2. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in
Moses' seat:
[In Moses' seat, &c.] this is to
be understood rather of the legislative seat (or chair), than of
the merely doctrinal: and Christ here asserts the authority of
the magistrate, and persuadeth to obey him in lawful things.
Concerning the chairs of the Sanhedrim
there is mention made in Bab. Succah: "There were at Alexandria
seventy-one golden chairs, according to the number of the seventy-one
elders of the great council." Concerning the authority of Moses and his
vicegerent in the council, there is also mention in Sanhedrim:
"The great council consisted of seventy-one elders. But whence was this
number derived? From that place where it is said, 'Choose me out seventy
men of the elders of Israel: and Moses was president over them.' Behold
seventy-one!"
What is here observed by Galatinus from
the signification of the aorist sat is too light and airy: "He
saith, They sat and not, They sit, that he might plainly
demonstrate, that their power was then ceased." But if we would be so
curious to gather any thing from this aorist, we might very well
transfer it to this sense rather: "The scribes and Pharisees, the worst
of men, have long usurped Moses' seat; nevertheless, we ought to obey
them, because, by the dispensation of the divine providence, they bear
the chief magistracy."
Concerning their authority, thus
Maimonides: "The great council of Jerusalem was the ground (the
pillar and ground) of the traditional law, and the pillar of
doctrine: whence proceeded statutes and judgments for all Israel. And
concerning them the law asserts this very thing, saying, 'According to
the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee.' Whosoever,
therefore, believes Moses our master and his law, is bound to rely upon
them for the things of the law."
Christ teacheth, that they were not to
be esteemed as oracles, but as magistrates.
4. For they bind heavy
burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of
their fingers
[Heavy burdens.] ...a heavy
prohibition; Let him follow him that imposeth heavy things. There
are reckoned up four-and-twenty things of the weighty things of the
school of Hillel, and the light things of that of Shammai. "R.
Joshua saith, A foolish religious man, a crafty wicked man, a
she-pharisee, and the voluntary dashing of the Pharisees, destroy the
world." It is disputed by the Gemarists, who is that crafty wicked
man: and it is answered by some, "He that prescribes light things to
himself, and heavy to others."
5. But all their works they do for
to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the
borders of their garments.
[They make broad their phylacteries.]
These four places of the law,
Exodus 13:3-10,
Exodus 13:11-16,
Deuteronomy 6:5-9,
Deuteronomy 11:13-21; being writ upon two parchment labels (which
they called tephillin), were carried about with them constantly
with great devotion, being fastened to their forehead and their left
arm. To the forehead, in that place where the pulse of an infant's
brain is. This of the forehead was most conspicuous, and made
broad: hence came that, "Let nobody pass by the synagogue while
prayers are saying there.--But if he hath phylacteries upon his head, he
may pass by, because they show that he is studious of the law."--"It is
not lawful to walk through burying-places with phylacteries on one's
head, and the book of the law hanging at one's arm."
They are called in Greek
phylacteries, that is, observatories; because they were to
put them in mind of the law; and perhaps they were also called
preservatories, because they were supposed to have some virtue in
them to drive away devils: "It is necessary that the phylacteries
should be repeated at home a-nights, to drive away devils."
Concerning the curious writing of the
phylacteries, see Maimonides on Tephellin. Concerning
their strings, marked with certain small letters, see Tosaphoth
on Megillah. Concerning the repeating of them, see both the
Talmuds in Beracoth. How the Jews did swear touching their
phylacteries, see Maimonides in Shevuoth: and how God is
brought in swearing by the phylacteries, see Tanchum.
Our Saviour does not so much condemn
the bare wearing of them, as the doing it out of pride and hypocrisy. It
is not unlikely that he wore them himself, according to the custom of
the country: for the children of the Jews were to be brought up from
their infancy in saying the phylacteries; that is, as soon as
they were capable of being catechised. The scribes and Pharisees made
theirs very broad and visible, that they might obtain a
proportional fame and esteem for their devotion with the people; these
things being looked upon as arguments of the study of the law, and signs
of devotion.
