Matthew 23 – Woe to the Hypocrites: Jesus’ Final Rebuke of the Pharisees
Matthew 23 delivers Jesus’ strongest rebuke against the religious leaders of Israel. He exposes their hypocrisy, pride, and corruption, contrasting it with the true humility and servant-heartedness required in God’s Kingdom. This chapter serves as a warning against legalism and a call to sincere faith.
The Danger of Hypocrisy and the Call to True Righteousness
Matthew 23 is a solemn indictment against religious hypocrisy. Jesus condemns the Pharisees and scribes for placing burdens on others while failing to practice what they preach.
✔ Religious hypocrisy leads to judgment.
✔ True greatness is found in humility and service.
✔ Legalism without love distorts God’s commands.
✔ Jesus mourns over Jerusalem’s rejection of the truth.
📖 Key Verse: “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” – Matthew 23:12
🔎 True righteousness comes from a heart devoted to God, not outward appearances.
Matthew Chapter 23 - Overview
Matthew 23:1-12 – The Pharisees’ Hypocrisy Exposed
📖 Matthew 23:3-4 – “They say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”
🔎 Religious leaders demanded strict obedience from others but did not practice what they preached.
📖 Matthew 23:5 – “But all their works they do for to be seen of men.”
🔎 Their religion was performance-based, seeking human approval rather than God’s.
📖 Matthew 23:8-10 – “One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.”
🔎 Jesus rejects titles of superiority among believers, calling for humility and equality in the faith.
Matthew 23:13-36 – The Eight Woes Against the Pharisees
1️⃣ Woe #1 – Blocking Others from the Kingdom
📖 Matthew 23:13 – “For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.”
🔎 Instead of leading people to God, they misled them into legalism and self-righteousness.
2️⃣ Woe #2 – Devouring Widows’ Houses
📖 Matthew 23:14 – “Ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayer.”
🔎 They took advantage of the vulnerable while appearing religious.
3️⃣ Woe #3 – Making Converts Twice as Evil
📖 Matthew 23:15 – “Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte… ye make him twofold more the child of hell.”
🔎 Their converts became even more extreme in self-righteousness.
4️⃣ Woe #4 – Twisting the Law
📖 Matthew 23:16-22 – “Ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing.”
🔎 They manipulated laws to benefit themselves.
5️⃣ Woe #5 – Obsessing Over Minor Laws While Ignoring Justice and Mercy
📖 Matthew 23:23 – “Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law.”
🔎 They focused on religious rituals while neglecting love, justice, and mercy.
6️⃣ Woe #6 – Outward Cleanliness, Inward Corruption
📖 Matthew 23:25-26 – “Ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”
🔎 They cared about appearing holy but were corrupt within.
7️⃣ Woe #7 – Whitewashed Tombs
📖 Matthew 23:27-28 – “Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones.”
🔎 They looked righteous but were spiritually dead.
8️⃣ Woe #8 – Murdering God’s Messengers
📖 Matthew 23:29-36 – “Ye build the tombs of the prophets… ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.”
🔎 They pretended to honor past prophets while rejecting God’s truth.
Matthew 23:37-39 – Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem
📖 Matthew 23:37 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
🔎 Jesus expresses deep sorrow over Israel’s rejection of Him.
📖 Matthew 23:39 – “Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
🔎 A future day will come when Israel recognizes Jesus as Messiah.
Matthew Chapter 23 - Deeper Study
Overview: The Danger of False Religion
🔹 Timeframe: Jesus’ final public teaching before His crucifixion.
🔹 Setting: The temple in Jerusalem, with a crowd including religious leaders.
🔹 Theme: Condemnation of hypocrisy and a call to true righteousness.
Key Takeaways
🔑 Religious hypocrisy is dangerous and leads to judgment.
🔑 Outward appearance means nothing without inward transformation.
🔑 Jesus desires humility, mercy, and love—not empty rituals.
🔑 God longs for His people to return to Him, but rejection has consequences.
Prophetic Patterns & Dual Fulfillment
🔮 Israel’s Leaders Rejected Truth – Similar to Isaiah 29:13, where Israel honored God with lips but not hearts.
🔮 God’s Judgment on Hypocritical Religion – Foretold in Malachi 3:1-3, where the Messiah purifies the temple.
🔮 Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem – Mirrors Jeremiah’s mourning over the destruction of Israel (Lamentations 1:1-4).
Historical & Cultural Context
📜 Pharisees and Scribes – Religious leaders who enforced strict traditions but often neglected true faith.
📜 Tithing Laws – The Pharisees meticulously tithed herbs while neglecting justice and mercy.
📜 Jewish Burial Practices – Whitewashed tombs were common to make graves visible, a powerful metaphor for their hypocrisy.
💡 Final Reflection: Are We Living with Authentic Faith?
Matthew 23 warns against empty religion. True faith is about transformation, not appearance.
📌 Do we seek approval from God or men?
📌 Is our righteousness outward only, or is our heart truly surrendered to Christ?
📌 Are we practicing justice, mercy, and faithfulness?
🚀 Let us not just profess faith—let us live it!
Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees
Mat 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Mat 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Mat 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Mat 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
Mat 23:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
Mat 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Mat 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
Mat 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
Mat 23:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
Mat 23:18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
Mat 23:19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Mat 23:20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Mat 23:21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
Mat 23:22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27 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.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mat 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 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.
Mat 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Lament over Jerusalem
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Date Written
Approximately 50-60 AD
Written By
The Apostle Matthew (Levi)
Language
Originally written in Greek (with strong Hebraic influence)
Verses
39