Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 23:34

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and [some] of them ye shall kill and crucify; and [some] of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute [them] from city to city:

34. I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes ] Marking the continuity of the Christian with the Jewish Church.

ye shall kill and crucify ] Kill, directly as Stephen (Act 7:59), indirectly as James (Act 12:2), and crucify, by means of the Roman power, as Symeon, second Bishop of Jerusalem (Eus. H. E. iii. 32).

scourge in your synagogues ] See note ch. Mat 4:23.

from city to city ] As Paul pursued Christians to Damascus; as he was himself driven from Antioch in Pisidia, from Iconium, from Philippi, and from Thessalonica.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I send unto you prophets … – Jesus doubtless refers here to the apostles, and other teachers of religion. Prophets, wise men, and scribes were the names by which the teachers of religion were known among the Jews, and he therefore used the same terms when speaking of the messengers which he would send. I send has the force of the future, I will send.

Some of them ye shall kill – As in the case of Stephen Act 7:59 and James Act 12:1-2.

Crucify – Punish with death on the cross. There are no cases of this mentioned; but few historical records of this age have come down to us. The Jews had not the power of crucifying, but they had power to deliver those whom they condemned to death into the hands of the Romans to do it.

Shall scourge – See the notes at Mat 10:17. This was done, Act 22:19-24; 2Co 11:24-25.

Persecute … – See the notes at Mat 5:10. This was fulfilled in the case of nearly all the apostles.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 34. Wherefore] To show how my prediction, Ye will fill up the measure of your fathers, shall be verified, Behold, I send (I am just going to commission them) prophets, &c. and some ye will kill, (with legal process,) and some ye will crucify, pretend to try and find guilty, and deliver them into the hands of the Romans, who shall, through you, thus put them to death. See on Lu 11:49. By prophets, wise men, and scribes, our Lord intends the evangelists, apostles, deacons, &c., who should be employed in proclaiming his Gospel: men who should equal the ancient prophets, their wise men, and scribes, in all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Luke saith, Luk 11:49-51, Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. Luke saith, Therefore also said the wisdom of God. Matthew saith, Behold, I send. Christ is the wisdom of God; he here tells them he would send them prophets, wise men, scribes. Luke expounds it by prophets and apostles; men authorized by Christ to reveal unto men the will of God, and men that should be extraordinarily inspired to enable them thereunto.

Scribes, that is, persons instructed to the kingdom of God; a new sort of scribes, but much fitter for their work than the present scribes.

And some ye shall kill and crucify, &c.: our Lord in this only foretells what usage both himself and his apostles should meet with from them, which was fulfilled in what the Scripture telleth us of the scourging of Paul, the stoning of Stephen, the killing of James, &c., beside the crucifying of himself.

That upon you, that is, as he expounds it, Mat 23:36, upon this generation, may come all the righteous blood, that is, the blood of righteous men, shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, &c. Here arise two questions:

1. Who this Zacharias the son of Barachias was.

2. How it could stand with Gods justice to bring the guilt of the blood of former generations upon that generation.

As to the first, some have guessed the person spoken of to have been one Zacharias the son of Baruch, who was the last slain upon the taking of Jerusalem, as Josephus tells us: but our Saviour here speaks of a thing passed, not to be afterwards done. Others think it was Zacharias the father of John Baptist: but we have no proof that he died a violent death. Others think it was Zechariah, who was one of the small prophets: but there was no temple in his time. It is most probably concluded to be Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, whom the Jews stoned with stones at the commandment of Joash in the court of the house of the Lord, 2Ch 24:21. The fathers name indeed doth not agree; but, first, Jehoiada (as many of the Jews had) might have two names: some think it was this same Zechariah who is called the son of Jeberechiah, Isa 8:2. Our Saviour nameth Abel, who lived before the law, and Zacharias, who lived under the law, both slain for righteousness sake; that under them he might comprehend all the martyrs slain in those two periods. Others judge, that these two are named because we read of Abels blood crying, Gen 4:10, and Zechariahs praying (when he died) that the Lord would require his blood. For the other question, it is but righteous with God to punish the sins of parents upon their children; and though such vengeance doth not ordinarily reach further than the third and fourth generation, yet where succeeding generations go on in the same sinful courses, it may reach further, and often does. Isa 65:6,7, I will (saith God) recompense into their bosom your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together. That was the case here. They filled up the measure of their fathers sins. Therefore Christ tells them, that vengeance should sleep no longer, but come upon that generation, which happened in the utter destruction of Jerusalem within less than forty years after. Our Lord concludes with a pathetical lamentation over Jerusalem, and a further confirmation of what he had said about their ruin.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

34. Wherefore, behold, I send untoyou prophets, and wise men, and scribesThe I here isemphatic: “I am sending,” that is, “am about to send.”In Lu 11:49 the variation isremarkable: “Therefore also, said the wisdom of God, I will sendthem,” c. What precisely is meant by “the wisdom of God”here, is somewhat difficult to determine. To us it appears to besimply an announcement of a purpose of the Divine Wisdom, in the highstyle of ancient prophecy, to send a last set of messengers whom thepeople would reject, and rejecting, would fill up the cup of theiriniquity. But, whereas in Luke it is “I, the Wisdom of God, willsend them,” in Matthew it is “I, Jesus, am sending them”language only befitting the one sender of all the prophets, the LordGod of Israel now in the flesh. They are evidently evangelicalmessengers, but called by the familiar Jewish names of “prophets,wise men, and scribes,” whose counterparts were the inspired andgifted servants of the Lord Jesus; for in Luke (Lu11:49) it is “prophets and apostles.”

unto the blood of Zachariasson of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altarAsthere is no record of any fresh murder answering to this description,probably the allusion is not to any recent murder, but to 2Ch24:20-22, as the last recorded and most suitable case forillustration. And as Zacharias’ last words were, “The Lordrequire it,” so they are here warned that of thatgeneration it should be required.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Wherefore, behold I send unto you prophets,…. To try them, whether they would show the respect to prophets, they pretended to have for them; by building and beautifying their sepulchres; by exclaiming against their forefathers for shedding their blood; and by declaring, that had they lived in their days, they would not have joined with them in it; and to make it appear, that these were all empty words, and specious pretences; and that they had the same malicious and bloody principles in them; and would be guilty of the same practices, and so fill up the measure of their fathers’ sins; and bring upon them the punishment of everlasting burnings hereafter, as well as ruin and destruction on their nation, city, and temple now. Christ here speaks, as, one having power and authority, to qualify and send forth men, under the several characters here mentioned, and of what he should do after his resurrection: for notwithstanding the people of the Jews would crucify him, and use him as they did, in a barbarous manner; yet after all this, he would send his ministers to them, to gather his elect out from among them, to render the rest inexcusable, and to show his longsuffering and patience. The persons designed by “prophets”, “wise men”, and “Scribes”, are his apostles: called “prophets”; because they were divinely inspired to write, and preach in his name; had the gift of foretelling future events, and of explaining with the greatest clearness and exactness, the prophecies of the Old Testament; showing their respect unto, and accomplishment in Christ: “wise men”; because they were made wise unto salvation, and capable of instructing others: they were filled with all spiritual and evangelical wisdom, and preached the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom: and Scribes; because they were well instructed in the kingdom of heaven, and had the true knowledge of the law, and could rightly interpret it, as well as make known the Gospel of the grace of God. Christ chooses to use these names and titles, because the Jews pretended to have great veneration for the ancient prophets, and these he should send, would not be a whit inferior to them, but in many things exceed them; and they had great esteem for their wise men and Scribes, who would be vastly exceeded by these ministers of his, and yet would be used very badly by them:

and some of them ye shall kill; as Stephen, the first “martyr”, who was stoned to death by them; and James, the brother of John, whom Herod, to their good liking, killed with the sword; and the other James they threw headlong from off the pinnacle of the temple, and killed him with a fuller’s club r.

And crucify; so Simeon, the son of Cleophas, was crucified at the instigation of the Jews, as Eusebius relates s.

And some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues; as John, Peter, and Paul:

and persecute them from city to city; as they did Paul and Barnabas, as the Acts of the Apostles testify.

r Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 23. s Ib. l. 3. c. 32.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Doom of the Pharisees; The Guilt and Doom of Jerusalem.

      34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:   35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.   36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.   37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!   38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.   39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

      We have left the blind leaders fallen into the ditch, under Christ’s sentence, into the damnation of hell; let us see what will become of the blind followers, of the body of the Jewish church, and particularly Jerusalem.

      I. Jesus Christ designs yet to try them with the means of grace; I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. The connection is strange; “You are a generation of vipers, not likely to escape the damnation of hell;” one would think it should follow, “Therefore you shall never have a prophet sent to you any more;” but no, “Therefore I will send unto you prophets, to see if you will yet at length be wrought upon, or else to leave you inexcusable, and to justify God in your ruin.” It is therefore ushered in with a note of admiration, behold! Observe,

      1. It is Christ that sends them; I send. By this he avows himself to be God, having power to gift and commission prophets. It is an act of kingly office; he sends them as ambassadors to treat with us about the concerns of our souls. After his resurrection, he made this word good, when he said, So send I you, John xx. 21. Though now he appeared mean, yet he was entrusted with this great authority.

      2. He sends them to the Jews first; “I send them to you.” They began at Jerusalem; and, wherever they went, they observed this rule, to make the first tender of gospel grace to the Jews, Acts xiii. 46.