[Enlarge the borders of their
garments.] See
Numbers 15:38;
Deuteronomy 22:12--"He that takes care of the candle of the sabbath,
his children shall be the disciples of wise men. He that takes care to
stick up labels against the posts shall obtain a glorious house; and he
that takes care of making borders to his garment, shall obtain a
good coat."
7. And greetings in the markets,
and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
[And to be called Rabbi, Rabbi.]
I. Concerning the original of this title, see Aruch: "The elder times,
which were more worthy, had not need of the title either of Rabban,
or Rabbi, or Rabh, to adorn either the wise men of Babylon
or the wise men of the land of Israel: for, behold, Hillel comes up out
of Babylon, and the title of Rabbi is not added to his name: and
thus it was with those who were noble among the prophets; for he saith,
Haggai the prophet [not Rabbi Haggai]. Ezra did not come up out
of Babylon, &c. [not Rabbi Ezra]; whom they did not honour with
the titles of Rabbi when they spoke their names. And we have
heard that this had its beginning only in the presidents [of the
council] from Rabban Gamaliel the old man, and Rabban Simeon his son,
who perished in the destruction of the second Temple: and from Rabban
Jochanan Ben Zaccai, who were all presidents. And the title also of
Rabbi began from those that were promoted [to be elders] from that
time, Rabbi Zadok, and R. Eliezer Ben Jacob: and the thing went
forth from the disciples of Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai, and onwards. Now
the order, as all men use it, is this: Rabbi is greater than
Rabh, and Rabban is greater than Rabbi; and he is
greater who is called by his own (single) name, than he who is called
Rabban."
That this haughty title of Rabbi
was not in use before the times of Hillel sufficiently appears from
thence, that the doctors before that were called by their plain names,
and knew nothing of this title. Antigonus Socheus, Shemaiah and Abtalion,
Gebihah Ben Pesisa, Calba Savua, Admon and Hanan, Hillel and Shammai,
and many others, whose names we meet with in the Jewish story. Yet you
shall find these, that were more ancient, sometimes officiously honoured
by the writers of their nation with this title, which they themselves
were strangers to. They feign that king Jehoshaphat thus called the
learned men: "When he saw (say they) a disciple of the wise men, he rose
up out of his throne and embraced him, and kissed him, and called him
O Father, Father, Rabbi, Rabbi, Lord, Lord." And Joshua Ben Perachia
is called Rabbi Joshua...
II. It was customary, and they loved
it, to be saluted with this honourable title, notwithstanding the
dissembled axiom among them, Love the work, but hate the title.
1. Disciples were thus taught to
salute their masters: "R. Eliezer saith, he that prayeth behind the
back of his master, and he that salutes his master,--or returns a salute
to his master,--and he that makes himself a separatist from the
school of his master,--and he that teaches any thing, which he hath not
heard from his master,--he provokes the Divine Majesty to depart from
Israel." The Glossers on these words, 'He that salutes, or returns a
salute to his master,' thus comment; "he that salutes his master in the
same form of words that he salutes other men, and doth not say to him,
God save you, Rabbi." It is reported also, that the council
excommunicated certain persons four and twenty times, for the honour
of master; that is, for not having given due honour to the
Rabbins.
2. The masters saluted one another so.
"R. Akibah said to R. Eleazar, Rabbi, Rabbi."--"R. Eleazar Ben
Simeon, of Magdal Gedor, came from the house of his master, sitting upon
an ass: he went forward along the bank of the river rejoicing greatly,
and being very much pleased with himself, because he had learned so much
of the law. There meets him a very deformed man, and said Save you,
Rabbi: he did not salute him again, but on the contrary said thus, 'Raca,
how deformed is that man! perhaps all your townsmen are as deformed as
you.' He answered, 'I know nothing of that, but go you to the workman
that made me, and tell him, how deformed is this vessel which thou hast
made!'" &c. And a little after, "when that deformed man was come to his
own town, his fellow citizens came out to meet him and said, Save
you, O Rabbi, Rabbi, master, master. He [R. Eleazar] saith to them,
'To whom do you say Rabbi, Rabbi?' They answer, 'To him that
followeth thee.' He replied, 'If this be a Rabbi, let there not
be many such in Israel.'"
14. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for
a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater
damnation.
[Ye devour widows' houses.] The
scribes and Pharisees were ingenious enough for their own advantage.
Hear one argument among many, forged upon the anvil of their
covetousness, a little rudely drawn, but gainful enough: "The Lord saith,
'Make me an ark of shittim wood.' Hence it is decided (say they)
in behalf of a disciple of the wise men, that his fellow citizens are
bound to perform his servile work for him."--O money, thou mistress
of art and mother of wit! So he that was preferred to be president of
the council, was to be maintained and enriched by the council! See the
Gloss on Babylonian Taanith.
They angled with a double hook among
the people for respect, and by respect for gain.
I. As doctors of the law: where they,
first and above all things, instilled into their disciples and the
common people, that a wise man, or a master, was to be respected above
all mortal men whatsoever. Behold the rank and order of benches
according to these judges! "A wise man is to take place of a king; a
king of a high priest; a high priest of a prophet; a prophet of one
anointed for war; one anointed for war of a president of the courses; a
president of the courses of the head of a family; the head of a family
of a counsellor; a counsellor of a treasurer; a treasurer of a private
priest; a private priest of a Levite; a Levite of an Israelite; an
Israelite of a bastard; a bastard of a Nethinim; a Nethinim of a
proselyte; a proselyte of a freed slave. But when is this to be? namely,
when they are alike as to other things: but, indeed, if a bastard be a
disciple, or a wise man, and the high priest be unlearned, the bastard
is to take place of him. A wise man is to be preferred before a king:
for if a wise man die, he hath not left his equal; but if a king die,
any Israelite is fit for a kingdom."
This last brings to my mind those
words of Ignatius the martyr, if indeed they are his, in his tenth
epistle: My son, saith he, honour God and the king: but I say, 'Honour
God as the cause and Lord of all: the bishop as the chief priest,
bearing the image of God; in respect of his rule bearing God's image, in
respect of his priestly office, Christ's; and, after him, we ought to
honour the king also.'
II. Under a pretence of mighty
devotion, but especially under the goodly show of long prayers, they so
drew over the minds of devout persons to them, especially of women, and
among them of the richer widows, that by subtle attractives they either
drew out or wrested away their goods and estates. Nor did they want nets
of counterfeit authority, when from the chair they pronounced, according
to their pleasures, of the dowry and estate befalling a widow, and
assumed to themselves the power of determining concerning those things.
Of which matter, as it is perplexed with infinite difficulties and
quirks, you may read, if you have leisure, the treatises Jevamoth,
Chetuboth, and Gittin.
Concerning the length of their
prayers, it may suffice to produce the words of the Babylon Gemara in
Beracoth: "The religious anciently used to tarry an hour [meditating
before they began their prayers]: whence was this? R. Joshua Ben
Levi saith, 'It was because the Scripture saith, Blessed are they who
sit in thy house.' R. Joshua Ben Levi saith also, 'He that prays
ought to tarry an hour after prayers: as it is said, The just shall
praise thy name, the upright shall sit before thy face': it is
necessary, therefore, that he should stay [meditating] an hour
before prayers, and an hour after; and the religious anciently used to
stay an hour before prayers, an hour they prayed, and an hour they
stayed after prayers. Since, therefore, they spent nine hours eery day
about their prayers, how did they perform the rest of the law? and how
did they take care of their worldly affairs? Why herein, in being
religious, both the law was performed, and their own business well
provided for." And in the same place, "Long prayers make a long life."
15. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of
hell than yourselves.
[To make one proselyte.] The
Talmudists truly speak very ill of proselytes: "Our Rabbins teach, that
proselytes and Sodomites hinder the coming of the Messias. Proselytes
are as a scab to Israel." The Gloss; "For this reason, that they
were not skilled in the commandments, that they brought in revenge, and
moreover, that the Israelites perchance may imitate their works," &c.
