{"id":24700,"date":"2022-09-24T10:42:50","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T15:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-mark-1240\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T10:42:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T15:42:50","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-mark-1240","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-mark-1240\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 12:40"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 align='center'><b><i> Which devour widows&#8217; houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p> <strong> 40<\/strong>. <em> devour widows&rsquo; houses<\/em> ] as guardians and administrators of their property<\/p>\n<p><em> greater damnation<\/em> ] &ldquo;pei taken longe dom,&rdquo; Wyclif. The word denotes &ldquo;judgment,&rdquo; &ldquo;punishment.&rdquo; The verb from which it comes denotes &ldquo;to judge,&rdquo; pass sentence, condemn. In <span class='bible'>1Co 11:29<\/span>, the words rendered <em> damnation, discerning, judged<\/em>, and <em> condemnation<\/em>, are all, in the original, parts or derivations of one and the same word; and so Wyclif admirably rendered them into the language of his day by words connected with one and the same English verb; &ldquo;He that etith and drinkith vnworthili, etith and drinkith <em> doom<\/em> to him, not wisely <em> demyng<\/em> the bodi of the Lord  and if we <em> demyden<\/em> wiseli us silf we schulden not be <em> demyd<\/em>, but while we be <em> demyd<\/em> of the lord we ben chastised, that we be not <em> dampnyd<\/em> with this world.&rdquo; Compare also Chaucer, <em> Monk&rsquo;s Tale<\/em>, 15091,<\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:7.2em'>&ldquo; <em> Dampnyd<\/em> was he to deye in that prison.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em> Bible Word-Book<\/em>, pp. 142, 143.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P STYLE=\"text-indent: 0.75em\"><B>Which devour widows houses &#8211; <\/B>Which devour the families of widows, or the means of supporting their families. This they did under pretence of counseling them in the knowledge of the law and in the management of their estates. They took advantage of their ignorance and their unprotected state, and either extorted large sums for their counsel, or perverted the property to their own use.<\/P> <P STYLE=\"text-indent: 0.75em\">No wonder that our Saviour denounced them! If there is any sin of special enormity, it is that of taking advantage of the circumstances of the poor, the needy, and the helpless, to wrong them out of the pittance on which they depend for the support of their families; and as God is the friend of the widow and the fatherless, it may be expected that such will be visited with heavy condemnation.<\/P> <P STYLE=\"text-indent: 0.75em\"><B>For a pretence &#8211; <\/B>For show, or pretending great devotion.<\/P><\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Albert Barnes&#8217; Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P><B>40. Which devour widows&#8217; houses, andfor a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greaterdamnation<\/B>They took advantage of their helpless condition andconfiding character to obtain possession of their property, while bytheir &#8220;long prayers&#8221; they made them believe they wereraised far above &#8220;filthy lucre.&#8221; So much the &#8220;greaterdamnation&#8221; awaited them. (Compare <span class='bible'>Mt23:33<\/span>). A lifelike description this of the Romish clergy, thetrue successors of &#8220;the scribes.&#8221; <\/P><P>     <span class='bible'>Mr12:41-44<\/span>. THE WIDOW&#8217;STWO MITES.( = <span class='bible'>Lu 21:1-4<\/span>). <\/P><P>     See on <span class='bible'>Lu21:1-4<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown&#8217;s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Which devour widows&#8217; houses<\/strong>,&#8230;. <span class='bible'>[See comments on Mt 23:14]<\/span>.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: John Gill&#8217;s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P> <B>Devour widows&#8217; houses <\/B> (<span class='_800000'><SPAN LANG=\"el-GR\">     <\/SPAN><\/span>). New sentence in the nominative. Terrible pictures of civil wrong by graft grabbing the homes of helpless widows. They inveigled widows into giving their homes to the temple and took it for themselves.<\/P> <P><B>For a pretence make long prayers <\/B> (<span class='_800000'><SPAN LANG=\"el-GR\">  <\/SPAN><\/span>). <span class='_800000'><SPAN LANG=\"el-GR\"><\/SPAN><\/span> instrumental case of the same word (<span class='_800000'><SPAN LANG=\"el-GR\"><\/SPAN><\/span>) from which prophet comes, but here pretext, pretence of extra piety while robbing the widows and pushing themselves to the fore. Some derive it from <span class='_800000'><SPAN LANG=\"el-GR\"><\/SPAN><\/span>, to show forth.<\/P> <P><B>Greater <\/B> (<span class='_800000'><SPAN LANG=\"el-GR\"><\/SPAN><\/span>). More abundant condemnation. Some comfort in that at any rate. <\/P> <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Robertson&#8217;s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P>Widows &#8216; houses. People often left their whole fortune to the temple, and a good deal of the temple &#8211; money went, in the end, to the Scribes and Pharisees. The Scribes were universally employed in making wills and conveyances of property. They may have abused their influence with widows.