Matthew 23:1-4

Chapter divisions were put into the Bible by translators. These were not put into the Bible until 1227 for the New Testament by Stephen Langton and 1448 for the Old Testament by Robert Estienne. These have been pretty much unchanged since their invention. The point is that if you were to be reading Matthew’s scroll, you would find that the story does not break. The attack on the Pharisees now becomes a character study that Yeshua uses to teach the disciples.

The Pharisees felt that they were direct descendants of Moses, and that they were carrying the message of Moses to give to the people.  They taught Torah, but really did not feel that they needed to put it in action. Perhaps it was thought that if the people knew Torah, then they would be able to put it into action. Their focus was upon teaching the words, but they did not follow their own words. They demanded that the people put the words into action but were not willing to put their own words into action.

Yeshua said they demand that the people “do and observe” but do not put it into action themselves. The overbearing rules that they established did not deliver freedom, but rather extreme bondage. Torah which was designed to bring life instead brought great burdens. They sought to teach their “doctrine” to the masses because it was what they had learned. The Rabbi’s argued over every aspect of life and over every aspect of the scriptures. Their intentions were good since they wanted to make sure that they taught the scriptures. However, it moved from a good discerning of the word to a massive amount of rules that the Jewish people were to follow.

They moved from teaching the Bible to teaching the teachings of the Rabbi’s. In other words, they moved to teaching tradition.  It is easy to see why the early translators of the Bible mistakenly translated the word “torah” as “law”. Law was put in place by the Rabbi’s. The instructions of Torah were redefined to become strict laws that the people were to follow. They tabulated the 613 commandments found in Torah and set up a mass of rules to ensure that all the commandments were followed. This did not produce freedom, it produced bondage.

This is still going on today. A messianic pastor that I know made the statement, “We are not throwing off Christian junk to take on Jewish junk”. Yet, his church has incorporated many of the traditions of the Jews, Hebrew prayers, and Hebrew song. Many of these are drawn directly from the Rabbi’s as form prayers, systems, and traditions that have zero Biblical grounds. They are based on Tradition!  Many of the people in the church are spinning their wheels to follow Jewish traditions because they see these as a higher calling. The church has over-corrected in a way that freedom is sacrificed for systems. Torah which is the instructions of God has been turned into a set of rules or unspoken laws. The feasts and festivals of the Jews are celebrated, but with them is a drudgery of explanation of how the Jews celebrate these events. Power is lost because the purpose of the feasts and festivals is not to keep tradition! It is to follow God’s instructions. The effort to keep these festivals “the Jewish way” ties the hands of freedom and restricts God’s people from drawing the full effect from them. Instead of following biblical truth, the church inadvertently is following the rabbi’s. This branches out into other areas as well.

What is the result of this overcorrection? One good result is the church has learned about the Jewish feasts and festivals. The bad side is that evangelism has been virtually abandoned. Discipleship is lacking since it is focused upon learning the systems instead of learning to walk with God. The important stuff of freedom was thrown off. It has been replaced by rules. The dynamic truth and freedom in Torah should cause the church doors to be overflowing with people. Instead people stay for a while and fade away. Why? It comes down to the exact problem that faced the Pharisees. They established rules for everything, so many rules that they were unable to keep them all themselves.

The Christian church does not fare any better. Tradition often makes up the majority of teaching. Instead of teaching the full Bible, replacement theology is taught that hamstrings those studying the Word. Without Torah, what has been dubbed “law”, Christian theology hits a frustrating ceiling and can go no further. As Christians, we have implemented rules and regulations to keep people in line. Outside of the seeker churches today, many churches are rapidly closing their doors due to a lack of interest. Even with the seeker churches this is taking place. People are flocking from one dynamic pastor to another seeking the latest and greatest. The burn out rate is high and many Christians refuse to return to church because of being stung so many times in the past. What do we do? The lesson taught in this scripture points us to a new focus.

Yeshua taught Torah. He taught the instructions of God in a pure form. His words brought life and peace. The Pharisees taught what they were taught, thoughts and traditions of the Rabbi’s. True instructions were abandoned for the traditions of men which resulted in systems of rules. Regardless whether we are Christian or Jewish, when we accept the doctrines and traditions of men as our standard of excellence, we fall into the same trap. We become burdened with heavy burdens that are bring bondage. Freedom is in removing these burdens and turning to the true teachings of the Word.

As an example, the Rabbi’s teach that there are 613 commandments in Torah. If you look up these commandments, you will find that many of them are repeats. Some verses have several commandments drawn from them. It is a game of splitting hairs to come up with a lot of rules. The Rabbi’s were afraid of failing to meet all the instructions of the scriptures, so they tabulated them. On the one hand, this was good because knowledge leads to success. On the other hand, it was bad because now there was a “rulebook” in place that demanded compliance.

