1679. Robbing Widows' Houses

Robbing Widows' Houses

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses" (Mat_23:14).

The Pharisees were not half so good as they appeared. They could pray long prayers, but their prayers were a cloak to cover their evil practices.

No wonder the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy" (Luk_12:1).

We are reminded of how Saul said unto Samuel:

"Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord" (1Sa_15:13).

Samuel, however, said:

"What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" (1Sa_15:14).

Saul was an adept at deception; he said unto Samuel:

"The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord, thy God" (1Sa_15:15).

Samuel then reminded Saul of how the Lord had made him head over the tribes of Israel, and had anointed him king; of how the Lord had told him to go and destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and he had disobeyed the voice of God:

"And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1Sa_15:22).

When the Pharisees sought to cover their trickery with their prayers, the Lord God exposed their hypocrisy.

Let us beware. Many are saying: "We are rich and have need of nothing," even while the Lord is standing outside the door. He will say: "Thou art miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."

Men who make their boast in God, professing to know His will, and to instruct out of His Law; men who profess to be a guide to the blind and a light to them who are in darkness; an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, must beware! When they teach another they teach themselves.

If they say that a man should not commit adultery, they must not commit it.

If they teach that men should abhor idols, they must not rob temples.

If they make their boast in the Law, through the breaking of the Law they must not dishonor God.

God pity the men who pray with their lips, and then rob widow's houses.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR