Two-fold Children of Hell - Matthew 23:15

Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus said, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore you shall receive the greater damnation”, and in chapter twenty-three and verse fifteen of his book Matthew shared how Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees, “compass sea and land to make one proselyte” and “make him twofold more the child of hell than” themselves where we read:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

The verse reads, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, ...”. Matthew began with the words, “woe unto you” which refers to “an expression of grief or denunciation to those religious leaders who are” “scribes” which means “men who are learned in the Mosaic law and in the sacred writings as interpreters and teachers” “and Pharisees” or “the sect that seems to have started after the Jewish exile. In addition to Old Testament books the Pharisees recognized in oral tradition a standard of belief and life”, “hypocrites” which refers to “actors, stage players, dissemblers and pretenders”! “for you compass” or “because and since the scribes and Pharisees lead around, go about and walk around” “sea and land” which means “great bodies of water and dry withered places of earth” “to make one proselyte” or “to produce, make ready and prepare one single newcomer, stranger or one who accedes to Judaism”. Matthew shared how the “scribes and Pharisees” were living as “stage actors” who would travel over “sea and land” to have one single “newcomer and stranger” to convert to Judaism.

The verse continues, “... and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” Matthew added the words, “and when” which means “and at the time and moment” “he is made” which means “when the person is converted and accedes to Judaism”, “you make him twofold more” or “the scribes and Pharisees produce and fashion the convert to twice and double” “the child of hell” which means “the offspring, descendant and posterity who belongs to the place of the future punishment called "Gehenna" or "Gehenna of fire"” “than yourselves” or “than the scribes and Pharisees themselves”. Matthew shared how Jesus said the “scribes and Pharisees” produce converts who are “twice” the “candidates” for “eternal hell” that they are.

When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we discover the horrific fate of those who follow after the teachings of these “scribes and Pharisees”. “Eternal hell” in “double portion” was the result of following after their teachings and ways, and Jesus exposed their pernicious and destructive production. God desires every person to have a loving personal relationship with Him through His Son Jesus, and all who “trust in, rely upon and cling to” Him shall receive “everlasting life” with God. All who follow other ways shall inherit the promise given to the “scribes and Pharisees”, and woe be to those who learn their ways.

Next time we see Matthew write how Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees, “blind guides”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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