Christians run to the Church on Saturday, Sunday and sometimes Wednesday to participate in worship and Bible studies. Then live like they always did the rest of the week.  People can sit through a service the day of worship, raising their hands in worship to the Lord. It all looks good on the surface. Then at home, they may be working on a divorce, playing with pornography, cussing like a sailor at work or a myriad of other sins.  When we read the words of Jesus as He pointed to the Pharisees of old, and we fail to realize that the words are as true today of the church as they were when He said them to the Pharisees.

Our response to His words, “Go get them Yeshua!”  Our response should be, “Father, forgive me, I am just like them.”  It’s a hard message, it’s difficult to think about, but when we are taking the attitude of the Pharisees and learning for the sake of learning man’s teachings, we are no better than they were.  God has called us to action, not to just play with words.  When we claim to be Christians, then let us live like Christians. The word “Christian” means “Christ like.” In the previous chapter we discussed the Sh’ma that Yeshua said was the greatest and foremost of all commandments (Matt 22:37; Mk 12:29-30). The point of it was not just to know the truth of God’s instructions but also to put them into action.

When we put out the message to come to know the Jesus that we know, we should live like we are kids of the Messiah.  Our lives should be an example of how to put the words of Yeshua into action.  When someone who is struggling with sin in their lives comes to us, it’s not just “let me pray for you”, it’s “this is how I defeated the sin”.  Walk the walk, and talk the talk, anything else is hypocrisy, which means acting a role.  The world points at the churches and says that they are full of hypocrites, they are right, and it is time for us to throw off the role playing and get into putting God’s word into action.

Or we can live like the Pharisees did, teaching platitudes, squabbling over minor doctrinal issues, and forgetting God’s word when we leave church.  We can tell everyone else how to live the Christian life, (that we have never put into practice ourselves), or we can teach them and mentor them from the experiences that we have had in activating God’s Instructions in our lives.  Our choice: do we pile heavy burdens on people, or do we help people remove the burdens?  God does not want any of us bearing heavy burdens, He said:

Matthew 11:28 (KJV)

²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

We must be willing to take action and put God’s word into action.  Action produces experience that we will be able to teach to others.  If we learn head knowledge based upon the traditions of men, we are no better than the Pharisees. We need to learn God’s instructions and activate them in our lives. Enough preaching, back to the passage:

Matthew 23:5–10 (NET)

⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long. ⁶ They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues⁷ and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces, and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’ ⁸ But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers. ⁹ And call no one your ‘father’ on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one teacher, the Christ.

The religious leaders were overdoing the rules in order to put on a show for their people. To understand this, let’s look at the mechanics of the passage. “Phylacteries” were prayer boxes that were attached to the forehead and left hand during weekly synagogue services. The Hebrew name for this is Tefillin. A quick internet search on this word will guide you to many sites giving the details and modern usage. They contain scripture verses, and are based on Deuteronomy 6:8.  Remember that previously we discussed the Sh’ma, the single most important verse in the Bible?  Read further from the Sh’ma and you will see where these boxes originated:

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (KJV)

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ⁵ And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶ And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷ And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸ And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹ And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

The purpose of the passage meant to put the instructions of God into action. The symbolic boxes that the Jewish people built from this passage are fantastic for reminding the person of the passage. I know one man who uses the tefillin and swears that it enhances his biblical understanding and insight. I cannot argue for or against them since I have never tried them. It is quite clear that the idea of the boxes comes from sound scripture.

The tassels are also biblically based. Today these are called Tzitzit. These come from a direct biblical command where God instructs each believer to wear them:

Numbers 15:38–40 (KJV)

³⁸ Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: ³⁹ And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: ⁴⁰ That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.

These are also still in use by the Jews. They are also worn daily by many Messianic Christians. The purpose of the Tzitzit is to remind the wearer that he is living his life devoted to the instructions of the Lord. Every aspect of his life is surrounded and encompassed through immersion into God’s instructions. These are a constant reminder to the wearer of where his heart is at.

My daughter sells Tzitzit in her Etsy shop, EmilyAnneCreations. I am not against these since they are biblically commanded. I will be honest though, I do not wear them. The reason is practical for me. I work in an industry where loose clothing can get snagged and potentially end with harmful results. I am also reluctant to draw attention to myself by wearing them. The purpose is to remind me of my relationship with the Lord, not to flaunt my beliefs before others. It is almost like shouting to others, “look how religious I am”. Which brings us back to the passage:

Both devices were biblically based. The tassels were biblically commanded. Yeshua does not condemn the leaders for wearing the devices. He condemns them for making them bigger so that they could be noticed by others. In their culture, wearing the tassels was commonplace. Making them bigger became boastful. The Tefillin were utilized during prayer times, again, by making them bigger they became a statement rather than performing a religious function. Yeshua was condemning the haughty spirit that the religious leaders had.

