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be dear to God. And when Alexandra obtained the government, (Jewish war, b. i. ch. 4.) they insinuated themselves into her favour, as being the exactest sect of the Jews, and the most exact interpreters of the Law, and abusing her simplicity, did as they listed, remove and dispose, bind and loose, and even cut off men. They were in vogue for their long prayers, which they continued sometimes three hours; that perhaps they sold them, as do the Roman priests their masses, or pretended others should be more acceptable to God for them; and so might spoil devout widows by the gifts or salaries they expected from them. Now, this being only a hypocritical pretence of piety, must be hateful to God, and so deserve a greater condemnation."

Long prayer] For proofs of long prayers and vain repetitions | among Jews, Mohammedans, and Heathens, see the notes on chap.

vi. 7.

Verse 13. Ye shut up the kingdom] As a key by opening a lock gives entrance into a house, &c. so knowledge of the sacred testimonies, manifested in expounding them to the people, may be said to open the way into the kingdom of heaven. But where men who are termed teachers are destitute of this knowledge themselves, they may be said to shut this kingdom; because they occupy the place of those who should teach, and thus prevent the people from acquiring heavenly knowledge.

In ancient times the Rabbins carried a key, which was the symbol or emblem of knowledge. Hence it is written in Semachoth, ch. viii. "When Rab. Samuel the little died, his key and his tablets were hung on his tomb, because he died childless." See Schoetgen.

The kingdom of heaven here means the Gospel of Christ; the Pharisees would not receive it themselves, and hindered the common people as far as they could.

Verse 15. Compass sea and land] A proverbial expression, similar to ours, You leave no stone unturned; intimating that they did all in their power to gain converts, not to God, but

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to their sect. These we may suppose were principally sought for among the Gentiles, for the bulk of the Jewish nation was already on the side of the Pharisees.

Proselyte] Пgonλutos, a stranger, or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country, to sojourn with another. See the different kinds of proselytes explained in the note on Exod. xii. 43.

The child of hell] A Hebraism for an excessively wicked person, such as might claim hell for his mother, and the Devil for his father.

Two-fold-the child of] The Greek word dhotigov, which has generally been translated twofold, KYPKE has demonstrated to mean more deceitful. Aλous is used by the best Greek writers for simple, sincere, azλórn; for simplicity, sincerity; so Sous, deceitful, dissembling, and drain, hypocri y, fraudu lence, and Shoregor, more fraudulent, more deceitful, more hypocritical. See also Suidas in Aizñor.

Dr. Lightfoot, and others observe, that the proselytes were considered by the Jewish nation, as the scabs of the Church, and hindered the coming of the Messiah; and Justin Martyr observes, that " the proselytes did not only disbelieve Christ's doctrine, but were abundantly more blasphemous against him than the Jews themselves, endeavouring to torment and cut off the Christians wherever they could; they being in this, the instruments of the Scribes and Pharisees."

Verse 16. Whosoever shall swear by the gold] The covetous man, says one, still gives preference to the object of his lust; gold has still the first place in his heart. A man is to be suspected when he recommends those good works most, froin which he receives most advantage.

Is bound thereby, i. e. to fulfill his oath.

Verse 20. Whoso-shall swear by the altar] As an oath always supposes a person who witnesses it, and will punish perjury; therefore whether they swore by the temple, or the gold, (ver. 16.) or by the altar, or the gift laid on it, (ver. 18.) the oath necessarily supposed the God of the temple—of the

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23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hy-. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, pocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and swallow a camel.

ch. 5. 34.

1 Sam. 15. 22. Hos. 6. 6. Mic. 6. 8. ch. 9. 13. & 12.7.

1 Kings 8. 13. 2 Chron. 6. 2. Ps. 26. 8. & 132. 14.
Ps. 11. 4. Acts 7. 49. Luke 11. 42.a Gr. åveber, dill.

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altar and of the gifts who witnessed the oaths, and would But all this was common swearing; and whether the subject even in their exempt cases, punish the perjury.

Verse 21. Whoso shall swear by the temple] Perhaps it is to this custom of swearing by the temple, that Martial alludes, lib. xi. epist. 95.