      3. Those he sends are called prophets, wise men, and scribes, Old-Testament names for New-Testament officers; to show that the ministers sent to them now should not be inferior to the prophets of the Old Testament, to Solomon the wise, or Ezra the scribe. The extraordinary ministers, who in the first ages were divinely inspired, were as the prophets commissioned immediately from heaven; the ordinary settled ministers, who were then, and continue in the church still, and will do to the end of time, are as the wise men and scribes, to guide and instruct the people in the things of God. Or, we may take the apostles and evangelists for the prophets and wise men, and the pastors and teachers for the scribes, instructed to the kingdom of heaven (ch. xiii. 52); for the office of a scribe was honourable till the men dishonoured it.

      II. He foresees and foretels the ill usage that his messengers would meet with among them; “Some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and yet I will send them.” Christ knows beforehand how ill his servants will be treated, and yet sends them, and appoints them their measure of sufferings; yet he loves them never the less for his thus exposing them, for he designs to glorify himself by their sufferings, and them after them; he will counter-balance them, though not prevent them. Observe,

      1. The cruelty of these persecutors; Ye shall kill and crucify them. It is no less than the blood, the life-blood, that they thirst after; their lust is not satisfied with any thing short of their destruction, Exod. xv. 9. They killed the two James’s, crucified Simon the son of Cleophas, and scourged Peter and John; thus did the members partake of the sufferings of the Head, he was killed and crucified, and so were they. Christians must expect to resist unto blood.

      2. Their unwearied industry; Ye shall persecute them from city to city. As the apostles went from city to city, to preach the gospel, the Jews dodged them, and haunted them, and stirred up persecution against them, Act 14:19; Act 17:13. They that did not believe in Judea were more bitter enemies to the gospel than any other unbelievers, Rom. xv. 31.

      3. The pretence of religion in this; they scourged them in their synagogues, their place of worship, where they kept their ecclesiastical courts; so that they did it as a piece of service to the church; cast them out, and said, Let the Lord be glorified,Isa 66:5; Joh 16:2.

      III. He imputes the sin of their fathers to them, because they imitated it; That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth,Mat 23:35; Mat 23:36. Though God bear long with a persecuting generation, he will not bear always; and patience abused, turns into the greatest wrath. The longer sinners have been heaping up treasures of wickedness, the deeper and fuller will the treasures of wrath be; and the breaking of them up will be like breaking up the fountains of the great deep.

      Observe, 1. The extent of this imputation; it takes in all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, that is, the blood shed for righteousness’ sake, which has all been laid up in God’s treasury, and not a drop of it lost, for it is precious. Ps. lxxii. 14. He dates the account from the blood of righteous Abel, thence this ra martyrum–age of martyrs–commences; he is called righteous Abel, for he obtained witness from heaven, that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. How early did martyrdom come into the world! The first that died, died for his religion, and, being dead, he yet speaketh. His blood not only cried against Cain, but continues to cry against all that walk in the way of Cain, and hate and persecute their brother, because their works are righteous. He extends it to the blood of Zacharias, the son of Barachias (v. 36), not Zecharias the prophet (as some would have it), though he was the son of Barachias (Zech. i. 1.) nor Zecharias the father of John Baptist, as others say; but, as is most probable, Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, who was slain in the court of the Lord’s house,2Ch 24:20; 2Ch 24:21. His father is called Barachias, which signifies much the same with Jehoiada; and it was usual among the Jews for the same person to have two names; whom ye slew, ye of this nation, though not of this generation. This is specified, because the requiring of that is particularly spoken of (2 Chron. xxiv. 22), as that of Abel’s is. The Jews imagined that the captivity had sufficiently atoned for the guilt; but Christ lets them know that it was not yet fully accounted for, but remained upon the score. And some think that this is mentioned with a prophetical hint, for there was one Zecharias, the son of Baruch, whom Josephus speaks of (War 4. 335), who was a just and good man, who was killed in the temple a little before it was destroyed by the Romans. Archbishop Tillotson thinks that Christ both alludes to the history of the former Zecharias in Chronicles, and foretels the death of this latter in Josephus. Though the latter was not yet slain, yet, before this destruction comes, it would be true that they had slain him; so that all shall be put together from first to last.

      2. The effect of it; All these things shall come; all the guilt of this blood, all the punishment of it, it shall all come upon this generation. The misery and ruin that are coming upon them, shall be so very great, that, though, considering the evil of their own sins, it was less that even those deserved; yet, comparing it with other judgments, it will seem to be a general reckoning for all the wickedness of their ancestors, especially their persecutions, to all which God declared this ruin to have special reference and relation. The destruction shall be so dreadful, as if God had once for all arraigned them for all the righteous blood shed in the world. It shall come upon this generation; which intimates, that it shall come quickly; some here shall live to see it. Note, The sorer and nearer the punishment of sin is, the louder is the call to repentance and reformation.

      IV. He laments the wickedness of Jerusalem, and justly upbraids them with the many kind offers he had made them, v. 37. See with what concern he speaks of that city; O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The repetition is emphatical, and bespeaks abundance of commiseration. A day or two before Christ had wept over Jerusalem, now he sighed and groaned over it. Jerusalem, the vision of peace (so it signifies), must now be the seat of war and confusion. Jerusalem, that had been the joy of the whole earth, must now be a hissing, and an astonishment, and a by-word; Jerusalem, that has been a city compact together, shall now be shattered and ruined by its own intestine broils. Jerusalem, the place that God has chosen to put his name there, shall now be abandoned to the spoil and the robbers, Lam 1:1; Lam 4:1. But wherefore will the Lord do all this to Jerusalem? Why? Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, Lam. i. 8.

      1. She persecuted God’s messengers; Thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee. This sin is especially charged upon Jerusalem; because there the Sanhedrim, or great council, sat, who took cognizance of church matters, and therefore a prophet could not perish but in Jerusalem, Luke xiii. 33. It is true, they had not now a power to put any man to death, but they killed the prophets in popular tumults, mobbed them, as Stephen, and put the Roman powers on to kill them. At Jerusalem, where the gospel was first preached, it was first persecuted (Acts viii. 1), and that place was the head-quarters of the persecutors; thence warrants were issued out to other cities, and thither the saints were brought bound, Acts ix. 2. Thou stonest them: that was a capital punishment, in use only among the Jews. By the law, false prophets and seducers were to be stoned (Deut. xiii. 10), under colour of which law, they put the true prophets to death. Note, It has often been the artifice of Satan, to turn that artillery against the church, which was originally planted in the defence of it. Brand the true prophets as seducers, and the true professors of religion as heretics and schismatics, and then it will be easy to persecute them. There was abundance of other wickedness in Jerusalem; but this was the sin that made the loudest cry, and which God had an eye to more than any other, in bringing that ruin upon them, as 2Ki 24:4; 2Ch 36:16. Observe, Christ speaks in the present tense; Thou killest, and stonest; for all they had done, and all they would do, was present to Christ’s notice.

      2. She refused and rejected Christ, and gospel offers. The former was a sin without remedy, this against the remedy. Here is, (1.) The wonderful grace and favour of Jesus Christ toward them; How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings! Thus kind and condescending are the offers of gospel grace, even to Jerusalem’s children, bad as she is, the inhabitants, the little ones not excepted. [1.] The favour proposed was the gathering of them. Christ’s design is to gather poor souls, gather them in from their wanderings, gather them home to himself, as the Centre of unity; for to him must the gathering of the people be. He would have taken the whole body of the Jewish nation into the church, and so gathered them all (as the Jews used to speak of proselytes) under the wings of the Divine Majesty. It is here illustrated by a humble similitude; as a hen clucks her chickens together. Christ would have gathered them, First, With such a tenderness of affection as the hen does, which has, by instinct, a peculiar concern for her young ones. Christ’s gathering of souls, comes from his love, Jer. xxxi. 3. Secondly, For the same end. The hen gathered her chickens under her wings, for protection and safety, and for warmth and comfort; poor souls have in Christ both refuge and refreshment. The chickens naturally run to the hen for shelter, when they are threatened by the birds of prey; perhaps Christ refers to that promise (Ps. xci. 4), He shall cover thee with his feathers. There is healing under Christ’s wings (Mal. iv. 2); that is more than the hen has for her chickens.

      [2.] The forwardness of Christ to confer this favour. His offers are, First, Very free; I would have done it. Jesus Christ is truly willing to receive and save poor souls that come to him. He desires not their ruin, he delights in their repentance. Secondly, Very frequent; How often! Christ often came up to Jerusalem, preached, and wrought miracles there; and the meaning of all this, was, he would have gathered them. He keeps account how often his calls have been repeated. As often as we have heard the sound of the gospel, as often as we have felt the strivings of the Spirit, so often Christ would have gathered us.

      [3.] Their wilful refusal of this grace and favour; Ye would not. How emphatically is their obstinacy opposed to Christ’s mercy! I would, and ye would not. He was willing to save them, but they were not willing to be saved by him. Note, It is wholly owing to the wicked wills of sinners, that they are not gathered under the wings of the Lord Jesus. They did not like the terms upon which Christ proposed to gather them; they loved their sins, and yet trusted to their righteousness; they would not submit either to the grace of Christ or to his government, and so the bargain broke off.

      V. He reads Jerusalem’s doom (Mat 23:38; Mat 23:39); Therefore behold your house is left unto you desolate. Both the city and the temple, God’s house and their own, all shall be laid waste. But it is especially meant of the temple, which they boasted of, and trusted to; that holy mountain because of which they were so haughty. Note, they that will not be gathered by the love and grace of Christ shall be consumed and scattered by his wrath; I would, and you would not. Israel would none of me, so I gave them up,Psa 81:11; Psa 81:12.

      1. Their house shall be deserted; It is left unto you. Christ was now departing from the temple, and never came into it again, but by this word abandoned it to ruin. They doated on it, would have it to themselves; Christ must have no room or interest there. “Well,” saith Christ, “it is left to you; take it, and make your best of it; I will never have any thing more to do with it.” They had made it a house of merchandise, and a den of thieves, and so it is left to them. Not long after this, the voice was heard in the temple, “Let us depart hence.” When Christ went, Ichabod, the glory departed. Their city also was left to them, destitute of God’s presence and grace; he was no longer a wall of fire about them, nor the glory in the midst of them.

