Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 23:23
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.
23. ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin ] “Mint and rue and all manner of herbs,” (Luk 11:42.) Zeal in paying tithes was one of the points of reform under the Maccabees.
anise ] Greek , either=“anise” as in E.V., or “dill,” a plant similar in appearance, and used like anise as a sedative medicine and for cooking purposes.
cummin ] See Isa 28:25; Isa 28:27, where the special method of beating out cummin seeds is named. “It is used as a spice, both bruised to mix with bread, and also boiled in the various messes and stews which compose an Oriental banquet.” Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible.
weightier matters of the law ] The distinction between great and small precepts of the law is found in the Talmud. Schttgen gives many instances, p. 183. One saying is: “Observance of the lesser precepts is rewarded on earth; observance of the greater precepts is rewarded in heaven.”
judgment, mercy, and faith ] “Judgment and the love of God” (Luke).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye pay tithe – A tenth part. The law required the Jews to devote a tenth part of all their property to the support of the Levites, Num 18:20-24. Another tenth part they paid for the service of the sanctuary, commonly in cattle or grain, but where they lived far from the place of worship they changed it to money, Deu 14:22-24. Besides these, there was to be every third year a tenth part given to the poor, to be eaten at their own dwellings Deu 14:28-29; so that nearly one-third of the property of the Jews was devoted to religious services by law. This was besides the voluntary offerings which they made. How much more mild and gentle are the laws of Christianity under which we live!
Mint – A garden herb, in the original so called from its agreeable flavor. It was used to sprinkle the floors of their houses and synagogues to produce a pleasant fragrance.
Anise – Known commonly among us as dill. It has a fine aromatic smell, and is used by confectioners and perfumers.
Cummin – A plant of the same genus, like fennel, and used for similar purposes. These were all herbs of little value. The law of Moses said that they should pay tithes of the fruits of the earth, Deu 14:22. It said nothing, however, about herbs. It was a question whether these should be tithed. The Pharisees maintained, in their extraordinary strictness, that they ought. Our Saviour says that they were precise in doing small matters which the law had not expressly commanded, while they omitted the greater things which it had enjoined.
Judgment – Justice to others, as magistrates, neighbors, citizens. Giving to all their just dues.
Mercy – Compassion and kindness to the poor and miserable.
Faith – Piety toward God; confidence in him. Faith in God here means that we are to give to him what is his due; as mercy and justice mean to do to people, in all circumstances, what is right toward them.
These ought ye to have done – Attention to even the smallest points of the law of God is proper, but it should not interfere with the higher and more important parts of that law.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 23:23-24
And have omitted the weightier matters of the law.
Sins of omission
1. The very earliest cause of nearly all sin lies in omitting something which we ought to have done. Perhaps you left your room without prayer.
2. That sins of omission in Gods sight are of larger magnitude than sins of commission.
3. They will form the basis of judgment at the last day-Ye gave Me no meat.
4. Why is any man lost that is lost, but because he omitted Gods way of escape?
5. Sins of omission are characteristically sins of the Christian dispensation. Its laws are positive. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The great duties of religion
Define these weightier matters of the law.
1. One virtue originating immediately in primitive law is more important than another, an obligation to perform which is founded only on some particular circumstances.
2. Virtues anterior to particulars subsist after those circumstances.
3. A virtue that hath a great object is more than those which have small objects.
4. Every virtue connected with other virtues, and drawing after it many more, is greater than any single or detached virtue.
5. A virtue that constitutes the end, to which all religion conducts us, is more important than other virtues, which at most are only means to lead to the end. (J. Saurin)
Small duties of religion
Obligation to little duties may be urged, because
(1) they contribute to maintain a tenderness of conscience;
(2) they are sources of re-conversion after great falls;
(3) they make up by their frequency what is wanting to their importance;
(4) they have sometimes characters as certain of real love as the great duties have. (J. Saurin.)
The superlative importance of the moral duties of religion
I. Moral duties, the weightier matters of the law, the love of God, justice, mercy, and fidelity, are more excellent in their own nature, and ought always to be preferred to all ritual and positive institutions, whenever they come into competition with them.
II. Notwithstanding the intrinsic and superior excellence of moral duties, yet those rites and external institutions which are of Divine appointment ought to be religiously observed, and it is really criminal in the sight of God to despise and neglect them. (W. Leechman.)
Sins of omission
The last words that Archbishop Usher was heard to express, were, Lord, forgive my sins; especially my sins of omission.
Fidelity in little duties no excuse for neglect of great
The tithing of cummin must not be neglected; but take heed thou dost not neglect the weightiest things of the Law-judgment, mercy, and faith; making your preciseness in the less a blind for your horrible wickedness in the greater. (W. Gurnall.)
All sin traced to an omission
It scarcely admits of a question, but that every sin which was ever committed upon the earth, is traceable, in the first instance, to a sin of omission. At a certain point of the genealogy of that sin, there was something of which it is not too much to say that if it had been done that sin would have been cut short. And the very earliest cause of that sin (whether you are able to discover a root or not) lay, not in anything we did, or said, or thought, but in that which we might have done, and did not do; or, might have said, and did not say; or, might have thought, and did not think. Every sin lies in a chain, and the first link is fastened to another link. For instance, that first sin committed after the Fall-Cains fratricide-was the result of anger; that anger was the result of jealousy; that jealousy was the result of an unaccepted sacrifice; that unaccepted sacrifice was the result of the absence of faith; and that absence of faith was the result of an inattentive ear, or a heart which had grown silent towards God As you uncoil a sin, you have been surprised to find what a compound thing that is which, at first sight, appeared single. You have gone on, finding the germ of one sin in the seed of another sin, till you could scarcely pursue the process because it stretched so far; but, if you went far enough, you found at last that some neglect was the beginning of it all. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Sins of omission the most heinous
By which are we most pained-the omissions, or the commissions, of life? Say you have two persons whom you love. I will suppose a father with two sons. The one often offends him by direct and open disobedience; and your heart is made to ache, again and again, by his frequent and flagrant transgressions of your law. The other does nothing which is outwardly and palpably bad. His life is moral, and his course correct. But he shows no sign whatsoever of any personal regard for you. You long to catch some indication of affection; but there is none. Day after day you have watched for it; but still there is none! You are plainly indifferent to him. He does not injure you. But in no thought, or word, or deed, does he ever show you that he has you in his heart, to care for you and love you. Now, which of those two sons will pain you most? The disobedient, or the cold one? The one who often transgresses, or the one who never loves? The one who commits, or the one who omits? Is there a doubt that, however much the committee may the more injure himself, or society, the omitter most wounds the parents heart? And is it not so with the great Father of us all? (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Omission the sin of the lost
Why is any man lost who is lost? Is it because he did certain things which brought down upon him the righteous retribution of eternal punishment? No; but because, having broken Gods commandments, he omitted to use Gods way of escape-to go to Christ, to believe the promises, to accept pardon, to realize truth: therefore he is lost; and the cause of the final condemnation of every sinner in hell is a sin of omission. The gospel precept-unlike the law-is direct and absolute, not negative: Thou shalt love God, and thy neighbour. And therefore the transgression must consist in an omission. It is only by not loving, that you can be brought in guilty, under the code of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Religious duties great and small to be combined
Turning to the house-old, we may see how the principle here stated holds good. Public religious services must not be made the substitute for home duties; and, again, home duties must not be pleaded as an apology for the neglect of public ordinances. Arrangements ought to be made for rightly engaging in both. The instructing of other peoples children must not be allowed to keep us from giving needed attention to the godly upbringing of our own. And, again, the training of our own families should not be made a plea for exemption from all effort for the spiritual welfare of those of others. A workman meeting a friend on the street in Edinburgh, one Monday morning, said to him, Why were you not at church last night? our minister preached an excellent sermon on home religion. Why were you not there to hear it? Because, was the answer, I was at home doing it. That was a good answer, for the service was an extra one, and the man had been at church twice before. So he was right, with the third, to give his home duties the preference. But then, on the other hand, the at home doing it is not all, and it should be so provided for as not to take away from proper attendance on regular ordinances, otherwise the result will be that after a while religion will not be much cared for either in the church or in the home. A tardy student coming late into the class was asked by his professor to account for his want of punctuality; and replied that he had delayed for purposes of private devotion. But his teacher very properly reproved him by saying, You had no right to be at your prayers, when you ought to have been here; it is your duty to make such arrangements that the one shall not interfere with the other. So in regard to the conflicting claims of the household and the church upon you. Make arrangements for giving due attention to both, and do not sacrifice the one on the shrine of the other. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
These things done, and others not left undone
A clear conception of the real nature of Phariseeism is all that is needed to vindicate the severity of this denunciation.
1. The error of the Pharisees was not superficial, but fundamental. Their religion was not simply defective, but positively false.
2. Such radically erroneous notions concerning religion, lulled the Pharisees into absolute self-security.
3. Still further we may account for the severity of these denunciations from the fact that the Saviour foresaw that Phariseeism would in after ages become the greatest hindrance to the progress of His cause in the world. There is a constant tendency to retain the form after the life has departed.
I. That the commands of god are of different degrees of importance. There are matters of more weight than others among the Divine precepts. The heart that reverences God will seek to obey all, but each in its own order. In morals as in doctrine there are things essential and non-essential. The weightiest of all Gods commands have respect to judgment, mercy, faith. The inner is more important than the outward life; out of the heart are the issues of life, and therefore should have the greatest attention. So the great things and the smaller will follow in their train.
II. That attention to the matters of less importance will not compensate for the neglect of those which are of essential moment. Punctilious title-paying will not condone lack of humble faith in God.
III. That when the heart is right with God through faith in Jesus Christ, both the weightier matters and those of less importance will be properly attended to. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The gnat and the camel
I. Inward qualities count for more than outward observances.
II. That a just sense of proportion is essential to a welt-regulated Christian mind. It is no infrequent thing to find a person who seems to be very religious curiously deficient in the sense of proportion. He cannot quite see what is great or what is small. If he be disposed to obstinacy or bigotry, he simply regards all that is plain to him as great; and all his tenets and regulations as equally great. If he be merely small-minded, by natural affinity he fastens keenly on small points. These are of the proper size for him; and he takes them to be quite large. Or if he be of a self-regarding mind, considering religion simply with reference to his own safety, he lays all the stress on the truths which are near himself, and has but a faint appreciation of those which are much more vast but more remote. (D. Fraser, D. D.)
Cummin
That we meet so often, says Sir Thomas Brown, with cummin seeds in many parts of Scripture, in reference unto Judaea, a seed so abominable at present to our palates and nostrils, will not seem strange unto any who consider the frequent use thereof among the ancients, not only in medical, but in dietetical use and practice; for their dishes were filled therewith; and their noblest festival preparations in Apicius, were not without it; and even in the polenta and parched corn, the old diet of the Romans, unto every measure they mixed a small proportion of linseed and cummin seed. And so cummin is justly set down among things of vulgar and common use. (C. Bulkley.)
Tithe of mint
The Pharisee, in his minute scrupulosity, made a point of gathering the tenth sprig of every garden herb, and presenting it to the priest. (Dean Plumptre.)
Straining out a gnat
The expression may be more precisely rendered, strain out a gnat, and then there may be a reference intended to the custom that prevailed, among the more strict and accurate Jews, of straining their wine and other drinks, lest they should inadvertently swallow a gnat, or some other unclean insect: supposing that thereby they would transgress (Lev 11:20; Lev 11:23; Lev 11:41-42). A traveller in North Africa, where Eastern customs are very jealously retained, reports noticing that a Moorish soldier who accompanied him, when he drank, always unfolded the end of his turban, and placed it over the mouth of his bota, drinking through the muslin to strain out the gnats, whose larvae swarm in the water of that country. (Trench.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23.. Ye pay tithe of mint, c.] They were remarkably scrupulous in the performance of all the rites and ceremonies of religion, but totally neglected the soul, spirit, and practice of godliness.
Judgment] Acting according to justice and equity towards all mankind. Mercy – to the distressed and miserable. And faith in God as the fountain of all righteousness, mercy, and truth. The scribes and Pharisees neither began nor ended their works in God, nor had they any respect unto his name in doing them. They did them to be seen of men, and they had their reward-human applause.
These ought ye to have done, &c.] Our Lord did not object to their paying tithe even of common pot-herbs – this did not affect the spirit of religion but while they did this and such like, to the utter neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, they showed that they had no religion, and knew nothing of its nature.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We have much the same Luk 11:42, only there it is, Ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God. It is manifest by our Saviours words in the latter part of the verse,
these ought ye to have done, that he doth not blame the Pharisees exactness in tithing mint, anise, rue, cummin, and all manner of herbs; but their neglecting the weightier matters of the law, faith and love to God, judgment and mercy. The Levites having no inheritance: God ordained tithes for their maintenance; of which also the poor were to have a share, Lev 27:30; Num 18:24. The Pharisee boasted, Luk 18:12, that he paid tithe of all he possessed. Christ here acknowledgeth that the Pharisees were exact in their paying tithes; but he blames them,
1. For their partiality, neglecting the weightier things of the law.
2. For their hypocrisy; they were only exact in these little things, that they might be taken notice of as scrupulous observers of the Divine law; while they omitted those things, which were of much more weight, which he reckoneth up: faith, by which some understand faith in God, but the most, faithfulness, and sincere and honest dealings with men, in opposition to fraud, and cheating, and circumventions.
Judgment, by which he means justice, giving to every one what is their own.
Mercy, by which he means a charitable behaviour, in helping such as are miserable and afflicted.
Love to God, which is the true root, out of which all things should flow, and is indeed comprehensive of all our duty toward God, as well as the root of all our good works towards men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and aniserather,”dill,” as in Margin.
and cumminIn Luke (Lu11:42) it is “and rue, and all manner of herbs.” Theygrounded this practice on Le 27:30,which they interpreted rigidly. Our Lord purposely names the mosttrifling products of the earth as examples of what they punctiliouslyexacted the tenth of.
and have omitted theweightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faithInLuke (Lu 11:42) it is”judgment, mercy, and the love of God”the expressionbeing probably varied by our Lord Himself on the two differentoccasions. In both His reference is to Mic6:6-8, where the prophet makes all acceptable religion to consistof three elements”doing justly, loving mercy, and walkinghumbly with our God”; which third element presupposes andcomprehends both the “faith” of Matthew and the “love”of Luke. See on Mr 12:29; Mr12:32, 33. The same tendency to merge greater duties in lessbesets even the children of God; but it is the characteristic ofhypocrites.
these ought ye to have done,and not to leave the other undoneThere is no need for one setof duties to jostle out another; but it is to be carefully noted thatof the greater duties our Lord says, “Ye ought to havedone” them, while of the lesser He merely says, “Yeought not to leave them undone.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,…. Christ returns to the former epithets he had very rightly given to these men, and very pertinently repeats them here; and which are confirmed by the instances of their conduct and practice here alleged, which abundantly show their hypocrisy and deceit; since they were very strict in observing some outward things, which gave them credit with the people, and especially the priests and Levites, some little trifling ceremonies and traditions of their elders, whilst they neglected internal religion, and those things which were of the greatest moment and importance:
for ye take tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin; which ought not commanded by the law, they were obliged to by the traditions of the elders. Mint is an herb well known, and has its name in the Greek from its sweet smell; on account of which the Jews used to spread it on the floors of their synagogues y. This was one of the herbs that was subject to the law of the seventh year z, and is mentioned with those which were to be tithed a. The Ethiopic version, instead of mint reads “hyssop”; and which also was an herb that was obliged to be tithed b. “Anise” is a seed also well known, and which the Jews call , and of which they often observe, that it is subject to tithing, both seed, herb, flowers, or stalks c: instead of this Munster’s Hebrew Gospel has , “rue”; and which, in the Misna d, is mentioned along with mint, as it is by
Lu 11:42 and said to be one of the things the Pharisees gave tithe of; though in their oral law it is reckoned among the things that are free from tithe e: and therefore this must be a sort of work of supererogation to give tithe of that, which they were not obliged to. “Cummin” is a sort of anise; its seed is much like fennel seed, and which pigeons are very fond of: mention is made of it in
Isa 28:25 and is reckoned with figs, dates, carobes, or Egyptian figs, and rice, which were obliged to be tithed f, and was what was also bound to the offering of the first fruits to the priest g. Christ mentions these particular herbs and seeds, as a specimen of what they paid tithes of. In Luke, it is added, “and all manner of herbs”: for, according to the traditions of the elders, they were in general subject to tithes: and it is a common saying or maxim of the Jews, that the tithing of corn is from the law, but
, “the tithing of herbs is from the Rabbins” h: it is a constitution of their’s, and not of Moses:
and have omitted the weightier matters of the law. The distinction of the commandments of the law into lighter and heavier, or weightier, to which Christ here refers, is frequent with the Jews. When one comes to be made a proselyte, they acquaint him with some of , “the light commands”, and some of , “the heavy”, or “weighty commands” i. So again, they paraphrase the words in Isa 33:18 “where is the scribe?” he that numbers all the letters in the law. “Where is the receiver?” who weighs the “light” things, , and “heavy”, or “weighty things in the law” k. Again l,
“in the words of the law there are some things “light”, and some things “heavy”, or “weighty”:”
but those weighty things they omitted, and regarded those that were light; yea, that had no foundation in the law at all: and no wonder, since, in the place last cited, they say m, that
“the words of the Scribes are all of them “weighty” and that the sayings of the elders are more “weighty” than the words of the prophets.”
The things our Lord refers to, and instances in, are as follow;
judgment, mercy, and faith. “Judgment” may mean the administration of justice in courts of judicature; the putting in execution good judgments, righteous laws and statutes; protecting and relieving the injured and oppressed, and doing that which is right and equitable between man and man: but, on the contrary, these men devoured widows’ houses, and oppressed the poor and fatherless. “Mercy” includes all acts of compassion to the distressed, relieving the necessitous, distributing to their wants, and showing all kindness and beneficence to the poor and needy; which the scribes and Pharisees very little practised, being a set of cruel, hard hearted, and covetous persons. “Faith” may not only design faithfulness in a man’s keeping his word and promise, and fidelity to a trust reposed in him; but also faith in God, as the God of providence, and as the God of grace and mercy; believing in his word and promises, and worshipping him, which the law requires; and the rather this seems to be intended, because Luke, instead of “faith”, puts “the love of God”, which faith includes, and works by, and is the end of the commandment, arising from faith unfeigned: so that Christ instances in the weightier matters of both tables of the law, which these men neglected, and the latter, as well as the former; not believing the revelation of the Gospel, nor the Messiah, who was promised, and prophesied of by God, in the writings of the Old Testament:
these ought ye to have done: more especially, and in the first place, as being of the greatest use and importance:
and not to leave the other undone; meaning either the lighter matters, and lesser commands of the law; or even their tithes of herbs: if they thought themselves obliged to them, Christ would not dispute the matter with them; if they thought fit to observe them, they might, so long as they did not interfere with, and take them off from things of greater moment. But alas! these men preferred the rituals of the ceremonial law, and the traditions of the elders, above the duties of the moral law; and reckoned that the latter were nothing, if the former were wanting; for they n Say, that
“the words of the Scribes, are more lovely than the words of the law.”
