neglect, because even inadvertently swallowing a small insect (in Greek, a wine fly) drowned in the liquor would have violated the laws concerning ritual purity, which held such great importance for them (cf. Leviticus 11:20, 23, 41, 42; 17:10-14). Was not a gnat, then, an unclean creature? This is why they usually filtered everything they drank through a linen cloth. The Buddhists act similarly, for a similar reason, in India and on the island of Ceylon. – While taking such considerable precautions not to violate the Law in the smallest details, the Jewish Doctors did not hesitate to offend it in its most urgent prescriptions: this is indicated by the hyperbole contained in the following words, «swallow the camel.» The camel, which is also an unclean animal, is contrasted with the gnat because of its large size: it is supposed to have fallen into the Scribes« brew, who swallow it without scruple, they who would not have dared to drink unfiltered wine, for fear of becoming impure by swallowing a tiny animal. – The expression used by Jesus was, in all likelihood, proverbial. We thought the reader would gladly take note of an official document, recently issued by the Cologne synagogue, proving that the practice of filtering still exists in principle among Orthodox Jews. This is a document declaring lawful the Champagne wine prepared by a merchant in Reims for the special use of Jews. We are translating literally from the modern Hebrew in which it was composed. «I hereby attest that two years ago, from the city of Reims in France, a Mr. N., a Champagne wine merchant, came to me. He told me he was ready to produce kosher (lawful) wine, which could be consumed by Israelites faithful to the laws of their fathers. After he had agreed to carry out all that I prescribed, I left for Strasbourg to find trustworthy and proven men. Having found them, I sent them to Reims, to the aforementioned merchant, after having instructed them in all matters concerning kosher wine.» They went there three times: the first time when the grapes were pressed, the second when the wine was bottled, and the third when the bottles were uncorked to refill them. These men preserved the wine from any outside interference, and each time they returned home, they closed the cellar and sealed the door, leaving the key in their possession. When everything was finished, they sealed the bottles and placed two symbols on each one, including "kosher" (permissible). Thus, all the wine supplied by the aforementioned merchant is "kosher" when it is in bottles marked with these two symbols, and it is permissible to drink it during Passover.
Mt23.25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. – Jesus now condemns the Scribes, because they are as impure in their souls as they strive to appear pure outwardly. The outside of the cup.... This alludes to the countless ablutions to which the Pharisees subjected all the objects they used at table before meals, as St. Mark 7:4 states: "They also adhere by tradition to many other practices: the washing of cups, pitchers, and dishes." The inside…Purity comes from within and must spread from there to outward life; but, among the Pharisees, only the outside is pure: the inside is horribly corrupt. Filled with plunder: the cup and the dish whose contents are supposed to have been acquired through violence and impurity.
Mt23.26 Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside also may be clean. – Blind Pharisee. Until now, apostrophes were always in the plural: this one, addressed in the singular, has a vivid and striking effect. Clean it first.. That is to say, according to the meaning of the Greek in the preceding verse: Let your drink and your food no longer come from injustice; remove from your cup and your plate everything that could truly profane them. According to the Vulgate: Begin by purifying your soul. In any case, the two meanings amount to almost the same thing. – Despite the most frequent ablutions, the cup is therefore only truly pure when its interior is pure; what good is it to have a cup that shines brightly on the outside, if it is filthy and unclean on the inside? And this was precisely the case with the Pharisees and the Scribes.
Mt23.27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all kinds of decay. – Beneath a different image, this «Woe» of Jesus expresses exactly the same thought as the previous one. You look like tombs.. This contains a further allusion to the customs of the time. Every year, around the 15th of Adar, a few weeks before Passover, all the tombs were whitewashed, either out of honor for the dead, or primarily to make them clearly visible so that no one would accidentally touch them, which would have been enough to cause ritual impurity (cf. Numbers 19:16). This practice is attested to by several passages in rabbinic books; see Maasar Sheni, v, 1: «They mark the tomb sites with lime, which they have softened by diluting it in water.» Ibid., f. 55: «Do they not see the tombs before the month of Adar?... Why do they paint them thus? To treat them as if they were lepers.» The leper cries out: "Unclean, unclean!" and likewise the tomb cries out to you: "Filth!" and says: "Do not approach." Who look beautiful. The freshly whitewashed tombs made a beautiful impression amidst the greenery and landscape; one can judge this by the Muslim tombs which, frequently washed with lime water like those of the Jews, stand out pleasingly against the dark cypress groves that surround them. But the most dreadful corruption reigns no less beneath these painted and sculpted stones. And this, says Jesus, is a true image of the Pharisees. What a comparison! How it exposes the depravity of their hearts. Hypocrites of their kind are called "painted men" in the Talmud: "Painted men are those whose outward appearance does not correspond to their inner nature; they are colored on the outside, but not on the inside" (Bab. Sota, f. 22, 2, gloss).
