Matthew 23:14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Matthew 23:13-33

In these verses we have eight woes levelled directly against the scribes and Pharisees by our Lord Jesus Christ, like so many claps of thunder, or flashes of lightning, from mount Sinai. Three woes are made to look very dreadful (Rev. 8:13; 9:12); but here are eight woes, in opposition to the eight beatitudes, Matt. 5:3. The gospel has its woes as well as the law, and gospel curses are of all curses the heaviest. These woes are the more remarkable, not only because of the authority, but... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 23:1-39

If a man is characteristically and temperamentally an irritable, ill-tempered and irascible creature, notoriously given to uncontrolled outbursts of passionate anger, his anger is neither effective nor impressive. Nobody pays any attention to the anger of a bad-tempered man. But when a person who is characteristically meek and lowly, gentle and loving, suddenly erupts into blazing wrath, even the most thoughtless person is shocked into taking thought. That is why the anger of Jesus is so... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 23:14

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ,.... The same character is given as before, and the same woe denounced, and a fresh reason given of it: for ye devour widows' houses ; that is, the goods in the houses of such as were left with fatherless children, and but little to support them; who being left alone, and none to advise them, and being weak, and prone to superstition; these greedy dogs, as Isaiah calls them, who could never have enough, easily imposed upon them, wormed... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:13-14

Wo unto you, scribes - I think the fourteenth and thirteenth verses should be transposed. This transposition is authorized by some of the best MSS., versions, and fathers. The fourteenth is wanting in the BDL., and in many others of inferior note, as well as in several of the versions. Griesbach has left it out of the text, in his first edition; I hesitated, and left it in, thus transposed. I am happy to find that a more extensive collation of MSS., etc., afforded proof to that eminent... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:14

Ye devour widows' houses - On this subject I am in possession of nothing better than the following note of Dr. Whitby. "This sect," says Josephus, (Ant. l. xvii. chap. 3), "pretended to a more exact knowledge of the law, on which account the women were subject to them, as pretending to be dear to God. And when Alexandra obtained the government, (Jewish War, b. I. ch. 4), they insinuated themselves into her favor, as being the exactest sect of the Jews, and the most exact interpreters of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:14

Verse 14 14.For you devour widows’ houses. He now proceeds farther, for he not only accuses them of open crimes which demand hatred and detestation, but even tears away the disguises of virtues, by which they deceived the common people. If it be objected, that there was no need of reproving those things which could do no harm by their example, we ought to recollect that it was impossible to promote the salvation of those who were held bound by the errors of the scribes, unless they turned away... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:1-39

Denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, and lamentation over Jerusalem which followed their guidance to her own destruction. (Peculiar to St. Matthew.) read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:2-33

Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees first appear under this name in Jewish history about the year B.C. 160. There had been Separatists, or Puritans, as far back as the Captivity, but it was alter the return to Palestine that events gave an impulse to the Separatist idea so strong as to consolidate what might otherwise have remained a tendency. The Jews had learned the value of commerce, and it was found impossible, in dealing with foreign merchants, to observe the minute regulations... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:13-15

The credit of the Church. The Church of God is a unity throughout the ages. It is more proper to speak of the Christian dispensation of the Church than of the Christian Church as opposed to the Jewish. This unity exists, not only through the ages, but also throughout the universe. While its headquarters are in heaven, there has ever been a visible representation upon the earth. This is sometimes called "the Church;" in the Gospels it is distinguished as "the kingdom of heaven." In this sense... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:13-31

Condemnation of their hypocrisy. I. THE EIGHT WOES . 1 . The first. The reiterated "Woe unto you!" is an expression of holy indignation. Christ, the righteous Judge, denounces the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He knew the hardness, the impenitence of their hearts, and in his awful justice he pronounces their condemnation. Yet those very woes are also utterances of holy sorrow. The word is thrice rendered "alas!" in Revelation 18:1-24 . (see also Matthew 24:19 ). The Lord... read more

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