And also o, that
“he that profanes the holy things, and despises the solemn feasts, and makes void the covenant of Abraham our father (circumcision), and behaves impudently towards the law (ceremonial), although the law and good works are in his hands, he has no part in the world to come.”
The Persic version renders the words thus; “these ought ye to do, and not them”; as if it was our Lord’s sense, that they ought to observe the weightier matters of the moral law, and not regard their tithing of herbs, and other traditions of, their fathers.
y Jarchi in Misn. Oketzim, c. 1. sect. 2. z Misn. Sheviith, c. 7. sect. 1, 2. a T. Hieros. Dermai, fol. 22. 3. b Misn. Maaserot, c. 3. sect. 9. c lb. c. 4. sect. 5. T. Hieros. Maaserot, fol. 51. 2. T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 7. 2. Jarchi & Maimon. in Misn. Oketzim, c. 3. sect. 4. d Oketzim, c. 1. sect. 2. e Misn. Sheviith, c. 9. sect. 1. f Misn. Demai, c. 2. sect. 1. g Misn. Trumot, c. 10. sect. 4. h T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 83. 2. & T. Hieros. Challah, fol. 60. 2. & Maaserot, fol. 48. 3. i T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 47. 1. Maimon. Hilch. Issure Bia, c. 14. sect. 2, 6, 9. Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, pr. neg. 116. k T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 15. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 106. 2. l T. Hieros Beracot, fol. 3. 2. m Ib. n T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 3. 2. o T. Hieres. Pesachim, fol. 33. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye tithe (). The tithe had to be paid upon “all the increase of thy seed” (Deut 14:22; Lev 27:30). The English word tithe is tenth. These small aromatic herbs, mint ( , sweet-smelling), anise or dill (), cummin (, with aromatic seeds), show the Pharisaic scrupulous conscientiousness, all marketable commodities. “The Talmud tells of the ass of a certain Rabbi which had been so well trained as to refuse corn of which the tithes had not been taken” (Vincent).
These ye ought ( ). Jesus does not condemn tithing. What he does condemn is doing it to the neglect of the
weightier matters ( ). The Pharisees were externalists; cf. Lu 11:39-44.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye Tithe [] . ajpo, from, dekatow, to take a tenth. Tithe is tenth; also in older English, tethe, as tethe hest, the tenth commandment. A tething was a district containing ten families.
Mint [] . hJduv, sweet, ojsmh, smell. A favorite plant in the East, with which the floors of dwelling and synagogues were sometimes strewn.
Anise – Cummin [] . Rev. renders anise, dill in margin. Used as condiments. The tithe of these plants would be very small; but to exact it would indicate scrupulous conscientiousness. The Talmud tells of the ass of a certain Rabbi which had been so well trained as to refuse corn of which the tithes had not been taken.
Faith [] . Rather faithfulness, as in Rom 3:3, Rev. Gal 5:22, Rev.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Mat 23:23
. The former you ought to have done. This is intended to anticipate their calumny; for they might have put an unfavorable interpretation on his discourse, and charged him with setting no value on what the Law of God had enjoined. He therefore acknowledges that whatever God has enjoined ought to be performed, and that no part of it ought to be omitted, but maintains that zeal for the whole Law is no reason why we ought not to insist chiefly on the principal points. Hence he infers that they overturn the natural order who employ themselves in the smallest matters, when they ought rather to have begun with the principal points; for tithes were only a kind of appendage. Christ therefore affirms that he has no intention to lessen the authority even of the smallest commandments, though he recommends and demands due order in keeping the Law. It is therefore our duty to preserve entire the whole Law, which cannot be violated in any part without contempt for its Author; for He who has forbidden us to commit adultery, and to kill, and to steal, has likewise condemned all impure desire. Hence we conclude that all the commandments are so interwoven with each other, that we have no right to detach one of them from the rest. Wherefore it is also written,
Cursed is every one that performeth not all things that are written, (Deu 27:26; Gal 3:10😉
by which words the righteousness of the whole Law, without exception, is enforced. But this reverence, as we have said, does not take away the distinction between the commandments, or the true design of the Law, to which those who truly observe it direct their mind, that they may not merely amuse themselves on the surface.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
TEXT: 23:23, 24
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!
THOUGHT QUESTIONS
a.
If there are weightier matters of the law, does not this make other matters in the same law less weighty? Was Jesus indifferent about these lesser matters? Can anyone give too much attention to little things? Explain what you mean.
b.
What is the greatest commandment? What is the second greatest? What makes them greater and more important than others? Do you think Jesus meant to ignore love as one of the weightier matters of the law? (Cf. Luk. 11:42.)
c.
Are there big and little sins? Does Jesus distinction between weightier and (by implication) less weighty matters of the law suggest that some sins could be less important than others?
d.
What is the criterion by which Jesus distinguishes the weightier matters from tithing mint, anise and cummin?
e.
People in Jesus day gave exaggerated attention to little things while ignoring the great principles of justice, mercy and faith. Do you think it is possible for people in our day to do just the opposite, i.e. give great attention to great principles while ignoring items they would refer to as nonessential details, even though God ordered them?
f.
While it is true that Christians are not under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14), is there a sense in which we too operate under the principle of observing the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith, without neglecting the other things required of us? If so, how would you illustrate this?
g.
What do you think is wrong with people who are very scrupulous about (relatively) less important rituals, and yet who readily justify greed, impurity, dishonesty, cruelty and other sins in which they are personally involved?
h.
Some brethren believe that this text is Jesus last word on church finance, i.e. that tithing is hereby reinstated in the Christian system. Do you think they have correctly interpreted Jesus? If so, explain. If not, why not?
PARAPHRASE
How terrible for you teachers of the Law and Pharisees, pretenders! You give God a tenth of your smallest garden spices like mint, aniseed and cummin, but you have neglected the most vital provisions of the Law, like justice, mercy and integrity! These are the things you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, you carefully strain everything for fear of drinking an unclean animal like a gnat, yet you do not notice that you are swallowing a camel whole!
SUMMARY
Hypocrites are people who, among other things, are scrupulous about trivialities, but grossly negligent about duties of highest and gravest importance.
NOTES
Majoring In Minors
Mat. 23:23 Ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. (Cf. Luk. 11:42.) Jesus first vivacious illustration of rabbinical wrong emphasis is the preposterous snapshot of a squinting Pharisee, patiently counting one out of every ten parts of mint, anise and cummin, while long, dusty cobwebs gather on his practice of justice, mercy and faith.
Too much could be made, however, of the fact that the Law named only grain, grapes and olives to be tithed (Lev. 27:30 ff.; Num. 18:24; Num. 18:26; Deu. 14:22 ff; Deu. 26:12). Some affirm that the inclusion of mint, anise and cummin was an illegitimately over-extending . . . of the law (Hendriksen, Matthew, 831). While the Talmud, too, pictures tithing of herbs as a refinement of the rabbis (Bruce, Expositors Greek Testament, 282), hence apparently not originally intended by the Law nor practiced by earlier Jews closer to Moses, several points are to be noticed in its favor:
1.
The Law did not list in detail ALL of its proper, potential applications, but necessarily limited itself to key illustrations, leaving all unresolved questions in the hands of the Judaic judiciary. (Cf. Deu. 1:9-18; Deu. 17:8-13; Deu. 19:17; Deu. 25:1; remember Pauls argument in 1Co. 9:9 f.) On other occasions questions were resolved by prophets. (Cf. Zec. 7:1 to Zec. 8:23.) Even so, Deu. 26:2 specifies: first-fruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land, while Deu. 26:12 mentions: a tenth of all your produce, so to tithe garden spices would technically not over-extend the Laws actual precept. In fact, Jews closer to Moses than the Talmudists understood they must tithe not only grain, wine and oil, but also honey (2Ch. 31:5 : all that the fields produced), fruit of all the trees (Neh. 10:35; Neh. 10:37, not merely olive oil).
2.
Although Rabbinism typically and wrongly over-stretched the Law in many cases, is this what has actually occurred here? In Jesus words there is no discernible criticism of the Pharisean choice to tithe garden herbs. He did not affirm, These, that is, Gods revealed tithing precepts (not human exaggerations added to them), ye ought to have done, but simply, These ye ought to have done . . . , leaving mint, anise and cummin to be tithed along with grain, wine and oil.
3.
The extraordinary meticulousness of Pharisees regarding their tithing is, in itself, commendable, because they had covenanted before God not to appropriate for personal use anything that rightly belonged to Him, however great or small it might be. If only more Christians would share this same conscientiousness and faithfulness in small things (Luk. 16:10 f; Luk. 19:17).
No, Jesus emphasis lies in another direction: You are hypocrites, for ye tithe . . . and have left undone the weightier matters of the law. That the Mosaic system had at its base great, overriding principles is well-documented both in the Law and by the Prophets (Deu. 10:12-22; Pro. 21:3; Isa. 1:16 f.; Jer. 22:3; Zec. 7:9 f.; Mic. 6:8 and the list of other text at Mat. 22:36 notes.) The weightier matters of the law are these grand principles that give purpose to its every part. Justice to the oppressed, mercy where strict justice cannot solve the problem humanely, and faith in God as well as faithfulness to God in seeking conscientiously to apply His Word, are just some of the broad, foundational ethical rules upon which genuine holiness and true righteousness are grounded and on which every other item of specific legislation is based. Jesus had already mentioned love for God and man (Luk. 11:42; Mat. 22:34-40). Here, too, He expects every disciple to judge every minor detail of everyday life according to this criterion: Does what I am doing express the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and faith and the love of God? Mans choice, then, is not these weightier matters OR tithing and other minutiae, but the one AND the other, the one THROUGH the other.
