IN our last paper on the Pharisees, we saw how utterly they had perverted to their own advancement the reality of being the Separate Ones, from sin and to God. Before noticing their doctrines, let us for a moment consider our Lord Jesus, the true Nazarite, who was ever the Holy, the Undefiled, the Separate from sinners (Heb. 7:26), and who now in heaven―having sanctified, or separated Himself from the very earth we tread (read John 17:19) ―is the Separate One.
Our holy and loving Lord was at every step of His life the perfect Man; He ever walked with the Father, and apart from sin. His joy flowed from communion with the Father. This He speaks of as “My joy.” (John 17:13.) His peace amidst the storms of life arose from the same source, and this He calls “My peace.” (John 14:27.) His holy separation was marked by meekness, lowliness, and love, so marvelous that, as we consider Him, we can only wonder and adore. He, the Lord of all, is the pattern of humility for men, who are but dust and ashes, and this seems a greater wonder than His might and majesty in creating all things! He humbled Himself. His holy hand touched the unclean, and in His compassion, He stooped to instruct the ignorant; He fed the poor, He ate with publicans and sinners, none of which the proud Pharisees could or would do, and all of which they abhorred. He retired for nights of prayer, to pray to His Father in secret; He wept over sinners in their sins, and, while He denounced sin, invited sinners to Himself, and to His Father. Every way of our holy and loving Lord was different from those of the hard, proud, exclusive men who lived inside the hedge of their scorn of others to their own satisfaction.
The teaching of the Lord, as we open the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, is directly opposed to that of these separate ones. The kingdom He proclaimed, and its holy but gracious principles, was as different from their doctrines as heaven and earth. Yes, indeed, Jesus preached the kingdom of heaven; they proclaimed the pride of earth! Oh! for more of those blessings of His beatitudes, which, never let us forget, are in great part for us on earth.
What did the Lord mean when He warned His hearers of the leaven of the Pharisees? It was not “of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine” (Matt. 16:6, 12), which He declared was “hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1), that He spake. Their doctrine, speaking shortly, was cleansing the outside of the cup and of the platter, but leaving the inside full of evil; and, like their doctrines, the Pharisees, who outwardly appeared righteous to men, were within full of iniquity. (Matt. 23:25-27.)
Thus spake the Lord, who “knew what was in man” (John 2:25), and never let us forget that in His perfection He was angry with hypocrisy and iniquity, as in His perfection He was full of mercy and forgiveness. The Lord’s stern words to and of these religionists of His day express His holy hatred of deceit and lying. To speak lightly or sin is neither love nor holiness.
What were the two great principles of the Pharisees? One was purification. Under this head comes the washing of hands, which the Lord refused and exposed. The mode of washing the hands enjoined among them in our Lord’s time, was to lift up one or both hands and to pour water upon them; this was required to run down to the wrist; if it did not reach the wrist, the purification was not considered complete. It was a system of purification, not cleanliness; what we may perhaps term the holiness of purified hands. How this ceremony originated need not concern us; but an important point about it is, that having created the ordinance, they sought Scripture to support it. We may always shun a religious tradition which, after men have received, they try to enforce by Scripture.
We remember the six water-pots of stone kept for the purposes of purification at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee; in some such vessels the water used for the washing of the hands was kept, and it was drawn out and poured over the hands with a little measure or cup. To such lengths did the Pharisees go in their outward notions and traditions of defilement, that even by carrying a portion of the Scriptures―say a book―the hands were considered to be defiled.
Our picture shows us what one of the washings before meals was like. The guest is seated in the outer room, and near him is a water-pot of purification. He holds up one hand, while with the other he pours water over it, which must reach to the wrist―no further. A slave attends upon him.
With all this form and ceremony about washing the hands, or cups and platters, these separated ones passed over “judgment and the love of God.” (Luke 11:42.) They allowed the fatal principle of attributing a moral value to a ceremonial action. This allowed in the soul, is like a worm in the bud to the destruction of morality and spirituality. If our hearts do not go with our actions we are but acting a part, and that is hypocrisy. If we bow our bodies in the presence of God, and not our hearts, we are hypocrites; if we tell a man whom we do not wish to see, how glad we are he has called upon us, we are hypocrites. Remember, God searches our hearts. No ceremonial action, Godward or man-ward, save as the expression of what is in the heart, can be acceptable.
What was another great point with the Pharisees? Tithing. God had required tithes from Israel for His service. The Pharisees tithed most scrupulously, even to the stalks of plants, such as the mint, rue, anise, and cummin, of which the Lord spoke. On no account would they forego such a command of God. We hear of one holy Rabbi who had been so precise about tithes that (so it was said) he had trained his ass not to eat corn the tithe of which had not been taken! Yet, while such folly passed for religion, the Lord said, zealous as they were in tithes, they neglected judgment, mercy, and faith. (Matt. 23:23.) Any base soul can give tithes and maintain his baseness, but judgment is the outcome of honor. Judgment, upright and honorable judgment, God demands of His people, and woe the nation, the people, or the man who dares to neglect this. Do not we see that we, too, may be busy with our “tithes,” or what we recognize as our religious duty, and yet neglect judgment! while, as for mercy, in which God delights, how slow are we thereto! Judgment and mercy are the results of our disposition towards our fellow men, and if these are evil, we had better not speak of our faith in God!
The Pharisees had faith in themselves, and hence neither mercy nor judgment towards men came into their articles of religion. The Lord said of them, they strained out the gnat, but swallowed the camel. Let us not be like them; let us not even allow our indignation to pour out itself upon those whited sepulchers of 1800 years ago, but let us beware of the meshes of our own religious strainer, and see to it, in the sight of God, that we are honest and upright in what we do. Let us see to it that, while careful in the outward observances of religion, and watchful lest ever so small a wrong thing of an exterior kind be allowed by us, we all the while are not swallowing a mass of evil! This was the sin of the system the Lord denounced when He said, they strained out the gnat and swallowed the camel.
Read St. Luke 11:39-41, where these two great principles of Pharisaic holiness, to which we have referred, are exposed by the Lord.