Mt23.28 So you, on the outside, appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Verse 28 simply applies the preceding image. The Savior does not hesitate to tell the Pharisees and the Doctors of the Church directly why he compared them to whitewashed tombs. Do they not appear to be paragons of righteousness? But in reality, does not iniquity reign in their hearts?
Mt23.29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous!, – In a sudden transition, Jesus Christ abruptly shifts to another kind of tomb, to overwhelm his adversaries with a curse more terrible and unexpected than any other, in which he characterizes their odious hypocrisy better than ever. The tombs of the prophets… Eastern peoples, whether Jewish or Muslim, have always loved to build, embellish, or preserve magnificent mausoleums in honor of their holy figures, century after century. The Pharisees shared this zeal; but, as the subsequent words of the Savior prove, it was less out of respect for the prophets and the righteous departed than to give themselves an air of greater perfection.
Mt23.30 and who say: If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their accomplices in shedding the blood of the prophets. – Jesus now wants to show that the Scribes' language on this point is in perfect accordance with their conduct, that is to say, full of veneration and outwardly love, but in reality full of dreadful hypocrisy. They claim that, had they lived in the time of their fathers who massacred the prophets, they would not have taken part in their sacrilegious murders. "How easy it is," exclaims Bossuet, in the work cited, 62nd day, "to honor the prophets after their death, in order to acquire the freedom to persecute them while they are still alive!" The Berlemburg Bible makes a very astute observation on this verse: "Ask in the time of Moses: Who are the saints? It will be Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, but certainly not Moses, who, on the contrary, deserves to be stoned. Ask in the time of Samuel: Who are the saints? Moses and Joshua“But not Samuel,” the answer will be. “Ask the same question during Christ’s lifetime, and you will see that the saints will be all the ancient prophets with Samuel, but not Christ or his Apostles.” This is the development of the old adage: “Let him be deified, provided he is dead.”
Mt23.31 Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the sons of those who killed the prophets. – A stunning conclusion for the Pharisees. We would not have been, they had said, accomplices of our ancestors in putting the prophets to death, if we had been their contemporaries. But, Jesus continued, do you then admit by this very act that you are the sons of these sacrilegious murderers? They thus bear witness not only against their fathers, but also against themselves, a testimony all the more striking because it is entirely spontaneous. You are the sons of those who killed Descendants of the impious who massacred the prophets, they share their customs and bloodthirsty instincts, according to the popular axiom that is completely borne out in them: Like father, like son. This insinuation was clearly in the mind of Our Lord, as can be seen in the following verse.
Mt23.32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. – An emphatic apostrophe, filled with holy anger. Show yourselves, the hour has come, worthy sons of your fathers: finish the work they began. Here I am! Here are my disciples! Strike as they knew how to strike. Jesus is, in a way, provoking his enemies, or rather, he is prophesying what they will soon accomplish. The phrase fill in the measurement It contains a beautiful image; it signifies throwing the last drop into a vessel, which will cause it to overflow, and which will unleash divine vengeance? The cup into which the iniquities of Israel have fallen is indeed almost full: the Pharisees will fill the measure with their deicide and their persecutions against the ChristianityThen God, justly angered, will crush them and their nation. This will be the dominant idea of the third part of the indictment.
Mt23.33 Snakes, brood of vipers, how will you avoid being condemned to hell? This section begins with a terrible threat, the idea and wording of which Jesus seems to borrow from the preaching of the Forerunner. Three years earlier, had not John the Baptist addressed this question to the Pharisees who had come to the banks of the Jordan to hear him, a question to which they were unable to answer: «You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?» (Matthew 3:7). Since then, they have sunk deeper and deeper into evil; thus, they are now entirely ripe for punishment. They have profited neither from the enlightenment that the Baptist brought them, nor from the even brighter enlightenment that Jesus provided: how could they possibly escape hell? – The expression judgment of Gehenna is entirely rabbinical, Cf. Wetstein, in hl; it designates a sentence that condemns to the eternal fire of Gehenna.