The Pharisees wanted the places of honor at banquets and the Synagogue. As Christians, we do not realize the significance of this. There are probably about thirty or more banqueting days each year just in keeping the Jewish festivals. This includes the new moon festivals. Then you have miscellaneous festivals such as marriage feasts which last a week or more each time. By desiring the place of honor the Pharisees wanted to be in the limelight all the time. The Pharisees demanded the places of importance, they felt that they had earned it.  Everyone needed to know that they were important people.

Then Yeshua gets into the area of titles.  Rabbi’s were greeted in the market places as Rabbi, which meant “my master”, their pupils referred to them as “father” which comes from the Greek word “pat-ayr” which referred to a parent to child relationship in a generic sense, portraying the idea of fatherhood, or ancestors, a likeness in being.  The word for “leaders” comes from a compound Greek word meaning “a guide and a teacher”.  You can see that the titles were very important, they stroked the ego of the Pharisees and made them feel very important.

Yeshua personalizes the discussion (Matt 23:9-10). He intimately instructs His followers regarding the leaders. There is only one Father to acknowledge, the Father in heaven. There is also only one earthly leader that they were to follow and that is the Messiah. The English translation fails us here by referring to Yeshua as the Christ. This title is never translated but rather transliterated. Christ means Messiah in the Hebrew. That title if actually translated means “the anointed one”. Do a word search on that phrase, you will have a topical study that will take hours to complete.

His was focusing his followers to the only teacher or leader that they were to follow. They were to follow Him and no other teacher. Yeshua demanded total focus from His followers. This command continues today, our focus should only be on Yeshua. Our teachers are His servants sent to instruct us and guide us.

Which draws us to a little bit of shoe-leather. The Pharisees of old are not different than many of the teachers today. It would be hard pressed to find a pastor or elder who does not get places of honor in any church gathering. Many pastors are literally worshipped by their flocks. Often churches are built around them and by them. If a catastrophic illness or change of leadership comes in the church, the church often dies.

As far as the tefillin and tzitzit’s goes… So far the tefillin have not been adopted by the Messianic Christians. Tzitzit’s have been embraced due to the biblical command. Leaders are guilty of wearing large tzitzit’s for a couple of reasons. First, they are following the biblical command. Secondly, they are often teaching the congregation through example of the biblical command. Since the practice of wearing the tzitzit’s has not become commonplace, I am more inclined to say that wearing noticeable ones as an example is a good move. Once they become common practice in a congregation, it is time to reduce the size to normal. We cannot get religious about this. Common sense has to rule. Yeshua was not making a command to wear inconspicuous tzitzit’s and tefillin, He was pointing out the attitude of the heart.

Matthew 23:11-12: Yeshua brought the discussion full circle. His way for leaders to act is based upon humility. As pastors and teachers, we must focus on that attitude. We are servants of our Messiah, teaching and instructing others to follow Him. We must be very careful not to take the limelight and remain humble servants.  I cannot emphasize this enough. When a church is built around a dynamic pastor, as a human, he will eventually fall or fail in some way. The fallout of this is damaged, disenchanted, and disheartened Christians. The bitter taste left in their mouths stop them from committing again. If we focus upon following the Messiah and Him only, this can be avoided.

What does this mean in practical application? It means that the coveted pulpit should be shared. Pastors should change their tactics from being college professors to becoming mentors who teach others to teach. But… That is my opinion. It comes down to decentralization of teaching. Mentoring or discipleship should be the rule. We have too many pulpits that hold demigods instead of humble leaders. Our job as teachers is to work ourselves out of a job. Teaching others to teach will bring up a large force of teachers that are able to reach out to others which will bring a much larger impact. As we draw near to the end times, we must be ready to teach others to feed themselves.

Eventually those churches who are teaching the truth will become enemies of the government. This is already beginning to happen on a small scale. Pastors are being called to answer for taking stands on biblical truth such as homosexuality and marriage. Biblical mandates are not being accepted but are seen as anti-social and hate mongering. The norm for believers in the early church was persecution. I believe that those who teach the true Gospel will soon begin experiencing this on a large scale. When this happens, congregations will have to go underground. This is where teaching others to teach is our greatest and best move. What does this require? It requires that Pastors and teachers adhere to the exhortation to stay humble servants (Matt 23:11-12). It will take some drastic reworking of church as normal.

Matthew 23:13-28 Seven Woe’s:

Yeshua makes a strong statement in verse 13. Each woe is addressed to the “scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites”.  Both groups are included in the charge of hypocrisy equally. We constantly hear this term tossed around where the world accuses Christians of being nothing but hypocrites. What does it really mean?

