sect, because they were generally remarkable for their covetousness and extortion, (see ver. 39.) vices which must be repented of, by making restitution to those who have been injured by them. And when these cannot be known or found, the compensation must be made to the poor, as having the next right; because what is given to them, is lent to God.

The Pharisees were of an incorrigibly stubborn disposition, which no instruction, however mild or persuasive, could sway: Wherefore, our Lord on this occasion wisely treated them with a kind and wholesome severity, denouncing most dreadful woes against them, for being so zealous in the ceremonial institutions of religion, while they utterly neglected the precepts of morality. Luke xi. 42. But woe unto you, Pharisees, for ye tythe mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs, ye pay tythes of these things, and pass over judgment and the love of God. Ye shew such care

and exactness in performing ceremonial precepts, that ye do not neglect even the least of them; but the great duties of morality, the duties of justice, and truth, and charity towards men, and of love to God, which are of absolute and eternal obligation, ye utterly neglect as things of no importance in comparison. Nevertheless, these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone: The duties of morality ought to have been the principal object of your care, while at the same time the other should not have been left undone. Next, he denounced the judgment of God against them for their pride, which was so excessive, that it appeared in their carriage in the streets, and at all public meetings. 43. Woe unto you, Pharisees, for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. In the third woe he joined the Scribes with the Pharisees, and condemned the hypocrisy of both. 44. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pha

risees,

Ver. 44. Scribes.] The Scribes were called in the Hebrew language, sopherim, suriters, and are often mentioned in the sacred history, as persons of great authority in the Jewish commonwealth. They were originally secretaries, being employed in the church, the state, the army, the revenue, &c. to which offices those were entitled who could write, because anciently that art was practised by few. When Ezra made the reformation in religion, which has rendered him so famous among the Jewish doctors, he was assisted by the Scribes in revising the canon of scripture, and ordered matters so, that from thenceforth a sufficient number of them should always be employed in multiplying the copies of it. I his class o men therefore being much conversant in the sacred writings, acquired a singular knowledge of them, and in process of time expounded them to the common people (Matt. vii. 39.) with such reputation, that at length they obtained the title of doctors, or teachers, (Luke ii. 46.) and were consulted upon all difficult points of faith, Matt. ii. 4. Hence they are said by our Lord to sit in Moses' chair, (Matt. xxiii. 3.) and to determine what doctrines are contained in scripture, Mark xii. 35. Hence also an able minister of the New Testament is called a Scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. But as the Jews were divided into several religious

sects,

sects, it is natural to imagine, that each sect gave such interpretations of scripture, as best agreed with their peculiar tenets Wherefore, it cannot be doubted that the doctors studied and expounded the sacred writings, with a view to authorize the opinions of the party they espoused, Accordingly, (Acts xxiii. 9.) mention is made of the Scribes that were of the sect of the Pharisees. O yeauuutus tu μigus tax Pagisqa, which plainly implies, that some of the Scribes were of the other sects. It is true, the Scribes are distinguished from the Pharisees in the woes which our Lord now pronounced, and in several other passages, particularly Matt. v. 20. xxiii. 2. But from the latter of these passages, I think it is evident, that by the Scribes and Pharisees, is commonly meant the Pharisaie Scribes, according to the idiom of the Hebrew language. For as the name Pharisees denoted a sect, and not an office, it could by no means be said of the whole sect, that they sat in Moses' chair. A character of this sort, was applicable only to the doctors or Scribes of the sect. In other instances, where the Scribes are distinguished from the Pharisees, the Sadducean doc ́tors may be intended. The badge of a Pharisee was, his placing the tra dition of the elders on an equality with scripture; whereas, the Sadducees rejected all the pretended oral traditions, and adhered so close to the text, that they acknowledged nothing as a matter of faith, which was not expressly contained in the sacred books. And in this they were followed by the Karaites or Scripturists, a sect that subsists among the Jews to this day. It is generally supposed, indeed, that the Sadducees acknowledged the au thority of none of the sacred books except the writings of Moses. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that they received all these books; for had they denied the authority of any of them, our Lord, who so sharpe ly reproved their other corruptions, would not have let this escape uncen sured. Nay, Josephus himself, who was no friend to the Sadducees, dots not in the whole compass of his writings, charge them with rejecting any of the sacred books. He says they rejected the traditions of the elders, so much cried up by the Pharisees, affirming that nothing ought to be held as an institution or rule, but what was written. Archæol. xiii. 18. See the passage translated, Ant. Disc. i. ch. 2. § 3. prefixed to this Harmony. Al so see Ant. Disc. i. ch. 3. § 3. Le Clerc, Hist. Eccles. Proleg. p. 1. § 3. Scaliger, Elench. trihær. contr. Serrar. c. 16. Perhaps, of the sacred writings, the Sadducees preferred the books of Moses. All the Jews did so, and do so still. But whether in this point the Sadducees outstripped the rest of the sects, is hard to say. In the mean time, considering the veneration which the Jews had for the books of the law, it is reasonable to suppose, that some of the doctors of each sect would apply themselves more especially to the study of these books in private, and to the explication of them in public, and that such as did so might obtain the appellation of lawyers. Accordingly, he is called by Matthew a Pharisee and a lawyer, xxii. 35. whom Mark calls a Scribe. Farther, it is not improbable that the Pharisean lawyers, fond of their own particular study, might exalt the law not only above the rest of the sacred writings, but above the tra dition of the elders, in which respect they were distinguished from the rest of their sect, paying only a secondary sort of regard to these traditions. It was on this account that one of them was now so displeased, when he' heard Jesus join the whole body of Scribes indiscriminately, and conse quently the lawyers with the Pharisees, in the woes which he now denounced against them, for the hypocritical shew of piety which they made by their zeal in giving tythes of mint, anise, and cumin, according to the precepts of the elders, whilst they omitted judgment and the love of God, enjoined expressly by the divine law. It seems he thought the rebuke undeserved on the part of the lawyers even of the Pharisean sect, becausé they did not pay that superlative regard to tradition which the rest were remarkable for.

