Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 23:15
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.
15. compass ] “go about,” “traverse.” The word is used of our Lord’s “circuits” in Galilee, ch. Mat 4:23; Mat 9:35.
proselyte ] Literally, one who approaches, hence, “a worshipper,” (cp. Heb 10:1), “a convert.” The Pharisee, St Paul, carried with him into his new faith the same zeal, with a higher motive. He describes (2Co 11:26) “the perils by water, perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness,” which this eager “compassing of land and sea” brought to him.
Judaism has been classed among the non-missionary religions. This is true at the present day, and through most of its history. Indeed, Rabbinical sayings display jealousy of proselytes. On the other hand, John Hyrcanus imposed Judaism on Edom at the point of the sword ( 1Ma 5:65-66 ). The conversion is recorded of whole tribes in Arabia, and on the shores of the Caspian. Also, it appears from the Acts that the number of proselytes in Asia Minor and in Greece was considerable. And in later days Solomon Malco, a Portuguese Jew, was burnt to death under Charles V. on a charge of proselytizing. Probably the proselytism in the text is connected with the charge of rapacity; the Pharisees seeking to convert wealthy Gentiles, over whom they obtained influence.
child of hell ] Rather, son of Gehenna.
twofold more the child of hell than yourselves ] In accordance with a tendency in new converts to exaggerate the external points of the creed which they adopt, Gentile proselytes strained to the utmost the worst features of Pharisaism.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye compass sea and land – You take every means, spare no pains, to gain proselytes.
Proselyte – One that comes over from a foreign nation, religion, or sect to us – a convert. Among the Jews there were two kinds of proselytes:
- Proselytes of righteousness, or those who wholly and fully embraced the Jewish religion, who were baptized, who were circumcised, and who conformed to all the rites of the Mosaic institutions.
- Proselytes of the gate, or those who approved of the Jewish religion, renounced the pagan superstitions, and conformed to some of the rites of the Jews, but were not circumcised or baptized.
Twofold more the child of hell – That is, twice as bad. To be a child of hell was a Hebrew phrase, signifying to be deserving of hell, to be awfully wicked. Compare the notes at Mat 1:1. The Jewish writers themselves say that the proselytes were scabs of Israel, and hindered the coming of the Messiah by their great wickedness. The Pharisees gained them either to swell their own numbers, or to make gain by extorting their money under various pretences; and when they had accomplished that, they took no pains to instruct them or to restrain them. They had renounced their superstition which had before somewhat restrained them, but the Pharisees had given them no religion in its place to restrain them, and they were consequently left to the full indulgence of their vices.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Compass sea and land] A proverbial expression, similar to ours, You leave no stone unturned; intimating that they did all in their power to gain converts, not to God, but to their sect. These we may suppose were principally sought for among the Gentiles, for the bulk of the Jewish nation was already on the side of the Pharisees.
Proselyte] , a stranger, or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country, to sojourn with another. See the different kinds of proselytes explained in Clarke’s note on “Ex 12:43“.
The child of hell] A Hebraism for an excessively wicked person, such as might claim hell for his mother, and the devil for his father.
Twofold – the child of] The Greek word , which has generally been translated twofold, KYPKE has demonstrated to mean more deceitful. is used by the best Greek writers for simple, sincere, for simplicity, sincerity; so , deceitful, dissembling, and , hypocrisy, fraudulence, and , more fraudulent, more deceitful, more hypocritical. See also Suidas in .
Dr. Lightfoot, and others, observe, that the proselytes were considered by the Jewish nation as the scabs of the Church, and hindered the coming of the Messiah; and Justin Martyr observes, that “the proselytes did not only disbelieve Christ’s doctrine, but were abundantly more blasphemous against him than the Jews themselves, endeavouring to torment and cut off the Christians wherever they could; they being in this the instruments of the scribes and Pharisees.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A third woe followeth, expressed in this verse, because they corrupted their proselytes, both as to doctrine and manners, so as they were twice more the children of the devil, and in danger of hell, than before. A proselyte was one who, coming from some pagan nation, relinquished idols, and worshipped one true and living God. Of these writers tell us there were two sorts; one that only professed to believe and worship one God, though he did not embrace the Jewish religion: such a one they suffered to live amongst them, and called him a proselyte of the gate. Others embraced the Jewish religion, and were admitted into their church, by circumcision, and baptism, and sacrifice (as their writers tell us): these they called proselytes of righteousness. Our Saviour saith the scribes and Pharisees compassed sea and land, that is, would take any pains, (it is a proverbial expression), to make one a proselyte; nor was this blameworthy in them, but that which followeth, that they made him twofold more the child of hell than before; corrupting him with their false doctrine, and setting him examples of an ill life. Their business was not to turn men from sin unto God, but merely to convert them to an opinion, if they had once got them into their church, so as they could make their markets of them; never regarding their souls more, nor to press upon them the reformation of their lives, that they might be saved. Thus priests and Jesuits at this day go to China, Japan, to proselyte men to the Roman faith; and use all imaginable arts to seduce persons born and bred under the profession of the protestant religion in protestant countries, and boast much of their converts; but he who looks upon the Scriptures, and considereth the lives of the most of their converts, will easily see they are but twice more the children of hell, being licensed, by their indulgences, pardons, absolutions, nay, by their very casuists, to live most prodigious impious lives, to say nothing of their damnable errors in matters of faith.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make oneproselytefrom heathenism. We have evidence of this inJOSEPHUS.
