Anchor My Faith

Swearing by the Temple and the Altar

Scripture: Matthew 23:15-22

In the previous lesson we looked at several cases of hypocrisy on the part of Jewish leaders. We will continue that in this lesson.

^{Mt 23:16} “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.”

As we come to the sixth woe, Jesus is still speaking to the scribes and Pharisees and now refers to them as “blind guides,” “blind fools” and “blind men.” These scribes and Pharisees have the law of God and have studies it in detail, but yet they are blind to it true meaning or are not willing to accept it. They are blind to the fact that the people need salvation and they have been given the way of salvation, but they instead lead them astray. By virtue of their position these scribes and Pharisees were guides, but they were blind in the sense of lacking understanding of the true meaning of the law of God and the needs of the people.

These scribes and Pharisees had devised all sorts of rules and regulations about how to make vows and which vows had to be kept and which ones could be fudged. In this way they gave people loopholes, which provided them with a way out of obligations they entered into. Jesus points out such an example of distinguishing between oaths: “If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.” Jesus then points out their hypocrisy by saying, “You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?”

Jesus then points out another example of their hypocrisy. They had made a distinction between the altar and the gift on the altar. They said, “If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.” thus elevating the gift above the importance of the altar. Jesus points asks them a question: “Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?”

Jesus then sets them straight and says, ¹⁹ “You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.”

Conclusion

Jesus made it clear in Matthew 5:34 – 37 that our character quality should provide evidence of our trustworthiness and thus we should not need to and should not take oaths. “We should say simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more that this comes from evil.”