Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Matthew, chapter 23

1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them."
Another example of Jesus stating that people should follow the Law of Moses.
9 "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven."
Jesus arguing against standard family traditions again!
14 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
This verse is not found in the earliest-known manuscripts. Seems like the copyist felt like adding one more accusation.
33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
Jesus could talk himself into a rage it seems.
34 "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city
This is probably what actually happened at the time when the author was writing, so he put it as a 'prophecy' into Jesus' mouth in order to 'motivate the troops' so to speak.
37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
Seems like the prophets of the new religion weren't really popular in Jerusalem.

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