Mt23. 34 Therefore, I am sending you prophets, wise men, and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, others you will beat with clubs in your synagogues, and you will pursue them from town to town. – That's why This verse connects to the previous thought: Jesus wants to explain why the Pharisees and the Scribes will not escape divine judgment. I'm sending you. A masterful statement that proclaims the supreme authority of the Messiah: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you," he will say elsewhere (John 20:21) to his Apostles. Prophets, wise men, and scribes. These Jewish expressions refer to the evangelical messengers: the Christian teachers sent into the world, and first and foremost into Palestine, by Our Lord Jesus Christ, will indeed fulfill in an equivalent way the roles of these various figures of the Old Testament. You will kill....The perfect fulfillment of this dark prophecy can be found in the Book of Acts and in the history of the first century of the Church: St. Stephen stoned, St. Simeon crucified (cf. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.32), the Apostles scourged, St. Paul pursued from town to town—these are irrefutable witnesses to the truth of the Savior's words. This, then, is what the Pharisees' worship of the Prophets consists of: they adorn the tombs of the dead with flowers and massacre those whom God sends to them. They could well lament the barbarity of their ancestors.
Mt23.35 so that on you may fall all the innocent blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. – So that it falls. Since God is determined to punish the Pharisees, already guilty of so many sins, why not provide them with the opportunity to commit one last crime that will hasten the hour of his vengeance, once they are completely free to resist evil? All innocent blood. Innocent blood (cf. 2 Kings 21:16; 24:4; Jeremiah 26:15; Lamentations 4:13), which other passages of Scripture (Genesis 4:10; Hebrews 12:24; Revelation 6:10) depict as crying out for vengeance to heaven, is supposed to fall like a crushing weight on the heads of those who unjustly shed it (cf. 28:55). Without using specific imagery, Jesus means that the responsibility, along with the punishment for so many infamous murders, will fall upon the scribes and the entire Jewish nation. Abel's Blood. The murder of Abel, which so lamentably opens the history of fallen humanity (see Genesis 4:8 ff.), had shed the first drops of innocent blood on earth. Since then, what a long chain of similar crimes has existed within the chosen race, right up to the time set by Jesus! The Savior holds the Pharisees particularly responsible for these crimes, because of the solidarity that unites members of the same family. But were not those to whom he spoke in this way descended in a direct line back to Adam through Abraham and Noah? «By virtue of the unity of the species,» says Mr. Schegg, “no one exists apart and solely for themselves; they live within the whole to which they belong, and whose destinies they share as the branch shares those of the tree.” According to this law, each generation does not begin to sin in its own name, but it continues the crimes of the generation that preceded it, and the debt is accumulated, added up, although this addition takes place according to a calculation beyond our comprehension; then, when the time comes to settle accounts, when divine punishments arrive, then the descendants truly and literally atone for the sins of their ancestors. But it is evident that we are speaking here only of temporal and earthly punishment, of that punishment which never fails to be inflicted, even if God had delayed it for centuries. Zechariah, son of Barachiah. From the first of all murders, which was all the more reprehensible because it was fratricide, the Savior moves on to another assassination of an atrocious kind, committed in the holy place and recounted in the last book of the Hebrew Bible, 2 Chronicles 24:20 ff. It is indeed very likely that this Zechariah to whom Our Lord alludes is no different from the one mentioned in the Gospel of John. second book of Chronicles This is the common opinion of modern exegetes and most of the ancients. Moreover, here, according to St. Jerome, is a summary of the discussion that existed in his time on this difficult passage, and which has remained virtually unchanged ever since. “Who is this Zechariah, son of Barachiah, for we find in Scripture a great number of people named Zechariah? To guard us against any error, Our Lord adds: ‘whom you killed between the temple and the altar.’ Some believe that this Zechariah is the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets, and the name of his father supports this view; but Scripture does not tell us the circumstances under which he was killed between the temple and the altar, especially since in his time scarcely any ruins of the temple remained. Others maintain that this is Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist.” This explanation, not being supported by the authority of Scripture, can be rejected as easily as it is accepted. Others claim that it refers to Zechariah, who was killed by Joash, king of Judah, between the temple and the altar, that is, in the courtyard; but it must be noted that this Zechariah was not the son of Barachiah, but of the high priest Jehoiada. Barachiah, in the Hebrew language, means the blessed of the Lord, while the name Joiadas means, in Hebrew, justice. However, in the Gospel used by the Nazarenes, we read, "son of Jehoiadas, instead of son of Barachiah," Comm. in Matth. Lib. 4 ch. 3. To these three sentiments, a fourth has been added, which found its basis in the following lines from the historian Josephus, The Jewish War, 4.6.4: "The Zealots, angered with Zechariah, son of Baruch, resolved to kill him. They were vexed to see him as an enemy of evil, a friend of good: he also possessed great riches. Two of the boldest seized him and murdered him in the middle of the temple." The names and circumstances fit very well with the event recounted by Jesus; only, the divine Master speaks of an event that must have taken place a certain number of years earlier (that you killed), while the murder mentioned in Josephus's annals took place only about forty years after the Passion. We must therefore return to the opinion of St. Jerome, which, after all, presents only a difficulty whose solution is by no means troublesome. It is possible, in fact, that the words "son of Barachiah" are a copyist's error, as Paulus, Fritzsche, etc., admit, all the more so since they are entirely absent from the parallel passage in St. Luke 11:51. It is also possible that Zechariah's father simultaneously bore the names Jehoiada and Barachiah (Grotius, Bengel, Kuinœl), since it was not uncommon among Jews to have two distinct names at the same time. Between the temple and the altar, Therefore, the space was located between the Naos, or the temple proper, which consisted of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, and the altar of burnt offerings situated in front of the vestibule. This circumstance singularly aggravated the crime. Such an outrage, committed in such a place against the person of a holy priest, had become infamous in Jewish history. «They committed seven crimes that day. They killed the priest, prophet, and judge; they shed innocent blood and defiled the court. And this happened on the Sabbath day, and on the Day of Atonement,» Talmud, Sanhedrin, f. 96, 2. According to the Rabbis, these were seven sacrileges added to the homicide. And further: «Rabbi Judah asked Rabbi Acham: Where did they kill Zechariah? In the Court of the Women? In the Court of the Israelites?» He replied, «Neither in the Court of the Israelites, nor in the Court of the Women, but in the Court of the High Priest,» ibid. Indeed, the story, which became legendary, cites strange details intended to show the extent of divine vengeance after this attack. Zechariah’s blood, which remained on the flagstones of the vestibule in a state of perpetual boiling, unable to be removed or calmed, was supposedly seen 250 years later by Nebuchadnezzar, commander-in-chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s troops. «What does this mean?» he asked the Jews. »It is the blood,” they replied, “of the calves, lambs, and goats that we offered on the altar.” “Bring some calves, lambs, and goats,” he said, “so that we may verify that this blood comes from them.” They brought calves, lambs, and goats and killed them, and the blood continued to boil; but the blood of the slaughtered animals did not boil. “Reveal this secret to me,” he said, “or I will tear the flesh of your breasts apart.” They told him, “It was a priest, a prophet, and a Jew who foretold these calamities to Israel that you are inflicting upon us, and we rebelled against him and killed him.” “And I,” he said, “will calm this bloodshed.” He summoned rabbis and killed them, yet the bloodshed did not stop. He summoned children from the rabbinical school and killed them, yet the bloodshed did not stop. He had 94,000 people slaughtered in this way, yet the bloodshed did not stop. He then approached and said, “O Zechariah, to appease you I have destroyed the best of your people; do you want me to destroy them all?” And Zechariah’s blood stopped boiling,” ibid. It is very difficult to believe that Jesus’ allusion did not refer to something that had become so popular in Jerusalem.
Mt23.36 Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation. – Truly (amen) I tell you. "He insists by using the word Amen, and by repeating the judgment he pronounces, so that no one can take the threat lightly,» Maldonat in hl – Will come ; This emphasized verb also corroborates the thought and makes the threat more terrible. All of this. All the murders, all the crimes that Jesus has just reproached the Jews for will fall back upon them in the form of terrible punishments, and it is in the near future that the punishment will be inflicted, as indicated by the last words of the verse., on this generation. The current generation, which will be the last of the Jewish theocracy, will see its full realization. Did it not treat Our Lord Jesus Christ more cruelly than Cain treated Abel? – This is not the only time in history that the abominations of previous centuries have accumulated to then crush a single generation under their weight: the Terror The years 1793-1794 of the French Revolution and the Vendée genocide presented in France, in this respect, more than one analogy with what happened at the time of the destruction of the Jewish state.