and when he is made, ye makehim twofold more the child of hell than yourselvescondemned,for the hypocrisy he would learn to practice, both by the religion heleft and that he embraced.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,…. The same character, and woe, are still continued, and a new reason added, confirming the justness of them, in order to awaken and convince them, or, however, to caution the people against them:
for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; that is, to the Jewish religion, and their particular sect. There were two sorts of proselytes among them; one was called , “a proselyte of the gate”, one that might dwell in any of their towns, and cities, and who is thus described a;
“Who is a proselyte of the gate? whosoever takes upon him, before three neighbours, that he will not commit idolatry. R. Meir and the wise men say, whosoever takes upon him the seven precepts which the sons of Noah took upon them: others say, these do not come into the general rule of a proselyte of the gate: who is then a proselyte of the gate? this is a proselyte, that eats what dies of itself, but takes upon him to fulfil all the commandments said in the law, except that which forbids the eating of things that die of themselves.”
But the usual account of such an one is, who agrees to the seven precepts commanded the children of Noah b, which were these c; the first forbad idolatry, the second blasphemy, the third murder, the fourth uncleanness, the fifth theft, the sixth required judgment, or punishment on malefactors, the seventh forbad eating the member of any creature alive. The other proselyte was called , “a proselyte of righteousness”; and he was one that submitted to circumcision d, and the rest of the ceremonies of the law; and was in all respects as an Israelite himself; and of this sort is the text to be understood. The Ethiopic version reads the words, “baptize one proselyte, and when he is baptized”; referring to a custom among the Jews, who baptized; or dipped their proselytes in water, as well as circumcised them; about which there are great disputes in their writings; some alleging, that the dipping of them was necessary to the making them proselytes; others affirming, that it was not:
“a proselyte that is circumcised, and not dipped, dipped, and not circumcised, the whole follows after, or depends on circumcision, says R. Eliezer.”
R. Joshua says, even dipping delays it; (i.e. the want of it, hinders a man from being a proselyte;) but R. Joshua ben Levi says, it should go according to the tradition of Bar Kaphra; for the tradition of Bar Kaphra is,
“that he that is circumcised, and not dipped, lo! he is right; for there is no proselyte but what is dipped, because of the pollutions that happen to him e.”
And elsewhere f this is debated in the following manner:
“a proselyte that is circumcised, and not dipped, R. Eliezer says, lo! this is a proselyte; for so we find concerning our fathers, that they were circumcised, but not dipped. One that is dipped, and not circumcised, R. Joshua says, lo! this is a proselyte; for so we find concerning our mothers, that they were dipped, but not circumcised. The wise men say, one that is dipped, and not circumcised, or circumcised, and not dipped, is no proselyte, until he is both circumcised and dipped.”
So the dispute ended, and it became a settled point, that one should never be reckoned a proselyte, unless he was both circumcised and dipped. And after this it became customary to receive proselytes by circumcision, dipping, and sacrifice; and the manner was this g:
“a stranger that comes to be made a proselyte at this time, they say unto him, what dost thou see, that thou comest to be made a proselyte? dost thou not know that the Israelites at this time are miserable, banished, drove about, and plundered, and chastisements come upon them? If he says, I know this, but it does not satisfy me, they receive him immediately, and make known some of the light commands, and some of the heavy commands to him; and they acquaint him with the business gleanings, the forgotten sheaf, the corner of the field left standing, and the poor’s tithe: they also inform him of the penalties of the commands, and say unto him, know thou, that before thou camest into this way, thou didst eat fat, and was not punished with cutting off; thou didst profane the sabbath, and was not punished with stoning? but now if thou eatest fat, thou wilt be punished with cutting off; and if thou profanest the sabbath, thou wilt be punished with stoning: and as they inform him of the penalties of the precepts, so they acquaint him with the giving of the rewards of them; saying to him, know thou that the world to come is not made but for the righteous; and the Israelites at this time cannot receive neither much good, nor much punishment? but they do not multiply words, nor critically inquire of him; if he receives these things, they immediately circumcise him; and if there remain in him obstructions, hindering circumcision, they circumcise him a second time; and when he is healed they immediately dip him; and two disciples of the wise men stand over him, and acquaint him with some of the light commands, and some of the heavy commands; then he dips, and comes up, and is as an Israelite in all respects: if a woman, the women set her in water up to her neck, and two disciples of the wise men stand by her without, and inform her of some of the light commands, and some of the heavy commands.”
