Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

This is some scary crap, and its in Red! "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? " Talking about Woe... Woe... and Woe. Back your tugboat Sally.

Of Phylacteries and White Washed Tombs: But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

ESV Study Bible Devotions

Matthew 23:2-7,27-28,33 - “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness! 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

Phylacteries, seen in this photograph, were a physical invention of the early Jews, to seek something that God designed to be a function of the heart. Instead, it wound up being a source of pride, "Look at me, see how holy I am, I wear phylacteries".

We must remember that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. Here, in the seven woes described in the 23rd chapter of Matthew, we must all feel the sting, and profoundly sharp words of our Christ.

He has no place, and is not interested in our outward religious appearances. He sees our heart. We may appear outwardly to be of a "religious" persuasion, but clearly these traditions, these outward signs mean nothing to God. It is the attitude of our heart that interests Him.

We all fall prey to these entrapments, in one way or another. Better to go to a secluded mountain, or in the quietness of our closets, then to think God is in anyway impressed with our trappings.

Ah pride, the great bane of our natures. [SIC]

I intended on leaving a comment on this giant of theology's blog but comments has been disabled.

http://www.boomerinthepew.com/2009/07/of-phylacteries-and-white-washed-tombs-but-woe-to-you-scribes-and-pharisees-hypocrites.html

I intended leaving a comment on this giant of theology's blog but comments has been disabled. I wonder why?

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Just a comma.

*

An English professor wrote the words,

"A woman without her man is nothing"

on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it correctly.

The men wrote: "A woman, without her man, is nothing."

The women wrote: "A woman: without her, man is nothing."

Just a comma

David Stern points out (Page 97 of his Jewish New Testament Commentary) that Mark 12 v38 is usually translated into English in a way that makes it appear that Jesus is condemning all teachers ot the Law.

KJV - Beware of the scribes, which......

RSV - "Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes....."

NIV - As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces,

That comma after the word scribes makes the warning apply to all teachers, but if it was not there it would be clear that Jesus was only warning against the scribes that do these things. The construction of the Greek text does not support that comma! The NIV appears to have taken the error one step further by using a full stop and a new sentence.

Notice how David Stern translates it. See the difference!

CJB - As he taught them, he said, "Watch out for the kind of Torah teachers who like to walk....."

Has my source of biblical understanding been manipulated in an anti-Jewish, antisemitic attempt to remove anything Jewish or Hebrew from the scriptures?

Yes!

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