27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27–28 (ESV)
In the context of Matthew 23:13-36, Jesus heralded seven woes against the scribes and the Pharisees. Luke 11:37-54 records an earlier lamentation of six woes. Rather than an oracle from a prophet of God, these woes are an oracle from the God of the prophets; Jesus Christ.
In our last blog, I referred to the expression “keeping up appearances.” Keeping up appearances is an idiom or phrase meaning to hide something bad by pretending nothing is wrong. In other words, it means to put on an outward display of behavior in disharmony with one’s true character or personality.
Today’s text, the sixth woe, continues Jesus condemnation of the scribes and the Pharisees for such ritualistic righteousness. The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day were scrupulous when it came to outward behavior. However, inwardly they were wretched.
Jesus used a simile in comparing the scribes and the Pharisees to whitewashed tombs. Tombs (τάφοις; taphois) were essentially different from a grave. A grave is where a dead body is placed six feet into the ground. A tomb was/is “an enclosure for a corpse cut in the earth or in rock or a monument to the memory of a dead person, erected over their burial place,” defines the Oxford English Dictionary.
To whitewash tombs was to paint them white. This was done in order to cover cracks or defects in the tomb’s outward structure and appearance. People use the term today to refer to attempts to cover up or unpleasant facts about a person, place or thing.
“Nothing spread ritual impurity as severely as a corpse (it made anyone who touched it unclean for a week—Num. 19:11); Pharisees believed that one contracted impurity if even one’s shadow touched a corpse or grave. Inconspicuous tombs (or limestone ossuaries) would be whitewashed each spring before Passover to warn passersby to avoid them and so avoid impurity; the Pharisees either lacked this telltale warning (Lk 11:44) or pretended that it was a mark of distinction rather than evidence of impurity. “Whitewash” probably alludes to Ezekiel 13:10–12 and 22:28; it may have covered over a wall’s weakness but would not stop its collapse,” explains biblical commentator Craig Keener.
Jesus used the word “appear” twice in this context. To appear (φαίνονται; phainontai) refers to a superficial likeness to something or some quality. For example, an individual may publically appear to be godly but his private behavior shows his real character. Jesus condemned the religious leaders for their outwardly beautiful appearance which covered up their hypocrisy and lawlessness. They were like outwardly beautiful whitewashed tombs, but inwardly containing dead men’s bones.
“Between the fifth woe and the sixth there is a close relationship, as even the occurrence of the words “outside” and “inside” in both of these woes indicates. Jesus is about to point out that the sin of his opponents is that they externalize religion, as if outward appearance were an adequate cover for shame and crime,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
How often are we guilty of externalizing our relationship with Christ? We appear righteous when it is convenient or when people are watching, but we behave differently in private. May we repent of such hypocritical behavior and seek to follow the Lord; publically and privately.
Soli deo Gloria!
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