Ecce negas, jurasque mihi per templa Tonantis;
Non credo: jura, Verpe, per Anchialum.

was true or false, the oath was unlawful. A common swearer is worthy of no credit, when, even in the most solemn manner, he takes an oath before a magistrate he is so accustomed to stake his truth, perhaps even his soul, to things whether true or false, that an oath cannot bind him and indeed is as little respected by himself, as it is by his neighbour. * Behold, thou deniest and swearest to me by the temples of Common swearing and the shocking frequency and multiplication of oaths in civil cases, have destroyed all respect for Jupiter; I will not credit thee: swear, O Jew, by the temple of Jehovah." This word probably comes from an oath; so that men seldom feel themselves bound by it; heical Yah, the temple of Jehovah. This seems a better deriv-and thus it is useless in many cases to require it as a confirmation thann im chai Elohim, as God liveth, ation, in order to end strife or ascertain truth. See the note though the sound of the latter is nearer to the Latin. on chap. v. 37.

By him that dwelleth therein.] The common reading is Verse 23. Ye pay tithe of mint, &c.] They were rex&TOIKOUTI, dwelleth or INHABITETH, but xarxa, dwelt markably scrupulous in the performance of all the rites and or DID inhabit, is the reading of CDEFGHKLM. eighty-ceremonies of religion, but totally neglected the soul, spirit, sir others this reading has been adopted in the editions of and practice of godliness. Complutum, Colineus, Bengel, and Griesbach. The import-all mankind. Mercy-to the distressed and miserable. And Judgment] Acting according to justice and equity, towards ance of this reading may be perceived by the following con

faith in God, as the fountain of all righteousness, mercy, and truth. The Scribes and Pharisees neither begun nor ended their works in God; nor had they any respect unto his name in doing them. They did them to be seen of men, and they had their reward-human applause.

siderations. In the first Jewish temple, God had graciously condescended to manifest himself-he is constantly represented as dwelling between the cherubim, the two figures that stood at each end of the ark of the covenant; between whom, on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark, a splendor or glory was exhibited, which was the symbol and proof of the divine These ought ye to have done, &c.] Our Lord did not object presence. This the Jews called nr Shekinah, the habitation to their paying tithe even of common pot-herbs-this did not of Jehovah. Now the Jews unanimously acknowledge that affect the spirit of religion: but while they did this and such fire things were wanting in the second temple, which were like to the utter neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, they found in the first, viz. 1. the ark; 2. the holy spirit of pro-shewed that they had no religion, and knew nothing of its phecy; 3. the Urim and Thummim; 4. the sacred fire; and 5. the Shekinah. As the Lord had long before this time abandoned the Jewish temple, and had now made the human nature of Jesus the Shekinah, (see John i. 14. the Logos was made flesh, tσnywσ, and made his tabernacle-translation, Ye strain AT a gnat, conveys no sense. Indeed made the Shekinah-among us) our Lord could not, with any propriety, say that the Supreme Being did now inhabit the temple; and therefore used a word that hinted to them that || God had forsaken their temple, and consequently the whole of that service which was performed in it; and had now opened the new and living way to the holiest by the Messiah.

nature.

Verse 24. Blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.] This clause should be thus translated, Ye strain out the gnat, but ye swallow down the camel. In the common

it is likely to have been at first an error of the press, AT for OUT, which, on examination, I find escaped in the edition of 1611; and has been regularly continued since. There is now before me, "The newe Testament, (both in Englyshe and in Laten) of Mayster Erasmus translacion, imprynted by Wyllyam Powell, dwellynge in Flete strete: the yere of our

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The hypocrisy, superstition, and cruelly Sr. MATTHEW.

