In
the foregoing chapter, we had our Saviour's discourses with the scribes and
Pharisees; here we have his discourse concerning them, or rather against
them. I. He allows their office, ver. 2, 3. II. He warns his disciples not
to imitate their hypocrisy and pride, ver. 4-12. III. He exhibits a charge
against them for divers high crimes and misdemeanors, corrupting the law,
opposing the gospel, and treacherous dealing both with God and man; and to
each article he prefixes a woe, ver. 13-33. IV. He passes sentence upon
Jerusalem, and foretels the ruin of the city and
temple, especially for the sin of persecution, ver. 34-39.
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The
Scribes and Pharisees Condemned; Cautions against Pride.
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1 Then spake Jesus
to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2 Saying, The scribes
and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: 3 All therefore whatsoever
they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their
works: for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens
and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves
will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their
works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and
enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 And love the uppermost
rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And
greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ;
and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father
upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10
Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even
Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your
servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased;
and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
We find not Christ, in all his preaching, so severe upon any sort of people
as upon these scribes and Pharisees; for the truth is, nothing is
more directly opposite to the spirit of the gospel than the temper and
practice of that generation of men, who were made up of pride, worldliness,
and tyranny, under a cloak and pretence of religion; yet these were the
idols and darlings of the people, who thought, if but two men went to
heaven, one would be a Pharisee. Now Christ directs his discourse here to
the multitude, and to his disciples (v. 1) to rectify their
mistakes concerning these scribes and Pharisees, by painting them out in
their true colours, and so to take off the prejudice which some of the
multitude had conceived against Christ and his doctrine, because it was
opposed by those men of their church, that called themselves the people's
guides. Note, It is good to know the true characters of men, that we may not
be imposed upon by great and mighty names, titles, and pretensions to power.
People must be told of the wolves (Acts xx. 29, 30), the dogs
(Phil. iii. 2), the deceitful workers (2 Cor. xi. 13), that they may
know here to stand upon their guard. And not only the mixed multitude, but
even the disciples, need these cautions; for good men are apt to have their
eyes dazzled with worldly pomp.
Now, in this discourse,
I. Christ allows their office as expositors of the law; The scribes and
Pharisees (that is, the whole Sanhedrim, who sat at the helm of church
government, who were all called scribes, and were some of them
Pharisees), they sit in Moses' seat (v. 2), as public teachers
and interpreters of the law; and, the law of Moses being the municipal law
of their state, they were as judges, or a bench of justices; teaching and
judging seem to be equivalent, comparing 2 Chron. xvii. 7, 9, with 2 Chron.
xix. 5, 6, 8. They were not the itinerant judges that rode the circuit, but
the standing bench, that determined on appeals, special verdicts, or writs
of error by the law; they sat in Moses's seat, not as he was Mediator
between God and
Israel
, but only as he was chief justice, Exod. xviii. 26. Or, we may apply it,
not to the Sanhedrim, but to the other Pharisees and scribes, that expounded
the law, and taught the people how to apply it to particular cases. The
pulpit of wood, such as was made for Ezra, that ready scribe in the
law of God (Neh. viii. 4), is here called Moses's seat, because
Moses had those in every city (so the expression is, Acts xv. 21), who in
those pulpits preached him; this was their office, and it was just and
honourable; it was requisite that there should be some at whose mouth the
people might enquire the law, Mal. ii. 7. Note, 1. Many a good place
is filled with bad men; it is no new thing for the vilest men to be exalted
even to Moses's seat (Ps. xii. 8); and, when it is so, the men are
not so much honoured by the seat as the seat is dishonoured by the men. Now
they that sat in Moses's seat were so wretchedly degenerated, that it was
time for the great Prophet to arise, like unto Moses, to erect another seat.
2. Good and useful offices and powers are not therefore to be
condemned and abolished, because they fall sometimes into the hands of bad
men, who abuse them. We must not therefore pull down Moses's seat,
because scribes and Pharisees have got possession of it; rather than so, let
both grow together until the harvest, ch. xiii. 30.
Hence he infers (v. 3), "Whatsoever they bid you observe,
that observe and do As far as they sit in Moses's seat, that is,
read and preach the law that was given by Moses" (which, as yet,
continued in full force, power, and virtue), "and judge according to
that law, so far you must hearken to them, as remembrances to you of the
written word." The scribes and Pharisees made it their business to
study the scripture, and were well acquainted with the language, history,
and customs of it, and its style and phraseology. Now Christ would have the
people to make use of the helps they gave them for the understanding of the
scripture, and do accordingly. As long as their comments did illustrate the
text and not pervert it; did make plain, and not make void, the
commandment of God; so far they must be observed and obeyed, but with
caution and a judgment of discretion. Note, We must not think the worse of
good truths for their being preached by bad ministers; nor of good laws for
their being executed by bad magistrates. Though it is most desirable to have
our food brought by angels, yet, if God send it to us by ravens, if it be
good and wholesome, we must take it, and thank God for it. Our Lord Jesus
promiseth this, to prevent the cavil which some would be apt to make at this
following discourse; as if, by condemning the scribes and Pharisees, he
designed to bring the law of Moses into contempt, and to draw people off
from it; whereas he came not to destroy, but to fulfil. Note, It is
wisdom to obviate the exceptions which may be taken at just reproofs,
especially when there is occasion to distinguish between officers and their
offices, that the ministry be not blamed when the ministers are.
II. He condemns the men. He had ordered the multitude to do as they taught;
but here he annexeth a caution not to do as they did, to beware of their
leaven; Do not ye after their works. Their traditions were their
works, were their idols, the works of their fancy. Or, "Do not
according to their example." Doctrines and practices are spirits that
must be tried, and where there is occasion, must be carefully separated and
distinguished; and as we must not swallow corrupt doctrines for the sake of
any laudable practices of those that teach them, so we must not imitate any
bad examples for the sake of the plausible doctrines of those that set them.
The scribes and Pharisees boasted as much of the goodness of their works as
of the orthodoxy of their teaching, and hoped to be justified by them; it
was the plea they put in (Luke xviii. 11, 12); and yet these things, which
they valued themselves so much upon, were an abomination in the sight of
God.
Our Saviour here, and in the following verses, specifies divers particulars
of their works, wherein we must not imitate them. In general, they are
charged with hypocrisy, dissimulation, or double-dealing in religion; a
crime which cannot be enquired of at men's bar, because we can only judge
according to outward appearance; but God, who searcheth the heart, can
convict of hypocrisy; and nothing is more displeasing to him, for he
desireth truth.
Four things are in these verses charged upon them.
1. Their saying and doing were two things.
Their practice was no way agreeable either to their preaching or to their
profession; for they say, and do not; they teach out of the law that
which is good, but their conversation gives them the lie; and they seem to
have found another way to heaven for themselves than what they show to
others. See this illustrated and charged home upon them, Rom. ii. 17-24.
Those are of all sinners most inexcusable that allow themselves in the sins
they condemn in others, or in worse. This doth especially touch wicked
ministers, who will be sure to have their portion appointed them with
hypocrites (ch. xxiv. 51); for what greater hypocrisy can there be,
than to press that upon others, to be believed and done, which they
themselves disbelieve and disobey; pulling down in their practice what they
build up in their preaching; when in the pulpit, preaching so well that it
is a pity they should ever come out; but, when out of the pulpit, living so
ill that it is a pity they should ever come in; like bells, that call others
to church, but hang out of it themselves; or Mercurial posts, that point the
way to others, but stand still themselves? Such will be judged out of
their own mouths. It is applicable to all others that say, and do not;
that make a plausible profession of religion, but do not live up to that
profession; that make fair promises, but do not perform their promises; are
full of good discourse, and can lay down the law to all about them, but are
empty of good works; great talkers, but little doers; the voice is
Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Vox et præterea
nihil--mere sound. They speak fair, I go, sir; but there is no
trusting them, for there are seven abominations in their heart.
2. They were very severe in imposing upon others those things which they
were not themselves willing to submit to the burthen of (v. 4); They
bind heavy burthens, and grievous to be borne; not only insisting upon
the minute circumstances of the law, which is called a yoke (Acts xv.
10), and pressing the observation of them with more strictness and severity
than God himself did (whereas the maxim of the lawyers, is Apices juris
son sunt jura--Mere points of law are not law), but by adding to his
words, and imposing their own inventions and traditions, under the highest
penalties. They loved to show their authority and to exercise their
domineering faculty, lording it over God's heritage, and saying to men's
souls, Bow down, that we may go over; witness their many additions to
the law of the fourth commandment, by which they made the sabbath a burthen
on men's shoulders, which was designed to be the joy of their hearts. Thus
with force and cruelty did those shepherds rule the flock, as of old,
Ezek. xxxiv. 4.