      2. It shall be desolate; It is left unto you desolate; it is left eremos—a wilderness. (1.) It was immediately, when Christ left it, in the eyes of all that understood themselves, a very dismal melancholy place. Christ’s departure makes the best furnished, best replenished place a wilderness, though it be the temple, the chief place of concourse; for what comfort can there be where Christ is not? Though there may be a crowd of other contentments, yet, if Christ’s special spiritual presence be withdrawn, that soul, that place, is become a wilderness, a land of darkness, as darkness itself. This comes of men’s rejecting Christ, and driving him away from them. (2.) It was, not long after, destroyed and ruined, and not one stone left upon another. The lot of Jerusalem’s enemies will now become Jerusalem’s lot, to be made of a city a heap, of a defenced city a ruin (Isa. xxv. 2), a lofty city laid low, even to the ground, Isa. xxvi. 5. The temple, that holy and beautiful house, became desolate. When God goes out, all enemies break in.

      Lastly, Here is the final farewell that Christ took of them and their temple; Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh. This bespeaks,

      1. His departure from them. The time was at hand, when he should leave the world, to go to his Father, and be seen no more. After his resurrection, he was seen only by a few chosen witnesses, and they saw him not long, but he soon removed to the invisible world, and there will be till the time of the restitution of all things, when his welcome at his first coming will be repeated with loud acclamations; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Christ will not be seen again till he come in the clouds, and every eye shall see him (Rev. i. 7); and then, even they, who, when time was, rejected and pierced him, will be glad to come in among his adorers; then every knee shall bow to him, even those that had bowed to Baal; and even the workers of iniquity will then cry, Lord, Lord, and will own, when his wrath is kindled, that blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Would we have our lot in that day with those that say, Blessed is he that cometh? let us be with them now, with them that truly worship, and truly welcome, Jesus Christ.

      2. Their continued blindness and obstinacy; Ye shall not see me, that is, not see me to be the Messiah (for otherwise they did see him upon the cross), not see the light of the truth concerning me, nor the things that belong to your peace, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh. They will never be convinced, till Christ’s second coming convince them, when it will be too late to make an interest in him, and nothing will remain but a fearful looking for of judgment. Note, (1.) Wilful blindness is often punished with judicial blindness. If they will not see, they shall not see. With this word he concludes his public preaching. After his resurrection, which was the sign of the prophet Jonas, they should have no other sign given them, till they should see the sign of the Son of man, ch. xxiv. 30. (2.) When the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints, he will convince all, and will force acknowledgments from the proudest of his enemies, of his being the Messiah, and even they shall be found liars to him. They that would not now come at his call, shall then be forced to depart with his curse. The chief priests and scribes were displeased with the children for crying hosanna to Christ; but the day is coming, when proud persecutors would gladly be found in the condition of the meanest and poorest they now trample upon. They who now reproach and ridicule the hosannas of the saints will be of another mind shortly; it were therefore better to be of that mind now. Some make this to refer to the conversion of the Jews to the faith of Christ; then they shall see him, and own him, and say, Blessed is he that cometh; but it seems rather to look further, for the complete manifestation of Christ, and conviction of sinners, are reserved to be the glory of the last day.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

34. Therefore, lo, I send to you. Luke introduces it in a still more emphatic manner, Wherefore also the Wisdom of God hath said; which some commentators explain thus: “I, who am the eternal Wisdom of God, declare this concerning you.” But I am more inclined to believe that, according to the ordinary custom of Scripture, God is here represented as speaking in the person of his Wisdom; so that the meaning is, “God foretold long ago, by the prophetic Spirit, what would happen with regard to you.” This sentence, I acknowledge, is nowhere to be found literally: but as God denounces the incorrigible obstinacy of that people in many places of Scripture, Christ draws up a kind of summary of them, and by this personification (111) expresses more clearly what was the judgment of God as to the incurable wickedness of that nation. For if those teachers would have no success, it might have appeared strange that Christ should have desired them to weary themselves to no purpose. Men argue thus: “God labors in vain, when he sends his word to the reprobate, who, he knows, will continue obstinate.” And hypocrites, as if it were sufficient of itself to have preachers of the heavenly doctrine continually with them, though they show themselves to be disobedient, entertain the conviction that God is reconciled and favorable to them, provided that the outward word be heard amongst them.

Thus the Jews fiercely boasted that, in comparison of other nations, they had always enjoyed the best prophets and teachers, and, as if they had deserved so great an honor, they considered this to be an undoubted proof of their own excellence. (112) To put down this foolish boasting, Christ not only affirms that they do not excel other nations on the ground of having received from God distinguished prophets and expounders of his Wisdom, but maintains that this ilk requited favor is a greater reproach, and will bring upon them a heavier condemnation, because the purpose of God was different from what they supposed, namely, to render them more inexcusable, and to bring their wicked malice to the highest pitch; as if he had said, “Though prophets have been appointed to you by heaven in close succession, it is idly and foolishly that you claim this as an honor; for God had quite a different object in his secret judgment, which was, to lay open, by an uninterrupted succession of gracious invitations, your wicked obstinacy, and, on your being convicted of it, to involve the children in the same condemnation with the fathers.”

With regard to the words, the discourse as related by Matthew is defective, but its meaning must be supplied from the words of Luke. The mention of scribes and wise men along with prophets tends to magnify the grace of God; by which their ingratitude becomes more apparent, since, though God left nothing undone for their instruction, they made no proficiency. Instead of wise men and scribes, Luke mentions apostles, but the meaning is the same. This passage shows that God does not always bestow salvation on men when he sends his word to them, but that he sometimes intends to have it proclaimed to the reprobate, who, he knows, will continue obstinate, that it may be to them

the savior of death unto death, (2Co 2:16.)

The word of God, indeed, in itself and by its own nature, brings salvation, and invites all men indiscriminately to the hope of eternal life; but as all are not inwardly drawn, and as God does not pierce the ears of ally—in short, as they are not renewed to repentance or bent to obedience, those who reject the word of God render it, by their unbelief, deadly and destructive.

While God foresees that this will be the result, he purposely sends his prophets to them, that he may involve the reprobate in severer condemnation, as is more fully explained by Isaiah, (Isa 6:10.) This, I acknowledge, is very far from being agreeable to the reason of the flesh, as we see that unholy despisers of God seize on it as a plausible excuse for barking, that God, like some cruel tyrant, takes pleasure in inflicting more severe punishment on men whom, without any expectation of advantage, he knowingly and willingly hardens more and more. But by such examples God exercises the modesty of believers. Let us maintain such sobriety as to tremble and adore what exceeds our senses. Those who say, that God’s foreknowledge does not hinder unbelievers from being saved, foolishly make use of an idle defense for excusing God. I admit that the reprobate, in bringing death upon themselves, have no intention of doing what God foresaw would happen, and therefore that the fault of their perishing cannot be ascribed to His foreknowledge; but I assert that it is improper to employ this sophistry in defending the justice of God, because it may be immediately objected that it lies with God to make them repent, for the gift of faith and repentance is in his power.

We shall next be met by this objection, What is the reason why God, by a fixed and deliberate purpose, appoints the light of his word to blind men? When they have been devoted to eternal death, why is he not satisfied with their simple ruin? and why does he wish that they should perish twice or three times? There is nothing left for us but to ascribe glory to the judgments of God, by exclaiming with Paul, that they are a deep and unfathomable abyss, (Rom 11:33.) But it is asked, How does he declare that the prophecies will turn to the destruction of the Jews, while his adoption still continued to be in force towards that nation? I reply, As but a small portion embraced the word by faith for salvation, this passage relates to the greater number or the whole body; as Isaiah, after having predicted the general destruction of the nation, is commanded

to seal the law of God among the disciples, (Isa 8:16.)

Let us know then that, wherever the Scripture denounces eternal death against the Jews, it excepts a remnant, (Isa 1:9; Rom 11:5😉 that is, those in whom the Lord preserves some seed on account of his free election

(111) “ En introduisant la Sapience de Dieu parlant;” — “by introducing the Wisdom of God as speaking.”

(112) “ Comme un certain tesmoignage qu’ils estoyent gens de bien;” — “as an undoubted proof that they were good people.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(34) Behold, I send unto you prophets.In the parallel passage of Luk. 11:49 these words are introduced by the statement, Therefore said the wisdom of God, which has led some to see in them a quotation from some prophetic writing then current (see Note there). The words are, in any case, remarkable as including scribes no less than prophets among the ministers of the New Covenant. (See Note on Mat. 13:52.)

Shall ye scourge in your synagogues.See Note on Mat. 10:17.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

OUR LORD’S DENUNCIATION OF JUDGMENTS AND DEFINITE FAREWELL TO JERUSALEM, Mat 23:34-39.

34. Wherefore In consequence of all this wickedness. That is, inasmuch as you are thus reprobate, the following course of events will transpire: namely, messengers will be sent to you, but you will so treat them as to bring the full measure of wrath upon you. Behold, I send Our Lord here assumes divine authority. It is he who sends the prophets, and wise men, and scribes of the New Testament. Prophets Preachers, for as the word of God is a great prophecy of the world to come, so he who preaches it, truly prophesies. Wise men Deep thinkers in divine things, and true doctors in theology. For though the preacher stands first in the kingdom of God, yet the man who deeply studies and understands the things of God has his place, and is truly sent of Christ into his Church, whether ordained or not. Scribes Who hold the pen of the ready writer. How measureless the amount of good the Christian author has done since our Lord spoke these words. First, the inspired writers of the New Testament; then come the early fathers of the church; and then the Christian historians, essayists, and poets. Ye shall kill A large share of the first preachers, thinkers, and writers of the Church were martyrs.