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25 Woe unto you, scribes and PhaAn. Olymp. risees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

* Mark 7. 4. Luke 11. 89. Luke 11. 44. Acts 23. 3.

of the Scribes and Pharisees,

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28 Even so ye also outwardly appear A.M. 4033, righteous unto men, but within ye are An. Olymp. full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

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29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

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Lorde M.CCCCC.XLVII. the fyrste yere of the kynges (Edwd. VI) moste gracious reygne:" in which the verse stands thus: Ye blinde gides, which struyne out a gnat, and swalowe a cammel. It is the same also in Edmund Becke's Bible, printed in London 1549, and in several others.-Cin fynge a gnattz.-MS. Eng Bib. so Wickliff.

what will this appearance avail, a man, when God sits in judgment upon his soul! Will the fair reputation which he had acquired among men while his heart was the seat of unrighteousness, screen him from the stroke of that justice, which impartially sends all impurity and unholiness into the pit of destruction? No. In the sin that he hath sinned, Verse 25. Ye make clean the outside] The Pharisees were and in which he hath died, and according to that, shall he be exceedingly exact in observing all the washings and purifica-judged and punished; and his profession of holiness only tends tions prescribed by the law; but paid no attention to that in- to sink him deeper into the lake which burns with unquenchward purity which was typified by them. A man may ap-able fire. Reader! see that thy heart be right with God.. pear clean without, who is unclean within: but outward puvity will not avail in the sight of God, where inward holiness is wanting.

Extortion and excess.] 'Agñayns xas angaosas, rapine and intemperance: but instead of axgaosas, intemperance, many of the very best MSS. CEFGHKS. and more than a hundred others, the Syriac, Arabic, Æthiopic, Slavonic, with Chrysostom, Euthym. and Theophylact, have adas, injustice, which Griesbach has admitted into the text instead of ακρασίας. The latter Syriac has both. Several MSS. and versions have anadaçosas, uncleanness: others have λovias, covetousness: soine have Tongias, wickedness; and two of the ancients have iniquitate, iniquity. Suppose we put them all together, the character of the Pharisee will not be overcharged. They were full of rapine and intemperance, injustice and uncleanness, covetousness, wickedness, and iniquity.

Verse 27. For ye are like] Пagoposalεre, ye exactly resem ble-the parallel is complete.

Whited sepulchres] White-washed tombs. As the law considered those unclean who had touched any thing belonging

Verse 29. Ye build the tombs of the prophets] It appears, that through respect to their memory, they often repaired, and sometimes beautified the tombs of the prophets. M. De la Vallé, in his journey to the Holy Land, says, that when he visited the cave of Machpeluk, he saw some Jews honouring a sepulchre, for which they have a great veneration, with lighting at it wax candles, and burning perfumes. See Harmer, vol. iii. p. 416. And in ditto, p. 424, we are informed that building tombs over those reputed saints, or beautifying those already built, is a frequent custom among the Mohammedans.

Verse 30. We would not have been partakers] They imagined themselves much better than their ancestors; but our Lord, who knew what they would do, uncovers their hearts, and shews them that they are about to be more abundantly vile than all who had ever preceded them.

Verse 31. Ye be witnesses] Ye acknowledge that ye are the children of those murderers, and ye are about to give full proof that ye are not degenerated.

There are many who think, that had they lived in the time to the dead, the Jews took care to have their tombs white-of our Lord, they would not have acted towards him as the washed cach year, that being easily discovered, they might Jews did. But we can scarcely believe, that they who reject be consequently avoided. his gospel, trample under foot his precepts, do despite to the

Verse 28. Even so ye also-appear righteous unto men] But Spirit of his grace, love sin, and hate his followers, would

The judgments of God

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Fill ye up then the measure of of them ye shall kill and crucify; and A. M. 4033. An. Op your fathers. some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

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33 Ye serpents, yegeneration of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34 ¶ 'Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some

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35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of

ch. 21. 34, 35.

Ch. 10. 17.

Gen. 15. 16. 1 Thess. 2. 16.- — ch. 3. 7. & 12. 34.
Luke 11. 49. Acts 5. 40. & 7. 58, 59. & 22. 19.

Cor. 11. 24, 25.-f Rev. 18. 24.
3. 12.- 2 Chron. 24. 20, 21.