But see their hypocrisy; They themselves will not move them with one of
their fingers. (1.) They would not exercise themselves in those things
which they imposed upon others; they pressed upon the people a strictness in
religion which they themselves would not be bound by; but secretly
transgressed their own traditions, which they publicly enforced. They
indulged their pride in giving law to others; but consulted their ease in
their own practice. Thus it has been said, to the reproach of the popish
priests, that they fast with wine and sweetmeats, while they force the
people to fast with bread and water; and decline the penances they enjoin
the laity. (2.) They would not ease the people in these things, nor put a
finger to lighten their burthen, when they saw it pinched them. They could
find out loose constructions to put upon God's law, and could dispense with
that, but would not bate an ace of their own impositions, nor dispense with
a failure in the least punctilio of them. They allowed no chancery to
relieve the extremity of their common law. How contrary to this was the
practice of Christ's apostles, who would allow to others that use of
Christian liberty which, for the peace and edification of the church, they
would deny themselves in! They would lay no other burthen than necessary
things, and those easy, Acts xv. 28. How carefully doth Paul spare those to
whom he writes! 1 Cor. vii. 28; ix. 12.
3. They were all for show, and nothing for substance, in religion (v.
5); All their works they do, to be seen of men. We must do such good
works, that they who see them may glorify God; but we must not proclaim our
good works, with design that others may see them, and glorify us; which our
Saviour here chargeth upon the Pharisees in general, as he had done before
in the particular instances of prayer and giving of alms. All their end was
to be praised of men, and therefore all their endeavour was to be seen of
men, to make a fair show in the flesh. In those duties of religion
which fall under the eye of men, none ere so constant and abundant as they;
but in what lies between God and their souls, in the retirement of their
closets, and the recesses of their hearts, they desire to be excused. The form
of godliness will get them a name to live, which is all they aim at, and
therefore they trouble not themselves with the power of it, which is
essential to a life indeed. He that does all to be seen does nothing to the
purpose.
He specifies two things which they did to be seen of men.
(1.) They made broad their phylacteries. Those were little scrolls of
paper or parchment, wherein were written, with great niceness, these four
paragraphs of the law, Exod. xiii. 2-11; xiii. 11-16; Deut. vi. 4-9; xi.
13-21. These were sewn up in leather, and worn upon their foreheads and left
arms. It was a tradition of the elders, which had reference to Exod. xiii.
9, and Prov. vii. 3, where the expressions seem to be figurative, intimating
no more than that we should bear the things of God in our minds as carefully
as if we had them bound between our eyes. Now the Pharisees made broad these
phylacteries, that they might be thought more holy, and strict, and zealous
for the law, than others. It is a gracious ambition to covet to be really
more holy than others, but it is a proud ambition to covet to appear so. It
is good to excel in real piety, but not to exceed in outward shows; for
overdoing is justly suspected of design, Prov. xxvii. 14. It is the guise of
hypocrisy to make more ado than needs in external service, more than is
needful either to prove, or to improve, the good affections and
dispositions of the soul.
(2.) They enlarged the borders of their garments. God appointed the
Jews to make borders or fringes upon their garments (Num. xv. 38), to
distinguish them from other nations, and to be a memorandum to them of their
being a peculiar people; but the Pharisees were not content to have these
borders like other people's, which might serve God's design in appointing
them; but they must be larger than ordinary, to answer their design of
making themselves to be taken notice of; as if they were more religious than
others. But those who thus enlarge their phylacteries, and the borders of
their garments, while their hearts are straitened, and destitute of the love
of God and their neighbour, though they may now deceive others, will in the
end deceive themselves.
4. They much affected pre-eminence and superiority, and prided themselves
extremely in it. Pride was the darling reigning sin of the Pharisees, the
sin that did most easily beset them and which our Lord Jesus takes all
occasions to witness against.
(1.) He describes their pride, v. 6, 7. They courted, and coveted,
[1.] Places of honour and respect. In all public appearances, as at
feasts, and in the synagogues, they expected, and had, to their hearts'
delight, the uppermost rooms, and the chief seats. They took place of
all others, and precedency was adjudged to them, as persons of the greatest
note and merit; and it is easy to imagine what a complacency they took in
it; they loved to have the preeminence, 3 John 9. It is not
possessing the uppermost rooms, nor sitting in the chief seats, that is
condemned (somebody must sit uppermost), but loving them; for men to
value such a little piece of ceremony as sitting highest, going first,
taking the wall, or the better hand, and to value themselves upon it, to
seek it, and to feel resentment if they have it not; what is that but making
an idol of ourselves, and then falling down and worshipping it--the worst
kind of idolatry! It is bad any where, but especially in the synagogues. There
to seek honour to ourselves, where we appear in order to give glory to God,
and to humble ourselves before him, is indeed to mock God instead of serving
him. David would willingly lie at the threshold in God's house; so far was
he from coveting the chief seat there, Ps. lxxxiv. 10. It savours
much of pride and hypocrisy, when people do not care for going to church,
unless they can look fine and make a figure there.
[2.] Titles of honour and respect. They loved greetings in the markets,
loved to have people put off their hats to them, and show them respect when
they met them in the streets. O how it pleased them, and fed their vain
humour, digito monstrari et dicier, Hic est--to be pointed out, and to
have it said, This be he, to have way made for them in the crowd of
market people; "Stand off, here is a Pharisee coming!" and to be
complimented with the high and pompous title of Rabbi, Rabbi! This
was meat and drink and dainties to them; and they took as great a
satisfaction in it as Nebuchadnezzar did in his palace, when he said, Is
not this great Babylon that I have built? The greetings would not
have done them half so much good, if they had not been in the markets, where
every body might see how much they were respected, and how high they stood
in the opinion of the people. It was but a little before Christ's time, that
the Jewish teachers, the masters of Israel, had assumed the title of Rabbi,
Rab, or Rabban, which signifies great or much; and was
construed as Doctor, or My lord. And they laid such a stress
upon it, that they gave it for a maxim that "he who salutes his
teacher, and does not call him Rabbi, provokes the divine Majesty to depart
from Israel;" so much religion did they place in that which was but a
piece of good manners! For him that is taught in the word to give respect to
him that teaches is commendable enough in him that gives it; but for him
that teaches to love it, and demand it, and affect it, to be puffed up with
it, and to be displeased if it be omitted, is sinful and abominable; and,
instead of teaching, he has need to learn the first lesson in the school of
Christ, which is humility.
(2.) He cautions his disciples against being herein like them; herein they
must not do after their works; "But be not ye called so, for ye shall
not be of such a spirit," v. 8, &c.
Here is, [1.] A prohibition of pride. They are here forbidden,
First, To challenge titles of honour and dominion to themselves, v.
8-10. It is repeated twice; Be not called Rabbi, neither be ye called
Master or Guide: not that it is unlawful to give civil respect to those
that are over us in the Lord, nay, it is an instance of the honour and
esteem which it is our duty to show them; but, 1. Christ's ministers must
not affect the name of Rabbi or Master, by way of distinction
from other people; it is not agreeable to the simplicity of the gospel, for
them to covet or accept the honour which they have that are in kings'
palaces. 2. They must not assume the authority and dominion implied in those
names; they must not be magisterial, nor domineer over their brethren, or
over God's heritage, as if they had dominion over the faith of Christians:
what they received of the Lord, all must receive from them; but in other
things they must not make their opinions and wills a rule and standard to
all other people, to be admitted with an implicit obedience. The reasons for
this prohibition are,
(1.) One is your Master, even Christ, v. 8, and again, v.
10. Note, [1.] Christ is our Master, our Teacher, our Guide. Mr. George
Herbert, when he named the name of Christ, usually added, My
Master. [2.] Christ only is our Master, ministers are but ushers in the
school. Christ only is the Master, the great Prophet, whom we must hear, and
be ruled and overruled by; whose word must be an oracle and a law to us; Verily
I say unto you, must be enough to us. And if he only be our Master, then
for his ministers to set up for dictators, and to pretend to a supremacy and
an infallibility, is a daring usurpation of that honour of Christ which he
will not give to another.
(2.) All ye are brethren. Ministers are brethren not only to one
another, but to the people; and therefore it ill becomes them to be masters,
when there are none for them to master it over but their brethren; yea, and
we are all younger brethren, otherwise the eldest might claim an excellency
of dignity and power, Gen. xlix. 3. But, to preclude that, Christ
himself is the first-born among many brethren, Rom. viii. 29. Ye are
brethren, as ye are all disciples of the same Master. School-fellows are
brethren, and, as such, should help one another in getting their lesson; but
it will by no means be allowed that one of the scholars step into the
master's seat, and give law to the school. If we are all brethren, we must
not be many masters. Jam. iii. 1.
Secondly, They are forbidden to ascribe such titles to others (v.
9); "Call no man your father upon the earth; constitute no man
the father of your religion, that is, the founder, author, director, and
governor, of it." The fathers of our flesh must be called fathers,
and as such we must give them reverence; but God only must be allowed
as the Father of our spirits, Heb. xii. 9. Our religion must not be
derived from, or made to depend upon, any man. We are born again to the
spiritual and divine life, not of corruptible seed, but by the word of
God; not of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God. Now
the will of man, not being the rise of our religion, must not be the rule of
it. We must not jurare in verba magistri--swear to the dictates of any
creature, not the wisest or best, nor pin our faith on any man's sleeve,
because we know not whither he will carry it. St. Paul calls himself a
Father to those whose conversion he had been an instrument of (1 Cor.
iv. 15; Phil. 10); but he pretends to no dominion over them, and uses that
title to denote, not authority, but affection: therefore he calls them not
his obliged, but his beloved, sons, 1 Cor. iv. 14.
