Matthew 23:4, commentary and pictures

Christ denounced the scribes and Pharisees for loading the people with countless minute human rules and traditions while refusing to obey them or lift a finger to help bear them. They taught from the law but corrupted it with man-made exactions that made obedience painful and impossible, obscuring God's true requirements of justice, mercy and faith and turning His service into a yoke of bondage. Their rigid outward strictness concealed hypocrisy, pride and loss of God's love, standing in stark contrast to Christ who lived the law and revealed God's love in purity, humility and sympathy. The same condemnation falls with still greater force on later oppressive priestly power, especially Romish leaders who bury Christ's teaching under traditions, penances and payments while living in luxury and keeping souls in terror. Therefore God's servants today must not rule consciences, control fellow workers, or burden students and believers with human ideas and exacting demands, but undo heavy burdens, free the oppressed, and lead with mercy, patience and Christ's meek example.

Setting and Context

The verse belongs to Christ's woes denouncing the scribes and Pharisees. It was spoken in the temple on His final day of teaching there, in the temple courts for the last time. It was addressed to the scribes and Pharisees and lawyers and to His disciples, exposing the character and hypocrisy of the rulers and elders. Its purpose was to warn and condemn those leaders and to instruct the people.

What it exposes is that the Jewish teachers bound heavy burdens of requirements and exactions and laid them on men's shoulders, while they themselves would not move them with one of their fingers. They enjoined upon others what to do when teaching the law from the Scriptures, but did not practice their own teaching and did not bring their own works into accordance with the written Word.

The chapter shows spiritual blindness that misses relative importance, for those described are spiritually blinded and cannot discern the relative importance of what they should understand. They neglect the weightier matters of the law — justice, mercy, and faith — while attending to lesser matters. Its warning calls for careful attention to the principles that must shape life. The chapter pronounces scathing rebukes and woes upon the Pharisees for impenitence and opposition to truth and righteousness, and were Christ upon the earth today priests and rulers would hear the same rebukes and woes pronounced upon them.

Nature of Burdens

The heavy burdens are numerous minute traditional regulations, human rules and ceremonies rooted in tradition that restricted personal liberty and demanded strict observance of selected parts of the law. They were explained in ways that imposed observances on others while those who taught them secretly ignored them, neglected them themselves, and claimed exemption when convenient or when their neglect was exposed.

The leaders extended God's commands into unreasonable traditions and exactions, making obedience painful and making life a strain of ceremonies, limits, and demands people could not meet. Their rules distracted people from true religion and from Christ, weakened respect for God, and obscured the force of His law. Their narrow rules and outward tests of piety obscured God's real requirements and neglected heartfelt service to Him.

They taught the law but added the commandments of men, mingling human traditions with the divine precepts and covering and corrupting the genuine requirements of God with man-made forms and ceremonies. By unimportant exactions they perverted the divine commandments and made the law a rigorous burden, corrupting true religious service. After divine punishment they returned to strict outward observance and went further, with pride and bigotry giving the narrowest interpretation of God's requirements and heaping tradition upon tradition until they regarded those traditions as sacred as the original law itself. Those additions became a false standard of duty and superficial tests of piety that obscured the real and positive requirements of God, while heart service was neglected for rigid performance of outward ceremonies. Their ceremonies and restrictions turned religion into a yoke of bondage and kept people from essential duties, while outward appearance of piety concealed hypocrisy, pride, and avarice.

Especially by narrow Sabbath restrictions and meaningless requirements they turned God's law into a yoke of bondage that made the holy day nearly unendurable and obscured the Sabbath's true meaning. They were thus ready to accuse Christ of breaking the Sabbath for His acts of mercy on that day. Unlike such added rules, God's commandments can be consistently kept by all and do not impose meaningless customs or clumsy restrictions, and Jesus came to exalt the law, not lessen its dignity.

As priests and teachers placed in charge of the Lord's vineyard, they were untrue husbandmen seeking their own glory and desiring to appropriate the fruits of the vineyard. Instead of teaching a Thus saith the Lord and keeping God's goodness, mercy, and claim to love and service before the people, they perverted the Scriptures and enforced ceremonies reaching to every step in life. The people lived in continual unrest because they could not fulfil the rabbis' requirements, and seeing the impossibility of keeping man-made commandments they became careless regarding the commandments of God.

