Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 23:32
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Fill ye up, then … – This is a prediction of what they were about to do. He would have them act out their true spirit, and show what they were, and evince to all that they had the spirit of their fathers, Compare the notes at Joh 13:27. This was done be putting him to death, and persecuting the apostles.
The measure – The full amount, so as to make it complete. By your slaying me, fill up what is lacking of the iniquity of your fathers until the measure is full; until the national iniquity is complete; until as much has been committed as God can possibly bear, and then shall come upon you all this blood, and you shall be destroyed, Mat 23:34-35.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 32. Fill ye up then] Notwithstanding the profession you make, ye will fill up the measure of your fathers-will continue to walk in their way, accomplish the fulness of every evil purpose by murdering me; and then, when the measure of your iniquity is full, vengeance shall come upon you to the uttermost, as it did on your rebellious ancestors. The 31st verse should be read in a parenthesis, and then the 32d will appear to be, what it is, an Inference from the 30th.
Ye will fill up, or fill ye up – but it is manifest that the imperative is put here for the future, a thing quite consistent with the Hebrew idiom, and frequent in the Scriptures. So Joh 2:19, Destroy this temple, &c., i.e. Ye will destroy or pull down this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days-Ye will crucify me, and I will rise again the third day. Two good MSS. have the word in the future tense: and my old MS. Bible has it in the present-Ge (ye) fulfillen the mesure of youre (your) fadris.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Of their sins; for there were bounds and limits set how far they should proceed, and no further; as yet they had not got to the end of their iniquity: their fathers had gone great lengths in sin, but their iniquity was not yet full, as is said of the Amorites, Ge 15:16 these their sons were to fill it up. They had shed the blood of many of the prophets; and indeed there were none of them but they had persecuted and abused, in one shape or another: some they entreated shamefully, others they beat: some they stoned, and others they put to death with the sword, or otherwise; and now their children were about to fill the measure brimful, by crucifying the Son of God, which they were at this time meditating and contriving; and by persecuting and slaying his apostles, and so would bring upon them the vengeance of God. The Jews well enough understood these words, which were spoken to them in an ironical way, and expressing what they were about, and what they would hereafter do, and what would be the issue and consequence of it: they have a saying o, that
“the holy blessed God does not take vengeance on a man,
, “until his measure is filled up”; according to Job 20:22.”
Which the Chaldee paraphrase renders,
“when his measure is filled up, then shall he take vengeance on him;”
and that this is Christ’s sense, appears from what follows.
o T. Bab. Sota, fol. 9. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fill ye up (). The keenest irony in this command has been softened in some MSS. to the future indicative (). “Fill up the measure of your fathers; crown their misdeeds by killing the prophet God has sent to you. Do at last what has long been in your hearts. The hour is come” (Bruce).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
32. Do you then fill up the measure of your fathers. He at length concludes that they are not, in this respect, degenerate from their fathers; as if he had said, “It is not now that your nation begins to treat with cruelty the prophets of God; for this is the ancient discipline, this is the custom handed down from the fathers, and, in short, this way of acting is almost natural to you.” And yet he does not bid them do what they are doing, to put to death holy teachers, but states figuratively that they have a hereditary right to rise against the servants of God, and that they must be permitted to oppose religion, because in this way they fill up what is wanting in the crimes of their fathers, and finish the web which they had begun. By these words he not only pronounces themselves to be desperate, and incapable of being brought to a sound mind, but warns simple people that there is no reason to wonder, if the prophets of God are ill-treated by the children of murderers.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(32) Fill ye up then . . .The English fails to give the pathetic abruptness of the original: And yefill ye up the measure of your fathers. The thought implied is that which we find in Gen. 15:16, and of which the history of the world offers but too many illustrations. Each generation, as it passes, adds something to the ever-accumulating mass of evil. At last the penalty falls, as though the long-suffering of God had been waiting till the appointed limit had been reached, and the measure of iniquity was at last full.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 23:32. Fill ye up then the measure, &c. That is, the measure of your fathers’ sin, (the measure fixed upon by God for punishment.) See Joh 13:27. This expression implies, that there is a certain measure fixed for every nation to which its iniquity is allowed to rise; and that before decisive punishment, amounting to excision, or to the entire overturn of their polity, is inflicted on nations, the measure of their iniquity, or of that of their rulers, must be filled up, by the succeeding generations adding to the iniquity of the preceding, till the measure is full; an idea which receives great countenance from Gen 15:16. According to Glassius, and other critics, , is here the imperative for the future,you will fill up; but it may be understood as a word of permission, not of command. As if our Lord had said, “I contend with you no longer; I leave you to yourselves; you have conquered; you may now follow the devices of your own hearts.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 23:32 . Quite in keeping with the deepening intensity of this outburst of indignation is the bitter irony of the imperative (comp. Mat 25:45 ), the mere permissive sense of which (Grotius, Wetstein, Kuinoel) is too feeble. [11] This filling up of the measure (of the sins) of the fathers was brought about by their sons (“haereditario jure,” Calvin), when they put Jesus Himself as well as His messengers to death.
] ye also . The force of is to be sought in the fact that , . . . , is intended to indicate a line of conduct corresponding to and supplementing that of the fathers, and in regard to which the sons also must take care not to come short.
