Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 23:33
[Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
33. generation of vipers ] See note ch. Mat 3:7.
the damnation of hell ] Rather, the judgment of Gehenna.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye serpents – This name is given to them on account of their pretending to be pious, and very much devoted to God, but being secretly evil, At the heart, with all their pretensions, they were filled with evil designs, as the serpent was, Gen 3:1-5
Generation of vipers – See the notes at Mat 12:34.
Damnation of hell – This refers, beyond all question, to future punishment. So great was their wickedness and hypocrisy, that, if they persevered in this course, it was impossible to escape the damnation that should come on the guilty. This is the sternest language that Jesus ever used to wicked people. But it by no means authorizes ministers to use such language to sinners now. Christ knew that this was true of them. He had an authority which none now have. It is not the province of ministers to denounce judgment, or to use severe names, least of all to do it on pretence of imitating Christ. He knew the hearts of people. We know them not. He had authority to declare certainly that those whom he addressed would be lost. We have no such authority. He addressed persons; we address characters.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 23:29; Mat 23:33; Mat 23:36
How can ye escape the damnation of hell?
–
The difficulty of escaping the damnation of hell
I. What your situation actually is.
1. You are even now under sentence of condemnation.
2. You need to be awakened, no man will escape a danger he does not perceive.
3. In order to escape final condemnation you must pursue religion with perseverance.
II. The obstacles.
1. The effect of sin is to make men blind to their own sins.
2. The sinner often seeks deliverance in a way in which it cannot be obtained.
3. The unbelieving heart will not submit to God until its opposition be removed.
4. The fascinating power of worldly objects.
5. Then you say the difficulties are so great that you have not courage to make the attempt to escape. (E. Payson, D. D.)
Pretence vain
To pretend holiness when there is none is a vain thing. What were the foolish virgins better for their blazing lamps when they wanted oil? What is the lamp of profession without the oil of saving grace? What comfort will a show of holiness yield at last? Will painted gold enrich? Painted wine refresh him that is thirsty? Will painted holiness be a cordial at the hour of death? A pretence of sanctification is not to be rested in. Many ships have had the name of Hope, the Safeguard, the Triumph, yet have been cast away upon the rocks; so many who have had the name of saintship have been cast into hell. (T. Watson.)
Suspension and infliction of judgments
1. It is not right that God should punish one generation for the sins of another.
2. It is just that God should punish all generations for their own sins.
3. God might if He pleased pass by the sins of all generations; He might punish them hereafter, not here.
4. It is right that God should punish one generation and not another. He has always acted as a Sovereign in sparing or punishing particular generations. God delayed to destroy the Egyptians.
5. When God does spare one generation and punish another He always has some good reason for both sparing and punishing.
6. The sins of one generation may be a good reason why God should punish the sins of another.
7. It is criminal and foolish for one generation to imitate the sins of a former.
8. It is well for the present generation to discountenance open vices prevailing.
9. Sinners always are the troublers of the world. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers] What a terrible stroke! – Ye are serpents, and the offspring of serpents. This refers to Mt 23:31: they confessed that they were the children of those who murdered the prophets; and they are now going to murder Christ and his followers, to show that they have not degenerated – an accursed seed, of an accursed breed. My old MS. translates this passage oddly – Gee serpentis, fruytis of burrownyngis of eddris that sleen her modris. There seems to be here an allusion to a common opinion, that the young of the adder or viper which are brought forth alive eat their way through the womb of their mothers. Hence that ancient enigma attributed to LACTANTIUS: –
Non possum nasci, si non occidero matrem.
Occidi matrem: sed me manet exitus idem.
Id mea mors faciet, quod jam mea fecit origo.
Cael. Firm. Symposium, N. xv.
I never can be born, nor see the day,
Till through my parent’s womb I eat my way.
Her I have slain; like her must yield my breath;
For that which gave me life, shall cause my death.
Every person must see with what propriety this was applied to the Jews, who were about to murder the very person who gave them their being and all their blessings.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
33. Ye serpents, ye generation ofvipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?In thus, atthe end of His ministry, recalling the words of the Baptist at theoutset of his, our Lord would seem to intimate that the onlydifference between their condemnation now and then was, that now theywere ripe for their doom, which they were not then.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye servants, ye generation of vipers,…. The latter of these names, John the Baptist calls the Sadducees and Pharisees by, in Mt 3:7 and Christ, in Mt 12:34 both express their craft and subtlety, their inward poison, and venomous nature; their fair outside, and specious pretences; their hypocrisy, malice, and wickedness; in which they were like to the old serpent, their father the devil, and to their ancestors, that murdered the prophets; nor could any good thing be expected, from such a viperous generation:
how can ye escape the damnation of hell? signifying, that it was impossible that they should; nor could they surely expect it themselves, who must be conscious to themselves of their wickedness, malice, and deceit. The Persic version reads it, “where can ye escape?” c. and so Beza says it was read, in one ancient copy of his and the sense is, whither can ye flee? to whom, or what can you have recourse to, to screen you from the wrath to come? Rocks and mountains, caves and dens, will be of no service. The phrase,
, “the judgment, or damnation of hell”, is a phrase often used in the Talmud p, and Midrashes q of the Jews; and intends future torment, and the everlasting vengeance and wrath of God, the unquenchable fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and which impenitent unbelieving sinners cannot escape.
p T. Bab. Berncot, fol. 61. 1. Erubin, fol. 18. 2. Yebamot, fol. 102. 2. Sota, fol. 4. 2. & 5. 1. & Bava Bathra, fol. 10. 1. q Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 203. 1. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 14. 2. & Midrash Kohelet, fol. 76. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers ( ). These blistering words come as a climax and remind one of the Baptist (3:17) and of the time when the Pharisees accused Jesus of being in league with Beelzebub (12:34). They cut to the bone like whip-cords.
How shall ye escape ( ). Deliberate subjunctive. There is a curse in the Talmud somewhat like this: “Woe to the house of Annas! Woe to their serpent-like hissings.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
33. Offspring of vipers. After having demonstrated that the scribes are not only base enemies of sound doctrine, and wicked corrupters of the worship of God, but likewise deadly plagues of the Church, Christ, being about to close his discourse, kindles into more vehement indignation against them; as it is necessary to shake off by violence the flatteries in which hypocrites indulge, and to drag them, as it were, to the judgment seat of God, that they may be filled with alarm. And yet Christ did not keep them alone in his eye, but intended to strike terror into the whole people, that all might guard against a similar destruction. How harsh and intolerable this roughness of language must have been to these reverend instructors may easily be inferred from the long period during which they had held a peaceful dominion, so that no one dared to mutter against them. And there can be no doubt that many were displeased with the great freedom and sharpness which Christ used, and, above all, that he was looked upon as immoderate and outrageous in venturing to apply such reproachful epithets to the order of the scribes; as many fastidious persons of the present day cannot endure any harsh word to be spoken against the Popish clergy. But as Christ had to deal with the worst of hypocrites, who not only were swelled with proud contempt of God, and intoxicated with careless security, but had captivated the multitude by their enchantments, he found it necessary to exclaim against them with vehemence. He calls them serpents both in nature and in habits, and then threatens them with a punishment, which it will be in vain for them to attempt to escape, if they do not speedily repent.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(33) Ye generation of vipers.Better, as in Mat. 3:7, brood, or progeny of vipers. The word of rebuke which had come before from the lips of the Baptist, comes now, with even more intense keenness, from those of the Christ.
How can ye escape?Betterto maintain the parallelism with the Baptists words, which was, we can hardly doubt, designedHow should ye flee from?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers See our commentary on Mat 3:7. The severity of our Lord’s language is a precedent for rebuke, but no precedent for such authority and power of rebuke. He had a divine attribute to see the character as it was, and a divine authority to pronounce its nature, and a right to inflict punishment which no mere mortal has.
How can ye escape the damnation of hell? The question is sometimes the strongest mode of affirmation. Our Lord here means to assert that they cannot escape the damnation of hell. The word here used for hell is in the original Gehenna.
These EIGHT WOES are reduced by Dr. Stier to the sacred number seven, as he considers the last as a simple summation of the whole.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?”