They set aside God's commandments by their traditions, holding the fourth commandment loosely and belittling the Sabbath as God's test of loyalty while making dress and other little man-made items a test of character and Christian fellowship and binding their own ideas as grievous burdens. They excused sending children to school on the Sabbath and opened the way to excuse Sabbath work. By this course they separated themselves far from the people so their influence could not reach them, gave a wrong impression of the truth, failed to exalt God's cause, pleased Satan, caused Sabbathkeeping Adventists to be regarded as fanatics and extremists, and made unbelievers think the doctrine makes its followers unkind, uncourteous, and unchristian.

Hypocrisy of Leaders

They laid on others what they taught from the Scriptures about the law yet did not practice that teaching themselves, did not bring their own works into agreement with the written Word, and did nothing to help bear the burdens they imposed, so their demands were not matched by practical care, obedience, or help. They explained parts of the law in ways that required observances of others while they themselves secretly neglected those observances and claimed exemption when it suited them or when their neglect was exposed. What was good in their teaching could still be followed, but their example was not to be imitated, because their teaching and conduct did not agree.

Their teaching and conduct were hypocritical, for outward devotion, show of piety, and profession of sanctity stood against lives contrary to God's law, mercy, and love. That outward appearance of piety concealed lack of true godliness, hypocrisy, pride, and avarice. Their demands grew increasingly rigid as God's love and Spirit were lost, until mercy and the love of God were entirely lost sight of, and outward strictness and observance of forms could not take the place of living faith and devotion. Self-exaltation brought in rigid rules and exactions that left no chance for God to work upon minds, and the same wrong is done whenever self is prominent, Christ is pushed aside, and one branch of work is magnified with narrow, selfish ideas.

In contrast Christ gave the true interpretation of the law and the prophets and the true significance of every type and symbol, stood alone in living the law of God, and revealed the love of God by untainted purity, humility, meekness, and sympathy for all classes, high and low, rich and poor. By that life He exposed them as whited sepulchres deceiving the people by profession of sanctity, and the contrast shed rich light on the pathway of those who claimed to worship God, but they chose darkness rather than light. They made selfish, egotistical human systems and rules opposed to the principles of God's law, treated those human laws as more important than God's law while breaking God's principles every day, and put hard, oppressive requirements on others enforced to the letter, which dishonors the Creator. This repeats what the Jews did and describes managing things to bring money into the treasury, as men connected with the Review and Herald office did.

They exposed themselves by taking advantage of the people through oppressive requirements while perverting the truth, and God weighs actions so that condemnation will come upon all who break God's law and turn from what is right. They held an icy chilliness and reserve toward others, desiring to be dictators and teachers rather than learners. Though claiming to uphold God's claims, when God sent His Son to give better understanding of His claims, more perfect knowledge of truth, and the best manner to help fellow men, they refused the instruction, thought Christ too liberal because His ways did not agree with theirs, sought to convert Christ into unison with themselves instead of bringing their own lives into harmony with His, refused to cooperate, cast their influence against Him to work their own purposes, and placed themselves in irretrievable darkness. Those entrusted with truth must do the opposite, letting light and strength received from God shine against error and superstition, meeting men where they are with calm peace, ministering light, comfort, and peace after Christ's kind, generous, social example, and using all things in trust to advance His cause.

Though sitting in Moses' seat, they exercised power in an authoritative manner but left the people unfed, so the people were as sheep without a shepherd and drew Christ's compassion, while the leaders merited censure as thieves and robbers.

