During the Passover celebration, Jesus watched the Scribes and Pharisees zealously guard their false holiness, a mere collection of man-made ritual observances offering only a vague resemblance to the Law of Moses. The ancient symbolic rituals were far simpler than the Talmudic expansions heaped up by the rabbinical colleges corrupted by Persian and Greek influences. In a drive to produce a mountain of great works by their hands, they were filled with pride. Their grand robes were filthy rags before Jehovah. Jesus offers His disciples a scathing critique of the empty suits who imagined they were the true keepers of Moses.
Standing in the vicinity of the Temple, Jesus addresses His disciples, clearly including the crowd of listeners in His audience. That it would have included Scribes and Pharisees we should take for granted. These latter held civil authority to command conduct presumably extracted from Mosaic Law. Jesus observed His nation was legally obliged to obey their rendering, but by no means should anyone assume they represented God. They delighted in making things difficult, but spared not the slightest effort to consider how things might be simplified. They were all about appearances. In observing some of the silliest customs of wearing little scrolls on their foreheads, they completely forgot to actually understand what God wanted. No one should imagine Jesus participated in such goofy displays. This is a rather blunt condemnation of the Hellenist tradition of taking Mosaic commands literally, as opposed to the Hebrew symbolism in the command (Exodus 13:16). Indeed, in their literalism they competed to extravagant measures.
The Pharisees and Scribes were all about appearances and worldly honors. They bickered over places of honor at feasts, and who ranked for which seat in the synagogues, and demanded various honorific titles meant to impress people, rather like the silly "Reverend Doctor So-n-so" of today. Seeking such distinctions among men showed the sinful heart of these men. There is only one title in the Kingdom: Messiah. Don't pursue the sort of ticket-punching which permitted men to be greeted officially as Professor, Doctor, or Dean (modern approximations of Rabbi, Master and Father). Greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven is not in titles, but in humility and service. People who need ego-stroking are the most useless before God.
Having explained the fundamental sinful nature of Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus proceeds to lay eight woes upon them. The first is easily their worst: They did everything they could to alienate all men from God's revelation, standing as guards to block the way. Having never been inside the truth, they refused to let anyone else approach it.
In the second woe, Jesus makes a reference to Salome, the widow of High Priest Alexander Jannaeus; she ruled from 78-69 BC. Alexander had opposed the Pharisees bitterly, but they seduced her to their ways. They were so lacking in wisdom and restraint, the tension they created was a primary cause for Rome taking an interest in, and assuming control of Judea in 63 BC. Meanwhile, they were composing these eloquent three-hour prayers recited in public, begging God to set them free from the Roman domination they brought down on the city.
In a third woe, Jesus notes the Pharisees have a distinct preference for Gentile converts to Pharisaism. The reason should be obvious, as those converted to a religion from the outside are the most zealous of all, embracing with a harsh fervor the most demanding silly observances. These were like a whip against the native Judeans who had grown up in the synagogues. Thus, these proselytes were more hellish and more completely removed from the faith of Abraham than before.
The fourth woe remarks upon the Pharisaical legal tricks. In business dealings, an oath by the Temple was not binding. However, by nit-picking and demanding an oath upon the gold of the Temple, the scribal lawyers considered that binding. This system of playing with words was merely an opportunity to defraud outsiders. The mere presence of any such nonsense showed an evil intent, wholly lacking in the grace of God for Whom the Temple was presumably built.
Such a hair-splitting frame of mind was totally foreign to Jehovah. The fifth woe notes how the Pharisees would tithe on herbs one might grow in a window box, bringing to the Temple a mere pinch of dried herbs. Meanwhile, they didn't even know the God to whom they owed their very lives. These same men hardly comprehended the fundamental purpose of the Law of Moses. They might sift a barrel of flour to avoid the possibility of consuming the smallest non-kosher insect, but swallow in terms of gross sins of the heart the largest non-kosher animal in Palestine.
To drive the point home, Jesus uses a Hebrew parable in the sixth woe. Their pretense of external holiness was like polishing the faintest fingerprints from the outside of their dishes, but failing to wash the putrid food and drink remains on the inside. The idea of changing the heart of man never occurred to them.
Following every rainy season, tombs were whitewashed to prevent visitors to the area of Jerusalem accidentally defiling themselves by touching these structures. This meant the brilliant white coat was fresh during Passover. In the seventh woe, the Pharisees were like these glittering tombs, pretty on the outside, but utterly disgusting inside.
Continuing on the subject of tombs, Jesus notes in His last woe the tombs of prophets and important persons were rather substantial and ornate. By dressing up their tombs, the Pharisees celebrated the prophets' deaths, not their lives. In Hebrew tradition, a great pile of rocks is raised to mark the tomb of criminals, the larger piles indicating high crimes. Indeed, it is the Pharisees who are the criminals, for their actions showed they lied in their words.
Vipers were not hatched from eggs as most snakes, but were born alive, often by bursting through their mother's sides, killing her. This is the repugnant image of the Scribes and Pharisees, destroying the Nation in their venomous rush to death. Jesus prophesied He would send prophets, teachers and Scripture writers, and the Pharisees would be responsible for murdering them. The Lord would allow this to insure the full weight of rejecting the Messiah would fall upon them. It was the same hellish nature which bore responsibility for all the murders listed in Scripture. All this would be fulfilled and finished with those living at the time Jesus spoke.
Foreseeing the destruction of Jerusalem 40 years hence, Jesus breaks into a beautiful lament over the city. In the shadow of His teaching alone would anyone find safety from the coming destruction. Indeed, in the next chapter, Jesus pointedly warns the Christians what to look for when it came time to flee Jerusalem. Those who followed His teaching would certainly have not been among the million or so Jews Titus slaughtered in AD 70. The final words of the warning here are conclusive. The Temple ("house") in which they placed so much confidence would be destroyed. It was never God's Temple, not while they profaned it with false religion. The public ministry of Christ was finished. Shortly He would die and then rise again. Only those who were His disciples would see His resurrected body. At the same time, He warns only those who follow Him would be walking in the name of the Lord.
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Ed Hurst
22 December 2007
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