The reason given is, One is your Father, who is in heaven. God is our
Father, and is All in all in our religion. He is the Fountain of it, and its
Founder; the Life of it, and its Lord; from whom alone, as the Original, our
spiritual life is derived, and on whom it depends. He is the Father of
all lights (Jam. i. 17), that one Father, from whom are all
things, and we in him, Eph. iv. 6. Christ having taught us to say, Our
Father, who art in heaven; let us call no man Father upon earth;
no man, because man is a worm, and the son of man is a worm, hewn out
of the same rock with us; especially not upon earth, for man upon earth is a
sinful worm; there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and
sinneth not, and therefore no one is fit to be called Father.
[2.] Here is a precept of humility and mutual subjection (v. 11); He
that is greatest among you shall be your servant; not only call himself
so (we know of one who styles himself Servus servorum Dei--Servant of the
servants of God, but acts as Rabbi, and father, and master, and Dominus
Deus noster--The Lord our God, and what not), but he shall be so. Take
it as a promise; "He shall be accounted greatest, and stand
highest in the favour of God, that is most submissive and serviceable;"
or as a precept; "He that is advanced to any place of dignity, trust,
and honour, in the church, let him be your servant" (some copies
read esw for esai),
"let him not think that his patent of honour is a writ of ease; no; he
that is greatest is not a lord, but a minister." St. Paul, who knew
his privilege as well as duty, though free from all, yet made himself
servant unto all (1 Cor. ix. 19); and our Master frequently pressed it
upon his disciples to be humble and self-denying, mild and condescending,
and to abound in all offices of Christian love, though mean, and to the
meanest; and of this he hath set us an example.
[3.] Here is a good reason for all this, v. 12. Consider,
First, The punishment intended for the proud; Whosoever shall
exalt himself shall be abased. If God give them repentance, they will be
abased in their own eyes, and will abhor themselves for it; if they repent
not, sooner or later they will be abased before the world. Nebuchadnezzar,
in the height of his pride, was turned to be a fellow-commoner with the
beasts; Herod, to be a feast for the worms; and Babylon, that sat as a
queen, to be the scorn of nations. God made the proud and aspiring priests
contemptible and base (Mal. ii. 9), and the lying prophet to be the tail,
Isa. ix. 15. But if proud men have not marks of humiliation set upon them in
this world, there is a day coming, when they shall rise to everlasting
shame and contempt (Dan. xii. 2); so plentifully will he reward the
proud doer! Ps. xxxi. 23.
Secondly, The preferment intended for the humble; He that shall
humble himself shall be exalted. Humility is that ornament which is
in the sight of God of great price. In this world the humble have the
honour of being accepted with the holy God, and respected by all wise and
good men; of being qualified for, and often called out to, the most
honourable services; for honour is like the shadow, which flees from those
that pursue it, and grasp at it, but follows those that flee from it.
However, in the other world, they that have humbled themselves in contrition
for their sin, in compliance with their God, and in condescension to their
brethren, shall be exalted to inherit the throne of glory; shall be not only
owned, but crowned, before angels and men.
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The
Crimes of the Pharisees.
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13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither
go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go
in. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye
shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell
than yourselves. 16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which
say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall
swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17 Ye
fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that
sanctifieth the gold? 18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the
altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he
is guilty. 19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is
greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20
Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things
thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it,
and by him that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that shall swear by
heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth
thereon. 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for
ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters
of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not
to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which
strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of
the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the
cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of
dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye
also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the
sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the
days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood
of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves,
that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of
hell?
In these verses we have eight woes levelled directly against the scribes and
Pharisees by our Lord Jesus Christ, like so many claps of thunder, or
flashes of lightning, from mount Sinai. Three woes are made to look
very dreadful (Rev. viii. 13; ix. 12); but here are eight woes, in
opposition to the eight beatitudes, Matt. v. 3. The gospel has its woes as
well as the law, and gospel curses are of all curses the heaviest. These
woes are the more remarkable, not only because of the authority, but because
of the meekness and gentleness, of him that denounced them. He came to
bless, and loved to bless; but, if his wrath be kindled, there is surely
cause for it: and who shall entreat for him that the great Intercessor
pleads against? A woe from Christ is a remediless woe.
This is here the burthen of the song, and it is a heavy burthen; Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Note, 1. The scribes and
Pharisees were hypocrites; that is it in which all the rest of their bad
characters are summed up; it was the leaven which gave the relish to all
they said and did. A hypocrite is a stage-player in religion (that is the
primary signification of the word); he personates or acts the part of one
that he neither is nor may be, or perhaps the he neither is nor would be. 2.
That hypocrites are in a woeful state and condition. Woe to hypocrites;
so he said whose saying that their case is miserable makes it so:
while they live, their religion is vain; when they die, their ruin is great.
Now each of these woes against the scribes and Pharisees has a reason
annexed to it containing a separate crime charged upon them, proving their
hypocrisy, and justifying the judgment of Christ upon them; for his woes,
his curses, are never causeless.
I. They were sworn enemies to the gospel of Christ, and consequently to the
salvation of the souls of men (v. 13); They shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men, that is, they did all they could to keep people from
believing in Christ, and so entering into his kingdom. Christ came to open
the kingdom of heaven, that is, to lay open for us a new and living
way into it, to bring men to be subjects of that kingdom. Now the
scribes and Pharisees, who sat in Moses's seat, and pretended to the key of
knowledge, ought to have contributed their assistance herein, by opening
those scriptures of the Old Testament which pointed at the Messiah and his
kingdom, in their true and proper sense; they that undertook to expound
Moses and the prophets should have showed the people how they testified of
Christ; that Daniel's weeks were expiring, the sceptre was departed from
Judah, and therefore now was the time for the Messiah's appearing. Thus
they might have facilitated that great work, and have helped thousands to
heaven; but, instead of this, they shut up the kingdom of heaven; they made
it their business to press the ceremonial law, which was now in the
vanishing, to suppress the prophecies, which were now in the accomplishing,
and to beget and nourish up in the minds of the people prejudices against
Christ and his doctrine.
1. They would not go in themselves; Have any of the rulers, or of
the Pharisees, believed on him? John vii. 48. No; they were to proud to
stoop to his meanness, too formal to be reconciled to his plainness; they
did not like a religion which insisted so much on humility, self-denial,
contempt of the world, and spiritual worship. Repentance was the door of
admission into this kingdom, and nothing could be more disagreeable to the
Pharisees, who justified and admired themselves, than to repent, that is, to
accuse and abase and abhor themselves; therefore they went not in
themselves; but that was not all.
2. They would not suffer them that were entering to go in. It is bad
to keep away from Christ ourselves, but it is worse to keep others from him;
yet that is commonly the way of hypocrites; they do not love that any should
go beyond them in religion, or be better than they. Their not going in
themselves was a hindrance to many; for, they having so great an interest in
the people, multitudes rejected the gospel only because their leaders did;
but, besides that, they opposed both Christ's entertaining of sinners (Luke
vii. 39), and sinners' entertaining of Christ; they perverted his doctrine,
confronted his miracles, quarrelled with his disciples, and represented him,
and his institutes and economy, to the people in the most disingenuous,
disadvantageous manner imaginable; they thundered out their excommunications
against those that confessed him, and used all their wit and power to serve
their malice against him; and thus they shut up the kingdom of heaven,
so that they who would enter into it must suffer violence (ch.
xi. 12), and press into it (Luke xvi. 16), through a crowd of scribes
and Pharisees, and all the obstructions and difficulties they could contrive
to lay in their way. How well is it for us that our salvation is not
entrusted in the hands of any man or company of men in the world! If it
were, we should be undone. They that shut out of the church would shut out
of heaven if they could; but the malice of men cannot make the promise of
God to his chosen of no effect; blessed be God, it cannot.
II. They made religion and the form of godliness a cloak and stalking-horse
to their covetous practices and desires, v. 14. Observe here,
1. What their wicked practices were; they devoured widows' houses,
either by quartering themselves and their attendants upon them for
entertainment, which must be of the best for men of their figure; or by
insinuating themselves into their affections, and so getting to be the
trustees of their estates, which they could make an easy prey of; for who
could presume to call such as they were to an account? The thing they aimed
at was to enrich themselves; and, this being their chief and highest end,
all considerations of justice and equity were laid aside, and even widows'
houses were sacrificed to this. Widows are of the weaker sex in its weakest
state, easily imposed upon; and therefore they fastened on them, to make a
prey of. They devoured those whom, by the law of God, they were particularly
obliged to protect, patronise, and relieve. There is a woe in the Old
Testament to those that made widows their prey (Isa. x. 1, 2); and
Christ here seconded it with his woe. God is the judge of the widows; they
are his peculiar care, he establisheth their border (Prov. xv. 25),
and espouseth their cause (Exod. xxii. 22, 23); yet these were they
whose houses the Pharisees devoured by wholesale; so greedy were they to get
their bellies filled with the treasures of wickedness! Their
devouring denotes not only covetousness, but cruelty in their oppression,
described Mic. iii. 3, They eat the flesh, and flay off the skin. And
doubtless they did all this under colour of law; for they did it so artfully
that it passed uncensured, and did not at all lessen the people's veneration
for them.
