Sons of Hell

Author: Joseph

Date: February 25, 2024

The love of being exalted by others motivated the Pharisees to ensure that they would maintain power. They praised themselves with their endless man-made rituals and their strict interpretations of the Scripture that would display their “great wisdom.” Yet in their outer appearance they seemed nearly “perfect” to those watching them, they were liars and pursuers of self-glorification above all else. They would even use the Scriptures, distorting them, to their selfish advantage in Judean society.

Yeshua spoke to the crowds first denouncing the Pharisees hypocrisy (they claimed authority from the Scripture), telling the people to heed the Scriptures that they taught, however, not to act according to their ways. Yeshua then denounces them more directly:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from the people; for you do not enter in yourselves, not do you allow those who are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). Yeshua was implying that the Pharisees, for all their grandiose displays of false obedience, had no part in God’s kingdom. All of their prayers, offerings, wardrobes, traditions meant nothing to God because they were done contrary to God’s words and with evil hearts that desired to satisfy their pride. They were not entering the kingdom of God, yet they were misleading the people to follow after them in similar manner: away from God’s will.

As an indirect warning to those listening, he states that the Pharisees travel far distances in order to make disciples of their own and then turn those disciples into “twice as much a son of hell” as they themselves were (Matthew 23:15). If the Pharisees were themselves hypocrites who would not entering the kingdom of God, those whom they discipled after them would be even worse. The disciples of the Pharisees may have genuinely desired to follow after God but then were instead led into a deception that was purposed for serving the selfish desires of their mentors. And the cycle would continue, with each new disciple after them believing they are following the “true” way, but in fact were following a tradition that was never corrected from its error. Therefore, how much deeper and more thorough would the deception be of each passing generation of Pharisee disciples. This is why Yeshua said the disciples of the Pharisees would become “twice as much a son of hell” as themselves.

The Pharisees were always focused on twisting God’s words for their own desires to be met. In His third rebuke (woe) to the Pharisees, He shows how they their thoughts are always on their own selfish gain. Even when they create traditions and man-made laws, their focus in on things they desire. They swear by the temple, but then only forbid the swearing by the gold in it; this reflects their desire to protect their false god of wealth. They swear by the altar, but then only forbid the swearing by the offering; the offering was always the best, unblemished cattle or first grain from the harvest, which revealed their greedy eyes for desiring the things that belonged to God. By their own distractions, they were permitting people to swear by the house of God and by His name, thereby taking His name in vain (Matthew 23:21-22).

"...always focused on twisting God’s words for their own desires..."

The Pharisees desired the aroma of herbs and would offer them to attract attention from their value, yet while they tended to these delicate herb plants that needed time and care to grow well, they neglected the people they were supposed to be leading to God, withholding justice, mercy, and discouraging faithfulness to God. Yeshua noted that their tithes of herbs should have been given without the desire for attention, rather out of a desire to give the best to God. But instead they neglected the heart of what they were doing as well as the people they were supposed to serve (Matthew 23:23). They “strain out a gnat,” abusing the least of the people, and “swallow a camel,” indulging themselves and withholding no pleasure that they desire (Matthew 23:24).

Outer appearance and praise from men was the primary goal of their traditions, not pleasing God. Like tombs, cleaned and polished on the outside, but having a rotting corpse on the inside (Matthew 23:27-28). Ironically to what the Pharisees claimed to be, that is, men of the Law of God, they were in fact “full of hypocrisy and lawlessness,” having abandoned the Law of God for their own traditions to support their own desires (Matthew 23:28). Like the rebellious Israelites who rejected the prophets they too rejected a return to following after God and His words. Yeshua even compares them directly with the men who killed the prophets, stating that what they were doing also bore them the same guilt as those rebellious people.

Sealing their judgment, Yeshua states that He will send to them “prophets and wise men and scribes” calling for their repentance – a foreshadowing of things to come after His crucifixion – but that they will kill and crucify some of them, just as the evil men before them have. Some Pharisees would repent from this pattern of evil, but most did not and fell into the judgment of Yeshua’s words.

The vast majority of Pharisees sought their own desires and were destroyed by them. They did not seek God, regardless of how often they read the Scriptures and no matter how many times Yeshua interacted with them, rebuking them for the sake of their repentance. They held onto their traditions and false holiness, condemning themselves by their opposition to God and their desires that constantly fought against God’s will. They were rightfully rebuked for their behavior as many others fell into their blindness and were led away from God as well.

What traditions of men may you have mistaken for the truth? Are you aware of anything that you believe that has been assumed, but never been properly tested against the Word of God? We need to test everything that we believe against God’s Word to ensure that we are not acting in opposition to God. Even though what we believe may even use the Scripture to support it, is it what God intended through His Word? The Pharisees used the Scriptures for their own desires and then eventually believed their own lies thoroughly enough that they were unable to read the Scriptures and understand the true intention of God’s words. Do not be blinded by false teachings that have “traditional value,” but actually have no authority according to the Scriptures. Prayerfully and studiously discern what is true and good and Scriptural. Let go of man-made traditions, lest you become a “son of hell” yourself, teaching what is contrary to the Word of God.

Matthew 23:13-36

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org