Seven ‘Woes’ Against the False Shepherds

“Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” (see Matthew 23:13-33).

In the 23rd chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, our Lord Yeshua brought down a sledgehammer of justice and rebuke on the heads of the religious leaders in Jerusalem.  He pronounced a total of seven “woes” on them for their hypocrisy and their utter failure to properly lead the people of Israel in the ways of righteousness and truth.

True shepherds sent by YeHoVaH the Almighty will be men “after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jeremiah 3:15).  Having learned through many years of study and personal practice how to live a holy life, true shepherds faithfully lead God’s flock by teaching the purity and perfection of the Torah, by selflessly putting the needs of the flock ahead of their own, and by being filled with the greatest of all virtues:  faith, hope, and love (see 1 Corinthians 13:13).

A true shepherd is to be “above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money” (1 Timothy 3:2-3).  They “must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined” (Titus 1:8).  They must be like those appointed as judges in the time of Moses: “men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe” (Exodus 18:21).

Such shepherds are blessed by the Father with the promise that in the resurrection they “who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

The Pharisees and Sadducees, however, were anything but true shepherds.  Rather, they were among those false prophets Yeshua warned his disciples about, saying, “Beware of false prophets.  They will come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16).  Later, while sailing across the Sea of Galilee, Yeshua specifically warned his disciples concerning the false doctrines being taught by these wicked religious leaders (see Matthew 16:5-12).

Instead of seeking to build up God’s kingdom and establish His righteousness on the earth, the Pharisees and Sadducees focused on building up their own religions and establishing their own traditions, “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).  Instead of feeding God’s flock with that crucial knowledge and understanding of righteousness, they “withheld the key to knowledge” from the people and even worked to “hinder them from entering [the kingdom of heaven]” (Luke 11:52).  Instead of seeking after “the glory that comes from the only God,” they sought after the “glory from one another” (John 5:44).  Instead of teaching God’s ways, they taught their own ways.  Instead of living according to God’s laws, they lived according to their own laws.

The words YeHoVaH God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel hundreds of years earlier against the wicked “shepherds of Israel” of his time also serve to describe the Pharisees and Sadducees with perfect accuracy:

“The word of YeHoVaH came to me:  ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them:  “This is what the Sovereign YeHoVaH says:  ‘Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves!  Should not shepherds take care of the flock?  You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.  You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.  You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.  You have ruled them harshly and brutally’”’” (Ezekiel 34:1-4).

“Should not shepherds take care of the flock?” is the question God asks.  Shouldn’t shepherds strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bound up the injured?  Shouldn’t they bring back the strays and search for the lost?  Instead of ruling over the flock “harshly and brutally,” shouldn’t they lead the flock with love and care?

Yes.  These are the sacred duties of a shepherd of Israel.  These are the duties the Pharisees and Sadducees were failing to fulfill, thus incurring the wrath of Yeshua as recorded in Matthew 23.  For their grave sins and despicable hypocrisy, the Messiah pronounced seven “woes” against them:

Woe #1:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

Woe #2:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

Woe #3:  “Woe to you, blind guides!  You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’  You blind fools!”

Woe #4:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin.  But you have neglected the more important matters of the Torah—justice, mercy and faithfulness.  You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

Woe #5:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

Woe #6:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Woe #7:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.  And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’  So you testify against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets.  Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”

True shepherds of the Almighty will never add to nor subtract from the commandments of YeHoVaH (see Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32).  They will honor God in all that they do and uphold His Torah as the standard of morality and righteousness we must all abide by.  They “Fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13), and they always remember that “Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.  Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6).

False shepherds, however, routinely create their own rules, laws, and personal definitions of holiness.  By so doing, they “nullify the word of God by [their] tradition that [they] have handed down” (Mark 7:13).  More than this, they will always try to force their man-made rules and laws on others, no different than the Pharisees and Sadducees did in the time of our Lord.

Make no mistake, the spirit of the Pharisees and Sadducees is alive and well today.  It is often seen among the body of believers masquerading as righteousness and piety.  “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13).  We must always be wary of that spirit of man-made religion.  We must constantly be on guard to ensure that that wicked spirit never enters our own hearts and makes itself at home within God’s temple, for we know that “If anyone defiles God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:17).

So beware, my brothers and sisters, of those false prophets and wicked shepherds, because “many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).  As our Lord has instructed us, we are to recognize them by their fruits.  If they teach that God’s Torah is old, obsolete, or has been abolished, you know who they are.  If they are adding to and subtracting from the commandments of God, you know who they are.  If they are criticizing or condemning you for certain behaviors not specified in the Torah, you know who they are.

Such shepherds—if they do not repent of their wickedness—have Yeshua’s “Seven Woes” pronounced over them.  For them, our Lord declares, “You snakes!  You brood of vipers!  How will you ever escape the condemnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33).  Truly, woe to such!

May we never fall prey to the false shepherds of the world.  YeHoVaH be with you all.  Amen.

