THE EIGHT WOES

In today’s reading from Matthew 23:13-30, our heavenly Father is REMINDING US NOT TO BE HYPOCRITES LIKE THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES THROUGH JESUS THROUGH THE ‘8 WOES’.

NOTE: Some Bibles have eight woes and some have seven woes.

THE MEANING OF THE WORD ‘WOE’

“woe” = An exclamation of grief, denunciation, great sorrow or distress.

QUESTION: Who were the Scribes in the Bible?

ANSWER: scribes = Jewish learned leaders trained to write and teach the Torah, the law of God

QUESTION: Who were the Pharisees in the Bible?

ANSWER: Pharisees = a Jewish group that separated from other Jews and followed the oral law of the Old Testament

Below is the summarized list of what the SCRIBES AND PHARISEES did wrong that we must not do:-

WOE #1) They taught about God yet they refuse to let the other enter the kingdom of heaven and neither did they go in:-

Matthew 23:13 (KJV) ¹³ But woe unto you  (But judgment is coming to you), scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye (you) shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye (you) neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye (you) them that are entering to go in.

WOE #2) They destroyed the house of those whose husbands had passed away. They pretended to make long prayers:-

Matthew 23:14 (KJV) ¹⁴ Woe unto you (Judgment is coming to you), scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye (you) devour (swallow up) widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer (and to cover it up you make long prayers) therefore ye (you) shall receive the greater damnation.

WOE #3) They converted / styled others as hypocrites twice worse:-

Matthew 23:15 (KJV) 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

(AMP Bible: Woe to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte (convert to Judaism), and when he becomes a convert, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are).

WOE #4) They guided others blindly and liked to swear:-

Matthew 23:16-22 (KJV)

¹⁶ Woe unto you (Judgment is coming to you), ye (you) 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!

¹⁷ Ye (You) fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth (sanctified) the gold?

¹⁸ And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth (swears) by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

¹⁹ Ye (You) fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth (sanctifies) the gift (offering)?

²⁰ Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth (swears) by it, and by all things thereon (on it).

²¹ And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth (swears) by it, and by him that dwelleth therein (dwells within it).

²² And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth (swears) by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon (who sits upon it).

WOE #5) They ignored the more important of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith but paid tithes:-

Matthew 23:23-24 (KJV)

²³ Woe unto you (Judgment is coming to you), scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye (you) pay tithe (a tenth) of mint and anise (dill) and cummin, and have omitted (leave out, exclude) the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye (you) to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

(NOTE: scribes = Jewish learned leaders trained to write and teach the Torah, the law of God)

(NOTE: Pharisees = a Jewish group that separated from other Jews and followed the oral law of the Old Testament)

²⁴ Ye (You) blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

(NOTE: gnat = A small two-winged fly that resembles a mosquito. Gnats include both biting and nonbiting forms, and they typically form large swarms)

WOE #6) They were full of extortion and excess (financial unrighteousness)
but had innocent / righteous outward appearances:-

Matthew 23:25-26 (KJV)

²⁵ Woe unto you (Judgment is coming to you), scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye (you) make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter (plate), but within they are full of extortion and excess.

²⁶ Thou (You) blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

WOE #7) They were spiritually dead inside but fooled everyone with their beautiful outward appearances good visible behaviours:-

Matthew 23:27-28 (KJV)

²⁷ Woe unto you (Judgment is coming to you), scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye (you) are like unto whited sepulchres (whitewashed tombs), which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

²⁸ Even so ye (you) also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye (you) are full of hypocrisy and iniquity (immoral or grossly unfair behavior).

WOE #8) They killed the prophets and then built and decorated the tombs / monuments of the prophets they had killed:-

Matthew 23:29-30 (KJV)

²⁹ Woe unto you (Judgment is coming to you), scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye (you) build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish (decorate) the sepulchres (monuments) of the righteous,

³⁰ And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.