Hypocrite comes from the Greek word “hupokrites”, that’s right, it’s never translated, it is transliterated. The meaning behind the word carries the idea of actor, pretender or dissembler. The word originally meant “to answer”, this was later morphed into acting because the actor recalled or recited his lines. Later this word transferred meaning by Aristotle to refer to human life as a stage where humans are actors.[1] This is from the Greek language tradition and tends to lead us as readers slightly astray. Why? Most interpreters of the Bible do not go beyond the Greek to teach us what was intended by the words. Granted, the Pharisees were certainly hypocrites, actors playing a role, but they were much more than that. The Jewish writings from the Dispersion give a different view of hypocrites, look at this note as Wilckens expounds more upon his thought:

“In more or less the whole literature of Dispersion Judaism one thus finds a use of ὑποκρίνομαι/ὑπόκρισις which differs characteristically from that of classical and Hellenistic literature. With few exceptions the term is employed in sensu malo. The ὑποκριτής is bad as such and ὑπόκρισις is a form of wrongdoing. In this respect there is no question of presenting a righteous appearance so that the true face of evil is disguised. Hence the translation “hypocrisy” is hardly apt. What is meant is the “deception” which characterises evil as apostasy against God or opposition to Him. This conclusion demands an explanation, for there is nothing in the Greek tradition to suggest that the “evildoer” (חָנֵף) should be rendered by “actor” (ὑποκριτής), nor is there anything in the Hebrew expressions for “evildoer” to suggest his conduct be regarded as “acting.” Nevertheless one can discern the general background which makes sense of this remarkable translation.”^[2]

Hypocrite then carries two similar meanings. It meant an actor or one playing a role. The Hebraic understanding of the word from the writings of the time denoted one who had evil intentions or was evil at heart. Remember, Yeshua was speaking to Hebrew people who understood the Hebrew writings. His words most likely leaned toward a negative connotation that indicated one with an evil heart who was practicing deception. Why? The Pharisees were very well studied in the scriptures. They of all people should have been able to discern the truth of the Word and teach it to the people. Instead they parroted off the teachings of the Rabbi’s. The evil intention came from failing to teach what they must have seen in the scriptures from their private study.

As Christians, we are not too much different than the Pharisees. Is say this because many of us parrot off the teachings of the denomination that we belong to without thinking it through. We accept replacement theology, Calvinism, Armenianism, and a myriad of other teachings on the authority of traditional teachers. All of us have the full Bible available to us to read and study. Instead of studying and questioning the teachings, we opt for cherry-picking the scriptures according to teachers. The end result is error. We step into the exact role of the Pharisees. We through our laziness are evil at heart by teaching people what traditional teachers have taught instead of reading and digesting the scriptures for ourselves. Face it, deep study of the scriptures is work. It requires examining and questioning every teaching that we have been faced with. You would be surprised at the number of Pastors who do not write their own sermons. These are drawn from many resources such as sermon data banks, lectionaries, or denominational mandated guidelines. In most cases these Pastors are allowed to tweak the sermons to fit their style and audience.  This is the easy route that Pastors take to maximize time management in a world where every second is counted.

Matthew 23:13 Woe #1:  Ralph Porter a missionary and mentor of mine shared with me that when a person is not led by the Spirit of God, he can use the Bible to slaughter Christian brothers and to drive others away. I believe that he was close to this idea. The Bible is a two-edged sword, and if it is used improperly, it can destroy people (Heb 4:12).

To understand this woe, let’s discuss the mindset of the Jews for a moment. Torah was said to bring life. The difference between life and death according to Torah is whether you put Torah, (the instructions of God) into action or not (Deut 30:15-20).

With that in mind, let’s discuss the “kingdom of heaven”. If we enter into life through Torah, then life does not start after death. Life takes place here on earth. The Kingdom of heaven then is on earth and in heaven. Once life is given, a person is a part of the kingdom of heaven. So, heaven is on earth, not just a celestial place. According to the Hebrew understanding of life, when a person is embracing and following Torah, he has entered into the community of “heaven”. We as Christians believe this same thing, we call it the “fellowship of believers”.

Now, let’s take it a step further. The scribes and Pharisees had a teaching that redefined Torah. They felt that a sage, or teacher who reached a level of high expertise became “torah” to their pupils. There were two forms of Torah then that were equal, the written Torah found in the scriptures and the spoken Torah which was taught by the leaders. Torah then is redefined to include the teachings of man. Look at this excerpt from the Encyclopedia of Judaism:

“That Judaism, drawing upon older materials of course, beginning with the Old Testament itself, finds its definitive symbol in the Torah, written and oral. Its distinctive myth appeals to the story that at Sinai God revealed revelation, or “Torah,” to Moses in two media. One medium for revelation was in writing, hence “the written Torah,” Torah shebikhtab, corresponding to the Old Testament of Christianity. The other medium for revelation was through oral formulation and oral transmission, hence through memorization, yielding “the oral Torah,” Torah shebe’al peh, the memorized Torah. The Judaism of the dual Torah bestows upon its authorities, or sages, the title of “rabbi,” hence is called Rabbinic Judaism; it appeals for its ultimate authority to the Talmud of Babylonia, or Bavli, hence is called talmudic Judaism; it enjoys the status of orthodoxy, hence is called “normative” or “classical” Judaism. Today, the Rabbinic literature valued as canonical by the Judaism of the dual Torah forms the court of final appeal to all Judaisms, from Orthodoxy both integrationist and segregationist, to Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and all other known Judaic systems of a religious character. Each invokes in its own way and for its own purposes the received writings of the Judaism of the dual Torah…”^[3]

