Matthew 23:13-24 “Do No Harm” (The First 5 Woes)

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 30 June 2013

Translation

23:13 “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because you are shutting the kingdom of the heavens in front of men,

for you are neither entering yourselves, nor are you allowing those who are inbound to enter.

23:14 And woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because y’all eat up the houses of the widows, while pretending to pray for a long [time];

on account of this, y’all will receive extra condemnation.

23:15 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because you are circumnavigating the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever that happens, y’all are making him a child of hell - twice as much as you are.

23:16 Woe to you, blind trail-guides, who say,

‘Whoever swears by the temple – it means nothing,

but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’

23:17 Morons and blind-men!

Now which is greater: the gold or the temple which makes the gold holy?

23:18 and [who say,] ‘Whoever swears by the altar – it is nothing,

but whoever swears by the donation upon it is obligated.’

23:19 Morons and blind men!

Now which is greater: the donation or the altar which makes the donation holy?

23:20 Therefore, the one who swears by the altar is swearing by it and by all the things upon it,

23:21 and the one who swears by the temple is swearing by it and by the One who resides in it,

23:22 and the one who swears by the heavens

is swearing by the throne of God and by the one who is sitting upon it.

23:23 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because y’all are tithing your mint and your dill and your cumin, yet y’all are

letting go of the weightier matters of the law: the justice and the mercy and the faithfulness.

Now, it was necessary to do these things, while not letting go of those things either.

23:24 Blind trail-guides who strain out the gnat but swallow up the camel!”

Introduction

Exegesis

Woe #1

23:13 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are shutting the kingdom[3] of the heavens in front of men, for you are neither entering yourselves, nor are you allowing those who are inbound to enter.

Ουαι [4] ‘υμιν γραμματεις και Φαρισαιοι[5] ‘υποκριται ‘οτι κλειετε την βασιλειαν των ουρανων εμπροσθεν των ανθρωπων ‘υμεις γαρ ουκ εισερχεσθε ουδε τους εισερχομενους αφιετε εισελθειν.

 

Woe #2

23:14 And woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because y’all eat up the houses of the widows, while pretending to pray for a long [time]; on account of this, y’all will receive extra condemnation.

Ουαι δε ‘υμιν γραμματεις και Φαρισαιοι ‘υποκριται ‘οτι κατεσθιετε τας οικιας των χηρων και προφασει μακρα προσευχομενοι δια τουτο ληψεσθε περισσοτερον κριμα[6].

 

Woe #3

23:15 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are circumnavigating the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever that happens, y’all are making him a child of hell - twice as much as you are.

Ουαι ‘υμιν γραμματεις και Φαρισαιοι ‘υποκριται ‘οτι περιαγετε την θαλασσαν και την ξηραν [9] ποιησαι ‘ενα προσηλυτον και ‘οταν γενηται ποιειτε αυτον ‘υιον γεεννης διπλοτερον ‘υμων.

Woe #4

23:16 Woe to you, blind trail-guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple – it means nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’

Ουαι ‘υμιν ‘οδηγοι[14] τυφλοι ‘οι λεγοντες ‘Ος αν ομοσῃ εν τω ναω ουδεν εστιν ‘ος δ’ αν ομοσῃ εν τω χρυσω του ναου οφειλει.

 

23:17 Morons and blind-men! Now which is greater: the gold or the temple which makes the gold holy [sacred/sanctified]?

Μωροι και τυφλοι τíς γαρ μειζων εστιν ‘ο χρυσος η ‘ο ναος ‘ο ‘αγιαζων[16] τον χρυσον;

 

23:18 and [who say,] ‘Whoever swears by the altar – it is nothing, but whoever swears by the donation upon it is obligated.’

και ‘ος εαν[17] ομοσῃ εν τω θυσιαστηριω ουδεν εστιν ‘ος δ’ αν ομοσῃ εν τω δωρω τω επανω αυτου οφειλει.

 

23:19 Morons and blind men! Now which is greater: the donation or the altar which makes the donation holy?

Μωροι και[19] τυφλοι τí γαρ μειζον το δωρον η το θυσιαστηριον το ‘αγιαζον το δωρον

 

23:20 Therefore, the one who swears by the altar is swearing by it and by all the things upon it,

‘Ο ουν ομοσας εν τω θυσιαστηριω ομνυει εν αυτω και εν πασιν τοις επανω αυτου

 

23:21 and the one who swears by the temple is swearing by it and by the One who resides in it,

και ‘ο ομοσας εν τω ναω ομνυει εν αυτω και εν τω κατοικησαντι[20] αυτον

 

23:22 and the one who swears by the heavens is swearing by the throne of God and by the one who is sitting upon it.

και ‘ο ομοσας εν τω ουρανω ομνυει εν τω θρονω του θεου και εν τω καθημενω επανω αυτου.

 

Woe #5

23:23 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because y’all are tithing your mint and your dill and your cumin, yet y’all are letting go of the weightier matters of the law: the justice and the mercy and the faithfulness. Now, it was necessary to do these things, while not letting go of those things either.

