The Woes of the Scribes and Pharisees

”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”
- Matthew 23:37

I was blessed with the gift of a book titled The Potter’s Freedom by James R. White, given to me by my pastor awhile back. Yesterday, I read something interesting about this particular passage of Scripture that is often used to defend the “free will” of man. I’d like to share with you White’s enlightening exposition of this verse.

“The first fact to ascertain in examining any passage of Scripture is its context. This passage comes in the midst of the proclamation of judgment upon the leaders of the Jews. Matthew 23 contains the strongest denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees in all of the Gospels.

“Who, then, is “Jerusalem”? It is assumed by Arminian writers that “Jerusalem” represents individual Jews…capable of resisting the work and will of Christ. But upon what warrant do we leap from “Jerusalem” to “individual Jews”? The context would not lead us to conclude that this is to be taken in a universal sense. Jesus is condemning the Jewish leaders, and it is to them that He refers here. This is clearly seen in that:

“1. It is to the leaders that God sent prophets;
2. It was the Jewish leaders who killed the prophets…;
3. Jesus speaks of “your children,” differentiating those to whom He is speaking from those that the Lord desired to gather together;
4. The context refers to the Jewish leaders, scribes and Pharisees.

“A vitally important point to make here is that the ones the Lord desired to gather are not the ones who “were not willing”!

“Jesus speaks to the leaders about their children that they, the leaders, would not allow him to “gather.” Jesus was not seeking to gather the leaders, but their children. This one consideration alone renders the passage useless for the Arminian seeking to establish freewillism. The “children” of the leaders would be Jews who were hindered by the Jewish leaders from hearing Christ. The “you would not” then is referring to the same men indicated by the context; the Jewish leaders who “were unwilling” to allow those under their authority to hear the proclamation of the Christ. This verse, then, is speaking to the same issues raised earlier in Matthew 23:13:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

“John Gill added this insight:

“That the persons whom Christ would have gathered are not represented as being unwilling to be gathered; but their rulers were not willing that they should. The opposition and resistance to the will of Christ, were not made by the people, but by their governors. The common people seemed inclined to attend the ministry of Christ, as appears from the vast crowds which, at different times and places, followed him; but the chief priests and rulers did all they could to hinder the collection of them to him; and their belief in him as the Messiah, by traducing his character, miracles, and doctrines, and by passing an act that whosoever confessed him should be put out of the synagogue; so that the obvious meaning of the text is the same with that of verse 13…and consequently is no proof of men’s resisting the operations of the Spirit and grace of God, but of obstructions and discouragements thrown in the way of attendance on the external ministry of the word.””