“The concept of a sacred text in the Judaism of the dual Torah therefore finds definition in the myth of the dual Torah. In fact, all components of that Torah are secondary. What comes first is the myth of the memorized Torah, what follows is the identification of the documents that enjoy the status of components of that memorized Torah. The Judaism of the dual Torah by definition does not find its definition in a book—e.g., the Old Testament. Its generative principle is quite the opposite: God did not resort solely to a book to convey and preserve the divine message. It was through teachings, which could be transmitted in more than a single form. Consequently, a way lay open to encompass more than the Old Testament as Torah, and, indeed, in late antiquity, Torah found ample room not only for truth formulated in words—whether written down or memorized—but also for gestures, indeed, also for persons. Consequently the sage could be received as a Torah and treated as such.”^[4]

It gets even stickier when you read the surrounding applications of this teaching. The Jewish people felt that when one of these renowned teachers died, Torah was lost or died with them. The idea behind “study” from the original language is translated as “memorize” creating a problem. Committing to memory the concepts of the teachers and Torah was effectively mastering Torah but was not “memorizing” it as we consider it today. The students became disciples who had mastered the teaching of their rabbi. They committed to memory the concepts that their masters taught. They most likely did not “memorize” the Torah as we think of it.

At the time of the Messiah, the rabinnical mindset was still in place where rabbi’s considered themselves to be in essence “torah”. Here is the rub. If you studied under a rabbi, then Torah that was supposed to bring life was a combination of both the written Torah, (the Pentateuch) and oral Torah (the teachings of the rabbi). The oral Torah was not written down as the Talmud until about 200 to 400 C.E. for the Jerusalem Talmud and from about 200 to 600 C.E. for the Babylonian Talmud. Written Torah is well established by the Jewish writers as the first five books of the Bible. Oral Torah was in danger of being forgotten so it was compiled into the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud and associated writings. This took place at the minimum of 170 years after the Messiah had resurrected!

The accusation against the scribes and Pharisees in this passage was made when “dual torah” was in practice. The Rabbi’s thought their teachings equaled the writings of the Bible. This returns to our previous discussions. By teaching their traditions, they effectively superseded the scriptural truth with their own revelation. The effect was to remove life from Torah and replace it with the death sentence of legalism.

Yeshua said that the leaders “shut off” the kingdom of heaven. This simply meant that the way to life was locked. Since the teachers were teaching their own interpretation of Torah instead of true Torah, they also missed out on “life” through Torah.

This is something that Christian leaders today must be very careful of. Many teachings in the Christian church are based upon tradition that has been inspired by scripture. Many of these traditions are justified by reverse engineering them with the scriptures. In other words, a teaching sounds good, let’s see if the Bible supports it. Instead of the Bible says this teaching, let’s change our lives to meet it.

Matthew 23:14 Woe #2: This woe is not found in the oldest manuscripts according to the notation from the New American Standard Bible. Several translations only provide a number for this verse or leave out the text entirely such as the New Living Translation, New International Version and The Complete Jewish Bible. Perhaps some will argue that this is not a significant problem. God’s word is as God intended it to be. I will leave that up to you to discern.

This verse is not included in the oldest manuscripts, and is not included in the NIV because of that.  Yet it does occur in Mark 12:40, and Luke 20:47. The time it is used addresses a crime that they committed against widows. Widows and orphans were protected as a special class of people under Torah (Exodus 22:22-24; Also see Jer 7:6-7; Zechariah 7:8-14). The instructions are specific. Since this woe is not included in the oldest version, we are going to let this discussion rest here. If we were to throw out this woe, it brings the number to six woes. This is the number of man in numerology. The entire section is colored with the error of man as religious leaders fail miserably to teach the true word of God.

Matthew 23:15 Woe #3:

When the Pharisees did find someone willing to learn from them, they duplicated themselves in their students.  It is a simple truth, you can only teach what you know and have experienced.  If you are a parent, your children will watch your life, and turn out just like you.  If we as parents want our children to grow up living out the righteous Christian life, then we need to live it ourselves.  If we are leaders of others, then practice what you preach, live out the Christian life to the best of your ability, and those who follow will do the same.  If we live out our lives powered by the flesh, and driven by our desires and not God’s, then those who follow us will do the same.

In the same way the religious leaders had compromised Torah. They were leading the people according to the traditions of the elders instead of the written Torah. If we remove Woe #2, contextually this makes more sense. When the religious leaders taught their pupils from the aspect that they were living scrolls of Torah, what they taught trumped what was taught in the scriptures. Their pupils became exact  copies of them. Their pupils “memorized” their teachings and taught others the same thing.

