The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 305

being <'On@<'ions ,cltat they were "·11lking trentises existed then in tl10 oral tmditlrn~ over 11nd touchin/Z', All contaC't with which it Wl\8 tho Iifo-work' of scholnrs nn<l sopuloliree involved ceromoni11l defilement; pedsnta, like tho lawyer to whom Jee11s henC'e thll f11ot of their being constantly w1111 then epeAking, to lenrn, to expound, whitewlUllied in order to warn paseers-by Aud to amplify: nnd these vexntione an,l of their pr611ence. Thie eilent warning of frivolous ordiDAnoos which the lawyere e.ml the gmvee h11S been oompared. to the leper'e scribes preeeed home upon the people with ory, " Unclean, unolMn I" with which he suoh U?l{Oncy were often shirked and avoided w&rned passers-by or hie sad defiling by the learned and cultured aoribu-olaae 11& a p!'ellence. Theee tombe were whitew1111hed body. uenally yearly on the fift<>enth day of the Vere. 47, 48.-Ye build the aepulohrea month Ada.r (about the beftinning of Maroh). of the prophets, and yonr fathers killed Tiberiae on the lnke wae built partly on the them. Truly ye bear witneaa that ye allow site of an old uneuepected cemetery ; no the deeds of your fa.then : for they indeed trne Jew would resido there in oonsequenoo. killed them, and ye build their aepulohree. Ver. 45.-Then a.newered one of the There are still existing four singular tomba lawyen, . . . lta.eter, th11S ea.ying thou re- at the foot of Olivet, in the Valley of Jeho- proaohest us a.llio. It did not follow that all shaphat. Remarkable objecte now to the theee profeseed juriete were of the Pharisee modern traveller at Jerusalem, in all their ll8Ct : some, doubtless, were Sadducees. It fresh beauty they would be still more seems, however, probable that the greater striking in the daya of onr Lord. The proportiou of these professional teachers and peculiar oompoeite nature of the architec- expounders of the Lnw did belong to the ture of theee great tombs has decided e.nti- Pharieeee. The oral and written Law, quaries to ascribe the building of these to baaed upon the comparatively simple Mosaio tbe days of the later Herods. It ie, there- code, had now become the absolute guide fore, not improbable that these conspicuous and director of the whole life of the people objects in the landscape, seen from the in all its lllll8.ller det.oile. The varioue temple platform, and possibly othere like oopyists, leoturere, tcachcre, and casuists, them, which have since perished, .wore the who debated t.he many doubtful points con- tombs and sepulohres eepeciRlly in our Bto.ntly arising in the perplexing and Lord's mind when he was spee.king to the el-.horate system, we.re all known under lawyer, and later at Jerusalem, when he the general term" scribes." The lawyer waa repeated, with some alight variations, the the ecribe who had especially devot,·d his same awful woe (Matt. uiii. 29). It was, attention to the unravelment of the difficult indeed, a speech of awful and cutting irony, and disputed questions which arose in the these words of Jesue. "Your fathers," he daily life of tlie people. This lawyer was auid, •• killed the prophets; yo1, complete oertainly, considering the company he wns their evil work by building tombs for these e.esoci.ated with, of the strictest sect of slain men of God. In other words, you Pharisees. Thie person could not believe pretend to make amende for the crimes of that this able Rabbi from G1i.lilee-for that past generations by this show of ostentation■ they muet all, aft.er the morning's discussion, piety; but if you really differed from your have allowed Jeane to be-could include wicked fathers in spirit, if you indeed him aud hie holy order in hie terrible honoured, as you profess to do by this denunciatione, the truth of which the gorgeoue tomb-building, the holy men of learned scribe not improbably dimly dis- God whom fMy slew, would you be e.oting cerned. as you now are doing-trying, e.s you know Ver. 46.-Ye lade men with burdena you are, to take my life ? Is not my life grievous to be borne, and ye yolll'IJelves like the lives ofthoee old murdered prophets? touch not the burdens with one of your a.re not my words resembling theirs ? " fingers. Then the Lord turned to the Ver. 49.-Therefore also ea.id the wisdom 11.CCilmplished J1.:rusalem echolBl', and with of God, I will send them prophet■. •• 'There- with, ring emphw;is pronounced upon his fore' -in other words, ' Bees use of the deter- famous and influential order thoee scathing mined, irreconcilable he.tred of you Phe.riseo)e, reproaches which for eighteen centuries and the people whom you guide, to e.11 tha! have been the woeful inheritance of all ie noble e.nd true and real ; becauee, in spite hypocritiai.I. self-deceivers. How true was of your seeming piety, you are faet rooted the expression, " bnrdene grievous to be in impiety'-' Therefore said the wisdom of borne," a very superficie.l study of the God, I will send.'" 1'he expression, "wisdom Talmud will amply show: for although even of God," haa been a di.tll.culty to commen- the earliedt parts of that stupendous com- tators. The words have been referred (1) pile.tion were not committed to writing until to e. quotation of the Lord's from a lost 110me time after, yet very much of what apocryphal book of tha.t name; but we have \te now peruse in thoflB 11trauge, wc1uy no inatan~.e of Jesus ever quoting from an on. u. 1-li~.] THE OOSl'EL ACCORDING TO ST, LUKE. 3()!)