2. What was the cloak with which they covered this wicked practice; For a
pretence they made long prayers; very long indeed, if it be true which
some of the Jewish writers tell us, that they spent three hours at a time in
the formalities of meditation and prayer, and did it thrice every day, which
is more than an upright soul, that makes a conscience of being inward with
God in the duty, dares pretend ordinarily to do; but to the Pharisees it was
easy enough, who never made a business of the duty, and always made a trade
of the outside of it. By this craft they got their wealth, and maintained
their grandeur. It is not probable that these long prayers were extemporary,
for then (as Mr. Baxter observes) the Pharisees had much more the gift of
prayer than Christ's disciples had; but rather that they were stated forms
of words in use among them, which they said over by tale, as the papists
drop their beads. Christ doth not here condemn long prayers, as in
themselves hypocritical; nay if there were not a great appearance of good in
them, they would not have been used for a pretence; and the cloak must be
very thick which was used to cover such wicked practices. Christ himself continued
all night in prayer to God, and we are commanded to pray without
ceasing too soon; where there are many sins to be confessed, and many
wants to pray for the supply of, and many mercies to give thanks for, there
is occasion for long prayers. But the Pharisees' long prayers were made up
of vain repetitions, and (which was the end of them) they were for a pretence;
by them they got the reputation of pious devout men, that loved prayer, and
were the favourites of Heaven; and by this means people were made to believe
it was not possible that such men as they should cheat them;, and,
therefore, happy the widow that could get a Pharisee for her trustee, and
guardian to her children! Thus, while they seemed to soar heaven-ward, upon
the wings of prayer, their eye, like the kite's, was all the while upon
their prey on the earth, some widow's house or other that lay convenient for
them. Thus circumcision was the cloak of the Shechemites' covetousness (Gen.
xxxiv. 22, 23), the payment of a vow in Hebron the cover of Absalom's
rebellion (2 Sam. xv. 7), a fast in Jezreel must patronise Naboth's murder,
and the extirpation of Baal is the footstool of Jehu's ambition. Popish
priests, under pretence of long prayers for the dead, masses and dirges, and
I know not what, enrich themselves by devouring the house of the widows and
fatherless. Note, It is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to
be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety, however it
passeth now, will be reckoned for as double iniquity, in the day when God
shall judge the secrets of men.
3. The doom passed upon them for this; Therefore ye shall receive the
greater damnation. Note, (1.) There are degrees of damnation; there are
some whose sin is more inexcusable, and whose ruin will therefore be more
intolerable. (2.) The pretences of religion, with which hypocrites
disguise or excuse their sin now, will aggravate their condemnation shortly.
Such is the deceitfulness of sin, that the very thing by which sinners hope
to expiate and atone for their sins will come against them, and make their
sins more exceedingly sinful. But it is sad for the criminal, when his defence
proves his offence, and his pleas (We have prophesied in thy name,
and in thy name made long prayers) heightens the charge against him.
III. While they were such enemies to the conversion of souls to
Christianity, they were very industrious in the perversion of them to their
faction. They shut up the kingdom of heaven against those that would turn to
Christ, but at the same time compassed sea and land to make proselytes
to themselves, v. 15. Observe here,
1. Their commendable industry in making proselytes to the Jewish religion,
not only proselytes of the gate, who obliged themselves to no more
than the observance of the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, but
proselytes of righteousness, who addicted themselves wholly to all
the rites of the Jewish religion, for that was the game they flew at; for
this, for one such, though but one, they compass sea and land, had many a
cunning reach, and laid many a plot, rode and run, and sent and wrote, and
laboured unweariedly. And what did they aim at? Not the glory of God, and
the good of souls; but that they might have the credit of making them
proselytes, and the advantage of making a prey of them when they were made.
Note, (1.) The making of proselytes, if it be to the truth and serious
godliness, and be done with a good design, is a good work, well worthy of
the utmost care and pains. Such is the value of souls, that nothing must be
thought too much to do, to save a soul from death. The industry of the
Pharisees herein may show the negligence of many who would be thought to act
from better principles, but will be at no pains or cost to propagate the
gospel. (2.) To make a proselyte, sea and land must be compassed; all ways
and means must be tried; first one way, and then another, must be tried, all
little enough; but all well paid, if the point be gained. (3.) Carnal hearts
seldom shrink from the pains necessary to carry on their carnal purposes;
when a proselyte is to be made to serve a turn for themselves, they will
compass sea and land to make him, rather than be disappointed.
2. Their cursed impiety in abusing their proselytes when they were made;
"Ye make him the disciple of a Pharisee presently, and he sucks in all
a Pharisee's notions; and so ye make him twofold more the child of hell
than yourselves." Note, (1.) Hypocrites, while they fancy
themselves heirs of heaven, are, in the judgment of Christ, the children of
hell. The rise of their hypocrisy is from hell, for the devil is the father
of lies; and the tendency of their hypocrisy is toward hell, that is the
country they belong to, the inheritance they are heirs to; they are called children
of hell, because of their rooted enmity to the kingdom of heaven, which
was the principle and genius of Pharisaism. (2.) Though all that maliciously
oppose the gospel are children of hell, yet some are twofold more so than
others, more furious and bigoted and malignant. (3.) Perverted proselytes
are commonly the greatest bigots; the scholars outdid their masters, [1.] In
fondness of ceremony; the Pharisees themselves saw the folly of their own
impositions, and in their hearts smiled at the obsequiousness of those that
conformed to them; but their proselytes were eager for them. Note, Weak
heads commonly admire those shows and ceremonies which wise men (however for
public ends they countenance them) cannot but think meanly of. [2.] In fury
against Christianity; the proselytes readily imbibed the principles which
their crafty leaders were not wanting to possess them with, and so became
extremely hot against the truth. The most bitter enemies the apostles met
with in all places were the Hellenist Jews, who were mostly proselytes, Acts
xiii. 45; xiv. 2-19; xvii. 5; xviii. 6. Paul, a disciple of the Pharisees,
was exceedingly mad against the Christians (Acts xxvi. 11), when his
master, Gamaliel, seems to have been more moderate.
IV. Their seeking their own worldly gain and honour more than God's glory
put them upon coining false and unwarrantable distinction, with which they
led the people into dangerous mistakes, particularly in the matter of oaths;
which, as an evidence of a universal sense of religion, have been by all
nations accounted sacred (v. 16); Ye blind guides. Note, 1. It
is sad to think how many are under the guidance of such as are themselves
blind, who undertake to show others that way which they are themselves
willingly ignorant of. His watchmen are blind (Isa. lvi. 10); and too
often the people love to have it so, and say to the seers, See not.
But the case is bad, when the leaders of the people cause them to err,
Isa. ix. 16. 2. Though the condition of those whose guides are blind is very
sad, yet that of the blind guides themselves is yet more woeful. Christ
denounces a woe to the blind guides that have the blood of so many souls to
answer for.
Now, to prove their blindness, he specifies the matter of swearing, and
shows what corrupt casuists they were.
(1.) He lays down the doctrine they taught.
[1.] They allowed swearing by creatures, provided they were consecrated to
the service of God, and stood in any special relation to him. They allowed
swearing by the temple and the altar, though they were the work of men's
hands, intended to be the servants of God's honour, not sharers in it. An
oath is an appeal to God, to his omniscience and justice; and to make this
appeal to any creature is to put that creature in the place of God. See
Deut. vi. 13.
[2.] They distinguished between an oath by the temple and an oath by
the gold of the temple; an oath by the altar and an oath by the
gift upon the altar; making the latter binding, but not the former. Here
was a double wickedness; First, That there were some oaths which they
dispensed with, and made light of, and reckoned a man was not bound by to
assert the truth, or perform a promise. They ought not to have sworn by the
temple or the altar; but, when they had so sworn, they were taken in the
words of their mouth. That doctrine cannot be of the God of truth which
gives countenance to the breach of faith in any case whatsoever. Oaths are
edge-tools and are not to be jested with. Secondly, That they
preferred the gold before the temple, and the gift before the altar, to
encourage people to bring gifts to the altar, and gold to the treasures of
the temple, which they hoped to be gainers by. Those who had made gold their
hope, and whose eyes were blinded by gifts in secret, were great friends to
the Corban; and, gain being their godliness, by a thousand artifices they
made religion truckle to their worldly interests. Corrupt church-guides make
things to be sin or not sin as it serves their purposes, and lay a much
greater stress on that which concerns their own gain than on that which is
for God's glory and the good of souls.
(2.) He shows the folly and absurdity of this distinction (v. 17-19);
Ye fools, and blind. It was in the way of a necessary reproof, not an
angry reproach, that Christ called them fools. Let it suffice us from
the word of wisdom to show the folly of sinful opinions and practices: but,
for the fastening of the character upon particular persons, leave that to
Christ, who knows what is in man, and has forbidden us to say, Thou fool.
