7. The Lord’s Public Admonition to beware of the Scribes.Mar_12:38-40
(Parallels: Matthew , 23.; Luk_20:45-47)
38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the market-places, 39And the chief seats in the syna 40 gogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts; Which devour widows, houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
See Matthew, and the parallels in Luke.—Mark, like Luke, gives us, of the great denunciatory speech against the Pharisees and scribes which Matthew records, but a very brief warning against the scribes. And how exactly accordant with the intention of his Gospel! It was only the Jewish Christians, for whom Matthew wrote, who could at once, and at that time, be summoned to gaze upon the pharisaic Judaism in all the blackness of its sunken state; for young Gentile Christians, the great punitive speech was to a certain extent unintelligible, and was besides too strong food. Hence the picture of the scribes is briefly given in their three principal features: ambition, avarice, and hypocritical external piety. The address is made up of the introductory word of warning by the Lord against the Pharisees, and of the first woe denounced by Him against them. The expression in Matthew, “Do not ye after their works,” is here, “Beware of them.” The religious enlarging of the garments, as Matthew relates it, is here briefly given in the going about in long clothing. The seeking of greetings precedes the desire for the chief seats in the synagogue, and the civic seats of honor; while the anxious listening for the salutation of Rabbi is passed over. With these chief seats at festivals is admirably united the devouring of widows’ houses, under pretence of long prayers, according to the first woe of Matthew. The address to the Pharisees, which we find in Matthew gradually passing into a direct, pointed attack, is here everywhere changed to the representation in the third person. Mark agrees almost verbally with Luke.
Mar_12:38. Which love,
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.—Meyer: “Demand, claim.” But they did not first claim the walking about in long robes: they actually did this; and that, too, with pleasure, consciousness, and deliberation. They loved this, had pleasure in this.—In long clothing.—Gerlach: “Because they imitated the priests, who were the nobles of the Jewish people.” But are not the priests themselves included? Braune: “Because they imitated the venerable matrons.” Jewish Rabbis imitate women! The reference is undoubtedly to their wandering about the streets and public places with marks of distinction significant of religiousness, in long robes of office and rank; hence also in gowns and robes of various orders.
Mar_12:40. Which devour.—Grotius, Bengel, [Lachmann], and others, make a new sentence begin with of
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. As administrators, guardians, representatives of unprotected widows (Theophylact); or also by embezzling the funds of the temple-foundations.—For the more lengthened denunciation, see Matthew.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See Matthew.—We have here three points of contrast: 1. Public appearance,—the proud walk in long trailing garments (devotion), the love of greetings (frivolity). 2. Demeanor in society,—love of the chief ecclesiastical seat, and at the same time of the places of honor at banquets and festive entertainments. 3. Personal and secret conduct,—the appropriation of the goods of the poor, under the veil and pretence of long prayers, and of supplications for the poor.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Comp. Matthew.—The scribes distinguished as the worst of the Pharisees.—The false scribes are considered in three different ways, apart from the Scriptures: 1. Upon the streets; 2. in business and at banquets; 3. as the appropriators of inheritances in families, and by secret means.—The veil of hypocrisy is a transparent covering: 1. The covering, a. the long robes, b. the long prayers; 2. the transparency of the covering, a. the walking about to be seen, b. the lust for the seats of honor, festive banquets, and unrighteous gain.—The hypocrite’s terrible picture: 1. His public appearance contradicts his secret conduct; 2. his external importance, and desire to be important, is in contradiction to his internal emptiness and unworthiness.—The extent to which a hypocritical profession is carried, is the measure of approaching punishment.—Satan, who clothes himself as an angel of light, and plays the part of man’s friend, is the archetype of all hypocrisy.
Starke:—As sinners are distinguished, so are their punishments.—The confession of sin mitigates the judgment; to hide sin, under the pretence of God’s service, makes the judgment heavier and more terrible, Pro_28:13.
Braune (upon the long clothing):—Somewhat as formerly many clergymen were wont to seek especial dignity from the size of their wigs, and the monks from their cowls and rosaries.—Stier:—Satan was the first who exalted himself to be brought low (the opposite of Christ).
Schleiermacher:—They used their piety only for external profit.—Brieger:—It is to be remarked, that Jesus pictures forth not individual scribes, but the whole sect. There were not wanting a few in whom better tendencies were to be found; seeMar_12:28-34.—The warning has a twofold intention: first, we are not to allow ourselves to be deceived by them; second, we are not to imitate their conduct.
Footnotes:
[There is a play here upon words in the original: Schrift gelehrten ausserhalb der Schrift.—Ed.]
