Matthew 23:34

He calls them offspring of vipers, because the nature of vipers is such that the young burst the womb of their dam, and so come forth; and in like manner the Jews condemned their fathers, finding fault with their deeds. He says, How shall ye escape the damnation of hell? By building the tombs of the saints? But the first step of piety is to love holiness, the next, to love the saints; for it is not reasonable in him to honour the righteous, who despises righteousness. The saints cannot be friends to those to whom God is an enemy. Shall ye be saved by a mere name, because ye seem to be among God's people! Forasmuch as an open enemy is better than a false friend, so is he more hateful to God, who calls himself the servant of God, and does the commands of the Devil. Indeed, before God he who has resolved to kill a worm is a murderer before the deed is done, for it is the will that is rewarded for good, or punished for evil. Deeds are evidence of the will. God then does not require deeds on His own account that He may know how to judge, but for the sake of other men, that they may perceive that God is righteous. And God affords the opportunity of sin to the wicked, not to make them sin, but to manifest the sinner; and also to the good He gives opportunity to show the purpose of their will. In this way then He gave the Scribes and Pharisees opportunity of showing their purposes, Behold, I send unto you Prophets, and wise men, and Scribes.

Then, because He was searching their temper of mind, which is to the more part obscure, He doth, from those things also which they were about to perpetrate, which would be manifest to all, establish His words. For, because He had said, "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets," making it evident, that of their affinity in wickedness He is speaking, and that it was a pretense to say, "We should not have been partakers with them," He added, "Fill ye up therefore the measure of your fathers," not commanding, but declaring beforehand, what was to be, that is, His own murder. Therefore, having brought in their refutation, and having shown that they were pretenses which they said in their own defense, as, for instance, "We would not have been partakers with them," (for they who refrain not from the Lord, how should they have refrained from the servants), He makes after this His language more condemnatory, calling them "serpents, and generation of vipers," and saying, "How shall ye escape the damnation of hell," at once perpetrating such things, and denying them, and dissembling your purpose? Then rebuking them more exceedingly from another cause also, He Saith, "I will send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them shall ye kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues." For that they should not say, "Though we crucified the Lord, yet from the servants we should have refrained, if we had been then;" "Behold," He saith, "I send servants also to you, prophets likewise themselves, and neither will ye spare them." But these things He saith, showing that it was nothing strange, that He should be murdered by those sons, being both murderous and deceitful, and having much guile, and surpassing their fathers in their outrages. And besides what hath been said, He shows them […]

And to take away all excuse from them that they might not say, Because you sent them to the Gentiles thereat were we offended, He foretels that His disciples should be sent to them, and it is of their punishment that He adds, Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.

Behold I. In this part he sets forth their cruelty and adds the temporal punishment. And first he does the first; secondly, he adds the punishment. And first he sets forth the benefit; secondly, the guilt; thirdly, the magnitude of the punishment. Hence he says, …

He reproves them for saying falsely, "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have killed the prophets." For "Behold," He says, "I send unto you prophets and wise men, and scribes," but you will kill them. He is speaking …

8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

Wherefore, behold I send unto you prophets,....

What precisely is meant by "the wisdom of God" here, is somewhat difficult to determine. To us it appears to be simply an announcement of a purpose of the Divine Wisdom, in the high style of ancient prophecy, to send a last set of messengers whom the people would reject, and rejecting, would fill up the cup of their iniquity.

These verses form the conclusion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s address on the subject of the scribes and Pharisees. They are the last words which he ever spoke as a public teacher in the hearing of the people. The characteristic tenderness and compassion of our Lord shine forth in a striking manner at the close of his ministry. Though he left his enemies in unbelief, he shows that he loved and pitied them to the last. We learn in the first place from these verses that God often takes great pains with ungodly men.

These verses form the conclusion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s address on the subject of the scribes and Pharisees. They are the last words which he ever spoke as a public teacher in the hearing of the people. The characteristic tenderness and compassion of our Lord shine forth in a striking manner at the close of his ministry. Though he left his enemies in unbelief, he shows that he loved and pitied them to the last. We learn in the first place from these verses that God often takes great pains with ungodly men. He sent the Jews “prophets and wise men and scribes.” He gave them repeated warnings; he sent them message after message. He did not allow them to go on sinning without rebuke. They could never say they were not told when they did wrong. This is the way in which God generally deals with unconverted Christians. He does not cut them off in their sins without a call to repentance: he knocks at the door of their hearts by sicknesses and afflictions; he assails their consciences by sermons, or by the advice of friends; he summons them to consider their ways by opening the grave under their eyes, and taking away from them their idols. They often know not what it all means; they are often blind and deaf to all his gracious messages. But they will see his hand at last, though perhaps too late. They will find that “God spake once yea twice but they perceive it not.” ( Job 33:14 ). They will discover that they too, like the Jews, had prophets, wise men and scribes sent to them. There was a voice in every providence, “Turn ye! Turn ye! Why will you die?” ( Ezekiel 33:11 ). We learn in the second place from these verses that God takes notice of the treatment which his messengers and ministers receive, and will one day reckon for it.

I send unto you prophets ... - Jesus doubtless refers here to the apostles, and other teachers of religion. Prophets, wise men, and scribes were the names by which the teachers of religion were known among the Jews, and he therefore used the same terms when speaking of the messengers which he would send. “I send” has the force of the future, I “will” send. Some of them ye shall kill - As in the case of Stephen Act 7:59 and James Act 12:1-2. Crucify - Punish with death on the cross. There are no cases of this mentioned; but few historical records of this age have come down to us. The Jews had not the power of crucifying, but they had power to deliver those whom they condemned to death into the hands of the Romans to do it. Shall scourge - See the notes at Mat 10:17. This was done, Act 22:19-24; 2Co 11:24-25. Persecute ... - See the notes at Mat 5:10. This was fulfilled in the case of nearly all the apostles.