Crucify There is no recorded instance of martyrdom by crucifixion, unless we include the cases of our Lord and Peter, who is said to have been crucified with his head downwards. But of the many violent deaths of our Lord’s first followers, comparatively few are recorded.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,”

Jesus is aware that He must shortly die and rise again, and that as a result He will send out His messengers (Mat 28:18-20), in the same way as He has done previously (chapter 10). He defines them in Old Testament and inter-testamental terms, ‘prophets (speakers of inspired words; see Mat 5:10-12 where it includes the disciples) and wise men (teachers of wisdom from the Scriptures) and scribes (teachers of the Law; compare Mat 13:52 where again disciples are in mind)’. Note how these cover the three sections of the Old Testament, the prophets, the wisdom literature and the Law. All would be needed in taking out His message.

In the light of the dangers of His time and the problems He would expect His disciples to face once they were out in the world into which He was sending them, He recognised that it was inevitable that some would be crucified at the instigation of the Jewish leadership or because of the suspicions of the authorities. It was the Roman way, and inevitable, and in anticipation of it He had already warned His followers that they were taking up the cross by following Him (Mat 16:24). He also knew that others would certainly be killed in other ways (Mat 10:21), for He had come to send fire on earth (Luk 12:49). In turbulent times men with a controversial message would always be in danger of their lives, while deaths from violent mobs out of control were not uncommon. He recognised only too well that many would certainly be beaten in the synagogues (Mat 10:17). This was a common experience for Jews who displeased the synagogue authorities, for they were responsible for local discipline among Jews. And the greatest certainty of all was that most would at some stage be persecuted from city to city as had happened previously (Mat 10:23). Those who spent themselves obtaining proselytes for Gehenna (Mat 23:15) would also spend themselves in persecuting the righteous. It may well be that He was speaking here on the basis of information that had come through about what had already happened to some of His followers, for they were turbulent and violent times. Furthermore He already had the example of what had happened to John the Baptist to go by, to say nothing of His own expectation of being crucified (Mat 20:19), and He could tell that some of these men were capable of anything. Anyone with spiritual awareness and a knowledge of the Scriptures, of the times and of the men who lived in them could in fact have forecast these things. They were inevitable in a world like ours.

Others see the emphatic ‘I’ in this verse as referring to God, and the words as therefore including the sending of the Old Testament and inter-testamental prophets, wise man and scribes.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Informs Them Of What Their Future Will Be (23:34-36).

Having warned the crowds and the disciples against being like the Scribes and Pharisees in their behaviour, ending with an exhortation to humble themselves and not to exalt themselves (Mat 23:1-12), and having totally exposed the inadequacies of the Scribes and Pharisees in the seven woes, ending in an accusation that they are simply like vipers, deceitful and deaf to entreaty, lying in wait for their victims (Mat 23:13-33), Jesus now unfolds the future both for the Scribes and Pharisees and their supporters (Mat 23:34-36), and for the whole of Jerusalem (Mat 23:37-39).

Analysis.

a “Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes” (Mat 23:34 a).

b “Some of them you will kill and crucify” (Mat 23:34 b).

c “And some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city” (Mat 23:34 c).

“That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom you slew between the sanctuary and the altar” (Mat 23:35).

“Truly I say to you, All these things will come on this generation” (Mat 23:36).

Note that in ‘a’ Jesus is sending to them messengers of every description, and in the parallel it is for the men of this generation. In ‘b’ their response will be to kill and crucify them, and in the parallel they will therefore have to bear the guilt of the blood of all the prophets. Centrally in ‘c’ is the fact that they will persecute His messengers.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Peroration and the Lament over Jerusalem.

v. 34. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

v. 35. that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and the altar.

v. 36. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

It is the beginning of the judgment upon the Jewish nation for their consistent refusal to accept the Messiah, visited first of all upon their leaders. With great seriousness Jesus states this fact, because the present generation is about to fill up the measure of iniquity to the very brim. He would send His messengers again, but their hearts would be hardened by their message, against the message and against the bearers. Their false worship would not want to permit the worship in spirit and in truth. They would kill, and crucify, and scourge, and persecute the messengers of Christ. No form of inquisition and cruelty is too horrifying when people vent their spite against the messengers of the true Gospel. And so the Jews, in being punished for the murder of Christ and the messengers of the New Testament, in having their blood come upon them, would incidentally receive punishment for the murders of the prophets of the Old Testament. They have their fathers’ spirit, the same hatred for the truth and its bearers; and so the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children. Abel was the first one to die, a martyr of his convictions, of his faith. And the hatred of the children of God continued down through the ages, one of the most conspicuous cases being that of Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada, also called Barachias, 2Ch 24:20-21, not to speak of other murders recorded in history. All the accumulated wrath of God was visited upon the Jews of the generation of Jesus, because they rejected the Messiah Himself. “As though He would say: It is one people, one kind, one generation; as the fathers, so the children. For the stubbornness that resisted God and His prophets in the fathers, resists in the same way in the children: the child is like the mother. All the blood that they have shed is bound to come upon them.”

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 23:34. Wherefore , “for this causethat ye are serpents, and a brood of vipers, who will fill up the measure of your fathers’ iniquities.” Our Saviour’s meaning was, not that he would send them prophets to be killed, that they might escape the damnation of hell; but that every possible method might be tried for their conversion, though he well knew that 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. For, “even as Sodom and Gomorrah anciently, and the cities about them, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire;” just so the Jewish nation was singled out, and that generation of the nation pitched upon to be the subjects of God’s vengeance against murder, and an example of punishment to all generations, as they were the most atrocious bodyof murderers that ever lived. The titles mentioned by our Lord in this verse, prophets, wise men, Scribes, correspond with thatdiversity of gifts mentioned in the first epistle to the Corinthians: they are stiled prophets, because inspired to foretel things to come; wise men, because they were enlightened with the knowledge of heavenly mysteries; and Scribes, from their superior knowledge of the law. Among the first martyrs, whose death verified this prophesy, were Stephen, who was stoned; Paul, who was scourged and killed; and Peter, who was crucified. See Macknight and Hammond. Instead of ye shall kill,shall scourge, we may read, ye will kill, &c.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 23:34 . ] must be of substantially the same import as in Mat 23:35 . Therefore , in order that ye may not escape the condemnation of hell (Mat 23:33 ), behold, I send to you and ye will , etc.; is likewise dependent on . Awful unveiling of the divine decree. Others have interpreted as follows: (Euthymius Zigabenus, Fritzsche), thus arbitrarily disregarding what immediately precedes (Mat 23:33 ). Moreover, without any hint whatever in the text of Matthew, , , . . ., has sometimes been taken for a quotation from some lost apocryphal prophecy, , or some such expression, being understood (van Hengel, Annotatio , p. 1 ff., and Paulus, Strauss, Ewald, Weizscker), a view borne out, least of all, by Luk 11:49 , which passage accounts for the unwarrantable interpretation into which Olshausen has been betrayed. [12] The corresponding passage in Luke has the appearance of belonging to a later date (in answer to Holtzmann and others). Comp. on Luk 11:49 .

] is uttered not by God (Ewald, Scholten), but by Jesus , and that under a powerful sense of His Messianic dignity, and with a boldness still more emphatically manifested by the use of . Through this , . . . , Jesus gives it to be understood that it is Himself who, in the future also, is still to be the object of hatred and persecution on the part of the Pharisees (comp. Act 9:5 ).

. . .] by whom He means His apostles and other teachers (Eph 4:11 ), who, in respect of the Messianic theocracy, would be what the Old Testament prophets were, and the Rabbins ( ) and scribes of a later time ought to have been, in the Jewish theocracy. For the last-mentioned order, comp. Mat 13:52 . Olshausen is of opinion that the Old Testament prophets themselves must also have been intended to be included, and that (which represents the near and certain future as already present) must indicate “God’s pure and eternal present.” The subsequent futures ought to have prevented any such construction being put upon the passage. For ., comp. Mat 13:52 .

] (Euthymius Zigabenus), but more emphatic than if we had had besides: and from their ranks ye will murder , etc., so that the actions are conceived of absolutely (Winer, p. 552 [E. T. 743]). The same words are solemnly repeated immediately after.

] and among other ways of putting them to death, will crucify them, i.e . through the Romans, for crucifixion was a Roman punishment. As a historical case in point, one might quote (besides that of Peter) the crucifixion of Simeon , a brother of Jesus, recorded by Eusebius, H. E . iii. 32. The meagreness, however, of the history of the apostolic age must be taken into account, though it must not be asserted that in Jesus was referring to His own case (Grotius, Fritzsche, Olshausen, Lange). He certainly speaks with reference to the third class of divine messengers, the class whom He is now sending (Calov.), but not from the standpoint of His eternal, ideal existence (Olshausen), nor in the name of God (Grotius), and then, again, from the standpoint of His personal manifestation in time (Olshausen), fancies for which there is no foundation either in Luk 11:49 or in the text itself. Jesus does not contemplate His own execution in what is said at Mat 23:32 .

. ] Mat 10:17 .

] Mat 10:23 . Comp. Xen. Anab . v. 4. 31: .

