hotcoffee
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Second Woe on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
This is what the first commentary says.
Another commentary has this to say about verse 15.
This is some heavy stuff concerning the government appointed leaders of the church during the last week before the crucifixion. We need to remember that the conquering governments of Alexander the Great and then the Romans installed the man who could come up with the best bribe into the position of chief priest. These are the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees that Jesus is talking to. He's calling them out in their presence.
While I was going through the Book of Daniel, I stuck with the historical prophecy. There were a lot of commentaries that were using the Book of Daniel to blast certain churches. When I pulled up one of the commentaries I've depended on and off since I started this historical prophecy, the commentary was blasting two more churches. So I left that sentence out of the posting here.
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
This is what the first commentary says.
Paul had the same idea in Romans 10:2 where he observed that some of the Jewish people of his day had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
"Their business was not to turn men from sin unto God, but merely to convert them to an opinion." (Poole)
"The word proselyte is an English transliteration of a Greek word proselutos, which means one who has approached or drawn near. The proselyte was the full convert who had accepted the ceremonial law and circumcision and who had become in the fullest sense a Jew."
"A sizable body of scholarship convincingly argues that the first century a.d. till the Fall of Jerusalem marks the most remarkable period of Jewish missionary zeal and corresponding success."
"A sizable body of scholarship convincingly argues that the first century a.d. till the Fall of Jerusalem marks the most remarkable period of Jewish missionary zeal and corresponding success."
"Their business was not to turn men from sin unto God, but merely to convert them to an opinion." (Poole)
They were courageous and energetic messengers, but with a false message.
"Jesus did not criticize the fact of the Pharisees' extensive missionary effort but its results, they 'out-Phariseed' the Pharisees."
"Jesus did not criticize the fact of the Pharisees' extensive missionary effort but its results, they 'out-Phariseed' the Pharisees."
Another commentary has this to say about verse 15.
Twofold more the child of hell - That is, twice as bad. To be a child of hell was a Hebrew phrase, signifying to be deserving of hell, to be awfully wicked. Compare the notes at Matthew 1:1. The Jewish writers themselves say that the proselytes were "scabs of Israel," and "hindered the coming of the Messiah" by their great wickedness. The Pharisees gained them either to swell their own numbers, or to make gain by extorting their money under various pretences; and when they had accomplished that, they took no pains to instruct them or to restrain them. They had renounced their superstition which had before somewhat restrained them, but the Pharisees had given them no religion in its place to restrain them, and they were consequently left to the full indulgence of their vices.
This is some heavy stuff concerning the government appointed leaders of the church during the last week before the crucifixion. We need to remember that the conquering governments of Alexander the Great and then the Romans installed the man who could come up with the best bribe into the position of chief priest. These are the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees that Jesus is talking to. He's calling them out in their presence.
While I was going through the Book of Daniel, I stuck with the historical prophecy. There were a lot of commentaries that were using the Book of Daniel to blast certain churches. When I pulled up one of the commentaries I've depended on and off since I started this historical prophecy, the commentary was blasting two more churches. So I left that sentence out of the posting here.