Yet in making of these they used their
utmost endeavours for the sake of their own gain, that they might some
way or other drain their purses, after they had drawn them in under the
show of religion, or make some use or benefit to themselves by them. The
same covetousness, therefore, under a veil of hypocrisy, in devouring
widows' houses, which our Saviour had condemned in the former clause, he
here also condemns in hunting after proselytes; which the scribes
and Pharisees were at all kind of pains to bring over to them. Not that
they cared for proselytes, whom they accounted as "a scab and
plague"; but that the more they could draw over to their religion, the
greater draught they should have for gain, and the more purses to fish
in. These, therefore, being so proselyted, "they made doubly more the
children of hell than themselves." For when they had drawn them into
their net, having got their prey, they were no further concerned what
became of them, so they got some benefit by them. They might perish in
ignorance, superstition, atheism, and all kind of wickedness: this was
no matter of concern to the scribes and Pharisees; only let them remain
in Judaism, that they might lord it over their consciences and purses.
16. Woe unto you, ye blind
guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing;
but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple; he is a debtor!
[Whosoever shall swear by the gold
of the Temple, he is a debtor.] These words agree in the same sense
with those of the Corban, chapter 15:5. We must not understand
the gold of the Temple here, of that gold which shined all about
in the walls and ceilings; but the gold here meant is that which was
offered up in the Corban. It was a common thing with them, and
esteemed as nothing, to swear by the Temple, and by the altar,
which we have observed at the 31st verse of the fifth chapter: and
therefore they thought themselves not much obliged by it; but if they
swore Corban, they supposed they were bound by an indispensable
tie. For example: if any one should swear thus, 'By the Temple, or, By
the altar, my money, my cattle, my goods shall not profit you'; it was
lawful, nevertheless, for the swearer, if he pleased, to suffer them to
be profited by these: but if he should swear thus, 'Corban, my
gold is for the Temple, Corban, my cattle are for the altar,'
this could noways be dispensed with.
23. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
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.
[Ye pay tithe of mint.] I.
"This is the general rule about tithes; whatsoever serves for food,
whatsoever is kept [that is, which is not of common right], and
whatsoever grows out of the earth, shall be tithed."
II. According to the law, cattle,
corn, and fruit were to be tithed: the way and measure of which, as the
scribes teach, was this: "Of bread-corn that is thrashed and winnowed,
1. A fifth part is taken out for the priest; this was called the
great offering. 2. A tenth part of the remainer belong to the
Levite; this was called the first tenth, or tithe. 3. A
tenth part again was to be taken out of the remainder, and was to be
eaten at Jerusalem, or else redeemed; this was called the second
tithe. 4. The Levite gives a tenth part out of his to the priest;
this was called the tithe of the tithe." These are handled at
large in Peah, Demai, Maaseroth, &c.
III. The tithing of herbs is from
the Rabbins. This tithing was added by the scribes, and yet approved
of by our Saviour, when he saith, "Ye ought not to have left these
undone." Hear this, O thou who opposest tithes. The tithing of herbs was
only of ecclesiastical institution, and yet it hath the authority of our
Saviour to confirm it, "Ye ought not to have left these things undone":
and that partly on account of the justice of the thing itself, and the
agreeableness of it to law and reason, partly that it was commanded by
the council sitting in Moses' chair, as it is, verse 2.
IV. [Mint.] ...is reckoned
among those things which come under the law of the seventh year. Where
Rambam saith, "In the Aruch it is minta." It is called sometimes
mintha: where R. Solomon writes, "In the Aruch it is minta
in the mother tongue, and it hath a sweet smell; therefore they strew it
in synagogues for the sake of its scent."
[Anise.] ...R. Solomon, "anise
is a kind of herb, and is tithed, both as to the seed and herb itself."
Rambam writes thus: "It is eaten raw after meat, and is not to be
boiled; while, therefore, it is not boiled, it comes under the law of
tithing." The Gloss "in the Roman language is anethum [anise],
and is tithed, whether it be gathered green or ripe."
[Cummin.] ...It is reckoned
among things that are to be tithed.
27. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which
indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones, and of all uncleanness.
[Ye are like whited sepulchres.]