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Gen. 4. 8. 1 John

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Verse 32. Fill ye up then] Notwithstanding the profession you make, ye will fill up the measure of your fathers—will Verse 34. Wherefore] To shew how my prediction, Ye will continue to walk in their way, accomplish the fulness of every fill up the measure of your fathers, shall be verified, Behold, I send evil purpose by murdering me; and then, when the measure (I am just going to commission them) prophets, &c. and some of your iniquity is full, vengeance shall come upon you to ye will kill, (with legal process) and some ye will crucify, the uttermost, as it did on your rebellious ancestors. The pretend to try and find guilty, and deliver them into the 31st verse should be read in a parenthesis, and then the 32d hands of the Romans, who shall, through you, thus put them will appear to be what it is, an inference from the 30th. to death. See on Luke xi. 49. By prophets, wise men, and Ye will fill up, or, fill ye up-newoare but it is manifest Scribes, our Lord intends the evangelists, apostles, deacons, that the imperative is put here for the future, a thing quite &e. who should be employed in proclaiming his gospel men consistent with the Hebrew idiom, and frequent in the Scrip- who should equal the ancient prophets, their wise men, and tures. So John ii. 19. Destroy this temple, &c. i. e. Ye will de- Scribes, in all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. stroy or pull down this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days-Ye will crucify me, and I will rise again the third day. Two good MSS. have the word in the future tense: and my old MS. bible has it in the present-Out (ye) fulfillen the melure of goure (your) fadris.

Verse 33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers] What a terrible stroke-Ye are serpents, and the offspring of serpents. This refers to ver. 31. they confessed that they were the children of those who murdered the prophets; and they are now going to murder Christ and his followers, to shew that they have not degenerated-an accursed seed, of an accursed breed. My old MS. translates this place oddly-Out serpentis, fruytis of burrownyugis of edoris that sleen her modris. There seems to be here an allusion to a common opinion, that the young of the adder or viper which are brought forth alive, eat their way through the womb of their mothers. Hence that ancient ænigma attributed to LACTANTIUS:

Non possum nasci, si non occidero matrem.
Occidi matrem: sed me manct exitus idem.
Id mea mors faciet, quod jam mea fecit origo.
Cal. Firm. Symposium, N. xv.

I never can be born, nor see the day
'Till through my parent's womb I eat my way.
Her I have slain; like her must yield my breath,
For that which gave me life, shall cause my death.

Verse 35. Upon the earth] Eь τns yns, upon this land, meaning probably the land of Judea; for thus the word is often to be understood. The national punishment of all the innocent blood which had been shed in the land, shall speedily come upon you; from the blood of Abel the just, the first prophet and preacher of righteousness, Heb. xi. 4. 2 Pet. ii. 5. to the blood of Zachariah, the son of Baruchiah. It is likely that our Lord refers to the murder of Zachariah, mentioned 2 Chron. xxiv. 20. who said to the people, Why transgress ye the commandments of God, so that ye cannot prosper'? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he hath forsaken you. And they conspired against him and stoned him—at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the Lord. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon and require it: ver. 21,

22.

But it is objected, that this Zachariah was called the son of Jehoiada, and our Lord calls this one the son of Baruchiah. Let it be observed, 1. That double names were frequent among the Jews, and sometimes the person was called by one, sometimes by the other. Compare 1 Sam. ix. 1. with 1 Chron. viii. 33. where it appears that the father of Kish had two names, Abiel and Ner. So Matthew is called Levi, compare Matt. ix. 9. with Mark ii. 14. So Peter was also called Simon, and Lebbeus was called Thaddeus, Matt. x. 2, 3.

2. That Jerom says, that in the gospel of the Nazarenes; it was Jehoiada, instead of Barachiah.

Pathetic lamentation

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A. 10. Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye|| 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
An. Olymp. slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these
things shall come upon this generation.

CCI. 1.

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killest the prophets, and stonest them
which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together,

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Luke 13. 31. 2 Chron. 24. 21.

Deut. 32. 11, 12. 2 Esdr. 1. 30.