And, as Maimonides h adds, who gives a larger account of this matter,
“she sits in the water, and after that dips herself before them; and they turn away their faces, and go out, so that they do not see her, when she comes out of the water.”
From all which it appears, that this affair was moved after our Lord’s time; was not a settled point till a good while after; and is a custom that has obtained since the Jews were drove out of their own land; though they pretend to say it was an ancient practice of their fathers, of which they can give no sufficient proof; wherefore there could be no regard had to it in this text, and consequently the Ethiopic version of it is not a right one; nor can the dipping of proselytes by the Jews be what Christian baptism takes its rise from, or in any respect be modelled according to it, between which, in many things, there is a wide difference. Now the Jews were very diligent and industrious, which is meant by compassing of sea and land: they used all kinds of methods, ways and means, to gain such a point, and sometimes very wicked ones.
“Rabbenu Tam i allowed a daughter of Israel to change her religion, and a stranger to lie with her, that she might confirm it, when he became a proselyte.”
And this they were so exceeding fond of, not out of any regard to the glory of God, or the good of the souls of men; nor did they really love the proselytes: and it is often said by them k, that
“proselytes are hard or uneasy to Israel, as the itch or scab.”
The gloss says, because they were not expert in the commandments, and were the cause of punishment, and the Israelites were apt to imitate their works; but they coveted to make them, because hereby either they strengthened their own party, or filled their purses with their substance, or got applause and credit among the common people; for the making a proselyte was reckoned a very great action, and is ascribed to the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, and made equal to creation l.
“Says R. Eliezer, in the name of R. Jose ben Zimra, if all that come into the world were gathered together to create even one fly, they would not be able to put breath into it: but you will object what he saith, “the souls they made in Haran”, Ge 12:5, but these are the proselytes whom Abraham proselyted; but why does he say “made”, and not proselyted? to teach thee, that whoever brings near a stranger, and proselytes him, “is as if he created him”. You will say Abraham made proselytes, but not Sarah: the text is, “the souls which they made in Haran”: which he made is not written, but which they made: Abraham proselyted the men, and Sarah proselyted the women.”
And a little after,
“Jacob made proselytes, as it is written, Ge 35:2 “Jacob said unto his household”,”
And in imitation of these they might be fond of making proselytes, but no further than their own interest was some way or other concerned:
and when he is made, ye make him two fold more the child of hell than yourselves; for to their former errors in heathenism, some of which they might still retain, they added new ones, they received from them, equally as bad, and were but more and more deserving of hell, and even more than their masters; and besides, were trained up by them in the most bitter prejudices against Christ, and his Gospel; and many of them proved more violent persecutors of the followers of Christ, than the original Jews themselves: see
Ac 15:5 Our Lord here seems to oppose a common notion and saying of their’s m, that when
“one was made a proselyte, he became entirely like a new born babe;”
but so far from being like one in innocence and harmlessness, that he became a child of hell, filled with wrath and malice, and fitted for destruction; and so opposes another notion of their’s, that hellfire has no power over their disciples, nor even over the transgressors of Israel n: but they will find it, by experience, that neither their descent from Abraham, nor their learning, nor their religion, will save them from the devouring flames, which their sins have made them so deserving of, and so are , “children of hell” o; a Talmudic phrase; the meaning of which they understood well enough, and which was applicable to them, and more so to their proselytes; and that as owing to them, which was an aggravation of their own guilt and condemnation.
a T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 64. 2. b Maimon. Hilch. Obede Cochabim, c. 10. sect. 6. & Maacalot Asurot, c. 11. sect. 7. & Issure Biah, c. 14. sect. 7. c lb. Hilch. Melachim, c. 9. sect. 1. d Zohar in Exod. fol. 36. 1. e T. Hieros. Kiddushin, fol. 64. 4. f T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 46. 1, 2. g Ib. fol 47. 1, 2. h Hilch. Issure Biah, c. 14. sect. 6. i Piske Toseph. Cetubot, art. 7. k T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 47. 2. & 109. 2. Kiddushin, fol. 70. 2. & Nidda, fol. 13. 2. l Bereshit Rabba, sect. 39. fol. 35. 1. & sect. 84. fol. 72. 3, 4. m T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 22. 1. & 48. 2. & 62. 1. & 97. 2. Maimon. Hilch. Issure Biah, c. 14. sect. 11. & Eduth, c. 13. sect. 2. n T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 27. 1. o T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 17. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Twofold more a son of hell than yourselves ( ). It is a convert to Pharisaism rather than Judaism that is meant by “one proselyte” ( ), from , newcomers, aliens. There were two kinds of proselytes: of the gate (not actual Jews, but God-fearers and well-wishers of Judaism, like Cornelius), of righteousness who received circumcision and became actual Jews. But a very small per cent of the latter became Pharisees. There was a Hellenistic Jewish literature (Philo, Sibylline Oracles, etc.) designed to attract Gentiles to Judaism. But the Pharisaic missionary zeal (compass, , go around) was a comparative failure. And success was even worse, Jesus says with pitiless plainness. The “son of Gehenna” means one fitted for and so destined for Gehenna. “The more converted the more perverted” (H.J. Holtzmann). The Pharisees claimed to be in a special sense sons of the kingdom (Mt 8:12). They were more partisan than pious. (twofold, double) is common in the papyri. The comparative here used, as if from , appears also in Appian. Note the ablative of comparison hmon. It was a withering thrust.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