In fact, to tithe ones goods under the Jewish system meant to act justly by giving back to God what is justly His (Lev. 27:30), to be used for the support of the Levitical priesthood (Num. 18:21) and for mercy to the poor (Deu. 14:28 f.), in faith trusting Gods system to be right. Or, to put it another way, Jewish tithing expressed one phase, even if minor, of justice (because done precisely like God required and because, regardless of ones income, tithing was uniformly just), of mercy (because it furnished the means to care for the needy), of faith (because God promised to make it possible to live on the remainder and prosper, so I will do it because I trust Him) and of the love of God (because He can be completely trusted to know what is best for me, whether I can perfectly understand and justify it or not). Jesus complaint, then, is that, in their tithing, the Pharisees were merely going through the motions, for they left the other undone, that is, they were not tithing as an expression of the great principles of true religion, but quite irrespective of them.
It is simply not true, therefore, that a proper sense of proportion, so fundamental to an even-balanced Christian expression, requires us to believe that not all duties are equally important, or that to fail to discern which is important and which less so is to lack spiritual equilibrium. The Jews were right to think: Be careful over a light precept as over a weighty but they mistook the reason: for thou knowest not the giving of the rewards of the precepts (i.e. how divine approval will be expressed concerning each one) (Aboth Mat. 2:1). This equality of duties is a valid understanding, because the supposedly light precepts, that appear less important, are actually the examples, the illustrations, the cases in point which express the so-called heavy precepts.
The rabbinical error signalled here by Jesus was their gross partiality in matters of the Law. (Cf. Mal. 2:9.) They believed themselves free to select which duty they would obey, despite Gods expectation (Num. 15:39 f.; Deu. 5:1; Deu. 5:32 f.; Deu. 6:24 f.; Deu. 8:1; Deu. 11:22; chap. 30) and Israels own explicit promise to be obedient in all things. (Cf. Exo. 19:8; Exo. 24:3; Exo. 24:7; Jos. 24:24.) Anyone whose righteousness is expected to come from the Law (Deu. 6:25) must do everything it requires (Deu. 27:26 = Gal. 3:10; Jas. 2:10).
Why do hypocrites of every age take hyper-zealousness for microscopic regulations as the route to righteousness? The rationale is not hard to discover:
1.
If it is a good name and fame for godliness he seeks, the hypocrite will even show burning zeal for easy-to-do, relatively insignificant rules to purchase the prestige of being religiously conscientious. In the same motion he can conveniently pay passing respect to God too. This is bargain-basement religion: two for the price of one!
2.
It is easier to tithe (or pray in public or go to church or whatever) than it is to do those essential things that really matter to God, like having a deep passion for justice, kindness and true-heartedness. Consistent justice, patient mercy and unfailing integrity are expensive in terms of self-denial, energy and time, too expensive for the self-seeking person.
3.
The bigot is hypocritical because he considers important only that which he personally can understand or what expresses the distinctives of this sect. Broad, fundamental principles like justice, mercy, faith and the love of God, are too nebulous for him, because they admit too many requirements than his limited understanding or sectarian tradition permits him to conceive.
4.
The man of narrow interests, sympathies or outlook sees just a few inconsiderable articles of religion as big. Anything mind-stretching that would require him to think or reconsider the limitedness of his own worldview or concerns is positively painful to contemplate.
It is no accident, therefore, that, in order to lead us back to an equilibrated moral sanity, Jesus ordered: These (weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and faith), ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other (tithing of mint, anise and cummin) undone. He expects both: herein is His true sense of balance. Unlike some modern religionists impatient with ceremonies and details, Jesus approves of conscientiousness toward principles and particulars. On the other hand, excessive attention to small details cannot atone for neglect of large ones. Some disciples today are very strict about church attendance, but unconcerned about their life the rest of the time. Others are strict about identifying themselves by the terms set forth in the Bible, even about restoring the New Testament Church and calling things by Bible names (good ideals in themselves), but are strangely unconcerned about being what the terms signify. We must mistrust the misplaced seriousness of that religious zeal that burns itself out on trivial matters but has neither time nor energy remaining for the truly important things God prefers.
One sad irony is the use of this text (Mat. 23:23) today by preachers seeking some divine fiscal bludgeon to nudge their members into giving God money. Ignoring the obvious address to Jews for whom tithing was obligatory by law under the Mosaic economy, these text doctors grasp at Jesus words: these ye ought to have done and NOT LEFT THE OTHER UNDONE, and miss two whole CHAPTERS of truly Christian motivations in 2 Corinthians 8, 9. Like the Pharisees of old, these modern legalists fail to see there really are some higher Christian principles that are more truly motivating encouragements to give God money than the external compulsion of a tithing law. Perhaps a sadder irony is the Christian who neither tithes nor responds to Gods grace, and just leaves everything undone.
The Proverbial Clincher
Mat. 23:24 Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel! To clinch the point of His previous assertion Jesus moves His audience with another of His humorous sketches. In this one a Pharisee painstakingly strains a drowned gnat out of his drink lest he contaminate himself ceremonially by swallowing that almost visible, but unclean, insect (Lev. 11:20 ff.), without even noticing an equally unclean camel (Lev. 11:4) in the same glass, and so he guzzles it right down! (Another facet of this exquisite portrayal is that there may have been a Jewish pun back of His choice of animals: a gnat is kamla but a camel is gamla; Marshall, Challenge of NT Ethics, 61). But the Lord is not merely poking fun at Pharisees. His point is serious: these sectarians laid great stress on inflexibly precise observance of minor regulations (straining out the gnat), but consistently ignored gross violations of justice, mercy and faith (swallowing the camel). Several illustrations of this twisted sense of duty occur:
1.
They would pray long prayers pretending to be pious, but were especially clever at reducing unwary widows to poverty (Mar. 12:40 = Luk. 20:47).
2.
They criticized Jesus disciples for their unwashed hands (violation of tradition), but instructed people to ignore honor to aged parents (violation of Gods Law) (Mat. 15:1-20).
3.
Rather than be defiled, hence disqualified from participation in religious ceremonies, they refused to enter a Gentiles house, but hovered around outside, screaming for the judicial murder of an innocent Man (Joh. 18:28 to Joh. 19:16).
4.
Sadducean priests were not better to pay out blood money for the betrayal of an innocent Man, but then to quibble over a scruple against putting the same tainted money into the holy coffers (Mat. 26:14 ff; Mat. 27:4-10).
Their sin lay, not in straining out the gnat, but in swallowing down the camel. We too must give attention to important details. Faithfulness in small matters is a character index of trustworthiness for greater things (Luk. 16:10 ff; Luk. 10:17; Mat. 25:21). If God did not order Christians to strain out gnats nor tithe garden herbs, but He did specify some other apparently minor detail, then He wants it done. We must scrupulously endeavor to do everything He asks.
Criterion of False Religion
Any faith that permits its adherents to lose their sense of proportion and become carefully meticulous about religious trivia and trifles, while remaining indifferent to the things that really matter with God, is a false religion, regardless of its official name, origins or past history.
FACT QUESTIONS
1.
What is involved in tithing? Where did people learn to do this? Why was tithing necessary?
2.
What were the Pharisees doing when they tithed mint, anise and cummin?
3.
What are mint, anise and cummin used for?
4.
What, according to Jesus, are the weightier matters of the law? Define each one, showing how each deserves this high title.
5.
What principle is involved in Jesus maxim: these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others?
6.
What did the gnat and the camel have in common in Jewish thinking?
7.
Explain the comment about straining out gnats and swallowing camels. What does the gnat refer to? What is the camel? What is meant by straining out the one and swallowing the other?
8.
What attitude is shown by Jesus toward the less significant features of the Mosaic Law? How does this attitude harmonize with His other teachings about the Law?
9.
To whom was Jesus speaking when He said, This you ought to have done and not left the other undone?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(23) Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin.The language of Deu. 12:17 seems to recognise only corn, wine, and oil, among the produce of the earth, as subject to the law of tithes. The Pharisee, in his minute scrupulosity (based, it may be, on the more general language of Lev. 27:30), made a point of gathering the tenth sprig of every garden herb, and presenting it to the priest. So far as this was done at the bidding of an imperfectly illumined conscience our Lord does not blame it. It was not, like the teaching as to oaths and the Corban, a direct perversion of the Law. What He did censure was the substitution of the lower for the higher. With the three examples of the infinitely little He contrasts the three ethical obligations that were infinitely great, judgment, mercy, and faith. The word translated mint means literally the sweet-smelling, the fragrant.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Woe ”The four first woes are past,” says Dr. Stier. “The four others follow in quick succession, ever heavier on the head, ever deeper into the heart.” The four following woes are pronounced upon different forms of hypocrisy. This FIFTH WOE is upon an extreme scrupulousness in regard to the slightest of ritual performances, with a slight remorse for the grossest immoralities. Our Lord does not condemn the strictness, but the laxity.
Pay tithe The law of tithes is found in Lev 27:31, upon which the following note by Prof. Bush gives a concise view: “The ‘tithe’ of a thing is its tenth part. Of the yearly products of the land of the Israelites the first fruits were deducted; out of the rest the tenth part was taken for the Levites. Num 18:21.” Mint The herbs mentioned in this verse correspond mainly to those of the same name in Europe and America. They were abounding in Palestine and so of little value. Anise The aromatic plant, by us called dill. Cummin Corresponding to the caraway, and used by the Orientals as a condiment?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Woe/alas to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith, but these you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.”
