Matthew 23:13-33
We have in these verses the charges of our Lord against the Jewish teachers, ranged under eight heads. Standing in the midst of the temple, with a listening crowd around him, He publicly denounces the main errors of the scribes and the Pharisees, in unsparing terms. Eight times He uses the solemn expression, “Woe unto you;” seven times He calls them “hypocrites;” twice He speaks of them as “blind guides” — twice as “fools and blind” —once as “serpents! And a generation of vipers!” Let us mark that language well. It teaches a solemn lesson. It shows how utterly abominable the spirit of the scribes and the Pharisees is in God’s sight, in whatever form it may be found.
Let us glance shortly at the eight charges which our Lord brings forward, and then seek to draw from the whole passage some general instruction.