Sepulchres are distinguished by the masters of the Jews into a
deep sepulchre, which cannot be known to be a sepulchre; graves
that appear not [Luke
11:44]; and a painted sepulchre, such as were all those that
were known, and to be seen. Our Saviour compares the Scribes and
Pharisees to both; to those, in the place of Luke last mentioned; to
these, in the place before us, each upon a different reason.
Concerning the whiting of
sepulchres, there are these traditions: "In the fifteenth day of the
month Adar they mend the ways, and the streets, and the common sewers,
and perform those things that concern the public, and they paint
(or mark) the sepulchres." The manner is described in
Maasar Sheni; They paint the sepulchres with chalk, tempered and infused
in water. The Jerusalem Gemarists give the reason of it in abundance
of places: "Do they not mark the sepulchres (say they) before the month
Adar? Yes, but it is supposed that the colours are wiped off. For what
cause do they paint them so? That this matter may be like the case of
the leper. The leprous man crieth out, 'Unclean, unclean'; and here, in
like manner, uncleanness cries out to you and saith, 'Come not near.'"
R. Illa, in the name of R. Samuel Bar Nachman, allegeth that of Ezekiel;
"If one passing through the land seeth a man's bone, he shall set up a
burial sign by it."
The Glossers deliver both the reason
and the manner of it thus: "From the fifteenth day of the month Adar
they began their search; and wheresoever they found a sepulchre whose
whiting was washed off with the rain, they renewed it, that the unclean
place might be discerned, and the priests who were to eat the Trumah
might avoid it." Gloss on Shekalim, and again on Maasar Sheni:
"They marked the sepulchres with chalk in the likeness of bones; and
mixing it with water, they washed the sepulchre all about with it, that
thereby all might know that the place was unclean, and therefore to be
avoided." Concerning this matter also, the Gloss speaks; "They made
marks like bones on the sepulchres with white chalk," &c. See the place.
28. Even so ye also outwardly
appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity.
[Even so ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men.] Such kind of hypocrites are called distained,
or coloured. Jannai the king, when he was dying, warned his wife
that she should take heed of painted men, pretending to be Pharisees,
whose works are as the works of Zimri, and yet they expect the reward of
Phineas. The Gloss is "Those painted men are those whose
outward show doth not answer to their nature; they are coloured
without, but their inward part doth not answer to their outward;
and their works are evil, like the works of Zimri; but they require the
reward of Phineas, saying to men, That they should honour them as much
as Phineas." They had forgotten their own axiom, A disciple of the
wise, who is not the same within that he is without, is not a disciple
of the wise.
[But within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity.] The masters themselves acknowledged this to
their own shame. They inquire, what were those sins under the first
Temple for which it was destroyed; and it is answered, "Idolatry,
fornication, and bloodshed." They inquire, what were the sins under the
second; and answer, "Hate without cause, and secret iniquity"; and add
these words, "To those that were under the first Temple their end was
revealed, because their iniquity was revealed: but to those that were
under the second their end was not revealed, because their iniquity was
not revealed." The Gloss, "They that were under the first Temple did
not hide their iniquity; therefore their end was revealed to them: as it
is said, 'After seventy years I will visit you in Babylon': but their
iniquity under the second Temple was not revealed: those under the
second Temple were secretly wicked."
29. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and
garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
[Ye garnish the sepulchres of the
righteous.] Let them raise some pillar upon his sepulchre.
The Glossers are divided about the rendering of the word pillar.
Some understand it of a kind of building or pillar; some of the whiting
or marking of a sepulchre above spoken of. The place referred to speaks
concerning the remains of the didrachms paid for the redemption of the
soul: and the question is, if there be any thing of them due, or
remaining from the man now dead, what shall be done with it; the answer
is, "Let it be laid up till Elias come: but R. Nathan saith, Let them
raise some pillar [or building] upon his sepulchre."
Which that it was done for the sake of adorning the sepulchres is proved
from the words of the Jerusalem Gemara upon the place; They do not
adorn the sepulchres of the righteous, for their own sayings are their
memorial. Whence those buildings or ornaments that were set on their
sepulchres seem to have been sacred to their memory, and thence called
as much as souls, because they preserved the life and soul of
their memory.