Look at the progression of the proselyte in the verse. First, he is a proselyte, then he becomes like them, in the end the fervor of his teaching is twice as bad as his teachers. Error rarely stays constant, it grows. When error is introduced, the error is compounded with each teaching. As the teacher passes the error to student, then student again to another student, the growth of the error is significant. In the case of scriptural error; it grows on an exponential scale. For example: Suppose one variant teaching strays slightly from the scriptures but still retains the basic scriptural principle. On the second teaching the student receiving the error has already created an attitude that is positive toward the error. This pupil is less likely to question the error since it is taught by a reputed teacher. Scriptural basis is not as important since the respect for the teacher makes the student a willing recipient. On the third generation of teaching, community standards have accepted the teaching. Little scripture if any is required to teach a “known” truth. The student blindly accepts the teaching as truth. Then fights hard against anyone who disagrees.

“Son of hell” is a very descriptive term. The idea portrayed here indicates the deceiver instead of Torah. Remember, failure to follow Torah is death. Those in Gehenna (hell) are the ones who failed to embrace the instructions of God in their lives.

Matthew 23:16-22  Woe #4: The progression of the passage continues. The logical progression went from hypocrites who blocked people from entering the kingdom of heaven, to hypocrites who made disciples, now to blind guides.  Yeshua charged the with living in total darkness. The charge is progressively increased to fools and blind men (v. 17) to just blind men (v. 19).

There are several ways to consider this passage. I am going from the view of context. These blind guides were not having their students swear by Torah, but by the wealth of the temple. Think about that. Their real god that they had the people swear by was the god of gold. Yeshua took the argument and ran it to its logical conclusion. The gold is really insignificant. What is significant about the temple was the sacrifices which made gold that had touched them holy. Take for example the story of the sons of Korah (Num 16:1-40). After the men were incinerated by God’s wrath their censers were beaten flat and used as a holy plating for the altar (Num 16:38-40).

This was a rebuke to the religious leaders. The discussion of the gold reflected back on Torah. They repeated the sin of Korah. The rebellion was not in defiance of God’s instruction. Rebellion in their case was changing the focus of God’s instruction. Perhaps this is why Yeshua called them blind guides. They did not know Torah well enough to realize that by swearing by the gold they were effectively swearing by a false god.

Yeshua redirected them to understand that the only thing that makes the temple holy is “He who dwells in it” (Matt 23:21). Yeshua pointed out that swearing by the temple in the end was swearing by God Himself. The result of that redirected back to the Ten Commandments. God’s Name is not to be taken or used frivolously, for deception, or as is commonly translated “in vain” (Ex 20:7). The end result was a significant charge against the religious leaders. Since they claimed to be Torah teachers and were teaching against Torah, they had to be blind.

Matthew 23:23-24 Woe #5: Tithe. Remember, context! The charges against the scribes and Pharisees are in context and cumulative. In the previous woe, Yeshua addressed swearing by the temple. In this woe, He addressed tithing. The religious leaders were very religious about tithing. To build the coffers of the temple they taught the people to tithe even on the minutest scale. They stressed tithing down to tithing the spices that were grown.

I can’t help but wonder if you have noticed the same thing in your churches. Preachers will throw out Torah saying that the “law” has been fulfilled and is no longer in effect. Yet, they preach tithing and strongly suggest that every member tithe on everything. Tithing is in effect even though the law has been done away with… They teach that the Old Testament is a bunch of rules and regulations, only, be sure to tithe. The problem is that we have too much overhead. To much church business. Pastors contradict themselves by preaching Old Testament tithing because they have to meet the needs of the church conglomeration.

Don’t get me wrong. Tithing is good. It is part of Torah. My complaint is that many churches teach tithing and throw out the rest of Torah!  This is exactly what was happening with the religious leaders. Yeshua points this out by charging them with failing to keep the “weightier provisions of Torah”.

Yeshua challenges them to teach the full message of Torah. The ideas of Justice, mercy and faithfulness should have equal importance and higher importance than tithing. To give you an idea how important these things are, look at Sodom and Gomorrah. Their sin was not the sin of homosexuality. Their sin was that they ignored these three practices. They violated these areas by ignoring justice, living without mercy and being unfaithful to God (Eze 16:48-50). Torah was wrapped up with allowing people to live abundant life. It was not a system to fleece the flock in order to enrich the temple. The same is true today. Churches are not made for people to support the church. They are made to support the people. The focus has flipped in the exact way that it did with the religious leaders.

Let’s reiterate for a moment. The religious leaders stressed tithing but ignored the better aspects of Torah. Their charge was not that they were collecting the tithe. Their charge was that they were failing to teach and put into practice full Torah, or the full instructions of God. Today we have the same problem. Religious leaders want their people to support the church “machine”. Then they teach doctrines of men instead of the instruction of God from the entire Bible. This has to change.

