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FEBRUARY 5
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s
wife;
Whoever touches her shall not be
innocent. 23:5 phylacteries. Leather boxes containing
a parchment on which is written in 4 columns
Matthew 23:1–22 (Ex. 13:1–10,11–16; Deut. 6:4–9; 11:13–21).
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and These are worn by men during prayer—one
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23 to His disciples, saying: “The scribes on the middle of the forehead and one on the
left arm just above the elbow.The use of phy-
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and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore lacteries was based on an overly literal inter-
whatever they tell you to observe, that observe pretation of passages like Exodus 13:9,10.
and do, but do not do according to their works; Evidently the Pharisees would broaden the
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for they say, and do not do. For they bind leather straps by which the phylacteries were
heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on bound to their arms and foreheads,in order to
men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not make the phylacteries more prominent. the
move them with one of their fingers. But all borders of their garments. I.e., the tassels.
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their works they do to be seen by men. They Jesus Himself wore them, so it was not the tas-
sels themselves that He condemned, only the
make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the mentality that would lengthen the tassels to
borders of their garments. They love the best make it appear that one was especially spiritual.
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places at feasts, the best seats in the syna-
gogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to
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be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ But you, do 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hyp-
not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, ocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one
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the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not proselyte, and when he is won, you make him
call anyone on earth your father; for One is twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not 16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Who-
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be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, ever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but
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the Christ. But he who is greatest among you whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he
shall be your servant. And whoever exalts is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For
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himself will be humbled, and he who humbles which is greater, the gold or the temple that
himself will be exalted. sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by
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13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by
hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’
heaven against men; for you neither go in 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift
yourselves, nor do you allow those who are or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore
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entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour wid- all things on it. He who swears by the temple,
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ows’ houses, and for a pretense make long swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And
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prayers. Therefore you will receive greater he who swears by heaven, swears by the
condemnation. throne of God and by Him who sits on it.
DAY 5:Why did Jesus have such a hard time with the Pharisees?
Throughout Matthew 23,the words Jesus uses to characterize the Pharisees exposes their true
nature.To say they “sit in Moses’seat”(v.2) is an expression equivalent to a university’s “chair of phi-
losophy.”It meant they had the highest authority to instruct people in the law.The expression here
may be translated,“[they] have seated themselves in Moses’ seat”—stressing the fact that this was
an imaginary authority they claimed for themselves. There was a legitimate sense in which the
priests and Levites had authority to decide matters of the law (Deut. 17:9), but the scribes and
Pharisees had gone beyond any legitimate authority and were adding human tradition to the Word
of God (Matt. 15:3–9). For that Jesus condemned them (vv. 8–36).
As regards the Pharisees, Jesus tells the multitude to “observe and do”(v.3) only what accords
with the Word of God.The Pharisees were prone to bind “heavy burdens” (v. 4) of extrabiblical tra-
ditions and put them on others’ shoulders. Jesus explicitly condemned that sort of legalism. The
Pharisees would even widen their “phylacteries”and lengthen their “tassels”to make it appear that
they were especially spiritual.
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