15. For you compass sea and land. The scribes had also acquired celebrity by their zeal in laboring to bring over to the Jewish religion the strangers and uncircumcised. And so, if they had gained any one by their false appearances, or by any other stratagem, they gloried wonderfully over it as an increase of the Church. On this account also they received great applause from the common people, that by their diligence and ability they brought strangers into the Church of God. Christ declares, on the contrary, that so far is this zeal from deserving applause, that they more and more provoke the vengeance of God, because they bring under heavier condemnation those who devote themselves to their sect. We ought to observe how corrupt their condition at that time was, and what confusion existed in religion; for as it was a holy and excellent work to gain disciples to God, so to allure the Gentiles to the Jewish worship—which was at that time degenerate, and was even full of wicked profanation — was nothing else than to hurry them from Scylla to Charybdis. (98) Besides, by a sacrilegious abuse of the name of God, they drew down upon themselves a heavier condemnation, because their religion allowed them grosser licentiousness of crime. An instance of the same kind may be seen at the present day among the monks; for they are diligent in culling proselytes from every quarter, but those proselytes, from being lascivious and debauched persons, they render altogether devils: for such is the filthiness of those puddles, within which they carry on their reveling, that it would corrupt even the heavenly angels. (99) Yet the monk’s habit is a very suitable mantle for concealing enormities of every description.
(98) “ Ce n’estoit autre chose que de les oster d’un danger, pour les precipiter en un plus grand;” — “it was nothing else than to rescue them from one danger to plunge them into a greater.” The allusion in the text is to Scylla a rocky promontory on the Italian side of the Strait of Messina, and to Charybdis, a whirlpool opposite to it, on the coast of Sicily. Either of them singly would have rendered the navigation formidable, but their vicinity to ly aggravated the danger; for the very exertions which kept the mariner at a distance from the one unavoidably brought him nearer to the other. This appalling scene meets us frequently in the ancient mythology, in the allusions of poets and orators, and on many other occasions. He who, by avoiding one evil, fell into one still greater, was proverbially said to have avoided Scylla and fallen into Charybdis. — Ed.
(99) “ Les anges de Paradis;” — “the angels of Paradise.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) To make one proselyte.The zeal of the earlier Pharisees had showed itself in a propagandism which reminds us rather of the spread of the religion of Mahomet than of that of Christ. John Hyrcanus, the last of the Maccabean priest-rulers, had offered the Idumeans the alternative of death, exile, or circumcision (Jos. Ant. xiii. 9, 3). When the government of Rome rendered such measures impossible, they resorted to all the arts of persuasion, and exulted when they succeeded in enrolling a heathen convert as a member of their party. But the proselytes thus made were too often a scandal and proverb of reproach. There was no real conversion, and those who were most active in the work of proselytising were, for the most part, blind leaders of the blind. The vices of the Jew were engrafted on the vices of the heathen. The ties of duty and natural affection were ruthlessly snapped asunder. The popular Jewish feeling about them was like that of the popular Christian feeling about a converted Jew. Proselytes were regarded as the leprosy of Israel, hindering the coming of the Messiah. It became a proverb that no one should trust a proselyte, even to the twenty-fourth generation. Our Lord was, in part at least, expressing the judgment of the better Jews when He taught that the proselyte thus made was two-fold more the child of helli.e., of Gehennathan his masters.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Proselyte The THIRD WOE is pronounced upon their efforts to extend their unhallowed dominion. The Jews were very zealous to make proselytes, and in our Saviour’s day were not a little successful. Twofold more the child of hell They did not sanctify the proselyte from his old heathen vices, and they imparted to him new Jewish wickedness.
A proselyte was a convert from heathenism to Judaism. Proselytes have usually been divided into proselytes of righteousness, which included all who went so far as to worship the true God and observe the practice of primitive morality; and proselytes of the gate, including those who entered completely into Judaism by circumcision and the assuming the obligations of the whole Mosaic ritual. This is, however, comparatively a modern division.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Woe/alas to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is become so, you make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than yourselves.”
The idea of the prevention of others from entering the Kingly Rule of Heaven is taken a step further by considering their efforts to win even Gentiles to God’s Law, and then to so concentrate their minds on their own one-sided interpretation of it that they made them worse than themselves, and more fitted for Gehenna even than they were. Compare here Mat 18:6-9. His words to His own disciples had been equally as severe, the only difference being that while for them it was only potential, for the Scribes and Pharisees it had actually happened. They had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, and had become prisoners of their own emphases, and they had failed to shake themselves out of it when it was drawn to their attention (Luk 11:42-52). There is a warning in this for us all not to become so tied down in detail that we overlook the greater truths.