[11] The readings (D H, min.) and (B* min. vss.) are nothing but traces of the difficulty felt in regard to the imperative. The former is preferred, though at the same time erroneously interpreted by Wilke, Rhetor . p. 367; the latter, again, is adopted by Ewald, who regards . as also dependent on .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Ver. 32. Fill ye up then the measure ] Ironice dictum. Ironic saying. It gives us to understand that sinners are stinted, and cannot do what mischief they would. If at any time they exceed their commission (as they are apt) and help forward the affliction, as out of their innate malice they will, God will soon grow jealous for Jerusalem, and take them off,Zec 1:14-15Zec 1:14-15 . When wickedness hath filled her ephah, God will soon transport it into the land of Shinar, Zec 5:8-11 . When it is once ripe in the field, God will not suffer it to shed, to grow again, but cuts it up by a just and seasonable vengeance.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 23:32 . , and, as ye have called yourselves their sons, so show yourselves to be such indeed (Weiss). . The reading is due to shrinking from the idea conveyed by the imperative. To the same cause is due the permissive (Grotius al. ) or ironical (De W.) senses put upon the imperative. Christ means what He says: “Fill up the measure of your fathers; crown their misdeeds by killing the prophet God has sent to you . Do at last what has long been in your hearts. The hour is come.”
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fill ye up = And ye, fill ye up.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 23:32. , fill ye up then) The pronoun , you, is not only introduced in contrast to your fathers, but also shows that there is an indicative force in the imperative , fill ye up; q.d. ye will fill up, fill ye up therefore: cf. Joh 13:27. Fill ye up whenever ye will, be ye no longer hindered; be ye left to yourselves: perform then with the hand that which you cherish in the heart.- , the measure) As there is a measure of life and of suffering, so is there also of sin, when, for example, to three transgressions is added a fourth; see Amo 1:3, etc.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
the measure: Gen 15:16, Num 32:14, Zec 5:6-11
Reciprocal: Jdg 2:19 – more 2Ki 21:20 – as his father 2Ch 28:13 – add more Ezr 10:10 – to increase Psa 69:27 – Add Psa 79:8 – former iniquities Psa 94:21 – condemn Psa 106:6 – General Pro 30:15 – The horseleach Isa 59:12 – our transgressions Isa 65:3 – A people Isa 65:7 – therefore Jer 7:26 – they did Jer 32:18 – recompensest Lam 5:7 – fathers Eze 18:14 – that seeth Eze 20:30 – Are ye Eze 22:4 – and thou hast Dan 8:23 – when Dan 9:16 – for the Hos 10:9 – did Amo 4:4 – Come Zec 5:8 – This Mat 12:45 – Even 1Th 2:16 – to fill Heb 6:6 – they crucify Rev 14:15 – ripe
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:32
This verse is partly in a sense of irony. It is as if Jesus had said: “Since you are the fleshly descendants of those murderers, you may be expected to show their traits in their moral and spiritual character. In so doing you will fully measure up to the wickedness of your ancestors.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 23:32. Fill ye up then. Not irony, but a terrible prediction, and a judicial consignment of them to their own ways. Every merciful means of influence had been used before this was spoken. To leave them now to show their true spirit was an act of mercy to others.
The measure of your fathers. The measure of their guilt.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 23:32-36. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers wickedness Ye may now be as wicked as they: a word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. Ye serpents Our Lord having now given up all hope of reclaiming them, speaks thus to deter others from the like sins. Wherefore That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: behold, I send Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets Men with supernatural credentials; Wise men Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes Men of learning: but all will not avail. That upon you may come all the righteous blood The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the punishment of the blood of all the righteous men; shed upon the earth Temporal punishment must be intended, because in the life to come men shall not be punished for the sins of others to which they were not accessary. From the blood of righteous Abel The first prophet and preacher of righteousness, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias Most commentators think that Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, mentioned 2Ch 24:20, (where see the note,) is here meant: and that either the words, son of Barachias, are the officious addition of some early transcriber of this gospel, (who might confound this martyr with Zechariah, one of the twelve minor prophets,) or that Jehoiada was also called Barachiah, having, as was not then uncommon, two names, both which, it may be observed, signify nearly the same thing: the latter word signifying one that blesses the Lord, and Jehoiada one that confesses him. Dr. Blayney, however, is confident that Zechariah, the minor prophet, is here intended, and that he was actually murdered, as is here said, though the Scriptures of the Old Testament are silent concerning the barbarous action. See the argument to my notes on Zechariah. Whom ye slew So he says, because by imitating their fathers conduct, they made the murder, committed by them, their own; between the temple That is, the house properly called the temple; and the altar Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than to any other, because he was the last of the prophets that was slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness; and we may add, (supposing Zechariah the son of Jehoiada to be meant,) because Gods requiring his blood, as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture, that holy mans last words being, The Lord look upon it, and require it, 2Ch 24:22. All these things The punishment of all these murders; shall come upon this generation This Jesus foreknew would be the case; and that though every possible method would be tried in order to their conversion, they would make light of all, and by so doing pull down upon themselves such terrible vengeance, as should be a standing monument of the divine displeasure against all the murders committed on the face of the earth from the beginning of time.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
23:32 {u} Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
(u) A proverb used by the Jews, which has this meaning: You go on also, and follow your ancestors, that at length your wickedness may come to its fulness.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Old Testament idea behind this verse is that God will tolerate only so much sin. Then He will act in judgment (cf. Gen 6:3; Gen 6:7; Gen 15:16; cf. 1Th 2:14-16). Here Jesus meant that Israel had committed many sins by killing the prophets. When the Pharisees killed Jesus and His disciples (cf. Mat 23:34) the cup of God’s wrath would be full, and He would respond in wrath. The destruction of Jerusalem and the worldwide dispersion of the Jews resulted in A.D. 70.