To convict them of folly, he appeals to themselves, Whether is greater,
the gold (the golden vessels and ornaments, or the gold in the treasury)
or the temple that sanctifies the gold; the gift, or the altar that
sanctifies the gift? Any one will own, Propter quod aliquid est tale,
id est magis tale--That, on account of which any thing is qualified in a
particular way, must itself be much more qualified in the same way. They
that sware by the gold of the temple had an eye to it as holy; but what was
it that made it holy but the holiness of the temple, to the service of which
it was appropriated? And therefore the temple cannot be less holy than the
gold, but must be more so; for the less is blessed and sanctified of the
better, Heb. vii. 7. The temple and altar were dedicated to God fixedly, the
gold and gift but secondarily. Christ is our altar (Heb. xiii. 10), our
temple (John ii. 21); for it is he that sanctifies all our gifts, and puts
an acceptableness in them, 1 Pet. ii. 5. Those that put their own works into
the place of Christ's righteousness in justification are guilty of the
Pharisees' absurdity, who preferred the gift before the altar. Every true
Christian is a living temple; and by virtue thereof common things are
sanctified to him; unto the pure all things are pure (Tit. i. 15),
and the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife,
1 Cor. vii. 14.
(3.) He rectifies the mistake (v. 20-22), by reducing all the oaths
they had invented to the true intent of an oath, which is, By the name of
the Lord: so that though an oath by the temple, or the altar, or heaven, be
formally bad, yet it is binding. Quod fieri non debuit, factum
valet--Engagements which ought not to have been made, are yet, when made,
binding. A man shall never take advantage of his own fault.
[1.] He that swears by the altar, let him not think to shake off the
obligation of it by saying, "The altar is but wood, and stone, and
brass;" for his oath shall be construed most strongly against himself;
because he was culpable, and so as that the obligation of it may be
preserved, ut res potius valeat quam pereat--the obligation being hereby
strengthened rather than destroyed. And therefore an oath by the altar
shall be interpreted by it and by all things thereon; for the appurtenances
pass with the principal. And, the things thereon being offered up to God, to
swear by it and them was, in effect, to call God himself to witness: for it
was the altar of God; and he that went to that, went to God, Ps. xliii. 4;
xxvi. 6.
[2.] He that swears by the temple, if he understand what he does, cannot but
apprehend that the ground of such a respect to it, is, not because it is a
fine house, but because it is the house of God, dedicated to his service,
the place which he has chosen to put his name there; and therefore he swears
by it, and by him that dwells therein; there he was pleased in a
peculiar manner to manifest himself, and give tokens of his presence; so
that whoso swears by it, swears by him who had said, This is my rest,
here will I dwell. Good Christians are God's temples, and the Spirit of
God dwells in them (1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19), and God takes what is done to
them as done to himself; he that grieves a gracious soul, grieves it and the
Spirit that dwells in it. Eph. iv. 30.
[3.] If a man swears by heaven, he sins (ch. v. 34); yet he shall not
therefore be discharged from the obligation of his oath; no, God will make
him know that the heaven he swears by, is his throne (Isa. lxvi. 1); and he
that swears by the throne, appeals to him that sits upon it; who, as he
resents the affront done to him in the form of the oath, so he will
certainly revenge the greater affront done to him by the violation of it.
Christ will not countenance the evasion of a solemn oath, though ever so
plausible.
V. They were very strict and precise in the smaller matters of the law, but
as careless and loose in the weightier matters, v. 23, 24. They were partial
in the law (Mal. ii. 9), would pick and choose their duty, according as
they were interested or stood affected. Sincere obedience is universal, and
he that from a right principle obeys any of God's precepts, will have
respect to them all, Ps. cxix. 6. But hypocrites, who act in religion for
themselves, and not for God, will do no more in religion than they can serve
a turn by for themselves. The partiality of the scribes and Pharisees
appears here, in two instances.
1. They observed smaller duties, but omitted greater; they were very exact
in paying tithes, till it came to mint, anise, and cummin,
their exactness in tithing of which would not cost them much, but would be
cried up, and they should buy reputation cheap. The Pharisee boasted of
this, I give tithes of all that I possess, Luke xviii. 12. But it is
probable that they had ends of their own to serve, and would find their own
account in it; for the priests and Levites, to whom the tithes were paid,
were in their interests, and knew how to return their kindness. Paying
tithes was their duty, and what the law required; Christ tells them they
ought not to leave it undone. Note, All ought in their places to contribute
to the support and maintenance of a standing ministry: withholding tithes is
called robbing God, Mal. ii. 8-10. They that are taught in the
word, and do not communicate to them that teach them that love a
cheap gospel, come short of the Pharisee.
But that which Christ here condemns them for, is, that they omitted the
weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; and their
niceness in paying tithes, was, if not to atone before God, yet at least to
excuse end palliate to men the omission of those. All the things of God's
law are weighty, but those are most weighty, which are most expressive of
inward holiness in the heart; the instances of self-denial, contempt of the
world, and resignation to God, in which lies the life of religion. Judgment
and mercy toward men, and faith toward God, are the weightier matters of the
law, the good things which the Lord our God requires (Mic. vi.
8); to do justly, and love mercy, and humble ourselves by faith to walk with
God. This is the obedience which is better than sacrifice or tithe; judgment
is preferred before sacrifice, Isa. i. 11. To be just to the priests in
their tithe, and yet to cheat and defraud every body else, is but to mock
God, and deceive ourselves. Mercy also is preferred before sacrifice, Hos.
vi. 6. To feed those who made themselves fat with the offering of the
Lord, and at the same time to shut up the bowels of compassion from a
brother or a sister that is naked, and destitute of daily food, to pay
tithe-mint to the priest, and to deny a crumb to Lazarus, is to lie open to
that judgment without mercy, which is awarded to those who pretended to
judgment, and showed no mercy; nor will judgment and mercy serve without
faith in divine revelation; for God will be honoured in his truths as well
as in his laws.
2. They avoided lesser sins, but committed greater (v. 24); Ye
blind guides; so he had called them before (v. 16), for their
corrupt teaching; here he calls them so for their corrupt living, for their
example was leading as well as their doctrine; and in this also they were
blind and partial; they strained at a gnat, and swallowed a camel. In
their doctrine they strained at gnats, warned people against every the least
violation of the tradition of the elders. In their practice they strained at
gnats, heaved at them, with a seeming dread, as if they had a great
abhorrence of sin, and were afraid of it in the least instance; but they
made no difficulty of those sins which, in comparison with them, were as a
camel to a gnat; when they devoured widows' houses, they did indeed swallow
a camel; when they gave Judas the price of innocent blood, and yet
scrupled to put the returned money into the treasury (ch. xxvii. 6);
when they would not go into the judgment-hall, for fear of being defiled,
and yet would stand at the door, and cry out against the holy Jesus (John
xviii. 28); when they quarrelled with the disciples for eating with unwashen
hands, and yet, for the filling of the Corban, taught people to break the
fifth commandment, they strained at gnats, or lesser things, and yet
swallowed camels. It is not the scrupling of a little sin that Christ here
reproves; if it be a sin, though but a gnat, it must be strained at, but the
doing of that, and then swallowing a camel. In the smaller matters of the
law to be superstitious, and to be profane in the greater, is the hypocrisy
here condemned.
VI. They were all for the outside, and not at all for the inside, of
religion. They were more desirous and solicitous to appear pious to men than
to approve themselves so toward God. This is illustrated by two similitudes.
1. They are compared to a vessel that is clean washed on the outside, but
all dirt within, v. 25, 26. The Pharisees placed religion in that
which at best was but a point of decency--the washing of cups, Mark
vii. 4. They were in care to eat their meat in clean cups and platters, but
made no conscience of getting their meat by extortion, and using it to
excess. Now what a foolish thing would it be for a man to wash only the
outside of a cup, which is to be looked at, and to leave the inside dirty,
which is to be used; so they do who only avoid scandalous sins, that would
spoil their reputation with men, but allow themselves in heart-wickedness,
which renders them odious to the pure and holy God. In reference to his,
observe,
(1.) The practice of the Pharisees; they made clean the outside. In those
things which fell under the observation of their neighbours, they seemed
very exact, and carried on their wicked intrigues with so much artifice,
that their wickedness was not suspected; people generally took them for very
good men. But within, in the recesses of their hearts and the close
retirements of their lives, they were full of extortion and excess;
of violence and incontinence (so Dr. Hammond); that is, of injustice
and intemperance. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober
nor righteous. Their inward part was very wickedness (Ps. v. 9); and
that we are really, which we are inwardly.
(2.) The rule Christ gives, in opposition to this practice, v. 26. It
is addressed to the blind Pharisees. They thought themselves the seers of
the land, but (John ix. 39) Christ calls them blind. Note, those
are blind, in Christ's account who (how quick-sighted soever they are in
other things) are strangers, and no enemies, to the wickedness of their own
hearts; who see not, and hate not, the secret sin that lodgeth there.
Self-ignorance is the most shameful and hurtful ignorance, Rev. iii. 17. The
rule is, Cleanse first that which is within. Note, the principal care
of every one of us should be to wash our hearts from wickedness, Jer. iv.
14. The main business of a Christian lies within, to get cleansed from the filthiness
of the spirit. Corrupt affections and inclinations, the secret lusts
that lurk in the soul, unseen and unobserved, these must first be mortified
and subdued. Those sins must be conscientiously abstained from, which the
eye of God only is a witness to, who searcheth the heart.
