For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
| Word | Greek | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| For | γάρ gár | G1063 | properly |
| they bind | δεσμεύουσιν desmeuousin | G1195 | to be a binder (captor) · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural |
| heavy | βαρέα barea | G926 | weighty · adjective — accusative plural neuter |
| burdens | φορτία phortia | G5413 | an invoice (as part of freight) · noun — accusative plural neuter |
| and | καὶ kai | G2532 | and · conjunction |
| grievous to be borne | δυσβάστακτα dusbastakta | G1419 | oppressive · adjective — accusative plural neuter |
| and | καὶ kai | G2532 | and · conjunction |
| lay | ἐπιτιθέασιν epititheasin | G2007 | to impose (in a friendly or hostile sense) · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural |
| on | ἐπὶ epi | G1909 | properly · preposition |
| men’s | ἀνθρώπων· anthrōpōn | G444 | from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι)) · noun — genitive plural masculine |
| shoulders | ὤμους ōmous | G5606 | the shoulder (as that on which burdens are borne) · noun — accusative plural masculine |
| but | δὲ de | G1161 | but · conjunction |
| they themselves will | θέλουσιν thelousin | G2309 | to determine (as an active option from subjective impul… · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural |
| not | οὐ ou | G3756 | the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative |
| move | κινῆσαι kinēsai | G2795 | to stir (transitively) · verb — aorist active infinitive |
| them | αὐτοὶ autoi | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — nominative plural masculine |
| with one of | δακτύλῳ daktulō | G1147 | a finger · noun — dative singular masculine |
| their | αὐτῶν autōn | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine |
| fingers | δάκτυλος dáktylos | G1147 | a finger |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them--"touch them not" (Luk 11:46). with one of their fingers--referring not so much to the irksomeness of the legal rites, though they were irksome enough (Act 15:10), as to the heartless rigor with which they were enforced, and by men of shameless inconsistency.
For they bind heavy burdens,.... Meaning not the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses, circumcision, and other rituals, which obliged to the keeping of the whole law, which was a yoke men were not able to bear; but the traditions of the elders, which the Scribes and Pharisees were very tenacious of, and very severely enjoined the observance of, and are called their "heavy" things (o). "It is a tradition of R. Ishmael, there are in the words of the law, that, which is bound or forbidden, and that which is loose or free; and there are in them light things, and there are in them heavy things; but the words of the Scribes, , "all of them are heavy".'' And a little after, "the words of th…
Read the whole note in the consoleMatthew 23:1-12 Matthew 23:1-12 Mark 12:38-39 Luke 11:45-46 1. Then Jesus spoke to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses. 3. Observe and do, therefore, all things whatever they command you to observe; but do not according to their works; for they say and do not. 4. For they bind heavy and intolerable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they refuse to touch them with their finger. 5. And they do all their works that they may be seen by men, and make their phylacteries broad, and wear large fringes on their robes, 6. And love the first places at entertainments, and the first seats in the synagogues, 7. And salutati…
Read the whole note in the consoleBut all these things, the shoulders, the finger, the burdens, and the bands with which they bind the burdens, have a spiritual meaning. Herein also the Lord speaks generally against all masters who enjoin high things, but do not even little things.
(Verse 4.) However, they bind heavy and burdensome loads and lay them on people's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with their finger. This applies generally to all teachers who command heavy things but do not do smaller things. However, it should be noted that both the shoulders, the finger, the burdens, and the chains with which the burdens are bound should be understood spiritually.
And together with these He mentions also another charge against them, that they are harsh to those accountable to them. "For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they will not move them with their finger." He mentions here a twofold wickedness, their requiring great and extreme strictness of life, without any indulgence, from those over whom they rule, and their allowing to themselves great security; the opposite to which the truly good ruler ought to hold; in what concerns himself, to be an unpardoning and severe judge, but in the matters of those whom he rules, to be gentle and ready to make allowances; the contrary to which was the conduct of these men. For such are all they who practise self restraint in mere words, unpardoning and grievous to bear as having no experience of the difficulty in actions. And this itself too is no small fault, and in no ordinary way increases the former charge. But do thou mark, I pray thee, how He aggravates this accusation also. For He did not say, "they cannot," but, "they will not." And He did not say, "to bear," but, "to move with a finger," that is, not even to come near them, nor to touch them.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
unbearable religious demands: There were 613 legal prohibitions and commands, according to the rabbis (see 11:28-30; Acts 15:10, 28). • never lift a finger: The religious leaders were unwilling to consider relaxing traditional legal statutes.
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
