Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 23:20
Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Verse 20. Whoso – shall swear by the altar] As an oath always supposes a person who witnesses it, and will punish perjury; therefore, whether they swore by the temple or the gold, (Mt 23:16), or by the altar or the gift laid on it, (Mt 23:18), the oath necessarily supposes the God of the temple, of the altar, and of the gifts, who witnessed the whole, and would, even in their exempt cases, punish the perjury.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
20-22. Whoso therefore shall swearby the altar, &c.See on Mt5:33-37.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Whosoever therefore shall swear by the altar,…. Not that Christ allowed of swearing by the altar, or by the temple, or by heaven, or by any creature, animate or inanimate; for such swearing is elsewhere disapproved of by him, and forbid, but if a man did swear by the altar, he ought to know, and consider that he not only
sweareth by it, but by all the gifts, and offerings that are brought, and laid upon it,
and by all things thereon; whatever gifts and sacrifices are offered upon it; which, by being put there, become holy, as the altar itself: so that he that swears by the altar, swears also by the gifts of the altar; and consequently, according to their own traditions, such oaths must be binding.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all things that are on it. And he who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who dwells in it. And he who swears by the heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.”
So now He tries to turn their thoughts Heavenward. Note the advance in thought. First the altar where propitiation can be made and men can approach God, then the Temple from which worship and prayer and incense is offered and where God can be seen as symbolically present, then Heaven where God is present in majesty, and then especially ‘the throne of God’ where, as it were, God Himself is seated in glory. That was where their worship should have led them, rather than simply to admiring and concentrating on their own gifts (compare 1Ki 8:27). Note the parallels with Mat 5:34-35, but here the thought is not on whether oaths are acceptable, but on the fact that their attitude to oaths indicates that the whole direction of their thinking is wrong. It is concentrated on the works and contributions of man rather than on the grace and holiness of God.
Note that in Mat 3:5 that believers will ‘inherit the earth’ (receive God’s fullness of blessing) but these miss out on God’s fullness of blessing because their concentration is on their own giving and not on Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 23:20-22 . ] inference from Mat 23:19 ; because the greater, from which the less (the accessorium ), as being bound up with it, derives its sanctity, necessarily includes that less.
] The aorist participle represents the thing as already in the course of being done (Khner, II. 1, p. 134, ad Xen. Mem . i. 1. 18): he who has proceeded to swear by the altar, swears ( present ), according to the point of view indicated by , not merely by the altar, but at the same time by all that is upon it as well.
Mat 23:21 . No longer dependent on ; but two other examples of swearing are adduced independently of the former, in each of which even the highest of all, God Himself, is understood to be included. Accordingly we find the objects presented in a different relation to one another. Formerly the greater included the less, now the converse is the case. But though differing in this respect, there is in both instances a perfect agreement as to the sacred and binding character of the oaths.
] who made it his dwelling-place , took up his abode in it (after it was built). Comp. Jas 4:5 ; Luk 2:49 .
Mat 23:22 [10] ]. Comp. on Mat 5:34 .
[10] The opposite of ver. 22 occurs in Schevuoth , f. xxxv. 2 : “Quia praeter Deum, coeli et terrae creatorem, datur etiam ipsum coelum et terra, indubium esse debet, quod is, qui per coelum et terram jurat non per eum juret, qui illa creavit, sed per illas ipsas creaturas.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Ver. 20. Whoso therefore shall swear ] It was not lawful to swear by the altar, or by any creature whatsoever, Jer 5:7 ; (much less by idols, Amo 8:14 ; “I myself,” saith Latimer, “have used in mine earnest matters to say, Yea by St Mary, which indeed is naught”). But though these oaths be formally naught, yet they are finally binding, and being broken, they are plain perjury, because they are all reduced to God himself, none otherwise than if they had been taken expressly by the name of God. Hence it is that the oaths of Papists, Turks, heathens (though superstitious), are obligatory, , just as , An oath is a hedge, which a man may not break.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 23:20. , by all things thereon) As in Mat 23:21 the gold of the temple is not again mentioned, but He is mentioned who dwelleth therein; so in this verse the expression, all things which are upon the altar, signifies something much greater than the gift on the altar, nay, something in contrast with that gift, sc. the sacred fire and the whole divinely appointed ministry of the priests, who stood and walked, not only beside, but upon the altar.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Reciprocal: Heb 6:16 – swear