risees, hypocrites, for ye are as graves which appear not, (158 as pernersæ va adnλa) and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Under a shew of humility and contempt of the world, you are proud, voluptuous and rapacious, so resemble concealed graves, which are apt to pollute those who walk over them.But a lawyer who was at table, thinking that a rebuke levelled against the Scribes and Pharisees in general, affected the men of

his

• Ver. 44. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, &c.] In the repetition of the woes, Matt. xxiii. 27. this one is differently expressed, Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, for ye are like unto whited sepulchres (Tagoμcialité TαQoç xexexixμarois) qhich indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead mens bones, and of all uncleanness, § 121. Persons of fortune among the Jews, often raised fine stone structures over their dead, especially when they buried them in the fields, and these they white-washed from time to time, to make them look beautiful, Dr Shaw gives the following account of those sepulchres, Travels, pag. 219. "If we except a few persons, who are buried within the precincts of the sanctuaries of their Marabutts, the rest are carried out at a small distance from their cities and villages, where a great extent of ground is allotted for the purpose. Each family has a particular part of it walled in, like a garden, where the bones of their ancestors have remained for many generations. For in these inclosures, the graves are all distinct and separated, each of them having a stone placed. upright both at the head and feet, inscribed with the name or title (2 Kings xxiii. 17.) of the deceased; whilst the intermediate space is either planted with flowers, bordered round with stones, or paved with tiles. The graves of the principal citizens are farther distinguished by having cupolas or vaulted chambers, of three, four, or more square yards built over them; and as these very frequently lie open, and occasionally shelter us from the inclemency of the weather, the demoniac (Mark v. 5.) might with propriety enough have had his dwelling among the tombs; as others are said (Isa. Ixv, 4.) to remain among the graves and to lodge in the monuments (mountains.) And as all these different sorts of tombs and sepulchres, with the very walls likewise of their respective cupolas and inclosures, are constantly kept clean white-washed and beautified, they continue to illustrate those expressions of our Saviour, where he mentions the garnishing of sepulchres, and compares the Scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites to whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mens bones and all uncleanness." But though the sepulchres of the rich were thus beautified, the graves of the poor were oftentimes so neglected, that if the stones by which they were marked happened to fall, they were not set up again, by which means the graves themselves did not appear; they were adne, as they are called in the text, so that men might tread on them inadvertently.