‘Proselyte.’ A technical term for a convert to Judaism who had been circumcised and had thus become accepted as a Jew. There is possibly an indication here of the fact that the zeal of some of these Scribes and Pharisees was so great that they made great efforts (‘travel over land and sea’ is probably a proverbial saying) to bring the attention of Gentiles to the Law of God, but more probably a specific case is in mind. We can compare here Philo, Josephus and the inter-testamental writers, although how far their efforts were intended to produce conversions rather than just ensure acceptability for Judaism is debatable. However, Jesus may well have had in mind a specific case where a particularly important Gentile (or group of Gentiles) had shown interest in Judaism and had been assiduously courted with much effort, even involving sending leading Teachers abroad in order to advise them. Or it may have in mind that once a Gentile entered a synagogue as a God-fearer because of his appreciation of the moral teaching of the Law, he could count on being immediately surrounded by Scribes and Pharisees who would then seek to ground him in their own ideas. The result would be that the converts, who had originally been attracted by the morality found in the Law, would find themselves given a very one-sided view of the Law with an overemphasis on ritual, and so would become even more fanatical than their teachers (as often happens to converts). If a specific case was in mind in which what Jesus describes had happened it would explain such a generalisation. Josephus mentions the fact that aspects that were often of particular interest to Gentiles were Sabbath keeping, fasting, lighting of lamps and abstention from certain foods, hardly things that God had intended should attract the most attention, but certainly things favoured by the Pharisees.
‘Land and sea.’ Perhaps Jesus had in mind His own outreaches to the Gentiles which had involved longer journeys and crossing the Sea of Galilee (Mat 8:23; Mat 8:28; Mat 9:1; Mat 15:21; Mat 16:5; Mat 16:13). We must remember that Jesus was rarely outside Palestine. Crossing land and sea must have seemed to Him a huge effort. Or as we have suggested He may well have had a particular example in mind.
‘A son of Gehenna’. Contrast ‘sons of the Kingly Rule’ and compare ‘sons of the evil one’ (Mat 13:38). They had entered the road that led to destruction (Mat 7:13-14) and had made themselves deserving of it. Gehenna (based on the idea of the burning rubbish dumps in the Valley (ge) of Hinnom) signifies the place of final punishment.
Note that in Mat 5:4 the blessed will be comforted and strengthened, that is will receive all the good things that God has for them, but these on whom He declares ‘woes’ become sons of Gehenna.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The third woe:
v. 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. In their eagerness to make an impression upon the people, the scribes and Pharisees were zealously active in gaining proselytes for the Jewish Church. They crossed the seas, they traveled into deserts seeking men and women that might be gained for the Jewish religion, and the number of proselytes of the gate and proselytes of righteousness, those that accepted the Jewish doctrines without and with circumcision and baptism, was at times notable. But in adding people to the Church outwardly, they harmed their souls for all eternity by teaching them the religion of hypocrisy. Many of the proselytes of righteousness were far more fanatical than the Jews themselves. Thus the Pharisees again proved themselves adepts at dissimulation, for it appeared before men as though they were zealous for God, and gained many people away from their idolatry, while, as a matter of fact, they introduced them into far greater, though more hidden, idolatry than before the faith in their own good works.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 23:15. Ye compass sea and land, &c. 3. The third woe is denounced, because theyexpressed the greatest zeal imaginable in making proselytes, compassing sea and land; that is to say, using the most indefatigable pains and ardour, and leaving no art unpractised for that end; while at the same time their intention in all this was, not that the Gentiles might become better men through the knowledge of true religion, but more friendly to them; yielding them the direction of their purses, as well as of their consciences. Accordingly, in the heathen countries these worldlings accommodated religion to the humours of men; placing it, not in the eternal and immutable rules of righteousness, but in ceremonial observances; the effect of which was, either that the proselytes became more superstitious, more immoral, and more presumptuous than their teachers; or that, taking them for impostors, they relapsed again into their old state of heathenism; and in both cases became two-fold more the children of hell than even the Pharisees themselves; that is to say, more openly and unlimitedly wicked than they. The zeal of the Jews in making proselytes was so remarkable, that it was taken notice of by the heathens, and turned into a proverb:
Ac veluti te Judaei, cogamus in hanc concedere turbam. HOR. Lib. 1: Sat. 4 ver. 142.
We’ll force you, like the proselyting Jews, To be like us. FRANCIS.
Upon which St. Ambrose observes, that “this pleasantry of the poet arises from the proselyting spirit of the Jews, who insinuated themselves into families, entered into the courts of justice, disturbed the judges, andwere always more successful in proportion as they were more impudent.” To the same purpose is what Justin Martyr said to Tryphothe Jew: “Your proselytes not only disbelieve Christ’s doctrine, but blaspheme his name as much again as yourselves.” Child of hell, and son of perdition, were terms of reproach made use of among the Jews.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 23:15 . Instead of helping men into the Messiah’s kingdom, what contemptible efforts to secure proselytes to their own way of thinking! This representation of pharisaic zeal is doubtless hyperbolical, though it is, at the same time, based upon actual journeyings for the purpose of making converts (Joseph. Antt. xx. 2. 4). On Jewish proselytism generally, see Danz in Meuschen, N. T. ex Talm. ill . p. 649. Wetstein’s note on this passage.