<\/P><\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Vincent&#8217;s Word Studies in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1) <strong>&#8220;Which devour widows&#8217; houses,&#8221;<\/strong> (hoi katesthontes tas oikias ton cheron) &#8220;Those who are repeatedly devouring (living off of) the houses of widows,&#8221; as administrators of their estates, or who foreclose on unpaid debts or taxes, and seize their homes, <span class='bible'>Mat 23:14<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Luk 20:47<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>2) <strong>&#8220;And for<\/strong> <strong>a pretence make long prayers:- <\/strong>(kai prophasei&#8217; makra proseuvhomenoi) &#8220;And under long cloaks of false pretence are praying long prayers,&#8221; desiring to be heard by, means of long and wordy prayers, often prayed on the street corners, <span class='bible'>Mat 6:5<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Mat 23:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>3) <strong>&#8220;These<\/strong> <strong>shall receive greater damnation.&#8221; <\/strong>(houtoi lempsontai perissonteron krima) &#8220;These will receive the greater (degree of) condemnation,&#8221; The greater degree of understanding, the greater degree of punishment, among unbelievers, <span class='bible'>Mat 5:20<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Luk 10:12-14<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Luk 20:47<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>It may be that some of these conniving Scribe and Pharisee demagogues went to widows&#8217; homes and after long prayers enticed them to assign properties to them, as alluded to in &#8220;leading captive silly (simple) women,&#8221; <span class='bible'>2Ti 3:6<\/span>; Paul avoided such, <span class='bible'>1Th 2:5<\/span>.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>(40) <strong>Which devour widows houses.<\/strong>Here the word has a special force as coming after the mention of the feasts. They seek the highest places at such banquets, our Lord seems to say, and when there, this is what they feast on. The special charge is not reported by St. Matthew in this connection, but occurs in <span class='bible'>Mat. 23:14<\/span>, where see Note. The better MSS., indeed, omit it even there. The relative pronoun gives a wrong idea of the construction. We have really a new sentence. They that devour . . . these shall receive . . .<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Ellicott&#8217;s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><em> REFLECTIONS.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<p> PAUSE my soul over the many precious contents in this blessed chapter! Both the Jewish nation, and the Jewish church, have been as the LORD&#8217;s vineyard. Oh! the boundless grace of JEHOVAH in setting apart that people with whom he deposited his Ordinances; <em> whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh<\/em> CHRIST <em> came, who is over all<\/em> GOD <em> blessed<\/em> forever, <em> Amen.<\/em> But oh! the wonderful provocations of Israel, in slighting the LORD&#8217;s servants rising early and speaking, but regarding them not; till at length they killed the LORD of life and glory! But, Reader! are we then by nature or by practice better than they? Oh! no, in no wise. The LORD hath concluded all under sin, that the righteousness of GOD, which is by faith of Jesus CHRIST, might be given to them that believe. <em> Oh! the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of<\/em> GOD!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p> My soul! behold thy LORD attacked in every way, by men calling him <em> Rabbi;<\/em> and professing great regard to his person, for his teaching the way of GOD in truth; and by <em> Pharisee<\/em> and <em> Sadducee,<\/em> by <em> Herodians<\/em> and by <em> Scribes,<\/em> aiming to catch him in his words! Oh! thou divine and Almighty Teacher, cause thy blessed truths in this chapter to sink deep into my heart! LORD! be thou everlastingly blessed for thy gracious discoveries concerning the glorious truths of thy resurrection. LORD! be thou my resurrection, and my life Give me to know Israel&#8217;s GOD in covenant as one LORD! And oh! give me grace to love Him in his threefold character of Person, FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST, <em> with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength.<\/em> And in the love of GOD may my affections find sweet directions, to the love of my neighbour. So will David&#8217;s LORD be my LORD, and his CHRIST my CHRIST. And like the poor widow, the LORD&#8217;s treasury will have my whole living; since all I have, and all I am, are the LORD&#8217;S, and of His own only do I give him,<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Hawker&#8217;s Poor Man&#8217;s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> 40 Which devour widows&rsquo; houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. <strong> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n<p> Ver. 40. <em> See Trapp on &#8220;<\/em> Mat 23:14 <em> &#8220;<\/em> <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: John Trapp&#8217;s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> <span class='bible'>Mar 12:40<\/span> .   : this verse is probably still to be regarded as a continuation of the description of the scribes commencing with   , only the writer has lost the sense of the original construction, and instead of the genitive puts the nominative, so giving to what follows the force of an independent sentence (so Weiss). Grotius, Meyer, and Schanz take <span class='bible'>Mar 12:40<\/span> as a really independent sentence. Lk. set the precedent for this; for, apparently having Mk.&rsquo;s text before him, he turns f1  into   . Holtzmann, H. C., is undecided between the two views. As to the sense, two facts are stated about the scribes: they devoured the houses, the property of widows, and they made long (  , <em> vide<\/em> on <span class='bible'>Luk 20:47<\/span> ) prayers in the homes of, and presumably for, these widows.  : the real aim to get money, the long seemingly fervent prayers a blind to hide this aim. It is not necessary to suppose that the money-getting and the praying were connected by regular contract (so apparently Fritzsche, and Weiss in Meyer). For  <em> cf.<\/em> <span class='bible'>Phi 1:18<\/span> and especially <span class='bible'>1Th 2:5<\/span> .   , etc.: this remark applies specially to the conduct just described: catching widows&rsquo; substance with the bait of prayer, which Jesus characteristically pronounces exceptionally damnable in view of its sleek hypocrisy and low greed. The appending of this reflection favours the view that <span class='bible'>Mar 12:40<\/span> is after all an independent sentence. In it and the two preceding we have a very slight yet vivid picture of Pharisaic piety in its vanity, avarice, and hypocrisy.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>devour = eat up. Being occupied in making wills and conveyances of property, they abused their office. <\/p>\n<p>greater damnation = heavier judgment. <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>Mar 12:40.  , who devour) Construe with the following words.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>devour: Eze 22:25, Mic 2:2, Mic 3:1-4, Mat 23:14, Luk 20:47, 2Ti 3:6 <\/p>\n<p>long: Mat 6:7, Mat 11:22-24, Mat 23:33, Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48 <\/p>\n<p>Reciprocal: Mic 2:9 &#8211; cast Mar 3:29 &#8211; but is Luk 5:33 &#8211; and make Rom 13:2 &#8211; receive Phi 1:18 &#8211; whether<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>0<\/p>\n<p>Devour widows&#8217; houses means they took advantage of them to obtain their property. For more detailed comments on this verse see the comments on Mat 23:14.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>Mar 12:40. And for a pretence. The sense is: They devour widows houses, and that too while they are praying at great length. Ecclesiastical officials may repeat this crime, by attaching to themselves the defenceless classes here represented by widows with the design of obtaining control of their property. Pharisaism, in all ages and organizations, has encouraged this.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>WOES AGAINST THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES<\/p>\n<p>Luk 20:47, Mar 12:40; Mat 23:13-39. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you devour the houses of widows, and through pretense make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. You see He withers them awfully for oppressing the widows. You must not here understand a condemnation of long prayers. Jesus Himself sometimes prayed all night. The condemnation is on the hypocrisy, because through pretense they made long prayers. However, we should all take warning and condense our prayers, throwing away all forms and routines, introductories and conclusions, except the simple Amen, and by the help of the Spirit focalize and concentrate our prayers, making them multum in parvo; i.e., much in little.<\/p>\n<p>Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut up the kingdom of the heavens against the people: for you do not come in, neither do you permit those coming in to enter. What awful preaching to the pastors of the Churches, ruling elders, and leading members, while looking them in the face! How terrible was the grip of Satan on them, that they did not heed the warning, but got violently mad, and killed Him for telling them the truth! Lord help us to walk in Thy footprints! There is a world of truth in this accusation. Those were the very men who would not enter the kingdom nor permit others. If they had repented under the preaching of John the Baptist, instead of getting mad at him for telling them the truth (Mat 3:7), and received their own Christ with open arms, thus passing exultantly from the Mosaic dispensation into the kingdom of heaven, the people would have followed them in solid columns, the whole Jewish nation receiving their own Christ, turning evangelist, preaching Him to all the Gentiles, and actually bringing on she millennium, far back in the early centuries of the Christian era, the Lord returning on the throne of His glory, as He said He would when the gospel was preached to all nations. The same sad phenomenon you may observe this day. If the leading preachers and Church officers throughout Christendom would receive the Holy Ghost and get sanctified wholly, as Jesus is now calling them, the Churches would follow in swelling multitudes, the revival tide of holiness to the Lord inundate the globe like a mighty swelling sea, and bring on the millennium in the present generation. The rank and file of people will follow their leaders. The climacteric trick of Satan in all ages has been to lead the leaders, and thus populate hell with the downward rush of millions lost.