Matthew 23:6 | 1745
22:29 h Jn 20:9 22:30 i Mt 24:38
22:32 j Ex 3:6; Ac 7:32 22:33 k Mt 7:28
22:34 l Ac 4:1
22:35 m Lk 7:30; 10:25; 11:45; 14:3
22:37 n Dt 6:5
22:39 o Lev 19:18; Mt 5:43; 19:19;
Gal 5:14
22:40 p Mt 7:12 22:42 q Mt 9:27
22:44 r Ps 110:1; Ac 2:34, 35; 1Co 15:25;
Heb 1:13; 10:13
22:46 s Mk 12:34; Lk 20:40
23:2 t Ezr 7:6, 25; Ne 8:4
23:4 u Lk 11:46; Ac 15:10; Gal 6:13
23:5 v Mt 6:1, 2, 5, 16 w Ex 13:9; Dt 6:8
x Nu 15:38; Dt 22:12
29 Jesus re plied,“ You are in er ror be cause you do not know the Scrip tures h or the power of God. 30 At the res ur rec tion peo ple will nei ther marry nor be given in mar riage; i they will be like the an gels in heaven. 31 But about the res ur rec tion of the dead— have you not read what God said to you, 32‘ I am the God of Abra ham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Ja cob’ a? j He is not the God of the dead but of the liv ing.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were as ton ished at his teach ing. k
The Greatest Commandment
22:34-40pp— Mk 12:28-31
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, l the Phar i sees got to gether. 35 One of them, an ex pert in the law, m tested him with this ques tion: 36“ Teacher, which is the greatest com mand ment in the Law?”
37 Jesus re plied:“‘ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ b n 38 This is the first and great est com mand ment. 39 And the sec ond is like it:‘ Love your neigh bor as your self.’ c o 40 All the Law and the Proph ets hang on these two commandments.” p
Whose Son Is the Messiah?
22:41-46pp— Mk 12:35-37; Lk 20:41-44
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42“ What do you think about the Mes siah? Whose son is he?”“ The son of Da vid,” q they replied. 43 He said to them,“ How is it then that Da vid, speak ing by the Spirit, calls him‘ Lord’?
For he says,
44“‘ The Lord said to my Lord:“ Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ d r
45 If then Da vid calls him‘ Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in re ply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more ques tions. s
22:34 – 40 The final questioner, an expert in the law, naturally asks what the most important commandment is. Jesus replies with the double love command, which encapsulates the entire Hebrew Bible(“ all the Law and the Prophets,” v. 40). Loving God with every aspect of one’ s being( Deut 6:5) and loving one’ s neighbor as oneself( Lev 19:18) forms the very core of Christian ethics. 22:41 – 46 Having silenced his opponents, Jesus now poses a question himself: Whose son is the Messiah? In Ps 110:1, David, the king and highest human authority in Israel, speaking under inspiration, declares,“ The Lord says to my lord.” The first“ Lord” is naturally God, but who else is above David, except a divine Messiah? Those who argue that the Messiah must be merely an earthly descendant of David( i. e., his son) cannot explain how David can call him his master( i. e., his“ lord”). Given Matthew’ s general interest in Jesus as the
A Warning Against Hypocrisy
23:1-7pp— Mk 12:38,39; Lk 20:45,46 23:37-39pp— Lk 13:34,35
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his dis ci ples: 2“ The teach ers of the law t and
the Phar i sees sit in Mo ses’ seat. 3 So you must be care ful to do ev ery thing they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not prac tice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cum ber some loads and put them on other peo ple’ s shoul ders, but they them selves are not will ing to lift a fin ger to move them. u
5“ Ev ery thing they do is done for peo ple to see: v They make their phy lac ter ies e w wide and the tas sels on their gar ments x long; 6 they love the place of honor at ban quets and
a 32 Exodus 3:6 b 37 Deut. 6:5 c 39 Lev. 19:18 d 44 Psalm 110:1 e 5 That is, boxes containing Scripture verses, worn on forehead and arm
Son of David, this passage is very important, drawing attention to the fact that Jesus is someone greater than David.
23:1— 25:46 Woes and Warnings. The fifth and final extended discourse of Jesus in Matthew( see also chs. 6 – 7; 10:5 – 42; 13:1 – 52; ch. 18) divides into two parts: Jesus’ woes against the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem( 23:1 – 39) and his warnings to the disciples about the destruction of the temple and his second coming( 24:1— 25:46) 23:1 – 39 Jesus pronounces woes against various religious leaders in Jerusalem. Verses 1 – 12 contrast the way Jesus’ disciples should behave with the way the teachers of the law and the Pharisees act in public. Verses 13 – 32 contain a series of seven woes against these two groups for their hypocrisy. Verses 33 – 36 bring to a climax the judgment that will fall on this generation as a result. Verses 37 – 39 lament how often Jesus wished things could be different but the people were not willing. 23:1 – 12 Jesus gives a warning against hypocrisy. His followers should exercise servant leadership rather than vie for the greatest amount of public attention. 23:2 Moses’ seat. The raised chair in certain synagogues where the rabbi would sit to deliver his sermon. 23:3 everything they tell you. Probably everything that is consistent with the Scripture read and expounded on a given Sabbath in the synagogue. do not do what they do. Do not imitate the Jewish leaders’ behavior whenever“ they do not practice what they preach.” 23:4 heavy, cumbersome loads. Probably refers to some of the oral laws that continued to grow around the written law of Moses, especially in the areas of ritual purity, Sabbathkeeping, and separation from sinners. 23:5 phylacteries. See Exod 13:9,16; Deut 6:8;