Jesus then depicts all their attempts to appear righteous as simply indicating that like snakes and vipers who are concerned to escape from danger, their concern is to escape the judgment of Gehenna. The picture is based on Mat 3:7, and the snakes escaping from the cornfields as the reapers get to work. Compare also Mat 12:34. The psalmists likened men to vipers because of the venom of their mouths (Psa 58:4; Psa 140:3) and because of their deafness in the face of entreaty (Psa 58:4), while in the blessing of Jacob the serpent and the adder are pictured as lying in the way waiting to bite their victims and bring them crashing down from their mounts (Gen 49:17). Thus Jesus is likening them to their fathers, they are venomous and deaf, and deceitfully waylay the unwary, and therefore have little hope of avoiding Gehenna.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 23:33. Ye serpents, &c. See Luk 3:7. Men of warm tempers are apt to mistake this part of Christ’s discourse; they fancy that his giving the Pharisees names expressive of their characters, and his denouncing woes against them, justifies those censorious judgments, which, without reason, or, it may be, contrary to reason, they pass on persons who happen to be at variance with them. It is very true that Jesus pronounced the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, blind guides, serpents, &c. and declared that they could not escape the damnation of hell; but it is equally true, that they were hypocrites and fools, as wicked as he has painted them, and that he knew them certainly to be such. Wherefore, till we can make it evident that we have the faculty of knowing men’s hearts, which Christ possessed, we have no pretensions to imitate him in an action not designed for our imitation, being done by him as a prophet and in virtue of his prophetical gifts, or as God over all, not as an ordinary man. Instead of making free with the characters of others, as too many do, it is far safer, and in every respect better, both for ourselves and for society, that we keep close to the precept forbidding rash judgments, evil surmisings, and all backbitings. See ch. Mat 7:1-5. The phrase , which is the same in sense with the original, rendered to escape the damnation, properly signifies, to evade conviction in a court of judicature; which is often done by the artifice of the criminal. See Raphaelius and Macknight.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 23:33 . ] Conjunctive, with a deliberative force: how are you , judging from your present character, to escape from (see on Mat 3:7 ), etc. Comp. Mat 26:54 ; Mar 4:30 : Hom. Il . i. 150: ;
The . means the pronouncing of the sentence which condemns to Gehenna. The phrase judicium Gehennae is also of very frequent occurrence in Rabbinical writers. See Wetstein. The judgment comes when the measure is full. Comp. 1Th 2:16 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Ver. 33. Ye serpents ] Serpentum tot sunt venena, quot genera, saith Isidore, tot pernicics quot species, tot dolores quot colores. See how our Saviour sharps up these heresiarchs, that, if possible, they might be made sound in the faith. So deals Peter by Simon Magus, Paul by Elymas, many of our champions by their Popish antagonists. Before God you are deceivers of the people (said Mr Philpot, martyr, to his persecutors), before God there is no truth in you. And to mocking Morgan he said, I must tell thee, thou painted wall and hypocrite, in the name of the living Lord, that God shall rain fire and brimstone upon such scorners of his word and blasphemers of his people as thou art. And afterwards, Thou art but an ass in the things of God, in that thou kickest against the truth, and art void of all godly understanding. Thou hast seduced others (said Bonner to Philpot), and madest them rejoice and sing with thee. Yea, my Lord, quoth he, we shall sing when you shall cry, Woe, woe, except ye repent. What an arrogant fool is this (said the bishop), I will handle thee like a heretic, and that shortly. I fear nothing, I thank God (said the other), that you can do unto me. But God shall destroy such as thou art, and that shortly, as I trust. Likewise to the Bishop of Chichester he spake thus: I perceive you are blind guides, and leaders of the blind, and therefore, as I am bound to tell you, very hypocrites, tyrannously persecuting the truth, which you are not able to disprove. Thus Hilary called Constantius Antichrist, and Auxentius devil, because they were Arians, Mihi certe Auxentius nihil aliud erit quam diabolus, quia Arianus.
Ye generation of vipers ] Quarum morsus insanabilis. Sic contra sycophantarum morsum non est remedium. See Trapp on “ Mat 3:7 “ Vipers’ teeth are buried in their gums, that one would think they could not bite: so hypocrites.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 23:33 . wful ending to a terrific charge, indicating that the men who are predestined to superlative wickedness are appropriately doomed to the uttermost penalty. , . ; already stigmatised as false, fools, blind, they are now described as venomous, murderous in thought and deed. Cf. Mat 3:7 . , the deliberative subjunctive. “The verb of a deliberative question is most frequently in the first person, but occasionally in the second or third. Mat 23:33 , Rom 10:14 .” Burton, 170.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
generation = offspring, or brood. Plural as in Mat 3:7; Mat 12:34; and Luk 3:7.
escape = escape from (Greek. apo). App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 23:33. , of vipers) Which are mentioned in Mat 23:30-32.- , how can ye escape) The subjunctive.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
serpents: Mat 3:7, Mat 12:34, Mat 21:34, Mat 21:35, Gen 3:15, Psa 58:3-5, Isa 57:3, Isa 57:4, Luk 3:7, Joh 8:44, 2Co 11:3, Rev 12:9
how: Mat 23:14, Heb 2:3, Heb 10:29, Heb 12:25
Reciprocal: Deu 32:22 – lowest Psa 2:5 – Then Psa 58:4 – serpent Isa 1:4 – a seed Isa 20:6 – and how Isa 59:12 – our transgressions Jer 44:14 – shall escape Lam 4:13 – that Eze 17:15 – shall he escape Eze 22:4 – and thou hast Mat 26:4 – by Mar 12:40 – long Luk 6:39 – shall Luk 16:23 – in hell Act 2:40 – untoward Act 28:3 – came Rom 2:3 – that thou shalt 1Co 6:10 – thieves Gal 5:9 – General 1Th 5:3 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:33
Serpents and vipers are virtually the same creatures as to general classification, being slightly different in variety. The outstanding characteristics of both are deception, poison and filthiness. John the Baptist called those people by the term “vip ers” in chapter 3:7. How can ye escape, eto. The fire of hell (Gehenna) will have been prepared for the devil and his angels (Mat 25:41), hence it will logically be the final destiny of the offspring of such wicked characters.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Ye serpents, ye of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
[The damnation of hell.] The judgment of Gehenna. See the Chaldee paraphrast on Rth 2:12; Baal Turim on Gen 1:1; and Midras Tillin.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 23:33. Ye serpents, ye brood of vipers, etc. Comp. the similar language of John the Baptist (chap. Mat 3:7). That was the first, and this the last recorded address to the unchanged Pharisees. John had said: who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come, our Lord speaks to them, as obdurate: how shall ye escape the judgment of hell, i.e., the judgment which condemns to hell, Our Lord speaks as Judge.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 23:33-36. A Last Warning.With Mat 23:33 cf. the Baptists words, Mat 3:7.
Mat 23:34. Luk 11:49*.
Mat 23:35. Abel: Gen 4:8.Zachariah: 2Ch 24:20 ff. The reference is thus to all the martyrdoms recorded in the Heb. Scriptures, of which 2 Chronicles 13 the last book. Zachariah was really the son of Jehoiada; Mt. (or a glossator) says son of Barachiah (Lk. omits) through confusing Zachariah with the prophet (Zec 1:1). Josephus (Wars, IV, Mat 23:4) tells of a Zachariah, son of Baruch, who was murdered in the Temple during the siege of Jerusalem for plotting to betray the city to Vespasian. But it is almost impossible to suppose that this is the incident here referred to. The murder of Zachariah, son of Jehoiada, lay heavy on the Jewish conscience; they regarded Nebuchadnezzars capture of Jerusalem as retribution for it (JThS, xiii. 408).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Jesus repeated epithets that He had used before to announce His critics’ condemnation (cf. Mat 3:7; Mat 12:34). They would perish in hell for their failure to accept Jesus (cf. Mat 5:22; Mat 23:15).
"There is today only one proper Christian use of the woe saying of this pericope. It is found not primarily in the application of the passage to the historical Pharisees, and even less to modern Judaism as a religion, but in the application of the passage to members of the church. Hypocrisy is the real enemy of this pericope, not the scribes, the Pharisees, or the Jews. If, on the model of this pericope, a bitter woe is to be pronounced against anyone today, it must be directed solely against hypocrisy in the church (cf. 1Pe 2:1)." [Note: Hagner, Matthew 14-28, p. 673.]