Verse of the Day: Matthew 23:14 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Matthew 23:14 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."
If I were a banker I would certainly be uncomfortable with this verse being in the Bible.
These Jews in Jesus day, who called themselves Pharisees and pretended to be more knowledgeable than the rest of their brethren are said to pray, or at least make noise as though in prayer, up to 9 hours a day. I spoke with a self pius jew not long ago who informed me that even today these black robed religious folks will pray earnestly for your dead relatives. ( for MONEY) . So sad.
Jesus Christ certainly knew this sort were not truly praying for he did not hear their prayers. They prayed for pretense not repentance. They prayed for advantage not for absolution. They were very religious but not at all righteous.
They positioned themselves in matters of economics as better than widows and rearranged the law in such a way as to rob the widow of her inheritance. Woe unto them and woe unto you who do the same thing.
Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. Exodus 22:22
2 timothy 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
Jesus Christ declared that there are degrees of damnation. Notice that these folks will receive the GREATER Damnation. Possibly another reason many so called newer versions omit this verse. Folks who do not believe in Hell might have an even harder time believing that some places in hell are worse than others. !!
John Gill in his commentary on this verse notes: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
The same character is given as before, and the same woe denounced, and a fresh reason given of it:
for ye devour widows' houses;
that is, the goods in the houses of such as were left with fatherless children, and but little to support them; who being left alone, and none to advise them, and being weak, and prone to superstition; these greedy dogs, as Isaiah calls them, who could never have enough, easily imposed upon them, wormed them out of all their substance, stripped them bare of the necessaries of life, prevailed on them to sell their houses and goods, and bestow them on them; or got their little estates into their hands, pretending to take care, and dispose of them for them, to their advantage:
and for a pretense make long prayers:
as if they were very holy, good men; or pretended that the substance of these widows, which they got into their hands, was for their long prayers for them; or they made long prayers for them in return for their substance. Maimonides F24 says, that
``the ancient saints, or good men, used to stay an hour before prayer, and an hour after prayer, and "prolonged", or "held an hour in prayer":''
and this being three times a day, nine hours every day, as is observed in the Talmud F25, were spent in this manner; and on this account they got the character of very devout and religious men, and hereby covered all their avarice, rapine, and oppression of the poor: but God will not be mocked;
therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation;
both on account of their plundering and distressing the poor, the widows, and the fatherless; and also because of their hypocrisy in doing this under the cover of religion and holiness. Hence it appears, that there are degrees of punishment in hell, and that hypocrites, and all such who oppress the poor, under the mask of godliness, supposing gain to be that, will be partakers of the greatest degree of it.