<\/p>\n<p>Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he may become, you make him twofold more the son of hell than yourselves. This poor, deluded, heathen proselyte, not only retains his own sins, but takes on those of hypocrisy and formality peculiar to his Jewish leaders. The deader a Church is, the more proselytic, ready to do almost anything to get a member, especially if he has money. Misery loves company. When people have God with them, they are satisfied to walk alone. When they are without God, they seek comfort in all the company they can get, going for the popular Church.<\/p>\n<p>Woe unto you. blind guides, saying, Whosoever may swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever may swear by the gold of the temple, he is debtor. Ye foolish and blind: for which is the greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? Whosoever may swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever may swear by the gift which is upon it, he is debtor. Ye blind, for which is the greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things which are on it; and he that sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by Him that dwelleth in it; and he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by Him that sitteth upon it. That our Savior is not here condemning judicial oaths,: we have abundant proof, as He Himself responded to Caiaphas when he administered to Him a solemn oath (Mat 26:63), and Paul administered a solemn oath to the Thessalonians that the epistle should be read to all the brethren. But Jesus is here speaking of profane swearing, condemning the use of bywords, which is incitive to profanity at least, and all superfluous language, as indicative of evil and conducive to sin, cutting down our phraseology to simple statements of fact. We have in this paragraph a very important specification, certifying that the altar sanctifies the gift, which has in all ages been a prominent battle-cry in Gods holiness movements. Consecration is mans work, just as the Jew brought the sheep, with his own hands, and placed it on Gods altar, neither daring to take it off nor thinking of a doubt as to Gods acceptance of it, believing unhesitatingly and unwaveringly that everything on Gods altar was thereby sanctified and holy. Therefore consecration is mans work, assisted by the Holy Ghost. When we make the clear, unequivocal, and eternal consecration, we should never doubt the sanctification, as we know God is infallible. He never fails to do His work, while doubt is grievous and dishonoring to Him. All we have to do is to keep all on the altar, consecrated for this world arid all other worlds, to live or to die. Then believe without a doubt that God accepts and sanctifies, going on undeviatingly in the line of joyful obedience, never again listening to the devil, who would destroy your experience by the injection of doubts. Once you move out on this line, and abide, your life will quickly become a constant sunshine, a sweet heaven in which to go to heaven, victory night and day brightening the escutcheon of your joyful experience, and proclaiming Satans signal and perpetual defeat.<\/p>\n<p>Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites l because you tithe mint, anise, and cumin, and you pass by the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: it behooveth to do these, and not to leave those undone. When preachers and Church members have no salvation, they are apt to be very particular about little things, and ready to criticize harshly all who do not conform to their little, silly notions punctiliously. Jesus does not object to their tithing everything, even these garden vegetables, giving one-tenth of all their produce to the Lord; but lie commends it. Meanwhile lie denounces them awfully for neglecting the great issues of the law; e.g., judgment  i. e., doing right by everybody, vindicating truth and righteousness, at home and abroad, with all classes indiscriminately, exhibiting to the world a life irreproachable from the standpoint of all rectitude. Mercy also must characterize all our deportment, reaching out to man and beast to friends and enemies, Jews and Gentiles, indiscriminately; full of kindness, pity, sympathy, and love for everything that hath feeling; and always holding up the banner of truth. in harmony with the blessed Word of God, enforcing it, not only by precept, but by example, in small matters as well as great, alway and everywhere on the side of truth and righteousness. While those preachers and Church officers were particular about little non-essentials, they were awfully delinquent in the grand and indispensable, item of true and genuine Holy Ghost religion. Our Savior: even charges these scribes and Pharisees with neglecting faith, which is the basis of all salvation, and without which it is impossible to please God. Now, these were the bon tons of the Jewish Church, both clerical and laical, claiming to be paragons of faith, the boasted children of faithful Abraham. But you see they really had no faith. They had plenty of intellectual and doctrinal faith, but were destitute of spirituality. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness. (Rom 10:10) None but spiritual faith has any availability, or even possesses the essence of faith, in the Divine estimation.