[12] “Jesus,” he says, “is here speaking as the very impersonation of wisdom; Matthew has omitted the quotation formula, because his object was to represent Jesus as the one from whom the words originally and directly emanate; but the original form of the passage is that in which it is found in Luke.” Strauss, in Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschr . 1863, p. 84 ff., also has recourse to the hypothesis of a lost book, belonging, as he thinks, to a date subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem, and written by a Christian, and in which the messengers in question are understood to be those whom God has been sending from the very earliest times. In this Strauss, following in the wake of Baur, is influenced by anti-Johannine leanings. According to Ewald, a volume, written shortly after the death of the prophet Zechariah in the fifth century before Christ, but which is now lost, was entitled . The , he thinks, was inserted by Matthew himself. Bleek, in the Stud. u. Krit . 1853, p. 334, and in his commentary, agrees in the main with Ewald.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

“Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: (35) That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. (36) Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”

These verses very properly follow here, in confirmation of the former. For as Cain, the first murderer, began to shew this bitterness of spirit against Abel; so every persecution and bloodshed, the cause of Christ had suffered, from his days to the end of the holy war, will be requited of the serpent generation. Hence John expressly saith, in so many words, the reason wherefore Cain killed his brother Abel, was, because he belonged, to that serpent family. Not as Cain, (saith he) who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. 1Jn 3:12 . To the same purport Jesus said, to some which were in his day: Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the lusts of your Father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning. Joh 8:44 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

Ver. 34. Wherefore, behold, I send you ] Oh the infinite goodness of God, in striving by his Spirit with refractory sinners in the use of the means, waiting their return!

” Sed pensare solet vi graviore moram. “

Prophets, wise men, and scribes ] That is, apostles, pastors, and teachers, Eph 4:11 , whom he here calleth by the customary names of that country. Scribe was an honourable name, till Pharisees dishonested it by their hypocrisy.

Ye shall kill and crucify ] If therefore we have not yet resisted unto blood, be content with lighter crosses, and look for heavier. Omnis Christianus crucianus. (Luther.) It is but a delicacy to divide between Christ and his cross.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

34. ] From the similar place in the former discourse (Luk 11:49 , see notes there) it would appear that the refers to the whole last denunciation: ‘qu cum ita sint’ ‘since ye are bent upon filling up the iniquities of your fathers, in God’s inscrutable purposes ye shall go on rejecting His messengers.’ Notice the difference between . in Luk 11:49 , and , with its emphasis here. These words are no where written in Scripture, nor is it necessary to suppose that to be our Lord’s meaning. He speaks this as Head of His Church, of those whom He was about to send: see Act 13:1 ; 1Co 12:8 ; Eph 3:5 . He cannot, as some (Olsh.) think, include Himself among those whom He sends the Jews may have crucified many Christian teachers before the destruction of Jerusalem. And see Euseb. H. E. iii. 32, where he relates from Hegesippus the crucifixion of Symeon son of Clopas, in the reign of Trajan. The takes out the , the special, from the , the general; with, of course, somewhat of emphasis. The were the Apostles , who, in relation to the Jews, were such the , Stephen and such like, men full of the Holy Ghost the , Apollos, Paul (who indeed was all of these together), and such. On . . . . . . see Act 5:40 ; Act 22:19 ; Act 26:11 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 23:34-36 . Peroration (Luk 11:49-51 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 23:34 . . The sense requires that this be connected with both Mat 23:32-33 . The idea is that all God’s dealings with Israel have been arranged from the first so as to ensure that the generation addressed shall fill up the measure of Israel’s guilt and penalty. The reference of is not confined to what had been done for that generation. It covers all the generations from Abel downwards. The form in which the thought is expressed at first creates a contrary impression: . But either the is used in a supra-historical sense, or it must be regarded as a somewhat unsuitable word, and the correct expression of the source found in Luke’s , what follows becoming thus a quotation, either in reality from some unknown writing, as many think, or in the conception of the speaker. I see no insuperable difficulty in taking Mt.’s form as the original. Olshausen conceives of Jesus as speaking, not as a personality involved in the limits of temporal life, but as the Son of God, as the essential wisdom of God. The might be justified without this high reference to the Divinity of Jesus, as proceeding from His prophetic consciousness in an exalted state of mind. The prophet habitually spoke in the name of God. Jesus also at such a great moment might speak, as it were impersonally, in the name of God, or of wisdom. Resch, Agrapha , p. 274 ff., endeavours to show that “the wisdom of God” was, like “the Son of Man,” one of the self-designations of Jesus. Whether that be so or not, I think it is clear from this passage, and also from Mat 11:28-30 ( vide remarks there), that He did sometimes, as it were, personate wisdom. The present , regards the history of Israel sub specie aeternitatis , for which the distinction of present and past does not exist. , etc.: these names for the Sent clearly show that past and present are both in view. It is not merely the apostles , ( cf. Mat 13:52 ) = , Luk 11:49 , that are in view. , a hint at the impending tragic event, the Speaker one of the Sent. , etc.: a glance at the fortunes of the Twelve. Cf. chap. Mat 10:16-23 .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 23:34-36

34″Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”

Mat 23:34 “I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes” God (note Jesus uses “I”) continues His activity of revelation through His chosen spokespersons (cf. Mat 21:34-36; Mat 23:37). The Jews were not ignorant of God’s truth; they chose to reject it for their traditions (cf. Isa 6:9-13; Isa 29:13; Jer 5:20-29)! See SPECIAL TOPIC: NEW TESTAMENT PROPHECY at Mat 11:9.

“some of them you will kill and crucify” The prediction of persecution was dramatically fulfilled in the early days of Christianity. God’s spokespersons often reap the hostility of fallen mankind, even religious mankind, against God’s word and will.

Mat 23:35 “blood shed” See Special Topic following.

SPECIAL TOPIC: POURED OUT

“Abel” See Gen 4:8 ff.

“Zechariah” There has been much discussion here as to which prophet this referred. The only martyr known by this name is found in 2Ch 24:2-22, but his father’s name is different from this reference. However the parallel in Luk 11:51 omits the father’s name, as does the Greek MSS in Matthew.

Zechariah, the post-exilic prophet, had this name but was not killed in this manner. There could be another prophet by this name that we know nothing about. However, since Abel is the first martyr in the OT then the Zechariah mentioned in 2 Chronicles 24 would be the last martyr because Chronicles is the last book of the Hebrew canon.

Mat 23:36 “all these things will come upon this generation” In one sense this showed the preeminence of Jesus (cf. Mat 10:23; Mat 23:36; Mat 24:34). He was God’s ultimate spokesman. When the leaders and the general population rejected Him, there was no hope- only judgment. The new age of the Spirit has come!

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Wherefore = Because of this. Greek. dia (App-104. Mat 23:2) touto.

behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.

from = away from. Greek. apo. App-104.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

34.] From the similar place in the former discourse (Luk 11:49, see notes there) it would appear that the refers to the whole last denunciation: qu cum ita sint-since ye are bent upon filling up the iniquities of your fathers, in Gods inscrutable purposes ye shall go on rejecting His messengers. Notice the difference between . in Luk 11:49, and , with its emphasis here. These words are no where written in Scripture, nor is it necessary to suppose that to be our Lords meaning. He speaks this as Head of His Church, of those whom He was about to send: see Act 13:1; 1Co 12:8; Eph 3:5. He cannot, as some (Olsh.) think, include Himself among those whom He sends-the Jews may have crucified many Christian teachers before the destruction of Jerusalem. And see Euseb. H. E. iii. 32, where he relates from Hegesippus the crucifixion of Symeon son of Clopas, in the reign of Trajan. The takes out the , the special, from the , the general; with, of course, somewhat of emphasis. The were the Apostles, who, in relation to the Jews, were such-the , Stephen and such like, men full of the Holy Ghost-the , Apollos, Paul (who indeed was all of these together), and such. On . . . … see Act 5:40; Act 22:19; Act 26:11.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 23:34. , …, wherefore, etc.) A corollary of the eighth woe.-, I) In the parallel passage of St Luke, Luk 11:49, we read, , , …, wherefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send, etc. The first chapter of the second book of Esdras[1011] and this passage have a wonderful resemblance. In 2Es 1:30, we read, I gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings: in Mat 23:32, I sent unto you My servants the prophets, whom ye have taken and slain, and torn their bodies in pieces, whose blood I will require of your hands, saith the Lord: in Mat 23:33, Thus saith the Almighty Lord, your house is desolate. That book of Esdras is greatly esteemed by many, amongst whom of ourselves are found Schickardus on Tarich,[1012] p. 135, and Hainlin, in his Sol[1013] Temporum; and this quotation in the Gospel gives very great weight to it. J. C. Scaliger says (Exerc. 308), I possess an admirable and divine compendium of the books of Esdras, composed in the Syrian language; they contain far more valuable sentiments than the harangues of their base calumniator. That Syrian composition, which Scaliger calls a compendium, may have been a translation of the original Hebrew work, the longer Latin paraphrase of which may have many apocryphal additions. Such appears to be the case of the books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, which at one time show evident signs of a Hebrew origin, and at another have a purely Greek character.-, I send) The present tense. Gods messengers were sent when wickedness was most widely prevalent among His people.-, prophets) Who are taught by special revelation, as David. These alone are mentioned with reference to the past; see Mat 23:30. Now wise men and scribes are added.-, wise men) who have an habitual sense[1014] of the true and the good, corresponding with the Hebrew , wise, derived from , the palate, or sense of taste; such as was Solomon. These are midway between prophets and scribes.-, scribes) who edit and illustrate the remains of the prophets and wise men, as Ezra did. In these last the character is for the most part acquired; in wise men, innate; in prophets, inspired.[1015] Therefore the world hates and despises prophets most, wise men much, scribes less, yet not little.-, ye shall kill) as James [the son of Zebedee].-, ye shall crucify) as Peter and Andrew, although Peter suffered martyrdom elsewhere.

[1011] In the original, Liber iv. Esrae, cap.i.-(I. B.)