Ουαι ‘υμιν γραμματεις και Φαρισαιοι ‘υποκριται ‘οτι αποδεκατουτε το ηδυοσμον και το ανηθον και το κυμινον και αφηκατε τα βαρυτερα του νομου την κρισιν και τον ελεον[21] και την πιστιν ταυτα δε[22] εδει ποιησαι κακεινα μη αφιεναι[23].

 

23:24 Blind trail-guides who strain out the gnat but swallow up the camel!”

Οδηγοι τυφλοι οι διυλιζοντες[24] τον κωνωπα την δε καμηλον καταπινοντες.

Conclusion

It is interesting how these woes at the close of Jesus’ earthly ministry mirror the Beatitudes He gave at the onset of His ministry: For instance:

 

A natural way to apply this passage on the woes is to do the opposite of whatever it was that brought these covenantal curses down on these people who had been the people of God:

1.      So if it is a woe to shut out the kingdom of heaven to people and not enter ourselves, then what we need to do is seek to enter into that kingdom and also open it out to others! In what ways could you help people come to Christ for salvation?

2.      If it’s a woe to devour widow’s houses while pretending to pray long prayers, then what we need to do is help widows and only pray things we really mean with God. Do you know any widows that you could do something special for?

3.      If it’s a woe to make proselytes into double hellions, then what we need to do is make disciples who are blessed by baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded in the Bible rather than giving them lots of man-made rules. What are you teaching other people about God?

4.      If it’s a woe to teach people how to back out of their promises, then stop trying to mislead people and take advantage of them; let your Yes mean Yes and your No mean No. Is there anything in your work or home culture that encourages people not to tell the truth?

5.      And finally, if it is a woe to neglect justice, mercy, and faithfulness, then we need to practice doing what God says is right and practice showing undeserved kindness… and also not forget to tithe. What would your work or home environment look like if you emphasized justice, mercy, and faithfulness?

 

May God help us as His people to walk in faithfulness to His covenant so that we will not fall under the woes of His covenantal curses!

 

.

 

 



[1] Breakdown of the use of the word “Woe” by categories of books in the Greek Bible: Penteteuch (1x), Writings (4x), Prophets (54), Gospels (30), Epistles (2), Revelation (14). Books of the Bible in which the word “Woe” appears in Greek more than once: 1 Samuel (3x), Ecclesiastes (2x), Isaiah (22x), Jeremiah (9x), Ezekiel (5x), Hosea (2x), Amos (4x), Micah (2x), Habakkuk (3x), Zephaniah (2x), Matthew (13x), Revelation (14x)

[2] v8. Woe, those who extend house with house, they adjoin field with field until there is no more place, (materialism)

v11. Woe to those who, early in the morning, pursue alcohol; after dusk wine inflames them. (idolatry of food/drink)

v18. Woe to those who draw iniquity, with cords of vanity and sin, with cart ropes. (hypocrisy)

v20. Woe to those who say to evil, “Good!” and to good, “Evil!” (lying, perversion)

v21. Woe those who are wise in their eyes and in front of their faces consider themselves intelligent. (pride/humanism)

v22-23. Woe, those who are champions for drinking wine and men of valor for mixing alcohol… those who make righteous the wicked in order to gain a bribe… (misplaced heroism and injustice)

[3] See 4:23 on “the kingdom of heaven”

[4] On the basis of four documents averaging in the 8th Century (B, L, 28, 892), Critical editions add the conjunction δε (“but”) here. Although it makes for smoother reading, I don’t consider this to be adequate textual evidence.

[5] This might be an instance of hendiadyses in which a particular class of scribes, namely the Pharisees are being identi­fied, rather than two separate groups, one of scribes and one of Pharisees. This was not, however, the consensus of the team from Wycliffe Bible Translators which has been tagging the GNT with Louw & Nida’s semantic domain numbers.

[6] Although the majority of Greek manuscripts have vs. 13 and 14 in this order, the old Textus Receptus editions (although not the newer Scrivener edition of the T.R.) have these verses in reverse order, which is no big deal. This woe about devouring widow’s houses does not appear in most of the earliest-known Greek manuscripts (א, B, D, L, Θ, f1, 33), and it is also not found in a number of early versions and Bible commentaries (Italian, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Origen, Eusebius, Jerome), but it is in the majority of the Greek manuscripts, the earliest known one dating to the 5th Century (K, W, Δ, Π, 0107, 0138, 28, f13), as well as in some versions from as early as the 4th Century (Italian, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic) and some church commentators from as early as the 2nd Century (Diatesseron, Origen, Hilary, Chrysostom, John of Damascus). Because there is early textual evidence for this verse, it is included, but because of the division among sources for our Greek text, it is debated whether this verse was original to Matthew’s gospel, and some have postulated that it was added in later to match Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 (Compare: οι κατεσθι-ουσινLuke/-οντεςMark τας οικιας των χηρων και προφασει μακρα προσευχ-ονταιLuke/-ομενοιMark ουτοι ληψονται), which are exactly the same except that the subjects and verbs are in 3rd person instead of 2nd person. This is why the NAS, NIV, and ESV put v. 14 in italics or brackets. I consider it doubtful, however that an interpolator would copy something like this over from a non-parallel passage and change all the verbs.