<\/p>\n<p>Ye blind guides, who are straining out the gnat, but swallowing down the camel. As the gnat was unclean, and condemned by the Levitical law, they were very careful to strain their wine and milk lest a gnat might happen to be in it; thus straining it out, and not straining at it as in E. V., The camel is an unclean animal, and the largest in that country. Now, what is meant by straining out the gnat and swallowing down the camel? Be sure you understand it. This is a logical conclusion from the preceding verse, in which, calling them hypocrites, He denounces them for tithing mint, anise, and cumin, garden herbs, and at the same time neglecting judgment, mercy, and faith, these grand, cardinal, spiritual graces. If I had the wings: of an angel and the trump of an archangel, I would fly from ocean to ocean, and warn the blind guides in pulpits and Amen-corners who are this clay straining out gnats  i. e., very punctilious about all sorts of Church finances and duties harmonical with the popular shibboleth of Church loyalty  and at the same time deplorably delinquent with reference to the momentous relations to the Divine government, and the immeasurable obligations arising out of the same; and the poor widows, orphans, and. slumites in the neighborhood, are ready witnesses to their deplorable deficiency of that sweet grace denominated mercy; and as to the faith inspired by the Holy Ghost, the only medium through which we can possibly receive anything from God, and without which all are doomed and lost, it has actually become a dead-letter in their Creed. Those Church bon tons, to whom Jesus did this awful preaching, rejected it as an insult, and killed Him for what they regarded as insolence, and even blasphemy. O how the clergy and ruling elders are this day straining out gnats and swallowing down camels I If you are all right on the gnat question  i. e., little Church duties  you can be an acceptable member or preacher though you have a devil in you as big as a camel. You see. here the gnat represents the little items of practical obedience to the moral and ritual law, like tithing everything, Small as well as great; while the camel represents your delinquency in the great and momentous graces of the Spirit; i. e., like justice, mercy, and faith. While our Savior says we should do all the former, so as not to swallow gnats, as they are unclean, you see how your deficiency in, the graces of the Spirit is illustrated by swallowing do the great camel, which is unclean as well as the gnat, and a thousand million times larger. Good Lord, help us to see this truth, and preach it fearlessly, like Jesus!<\/p>\n<p>Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites because you cleanse the exterior of the cup and the plate, but within they are full of extortion and impurity. Ye blind Pharisee, first purify that which is within the cup, in order that its exterior may also be pure. The holiness movement is everywhere shouting the battle-cry of a clean heart. You see that is precisely what Jesus is here preaching; i.e., inward purity. O this is the crying need of the Churches  heart holiness. They all want their members to be externally obedient, prompt, faithful, and dutiful in every ramification of Church work, interest, and enterprise. This is all right; the outside of a cup ought to be clean. But Jesus charged the Church leaders in His day with neglecting heart purity. When the people want inward purity, you can not preach entire sanctification too forcefully to suit them. Here the Savior commands them to purify the interior, assuring them that in that case the outside would also be clean. The interior is your immortal spirit, the eternal self, that must live with God in heaven forever or with demons in the regions of woe. Hence, when the immortal spirit is clean, the exterior always falls in line, and everything is right.<\/p>\n<p>Woe unto you. scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites because you are like whited sepulchers, which indeed appear fair without, but within they are full of dead mens bones and all impurity. It is still customary in that country of whitewash the sepulchers. You can see them a fire at way off, because they are white as snow. What a vivid illustration of a fair external profession and inward rottenness! If the leading preachers of the Jewish Church were in that awful condition, and so blind that they were utterly unconscious of it, should we not all fall on our knees before God, and ask Him for the light needed to see our heads as God sees them? I am witness that the sepulchers in that country, externally, appear most beautiful and fair, while within they are full of putrefying bodies.<\/p>\n<p>Thus you also indeed appear righteous unto the people; but within, you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. What awful preaching to the pastors and leading members of the popular Churches while looking them in the face. Yes; but the Churches at the present day are more spiritual than those to whom Jesus preached. I hope that is so; yet there is no doubt but multitudes of preachers, Church officers, and leading members, this day, stand precisely where those did. The only remedy for this awful state of things is experimental holiness; i.e., entire sanctification. The very fact that preachers and members kick against the plain truth when preached in its purity, is demonstrative proof that they. are not right.