] a single.
] sc . .
] one fit for Gehenna , condemned to be punished in it. Comp. on Mat 8:12 ; Joh 17:12 .
] is commonly taken in an adverbial sense (Vulg.: duplo quam ), a sense in which it is consequently to be understood in the corresponding passage of Justin ( c. Tr. 122): , , . Coming as it does after , it is more natural to regard it, with Valla, as an adjective: who is doubly more so than you are . For the comparative itself, comp. App. Hist. praef . 10 : . But it is still rendered doubtful whether is to be taken in an adverbial or adjective sense by a passage from Justin as above: , . This passage is likewise unfavourable to Kypke’s interpretation: fallaciorem , which adjective would be of a more specific character than the context would admit of. But in how far was Jesus justifiable in using the words ? According to Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Euthymius Zigabenus: in consequence of the evil example of him who made the convert, which was such that “ex malo ethnico fit pejor Judaeus” (Erasmus); according to de Wette: in consequence of the high estimate in which the teachers are held by their disciples, and because superstition and error usually appear with a twofold greater intensity in the taught than in the teachers; according to Olshausen: because the converted heathen had not the advantage of enjoying the spiritual aid to be found in Mosaism; according to Bleek: because it was common also to admit as converts those who were influenced by mere external considerations. According to the context ( ): on account of the manner in which the proselytes continued to be influenced and wrought upon by those who converted them, in consequence of which they were generally found to become more bigoted, more unloving, and more extreme than their instructors, and, of course, necessarily more corrupt.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 15. Ye compass sea and land ] They walked the round, as the devil doth, to gain proselytes; they spared for no pains to pervert men (as now the Jesuits those Circulatores et Agyrtae ). Should not we be as diligent and indefatigable to convert them to God? Shall we not be as busy in building staircases for heaven as seducers are in digging descents to hell? If Saul seeking asses found a kingdom, shall not we, by seeking others, find heaven?
Ye make him twofold more the child of hell ] Either because they relapse to Gentilism, as finding you so vile and vicious in your lives; or because ye teach them only ceremonies and superstitions; or, because you keep them ignorant of Christ, and plant in them a hatred of the truth, as the Jesuits do in their proselytes. So that of them we may say, as Ambrose did of Polemo, who of a drunkard, by hearing Xenocrates, became a philosopher, Si resipuit a vino, fuit semper tamen temulentus sacrilegio. Though he be now no drunkard, yet he remains drunk still with superstition.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15. ] And with all this betrayal of your trust as ( Joh 3:10 ), as if all your work at home were done , ye . . . . . . This was their work of supererogation not commanded them, nor in the spirit of their law. The Lord speaks not here of those pious Godfearing men, who were found dwelling among the Jews, favouring and often attending their worship but of the proselytes of righteousness , so called, who by persuasion of the Pharisees, took on them the whole Jewish law and its observances . These were rare and it was to the credit of our nature that they were. For what could such a proselyte, made by such teachers, become? A disciple of hypocrisy merely neither a sincere heathen nor a sincere Jew doubly the child of hell condemned by the religion which he had left condemned again by that which he had taken. The expression occurs in the same connexion, and probably in allusion to this passage, in Justin Martyr, Tryph. 122, p. 215, , .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 23:15 . he second woe is the complement of the first: it represents the false guides, as, while utterly incompetent for the function, extremely eager to exercise it. , ye move about, intransitive, the accusative following being governed by . . , the dry (land), sometimes is similarly used for the sea (examples in Elsner). Cf. for cold water in Mat 10:42 . To compass sea and land is proverbial for doing anything with great zeal. . , to make a single proselyte. The zeal here ascribed to the Pharisees seems in one sense alien to their character as described in Luk 18:11 . One would expect them rather to be pleased to be a select few superior to all others than to be animated with a burning desire to gain recruits whether from Jews or from Gentiles. For an elaborate discussion of the question as to the existence of the proselytising spirit among the Jews vide Danz’s treatise in Meuschen, Nov. Test. ex Tal. illustratum , p. 649. Vide also Wetstein, ad loc. Wnsche ( Beitrge , p. 285) cites passages from the Talmud to prove that the Pharisees, far from being addicted to proselytising, were rather reserved in this respect. He concludes that Mat 23:15 must refer not to making proselytes to Judaism from Gentiles, but to making additions to their sect from among Jews ( Sectirerei ). This, however, is against the meaning of . Assuming the fact to have been as stated, the point to be noted is that the Pharisees and scribes aimed chiefly, not at bringing men into the Kingdom of God, but into their own coterie. ., twofold more, duplo quam , Vulgate. Kypke, while aware that the comparative of ( ) does not occur in profane writers, thinks it is used here in the sense of deceitful, and renders, ye make him a son of gehenna , more fraudulent, more hypocritical than yourselves. Briefly the idea is: the more converted the more perverted, “je bekehrter desto verkehrter” (Holtz., H. C.).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 23:15
15″Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
Mat 23:15 “hypocrites” See Special Topic at Mat 6:2.