These things being considered, the
sense of the words before us doth more clearly appear. Doth it deserve
so severe a curse, to adorn the sepulchres of the prophets and righteous
men? Was not this rather an act of piety than a crime? But according to
their own doctrine, O ye scribes and Pharisees, their own acts
and sayings are a sufficient memorial for them. Why do ye not
respect, follow, and imitate these? But neglecting and trampling upon
these, you persuade yourselves that you have performed piety enough to
them, if you bestow some cost in adorning their sepulchres, whose
words indeed you despise.
33. Ye serpents, ye
of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
[The damnation of hell.] The
judgment of Gehenna. See the Chaldee paraphrast on
Ruth 2:12; Baal Turim on
Genesis 1:1; and Midras Tillin.
34. Wherefore, behold, I send unto
you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye
shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
[Wise men and scribes.] Let
them observe this, who do not allow the ministers of the word to have a
distinct calling. The Jews knew not any that was called a wise man,
or a scribe, but who was both learned, and separated from the
common people by a distinct order and office.
35. That upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel
unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the
temple and the altar.
[Unto the blood of Zacharias son of
Barachias.] That the discourse here is concerning Zacharias the son
of Jehoiada, killed by king Joash, we make appear by these arguments:
I. Because no other Zacharias is said
to have been slain before these words were spoken by Christ. Those
things that are spoke of Zacharias, the father of the Baptist, are
dreams; and those of Zacharias, one of the twelve prophets, are not much
better. The killing of our Zacharias in the Temple is related in express
words: and why, neglecting this, should we seek for another, which in
truth we shall nowhere find in any author of good credit?
II. The Jews observe, that the death
of this Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada, was made memorable by a signal
character [nota] and revenge: of the martyrdom of the other
Zacharias they say nothing at all.
Hear both the Talmuds: "R. Jochanan
said, Eighty thousand priests were killed for the blood of Zacharias. R.
Judah asked R. Acha, 'Whereabouts they killed Zacharias, whether in the
Court of the Women, or in the Court of Israel?' He answered, 'Neither in
the Court of Israel nor in the Court of the women, but in the Court of
the Priests.' And that was not done to his blood which useth to be done
to the blood of a ram or a kid. Concerning these it is written, 'And he
shall pour out his blood, and cover it with dust.' But here it is
written, 'Her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a
rock, she poured it not upon the ground.' And why this? 'That it might
cause fury to come up to take vengeance. I have set her blood upon a
rock, that it should not be covered.' They committed seven wickednesses
in that day. They killed a priest, a prophet, and a judge: they shed the
blood of an innocent man: they polluted the court: and that day was the
sabbath day, and the day of Expiation. When therefore Nebuzar-adan went
up thither, he saw the blood bubbling: so he said to them, 'What meaneth
this?' 'It is the blood,' say they, 'of calves, lambs, and rams, which
we have offered on the altar.' 'Bring then,' said he, 'calves, lambs,
and rams, that I may try whether this be their blood.' They brought them
and slew them, and that blood still bubbled, but their blood did not
bubble. 'Discover the matter to me,' said he, 'or I will tear your flesh
with iron rakes.' Then they said to him, 'This was a priest, a prophet,
and a judge, who foretold to Israel all these evils which we have
suffered from you, and we rose up against him, and slew him.' 'But I,'
saith he, 'will appease him.' He brought the Rabbins, and slew them upon
that blood; and yet it was not pacified: he brought the children out of
the school, and slew them upon it, and yet it was not quiet: he brought
the young priests, and slew them upon it, and yet it was not quiet. So
that he slew upon it ninety-four thousand, and yet it was not quiet. He
drew near to it himself, and said, 'O Zacharias, Zacharias! thou hast
destroyed the best of thy people' [that is, they have been killed for
your sake]; 'would you have me destroy all?' Then it was quiet, and did
not bubble any more," &c.
