Thou reproachest us - He alone who searches the heart could unmask these hypocrites; and he did it so effectually that their own consciences acknowledged the guilt, and re-echoed their own reproach. read more
Ye lade men with burdens - By insisting on the observance of the traditions of the elders, to which it appears, by the way, they paid no great attention themselves. See on Matthew 23:4 ; (note). read more
Piety out of perspective. We have seen pictures in which no regard whatever has been paid to the laws of perspective, and in which, as the consequence, the mountain has appeared as small as the men, the men as large as the mountain. These have been objects of amusement, but not of admiration. Unfortunately, there was nothing either amusing or admirable in these practical pictures of piety which the Pharisees were drawing, wholly out of perspective, in the time of our Lord. In them were— ... read more
In the Pharisee ' s house. The Lord ' s stern denunciation of the Pharisee teaching and life. The day was not far advanced, and the Master was probably weary and faint after the long and exciting discussion just related; taking advantage, probably, of this evident weariness, some of the Pharisee emissaries from the capital, to whose presence we have before alluded, suggested to one of their friends, who had a residence in the town where the events just related had taken place, that he... read more
Pharisaism and legalism rebuked. Our Lord, who was eminently social in his habits, accepts an invitation to dine with one of the Pharisees, and meets many Pharisees and lawyers there as guests. Such scenes were, to his pure and philanthropic mind, important opportunities, and as such he entered upon them. In this case he breaks ground at once by deliberately neglecting the usual preliminary ablutions. This was through no slovenliness in his personal habits, we may be sure; for if... read more
But woe unto you, Pharisees: for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Probably the primitive Law of Moses , which directed that a tenth of every income in Israel should be given up to the service of the invisible King alone, referred to such important products as corn, and wine, and oil, and the like; but the present elaboration of the Law and the Pharisee schools had... read more
Ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues . These seats were in a semicircle round the pulpit or lectern of the reader; they faced the congregation. And greetings in the markets . The love of these Jews in the time of our Lord for exaggerated titles of respect and honor is well known. read more
Ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them . Here and in St. Matthew the same imagery was present in the great Teacher's mind—the whitewashed tombs of a cemetery. But in the report of St. Matthew the Master's picture drew a sharp contrast between the fair outward appearance of the clean white tomb, and the decaying, loathsome mass of what represented poor humanity within! When Jesus spoke the saying related by St. Luke here, the imagery was still... read more
Then answered one of the lawyers Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also . It did not follow that all these professed jurists were of the Pharisee sect; some, doubtless, were Sadducees. It seems, however, probable that the greater proportion of these professional teachers and expounders of the Law did belong to the Pharisees. The oral and written Law, based upon the comparatively simple Mosaic code, had now become the absolute guide and director of the whole life of the people in all... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 11:44
Ye are as graves which appear not - In Matthew 23:27 , our Lord tells them that they exactly resembled white-washed tombs: they had no fairness but on the outside: (see the note there) but here he says they are like hidden tombs, graves which were not distinguished by any outward decorations, and were not elevated above the ground, so that those who walked over them did not consider what corruption was within; so they, under the veil of hypocrisy, covered their iniquities, so that those... read more