[1012] The title of the work in full, as edited by Schickardus, is, TARICH; h. e. series regum Persiae ab Ardschir-Babekan usque ad Jasdigerdem a chaliphis expulsam, ex fide MS. vol. authentici; vestita comm., etc., authore W. S. 4. Tubingen, 1632.-(I. B.)

[1013] A chronological work, the full title of which is, Sol Temporum seu chronologia mystica et elenchus chronologicus per totam S. Scripturam deductus. It was published in folio at Tubingen, A. D. 1646. The author is described as Ecclesi Derendingensis Pastor, et Vicinarum Superintendens.-(I. B.)

[1014] The word used by Bengel is gustum, the original and literal sense of which is, taste.-(I. B.)

[1015] In the original, infusus; literally, infused.-(I. B.)

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Chapter 67

The Masters Last Public Words

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

(Mat 23:34-39)

We have before us the last words ever spoken in public by our Lord Jesus Christ, not the last words he spoke, but the last words he spoke in public to the multitudes and particularly to the Jewish nation. These words are some of the most solemn and stern words ever spoken by him. They are words of judgment from the God-man, whose heart was full of pity.

This passage of Scripture, so often twisted and perverted by Arminians in their vain attempts to disprove the gospel of Gods free grace in Christ, is in fact not a passage showing that salvation is by mans will, but rather a passage declaring that mans ruin and everlasting destruction is by his will. In these verses our Lord declares to the scribes, and Pharisees, and Jewish people that the basis of Gods judgment and the cause of their spiritual ruin was their obstinate, willful unbelief.

That which our Lord asserts concerning the nation of Israel is equally true of men today. There is nothing that keeps a man out of heaven but his own unwillingness to bow to Christ, receive him, and believe on him as Lord and Savior (Joh 5:46; Joh 6:37-40; Joh 7:37-38). Israel did not enter into the land of promise for only one reason unbelief! (Hebrews 4). That nation perished, not because God would not be gracious to them, but because they would not trust him (Isa 48:18-19). And if you and I miss heaven it will be because of our own, willful unbelief. There is nothing that keeps a man out of heaven but his own will. And there is nothing that keeps a man out of hell but Gods will. The decree of God opens the door of heaven for a great, innumerable multitude of sinners. But the decree of God does not shut the doors of heaven against anyone. Be sure you understand this. Eternal life is by Gods will, Gods gift, and Gods work (Rom 9:16; Rom 6:23; 2Ti 1:9). But eternal death is the result of mans will, mans work, and mans merit. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23; Rom 1:23-26; Rom 10:21).

Space for Repentance

First, Our Lord here teaches us that God almighty graciously gives wicked men and women space for repentance. Our great Kings earthly life and ministry was to end soon. But, before this world, he delivered a royal and prophetical message. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city (Mat 23:34).

In this verse, our Lord speaks of his apostles as prophets, wise men, and scribes. And there is a sense in which all true gospel preachers may be described as such. Prophets declare what God will do. Wise men are made wise unto salvation and have wisdom to declare Gods salvation to others. Scribes interpret and teach the Word of God.

These prophets, and wise men, and scribes are Christs ascension gifts to his church. Here he declared the kind of reception his servants would have among the Jews. And some of then ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them I shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city.

Pastor Henry Mahan wrote, Gods mercy forgives sin, his grace bestows favor, his longsuffering and patience give space for repentance and faith. As God sent his servants to the Jews and gave them repeated warnings, message, after message, after message, so he does today. God does not allow men to sin without rebuke. He does not allow iniquity to go unchecked in anyone. With every transgression, with every breach of Gods law, man must trample under his feet the hedge of warnings God has planted about him.

Your conscience is Gods law written on your heart, by which God speaks to those who have not had their consciences seared (Rom 2:14-15). The Lord God, as it were, knocks at the door of conscience and gets a persons attention by sickness, afflictions, bereavements, and fearful brushes with death; but rebels harden their hearts, and persist in their defiance of the Almighty. God opens the grave under their eyes, destroys their idols, and stirs their souls; but they soon ignore his warnings. Like cattle in the field, when one of the herd is slaughtered, they look up for a moment and return to grazing on the grass beneath their feet.

How often the Lord God gives a summons to sinners by the preaching of the Word. Frequently, men and women experience soul trouble, but do not know what is happening. Blind, deaf, and dead, they do not understand the Lords ways. So, they harden their hearts, as Pharaoh of old. But soon everyone will see and understand, God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not (Job 33:14). In the day of judgment, when it is too late, everyone will realize that there is a voice in every event of providence, saying, Turn ye, turn ye! Why will ye die? (Eze 33:11).

Gods servants today put the prophets question before eternity bound sinners, crying to perishing men, Why will ye die? Justice has been satisfied by Christ. Righteousness has been brought in by the Son of God. All who trust the Lord Jesus are saved by him (Joh 6:40; Heb 7:25). Still, unless the Lord Jesus himself grants the rebel sinner repentance by his almighty grace, none will obey the gospel.

Relentless Persecution

Second, the Lord God takes notice of and remembers the relentless persecutions of his people by wicked men. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation (Mat 23:34-36).

Our Saviors prophecy was literally fulfilled among the Jewish people. He said, Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. And, before that generation had passed away, Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel and the gathering out of Gods elect among them, who were made to know that the crucified Christ is the Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Savior foretold.

But our Lords warning here was not for the Jewish people alone. It speaks to this generation as well. As Cain, the first murderer, began to show this hardness of heart and bitterness of spirit against Abel, so every persecution and blood shedding the cause of Christ has suffered, from the days of Cain to the end of that holy war between the seed of the serpent and the womans Seed, will be required of the serpents generation (1Jn 3:12; Joh 8:44).

Gods servants in this world are often lied about and scandalized by those who oppose them, held in contempt by those they serve, and despised and abused by some who pretend to love them. Frequently, people who would not openly abuse Gods messenger will abuse his wife and children. Such people think, No one really knows what I am doing. What fools!

There is a day of reckoning coming. If not in this world, in the next those men and women will understand that their actions were observed by God, punished by God (in their own experiences, their own families, and their own woes), and shall be a matter of eternal ruin, not only for themselves but for their children, and their childrens children.

Who would ever have imagined that the dying words of Zacharias (2Ch 24:22) would find their fulfillment in his murderers descendants, not only when he was murdered, but 800 years later? Our Lord declares that anything done to one of his servants is done to him (1Sa 8:7; Mat 10:40-42). On one occasion, some children were mocking Gods prophet, and God sent two bears to destroy forty-two of them at one time.

Be warned, God will destroy those who would destroy his church and kingdom (1Co 3:16-17). Gods servants should find great satisfaction in this. The God we serve will not allow any to get by with the abuse of his servants. There is an Eye that sees, an Ear that hears, and a Hand that records everything done against Gods servants. He who lives forever says, He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye (Zec 2:8). Yes, God requireth things that are past (Ecc 3:15).

False Prophets

Third, this passage of Holy Scripture declares that false prophets, lost religious leaders are murderers of mens souls. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord (Mat 23:37).

Our Lord did not say, How often would I have gathered you, and you would not. Neither did he say, How often would I have gathered thy children, and they would not. Rather he says, How often would I have gathered thy children and ye would not! This verse of Scripture must be understood in its context. Our Lord was condemning the scribes and Pharisees. He is saying the same thing here as he said in Mat 23:13. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Without question, our Lord Jesus Christ exemplified what a true preacher of the gospel is and must be. One who is full of compassion and care for mens souls. The words of Mat 23:37 express the tenderness and compassion of Christ as a man, not his immutable will as God. They display our Lords human affection for his fellow men (Mar 10:21). Our Lords understanding of Gods absolute sovereign election, particular redemption, and irresistible grace did not keep him from caring about the souls of men (Rom 9:2-4; Rom 10:1). He knew the wickedness of that city. He knew what crimes had been committed by them. He knew all the prophets they had hated and murdered. He knew what they wanted to do and soon would do to him. Yet, he pitied them!

Still, it must be asserted plainly that any who make our Lords words in Mat 23:37 to represent a frustration of his will, purpose, and grace toward chosen sinners are greatly mistaken. Our Lord, obviously, is not suggesting that he desired the spiritual and eternal salvation of multitudes that he could not (or did not) save, because they chose to reject his grace. There were none upon earth for whom so much had been done, to whom so much had been given. The tabernacle, the temple, the priesthood, all the ordinances of divine worship in the Old Testament, and the many preincarnate appearances of Christ were theirs.

By all these things our blessed Christ displayed his great love for his elect among that nation and people, watching over them by the secret workings of his Holy Spirit throughout those days of old. Oh, what great love it is in our Saviors heart that is revealed in the countless gifts of his grace and providence today, by which he comes to us as he does not to the world (Joh 14:18-22). Every ordinance of worship, every blessing of providence is given to lead chosen, redeemed sinners into the knowledge, apprehension, and experience of his love for them and his grace to them. All are revelations of the good will of him that dwelt in the bush (Deu 33:16). With all the tenderness of a hen, spreading her wings over her brood to protect them from danger, our blessed Savior watches over his elect, gathers them unto himself, and protects them from all danger. He has always done so, is doing so, and ever shall do so. It is written, There shall no evil happen to the just (Pro 12:21).

It is delightful to seize every opportunity to observe our Saviors grace and goodness, love and care, and ceaseless mercy toward his elect. But, here our Redeemer is describing the ruin of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel, among whom his beloved people were preserved and blessed throughout the Mosaic age. How often he would have gathered their children together; but their religious leaders (the scribes and Pharisees), like false prophets in every age, shut up the kingdom of heaven against them and would not have any to enter it.

