Monstrous Trifling
J.A. Macdonald Matthew 23:23, 24 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin… Our Lord proceeds to pronounce upon the hypocrite the woe of his other evils. Note - I. THE LAW HAS ITS "WEIGHTIER MATTERS." 1. These are its moral precepts. (1) "Judgment." This implies: (a) Justice in principle. (b) Justice in practice. (2) "Mercy." This must harmonize with justice. The gospel gloriously brings out this harmony. (3) "Faith." This implies: (a) Faith in the sense of creed, or truth in belief. A true creed is of great importance. (b) Faith in the sense of sincerity, in opposition to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Those called hypocrites are otherwise described as unbelievers (cf. Matthew 24:51; Luke 12:46; 1 Timothy 4:2, 3). (c) Faith in the sense of fidelity or faithfulness, viz. to God first, then also to man (cf. Micah 6:8; Luke 11:42). (4) There must be the judgment of intelligence in the understanding; the mercy of love in the heart; the works of faith or truth in the life. 2. Its ceremonies are for the sake of its morals. (1) Distinction in animals, clean and unclean, was to show the differences between good and bad men. (2) Distinction in meats was to teach discrimination in fellowships. (3) Laws respecting the treatment of creatures was to show how men should be treated. "Doth God take care for oxen?" (cf. Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9; 1 Timothy 5:18). They that are taught in the Word, and do not communicate to them that teach them - loving a cheap gospel - come short of the Pharisee, who tithed pot herbs. (4) Purifications which terminated in the flesh taught the need of the "answer of a good conscience toward God." II. THE HYPOCRITE INVERTS GOD'S ORDER. 1. He is punctilious to trifles. (1) He is scrupulous to the tithing of mint, dill, rue, cummin (see Leviticus 27:30). The Talmud says, "The tithing of corn is from the Law; the tithing of herbs is from the rabbins." He will "strain out the gnat." The stricter Jews were extremely particular in straining their liquors before drinking, lest they should inadvertently swallow some unclean insect, and so be defiled. The wine-gnat is easily caught in a strainer. (2) Scrupulousness in the abstract is not blameworthy. "These things ought ye to have done." Eminent virtue may display itself in the smallest matters (see Mark 12:42). The morality is imperfect that neglects detail. 2. He misses important things. (1) The scrupulous Pharisee, in his minute attention to the letter, missed the spirit of the Law, which was of far greater importance. The gnat and the camel are both unclean, though of very different magnitude. The Pharisee was scrupulous over the ceremonial, unscrupulous as to the moral - the greater. He unblushingly practised the greatest iniquities. The Law is fulfilled more in the spirit than in the letter. The gospel is the spirit of the Law. (2) We strain out the gnat and swallow the camel when we are scrupulous about trifling errors and unscrupulous about great evils. The Pharisee is like the customer that is punctual in paying small debts that he may get deeper into the tradesman's books and defraud him of a greater sum. They swallowed the camel when they gave Judas the price of innocent blood; they strained out the gnat when they scrupled to put the money in the treasury (Matthew 26:6). (3) Things should be taken in God's order, which is the order of their importance. The things of God come before those of men (see Matthew 16:23). Those only who attend to the "weightier matters" are qualified to judge as to the lighter ones. The formal may exclude the essential, but the essential does not exclude the formal. There may be piety without religion; there cannot be religion without piety. - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. WEB: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.