<\/p>\n<p>Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you build the tombs of the prophets, and ornament the sepulchers of the righteous; and you say, If we were in the days of our fathers, we were not their comrades in the blood of the prophets. So you witness to yourselves, that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Here Jesus turns on them the homogeneity argument; i.e., the very fact that they build the tombs, shows them up as carrying forward the work which their predecessors began, though they aim it to signify the very opposite. Multitudes of preachers and members who now honor John Wesley, close the doors against the men who preach precisely what Wesley did. The same is true of all the great Protestant Churches. John Bunyan among the Baptists, and John Knox among the Presbyterians, would this day meet a very cold reception.<\/p>\n<p>You fill up the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, generations of vipers, how can you escape from the damnation of hell? If the loving Jesus could look people in the face and thus preach, we need not be afraid of using language too strong, if we are sure we are telling the truth. Of course, we can not read their hearts as He did; but the Holy Ghost can, and He will apply the truth Where it belongs.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, wise men, and scribes; some of them you will slay and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city. This awful prophecy was literally verified. Soon afterward those same people murdered Stephen and many others in the bloody persecution which followed, doing their utmost to exterminate the Nazarenes in blood. In order that all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, the son of the blessed, may come upon you. The very fact that those people, who, in less than forty-eight hours after that awful sermon, actually killed Him, and subsequently put Stephen and many others to death, showed them up in the same line with their bloody predecessors, and consequently particeps criminis.<\/p>\n<p>But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; a hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house. Now, after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them but they would not give ear. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood before the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye can not prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, He hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it,. and require it. (2Ch 24:15-21)<\/p>\n<p>King Joash was only seven years old when he began to reign, his life having been preserved from the cruel Athaliah, who had murdered all of his brothers; and through the kindness of Jehoiada the priest, he reigned and did well during the lifetime of Jehoiada, his foster-father. But, as you see, after the death of Jehoiada, he was led into idolatry by the princes of Judah, and when God put the spirit of prophecy on Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, so that he boldly told them the truth, the king encouraged an evil conspiracy against him, and they stoned him to death, as Jesus here says, between the temple and the altar; i. e., the brazen altar for burnt offerings, which stood outside of the temple. While this prophet of God was dying, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it; i.e., he turned over the case to the Lord. Barachias, in E. V., a proper name, is evidently a mistake, as Zacharias was not the son of a man by that name, but the son of Jehoiada the priest. The plain solution of the matter is, Barachias is a Hebrew word, and simply means the blessed. Therefore I translate it, Zacharias, the son of the blessed,  an epithet of Jehoiada. That bloody scene took place right there on the spot where they were standing when Jesus referred to it.<\/p>\n<p>Truly I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation; i.e., the awful Divine retribution for the martyrdoms of Gods prophets and saints, from Abel down, was coming on that generation, because God had sent them all to prepare the people for His Son; and now that He has come, they are rejecting Him, and going to kill Him, thus climaxing all the murders of their predecessors.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: William Godbey&#8217;s Commentary on the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>This verse &quot;passes from their ostentatious manners to their corrupt morals.&quot;<span style=\"color:#808080\"> [Note: Hiebert, p. 310.] <\/span> Teachers of the law did not receive an income from the state; they depended on voluntary contributions.<span style=\"color:#808080\"> [Note: Wessel, p. 740.] <\/span> This led some of them to prey on the sympathy of others, even widows who needed all their income simply to survive. This reference sets the stage for the next incident (Mar 12:41-44).<\/p>\n<p>Their typically long prayers presented an impression of piety that masked greed. They pretended to love God greatly, but their aim was to get people to love them greatly. The result would be greater condemnation when they stood before God&rsquo;s judgment bar. Here is another indication that there are degrees of punishment (cf. Mat 11:20-24; Jas 3:1; et al.).<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which devour widows&#8217; houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. 40. devour widows&rsquo; houses ] as guardians and administrators of their property greater damnation ] &ldquo;pei taken longe dom,&rdquo; Wyclif. The word denotes &ldquo;judgment,&rdquo; &ldquo;punishment.&rdquo; The verb from which it comes denotes &ldquo;to judge,&rdquo; pass sentence, condemn. In 1Co &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-mark-1240\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 12:40&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}