3. That Jehoiada and Barachiah have the very same meaning, the praise or blessing of Jehovah.

4. That as the Lord required the blood of Zachariah so fully, that in a year all the princes of Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Syrians, and Joash, who commanded the murder, slain by his own servants, 2 Chron. xxiv. 23–25. and their state grew worse and worse, till at last the temple was burned, and the people carried into captivity by Nebuzaradan :-so it should be with the present race. The Lord would, after the crucifixion of Christ, visit upon them the murder of all those righteous men, that their state should grow worse and worse, till at last the temple should be destroyed, and they finally ruined by the Romans. See this prediction in the next chapter: and see Dr. Whitby concerning Zachariah, the son of Barachiah.

Some think that our Lord refers, in the spirit of prophecy, to the murder of Zacharias, son of Baruch, a rich Jew, who was judged, condemned, and massacred in the temple by the Idumean zealots, because he was rich, a lover of liberty, and a hater of wickedness. They gave him a mock trial, and when no evidence could be brought against him, of his being guilty of the crime they laid to his charge, viz. a design to betray the city to the Roinans, and his judges had pronounced him innocent, two of the stoutest of the zealots fell upon him and slew him in the middle of the temple. See Josephus, wAR, b. iv. chap. v. s. 5. See Crevier, vol. vi. p. 172. History of the Roman Emperors. Others imagine, that Zachariah, one of the minor prophets, is meant, who might have been massacred by the Jews: for, though the account is not come down to us, our Lord might have it from a well known tradition in those times. But the former opinion is every way the most probable.

Between the temple and the altar.] That is, between the sanctuary and the altar of burnt-offerings.

Verse 36. Shull come upon this generation.] ETI TAY YEVERY Tavτn, upon this race of men, viz. the Jews. This phrase often occurs in this sense, in the evangelists.

therefore wrath, i. e. punishment, came upon them to the uttermost. From this it is evident, that there have been persons whom Christ wished to save, and bled to save, who notwithstanding perished, because they would not come unto him, John v. 40. The metaphor which our Lord uses here is a very beautiful one. When the ben sees a bird of prey coming, she makes a noise to assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her wings from the danger. The Roman eagle is about to fall upon the Jewish state-nothing can prevent this but their conversion to God through Christ—Jesus cries throughout the land, publishing the gospel of reconciliation-they would not assemble, and the Roman eagle came and destroyed them. The hen's affection to her brood is so very strong as to become proverbial. The following beautiful Greek epigram taken from the Anthologia, affords a very fineillustration of this text.

Χειμερίαις νιφάδεσσι παλυνόμενα τίθως όρνις:

Τεκνοις ευναίας αμφέχει πτερυγας,
Μεσφα μιν ουρανιον κρυος ώλεσεν η γας εμεινεν
Αιθερος ουρανίων αντιπαλος νεφέων.
Πρόκνη και Μέδεια, κατ' αίδος αιδέσθητε,
Μητέρες, ορνίθων εργα διδασκόμεναι. .

Anthol. lib. i. Tit. lxxxvii. edit. Bosch. p. 344.
Beneath her fostering wing the HEN defends
Her darling offspring, while the snow descends;
Throughout the winter's day unmov'd defies
The chilling fleeces and inclement skies;
Till vanquish'd by the cold and piercing blast,
True to her charge, she perishes at last!

.

O Fame! to hell this fowl's affection bear; Tell it to Progné and Medea there :To mothers such as those, the tale unfold, And let them blush to hear the story told-! T. Green. This epigram contains a happy illustration not only of our Lord's simile, but also of his own conduct. How long had these thankless and unholy people been the objects of his tenVerse 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem] 1. It is evident that derest cares! For more than 2000 years, they engrossed the our blessed Lord seriously and earnestly wished the salvation most peculiar regards of the most beneficent Providence; and of the Jews. 2. That he did every thing that could be done during the three years of our Lord's public ministry, his consistently with his own perfectious, and the liberty of his preaching and miracles had but one object and aim, the increatures to effect this. 3. That his tears over the city, Lukestruction and salvation of this thoughtless and disobedient xix. 41. sufficiently evince his sincerity. 4. That these per-people. For their sakes, he who was rich became poor, that sons nevertheless perished. And 5. That the reason was, they through his poverty might be rich :--for their sakes, he they would not be gathered together under his protection: made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form 4

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