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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 23:23 - 23:24
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The fifth woe:
v. 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, 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.
v. 24. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Another instance of the religious observance of insignificant things. So strictly did they interpret the law of tithes, Lev_27:30-31, that they were very careful to include even the smallest herbs and vegetables of the garden, the sweet-smelling mint, the dill, the aromatic cumin, used for medicinal purposes, according to an explanation of the Rabbis. In other words, they were most rigidly scrupulous in the observances of even the minutest details of their religion. But, in doing this, the weightier matters of the Law were omitted, judgment, and mercy, and faith. Justice and equity toward all, mercy and love toward those that were in need of compassion, faith in God as the Fountain of all true religion: of these great virtues they knew nothing; they omitted them, they disregarded them. It was well and good in itself to pay tithes, if the interpretation of the teachers included even the garden herbs, but what was punctiliousness in this small matter in comparison with the far more important necessity of cultivating the greatest virtues? Their attitude could well be compared to the proverbial choking in the attempt to swallow a gnat, but performing the same act in the case of a camel with the greatest ease. They carefully strained out any small insect out of the wine, in order not to be defiled, but the swallowing of a camel would have given them little compunction. The tiniest omission of a secondary rule hurt their consciences, but the infringement of the fundamental precepts of God as they should obtain among men made no impression upon them.