“to make one proselyte” There were two kinds of Jewish converts: (1) those who were circumcised, self baptized and offered a sacrifice-they were called “proselytes of the gate” and (2) those who just regularly attended the synagogue-they were called “God-fearers.”
“you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” This is truly a shocking statement. Jesus is offended by self-righteous legalism! This reenforced His statement of Mat 5:20. This is a significant reversal of cultural expectations.
“hell” This term Gehenna came from two Hebrew words, “valley” and “Hinnom.” This was where the Phoenician fertility fire god was worshiped just south of Jerusalem in the valley of Topheth, by the practice of child sacrifice [molech] (cf. 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 17:17; 2Ki 21:6; 2Ch 28:3; 2Ch 33:6). It became the garbage dump of Jerusalem. Jesus used it as the earthly metaphor of hell and eternal judgment.
This term was only used by Jesus, except for Jas 3:6. Jesus’ love for fallen mankind did not prevent Him from addressing the awesome consequences of rejecting His words and works (cf. Mat 25:46). If Jesus asserted the reality of eternal separation from fellowship with God, it is a truth that His followers must take seriously. Hell is a tragedy for mankind, but also an open bleeding wound in the heart of God that will never heal! See Special Topic: Where Are the Dead? at Mat 5:22.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
woe, &c. Compare Mat 5:5, and see App-126.
land = dry [land].
proselyte. The Greek is transliterated, and means a comer over to. Used of a Gentile who came over to the Jews’ religion. Occurs only here; and Act 2:10; Act 6:5; Act 13:43.
is made = becomes [one].
the child of hell = a son of Gehenna. A Hebraism = Gehenna’s people. See App-131. I; and note on Mat 5:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15.] And with all this betrayal of your trust as (Joh 3:10), as if all your work at home were done, ye . . . … This was their work of supererogation-not commanded them, nor in the spirit of their law. The Lord speaks not here of those pious Godfearing men, who were found dwelling among the Jews, favouring and often attending their worship-but of the proselytes of righteousness, so called, who by persuasion of the Pharisees, took on them the whole Jewish law and its observances. These were rare-and it was to the credit of our nature that they were. For what could such a proselyte, made by such teachers, become? A disciple of hypocrisy merely-neither a sincere heathen nor a sincere Jew-doubly the child of hell-condemned by the religion which he had left-condemned again by that which he had taken. The expression occurs in the same connexion, and probably in allusion to this passage, in Justin Martyr, Tryph. 122, p. 215, , .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 23:15. , …, ye compass, etc.) A proverbial expression. Ye compass, or go about, as Rabbis; see Mat 23:7.- , one proselyte) with great zeal, but little efficacy; so that you hardly obtain one.- , a child of hell) i.e. worthy of hell. Thus in Deu 25:2, [999] is rendered by the LXX. , worthy of stripes.[1000]-, twofold more) on account of his greater hypocrisy,[1001] though he might have attained to a high rank among the people of God.
[999] Literally, a son to be beaten.-(I. B.)
[1000] E. V. Worthy to be beaten.-(I. B.)
[1001] Which he adopts from his teachers, independently of and exceeding his heathen corruptions, which he has not laid aside.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
hell
Gehenna. (See Scofield “Mat 5:22”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
for: Gal 4:17, Gal 6:12
proselyte: Est 8:17, Act 2:10, Act 13:43
ye make: Joh 8:44, Act 13:10, Act 14:2, Act 14:19, Act 17:5, Act 17:6, Act 17:13, Eph 2:3
Reciprocal: Psa 64:5 – commune Mat 7:29 – and not Mat 12:45 – more Mat 15:1 – scribes Mat 23:13 – woe Mat 23:18 – guilty Luk 6:40 – that is perfect shall be as his master Luk 11:26 – more Act 20:30 – to draw Gal 6:13 – keep
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:15
The English word “proselyte” means one converted or brought over from one faith to another. The word has virtually the same meaning in the Bible, for the Gentiles were permitted to embrace Judaism, and when they did so they were called proselytes. The Jews recognized a distinction between the extent to which some Gentiles made the change which resulted in such classifications as “proselytes of the gate” and “proselytes of righteousness.” The latter went farther than the former and conformed to all of the requirements of the law of Moses. But this distinction need not concern us as far as the present verse is concerned. The point is that the scribes and Pharisees professed great zeal in making proselytes, but through their deceptive methods of pressing their own traditions upon the converts ahead of the written law, they confused them and made them worse characters than themselves. Twofold more the child of hell. This is plainly a figurative statement, for no one can be any more than once a child of another. The word child is used in the sense of one who is worthy of or entitled to a thing. This should be understood in the light of comments on “greater damnation” in the preceding verse.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
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.
