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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 23:15 - 23:15
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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_23:15
15"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."
Mat_23:15 "hypocrites" See Special Topic at Mat_6:2.
▣ "to make one proselyte" There were two kinds of Jewish converts: (1) those who were circumcised, self baptized and offered a sacrifice-they were called "proselytes of the gate" and (2) those who just regularly attended the synagogue-they were called "God-fearers."
▣ "you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves" This is truly a shocking statement. Jesus is offended by self-righteous legalism! This reenforced His statement of Mat_5:20. This is a significant reversal of cultural expectations.
▣ "hell" This term Gehenna came from two Hebrew words, "valley" and "Hinnom." This was where the Phoenician fertility fire god was worshiped just south of Jerusalem in the valley of Topheth, by the practice of child sacrifice [molech] (cf. 2Ki_16:3; 2Ki_17:17; 2Ki_21:6; 2Ch_28:3; 2Ch_33:6). It became the garbage dump of Jerusalem. Jesus used it as the earthly metaphor of hell and eternal judgment.
This term was only used by Jesus, except for Jas_3:6. Jesus' love for fallen mankind did not prevent Him from addressing the awesome consequences of rejecting His words and works (cf. Mat_25:46). If Jesus asserted the reality of eternal separation from fellowship with God, it is a truth that His followers must take seriously. Hell is a tragedy for mankind, but also an open bleeding wound in the heart of God that will never heal! See Special Topic: Where Are the Dead? at Mat_5:22.