[7] Cf. Jameison, Fausset & Brown, “they contrived to obtain possession of their property”

[8] Isaiah 10:1-2, Prov. 15:25, Ex. 22:22-23, etc.

[9] A few early Greek manuscripts add a word here which doesn’t change the meaning (ΔΘ, f13 add του – untranslateable into English, but carrying a meaning of purpose, and D adds hina “in order to”). The phrase “sea and dry land” is an echo of Gen 1:10 and Jonah 1:9 which speaks of the surface of our entire planet.

[10] In NT only here and Acts 2:10; 6:5; 13:43, but appears over 70x in the LXX OT to translate the concept of the “stranger within thy gates.”

[11] Gill agrees. Alternately, Chrysostom suggested, “because they are teachers of wickedness. And not this only, but because they labor to instill into their disciples a greater wickedness, hardening them to a much greater depravity than they have, and this is above all a mark of a depraved soul.”

[12] Dialogue with Trypho, CXXII, Ante-Nicene Fathers

[13] In Psidian Antioch (Acts 13:45), Iconium (Acts 14:2-19), Thessalonica (Acts 17:5), and Corinth (Acts 18:6)

[14] Matthew uses this word more than any other Bible author. It’s a compound of the Greek word for “road” and the verb “to lead.” The only O.T. use is in Ezra 8:1 where the heads of families who lead their families from captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem are called “hodagoi.” Matthew speaks to the descendents of those auspicious leaders, so does Peter in Acts 1:16 and Paul in Romans 2:16.

[15] lib. xi. epist. 95

[16] On the basis of only 4 early Greek manuscripts (א, B, D, Z), Critical editions make this participle Aorist, but the reading of the majority in the Present tense is supported by plenty of early manuscripts (C, L, W, Θ, f1, f13, etc.). The parallel in v.19 is undisputably Present. The Present tense indicates that the temple continues to sanctify the gold, whereas the Aorist tense would indicate that the temple sanctifiedNASB the gold at one point in time. Thus I consider the Present tense reading to be superior, and I see that the NIV also went with an English present tense in its translation. It appears that the ESV translators also saw this problem and compromised with a Perfect tense so as to include both past and present tense meanings.

[17] Critical editions omit the first letter of this word. Neither the UBS or Nestle-Aland 3rd Editions offered a reason for this in their critical apparati. It makes no difference in translation, though.

[18] (cf. Gen. 8:20-built by Noah; Gen. 12:7-8-built by Abraham; Ex. 17:15-built by Moses; Ex. 20:24-26 & Lev. 1:5-17, etc.-Altar of burnt offerings in tabernacle and temple.)

[19] A few of the earliest Greek manuscripts (א, D, L, Θ, f1) and early translations into other languages (Vulgate, Syriac) omit “fools/morons and,” on the premise that they are probably interpolated from v.17, but these words are found in the majority of Greek manuscripts, including multiple manuscripts and translations which date just as early as the ones which don’t have the words (B, C, W, etc., Syriac, Coptic), so I think it’s safe to consider it original to Matthew, despite the fact that it is omitted from the NAS, NIV, and ESV English versions.

[20] The slight majority of Greek manuscripts spells this participle in the Aorist tense, including many ancient Greek manuscripts (C, D, K L, W, A, Γ, Δ, etc.) and this preserved in the Byzantine editions.The Present tense form of this participle is found in only three ancient Greek manuscripts (א, Β, Θ) but many later Greek manuscripts (including f1 and f13) and this is preserved in the Textus Receptus and Critical editions of the Greek New Testament. The Aorist tense would conceive of God dwelling at one point in time in heaven whereas the Present tense would indicate God continuing to dwell in heaven, and I think the latter is more theologically appropriate, so I have departed from the majority here.

[21] The Majority of Greek manuscripts (including C, W, 0133, f1, and f13) spell this word in the Accusative case, matching the case of the other two objects in the list, Justice and Faith, and this is how Byzantine and Textus Receptus editions of the Greek New Testament read. Critical editions, however, (following א, B, D, and a few 9th Century Greek manuscripts), print what is normally a Nominative spelling (ελεος), but which is considered by many lexicographers to be an alternative form of the Accusative. I prefer the less-obscure reading here.

[22] Omitted in 5 early Greek manuscripts (א, D, Γ, Θ, 0133), and therefore not in early Critical editions, but is in the 3rd Edition of the UBS and Nestle-Aland editions of the Greek New Testament. Makes for a clearer grammatical transition in Greek, but makes no difference in English translation.

[23] Several Greek texts, including two of the oldest-known, switch two letters to change this Present Infinitive into an Aorist Infinitive. The present tense indicates that the Pharisee’s failures were continuing, whereas the Aorist would generally point to only one time of failure. For this reason, and for the reason that the Majority of Greek manuscripts (including ones dating back about as far as the other two old ones mentioned above) have this spelled in Present tense, I kept the Present tense form.

[24] Only here in NT “strain out” not “strain at” (KJV)