The truth of this story we leave to
the relators: that which makes to our present purpose we observe: that
it was very improbable, nay, next to impossible, that those that heard
the words of Christ (concerning Zacharias slain before the Temple and
the altar) could understand it of any other but of this, concerning whom
and whose blood they had such famous and signal memory; and of any other
Zacharias slain in the Temple there was a profound silence. In Josephus,
indeed, we meet with the mention of one Zacharias, the son of Baruch,
(which is the same thing with Barachias,) killed in the Temple, not long
before the destruction of it: whom some conjecture to be prophetically
marked out here by our Saviour: but this is somewhat hard, when Christ
expressly speaks of time past, ye slew; and when, by no art nor
arguments, it can be proved that this Zacharias ought to be reckoned
into the number of prophets and martyrs.
There are two things here that stick
with interpreters, so that they cannot so freely subscribe to our
Zacharias: 1. That he lived and died long before the first Temple was
destroyed; when the example would have seemed more home and proper to be
taken under the second Temple, and that now near expiring. 2. That he
was plainly and notoriously the son of Jehoiada; but this
is called by Christ "the son of Barachias."
To which we, after others who have
discoursed at large upon this matter, return only thus much:
I. That Christ plainly intended to
bring examples out of the Old Testament; and he brought two, which how
much the further off they seemed to be from deriving any guilt to this
generation, so much heavier the guilt is if they do derive it. For a Jew
would argue, "What hath a Jew to do with the blood of Abel,
killed almost two thousand years before Abraham the father of the Jews
was born? And what hath this generation to do with the blood of
Zacharias, which was expiated by cruel plagues and calamities many
ages since?" Nay, saith Christ, this generation hath arrived to
that degree of impiety, wickedness, and guilt, that even these remote
examples of guilt relate, and are to be applied to it: and while you
think that the blood of Abel, and the following martyrs doth
nothing concern you, and believe that the blood of Zacharias hath
been long ago expiated with a signal punishment; I say unto you, that
the blood both of the one and the other, and of all the righteous men
killed in the interval of time between them, shall be required of
this generation; 1. Because you kill him who is of more value than
they all. 2. Because by your wickedness you so much kindle the anger of
God, that he is driven to cut off his old church; namely, the people
that hath been of a long time in covenant with him. For when Christ
saith, That on you may come all the righteous blood, &c.; it is
not so much to be understood of their personal guilt as to that blood,
as of their guilt for the killing of Christ, in whose death, the guilt
of the murder of all those his types and members is in some measure
included: and it is to be understood of the horrible destruction of that
generation, than which no former ages have ever seen any more woeful or
amazing, nor shall any future, before the funeral of the world itself.
As if all the guilt of the blood of righteous men, that had been shed
from the beginning of the world, had flowed together upon that
generation.
II. To the second, which has more
difficulty, namely, that Zacharias is here called the son of
Barachias, when he was the son of Jehoiada, we will observe,
by the way, these two things out of the writings of the Jews, before we
come to determine the thing itself:
1. That that very Zacharias of
whom we speak is by the Chaldee paraphrast called the son of Iddo.
For thus saith he on
Lamentations 3:20: "'Is it fit that the daughters of Israel should
eat the fruit of their womb?' &c. The rule of justice answered and said,
'Is it also fit that they should slay a priest and prophet in the Temple
of the Lord, as ye slew Zacharias and the son of Iddo, the
high priest and faithful prophet, in the house of the Sanctuary, on the
day of Expiation?'" &c.
2. In the place of Isaiah, concerning
Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, the Jews have these things: "It is
written, 'I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest,
and Zechariah the son of Barachiah,'
Isaiah 8:1. But what is the reason that Uriah is joined with
Zechariah? for Uriah was under the first Temple; Zechariah under the
second: but the Scripture joineth the prophecy of Zechariah to the
prophecy of Uriah. By Urias it is written, 'For your sakes Sion shall be
ploughed as a field.' By Zechariah it is written, 'As yet old men and
ancient women shall sit in the streets of Jerusalem.' When the prophecy
of Uriah is fulfilled, the prophecy of Zechariah shall also be
fulfilled." To the same sense also speaks the Chaldee paraphrast upon
the place: "'And I took unto me faithful witnesses.' The curses which I
foretold I would bring, in the prophecy of Uriah the priest, behold they
are come to pass: likewise all the blessings which I foretold I would
bring, in the prophecy of Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, I will bring
to pass." See also there RR. Jarchi and Kimchi.