Oppression in Later Ages

The words were spoken concerning the bigoted Jews at Christ's first advent, who were outwardly rigorous in observance while secretly trampling every principle of God's law, loading it down with exactions and traditions that made obedience painful and burdensome. With still greater force they apply to Romish leaders, who profess to reverence the cross and exalt outwardly the symbol of Christ's sufferings while in life denying Him whom it represents, burying His teachings beneath senseless traditions, false interpretations, and rigorous exactions, laying grievous requirements on men's shoulders and keeping conscientious souls in constant terror fearing the wrath of an offended God, while they themselves live in luxury and sensual pleasure and will not lift the burdens. In that later setting the rigorous exactions included pilgrimages, penance, worship of relics, building churches and shrines, and paying the church, all taught as ways to atone for sin or gain God's favor, while the people remained burdened by heavy demands. Likewise the verse applies to religious leaders who impose religious duties on conscientious people and keep them in fear of God's anger while living in luxury and sensual pleasure.

It is part of Christ's fearful denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees for undue assumption of authority in binding heavy burdens on men, condemning the work of exalting human authority to rule the conscience, which has been a terrible curse to the church in all ages. Lawful priestly authority so used for unlawful ends becomes an instrument of oppression rather than faithful service. Christ knew this spirit would not cease with the dispersion of the Jews, so His denunciation was placed on record as an admonition to future generations not to follow these blind leaders, warning against undue authority and exposing its oppressive use.

The verse pronounces a woe upon all who transgress God's law. In His day He pronounced it upon the lawyers because they used their power to afflict those who looked to them for justice and judgment by binding heavy burdens upon them. The same woe with all the terrible consequences of sin will come upon those, even nominal church members, who treat setting aside Jehovah's law as a light matter and make no distinction between good and evil.

Counsel for Church Today

The verse forbids laying on others loads they are unable to bear, and exposes the wrong of placing grievous burdens on people. It warns against controlling those who receive the truth by commanding and forbidding them, for they belong to Christ and workers must not exercise unwise authority over them. Those who depend on God, have faith working through love, and have purified souls will not burden others in this way.

It condemns a Pharisaical spirit that departs from the Bible standard, in which people assume authority over others without divine authority, seek to rule, and impose human ideas, judgments, regulations and plans while failing to learn from Jesus. Its lesson applies to those who control fellow workers through human rules rather than Christ's spirit, burdening them with human requirements that restrict freedom, disregarding God's commandments, elevating tradition above Scripture, and obstructing the work God calls them to do. Those who seek control and persist in opposing their brethren manufacture burdens for others to carry. Leaders who impose such rules while failing to act with fairness and self-government make people groan under an oppressive yoke, but those who depend on God, are converted at heart, and learn Christ's way will not place such grievous burdens on others.

God's servants must not oppress those in their care but are to act with mercy, patience, compassion and forbearance and help those who have infirmities. Christ's work is to undo such burdens, free the oppressed and break every yoke, so His people must oppose oppressive leadership and treat one another with sympathy and compassion. Teachers must not impose sharp, severe, exacting demands they themselves will not bear while living loosely toward God and failing in word, spirit and action to set a proper example, for such educators burden students instead of following Christ's meek and lowly example. Instruction in the church is to be given modestly by teachers who do the Word they hold forth and in meekness open mind and heart to its light, with much well-organized effort and far less preaching, lest the flock be left unfed as sheep without a shepherd.

When self is prominent and Christ is pushed aside, one branch of work is magnified with narrow, selfish ideas and rigid rules that take away all chance for God to work upon minds, until mercy and the love of God are entirely lost sight of. Those who love God must be left a chance for God to do something for them, and no rules must leave them destitute of grace, as destitute as the hills of Gilboa without dew or rain. In the southern field this means brethren must not estrange Edson White from his work by such burdens, for Jesus looks with tenderness upon him. Instead they are to help him by appreciation for what has blessed the cause, recognition of his unselfish help to the distressed from his own means, and an ounce of commendation for good done and consideration for misfortunes rather than great exactitude.

People can also be burdened with distressing responsibilities through wrong counsel, when human advice from those not on Christ's side leads parents to take on burdens they cannot bear and leaves them vulnerable to temptation. The language applies as well to overloading oneself with business and heavy responsibilities until there is no time to pray or attend to spiritual life. The burdened are not required to work until exhaustion but need the Lord beside them, should bear duties with Christ who is meek and lowly, and must keep spiritual health and God's truth in the heart a priority.