“Woe unto you, ye lawyers”
The Pharisees and Lawyers.
(The Gospel History, Section 97)
And one of the lawyers answering saith unto him, Master, in saying this thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you lawyers also! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets and apostles; and some of them they shall kill and persecute; that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary: yea, I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you lawyers! for ye took away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Commentary by J. R. Dummelow
Lk 11:46 > Mt 23:4. Bind heavy burdens] a metaphor from overloading a beast of burden. The ‘burdens,’ which they ‘bind into bundles,’ are the intricate and troublesome observances which the scribes had added to the written Law, and had declared to be more binding than the Law itself: see on Mt. 15:2. The one good point about the Sadducees was that they rejected these human traditions. Will not move them (Lk ‘touch them’) with one of their fingers] much less bear them upon their shoulders. They require their disciples to keep onerous rules, which they themselves will not observe, or (as others interpret it) they will not stretch out a finger to adjust these legal burdens to the backs of others, so that they may comfortably bear them.
Lk 11:47, 48 > Mt 23:29–31. 29. Tombs of the prophets, etc.] It is natural to suppose that Jesus alluded to some actual building operations then going on, or recently completed near Jerusalem. Herod the Great appears to have built or adorned the tombs and cenotaphs of many Jewish worthies. Calvin well remarks, ‘It is customary with hypocrites thus to honour after their death good teachers and holy ministers of God, whom they cannot endure while they are alive. It is a hypocrisy which costs little to profess a warm regard for those who are now silent.’ Mt 23:31. Unto yourselves] or, ‘against yourselves.’ The v. is an ironical commentary on the statement of the Pharisees (v. 30), ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers,’ etc. Jesus retorts, ‘You witness to yourselves by your words that you are the literal sons of those who killed the prophets. You witness against yourselves by your actions that you are also their sons spiritually, for you, like them, reject the words of the prophets who are among you, viz. the Baptist and Myself.’
Lk 11:49. Therefore also said the wisdom of God] In Mt 23:34 the words are an utterance of Christ Himself. Christ’s knowledge of the divine counsels is so complete that His utterances are also utterances of the Wisdom of God.
Lk 11:49–51 > Mt 23:34–36. 34. I send unto you] The parallel in St. Luke (which see) has ‘Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets,’ etc. The prophets, etc., are the apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and other ministers of the Apostolic Church. Observe that here, as in Mt 13:52, our Lord speaks of Christian ministers under Jewish titles as ‘wise men’ (i.e. rabbis) and scribes.
Lk 11:52. The key of knowledge] i.e. the key which opens the door to knowledge of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Lk 11:52 > Mt 23:13. Shut up, etc.] i.e. prevent the nation from being converted. The Kingdom of Heaven is here the Church.
“Woe unto you, ye lawyers”
(The Saviour of the World, Vol VI Book IV Poem XL
“A lawyer, bolder than the rest,
Plucked heart to utter flippant jest;—
“Master, Thou wouldst not slight the Law,
But from Thy words we too must draw
Our condemnation; pray remove
Thy blame if Thou would’st not reprove!”
The wrath of Christ quick on this scoffer fell!
“Ye have judged well in this; Woe unto you,
Ye lawyers, for the burdens that ye lay
On poor men’s backs with your, Thou shalt, shalt not,—
Laws never laid of God, which weigh on men
Whether they sit or walk, or eat and drink,
Or hide them; there is no escape from you;
Your laws find out the poor soul, bind him down,
While scatheless go ye, nor with finger touch
The burdens ye have laid. Woe unto you.
“Woe unto you, I say! Men’s praise ye claim
For costly tomb to ancient prophet raised;
Say ye, ‘How fair this marble edifice,
How worthy him,—Isaiah, Micah, some
Servant of God, sent Israel’s sins to chide.’
“Poor Israel! your fathers knew to deal
With men perversely righteous who rebuked
The iniquities of their people. Fire and sword
Offered quick remedy, and some were stoned,
Some, sawn asunder. Well, to-day, do ye
Build sepulchres for men your fathers slew,
And set your seal as to a righteous deed!
“What think ye of God the while? Is’t that He sleeps
Nor knows the Apostles sent to preach His Name,
Prophets who sealed their message with their blood?
I tell you, God observeth!
Men of laws,
Do ye not know the elements of law,
That crime and never-failing punishment
Follow, the one the other? ‘God is slow,’
Say ye, ‘forgets the blood of prophets shed
From Abel to Zacharias; should He wake,
Here be the tombs we built to placate Him
And do His servants honour.’
Fools and blind!
I tell you none before God is forgot,
From righteous Abel, of his brother slain,
To him who fell a martyr as he went
From sanctuary to altar. Ye shall give,
E’en ye, account for all. Believe ye not
That sins of nations pass, or sins of men;
A day of judgment comes; though ages since
The deed was done, he bears the penalty
Whose thought accepts the crime, whose ways confirm;
Woe to you lawyers, woe without escape,
For ye know not your offence! Who but ye
The key of knowledge hold,—a bounteous feast
At which men should regale with gladdened eyes,
But ye, well bear ye symbol of the key,
Ye shut the door, lock fast, nor enter in,
Nor open to the ravening multitude!
What, know ye not two hungers be in man;—
Hunger for bread allayed, then clamours mind
For knowledge which is life; the man is dead
Whose thoughts nor traverse the highways of God
Nor note His dealings with the world of men;
Who hath no ear to hear his people’s songs
Nor learneth from old tale of valorous deed,
Nor tragedy of crime and punishment,
Certain and meet; who understandeth not
How marvellous His works who hath made men,
How in remembrance all these should be kept!
What knows he of Orion, the Pleiades,
Or of Behemoth in his vasty deep?
“The law delivered to him, what is’t more
Than a mechanic bidding, void of thought
To call up answering thought, to move men’s love?
Go to, ye lawyers, empty stores and choked,
Aye, sealed, from which men draw no nutriment
For minds that live by bread! The ignorant,
How know they God, save by His pity taught,
For ye neglect to feed them! Woe to you!”
St. Luke xi. 45–52.
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