[To make one proselyte.] The Talmudists truly speak very ill of proselytes: “Our Rabbins teach, that proselytes and Sodomites hinder the coming of the Messias. Proselytes are as a scab to Israel.” The Gloss; “For this reason, that they were not skilled in the commandments, that they brought in revenge, and moreover, that the Israelites perchance may imitate their works,” etc.
Yet in making of these they used their utmost endeavours for the sake of their own gain, that they might some way or other drain their purses, after they had drawn them in under the show of religion, or make some use or benefit to themselves by them. The same covetousness, therefore, under a veil of hypocrisy, in devouring widows’ houses, which our Saviour had condemned in the former clause, he here also condemns in hunting after proselytes; which the scribes and Pharisees were at all kind of pains to bring over to them. Not that they cared for proselytes; whom they accounted as “a scab and plague”; but that the more they could draw over to their religion, the greater draught they should have for gain, and the more purses to fish in. These, therefore, being so proselyted, “they made doubly more the children of hell than themselves.” For when they had drawn them into their net, having got their prey, they were no further concerned what became of them, so they got some benefit by them. They might perish in ignorance, superstition, atheism, and all kind of wickedness: this was no matter of concern to the scribes and Pharisees; only let them remain in Judaism, that they might lord it over their consciences and purses.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 23:15. Ye compass sea and land, i.e., spare no effort, to make one proselyte. Among the Jews there were two kinds of proselytes. 1. Those who embraced the Jewish religion, conforming to all its requirements, proselytes of righteousness. 2. Those who approved of it, accepting some of its rites, without being circumcised, proselytes of the gate. The former class is probably referred to here. Shutting the kingdom of heaven in the faces of their own people (Mat 23:13), the Pharisees yet sought proselytes among the heathen. Real missionary effort was contrary to the spirit of the Pharisees, indicating too high an estimate of the Gentiles. Judaism was designed to diffuse certain religious ideas throughout the world, not to convert the world to Judaism. A proselyte of righteousness was really neither a sincere heathen nor a sincere Jew. The law could only proselyte, it could not convert
Two-fold more a son of hell than yourselves. Proselytes generally become more extreme than their teachers. In this case they would become Pharisees, rather than Jews, lacking even the remnant of good in their teachers. The usual result of sectarian zeal; for men are more easily perverted than converted; perverts are more violently zealous than converts; able to receive only the external forms, they attach to these the greater importance.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The next woe denounced is for their false-ended zeal and earnestness in proselyting heathens to the Jewish religion; not with a pious intention to save them, but to serve themselves upon them, to have their consciences and purses under their power: and when you have poisoned them, says our Saviour, by your corrupt doctrine, and hardened them in a course of sin by your wicked example, they are more the children of hell than before you practised upon them.
Learn, 1. Great is the diligence and indefatigable the industry which false teachers use in gaining proselytes to their opinion and party: They compass sea and land to make one proselyte.
2. That such as are proselyted to error, are oftentimes faster riveted in their false opinions than their teachers themselves: They are made two-fold more the children of hell than yourselves.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 15
Proselyte; convert to their opinions.
Matthew 23:16-22. By these subterfuges the Pharisees attempted to evade the sanctity of an oath.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and {p} land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
(p) The dry part: now that part of the earth is called dry which the Lord has given to us to live upon.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The second woe 23:15
The scribes and Pharisees were very zealous to get Jews to subscribe to their doctrinal convictions. Some commentators stress that the Pharisees made disciples to Judaism. This may have been true, but their chief offense was bringing Jews under their corrupt theology. [Note: See Irena Levinskaya, The Book of Acts in Its Diaspora Setting, pp. 36-46.] Jesus did not criticize them for their zeal. He criticized them because of what they taught their converts and the effect that this "conversion" had on their converts.
As noted previously, what marked the teaching of these leaders was that they gave the oral traditional interpretations and teachings of the rabbis at least the same authority as the Old Testament, if not more authority. Practically they twisted the Old Testament when it did not harmonize with the accepted teachings of the rabbis (cf. Mat 5:21-48).
The converts to Pharisaism became more zealous for the traditions of the fathers than their teachers were. This is often the result of conversion. Students sometimes take the views of their teachers farther than their teachers do. The dynamic nature of the Pharisees’ view of the authority of the fathers’ interpretations increased this problem. When a person believes that Scriptural authority extends beyond the statements of Scripture there is no limit to what else may be authoritative. The Pharisees’ interpretation of Messiah locked Jesus out of this role.
The proselytes were the sons of hell (Gehenna) in the sense that they belonged to hell and would go there eventually (cf. Mat 8:12; Mat 13:38). Rather than leading them to heaven, the Pharisees and teachers of the law led them to hell. Gehenna represented the place of eternal damnation, the lake of fire (cf. Matt 25:51). Hades is the temporary abode of the wicked from which God will raise them for judgment at the great white throne and final damnation in the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15).