Luke 11:42

But woe unto you Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God; but these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you Pharisees! for ye love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces. Woe unto you! for ye are as the tombs which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not.

THREE "WOES" AGAINST THE PHARISEES

Although suggestive of the longer list of "woes" recorded in Matthew 23, this is a different list, spoken on another occasion, and under different circumstances. The trouble with the Pharisees, as revealed in both places, however, seems to have been of one kind. They were specialists in trifles and externals. Their whole concept of religion had degenerated into a gross, unspiritual preoccupation with outward forms and ceremonies, while neglecting utterly the great moral verities of true religion. Their tithing of garden herbs, even to the extent of counting tiny seeds and weighing mint leaves, and their multiplying man-made sabbath rules past the boundaries of all reason - all such things had destroyed the spiritual life of the nation. Volumes have been written regarding their silly sabbath rules, but Barclay has one of the most notable examples, thus:

One of the forbidden works on the Sabbath was the tying of knots, such as sailors' and camel drivers' knots, and knots in ropes; but a woman might tie a knot in her girdle. Therefore, if a bucket of water had to be raised from a well, a rope could not be knotted to it; but a woman's girdle could, and it could be raised by that![42]

These ought ye to have done ... applies to justice and love of God; and "not to leave the other undone" applies to tithing, an act for which Jesus commends them. It was their stress of that to the neglect of more important duties which was wrong.

Ye love the chief seats ... These were "seats at the front of the synagogue, around the pulpit, or lectern, and faced the congregation."[43] What men love determines their destiny; and, as it was brought out so forcefully in the Gospel of John (John 12:43), it was the love of the Pharisees for the glory which they received of themselves which blinded their eyes to the Christ of glory. The desire for pre-eminence among men, the coveting of honors bestowed by men, the popularity awarded by men - such things still snare and entrap the unwary soul; and the damage can be no less appalling than that which ruined the Pharisees; and yet how reluctantly men forego such things. A commentator whom we shall not name said, "Of course, it is not wrong to sit in the chief seats; it is only wrong to LOVE such things!"

Tombs which appear not ... In Numbers 19:16, the rule appears which makes every person who touches a grave unclean for a week, that is, ceremonially unclean. Jesus here compared the Pharisees to an unmarked grave which could cause a man to become unclean inadvertently. In a similar manner, but far more seriously, the people who were following the Pharisees, who supposedly were righteous, could be spiritually contaminated through contact with those evil enemies of Jesus. The lawyers were close associates with the Pharisees; and when they saw the drift of Jesus' teachings, it suddenly appeared to them that they, the lawyers, were being condemned, no less than the Pharisees. Up to that point, the lawyers had apparently been enjoying the strong preaching of Jesus against the Pharisees, whose conduct, actually, was the scandal of the whole nation. Pricked in conscience at last, a lawyer responded.

[42] William Barclay, op. cit., p 161

[43] H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 307.