Remember, our Savior is here addressing the scribes and Pharisees, condemning them for their treachery in destroying the souls of men. He is not suggesting that he would have gathered them to himself in grace. They were never the objects of his grace. Yet, had the Jewish people, as a nation, received him as the Christ of God, instead of crucifying the Lord of life and glory, they would have been saved as a nation, and the Romans would not have been sent by him to destroy the nation.

A Willing Savior

That which is spoken here is not a word of grace, but of judgment. Yet, I cannot fail to take this opportunity to show that our Lord Jesus Christ is a willing Savior. Oh, what a willing Savior our Savior is! He is a God who delighteth in mercy! The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is as willing to save as he is mighty to save (Isa 45:22; Isa 55:1-3; Isa 55:6-7; Isa 59:1-2; Mat 11:28-30; Joh 5:40; Joh 7:37-38). Arent you thankful? The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save lost sinners. He said, I am come to seek and to save that which was lost. The Son of God died in the room and stead of the ungodly. The Lamb of God is seated upon the throne of grace in heaven, waiting to be gracious, waiting to save sinners.

Salvation is entirely the work of God. All will be saved in the end who were chosen to salvation from the beginning, them and no one else. All will be with Christ in glory for whom Christ made atonement and satisfaction at Calvary, them and no one else. All will be crowned with the heavenly hosts who have been effectually called by the Holy Ghost, them and no one else. Yet, he who is God our Savior is ready and willing to save all who come to God by him, and will most assuredly save them.

If I should die with mercy sought,

When I the Lord have tried,

This were to die,

(Delightful thought!),

As sinner never died!

Cause of Ruin

Fifth, these words from the Master teach us that all who are lost are lost and ruined forever because of their own, willful rebellion and unbelief. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord (Mat 23:37-39).

It is written, O Israel, thou has destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help (Hos 13:9). If we are saved, we will be saved by grace alone. If we are destroyed, we must destroy ourselves. The judgment of God is always just. Three things are clearly established in these last three verses of Luke 23 : (1.) The cause of mans ruin is his own will. J. C. Ryle wrote, Impotent as man is by nature, unable to think a good thought of himself, without power to turn himself to faith and call upon God, he still appears to have a mighty ability to ruin his own soul. (2.) Often eternal ruin begins in this world with judicial reprobation (Mat 23:38; Hos 4:17). And (3.) there is a day coming when all men shall see and acknowledge who Christ is and what he has done (Mat 23:39; Php 2:9-11). In the last day, in that great day of judgment, he will be completely vindicated and honored, even by those who perish under his wrath.

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate! This is what you have chosen. You shall forever eat the fruit of your own ways. The God you have despised and forsaken has despised and forsaken you forever! Jerusalem, wrote Spurgeon, was too far gone to be rescued from its self-sought doom. Their city, their houses, and their temple would be abandoned and destroyed forever; and they would be forever cast into hell.

I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. You shall see me no more until you see me glorified by all as the Christ of God, in my glorious second advent when you shall say, as the gaping pit of hell opens wide its mouth to swallow you up, Here is the Blessed One who comes in the name of the Lord! (Rev 1:7; Php 2:9-11; Isa 45:22-25).

Ye sinners, seek His grace,

Whose wrath ye cannot bear;

Fly to the shelter of His cross,

And find salvation there.

So shall the curse remove,

By which the Savior bled;

And that last, awful day shall pour

His blessings on your head!

If we are saved, go to heaven, enjoy eternal life and glory in the bliss of Gods presence, it will be by Gods will, and Gods work alone. If we are lost, perish under the wrath of God, and go to a dark, Christless, eternal hell, it will be altogether our fault alone, because of our will, our unbelief, and our sin!

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

The King’s Farewell to his Capital

Mat 23:34-36. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Our great King knew that his earthly life was soon to end; he was, in fact, about to utter his final farewell to the people gathered in the temple. But before leaving them, he delivered a royal and prophetical message: “Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes.” None but the King of kings could speak thus without blasphemy. These “prophets, and wise men, and scribes” would be Christ’s ascension gifts to the Church and the world. He foretold what kind of reception his servants would have from the Jews: “And some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city” All this was literally fulfilled.

The object of the King in sending his last representatives was that the guilty city should be left for ever without excuse when its measure of iniquity should be full, and its awful doom be sealed. “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God. Truly, the blood of the martyrs slain in Jerusalem was amply avenged when the whole city became a veritable Aceldama, or field of blood.

The Kingly Prophet foretold the time of the end: “Verily I say unto you, All these thing shall come upon this generation.” It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognized the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Saviour foresaw and foretold, and the prospect of which wrung from his lips and heart the sorrowful lament that followed his prophecy of the doom awaiting his guilty capital.

Mat 23:37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killed the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

What a picture of pity and disappointed love the King’s face must have presented when, with flowing tears, he uttered these words! What an exquisite emblem he gave of the way in which he had sought to woo the Jews to himself: “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her icings! “What familiar tenderness! What a warm Elysium of rest! What nourishment for the feeble! What protection for the weak! Yet it was all provided in vain: “How often would I have gathered thy children together…. and ye would not!” Oh, the awful perversity of man’s rebellious will! Let all the readers of these lines beware lest the King should ever have to utter such a lament as this over them.

Mat 23:38-39. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Nothing remained for the King but to pronounce the solemn sentence of death upon those who would not come unto him that they might have life: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate:1 The whole “house “of the Jews was left desolate when Jesus departed from them; and the temple,the holy and beautiful “house”, became a spiritual desolation when Christ finally left it. Jerusalem was too far gone to be rescued from its self-sought doom.

Amid all this gloom there was one gleam of light: “For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” After his death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared many times to his disciples, but not once to the unbelieving Jews. His personal ministry to them was at an end; but it would be renewed when he should come to them a second time, without a sin-offering, unto salvation, and then they would say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Long ages have passed since the King went away into the far country. The signs of the times all tell us that his coming draweth nigh. Oh, that Christians and Jews alike were on the look-out for the true Messiah, whose message to all is, “Behold, I am coming quickly!”

Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom

send unto you

The Jews’ treatment of the apostles is proved, Mat 23:31-33.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

I send: Mat 10:16, Mat 28:19, Mat 28:20, Luk 11:49, Luk 24:47, Joh 20:21, Act 1:8, 1Co 12:3-11, Eph 4:8-12

prophets: Act 11:27, Act 13:1, Act 15:32, Rev 11:10

and wise: Pro 11:30, 1Co 2:6, 1Co 3:10, Col 1:28

scribes: Mat 13:52

ye: Mat 10:16, Mat 10:17, Joh 16:2, Act 5:40, Act 7:51, Act 7:52, Act 7:58, Act 7:59, Act 9:1, Act 9:2, Act 12:2, Act 14:19, Act 22:19, Act 22:20, 2Co 11:24, 2Co 11:25, 1Th 2:16, Heb 11:37

Reciprocal: Exo 20:5 – visiting Num 12:6 – a prophet Jdg 9:24 – That the 2Ki 1:10 – If I be a man 2Ki 21:10 – General 2Ch 24:21 – stoned him Neh 8:1 – Ezra Neh 9:26 – slew Pro 25:26 – General Ecc 7:15 – there is a just Isa 24:10 – of confusion Jer 2:30 – your own sword Jer 11:21 – thou Jer 19:4 – filled Jer 20:2 – smote Jer 26:23 – who Jer 36:26 – to take Jer 37:15 – the princes Hab 1:4 – for Zec 11:8 – in Mat 12:45 – Even Mat 14:10 – and beheaded Mat 22:6 – the remnant Mat 23:30 – the blood Mat 24:9 – shall they Mat 26:52 – they Mar 12:3 – they Mar 12:9 – he will Mar 13:9 – take Luk 11:29 – This is Luk 12:11 – General Luk 19:27 – General Luk 21:12 – before Joh 17:18 – General Joh 19:1 – scourged Act 5:33 – took Act 6:9 – the synagogue Act 8:1 – there Act 13:41 – for Rom 10:21 – All day long Rom 12:6 – whether Gal 4:29 – even Eph 3:5 – as it 2Ti 3:12 – shall Heb 11:36 – and scourgings Jam 5:6 – have Jam 5:10 – for Rev 6:11 – until

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD

Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify.

Mat 23:34

This passage occurs in the Gospel for St. Stephens Day, and in that connection we may observe that the life of the martyr brings to our mind several lessons.

I. The worlds hatred.Marvel not, My brethren, if the world hate you, was a warning of the Master, and soon, in the history of His Church, the penalty of an uncompromising witness for righteousness was to be shown. We are too ready to shrink from this hatred of the world, too ready to forget the warning, woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! Has there ever been an age when popularity was the hall-mark of goodness?

II. The sanctification of business life.There is a message, too, to the Christian man of business. The first call of St. Stephen to work recorded is his call and ordination to the diaconate, for a work which in these days we would not associate with the ministry at all. The fulness of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and faith, should then be the equipment of the man of business or of toil. Surely it sets a noble standard to all workers, and it is Gods standard. We realise its dignity and importance as, day by day, we can perform our allotted task as a service to Him.

III. Consecrate your gift.Again it encourages us to take our gift and lay it upon the altarto devote some portion of our business ability or of our skill to Gods holy Church. What room there is in parish matters for the sanctified experience and common sense of the layman! Like St. Stephen, to take up a share of the secular work, that the preaching of the Word of God be not hindered.

The Rev. H. G. Wheeler.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

3:34

Jesus concluded his direct denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, and the rest of this speech is made up of predictions against them soon to be fulfilled. He began it by foretelling how they would abuse the righteous men and prophets that would yet be sent to them in that generation.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

[Wise men and scribes.] Let them observe this, who do not allow the ministers of the word to have a distinct calling. The Jews knew not any that was called a wise man; or a scribe; but who was both learned, and separated from the common people by a distinct order and office.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

THESE verses form the conclusion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s address, on the subject of the Scribes and Pharisees. They are the last words which He ever spoke, as a public teacher, in the hearing of the people. The characteristic tenderness and compassion of our Lord, shine forth in a striking manner at the close of His ministry. Though He left His enemies in unbelief, He shows that He loved and pitied them to the last.