This then brings Him to the central point in the main chiasmus, which emphasises and expands on the previous point. All their concentration is on the minutiae of religious observance and the Law, rather than on considering the more important matters of justice, mercy and faith. One thing that was unique about the Mosaic Law was its emphasis on the morality that was required by God. And this was the aspect that they should have mainly emphasised, the doing of His will (compare Mat 7:21; Mat 12:50). But this was something that, with their emphasis on ritual, they were overlooking and thrusting into the background. Instead of having broad minds, and seeing all in the light of the moral holiness and compassion of God, and recognising that herein was the distinctiveness of the Law of Moses, they rather saw the distinctiveness of Judaism as being found in terms of the peripheries which were intended to point them Godward. The observance of the Sabbath, fasting, washing and waiting on God, tithing, offerings and sacrifices, and all the other rituals were intended to turn their hearts and minds on God, but they got so tied up in what they were doing that God was kept in the background.
He points out that they were perfectly right in seeking to assiduously obey the ritual Law by tithing, even when it went beyond what had not been specifically required. Giving a tenth of their produce as an act of gratitude for deliverance from Egypt was an essential part of God’s commandments, and to go beyond what was required because of love for God would be admirable. But where they were not right was in making that the most important part of their observance of the Law. Far more important was an emphasis on justice and fairplay, on revealing compassion and mercy, and on walking in faith and faithfulness before God (compare 1Sa 15:22-23; Isa 1:11-18). For it was for such a life as that that He had delivered them from Egypt. Jesus may well have had in mind the words of Mic 6:8, ‘what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy (covenant love) and to walk humbly with your God?’ For His point is that justice, mercy and faithfulness were at the heart of the Law (compare Gen 18:19; Exo 34:7; Deu 1:16-18; Deu 1:21; Deu 1:32; Deu 17:8-13). And in this regard we should note how justice was administered at the outer veil of the inner Sanctuary, and mercy was obtained at the altar and dispensed through the inner veil of the inner Sanctuary, emphasising how important they were. This was where their thoughts should have been, on the otherness, holiness and mercy of God.
‘These you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.’ That was not to dismiss the tithes. While the Temple still remained and the priests and Levites still ministered there, the tithes were necessary, and they also provided food for the poor, especially at the feasts. Jesus did not want His disciples to fail in their responsibilities towards the Temple and towards the poor. But they must recognise the tithes for what they were, a contribution, and not the be all and end all of their spiritual lives. They were not intended to be the means of showing how pious they were. The main contribution of the people was to be in justice, mercy and faithfulness.
In the case of these Pharisees they believed that they should tithe even the smallest thing. Well and good. In that case it continued to be right for them to do so. For where a man is convinced that something is right as a result of the way he interprets Scripture, for that person at that time it becomes obligatory. What we think we ought to do, actually becomes our responsibility to do. ‘Whatever is not of faith is sin’ (Rom 14:23). But justice, mercy and faithfulness was even more important.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Their Failure To Observe The More Important Aspects Of The Law Because Of Their Concentration On The Detail (23:23-24).
Analysis.
a
b “But these you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone” (Mat 23:23 b).
a “You blind guides, who strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!” (Mat 23:24).
In ‘a’ they concentrate on the minutiae and ignore what matters most, and in the parallel they strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Centrally in ‘b’ they ought to pay attention to both, especially the weightier matters.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The fifth woe:
v. 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, 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.
v. 24. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Another instance of the religious observance of insignificant things. So strictly did they interpret the law of tithes, Lev 27:30-31, that they were very careful to include even the smallest herbs and vegetables of the garden, the sweet-smelling mint, the dill, the aromatic cumin, used for medicinal purposes, according to an explanation of the Rabbis. In other words, they were most rigidly scrupulous in the observances of even the minutest details of their religion. But, in doing this, the weightier matters of the Law were omitted, judgment, and mercy, and faith. Justice and equity toward all, mercy and love toward those that were in need of compassion, faith in God as the Fountain of all true religion: of these great virtues they knew nothing; they omitted them, they disregarded them. It was well and good in itself to pay tithes, if the interpretation of the teachers included even the garden herbs, but what was punctiliousness in this small matter in comparison with the far more important necessity of cultivating the greatest virtues? Their attitude could well be compared to the proverbial choking in the attempt to swallow a gnat, but performing the same act in the case of a camel with the greatest ease. They carefully strained out any small insect out of the wine, in order not to be defiled, but the swallowing of a camel would have given them little compunction. The tiniest omission of a secondary rule hurt their consciences, but the infringement of the fundamental precepts of God as they should obtain among men made no impression upon them.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 23:23-24. Ye pay tithe, &c. 5. The fifth woe is denounced for their superstition. They observed the ceremonial precepts of the law with all possible exactness, while they utterly neglected the eternal, immutable, and indispensable rules of righteousness,justice, mercy, or charity, and fidelity. Besides the reproof of their superstition in the performance of positive duties, our Saviour condemned it also in the obedience which they gave to the negative precepts of the law; for there likewise this evil root shewed itself, Mat 23:24. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat,or rather, who strain out a gnat, (namely, from your drink,) and swallow a camel. The expression is proverbial, and was made use of by our Lord on this occasion to signify, that the Pharisees pretended to be exceedingly afraid of the smallest faults, as if sin had been bitter to them like death, while they indulged themselves secretly in the unrestrainedcommissionofthegrossestimmoralities.Serrariusobserves,thatinthose hot countries gnats were apt to fall into wine, if it were not carefully covered; and passing the liquor through a strainer, that no gnat or part of one might remain, grew into a proverb for exactness about little matters. See Wetstein. “Could any authority be produced, in which signifies a large insect, Iwould with great pleasure (says Dr. Doddridge) follow the translation of 1729, in rendering the latter clause, swallow a beetle.” See on Chap. Mat 19:24.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 23:23 . Comp. Luk 11:39 ff.
In accordance with certain traditional enactments ( Babyl. Joma , f. lxxxiii. 2), the Pharisees extended the legal prescriptions as to tithes (Lev 27:30 ; Num 18:21 ; Deu 12:6 f., Mat 24:22-27 ) so as to include even the most insignificant vegetable products, such as mint, anise, and cummin. See Lightfoot and Wetstein on this passage. Ewald, Alterth . p. 399.
] the weightier things, i.e . the more important ( graviora ) elements of the law (comp. Act 25:7 ), not: the things more difficult of fulfilment ( difficiliora , as Fritzsche), which interpretation is indeed grammatically admissible (1Jn 5:3 ), but must be rejected, because, according to the context (see Mat 23:24 ), Jesus was comparing the important with the less important, and most probably had in view the analogy of the praecepta gravia ( ) et levia ( ) of the Jewish doctors (see Schoettgen, p. 183).
] comp. Psa 33:5 ; not: righteousness (the usual interpretation), a sense in which the term is never used (comp. on Mat 12:18 ), but judgment, i.e. deciding for the right as against the wrong. Comp. Bengel and Paulus. The is the practical manifestation of righteousness.
] faithfulness, Jer 5:1 ; Rom 3:3 ; Gal 5:22 ; and see on Phm 1:5 . The opposite of this is , perfidia ( Wis 14:25 , frequent in classical writers).
] the just mentioned, not the tithing of mint, etc. (Bengel).
] oportebat. See Khner, II. 1, p. 176 f. Those were the duties which had been neglected.
] scarcely so strong as the positive . Observe the contrasts: What you have neglected you ought to have done, and at the same time not have neglected what you are in the habit of doing, the former being of paramount importance; the subordinate matter, viz. your painful attention to tithes, is not superseded by the higher duties, but only kept in its proper place.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 23. Ye pay tithe of mint ] The Chaldee word for mint signifies also a book of histories, ; because in that one poor herb large stories of God’s wisdom, might, and love are described unto us. In tithing this and other pot herbs the Pharisees were over and above solicitous, and even superstitious, and all for a name. So in the year of grace 1435, Capistranus the Minorite, being sent into Germany and other countries by Pope Nicholas, to preach obedience to the see of Rome, got a great deal of credit and respect to his doctrine by putting down dicing, carding, dancing, feasting, mask-interludes, &c., although he taught not one syllable of sound doctrine touching Christ and his merits, obedience of faith, patience of hope, &c. There are both magnalia et minutula legis, the great and the lesser things of the law; both must be looked to. Hypocrites are nice (ignorant) in the one, but negligent of the other.
Judgment, mercy, and faith ] So of old, to those bodily exercises and external rites, so stood upon by the hypocrites in their times, Isaiah opposeth judgment and justice, Isa 1:21-24 ; Hosea opposeth mercy and kindness,Hos 4:1-3Hos 4:1-3 ; Zechariah opposeth truth and fidelity, Zec 7:8-14 , as more to be looked after and laboured for.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
23, 24. ] It was doubtful, whether Lev 27:30 applied to every smallest garden herb: but the Pharisees, in their over-rigidity in externals, stretched it to this, letting go the heavier, more difficult, and more important (see Mat 23:4 ) matters of the Law. In the threefold enumeration, our Lord refers to Mic 6:8 (see also Hos 12:6 ) where to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God , are described as being better than all offerings.
, these last, are the great points on which your exertions should have ( , oportebat ) been spent and then, if for the sake of these they be observed, the others should not be neglected. Stier gives an instance of this, in ( Scripture ) philology , which if it be applied in subjection to a worthy appreciation of the sense and spirit of the Writer , may profitably descend to the minutest details: but if the philologian begin and end with his ‘micrology,’ he incurs the of the Pharisees (ii. 515, edn. 1).
