These outwardly godly people honoured the memory of the Prophets but continued in the sins that they denounced. L.M. p. 585
Mat 23:29 "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you repair the sepulchres of the Prophets and keep in order the tombs of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 and your boast is, "'If we had lived in the time of our forefathers, we should not have been implicated with them in the murder of the Prophets.'
Mat 23:31 "So that you bear witness against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the Prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill up the measure of your forefathers' guilt.
Mat 23:33 O serpents, O vipers' brood, how are you to escape condemnation to Gehenna [[hell]?
Mat 23:34 "For this reason I am sending to you Prophets and wise men and Scribes. Some of them you will put to death--nay, crucify; some of them you will flog in your synagogues and chase from town to town;
Mat 23:35 that all the innocent blood shed upon earth may come on you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar.
Mat 23:36 I tell you in solemn truth that all these things will come upon the present generation.
Introduction
Despite their building the tombs and memorials to the Great Prophets and the Righteous men of the past they continued to be exactly like their fathers because they refused to repent and turn to God in obedience. They bore witness that they were the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Their attitude to Jesus and the 12 Apostles was indicative that they had not changed from their forebears.
Comments
Mat 23:29 "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you repair the sepulchres of the Prophets and keep in order the tombs of the righteous,
Notes
Apparently when the Prophets had been murdered they had not even been buried properly.
It was hundreds of years later in Jesus’ Day that they were then trying to bury them in sepulchures.
Even the righteous who lived in their own day they HONOURED THEIR TOMBS AND MEMORIALS BUT DID NOT FOLLOW THE PRINCIPLES OF THEIR LIVES.
They applauded the work the prophets and righteous God fearing citizens had done, but they did not allow them to influence their lives.
Mat 23:30 and your boast is, "'If we had lived in the time of our forefathers, we should not have been implicated with them in the murder of the Prophets.'
Notes
In honouring the memory of the Prophets the Scribes and Pharisees said the right things.
"'If we had lived in the time of our forefathers, we should not have been implicated with them in the murder of the Prophets.'
They saw that the actions of the Fore-Fathers was evil. Their building of their tombs seems to be a way of saying how much better they are than their fathers who had put the prophets to death. They sincerely thought that had they been alive when the prophets were killed they would not have put their hands together with their fore fathers.
They did not realise the radical nature of obedience to God that they prophets demanded. They did not respond to their message neither did they heed the warning now of Jesus in His Day.
Their Hypocrisy was that they gave outward evidence of devotion to the Prophets, yet they took the strongest action against those who stood in the tradition of the Prophets, Jesus and His Disciples. L.Morris p. 586
Mat 23:31 "So that you bear witness against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the Prophets.
Notes
They were actually testifying against themselves.
Luk 11:47 Alas for you! for you repair the tombs of the Prophets, whom your forefathers killed.
Luk 11:48 It follows that you bear testimony to the actions of your forefathers and that you fully approve thereof. They slew, you build.
Their actions now at the tombs of the Great prophets does show them to be better men than those who killed those Great men of God.
They are aligning themselves with those who put the prophets into their tombs. The prophet killers and the prophet buriers belong together.
Mat 23:32 [An you,yes You] Fill up the measure of your forefathers' guilt.
Notes
[An you,yes You].....Jesus is bring home his point right their to those who were in front of Him with this emphatic [You yes You] . He left no one guessing who He was speaking about because he was addressing them their and then.
Fill up the measure of your forefathers' guilt.
[Go on then and finish what your forefathers started] GNB
Go on as you are going and take the consequences of your actions. They had always opposed those who spoke to them the Word of God and they were just continuing in this vein.
They are just completing what their fathers had begun.
Mat 23:33 O serpents, O vipers' brood, how are you to escape condemnation to Gehenna?
Notes
O serpents, O vipers' brood,
What a terrible stroke! - Ye are serpents, and the offspring of serpents. This refers to Mat_23:31 : 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 show that they have not degenerated - an accursed seed, of an accursed breed
Every person must see with what propriety this was applied to the Jews, who were about to murder the very person who gave them their being and all their blessings.A.Clark
Mat 23:34 "For this reason I am sending to you Prophets and wise men and Scribes. Some of them you will put to death--nay, crucify; some of them you will flog in your synagogues and chase from town to town;
Notes
"For this reason..seems to mean “ because of God sending His prophets it has happened again and again”,, “because God has sent His messengers and the like have never been welcomed.” This is true from the Old Testament.
2Sa 12:1 And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said to him…..
forward.
Jer 7:25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending.
Jer 7:26 Yet they did not listen to Me, nor bow down their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
Jer 25:4 And Jehovah has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not listened nor bowed down your ear to hear.
Jesus has sent out His messengers speaking in the Name of God, identifying Jesus with God's continued activity in their earth.
God sent Messenger after messenger to the Jews and they did not listen. What about this generation. The Prophets are saying, “Thus says the LORD.”
Through these men the Message of God is given to a particular generation of people.
Mat 23:35 so that all the innocent blood shed upon earth may come on you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar.
Notes
God's Divine purpose will be worked out for every generation that REJECTS the MESSAGE sent to them.
so that all the innocent blood shed upon earth may come on you,
The Culmination of the Whole process of God's Sending His Messengers has arrived. This whole process is being continued now through Evangelists, Pastors and Apostles today who spread forth the Word of God.
The Most Critical aspect of the Process is that God sent His Own SON, This means that those who reject Him will be guilty of a very serious sin this is the climax of all the opposition to the Messengers of God.
Here jesus mentions the shedding of the blood of righteous people through all generations.
from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar.
Abel was the first righteous man in the Bible to be killed by a wicked man.
The blood of Zechariah see 2Ch 24:20 And the Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people and said to them, So says God, Why do you transgress the commandments of Jehovah so that you cannot be blessed? Because you have forsaken Jehovah, He has also forsaken you.
2Ch 24:21 And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the court of the house of Jehovah.
His murder took place in the court of the temple….”whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar.” This unites the Scribes and the Pharisees with those who killed
Zechariah.
Mat 23:36 I tell you in solemn truth that all these things will come upon the present generation.
Notes
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation — As it was only in the last generation of them that “the iniquity of the Amorites was full” (Gen_15:16), and then the abominations of ages were at once completely and awfully avenged, so the iniquity of Israel was allowed to accumulate from age to age till in that generation it came to the full, and the whole collected vengeance of heaven broke at once over its devoted head. In the first French Revolution the same awful principle was exemplified, and Christendom has not done with it yet. JFB
IN THIS PRESENT DAY THERE IS AN OUTRIGHT ATTACK UPON RIGHTEOUS MEN AND WOMEN AND THE JUDGMENT OF GOD WILL BE SWIFT UPON THOSE PERPETRATORS
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