Matt 23:23-25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith (trust). These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Some of the Pharisees would strain their drinks through a cloth to make sure they did not swallow a gnat. The gnat was the smallest of the unclean animals. (Leviticus 11:23) The camel was the largest of the unclean animals. (Leviticus 11:4)
They were careful to observe the littlest details but slacked off on the things that were major things to HaShem.
Matt 23:25-26 "Woe to you, teachers of the law(instruction) and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
First tell others about the Mercy of HaShem through His Son and there will be a circumcision of the heart (Deut 10:16;Rom. 2:25-29) and then that person will be born anew and then the outside of them will become clean also! The Spirit of G-d is available to all that believe.
Matt 23:27-28 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
May the truth set you free, in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach.
The custom of the day was to whitewash the outside of the tombs. They looked great but they still contained dead bodies.
Matt 23:29-32 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. --- This very group was plotting to kill Yeshua, the long awaited Mashiach and chief of the prophets.
Matt 23:33 You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell (Gehenna)?
If you don’t know His Son you are not invited to the marriage.
Matt 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them will you scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Notice it says, “I” send to you prophets. Who sent the prophets? Yeshua and the Father are One. Yeshua is and always will be G-d in the flesh. It is wise to heed the warning.
Matt 23:35-36 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Verily I say to you, All these things will come upon this generation.
Zechariah was a Levite born in Babylon and joined his grandfather, Iddo, in the group of exiles who first returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua the High priest. He is the author of the book of Zechariah. (Nehemiah 12:12-16)
He tells it like it is. It does not matter if you do not like what is said. It comes from above. Most of this generation was not worthy to receive the Kingdom above or the coming Kingdom on earth.
Matt 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
They did not listen to the prophets. Yeshua used the same type of description as Moshe did in the Torah.
Deut 32:11-12 As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings: So the L-RD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
Many followed HaShem through Moshe, but fail to follow Yeshua who Moshe and the prophets gave testimony of His coming.
Matt 23:38-39 Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the L-rd.'"
This was the end of Yeshua’s public ministry.
It is interesting to note that when Yeshua left the Temple the He went to the Mount of Olives. This is the same direction Ruach HaKodesh took when He left the Temple in Ezekiel’s time.
Ezekiel 11:23 And the glory of the L-RD went up from the middle of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
Psalms 118:26 Blessed be He that comes in the name of the L-RD: we have blessed you out of the house of the L-RD.
This refers to the Yeshua’s second coming.
The judgment of Adonai brought the Temple in Israel to destruction. Yeshua also prophesied this event, as we will see in the next chapter.