Matthew 23:13-36

Here Christ lays out seven woes to the scribes and Pharisees.  A woe was a strong condemnation.  These are in direct contrast to the seven blessings that are descried in the Sermon on the Mount.  Here they form what is called a “chiastic pattern.”  Basically, this was a popular literary form in Greek and Hebrew writings.  It literally means “to shape like the letter ‘X’.”  This mean that two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversed structure to make a point.  You can see the example below:

A:  First woe (v.31):  failing to recognize Jesus as the Messiah

B:  Second woe (v.15):  superficially zealous, yet doing more harm than good.

C:  Third woe (vv.16-22):  misguided use of the Scripture.

D:  Fourth woe (vv. 23-24):  fundamental failure to discern the thrust of Scripture.

C:  Fifth woe (vv.25-26):  misguided use of the Scripture

B:  Sixth woe (vv.27-28):  superficially zealous, yet doing more harm than good.

A:  Seventh woe (vv.29-32):  heirs of those who failed to recognize the prophets.

The month just before Passover, it was customary to whitewash with lime, grave or grave-sites that might no easily be seen.  This was so that pilgrims would not unintentionally come in contact with them and become ritually unclean.  They were not objects of beauty but of disgust.  Christ probably referred to them as “beautiful” because of their elaborate structure.  The Pharisees are preoccupied with avoiding ritual defilement.  They had the appearance of being virtuous but they were actually contaminating the people with their hypocrisy and undue burdens.  Once again they were more committed to the works of the law rather than the heart of the law.