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Seven ‘Woes’ Against the False Shepherds

“Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” (see Matthew 23:13-33).

In the 23rd chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, our Lord Yeshua brought down a sledgehammer of justice and rebuke on the heads of the religious leaders in Jerusalem.  He pronounced a total of seven “woes” on them for their hypocrisy and their utter failure to properly lead the people of Israel in the ways of righteousness and truth.

True shepherds sent by YeHoVaH the Almighty will be men “after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jeremiah 3:15).  Having learned through many years of study and personal practice how to live a holy life, true shepherds faithfully lead God’s flock by teaching the purity and perfection of the Torah, by selflessly putting the needs of the flock ahead of their own, and by being filled with the greatest of all virtues:  faith, hope, and love (see 1 Corinthians 13:13).

A true shepherd is to be “above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money” (1 Timothy 3:2-3).  They “must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined” (Titus 1:8).  They must be like those appointed as judges in the time of Moses: “men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe” (Exodus 18:21).

Such shepherds are blessed by the Father with the promise that in the resurrection they “who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

The Pharisees and Sadducees, however, were anything but true shepherds.  Rather, they were among those false prophets Yeshua warned his disciples about, saying, “Beware of false prophets.  They will come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16).  Later, while sailing across the Sea of Galilee, Yeshua specifically warned his disciples concerning the false doctrines being taught by these wicked religious leaders (see Matthew 16:5-12).

Instead of seeking to build up God’s kingdom and establish His righteousness on the earth, the Pharisees and Sadducees focused on building up their own religions and establishing their own traditions, “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).  Instead of feeding God’s flock with that crucial knowledge and understanding of righteousness, they “withheld the key to knowledge” from the people and even worked to “hinder them from entering [the kingdom of heaven]” (Luke 11:52).  Instead of seeking after “the glory that comes from the only God,” they sought after the “glory from one another” (John 5:44).  Instead of teaching God’s ways, they taught their own ways.  Instead of living according to God’s laws, they lived according to their own laws.

The words YeHoVaH God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel hundreds of years earlier against the wicked “shepherds of Israel” of his time also serve to describe the Pharisees and Sadducees with perfect accuracy:

“The word of YeHoVaH came to me:  ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them:  “This is what the Sovereign YeHoVaH says:  ‘Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves!  Should not shepherds take care of the flock?  You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.  You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.  You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.  You have ruled them harshly and brutally’”’” (Ezekiel 34:1-4).

“Should not shepherds take care of the flock?” is the question God asks.  Shouldn’t shepherds strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bound up the injured?  Shouldn’t they bring back the strays and search for the lost?  Instead of ruling over the flock “harshly and brutally,” shouldn’t they lead the flock with love and care?

Yes.  These are the sacred duties of a shepherd of Israel.  These are the duties the Pharisees and Sadducees were failing to fulfill, thus incurring the wrath of Yeshua as recorded in Matthew 23.  For their grave sins and despicable hypocrisy, the Messiah pronounced seven “woes” against them:

Woe #1:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

Woe #2:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

Woe #3:  “Woe to you, blind guides!  You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’  You blind fools!”

Woe #4:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin.  But you have neglected the more important matters of the Torah—justice, mercy and faithfulness.  You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

Woe #5:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

Woe #6:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Woe #7:  “Woe to you, teachers of the Torah and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.  And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’  So you testify against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets.  Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”

True shepherds of the Almighty will never add to nor subtract from the commandments of YeHoVaH (see Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32).  They will honor God in all that they do and uphold His Torah as the standard of morality and righteousness we must all abide by.  They “Fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13), and they always remember that “Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.  Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6).

False shepherds, however, routinely create their own rules, laws, and personal definitions of holiness.  By so doing, they “nullify the word of God by [their] tradition that [they] have handed down” (Mark 7:13).  More than this, they will always try to force their man-made rules and laws on others, no different than the Pharisees and Sadducees did in the time of our Lord.

Make no mistake, the spirit of the Pharisees and Sadducees is alive and well today.  It is often seen among the body of believers masquerading as righteousness and piety.  “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13).  We must always be wary of that spirit of man-made religion.  We must constantly be on guard to ensure that that wicked spirit never enters our own hearts and makes itself at home within God’s temple, for we know that “If anyone defiles God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:17).

So beware, my brothers and sisters, of those false prophets and wicked shepherds, because “many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).  As our Lord has instructed us, we are to recognize them by their fruits.  If they teach that God’s Torah is old, obsolete, or has been abolished, you know who they are.  If they are adding to and subtracting from the commandments of God, you know who they are.  If they are criticizing or condemning you for certain behaviors not specified in the Torah, you know who they are.

Such shepherds—if they do not repent of their wickedness—have Yeshua’s “Seven Woes” pronounced over them.  For them, our Lord declares, “You snakes!  You brood of vipers!  How will you ever escape the condemnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33).  Truly, woe to such!

May we never fall prey to the false shepherds of the world.  YeHoVaH be with you all.  Amen.

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