Observe the method prescribed; Cleanse first that which is within not
that only, but that first; because, if due care be taken
concerning that, the outside will be clean also. External motives and
inducements may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if
renewing, sanctifying grace make clean the inside, that will have an
influence upon the outside, for the commanding principle is within. If the
heart be well kept, all is well, for out of it are the issues of life;
the eruptions will vanish of course. If the heart and spirit be made new,
there will be a newness of life; here therefore we must begin with
ourselves; first cleanse that which is within; we then make sure work, when
this is our first work.
2. They are compared to whited sepulchres, v. 27, 28.
(1.) They were fair without, like sepulchres, which appear beautiful
outward. Some make it to refer to the custom of the Jews to whiten
graves, only for the notifying of them, especially if they were in unusual
places, that people might avoid them, because of the ceremonial pollution
contracted by the touch of a grave, Num. xix. 16. And it was part of the
charge of the overseers of the highways, to repair that whitening when it
was decayed. Sepulchres were thus made remarkable, 2 Kings xxiii. 16, 17.
The formality of hypocrites, by which they study to recommend themselves to
the world, doth but make all wise and good men the more careful to avoid
them, for fear of being defiled by them. Beware of the scribes, Luke
xx. 46. It rather alludes to the custom of whitening the sepulchres of
eminent persons, for the beautifying of them. It is said here (v.
29), that they garnished the sepulchres of the righteous; as it is
usual with us to erect monuments upon the graves of great persons, and to
strew flowers on the graves of dear friends. Now the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or the dressing up
of a dead body, only for show. The top of their ambition was to appear
righteous before men, and to be applauded and had in admiration by them.
But,
(2.) They were foul within, like sepulchres, full of dead men's
bones, and all uncleanness: so vile are our bodies, when the soul has
deserted them! Thus were they full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Hypocrisy is
the worst iniquity of all other. Note, It is possible for those that have
their hearts full of sin, to have their lives free from blame, and to appear
very good. But what will it avail us, to have the good word of our
fellow-servants, if our Master doth not say, Well done? When all
other graves are opened, these whited sepulchres will be looked into, and
the dead men's bones, and all the uncleanness, shall be brought out,
and be spread before all the host of heaven, Jer. viii. 1, 2. For it
is the day when God shall judge, not the shows, but the secrets, of men. And
it will then be small comfort to them who shall have their portion with
hypocrites, to remember how creditably and plausibly they went to hell,
applauded by all their neighbours.
VII. They pretended a deal of kindness for the memory of the prophets that
were dead and gone, while they hated and persecuted those that were present
with them. This is put last, because it was the blackest part of their
character. God is jealous for his honour in his laws and ordinances, and
resents it if they be profaned and abused; but he has often expressed an
equal jealousy for his honour in his prophets and ministers, and resents it
worse if they be wronged and persecuted: and therefore, when our Lord Jesus
comes to this head, he speaks more fully than upon any of the other (v.
29-37); for that toucheth his ministers, toucheth his Anointed, and
toucheth the apple of his eye. Observe here,
1. The respect which the scribes and Pharisees pretend for the prophets that
were gone, v. 29, 30. This was the varnish, and that in which they
outwardly appeared righteous.
(1.) They honoured the relics of the prophets, they built their tombs, and
garnished their sepulchres. It seems, the places of their burial were known,
David's sepulchre was with them, Acts ii. 29. There was a title upon the
sepulchre of the man of God (2 Kings xxiii. 17), and Josiah thought
it respect enough not to move his bones, v. 18. But they would
do more, rebuild and beautify them. Now consider this, [1.] As an instance
of honour done to deceased prophets, who, while they lived, were counted as
the off-scouring of all things, and had all manner of evil spoken against
them falsely. Note, God can extort, even from bad men, an acknowledgment of
the honour of piety and holiness. Them that honour God he will honour, and
sometimes with those from whom contempt is expected, 2 Sam. vi. 22. The
memory of the just is blessed, when the names of those that hated and
persecuted them shall be covered with shame. The honour of constancy and
resolution in the way of duty will be a lasting honour; and those that are
manifest to God, will be manifest in the consciences of those about them.
[2.] As an instance of the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, who paid
their respect to them. Note, Carnal people can easily honour the memories of
faithful ministers that are dead and gone, because they do not reprove them,
nor disturb them, in their sins. Dead prophets are seers that see not,
and those they can bear well enough; they do not torment them, as the living
witnesses do, that bear their testimony viva voce--with a living voice,
Rev. xi. 10. They can pay respect to the writings of the dead prophets,
which tell them what they should be; but not the reproofs of the
living prophets, which tell them what they are. Sit divus, modo
non sit vivus--Let there be saints; but let them not be living here. The
extravagant respect which the church of Rome pays to the memory of saints
departed, especially the martyrs, dedicating days and places to their names,
enshrining their relics, praying to them, and offering to their images,
while they make themselves drunk with the blood of the saints of their own
day, is a manifest proof that they not only succeed, but exceed,
the scribes and Pharisees in a counterfeit hypocritical religion, which
builds the prophets' tombs, but hates the prophets' doctrine.
(2.) They protested against the murder of them (v. 30); If we had
been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them.
They would never have consented to the silencing of Amos, and the
imprisonment of Micaiah, to the putting of Hanani in the stocks, and
Jeremiah in the dungeon, to the stoning of Zechariah, the mocking of all the
messengers of the Lord, and the abuses put upon his prophets; no, not they,
they would sooner have lost their right hands than have done any such thing.
What, is thy servant a dog? And yet they were at this time plotting
to murder Christ, to whom all the prophets bore witness. They think,
if they had lived in the days of the prophets, they would have heard them
gladly and obeyed; and yet they rebelled against the light that Christ
brought into the world. But it is certain, a Herod and an Herodias to John
the Baptist, would have been an Ahab and a Jezebel to Elijah. Note, The
deceitfulness of sinners' hearts appears very much in this, that, while they
go down the stream of the sins of their own day, they fancy they should have
swum against the stream of the sins of the former days; that, if they had
had other people's opportunities, they should have improved them more
faithfully; if they had been in other people's temptations, they should have
resisted them more vigorously; when yet they improve not the opportunities
they have, nor resist the temptations they are in. We are sometimes
thinking, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, how constantly we
would have followed him; we would not have despised and rejected him, as
they then did; and yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers,
is still no better treated.
2. Their enmity and opposition to Christ and his gospel, notwithstanding,
and the ruin they were bringing upon themselves and upon that generation
thereby, v. 31-33. Observe here,
(1.) The indictment proved; Ye are witnesses against yourselves.
Note, Sinners cannot hope to escape the judgment of Christ for want of proof
against them, when it is easy to find them witnesses against themselves; and
their very pleas will not only be overruled, but turned to their conviction,
and their own tongues shall be made to fall upon them, Ps.
lxiv. 8.
[1.] By their own confession, it was the great wickedness of their
forefathers, to kill the prophets; so that they knew the fault of it, and
yet were themselves guilty of the same fact. Note, They who condemn sin in
others, and yet allow the same or worse in themselves, are of all others
most inexcusable, Rom. i. 32-ii. 1. They knew they ought not to have been
partakers with persecutors, and yet were the followers of them. Such
self-contradictions now will amount to self-condemnations in the great day.
Christ puts another construction upon their building of the tombs of the
prophets than what they intended; as if by beautifying their graves they
justified their murderers (Luke xi. 48), for they persisted in the sin.
[2.] By their own confession, these notorious persecutors were their
ancestors; Ye are the children of them. They meant no more than that
they were their children by blood and nature; but Christ turns it upon
them;, that they were so by spirit and disposition; You are of those
fathers, and their lusts you will do. They are, as you say, your
fathers, and you patrizare--take after your fathers; it is the sin
that runs in the blood among you. As your fathers did, so do ye, Acts
vii. 51. They came of a persecuting race, were a seed of evil doers (Isa.
i. 4), risen up in their fathers' stead, Num. xxxii. 14. Malice,
envy, and cruelty, were bred in the bone with them, and they had formerly
espoused it for a principle, to do as their fathers did, Jer. xliv.
17. And it is observable here (v. 30) how careful they are to mention
the relation; "They were our fathers, that killed the prophets,
and they were men in honour and power, whose sons and successors we
are." If they had detested the wickedness of their ancestors, as they
ought to have done, they would not have been so fond to call them their
fathers; for it is no credit to be akin to persecutors, though they have
ever so much dignity and dominion.
(2.) The sentence passed upon them. Christ here proceeds,
[1.] To give them up to sin as irreclaimable (v. 32); Fill ye up
then the measure of your fathers. If Ephraim be joined to idols, and
hate to be reformed, let him alone. He that is filthy, let him be filthy
still. Christ knew they were now contriving his death, and in a few days
would accomplish it; "Well," saith he, "go on with your plot,
take your curse, walk in the way of your heart and in the sight of your
eyes, and see what will come of it. What thou doest, do quickly. You
will but fill up the measure of guilt, which will then overflow in a deluge
of wrath." Note, First, There is a measure of sin to be filled
up, before utter ruin comes upon persons and families, churches and nations.
