103. Ber. R. 39, ed. Warsh. p. 72 a, and Vayy. R. 1.
102. Gen. xii. 5.
104. Anyone who would see how Jewish ingenuity can, for the purpose of
misrepresenting the words of Christ, put a meaning even on Jewish documents which
they can never bear, is advised to read the remarks of the learned Jellinek on St. Matt.
xxiii, 15, in the Beth ha-Midr. vol. v. pp. xlvi. xlvii., and his rendering of the quotation from
Ber. R. 28.
105. 2 Sam. xxi. 1 &c.; Yebam, 79 a.
106. Ab. Zar. 24 a.
107. The learned Danzius has collected all that can be said on that subject in Meuschan,
Nov. Test. ex Talm. illustr., pp. 649 -666. But in my opinion he exaggerates his case.
108. Midr. on Eccl. v. 11.
The fourth Woe is denounced on the moral blindness of these guides rather than on
their hypocrisy. From the nature of things it is no t easy to understand the precise
allusion of Christ. It is true that the Talmud makes the strangest distinction between an
oath or adjuration, such as 'by heaven' or 'by earth,' which is not supposed to be
binding; and that by any of the letters of which D ivine Being, when the oath is supposed
to be binding.109 But it seems more likely that our Lord refers to oaths or adjurations in
connection with vows, where the casuistry was of the most complicated kind. In general,
the Lord here condemns the arbitrarine ss of all such Jewish distinctions, which, by
attaching excessive value to the letter of an oath or vow, really tended to diminish its
sanctity. All such distinctions argued folly and more blindness.
109. Shebh. iv. 13 and 35 b, 36 a.
The fifth Woe referred to one of the best-known and strangest Jewish ordinances, which
extended the mosaic law of tithing, in most burdensome minuteness, even to the
smallest products of the soil that were esculent and could be preserved,110 such as
anise. Of these, according to some, not only the seeds, but, in certain cases, even the
leaves and stalks, had to be tithed.111 And this, together with grievous omission of the
weightier matters of the Law: judgement, mercy, and faith. Truly, this was 'to strain out
the gnat, and swallow the camel!' We remember that this conscientiousness in tithing
constituted one of the characteristics of the Pharisees; but we could scarcely be
prepared for such an instance of it, as when the Talmud gravely assures us that the ass
of a certain Ra bbi had been so well trained as to refuse corn of which the tithes had not
been taken!112 And experience, not only in the past but in the present, has only too
plainly shown, that a religious zeal which expends itself on trifles has not room nor
strength left for the weightier matters of the Law.
112. Jer. Dem. 21d.
110. Maaser, i. 1.
111. Maaser. iv. 5.
From tithing to purification the transition was natural.113 It constituted the second grand
characteristic of Pharisaic piety. We have seen with what punctiliousness questions of
outward purity of vessels were discussed. But woe to the hypocrisy which, caring for the
outside, heeded not whether that which filled the cup and platter had been procured by