. . ] The straining the gnat is not a mere proverbial saying. The Jews (as do now the Buddhists in Ceylon and Hindostan) strained their wine, &c., carefully, that they might not violate Lev 11:20 ; Lev 11:23 ; Lev 11:41-42 (and, it might be added, Lev 17:10-14 ). The “strain at a gnat” in our present auth. vers. for “strain out a gnat” of the earlier English vss., seems not to have been a mistake, as sometimes supposed, but a deliberate alteration, meaning, “strain (out the wine) at (the occurrence of) a gnat.” and indicate reference to a proverb or fable. The camel is not only opposed , as of immense size , but is also joined with the other, as being equally unclean.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 23:23-24 . The fourth woe refers to tithe-paying (Luk 11:42 ). : a Hellenistic word = ye pay tithes, as in Gen 28:22 ; to take tithes from in Heb 7:5-6 . , , : garden herbs mint (literally, sweet smelling), dill, also aromatic, cumin ( Kmmel , German) with aromatic seeds. All marketable commodities, used as condiments, or for medicinal purposes, presumably all tithable, the point being not that the Pharisees were wilful in tithe-paying, but that they were extremely scrupulous. Vide articles in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible . The Talmud itself, however, in a sentence quoted by Lightfoot (“decimatio oleorum est a Rabbinis”) represents tithing of herbs as a refinement of the Rabbis. : either, the weightier, in the sense of Mat 22:36 (Meyer), or the more difficult to do, in the sense of Mat 23:4 (Weiss after Fritzsche). The idea seems to be: they made a great show of zeal in doing what was easy, and shirked the serious and more arduous requirements of duty. . , righteous judgment, implying and = the love of righteousness, a passion for justice. , neuter, after the fashion of later Greek, not , as in T. R.: mercy; sadly neglected by Pharisees, much insisted on by Jesus. . , faith, in the sense of fidelity, true-heartedness. As a curiosity in the history of exegesis may be cited the use of this text by Schortinghuis, a Dutch pietist of the eighteenth century, in support of the duty of judging the spiritual state of others ( )! vide Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus , i., 329. the greater things last mentioned. , it was your duty to do. , and those things, the tithings, etc.: this the secondary duty; its subordinate place might be brought out by rendering: “while not neglecting to pay tithes as scrupulously as you please”. Bengel thinks and here refer not to the order of the words but to the relative importance of the things (“non pro serie verborum, sed pro ratione rerum”). On this view “these” means tithe-paying.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 23:23-24
23″Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
Mat 23:23 “you. . .hypocrites” See Special Topic at Mat 6:2.
“you tithe mint and dill and cummin” In their legalism (cf. Lev 27:30-33; Deu 14:22-29), they counted even the smallest spices so as to give precisely ten percent to God, but they neglected justice, love, and fidelity. The New Testament does not speak of tithing except here. The heart of New Testament giving is not found in a percentage (cf. 2 Corinthians 8-9)!
NT believers must be careful of turning Christianity into a new legal performance oriented code (Christian Talmud). Their desire to be pleasing to God causes them to try to find guidelines for every area of life. However, theologically it is dangerous to pull old covenant rules which are not reaffirmed in the NT and make them dogmatic criteria, especially when they are claimed to be causes of calamity or promises of prosperity!
SPECIAL TOPIC: TITHING
Mat 23:24 “who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” The Pharisees of Jesus’ day would filter their water through cloth to keep from inadvertently swallowing an inclean insect, but in reality their legalistic unlove caused them figuratively to swallow an unclean camel! This was a word play between the Aramaic terms gnat, “galma” and camel, “gamla.” This was an Oriental hyperbole. Jesus often used camels in His overstatements (cf. Mat 19:24; Mar 10:25; Luk 18:25).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Woe, &c. Compare Mat 5:7, and see App-126.
pay tithe = tithe, or take tithes. Eng. tithe = tenth; hence, a district containing ten families was called a tithing
anise = dill. Occurs only here.
cummin. Hebrew. kumin. Greek. kuminon. (Occurs only here.) Germ, kummel.
faith. Or, faithfulness, as in Rom 8:3. Gal 1:5, Gal 1:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
23, 24.] It was doubtful, whether Lev 27:30 applied to every smallest garden herb: but the Pharisees, in their over-rigidity in externals, stretched it to this, letting go the heavier, more difficult, and more important (see Mat 23:4) matters of the Law. In the threefold enumeration, our Lord refers to Mic 6:8 (see also Hos 12:6)-where to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God, are described as being better than all offerings.
, these last, are the great points on which your exertions should have (, oportebat) been spent-and then, if for the sake of these they be observed, the others should not be neglected. Stier gives an instance of this, in (Scripture) philology, which if it be applied in subjection to a worthy appreciation of the sense and spirit of the Writer, may profitably descend to the minutest details: but if the philologian begin and end with his micrology, he incurs the of the Pharisees (ii. 515, edn. 1).
. .] The straining the gnat is not a mere proverbial saying. The Jews (as do now the Buddhists in Ceylon and Hindostan) strained their wine, &c., carefully, that they might not violate Lev 11:20; Lev 11:23; Lev 11:41-42 (and, it might be added, Lev 17:10-14). The strain at a gnat in our present auth. vers. for strain out a gnat of the earlier English vss., seems not to have been a mistake, as sometimes supposed, but a deliberate alteration, meaning, strain (out the wine) at (the occurrence of) a gnat. and indicate reference to a proverb or fable. The camel is not only opposed, as of immense size, but is also joined with the other, as being equally unclean.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 23:23. , …, ye tythe, etc.) And command others to tythe; cf. in Mat 23:24 the expression guides.-,[1003] mint) not only grain but herbs.-, cummin) which is proverbially a small thing.-, …, have omitted, etc.) sc. long since; or also, ye have remitted to others, by your silence.-, weightier) These questions belong to comparative theology. Three weightier matters are enumerated in contrast with three smaller matters. Concerning these weightier matters, see Sirach 4. He, and he alone, who does not neglect these, may judge rightly in smaller matters.- , judgment) by which men distinguish between good and evil, and in either of them between weightier and smaller matters; see the Gnomon on ch. Mat 12:18, and Mat 16:3; Luk 12:57; 1Co 11:31; Mic 6:8.- , mercy) See ch. Mat 9:13.- , faith) sc. sincerity, which is opposed to hypocrisy: for those who, in ch. Mat 24:51, are called hypocrites, are called unbelievers (infideles) in Luk 12:46. Cf. 1Ti 4:2-3. There are clearly these three principal heads, Judgment, Mercy, Faith: and divisions of theological topics ought to have been arranged under such heads as those which Scripture itself lays down, as in Joh 16:8; Rom 3:27; 1Co 13:13; 1Th 4:9; 1Th 5:1;[1004] Heb 6:1-2.- , not to omit) corresponding with , ye have omitted; and therefore , these, refers to mint, etc.-, those, to judgment, etc.; and the words, , these ought ye to have done, express approbation of their conduct in this matter;[1005] whilst the words , and not to leave the other undone, belong to the indictment. In Greek and , in Latin hic and ille (this and that), are frequently employed with reference, not to the order of the words, but to the nature of the things. See my note to Chrysostom on the Priesthood, pp. 509, 510.
[1003] On this word Bengel, in his Apparatus Criticus, has the remark:- Hebr. ex Lat., sc. mentha; from which also our English word, mint.-(I. B.)
[1004] There is evidently some mistake in the references to Romans and Thessalonians-a mistake which I have bestowed much labour to correct, but in vain. For the reference to 1Th 5:1, I would suggest 1Th 5:8.-(I. B.)
[1005] Truly, even in the smallest things remarkable and pre-eminent grace may exhibit itself, Mar 12:42.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
for: Luk 11:42
anise: Gr. [Strong’s G432], dill. Dill is a species of plant of the pentandria digynia class, growing native in Spain and Portugal. The root is fusiform and long; stems, erect-groved, jointed, branched, and about two feet in height; leaves, doubly pinnated, sweet and odorous; flowers, flat, terminal umbels; corolla, five ovate, concave, yellow petals, with apexes inflected; germen, like that of fennel; seeds, scarcely the length of a carraway seed, but broader and flatter, of a brown colour, aromatic, sweetish odour, and warmish, pungent taste.
cummin: Gr. [Strong’s G2951] Cummin is a plant of the same class as dill: it rises eight or ten inches on a slender round procumbent, branching stem; leaves, a dark green, narrow, linear, and pointed; flowers, purple, in numerous four rayed umbels; corolla, five unequal petals, inflected, and notched at the apex; seeds, oblong, striated, of a brown colour, strong, heavy odour, and warm, bitterish taste.
the weightier: Mat 9:13, Mat 12:7, Mat 22:37-40, 1Sa 15:22, Pro 21:3, Jer 22:15, Jer 22:16, Hos 6:6, Mic 6:8, Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23
these: Mat 5:19, Mat 5:20
Reciprocal: Lev 11:42 – goeth upon the belly Lev 27:30 – General Jos 11:15 – he left nothing Pro 3:3 – mercy Ecc 7:16 – Be not Isa 5:7 – he looked Isa 10:1 – Woe Isa 59:8 – no Amo 4:5 – for Zec 7:9 – saying Mat 5:24 – and then Mat 15:7 – hypocrites Mat 22:36 – General Mat 23:4 – General Mar 2:24 – why Mar 7:2 – they found Mar 12:28 – Which Luk 6:2 – Why Luk 10:37 – He that Luk 18:12 – I give Joh 18:28 – and they Gal 6:13 – keep 2Th 3:2 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SINS OF OMISSION
These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:23
It scarcely admits of a question, but that every sin, which was ever committed upon the earth, is traceable, in the first instance, to a sin of omission.
