Matthew 23

D. The King’s rejection of Israel ch. 23

Israel’s rejection of Jesus as her King was now unmistakably clear. Her various groups of leaders had consistently refused to accept Him.

". . . it seems that for Matthew the Pharisees particularly exemplify all that is wrong with Jerusalem’s current leadership." [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., pp. 853-54.]

The leaders’ rejection was a rejection of Jesus’ person (Matthew 22:42). It contrasts sharply with the disciples’ confession that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God (Matthew 16:16). Consequently Jesus announced His rejection of that generation of unbelieving Israelites. Note the parallels between this situation and that of the Israelites at Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 13-14). That generation would not experience the blessing of participating in the inauguration of the promised messianic kingdom. Jesus’ strong language reflects the seriousness of their error and its dire consequences. It also reflects the conventions of ancient polemic. [Note: See L. T. Johnson, "The New Testament’s Anti-Jewish Slander and Conventions of Ancient Rhetoric," Journal of Biblical Literature 108 (1989):419-41.]

Chapter 23 contains a discourse that Jesus delivered the same day His critics assailed Him: Wednesday. However most students of Matthew’s Gospel have not regarded this discourse as one of the major ones in the book. The primary reason for this is it lacks the structural marker by which the writer highlighted the other major discourses. That marker is the characteristic discourse ending (cf. Matthew 7:28-29). Rather chapter 23 appears to be the climax of the confrontations that preceded it (Matthew 21:23 to Matthew 22:46). The content of this discourse is mainly negative and condemnatory, and its target was a specific group. That it is not part of the discourse in chapters 24 and 25 is clear because Jesus addressed different audiences.

"As Matthew began his rehearsal of Jesus’ ministry at Matthew 4:17, he depicted Jesus as becoming successively involved with three major groups, each of which functions as a character in his story: the disciples (Matthew 4:18-22); the crowds, together with the disciples (Matthew 4:25; Matthew 5:1-2); and the religious leaders (Matthew 9:2-13). As an indication that only the climax of his story (i.e., the passion of Jesus) still remains to be narrated, Matthew now depicts Jesus’ involvement with each of these same three groups as being successively terminated in a reverse order to the initial one, that is to say, in an order that is chiastic in nature. For example, by reducing the religious leaders in open debate to silence, Jesus forces their withdrawal from the scene (Matthew 22:46). With the leaders gone, Jesus publicly addresses the crowds in the temple, together with the disciples (Matthew 23:1). And leaving the temple, Jesus delivers his eschatological discourse to the disciples alone (Matthew 24:1-3). Through the use of this chiastic pattern, Matthew signals the reader that the culmination of his story is at hand." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 84.]

"The attitude attacked in this chapter is a religion of externals, a matter of ever more detailed attention to rules and regulations while failing to discern God’s priorities." [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 855.]