From both these we observe two things:
1. If Iddo did not signify the same thing with Jehoiada to
the Jewish nation, why might not our Saviour have the same liberty to
call Barachias the father of Zacharias, as the Chaldee paraphrast
had to call him Iddo? 2. It is plain that the Jews looked upon
those words of Isaiah as the words of God speaking to Isaiah, not of
Isaiah relating a matter of fact historically...
For if it had been to be construed in
the preter tense, it should have been pointed by Kamets, And I caused
to witness. Which being well observed, (as I confess it hath not
been by me heretofore,) the difficulty under our hand is resolved, as I
imagine, very clearly: and I suppose that Zechariah the son of
Jeberechiah in Isaiah is the very same with our Zacharias the son
of Jehoiada; and that the sense of Isaiah comes to this: in that and the
foregoing chapter there is a discourse of the future destruction of
Damascus, Samaria, and Judea. For a confirmation of the truth of this
prophecy, God makes use of a double testimony: first, he commands the
prophet Isaiah to write, over and over again, in a great volume, from
the beginning to the end, "To hasten the spoil, he hastened the prey":
and this volume should be an undoubted testimony to them, that God would
certainly bring on and hasten the forementioned spoiling and
destruction. "And moreover (saith God), I will raise up to myself two
faithful martyrs," (or witnesses,) who shall testify and seal the same
thing with their words and with their blood, namely, Uriah the priest,
who shall hereafter be crowned with martyrdom for this very thing,
Jeremiah 26:20,23, and Zechariah the son of Barachiah, or Jehoiada,
who is lately already crowned: he, the first martyr under the
first Temple; this, the last. Hear, thou Jew, who taxest Matthew
in this place: your own authors assert, that Uriah the priest is to be
understood by that Uriah who was killed by Jehoiakim; and that truly. We
also assert, that Zechariah the son of Jehoiadah is to be understood by
Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah; and that Matthew and Christ do not at
all innovate in this name of Barachias, but did only pronounce the same
things concerning the father of the martyr Zacharias, which God himself
had pronounced before them by the prophet Isaiah.
Objection. But since our
Saviour took examples from the Old Testament, why did he not rather say,
"from the blood of Abel to the blood of Uriah the priest?" that is, from
the beginning of the world to the end of the first Temple? I answer,
1. The killing of Zechariah was more
horrible, as he was more high in dignity; and as the place wherein he
was killed was more holy.
2. The consent of the whole people as
more universal to his death.
3. He was a more proper and apparent
type of Christ.
4. The requiring of vengeance is
mentioned only concerning Abel and Zechariah: "Behold, the voice of thy
brother's blood crieth unto me." And, "Let the Lord look upon it, and
require it."
5. In this the death of Christ agrees
exactly with the death of Zechariah; that, although the city and nation
of the Jews did not perish till about forty years after the death of
Christ, yet they gave themselves their death's wound in wounding Christ.
So it was also in the case of Zechariah: Jerusalem and the people of the
Jews stood indeed many years after the death of Zechariah, but from that
time began to sink, and draw towards ruin. Consult the story narrowly,
and you will plainly find, that all the affairs of the Jews began to
decline and grow worse and worse, from that time when "blood touched
blood," (the blood of the sacrificer mingled with the blood of the
sacrifice), and when "the people became contentious and rebellious
against the priest."
37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
[Jerusalem, that killest the
prophets.] R. Solomon on those words, "But now murderers": "They
have killed (saith he) Uriah, they have killed Zechariah." Also on these
words, "Your sword hath devoured your prophets"; "Ye have slain (saith
he) Zechariah and Isaiah." "Simeon Ben Azzai said, 'I have found a book
of genealogies at Jerusalem, in which it was written, Manasseh slew
Isaiah,'" &c.
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