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Matthew 23 is the twenty-third chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible, and consists almost entirely of the accusations of Jesus against the Pharisees. The chapter is also known as the Woes of the Pharisees or the "Seven Woes". In this chapter, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of hypocrisy. Some writers treat it as part of the fifth and final discourse of Matthew's gospel.[1]
| Matthew 23 | |
|---|---|
 Gospel of Matthew 23:30-34 on Papyrus 77, from c. AD. 200. | |
| Book | Gospel of Matthew |
| Category | Gospel |
| Christian Bible part | New Testament |
| Order in the Christian part | 1 |
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 39 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
- Papyrus 77 (~AD 200; extant: verses 30–39)
- Codex Vaticanus (325–350)
- Codex Sinaiticus (330–360)
- Codex Bezae (c. 400)
- Codex Washingtonianus (c. 400)
- Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (c. 450)
- Codex Purpureus Rossanensis (6th century)
- Codex Sinopensis (6th century; extant verses 1–35)
- Papyrus 83 (6th century; extant verses 39)
Some writers treat this chapter as part of the fifth and final discourse of Matthew's gospel, along with chapters 24 and 25, although in other cases a distinction is made between chapter 23, where Jesus speaks with "the multitudes and [his] disciples",[2] and chapters 24-25, where he speaks "privately" (see Matthew 24:3) with his disciples.[1]
Matthew presents a concerted attack on the Jewish religious authorities at this point in his gospel narrative; there is a briefer warning about the scribes in Mark 12:38–40, and Luke has, according to Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer, "inserted at Luke 11 portions of this discourse in an order different from the original".[3] The pharisees themselves have been silenced in Matthew 22. According to Richard Thomas France, this section shows Jesus as a fierce controversialist concerning the values of the kingdom of heaven as opposed to the superficial approach to religion.[4] Meyer thinks that Matthew's account is closer to the actual directive of Jesus, "although much that was spoken on other occasions may perhaps be mixed up with it"; Heinrich Ewald, on the other hand, thinks that the discourse is made up of passages that were probably original, though uttered on very different occasions.[3]
Verse 2
- "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat."[5]
Dale Allison states that "'Moses' seat' is ambiguous. It may either refer to a literal chair for synagogue authorities or be a metaphor for teaching authority (cf. the professor's 'chair')." Thus, the New Century Version presents this verse as:
- The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have the authority to tell you what the law of Moses says.[6]
Allison observes that "only here (in Matthew's gospel) are the Jewish leaders presented in a positive light: they should be obeyed".[7] Moses "sat to judge the people" in Exodus 18:13, although Meyer counsels against the suggestion that the "seat of Moses" refers to this passage.[3]
Meyer also suggests that the word ἐκάθισαν (ekathisan, "have sat down") should be read as "have seated themselves",[8] meaning that they have "assumed to themselves the duties of this office".[3]
Verse 5
- But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.[9]
Arthur Carr notes that "Jesus does not prohibit the practice of wearing phylacteries, but the ostentatious enlargement of them". He also observes that "it is thought by many that our Saviour Himself wore phylacteries".[10] Their use is prescribed in Exodus 13:9 and Deuteronomy 6:8.
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While the previous pericope was directed to the crowd and the disciples, this part addresses the scribes and Pharisees, in the form of 'seven woes', a powerful climax to repudiate their leadership.[4]
Verse 13
- But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.[11]
Some manuscripts add here (or after verse 12) verse 14: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation.[12]
The phrase "enter the kingdom of heaven" appears three other times in the Gospel, at Matthew 5:20, 7:21, and 18:3.[13]
Verse 23
- Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.[14]
The "anise" mentioned in some translations is dill (A. graveolens), rather than anise. The Pharisees apparently grew it in order to pay some tithes.[15]
Verse 36
- Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.[16]
"These things" in the Greek texts is ταῦτα πάντα (tauta panta) in the Textus Receptus and critical Westcott-Hort text, but Meyer points out that the reversed reading, πάντα ταῦτα (panta tauta), is also "well attested".[3]
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This final section of this chapter acts as the inevitable conclusion on the hypocrisy of the leaders to the total guilt of Israel in its rejection of God's messenger: Jerusalem has rejected the call of God's last and greatest messenger and will receive judgment for it.[17] Jesus departs from the city,[3] anticipating both that he will return, and that calamities will befall it.[18] Applying the term "Jerusalem" to the Jewish people, Methodist writer Joseph Benson suggests that Jesus "would have taken the whole body of them, if they would have consented to be so taken, into his church, and have gathered them all".[18]
Verse 39
- For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'[19]
Citing Psalm 118:26, and echoing Matthew 21:19, Let no fruit grow on you ever again,[20] these words are addressed to "the Jews in general, [the] men of Jerusalem in particular".[18]
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Luke 11:37–54 parallels Matthew 23, but Luke's version has six, not seven, accusations, and is thus known as the "Six Woes". Luke's version is also shorter than Matthew's. Luke 13:34–35 parallels Jesus' lament over Jerusalem in verses 37–39.
- Jerusalem
- Pharisees
- Tefillin
- Tzitzit
- Related Bible parts: Exodus 13, Numbers 15, Deuteronomy 6, Deuteronomy 11, Deuteronomy 22, Mark 12, Luke 11, Luke 13, Luke 20.
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