The man of St Matthew

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Woe and Lament: Mt 23,29-39

Read through these verses which bring the chapter to its conclusion. Note how the three parts of this section. Note too the key word which connects all these verses.

7th Woe, Prophets: 23,29-33

Here we are taking the woe as continuing to verse 33. Now see how this woe fall into two parts.

Building tombs is a favourite human activity as we noted in the previous woe. A Biblical example is 1 Maccabees 13,27-30.
This is followed by their blindness in verse 30. But see 27,24-25. See also Hebrews 11,36-37.

The second part of the woe, verses 31 and 32, therefore turns the accusation against them. See 5,11-12. For "fill up" in verse 32, see 1st Thessalonians 2,15-16.

See how verse 33 recalls 3,7.

Therefore: 23,34-36

This next stage opens strongly in the Greek: "Therefore behold I send unto you prophets". It can be read as an updating of 2 Chronicles 24.

Verse 34 shows that more prophets will be sent in the name of Jesus and indicates their fate. See 10,16 and Jeremiah 7,25.

Verse 35 then goes from Gen 4,8.10 (Hebrews 11,4) to 2nd Chronicles 24,17-22. Note the two actions which will soon take place in the Gospel.

To whom does verse 36 refer?

Jerusalem, Jerusalem: 23,37-39

The genre now changes as Jesus laments over the city. See 2,3; 21,10.

How do we understand the second half of verse 37? See Dt 32,11 and Ps 17,8.

Verse 38 like verse 36 alludes to the events of 70 AD. For the house, see 2 Sam 7,5. See also 1 Kings 9,6-9 and Is 64,10-11.

For verse 39, we noted in the overview that the quotation from Ps 118 echoes 21,9. I suggested in the overview that this repeat brackets the scenes in the Temple. Yet I think there is more than just a bracket here. That you might like to consider.

We are ready to go to my response.

Departure from the Temple: Mt 24,1-2

These two verses conclude Jesus' visit to the Temple. As he entered (21,12.23) so now he leaves.

As usual we note who is with Jesus as he leaves. What indeed would Galileans think of the Jerusalem Temple?

This gives Jesus his opportunity for a final comment on his visit to the Temple. Look to Jeremiah chapter 7, especially Jer 7,4.14. Most bibles will tell you the actual state of the Temple at the time Matthew was writing.

Time now to look at my response.

Most commentators begin the final discourse with 24,1. However as we saw in the overview, it is 24,3 which marks the change of setting. Also, there is no reference to the Temple in the discourse. There is just one more reference in the Gospel to the Temple as a whole (rather than to the inner sanctuary), Jesus' comment during his arrest, 26,55.

We now move on to our reading of the final discourse in chapters 24 and 25 as Jesus arrives on the Mount of Olives, 24,3.