A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
Matthew 23:16-36
Lesson #57
TESTING THE RELIGION OF THE PHARISEES
- Memory verse: John 4:23
- We have seen Jesus begin to pronounce judgment upon the scribes and the Pharisees through a series of seven woes that tell us the kind of religion to avoid:
- The first woe: (13) An exclusive religion
- The second woe: (14) An unethical religion
- The third woe: (15) A deceptive religion
- Read Mat 23:16-22 The fourth woe: The evasive religion
- We have studied about oaths in Mat 5:33-37 and that the Jewish legal minds were masters of evasive deception.
- To the Jew the oath was absolutely binding and involved the name of God.
- Therefore, to use the name of God in an oath was doubly binding.
- If you broke that oath, you not only broke your word with another person, but you insulted God.
- The lawyers had developed the art of legal deception to a high level.
- Jesus is saying that it was now possible to regard an oath using the name of the temple as not binding, while to swear on the gold of the temple was binding.
- To swear using the name of the altar was not binding, but to swear on a gift on the altar was binding.
- What were the Pharisees trying to avoid?
- They tried to avoid being honest.
- Lawyers do this today.
- They try to find some loophole in the law to do something unethical.
- An action may not be illegal but it may be unethical.
- The Jewish religion had become unethical in showing man how to live so that a person could avoid the way God wanted him to live.
- Sometimes people rationalize to excuse their own sinful behavior by claiming scripture out of context.
- Sometimes people say that their sinful behavior is God’s will when it clearly is not.
- Sometimes people promise God something and then look for escape routes to avoid living up to what they promised.
- They tried to avoid being honest.
- These are evasive tactics we use to excuse ourselves because we do not want to do God’s will.
- We must remember that God hears every promise we make and God sees every intention of our hearts.
- We have studied about oaths in Mat 5:33-37 and that the Jewish legal minds were masters of evasive deception.
- Read Mat 23:23-24 The fifth woe: The legalistic religion
- The tithe of one tenth of every income was a very basic part of the Jewish religion.
- Read Deu 14:22 and Lev 27:30
- Everyone knew that a farmer was to tithe from his main crop because that was how he made a living. That was his family income.
- Every farming family also had a kitchen garden in which he grew herbs such as mint, dill and cummin. These herbs were grown for use in the kitchen to season foods and for medicine for the family. These herbs were not grown as a crop to sell for cash.
- Herbs grown in a kitchen garden produced a very small crop. However, the religious leaders said one must tithe these crops as well.
- To tithe the crops from the kitchen garden required very tiny amounts of seed and leaves.
- What was the Pharisee’s mistake?
- Tithing was not the mistake of the Pharisees.
- Notice Jesus does not tell them to stop tithing the crops from the kitchen garden.
- He tells them not to be so concerned about the little things of religion that they miss doing the important things.
- What are some very small things Christians get busy doing so that they do not have time to do the important things?
- Discussion
- Tithing was not the mistake of the Pharisees.
- Jesus graphic illustration:
- “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (24)
- What was religiously clean and unclean was very important to religious Jews.
- A gnat was an insect and was therefore unclean. A camel was also considered an unclean animal. Wine was strained through gauze material to avoid drinking any unclean insect.
- Jesus uses an absurd illustration to point out that the Pharisees paid attention to minor things but failed to consider what was really important to God.
- In a legalistic religion, people become so obsessed with keeping rules that a true relationship with God is forgotten.
- As Christians we must not lose our sense of proportion spiritually.
- We need to continually ask ourselves: What is really important to God?
- “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (24)
- Read Mat 23:25-26 The sixth woe: The external religion
- Jesus indicates that what was considered clean and unclean ceremonially was important to the Jews.
- Unclean did not mean dirty but spiritually unclean so that one could not enter the temple to worship.
- The man-made Jewish Laws for clean and unclean vessels was fantastically complicated. For example:
- Vessels made of bone, leather, wood, glass can become unclean if they are deep vessels.
- If they are flat vessels, they do not become unclean.
- If a vessel is made of wood and metal, the wood part can become unclean but the metal part cannot become unclean.
- The Pharisees kept all the intricate details of the law regarding clean and unclean.
- The results of the law:
- The food or drink inside the vessel might have been obtained by cheating, extortion, or theft. It might be luxurious and gluttonous. Those things did not matter to the Pharisees.
- The only thing of importance was whether or not the vessel was ceremonially clean.
- What was the Pharisee’s mistake?
- They failed to understand that what is important is the purity of the heart of a man, not the external rules of ceremony.
- They had lost their sense of proportion and failed to see what was really important to God.
- Christians sometimes make this same mistake.
- Churches argue over the color of the carpet thinking it is important.
- They destroy peace and love.
- That which is most important to God is not the carpeting but the love.
- The results of the law:
- Jesus indicates that what was considered clean and unclean ceremonially was important to the Jews.
- Read Mat 23:27-36 The seventh woe: The decayed religion
- Background:
- The white-washed tomb is something every Jew would understand.
- One of the most common places for a tomb was by the roadside.
- Num 19:16 said that to touch any dead thing made you unclean.
- Jesus often encountered lepers living among the tombs next to the roadside.
- To touch a tomb which was associated with death also made you unclean.
- The roads were crowded with people the week before Passover. If you touched a tomb and became unclean on your way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, it was a disaster. An unclean person could not participate in the Passover celebration.
- Therefore, it was the practice to white-wash all roadside tombs the month before Passover to avoid this accidental unclean situation.
- What was the Pharisee’s sin?
- Their outward actions were intensely religious (like the beautiful white tombs), but inside their hearts they were filled with unforgiven sin.
- Such a decayed religion produces spiritual death.
- When there is no forgiveness of sin, there is only death. (Rom 6:23)
- Not only did they have sin and death in their hearts because of unforgiven sin, but they did murder.
- The scribes and Pharisees tended the tombs of the martyred prophets.
- Many times in the Old Testament, the Jews killed their own prophets because they did not like the Godly message.
- They claimed that if they had lived at that time period, they would not have killed the men of God.
- Jesus knew that because they had death in their hearts, they would kill Him in a few days.
- Righteous men from Abel to Zacharias were murdered (35).
- Their outward actions were intensely religious (like the beautiful white tombs), but inside their hearts they were filled with unforgiven sin.
- Background:
Abel. Abel was killed by his brother Cain in Genesis.
Zacharias:
Read 2Chr 24:20-22
Joash was king. Zacharias rebuked the nation for their sin and called for repentance.
Joash stirred up the people against Zacharias so that they stoned him in the court of the temple.
Zacharias died saying, “May the Lord see and avenge!”
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- Why were these two examples chosen?
- Abel is in the first book of the Jewish Bible and Zacharias is in the last book of the Jewish Bible (2 Chronicles).
- From beginning to end, Jewish history is filled with rejection of God and murder of righteous men of God.
- Why were these two examples chosen?
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Homework
Matthew 23:37-39
Matthew 24:15-28
- Application of Mat 23:16-36
- Which of the seven woes spoken to the Pharisees most describes your Christian life?
- In what ways does your life match this woe?
- How does God want you to change?
- What will you do this week to cooperate with God’s plan to change you?
- Preparation for Mat 23:37-39 and Mat 24:15-28
- Read Mat 23:37-39 for context to Mat 24.
- Read Mat 24:15-28
- What three questions do the disciples ask Jesus? (Mat 24:3)
- Make a list of signs Jesus said we are to look for before He comes a second time.
- Memory verse: Ephesians 5:6
