We have come to the point of oath taking in our study of Matthew 23. The purpose of oaths was to express one’s solemn intention to do a thing, or to express one’s integrity of speech. If the oath taker didn’t do, what he said he would do, or, if what he claimed was so wasn’t the truth, then he called upon God to cast him out of his Presence, vis-à-vis exclude him from Temple worship forever. In other words, if his oath wasn’t true, he called upon God to excommunicate him from the Jewish faith, and treat him as a gentile. Jerusalem, especially the Temple, was the place, where God set his name, and it represented his Presence. When no Jew could be found who valued the truth, not any of the people, nor any of their leaders (Jeremiah 5:1-5, 31), the Lord judged the nation and cast the Jews out of his Presence (Jeremiah 23:39; 52:3) to be taken to Babylon in Mesopotamia, the very place, where Abraham was called out of. To return there was considered rebellion and the rejection of the call of God, so it was there that the Lord cast the rebellious nation.
Jesus brought yet another woe down upon the scribes and Pharisees, calling them blind guides. This was Jesus’ fourth woe, with which he denounced the work and teaching of the scribes and Pharisees. First, he condemned them for not only rejecting the Kingdom, which Jesus offered them in his Gospel, but they also kept the people from entering, when they showed signs of embracing Jesus as their Messiah. Fear was planted in their hearts, and the people continued to follow their leaders. Secondly, Jesus denounced them for devouring the widows’ inheritance, financing their labors through her, building up their own names, without sharing in the cost.
Jesus’ third woe condemned the teaching ministry of the scribes and Pharisees, saying they traveled the world to find a single gentile disciple, and, instead of pointing him to the Lord, they enlarged their own numbers and increased their own power of influence in the world, causing the world’s politics to be administered in their favor. In this, the fourth woe, Jesus condemned the Jewish authorities’ behavior, he exposed the purpose for their efforts, the real value behind their teaching ministry, concluding that an oath taken by the Temple, itself, wasn’t binding, freeing the oath-taker of fulfilling his oath. Nevertheless, an oath taken by the gold of the Temple was binding, and the oath-taker had to fulfill his vow (Matthew 23:16).
Earlier, Jesus said the people were obligated to obey the scribes and Pharisees, because they sat in Moses’ seat, meaning they were the rulers of the land, so rebelling against them was the same as rebelling against God, whose authority was behind the authority symbolized by Moses’ seat. Nevertheless, the people should not follow the practices of the scribes and Pharisees, because they made judgments, but they, themselves, didn’t practice what they bound others to do (Matthew 23:2-3).
Jesus then concluded that, not only were they blind, but they were blind fools, because the Temple treasury has no value to God, unless it is sanctified or devoted to him, and it was the Temple that sanctified the gold (Matthew 23:17). As for their being blind fools, a fool is a person who has no desire to come to understand the truth (scripture), but, instead, takes great pains in disclosing his own opinion, or the opinions of his group (tradition – see Proverbs 18:2). The scribes and Pharisees expressed no desire to understand the word of God. Instead, they exalted themselves and their traditions and valued only that which could empower them, vis-à-vis the gold of the Temple.
Jesus went on to denounce them and the thing they held dear, saying an oath was binding, if it was taken by the gift on the altar, but not if the oath was by the altar, itself. Yet, it was the altar of God that sanctified the gift, yet the scribes and Pharisees were purposefully blind to the truth of Jesus’ words, that he who takes his oath by the Temple, also swears by God who dwells there; or he who swears by heaven, also swears by God, whose throne is in heaven (Matthew 20:20-22). Finally, Jesus denounced the scribes and Pharisees, because they tithed on the smallest of things, but they omitted the more important duties of the Law, meaning they abused the widows and the orphans, and stole from the poor, denying them justice and mercy Matthew 23:20-22). “Straining on the gnat (tithing), they devoured the camel (the poor, widows and orphans etc.). This, they did, in order to finance their own ministries (Mark 7:9-13), which empowered them both in number (adding gentile disciples; verse-15) and in world politics (gaining favor from gentiles in authority; verse-15; cp. Luke 7:3-5; Acts 12:1; 13:50; 14:2, 19; 17:5-6). Their power, vis-à-vis their influence in the world was financed by funds that should have gone to the poor, and so it is done today, by many Christian ministries that seek to add to their numbers and to their influence in world politics, with funds that should be going to the poor, the homeless and the hungry! So, what good is the name of Christ to the Christian, if he is known to the world, today, not by Christ’s name, but by his political affiliation?
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