By the law, (Numb. xix. 16.) graves of all sorts polluted the persons who touched them, the sepulchres that were kept perfectly neat and beautiful, as well as, those that were neglected. Hence, to shew the hypocrisy, of the Pharisees, our Lord, in the one woe, likened them to graves which did not appear, had no mark to know them by, and which being covered with grass, men were polluted by going over them ere they were aware. the other woe, he likened them to whited sepulchres, which, though they looked fair and beautiful outwardly, were full of wickedness within. The Scribes and Pharisees, however holy they might appear by their exactness in the externals of religion, were polluted with the grossest vices, incmuch, that by the contagion of their example, they defiled all who were much in their company.

his order, was exceedingly displeased. Luke xi. 45. Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus say ing, thou reproachest us also. The lawyers, even of the Pharisean denomination, had done unspeakable mischief by their erroneous interpretations of scripture, which they perverted to favour the tradition of the elders as much as possible, and so bound heavy burdens on mens shoulders, which they themselves would not touch with one of their fingers. Jesrs therefore spake his mind freely concerning them also, laid open their character, and denounced farther woes against them. 46. And he said, Wo unto you also, ye lawyers, for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Moreover, he blamed them for building the sepulchres of the prophets whom their fathers had killed, because they did it from no regard to the murdered prophets, though in words they pretended to venerate their memory, but from a secret approbation of their fathers deeds, as the general tenor of their conduct too evidently declared. 47. Woe unto you, for this reason also, that in order to make an ostentation of great piety, ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them: The prophets, whose sepulchres ye build, were murdered by your fathers, that is, by men precisely of the same character and dispositions with you; hypocrites, who covered the grossest acts of wickedness, with the specious appearance of piety. 48. Truly ye bear witness, that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: By all your conduct you shew, that inwardly in your minds you approve of the deeds of your fathers who persecuted the prophets, For they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres: From your known dispositions, as well as from your open practice, which is to trample upon the laws of God as often as they stand in the way of your wicked purposes, and particularly from your persecuting the messengers of God, one is obliged to think, that you build the sepulchres of the prophets whom your fathers killed, not from any pious regard to God, whose messengers they were, nor to do honour to the prophets themselves, but to do honour to their murderers, as approving of their deeds, and intending to perpetuate the memory of them to posterity with applause. The great men among the Jews, always possessed the true spirit of politicians. In the time of the prophets they made no scrupie to kill persons whom they knew to be the messengers of God, because forsooth the good of the state required it. In our Saviour's time, Caiaphas the high-priest openly avowed this principle in a full meeting of the grandees. For when some were opposing the resolution of the major part of the council, who had determined to kill Jesus, and to shew the inconvenience of that resolution, urged the unlawfulness of the action, he told them plainly that they were a parcel of ignorant bigots, who knew

nothing

nothing at all either of the principles or ends of government, which rendered it necessary oft-times to sacrifice the most innocent for the safety of the community. And to say the truth, this is the darling maxim of all politicians. Wherefore, it is not improbable that the Scribes, Pharisees and lawyers, who ruled the Jewish nation at this juncture, might, in repairing the sepulchres of the prophets, really intend to perpetuate the memory of their fathers boldness in putting the prophets to death. For as this was a pattern and precedent which not only directed them how to proceed in cases of extremity, but justified any unlawful action they might happen to commit in the administration of the government, it was by no means proper to suffer the memory thereof to perish. Hence, in repairing the tombs of the prophets, though they pretended to the people that they designed to honour these servants of God, and declared, as it is in the parallel pas sage, (Matt. xxiii. 30. § 121.) that they would not have embrued their hands in their blood, their real intention was to perpetuate the memory of their fathers actions. Our Lord, who knew the hearts of men, has expressly said so, and we cannot entertain any doubt of it. Truly ye bear witness, that ye allow the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Luke xi. 49. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, dia T8To xain copia o de IT: For this reason, that you in wardly approve of the deeds of your fathers who killed the prophets, and propose among yourselves to perpetuate the memory of their wickedness, by building the sepulchres of the holy men whom they slew; and also because you insitate their way in your own conduct, by persecuting the messengers of God; in a word, because you carry your wickedness to a greater pitch than they did, for all these reasons, God hath, in the council of heaven, declared his last resolution concerning you: I will send them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will slay and persecute: I will send my Son and his apostles unto them, notwithstanding I know they will persecute and slay them. 50. That the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world, (see on Matt. xxiii. 35, 36. § 121.) may be required of this generation: That by this last and greatest act of rebellion, the iniquity of the nation being completed, or as it is expressed Matt. xxiii. 32. the measure of their fathers iniquity being filled ap, God may at length testify how much he was displeased with the Jewish people from the beginning, for persecuting and nurdering

Some think, that by the wisdom of God here mentioned, we are to understand Christ; because ia the parallel passage (Matt xxi. 34.) he ascribes this saying to himself, and because the apostle Paul calls himn expressly the visdom of God, 1 Cor. i, 24 Others suppose that the Father is meant, the wisdom of God being a periphrasis for God himself, who might be said to speak the words mentioned, because he commissioned his Son to epeak them in his name.