23:1-3 Whatever they tell you to do that Moses commanded from Moses' seat, that do. But do not do what they themselves are doing. Consistent living has always been a problem.

23:4-5 Phylacteries was a leather box, cube-shaped, closed with an attached flap, and bound to the wrist by a leather band. Verses of Scripture were in the boxes. No Jew ever wore one until after the Babylonian captivity.

23:6,7 Most make the mistake of limiting this info to history.

23:8-13 Context is religious leaders, not human father.

23:13-15 "Woe unto you" 8 times - (vs. 13,14,15,16,23,25,27,29).

23:16-22 Their priorities had gotten so twisted.

[1]. The altar is greater than the spirit.
[2]. The temple is greater than the altar.
[3]. Heaven greater than the temple of God.
[4]. God is greater than all.

23:23-28 "Ye pay tithe." Surely enough, they did. The tithe, here mentioned, is the tithe of garden vegetables, commanded in (Lev. 27:30-32), which (as all Old Testament tithes) was to be brought to the storehouse at Jerusalem (Mal. 3:10; Neh. 10:38), once every three years (Deut. 14:28; 26:12). It is NOT money, It was vegetables and ANIMALS. It was NOT brought on the first day of the week. (see "meat in mine house," Mal. 3:10). In the passage before us, the mint is as our mint, the anise is a dill-spice, and the cumin is an herb (Isa. 28:25). The Pharisees are meticulous in tithing matters; note that. (Since the tithe is something to be eaten [see comments on verses 18,19], then to be sure, it is very, very important!!)

23:29-33 The idea is - your worship the dead past and canonize people no longer a threat to you, but if they were alive today, their preaching would take your hid off. (Luther, Wesley, Whitefield, Knox)

Jesus, here, defines the proper Old Testament canon. Despite this fixing by the author Himself of the scripture, Catholics to this day are taught to believe that a King James Bible is short some inspired books! Now notice how Jesus fixes the 39 books of the Old Testament canon as the correct number - exactly as they are numbered in an A.V. 1611.

[1]. He lists the blood of the righteous slain as from "Abel to Zacharias" (Matt. 23:35).
[2]. Abel is slain in Genesis (Gen. 4), but Zacharias is slain in (2 Chron. 24:20-22).
[3]. The beginning of the end, then, of an Old Testament (for Jesus) was Genesis to (2 Chron.).
[4]. When we pick up the Hebrew Bible (in the Hebrew language), what do we find?

We find the books laid out in this order, with no Catholic books:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles!

Notice the Holy Spirit, who gave the oracles to Israel (Rom. 3:2) by means of Jewish writers, at no time ever inspired, tolerated, or even permitted the entrance of the Catholic Apocrypha to this list.