God will bear long, but the time will come when he can no longer forbear,
Jer. xliv. 22. We read of the measure of the Amorites that was to be filled
(Gen. xv. 16), of the harvest of the earth being ripe for the
sickle (Rev. xiv. 15-19), and of sinners making an end to deal
treacherously, arriving at a full stature in treachery, Isa. xxxiii. 1. Secondly,
Children fill up the measure of their fathers' sins whey they are gone, if
they persist in the same or the like. That national guilt which brings
national ruin is made up of the sin of many in several ages, and in the
successions of societies there is a score going on; for God justly visits
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children that tread in the steps of it.
Thirdly, Persecuting Christ, and his people and ministers, is a sin
that fills the measure of a nation's guilt sooner than any other. This was
it that brought wrath without remedy upon the fathers (2 Chron. xxxvi. 16),
and wrath to the utmost upon the children too, 1 Thess. ii. 16. This was
that fourth transgression, of which, when added to the other three, the Lord
would not turn away the punishment, Amos i. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13. Fourthly,
It is just with God to give those up to their own heart's lusts, who
obstinately persist in the gratification of them. Those who will run
headlong to ruin, let the reins be laid on their neck, and it is the saddest
condition a man can be in on this side hell.
[2.] He proceeds to give them up to ruin as irrecoverable, to a personal
ruin in the other world (v. 33); Ye serpents, ye generation of
vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? These are strange words
to come from the mouth of Christ, into whose lips grace was poured. But he
can and will speak terror, and in these words he explains and sums up the eight
woes he had denounced against the scribes and Pharisees.
Here is, First, Their description; Ye serpents. Doth Christ
call names? Yes, but this doth not warrant us to do so. He infallibly knew
what was in man, and knew them to be subtle as serpents, cleaving to the
earth, feeding on dust; they had a specious outside, but were within
malignant, had poison under their tongues, the seed of the old serpent. They
were a generation of vipers; they and those that went before them,
they and those that joined with them, were a generation of envenomed,
enraged, spiteful adversaries to Christ and his gospel. They loved to be
called of men, Rabbi, rabbi, but Christ calls them serpents
and vipers; for he gives men their true characters, and delights to
put contempt upon the proud.
Secondly, Their doom. He represents their condition as very sad, and
in a manner desperate; How can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Christ himself preached hell and damnation, for which his ministers have
often been reproached by those that care not to hear of it. Note, 1. The
damnation of hell will be the fearful end of all impenitent sinners. This
doom coming from Christ, was more terrible than coming from all the prophets
and ministers that ever were, for he is the Judge, into whose hands the keys
of hell and death are put, and his saying they were damned, made them so. 2.
There is a way of escaping this damnation, this is implied here; some are delivered
from the wrath to come. 3. Of all sinners, those who are of the spirit
of the scribes and Pharisees, are least likely to escape this damnation; for
repentance and faith are necessary to that escape; and how will they
be brought to these, who are so conceited of themselves, and so prejudiced
against Christ and his gospel, as they were? How could they be healed and
saved, who could not bear to have their wound searched, nor the balm of
Gilead applied to it? Publicans and harlots, who were sensible of their
disease and applied themselves to the Physician, were more likely to escape
the damnation of hell than those who, though they were in the high road to
it, were confident they were in the way to heaven.
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The
Doom of the Pharisees; The Guilt and Doom of Jerusalem.
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34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you
prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill
and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues,
and persecute them from city to city: 35 That upon you
may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew
between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All
these things shall come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are
sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
We have left the blind leaders fallen into the ditch, under Christ's
sentence, into the damnation of hell; let us see what will become of the
blind followers, of the body of the Jewish church, and particularly
Jerusalem.
I. Jesus Christ designs yet to try them with the means of grace; I send
unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. The connection is strange;
"You are a generation of vipers, not likely to escape the
damnation of hell;" one would think it should follow,
"Therefore you shall never have a prophet sent to you any more;"
but no, "Therefore I will send unto you prophets, to see if you
will yet at length be wrought upon, or else to leave you inexcusable, and to
justify God in your ruin." It is therefore ushered in with a note of
admiration, behold! Observe,
1. It is Christ that sends them; I send. By this he avows himself to
be God, having power to gift and commission prophets. It is an act of kingly
office; he sends them as ambassadors to treat with us about the concerns of
our souls. After his resurrection, he made this word good, when he said, So
send I you, John xx. 21. Though now he appeared mean, yet he was
entrusted with this great authority.
2. He sends them to the Jews first; "I send them to you."
They began at Jerusalem; and, wherever they went, they observed this rule,
to make the first tender of gospel grace to the Jews, Acts xiii. 46.
3. Those he sends are called prophets, wise men, and scribes,
Old-Testament names for New-Testament officers; to show that the ministers
sent to them now should not be inferior to the prophets of the Old
Testament, to Solomon the wise, or Ezra the scribe. The extraordinary
ministers, who in the first ages were divinely inspired, were as the
prophets commissioned immediately from heaven; the ordinary settled
ministers, who were then, and continue in the church still, and will do to
the end of time, are as the wise men and scribes, to guide and instruct the
people in the things of God. Or, we may take the apostles and evangelists
for the prophets and wise men, and the pastors and teachers for the scribes,
instructed to the kingdom of heaven (ch. xiii. 52); for the
office of a scribe was honourable till the men dishonoured it.
II. He foresees and foretels the ill usage that his messengers would meet
with among them; "Some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and
yet I will send them." Christ knows beforehand how ill his servants
will be treated, and yet sends them, and appoints them their measure of
sufferings; yet he loves them never the less for his thus exposing them, for
he designs to glorify himself by their sufferings, and them after them; he
will counter-balance them, though not prevent them. Observe,
1. The cruelty of these persecutors; Ye shall kill and crucify them.
It is no less than the blood, the life-blood, that they thirst after; their
lust is not satisfied with any thing short of their destruction, Exod. xv.
9. They killed the two James's, crucified Simon the son of Cleophas, and
scourged Peter and John; thus did the members partake of the sufferings of
the Head, he was killed and crucified, and so were they. Christians must
expect to resist unto blood.
2. Their unwearied industry; Ye shall persecute them from city to city.
As the apostles went from city to city, to preach the gospel, the Jews
dodged them, and haunted them, and stirred up persecution against them, Acts
xiv. 19; xvii. 13. They that did not believe in Judea were more
bitter enemies to the gospel than any other unbelievers, Rom. xv. 31.
3. The pretence of religion in this; they scourged them in their synagogues,
their place of worship, where they kept their ecclesiastical courts; so that
they did it as a piece of service to the church; cast them out, and said, Let
the Lord be glorified, Isa. lxvi. 5; John xvi. 2.
III. He imputes the sin of their fathers to them, because they imitated it; That
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, v.
35, 36. Though God bear long with a persecuting generation, he will not bear
always; and patience abused, turns into the greatest wrath. The longer
sinners have been heaping up treasures of wickedness, the deeper and fuller
will the treasures of wrath be; and the breaking of them up will be like
breaking up the fountains of the great deep.
Observe, 1. The extent of this imputation; it takes in all the righteous
blood shed upon the earth, that is, the blood shed for righteousness'
sake, which has all been laid up in God's treasury, and not a drop of it
lost, for it is precious. Ps. lxxii. 14. He dates the account from
the blood of righteous Abel, thence this æra martyrum--age of
martyrs--commences; he is called righteous Abel, for he obtained
witness from heaven, that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts.
How early did martyrdom come into the world! The first that died, died for
his religion, and, being dead, he yet speaketh. His blood not only
cried against Cain, but continues to cry against all that walk in the way of
Cain, and hate and persecute their brother, because their works are
righteous. He extends it to the blood of Zacharias, the son of
Barachias (v. 36), not Zecharias the prophet (as some would have
it), though he was the son of Barachias (Zech. i. 1.) nor Zecharias
the father of John Baptist, as others say; but, as is most probable, Zechariah
the son of Jehoiada, who was slain in the court of the Lord's house,
2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21. His father is called Barachias, which
signifies much the same with Jehoiada; and it was usual among the Jews for
the same person to have two names; whom ye slew, ye of this nation,
though not of this generation. This is specified, because the requiring of
that is particularly spoken of (2 Chron. xxiv. 22), as that of Abel's is.
The Jews imagined that the captivity had sufficiently atoned for the guilt;
but Christ lets them know that it was not yet fully accounted for, but
remained upon the score. And some think that this is mentioned with a
prophetical hint, for there was one Zecharias, the son of Baruch, whom
Josephus speaks of (War 4. 335), who was a just and good man, who was
killed in the temple a little before it was destroyed by the Romans.
Archbishop Tillotson thinks that Christ both alludes to the history of the
former Zecharias in Chronicles, and foretels the death of this latter
in Josephus. Though the latter was not yet slain, yet, before this
destruction comes, it would be true that they had slain him; so that all
shall be put together from first to last.
2. The effect of it; All these things shall come; all the guilt of
this blood, all the punishment of it, it shall all come upon this
generation. The misery and ruin that are coming upon them, shall be so
very great, that, though, considering the evil of their own sins, it was
less that even those deserved; yet, comparing it with other judgments, it
will seem to be a general reckoning for all the wickedness of their
ancestors, especially their persecutions, to all which God declared this
ruin to have special reference and relation. The destruction shall be so
dreadful, as if God had once for all arraigned them for all the righteous
blood shed in the world. It shall come upon this generation; which
intimates, that it shall come quickly; some here shall live to see it. Note,
The sorer and nearer the punishment of sin is, the louder is the call to
repentance and reformation.