I. Sins of omission investigated.What will be the subject of inquiry at the end of the world? Will it be the omissions, or the commissions, which will be chiefly investigated at the day of judgment? The answer is plain. The only sins recorded against those who perish are sins of omission. I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat.
II. Sins of omission condemned.Why is any man lost, that is lost? Is it because he did certain things? It is the having done those things, he omitted to use Gods way of escape, to go to Christ. In the Old Testament, you will observe, almost all the commandments have a not in them. But in the gospel law it is exactly the converse. The precept is not negative. It is direct and absolute. Thou shalt love God: Thou shalt love thy neighbour. And therefore the transgression must consist in an omission.
III. Chasms in the soul.It is a wonderful part of Gods method with us, that very often He makes one sin, not only the punishment, but the actual corrective, of another sin. Every sin which can be seen, is only an index of another sin which cannot be seen. In your consciences read first your omissions. Leave the surface, and deal more with those true birth-places of all sin and of all unhappinessthe voids in your duties and the chasms in your souls.
The Rev. James Vaughan.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
A Double-Minded Man
Mat 23:23-33
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
“A double minded man is unstable in all his days.” We have in Mat 23:1-39, a striking illustration of these words.
1. We have piety as a pretense for evil practices. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer.” What do you think of this? Do any of you devour widows’ houses during the week, and then go to church on Sunday and make a long prayer? There are some who actually seek to cover up their wickedness, by their bold and open profession of faith in Christ. I know that.
A woman went up to work at the altar, at a meeting that I was conducting in Asheville, N. C. The pastor saw her. He knew she was leading a double life. Quietly he said: “Wait a minute, Brother Neighbour, do not call any more sinners up here until I pray.” Then he began to pray: “Dear Lord, there is a hypocrite at this altar, one who is living a double life.” (He prayed with one eye open, watching her, and with one eye shut.) He prayed until he saw her go down the aisle and out of the door. Then he said, “Amen, go on, Brother Neighbour, with your invitation.”
How often in our assemblies, people go into the house of God, after they have been robbing widows’ houses; they offer up a long prayer and seek thus to cover up their wickedness. Let us never make piety a pretense for evil practices.
2. We have the dividing of sin from sin. Let me read a little more of this, please: “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!”
“Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the Temple that sanctifieth the gold?”
“And, whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.”
“Ye fools and blind.”
I have heard people say, “It is a sin to do this, but that other thing is not a sin.” If you ask about certain evil things which they do, they will call them “mistakes.” That is a comfortable way to get out of a difficulty, isn’t it? The Bible says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” It says, “All unrighteousness is sin.” We have no right to put a name with less stigma and sting to our evil deeds. We should not say of sins, “This is a sin, and that is a mistake.” Thereby you condemn yourself. The church should never appoint a committee of deacons with filthy or unclean habits, to examine a young woman who has danced, and tell her that she will be turned out of the church, unless she quits her dancing.
I am not holding any brief in favor of dancing, or of card-playing, you know better than that. I do not believe the children of God should do such things. However, we want to be consistent. If we discipline members for one sin, we ought to discipline them for other sins. That is what God is talking about.
3. We have paying tithes and forgetting weightier things. Notice the next verse, Mat 23:23 : “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.”
It is all right to pay tithes, but you cannot bring your gifts to the Lord’s treasury, and pay your tenth, with God’s approval unless you show love and mercy and judgment and faith. You need these latter things pre-eminently. We want full-rounded Christians, not one-sided, half-baked Christians.
I. HALTING BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS (1Ki 18:21)
There are a great many people who are hesitating between the Lord and Baal; between going with Christ, and going with mammon. The Bible says, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
God wants us to give up all, and go all the way with Him-not half the way.
Elijah came before the people and said, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” They wanted to serve both God and Baal; and this they could not do. We really like an out and outer. We almost said, “If you are going to be a sinner, be a sinner; if you are going to be a saint, be a saint.” No one cares for a middle-of-the-roader-the one who is neither on one side or the other-just riding a fence. We ought to let everyone know where we are, and how we stand. “How long halt ye between two opinions?” “If the Lord be God, follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him.” Come out and make your allegiance known.
There is one thing I have against the modernists. I do not object to anybody being a modernist; this is a country of religious liberty. What I do object to is man being a modernist, and wearing sheep’s clothing. He has no right to stand in a pulpit, dedicated to an orthodox testimony and to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, unless he defends that testimony and faith. He has no right to draw his salary from people who really believe in God, when he denies the faith. In the days of Ingersoll, Huxley, Payne, and Spencer, the infidels were outside of the nominal church; today they are. inside; they are trying to serve both God and mammon and it cannot be done.
We must either go one way, or the other. Let us not be half-breeds; but full-fledged believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If a person is trying to follow the Lord on one hand, and the world on the other, he cannot enjoy either the one or the other. When he tries to enjoy the Lord, he cannot, for the Lord will chasten him for his wanderings. When he tries to enjoy the world, he cannot, for he feels so mean about his inconsistencies. So, we say, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.” Make your decision, take your stand and do not be a middle-of-the-roader.
After Elijah had spoken, we find in the 39th verse, that the people fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God.”
II. HEARING BUT NOT DOING (Eze 33:31-32)
“And they came unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them; for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.”
“And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.”
“And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come), then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.”
There are still plenty of people like the Israelites in the days of Ezekiel. Did you ever see a willow tree lift up its head? When the wind blows toward the north, it bows north; when the wind blows south, it bows south-it goes with the wind. We have seen such people. When we say, “Let us pray,” down they go, and then up again. However, there is no real devotion. They say, “Yes, I go to church. I like the choir. It certainly is wonderful. It is marvelous how the pianist tickles the keys.” If that is all that Christ and the church are to you-like one who plays well on an instrument, like one who sings a lovely song with a pleasant voice, like one that gives forth a message that pleases the ear, then we had better close shop and go home. You know that, as well as L What we want is a message that vitalizes, a message that changes hearts, a message that turns lives away from the old path, into the new. Is Christ and the Church no more to you than a lovely song, and a pleasant voice? Do you hear, but never do? Then may God help you!
III. FEARING GOD AND SERVING OTHER GODS (2Ki 17:25; 2Ki 17:33-34)
2Ki 17:1-41 th chapter, gives you God’s story about conditions in Samaria. 2Ki 17:25 says, “They feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.”
Now 2Ki 17:33 : “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” “Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the Law and Commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob.”
There are still some people, who, when the lions come, begin to fear the Lord. However, they do not fear Him in their hearts; for they still worship their own god.
A form of religion without the heart thereof, is a hollow mockery; it is not acceptable; it is not pleasing to God. To be approved unto God, you must have a faith that is in the heart; a faith that changes the life. This going to church, and going through with a mere form of service is an abomination to God, especially when the mind and heart are all the time occupied with carnal pursuits-with other gods. Why go to church, if you immediately go out into the world and live godless, careless, and faithless lives?
That was the trouble with this people in Samaria; they feared the Lord sometimes, but not all the time. Too often men play religion and seek to show off with it as they use their Sunday clothes; they put it on Sunday morning, and lay it aside Sunday night. They think they have no need for Christ until the next Sunday.
That is not the kind of Christians that we want. We want men who are living Christ every day, every hour, all the way through. This halfhearted land of religion is not Christianity at all, I have known people to come to church on the Lord’s Day and teach a Sunday School class, and then, during the week they are in the theaters, at the card parties, in the drinking saloons, and doing everything under the sun. Beloved, we cannot afford to do such things. God will not have them at our hands.
IV. NEITHER COLD NOR HOT (Rev 3:16)
Do we believe the Lord is God? Let us then take our stand with Him in full allegiance and not in a halfhearted, half-bred, half-baked way. The 3rd chapter of the Book of Revelation says, in Rev 3:16 : “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.”
Then there is a verse that almost startles us. It says, “I would thou wert cold or hot.”
In other words, God would rather have us cold, than tepid.
Do you like to drink lukewarm water? Isn’t it sickening? Hot water is all right; cold water is all right; but deliver us from warm water. No marvel the Lord says, “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.”
God does not want halfhearted Christians. You remember how, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, in its discussion of the religion of the man under the sun, it says: “Be not righteous over much, * *; Be not over much wicked.” Just be “so-so.”
There is a great word down South. In the old days, I used to meet a colored brother on the street. I would say, “How are you, today, Uncle John?” He would reply-“Oh, just tol’ble, Brother Neighbour.” “Tolerable” means neither cold nor hot; neither well nor sick; just able to wiggle. I dislike meeting such professors. I want people to be hot; and, if they are not hot, let them be cold-not lukewarm. It is the lukewarm spirit in the church that does the harm. The devil is anxious to keep you a middle-of-the-roader, because you will have no influence for God; in fact your influence will count on the side of evil every time.
V. NEITHER BAKED NOR RAW (Hos 7:8)
Turn to Hos 7:1-16 th chapter, Hos 7:8. Here is a passage that is very striking.
“Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.”
That is, Ephraim is baked on one side. It is an unpleasant feeling to bite into a pancake or griddlecake, and find it half-raw.
There are some Christians who are only half-baked. I have a great yearning in my own spirit to go all the way with God; and I want to see our people go all the way with God. Let us not be half-baked Christians; let us not be onesided in anything.
Hosea presents a great story for backsliding people. “Ephraim is a cake not turned,” because Ephraim is mixing himself among the people. God called Ephraim to be separated from other peoples, to be a people for His own possession. Ephraim rebelled and mixed with the people, and was like a cake not turned.