We learn, in the first place, from these verses, that God often takes great pains with ungodly men. He sent the Jews “prophets and wise men and scribes.” He gave them repeated warnings. He sent them message after message. He did not allow them to go on sinning without rebuke. They could never say that they were not told when they did wrong.

This is the way in which God generally deals with unconverted Christians. He does not cut them off in their sins without a call to repentance. He knocks at the door of their hearts by sicknesses and afflictions. He assails their consciences by sermons, or by the advice of friends. He summons them to consider their ways by opening the grave under their eyes, and taking away from them their idols. They often know not what it all means. They are often blind and deaf to all His gracious messages. But they will see His hand at last, though perhaps too late. They will find that “God spake once, yea twice, but they perceived it not.” (Job 33:14.) They will discover that they too, like the Jews, had prophets, and wise men, and scribes, sent to them. There was a voice in every providence, “Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?” (Eze 33:11.)

We learn, in the second place, from these verses, that God takes notice of the treatment which His messengers and ministers receive, and will one day reckon for it. The Jews, as a nation, had often given the servants of God most shameful usage. They had often dealt with them as enemies, because they told them the truth. Some they had persecuted, and some they had scourged, and some they had even killed. They thought perhaps that no account would be required of their conduct. But our Lord tells them they were mistaken. There was an eye that saw all their doings. There was a hand that registered all the innocent blood they shed, in books of everlasting remembrance. The dying words of Zacharias, who was “slain between the temple and the altar,” would be found, after eight hundred and fifty years, not to have fallen to the ground.-He said, as he died, “the LORD look upon it and require it.” (2Ch 24:22.) [Footnote: It is remarkable that the Zacharias here spoken of, is described in Chronicles as the son of Jehoiada. Our Lord speaks of him as the sone of Barachias. This descrepancy has led some to suppose that the Zacharias here spoken of could not be the one who was murdered in the days of Joash, but an entirely different person. But there seems no sufficient reason for this supposition. By far the most satisfactory explanation appears to be, that the father of Zacharias had two names, Jehoiada and Barachias. It was not at all uncommon among the Jews to have two names. Matthew was also called Levi, and Jude Thaddeus.] Yet a few years, and there would be such an inquisition for blood at Jerusalem as the world had never seen. The holy city would be destroyed. The nation which had murdered so many prophets would itself be wasted by famine, pestilence, and the sword. And even those that escaped would be scattered to the four winds, and become, like Cain the murderer, “fugitives and vagabonds upon earth.” We all know how literally these sayings were fulfilled. Well might our Lord say, “Verily all these things shall come upon this generation.”

It is good for us all to mark this lesson well. We are too apt to think that “bygones are bygones,” and that things which to us are past, and done, and old, will never be raked up again. But we forget that with God “one day is as a thousand years” and that the events of a thousand years ago are as fresh in His sight, as the events of this very hour. God “requireth that which is past,” and above all, God will require an account of the treatment of His saints. The blood of the primitive Christians shed by the Roman Emperors,-the blood of the Vallenses and Albigenses, and the sufferers at the massacre of St. Bartholomew,-the blood of the martyrs who were burned at the time of the Reformation, and of those who have been put to death by the Inquisition,-all, all will yet be accounted for. It is an old saying, that “the mill-stones of God’s justice grind slowly, but they grind very fine.” The world will yet see that “there is a God that judgeth in the earth.” (Psa 58:11.)

Let those who persecute God’s people in the present day take heed what they are doing. Let them know that all who injure, or ridicule, or mock, or slander others on account of their religion, commit a great sin. Let them know that Christ takes notice of every one who persecutes his neighbor because he is better than himself, or because he prays, reads his Bible, and thinks about his soul. He lives who said, “he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye.” (Zec 2:8.) The judgment day will prove that the King of kings will reckon with all who insult His servants.

We learn, in the last place, from these verses, that those who are lost for ever, are lost through their own fault.

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ are very remarkable. He says, “I would have gathered thy children together,-and ye would not.”

There is something peculiarly deserving of notice in this expression. It throws light on a mysterious subject, and one which is often darkened by human explanations. It shows that Christ has feelings of pity and mercy for many who are not saved, and that the grand secret of man’s ruin is his want of will. Impotent as man is by nature,-unable to think a good thought of himself,-without power to turn himself to faith and calling upon God,-he still appears to have a mighty ability to ruin his own soul. Powerless as he is to good, he is still powerful to evil. We say rightly that a man can do nothing of himself, but we must always remember that the seat of impotence is his will. A will to repent and believe no man can give himself, but a will to reject Christ and have his own way, every man possesses by nature, and if not saved at last, that will shall prove to have been his destruction. “Ye will not come to me,” says Christ, “that ye might have life.” (Joh 5:40.)

Let us leave the subject with the comfortable reflection, that with Christ nothing is impossible. The hardest heart can be made willing in the day of His power. Grace beyond doubt is irresistible. But never let us forget, that the Bible speaks of man as a responsible being, and that it says of some, “ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.” (Act 7:51.) Let us understand that the ruin of those who are lost, is not because Christ was not willing to save them,-nor yet because they wanted to be saved, but could not,-but because they would not come to Christ. Let the ground we take up be always that of the passage we are now considering,-Christ would gather men, but they will not to be gathered; Christ would save men, but they will not to be saved. Let it be a settled principle in our religion, that man’s salvation, if saved, is wholly of God; and that man’s ruin, if lost, is wholly of himself. The evil that is in us is all our own. The good, if we have any, is all of God. The saved in the next world will give God all the glory. The lost in the next world will find that they have destroyed themselves. (Hos 13:9.)

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Mat 23:34. Therefore behold I send unto you. Comp. Luk 11:49. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them, Here Christ, having already spoken as Judge, says, I send. He is the wisdom of God. Therefore; because they were determined to go on in the way of their fathers, and were to be left to do so. The sending of messengers of salvation, the multiplication of privileges, hastens the doom of the hardened. A fact in history as well as a declaration of Gods word.

Prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Names applied to the Old Testament messengers and teachers; here applied to New Testament messengers, whom Christ as Head of the Church would send. From Luk 11:49, we infer that there is also a reference to 2Ch 24:19. The Old Testament teachers had been treated in the same way, and the prediction indicates that they too had been sent by Christ. Prophets probably refers to Apostles; wise men to those specially endowed by the Holy Ghost, like Stephen; and scribes to those mighty in the Scriptures such as Apollos. But there is no necessary distinction, for Paul belonged to all three classes. On the treatment of the Christian messengers, see Act 5:40; Act 23:19; Act 26:11

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, A prophetical prediction, and a severe denunciation.

1. A prediction foretelling what cruel usage the apostle should meet with from the Jews, killing and crucifying some, scourging and stoning others; which accordingly was fulfilled in the crucifying of St. Peter, the scourging of St. Paul, in the stoning of St. Stephen, and killing of St. James. The first planters and propagators of the gospel sealed their doctrine with their blood, and the blood of the martyrs has all along been the seed of the church.

Observe, 2. A severe denunciation, That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from Abel to Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada, 2Ch 24:20, who was the last prophet whose murder is related by name in the Old Testament. These words are not to be understood as if the end and intent of Christ’s sending the prophets were that the Jews might put them to death, and bring their righteous blood upon themselves. This was the consequence and intent of it.

Learn, 1. That raging persecutors have no regard either to the extraordinary mission, or eminent sanctity of persons who reprove them for their sins. I send unto you prophets, says our Saviour, wise men and Scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucify.

2. That as the piety of the person, so neither can the sanctity of the place discourage and deter bloody persecutors from their rage and fury against the prophets of God. In the temple itself, in the court of the house of the Lord, even betwixt the porch and the altar, was Zacharias slain. That it is a righteous thing with God to punish good men for the impieties of their parents:

this is to be understood, 1. Where the children tread in their fathers steps, and continue in their parents sins; which they do, if they do not confess them, abhor them, and be humbled for them.

2. This is to be understood of temporal evils, not of eternal punishments. No man shall for his father’s sins lie down in everlasting burnings. As our fathers faith will not let us into heaven, so neither will their impiety shut us into hell. At the day of judgment every man shall be separately considered according to his deeds.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

23:34 {10} Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and [some] of them ye shall kill and crucify; and [some] of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute [them] from city to city:

(10) Hypocrites are cruel.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The antecedent of "therefore" (Gr. dia touto) is the Jews’ execution of the prophets that God had sent them in the past (Mat 23:29-30; cf. Mat 22:3-10). Because the Jews had rejected the former prophets Jesus would send them additional prophets, wise men, and teachers. These the Jews would also reject, filling up the measure of their guilt to the full. This is probably a reference to the witnesses that followed Jesus and appealed to the Jews to believe in Him (Act 3:19-21; Act 7:2-53; cf. Mat 5:10-12; Mat 9:37-38; Mat 28:18-20).

Jesus would not establish His kingdom then because Israel rejected Him as her Messiah. However, now Jesus revealed that God would punish the generation of Israelites that rejected Him and the apostles who would follow Him in an additional way. This included the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews from the Promised Land. Jesus clarified these events in the Olivet Discourse that follows (chs. 24-25).

Since the Jews did not have the authority to crucify people, we should probably understand Jesus’ reference to them crucifying some of these witnesses in a causative sense. They would cause others, notably the Romans, to crucify them (cf. Mat 10:24-25).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)