IV. He laments the wickedness of Jerusalem, and justly upbraids them with
the many kind offers he had made them, v. 37. See with what concern
he speaks of that city; O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The repetition is
emphatical, and bespeaks abundance of commiseration. A day or two before
Christ had wept over Jerusalem, now he sighed and groaned over it.
Jerusalem, the vision of peace (so it signifies), must now be the
seat of war and confusion. Jerusalem, that had been the joy of the whole
earth, must now be a hissing, and an astonishment, and a by-word;
Jerusalem, that has been a city compact together, shall now be
shattered and ruined by its own intestine broils. Jerusalem, the place
that God has chosen to put his name there, shall now be abandoned to the
spoil and the robbers, Lam. i. 1, iv. 1. But wherefore will the Lord do all
this to Jerusalem? Why? Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, Lam. i. 8.
1. She persecuted God's messengers; Thou that killest the prophets, and
stonest them that are sent unto thee. This sin is especially charged
upon Jerusalem; because there the Sanhedrim, or great council, sat, who took
cognizance of church matters, and therefore a prophet could not perish but
in Jerusalem, Luke xiii. 33. It is true, they had not now a power to put any
man to death, but they killed the prophets in popular tumults, mobbed them,
as Stephen, and put the Roman powers on to kill them. At Jerusalem, where
the gospel was first preached, it was first persecuted (Acts viii. 1), and
that place was the head-quarters of the persecutors; thence warrants were
issued out to other cities, and thither the saints were brought bound, Acts
ix. 2. Thou stonest them: that was a capital punishment, in use only
among the Jews. By the law, false prophets and seducers were to be stoned
(Deut. xiii. 10), under colour of which law, they put the true prophets to
death. Note, It has often been the artifice of Satan, to turn that artillery
against the church, which was originally planted in the defence of it. Brand
the true prophets as seducers, and the true professors of religion as
heretics and schismatics, and then it will be easy to persecute them. There
was abundance of other wickedness in Jerusalem; but this was the sin that
made the loudest cry, and which God had an eye to more than any other, in
bringing that ruin upon them, as 2 Kings xxiv. 4; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16.
Observe, Christ speaks in the present tense; Thou killest, and stonest;
for all they had done, and all they would do, was present to Christ's
notice.
2. She refused and rejected Christ, and gospel offers. The former was a sin without
remedy, this against the remedy. Here is, (1.) The wonderful grace
and favour of Jesus Christ toward them; How often would I have gathered
thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings!
Thus kind and condescending are the offers of gospel grace, even to
Jerusalem's children, bad as she is, the inhabitants, the little ones not
excepted. [1.] The favour proposed was the gathering of them. Christ's
design is to gather poor souls, gather them in from their wanderings, gather
them home to himself, as the Centre of unity; for to him must the
gathering of the people be. He would have taken the whole body of the
Jewish nation into the church, and so gathered them all (as the Jews used to
speak of proselytes) under the wings of the Divine Majesty. It is
here illustrated by a humble similitude; as a hen clucks her
chickens together. Christ would have gathered them, First, With
such a tenderness of affection as the hen does, which has, by instinct, a
peculiar concern for her young ones. Christ's gathering of souls, comes from
his love, Jer. xxxi. 3. Secondly, For the same end. The hen
gathered her chickens under her wings, for protection and safety, and
for warmth and comfort; poor souls have in Christ both refuge and
refreshment. The chickens naturally run to the hen for shelter, when they
are threatened by the birds of prey; perhaps Christ refers to that promise
(Ps. xci. 4), He shall cover thee with his feathers. There is healing
under Christ's wings (Mal. iv. 2); that is more than the hen has for her
chickens.
[2.] The forwardness of Christ to confer this favour. His offers are, First,
Very free; I would have done it. Jesus Christ is truly willing to
receive and save poor souls that come to him. He desires not their ruin, he
delights in their repentance. Secondly, Very frequent; How often!
Christ often came up to Jerusalem, preached, and wrought miracles there; and
the meaning of all this, was, he would have gathered them. He keeps account
how often his calls have been repeated. As often as we have heard the sound
of the gospel, as often as we have felt the strivings of the Spirit, so
often Christ would have gathered us.
[3.] Their wilful refusal of this grace and favour; Ye would not. How
emphatically is their obstinacy opposed to Christ's mercy! I would, and ye
would not. He was willing to save them, but they were not willing to be
saved by him. Note, It is wholly owing to the wicked wills of sinners, that
they are not gathered under the wings of the Lord Jesus. They did not like
the terms upon which Christ proposed to gather them; they loved their sins,
and yet trusted to their righteousness; they would not submit either to the
grace of Christ or to his government, and so the bargain broke off.
V. He reads Jerusalem's doom (v. 38, 39); Therefore behold your
house is left unto you desolate. Both the city and the temple, God's
house and their own, all shall be laid waste. But it is especially meant of
the temple, which they boasted of, and trusted to; that holy mountain
because of which they were so haughty. Note, they that will not be gathered
by the love and grace of Christ shall be consumed and scattered by his
wrath; I would, and you would not. Israel would none of me, so I gave
them up, Ps. lxxxi. 11, 12.
1. Their house shall be deserted; It is left unto you. Christ was now
departing from the temple, and never came into it again, but by this word
abandoned it to ruin. They doated on it, would have it to themselves; Christ
must have no room or interest there. "Well," saith Christ,
"it is left to you; take it, and make your best of it; I will never
have any thing more to do with it." They had made it a house of
merchandise, and a den of thieves, and so it is left to them. Not long
after this, the voice was heard in the temple, "Let us depart
hence." When Christ went, Ichabod, the glory departed. Their
city also was left to them, destitute of God's presence and grace; he was no
longer a wall of fire about them, nor the glory in the midst of
them.
2. It shall be desolate; It is left unto you desolate; it is left erhmoV--a
wilderness. (1.) It was immediately, when Christ left it, in the eyes of
all that understood themselves, a very dismal melancholy place. Christ's
departure makes the best furnished, best replenished place a wilderness,
though it be the temple, the chief place of concourse; for what comfort can
there be where Christ is not? Though there may be a crowd of other
contentments, yet, if Christ's special spiritual presence be withdrawn, that
soul, that place, is become a wilderness, a land of darkness, as darkness
itself. This comes of men's rejecting Christ, and driving him away from
them. (2.) It was, not long after, destroyed and ruined, and not one
stone left upon another. The lot of Jerusalem's enemies will now become
Jerusalem's lot, to be made of a city a heap, of a defenced city a ruin
(Isa. xxv. 2), a lofty city laid low, even to the ground, Isa. xxvi.
5. The temple, that holy and beautiful house, became desolate. When God goes
out, all enemies break in.
Lastly, Here is the final farewell that Christ took of them and their
temple; Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he
that cometh. This bespeaks,
1. His departure from them. The time was at hand, when he should leave
the world, to go to his Father, and be seen no more. After his
resurrection, he was seen only by a few chosen witnesses, and they saw
him not long, but he soon removed to the invisible world, and there will be till
the time of the restitution of all things, when his welcome at his first
coming will be repeated with loud acclamations; Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. Christ will not be seen again till he come
in the clouds, and every eye shall see him (Rev. i. 7); and then, even
they, who, when time was, rejected and pierced him, will be glad to come in
among his adorers; then every knee shall bow to him, even those that had
bowed to Baal; and even the workers of iniquity will then cry, Lord,
Lord, and will own, when his wrath is kindled, that blessed are all
they that put their trust in him. Would we have our lot in that day with
those that say, Blessed is he that cometh? let us be with them now,
with them that truly worship, and truly welcome, Jesus Christ.
2. Their continued blindness and obstinacy; Ye shall not see me, that
is, not see me to be the Messiah (for otherwise they did see him upon the
cross), not see the light of the truth concerning me, nor the things that
belong to your peace, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh. They
will never be convinced, till Christ's second coming convince them, when it
will be too late to make an interest in him, and nothing will remain but
a fearful looking for of judgment. Note, (1.) Wilful blindness is often
punished with judicial blindness. If they will not see, they shall
not see. With this word he concludes his public preaching. After his
resurrection, which was the sign of the prophet Jonas, they
should have no other sign given them, till they should see the sign of
the Son of man, ch. xxiv. 30. (2.) When the Lord comes with
ten thousand of his saints, he will convince all, and will force
acknowledgments from the proudest of his enemies, of his being the Messiah,
and even they shall be found liars to him. They that would not now
come at his call, shall then be forced to depart with his curse. The chief
priests and scribes were displeased with the children for crying hosanna
to Christ; but the day is coming, when proud persecutors would gladly be
found in the condition of the meanest and poorest they now trample upon.
They who now reproach and ridicule the hosannas of the saints will be of
another mind shortly; it were therefore better to be of that mind now. Some
make this to refer to the conversion of the Jews to the faith of Christ;
then they shall see him, and own him, and say, Blessed is he that cometh;
but it seems rather to look further, for the complete manifestation of
Christ, and conviction of sinners, are reserved to be the glory of the last
day.