VI. WORSHIPING, BUT WICKED (Isa 1:11-15)
What makes the Lord’s Supper precious to Him? When we eat and drink of it in loving remembrance of His broken body, and shed Blood, then He is pleased. Unless, however, we have been washed in that Blood, and have been separated by His Cross, and, unless we have discerned the Lord’s body, there is nothing that we can do that will bring a greater stench to the nostrils of the Almighty God, than to attempt to remember the Lord’s table.
Some people say, “I think I had better be Baptized.” “Wait a minute. You should not be baptized unless you know what it means.” What does it mean? It means, “I am buried”; it means “I have a new life.” God cannot accept Church ordinances, unless back of them is a real life.
You say, “Isn’t it right to bring my gift to the altar?” Certainly. But, “If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Do not be a saint, worshiping, but wicked. You should bring your gift to the altar, but you should not fail to be right with your brother. Does another have anything against you? Leave thy gift, go, be reconciled to thy broth-er, and then, come, offer thy gift. God will not accept your gifts, if you are not clear with your brother.
AN ILLUSTRATION
A negro pastor down South called for a hymn, and asked everyone to come up and put down their money; The parson stood by the table, watching to encourage them to give properly. The Lord once stood over against the treasury. On this day the minister said; “We have three rules in raising our collection. The first is, ‘All of you is got to give something;’ secondly, ‘All of you must give as you is able;’ thirdly, ‘All of you must give cheerfully.'” By and by one of the richer negroes came up, and laid down something. The pastor said, “Take your money and go back, my brother; you gave something all right, and you gave cheerfully, all right; but you did not give as you were able.” So he went back. After a little he started up the aisle again. This time he gave a nice big offering, but he threw it down, angrily. The preacher said, “Brother, you have given something, and you have given as you were able, but you have not given cheerfully-take it back.” By and by the same rich negro came up again with a big smile on his face and put down his money. The preacher said, “That is good. You gave something, you gave as you were able, and you gave cheerfully-God bless you, brother.”
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
3:23
The Jews were required by the law to give a tenth of the products of their land to the Lord’s service. The plants named were small ones of the mint family and of small value commercially, yet these Pharisees were very scrupulous to turn over the tithe (tenth) as required. At the same time they were so attentive to those comparatively small matters, they were indifferent about such weighty matters as judgment, mercy, and faith. Notice Jesus did not say for them to replace the one by the other, but to observe both the small and great things.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
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.
[Ye pay tithe of mint.] I. “This is the general rule about tithes; whatsoever serves for food, whatsoever is kept [that is, which is not of common right], and whatsoever grows out of the earth, shall be tithed.”
II. According to the law, cattle, corn, and fruit were to be tithed: the way and measure of which, as the scribes teach, was this: “Of bread-corn that is thrashed and winnowed, 1. A fifth part is taken out for the priest; this was called the great offering. 2. A tenth part of the remainer belong to the Levite; this was called the first tenth; or tithe. 3. A tenth part again was to be taken out of the remainder, and was to be eaten at Jerusalem, or else redeemed; this was called the second tithe. 4. The Levite gives a tenth part out of his to the priest; this was called the tithe of the tithe.” These are handled at large in Peah, Demai, Maaseroth; etc.
III. The tithing of herbs is from the Rabbins. This tithing was added by the scribes, and yet approved of by our Saviour, when he saith, “Ye ought not to have left these undone.” Hear this, O thou who opposest tithes. The tithing of herbs was only of ecclesiastical institution, and yet it hath the authority of our Saviour to confirm it, “Ye ought not to have left these things undone”: and that partly on account of the justice of the thing itself, and the agreeableness of it to law and reason, partly that it was commanded by the council sitting in Moses’ chair, as it is, Mat 23:2.
IV. [Mint.]…is reckoned among those things which come under the law of the seventh year. Where Rambam saith, “In the Aruch it is minta.” It is called sometimes mintha; where R. Solomon writes, “In the Aruch it is minta in the mother tongue, and it hath a sweet smell; therefore they strew it in synagogues for the sake of its scent.”
[Anise.]…R. Solomon, “anise is a kind of herb, and is tithed, both as to the seed and herb itself.” Rambam writes thus: “It is eaten raw after meat, and is not to be boiled; while, therefore, it is not boiled, it comes under the law of tithing.” The Gloss “in the Roman language is anethum [anise], and is tithed, whether it be gathered green or ripe.”
[Cummin.]…It is reckoned among things that are to be tithed.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 23:23. For ye tithe the mint, and the dill and the cummin. In Lev 27:30, the Israelites were bidden to pay a tithe (tenth part) of the fruits of the field and of the trees, as an offering to the Lord. Other demands were made (Num 18:21; Deu 12:6; Deu 14:22-28), exacting in all nearly one third of the income of each Jew. It was doubtful whether the tithe of produce applied to the smallest garden herbs, yet the Pharisees, in their over-scrupulousness paid tithe of these herbs of small value. (The cummin resembles fennel.)
Left undone the weightier matters. A striking and distinctive feature of Pharisaism. Scrupulous attention to some regulation of dress, of meat and drink, of outward observance, is often joined with an utter neglect of humility, faith, and charity.
Of the law. Comp. Mic 6:8; Hos 12:6; Isa 1:17.
Judgment, care for the right; and mercy, care for those who are wrong; faith, in the Old Testament, fidelity to God, and trust in God; the New Testament idea is similar but more full.
These ye ought, etc. First, the weightier matters; then the lesser ones can be done in the right spirit. Our Lord does not decide the question of minute tithes, but teaches that if, having fulfilled the great duties, their consciences led them to this, not to leave it undone. Faithfulness in what is great, never leads to neglect of what is least. But attention first of all to what is least, leads to neglect of what is great.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The next woe denounced is for the Pharisees ostentation of a precise keeping of the law in smaller matters, and neglecting weightier duties: They pay tythe of mint, anise, and cummin; but at the omitted judgment, mercy and faith; that is, just dealing with men, charity towards the poor, and faithfulness in their promises and covenants one with another. This, says our Saviour, is to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. A proverbial expression, intimating that some persons pretend great niceness and scrupulosity about small matters, and none or but little about duties of the greatest moment.
Hence, Note, 1. That hypocrites lay the greatest stress upon the least matters in religion, and place holiness most in those things where God places it least. Ye tythe mint, &c. but neglect the weightier matters of the law. This is indeed the bane of all religion and true piety, to prefer ritual and human institutions before divine commands, and the practice of natural religion. Thus to do, is a certain sign of gross hypocrisy.
Observe, 2. That although some duties are of greater moment than others, yet a good man will omit none, but perform every duty the least as well as the greatest, in obedience to the command of God. These things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 23:23-24. Wo unto you, for ye pay tithe, &c. Here we have the fifth wo, which is denounced for their superstition. They observed the ceremonial precepts of the law with all possible exactness, while they utterly neglected the eternal, immutable, indispensable rules of righteousness. Judgment That is, justice; mercy Charity, or compassion toward the poor; faith Fidelity. The word has undoubtedly this signification in many places; (compare Tit 2:10; Gal 5:22; Rom 3:3.) But there are many more in which it signifies, the confidence reposed in another; and it is of great importance to observe this. See Col 1:4; 1Pe 1:21. Ye blind guides, which strain at [or rather, strain out] a gnat Namely, from the liquor you are going to drink, lest it should choke you. In those hot countries, as Serrarius well observes, gnats were apt to fall into wine, if it were not carefully covered; and passing the liquor through a strainer that no gnat, or part of one, might remain, grew into a proverb for exactness about little matters. And swallow a camel The expression is proverbial, and was made use of by our Lord on this occasion to signify that the Pharisees pretended to be exceedingly afraid of the smallest faults, as if sin had been bitter to them like death, while they indulged themselves secretly in the unrestrained commission of the grossest immoralities. See Doddridge and Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 23
Tithe; tenth part, payable as a tax, according to the law of Moses (Leviticus 27:30-33.)–Mint, anise, cumin; herbs of little value.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
23:23 {7} 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 {t} faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
(7) Hypocrites take special care in small matters, and neglect the things which matter the very most.
(t) Faithfulness in the keeping of promises.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The fourth woe 23:23-24
The Mosaic Law required the Israelites to tithe grain, wine, and oil (Deu 14:22-29). How far they had to take this was a matter of debate. Jesus did not discourage scrupulous observance of this law. He directed His condemnation to the leaders’ failure to observe more important "weightier" commands in the Law while dickering over which specific plants, spices, and seeds to tithe. He went back to Mic 6:8 for the three primary duties that God requires. He probably chose the gnat (Gr. qalma) and the camel (Gr. gamla) as examples because of their sizes and their similar sounding names.
"It is usually the case that legalists are sticklers for details, but blind to great principles. This crowd thought nothing of condemning an innocent man, yet they were afraid to enter Pilate’s judgment hall lest they be defiled (Joh 18:28)." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:85.]
This judgment constitutes the center of the chiasm and the most important failure of the scribes and Pharisees. They were distorting the will of God as He had revealed it in Scripture (cf. Mat 9:9-13; Mat 12:1-14). This distortion resulted in erroneous doctrine (woes 3 and 5) that resulted in disastrous practice (woes 2 and 6) that resulted in kingdom postponement (woes 1 and 7).
It is important to recognize that Scripture reveals God’s will and that we should never elevate the authority of human interpretations to the level of Scripture itself. However, it is also important to recognize that within Scripture some commands are more important than others and that we should observe these distinctions and not confuse them. This involves wisdom and balance in interpretation and application.
Modern teachers and preachers of God’s Word can commit many of the errors that marked the Pharisees. However, we need to remember that the Pharisees did not believe that Jesus was the divine Messiah.