Yeshua accuses them of being blind again (Matt 23:24). They were so intent upon focusing on the smallest point of the law (tithing) that they missed the largest focus of God’s teaching: taking care of others. Torah focuses on two primary areas: Relationship with God and relationship with man. Tithing is a small focus. Yeshua accused them of straining out the largest, most obvious part of God’s instruction to focus on the smallest area… This is extremely important.

Matthew 23:25-28 Woe #5: Robbery and Self-indulgence. Again, I keep stressing, these are not stand-a-lone verses. Each verse builds on the one prior.

The greater good that Torah was designed for is what is often called a benevolence fund in many churches. This modern-day fund is designed to take care of needs of the community of believers. God set up a system that compensated the ones of the community who were going through hard times. Often the scriptures refer to the widows and orphans in this context. The benevolence extended to strangers in the land, widows, orphans, fatherless, and the poor (Ex 22:21-27; Dt 10:17-22). The scripture says that in order to be blessed by God the aliens, widows and orphans must eat and be satisfied. When we look at the previous woe charging a lack of mercy and faithfulness, the picture starts to com into focus.

It quickly becomes apparent that the religious leaders were making full use of the funds that came into the religious system. They were living a very good life instead of channeling the funds where they were needed.

Yeshua’s charge hinged off of the act of washing dishes. This charge directed the people to self-examine and evaluate the way that they were robbing God of tithes and offerings through self-indulgence. With that thought in place, let’s look at another verse that discusses robbery and self-indulgence coupled with the concept of the underprivileged. Often you will hear this passage preached to coerce people to tithe. For some reason, the earlier verses are never mentioned:

Malachi 3:3–8 (KJV)

³ And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. ⁴ Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. ⁵ And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. ⁶ For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. ⁷ Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? ⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

This passage talks about tithes and offerings. God accused the people of robbing him by withholding the tithe. The purified people will focus on taking care of the widows and orphans. Those who fail to do so will be judged swiftly. The charge that Yeshua gave to the religious leaders is the exact charge from Malachi. They were robbing God of the tithes and offerings that were intended to take care of the widows and orphans. These offerings were not intended so that the religious leaders could live lives of luxury.

Whew, if we applied that to our modern churches, heads would roll. How many pastors live better than their flock? It’s worth thinking about. How many people in our churches are suffering from calamity and receive no help? Their need is often addressed by a small compensation and the assurance that the church will be praying for them.  We need to examine the business model of modern churches. Buildings, facilities, and such demand an enormous amount of money to maintain. My feeling is that churches should focus on smaller facilities and more home-based ministry which will spread discipleship and loosen the purse strings so that the unfortunate can be cared for.

To make things clearer, the problem is not tithes and offerings. The problem that Yeshua addressed was the use of tithes and offerings. How were they utilized? The exact same problem exists today. We need to step away from the churches which are patterned after corporate America and downsize to small fellowships that can surgically meet needs. In Yeshua’s day the religious leaders led pious lives of indulgence. Today, many pastors live lives of indulgence. The main problem though is that the corporation takes the bulk of the tithe just to keep the wheels turning. As we return to Torah, we need to evaluate the use of tithes and offerings.

Mathew 23:27-28 Woe #6: Whitewashed tombs with dead men’s bones: What an accusation. Let’s take it apart for a moment. We discussed earlier in this chapter that Torah or following the instructions of God resulted in life (according to the understanding of the Jews).  Failing to follow Torah was a life of death spiritually.

Let’s begin with a picture from the scriptures. Moses commanded the people to erect an altar when they crossed the Jordan. They were to coat the altar with lime and write the words of Torah on it (Deut 27:1-8). It was to be a distinct copy of Torah. Yeshua said that the Torah that the religious leaders taught was painted on white-washed tombs. This is the scriptural background.

Yeshua brings the discussion full circle with this accusation. Failing to follow Torah on the inside did not bring life to the scribes and pharisees. On the outside they looked, acted, and performed just like the real thing. They were highly polished and stood as examples to the community of believers. To the average believer, these leaders were men to follow. On the inside, they did not follow the instructions of God in their lives. This brought about spiritual death.

Yeshua accused them of being full of all uncleanness. In the Jewish way of thinking, the way you became unclean was to violate or stop following the instructions found in Torah. This came down to the attitude of the heart. Spiritually speaking, if a man is not living according to the life that he has received from the instructions of God, he cannot pass along life. Death can only pass along death. Life does not come out of death.

The evidence of their failure to follow the instructions of God are given in these woes. However, we do not have the details of the failures. We only have the implication of the failures. Probably the biggest failure was mixing the written Torah with oral torah and extending that to the religious leaders becoming a torah scroll in their thinking. In a way this makes sense. Yeshua pointed out the flaw of their reasoning in this woe. If they were not genuine on the inside but appeared to keep Torah on the outside, they could not possibly be a true “torah” scroll. They were fake imitations.  Instead of giving the life of freedom found in Torah, they gave death through bondage to the rules and regulations that they put on men.