Mt23.37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. – After the terrible words we have just heard, here are others that breathe a truly maternal tenderness. Jesus wants to spare his people the dreadful misfortunes he has foretold since verse 33: he therefore tries to touch them with an address full of burning love, but at the same time full of sadness, because he foresees the futility of this final effort. We can almost feel his divine heart beating through these lines. Jerusalem… It is no longer a question of the Pharisees or the Scribes; it is to Jerusalem, twice named out of compassion and love (cf. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. 74 in Matthew), that the Savior addresses himself as the center of the theocracy. (The name of the Jewish capital is Jerusalem.) – Those who kill… those who stone. The verbs are in the present tense because Jerusalem was in the habit of slaughtering and stoning the prophets and other sacred ministers whom God deigned to send to convert it. How many times I wanted to. ..And yet, according to St. Matthew and the other Synoptic Gospels, Jesus Christ does not appear to have exercised any ministry in Jerusalem before the present circumstance. But these very words demonstrate that he had come there frequently and that he had repeatedly played a very active role in saving the unfortunate city. The Evangelist St. John will give us a complete commentary on this "how many times." Origen and other ancient authors, moreover, believe that in uttering it, Jesus was taking into account not only his own activity but also that of the prophets who had preceded him (cf. St. Jerome, Comm. in hl –). Your children. The sons of Jerusalem are its inhabitants: by extension, this refers to the entire Jewish people, of whom it was the capital. Like a hen… A beautiful and powerful image that paints vividly love of Jesus for his compatriots, and the maternal protection with which he would have liked to surround them (cf. Psalm 16:6; 36:7; Isaiah 31:5; etc.). “The hen sees the bird of prey in the air and immediately she anxiously gathers her chicks around her. Jesus watched with anguish as the Roman eagles approached the children of Jerusalem to devour them, and he strove by the gentlest means to save them,” JP Lange, in hl – But alas! his attempts were to fail against the insensitivity, ingratitude, and blindness of these unfortunate people. And you didn't want it! Jesus laments this with a profound sense of sadness, while simultaneously absolving himself of responsibility. Woe, then, to those who refused to be saved! For love This despised situation will bring about the catastrophes prophesied above.
Mt23.38 Behold, your temple is left to you deserted. – The protective wing under which they refused shelter having completely withdrawn, the most terrible blows will strike the Jews. The present tense, used in the Greek text, indicates even more clearly the imminence of ruin. Your home. Jesus thus refers to the temple within whose walls he delivered this discourse, or to Jerusalem, or even to the entire theocracy. Note the pronoun "your." None of this is now the house of God: he no longer wants it! It is simply the guilty dwelling that he intends to punish. Deserted. A house is empty when its master has ceased to inhabit it; Jerusalem, abandoned by the Messiah, will resemble a derelict dwelling, falling into ruin. Long ago, Jeremiah, speaking in the name of God, foretold this calamity: «I have forsaken my house, forsaken my inheritance, and given my beloved into the hand of her enemies,» Jeremiah 12:7; and David, cursing his enemies, found nothing more terrible against them than the following imprecation: «May their camp become a desolate place; may no one dwell in their tents!» Psalm 68:26.
Mt23.39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, »Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” – Our Lord, explaining the preceding verse, shows how the threat it contains will be fulfilled. – You you won't see me anymoreIn a few days, he will be separated from them by death, and from that moment on, they will cease to contemplate him until the time of the resurrection general and its second advent. For it is these great end-of-the-world events that are designated by the words: Until you say: Blessed. – Not long ago, many friends would raise this glorious acclamation in his honor, welcoming him to the walls of Jerusalem as the promised Messiah (cf. 21:9). When he returns as Supreme Judge, the Jewish nation, converted en masse (cf. Romans 11), will joyfully greet him with these same words. The end of the serious indictment whose explanation we are concluding thus opens a comforting horizon that one would not have dared to expect. «The Jews have therefore set a time for repentance; let them confess that he who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed, and they will be admitted to contemplate the face of Christ» (St. Jerome in hl). We are pleased to see the last discourse of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the crowd of Jews end with a ray of hope. Some commentators have singularly diminished the Savior's thought by attributing to him the statement that he would not appear before the crowds for the following two days, that is, until the Passover festival, on which occasion, we are assured without the slightest proof, the Jews greeted one another with the words "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Father Patrizzi, in Book 1 of Evangelical Quaestions 4, §1, is hardly more successful when he accuses St. Matthew of having disrupted the chronological order at this point: according to him, chapter 23 recounts an event prior to those contained in chapter 21, so that, through the prophecy of verse 39, Jesus would simply be announcing his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