Matthew 23:29-33 Woe #7: Tombs. Frustration comes in focus. I believe that Yeshua is the God YHVH of the Old Testament. He is the LORD that you see written throughout the scriptures of the Old Testament. Prophets continually came to redirect and correct the errant ways of the Jewish people and of the ways of their leaders.  The Old Testament is peppered with references to the prophets who sought to guide the people.

Prophets suffered severely at the hands of the “righteous”. There is a command in the scriptures that a false prophet is not to be allowed to live, let’s look at that passage:

Deuteronomy 18:18–22 (KJV)

¹⁸ I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. ¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. ²⁰ But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. ²¹ And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? ²² When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

The Jewish leaders took this one command to the extreme. It became dangerous to become a prophet. All through the scriptures there are multiple accounts of prophets being killed or executed for a variety of reasons. Almost all of them had nothing to do with the message being found faulty. The reason for execution was because they went against the thinking of the times. In other words, they sought to redirect and bring the people of the land to repentance. The writer of Hebrews gives us one of the best summaries of this:

Hebrews 11:36–38 (KJV)

³⁶ And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; ³⁸ (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Cross references: Gen 39:20; 1Kin 18:4; 21:13, 13; 19:9-10; 22:27; 2 Chr 18:26; 24:21;  Jer 20:2; 26:23; 37:15. These are just a few of the many references that demonstrate that the prophets were not well accepted. Their message often fell on deaf and stubborn ears.

Yeshua turns summarizes the entire set of woe’s by asking how the religious leaders think that they will possibly avoid the fires of hell. Those who are teaching carry an incredible responsibility to teach the scriptures correctly. The religious system had slowly deviated away from the instructions of God (Torah) to where violation of the religious system became worthy of death. Yeshua called the rabbinic system “serpents, brood of vipers” this should be carefully noted. The rabbinic system does not carry life. Only the scriptures carry life.

I have been involved with a Messianic church which incorporates rabbinical prayers and practices into the liturgy of services and meetings. Many Messianic churches throw off Christian liturgy to incorporate fully the Jewish form and style of worship. This is often extremely dull and lifeless. I am ok with blending Jewish worship with Christian worship to a point. The point being guided by the instructions of scripture. If there is a strong support from the scriptures for the tradition, prayer, or practice, then incorporate it. If the practice is rooted in rabbinics, trash it. As we correct our walk to match God’s instructions found in the scriptures, we do not need to swing over into Jewish mistakes! We need to embrace the full teachings from the scriptures.  Yeshua stated that the religious system of His day was inspired by the devil. Today, many messianics are rebooting that exact system. The only difference is animal sacrifices are not taking place.

I have the full version of both Talmuds and many of the rabbinical writings in my library. These are good for insight and understanding of the scriptures. They are often critical for understanding the New Testament when it alludes to these teachings. By the way, these writings were oral tradition at that time. These writings were not inspired by God any more than any Christian commentator is inspired by God. They are not scripture. The only scripture is the written word of God. That should be our only measure.  I wonder, as messianic leaders move their congregations toward embracing Jewish traditions and forms of worship, are we going to far? Back to the study now:

Matt 23:34-39 More prophets to come. These verses focus on the ministry of the Holy Spirit through prophets, wise men and scribes. Those who speak the truth of the scriptures will not bode well with the religious systems. The immediate fulfillment of this takes into account the persecution of Christians who took the teachings of the Messiah and brought them to the Jewish people. We have good insight into this in the early part of the book of Acts where Saul persecutes Christians before his conversion. We also see the persecution of the disciples chronicled through the book of Acts. One of the earmarks of the first phase of persecution was the destruction of the temple in 70 A. D..

When the Jewish people and Gentiles for that matter declare that Yeshua is the YHVH, the God of Salvation of the Old Testament, the error of the religious system will be corrected. Yeshua will return or be a part of the lives of these men. It really depends on how you look at these verses. Prophets will continue to attempt to redirect religious leaders and systems until the recognition of the system that Yeshua is the Messiah. The specific focus of this passage is on the Jewish system.

I wish I could say that my understanding of these scriptures is absolutely correct. I cannot say that. I may in the future amend these words with a fuller understanding of the Bible. Until then, this is the best understanding that I have. I hope that as you have labored through reading my thoughts that they have inspired you to think deeply and question the path of your church and of your walk. Redirection back to the scriptures is the only way that we will return to true worship which is patterned after God’s instructions.

Thanks,

Joe Turner

[1] Ulrich Wilckens, “Ὑποκρίνομαι, Συνυποκρίνομαι, Ὑπόκρισις, Ὑποκριτής, Ἀνυπόκριτος,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 561.

^[2] Ibid., 565.

^[3] Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck, and William Scott Green, eds., The Encyclopedia of Judaism (Leiden; Boston; Köln: Brill, 2000), 1133.

^[4] Ibid., 1134.