Teks -- Matthew 23:33 (NET)

23:33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Mat 23:33 - Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers

Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers ( opheis gennēmata echidnōn ).

These blistering words come as a climax and remind one of the Baptist (Mat 3:17) and of the time when the Pharisees accused Jesus of being in league with Beelzebub (Mat 12:24). They cut to the bone like whip-cords.

Robertson: Mat 23:33 - How shall ye escape

How shall ye escape ( pōs phugēte ).

Deliberate subjunctive. There is a curse in the Talmud somewhat like this: "Woe to the house of Annas! Woe to their serpent-like hissings."

Wesley: Mat 23:33 - Ye serpents

Our Lord having now lost all hope of reclaiming these, speaks so as to affright others from the like sins.

JFB: Mat 23:33 - Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

In thus, at the end of His ministry, recalling the words of the Baptist at the outset of his, our Lord would seem to intimate that the only difference between their condemnation now and then was, that now they were ripe for their doom, which they were not then.

Clarke: Mat 23:33 - Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers - What a terrible stroke! - Ye are serpents, and the offspring of serpents. This refers to Mat 23:31 : they confessed that they were the children of those who murdered the prophets; and they are now going to murder Christ and his followers, to show that they have not degenerated - an accursed seed, of an accursed breed. My old MS. translates this passage oddly - Gee serpentis, fruytis of burrownyngis of eddris that sleen her modris . There seems to be here an allusion to a common opinion, that the young of the adder or viper which are brought forth alive eat their way through the womb of their mothers. Hence that ancient enigma attributed to Lactantius: -

Non possum nasci, si non occidero matre

Occidi matrem: sed me manet exitus ide

Id mea mors faciet, quod jam mea fecit origo

Cael. Firm. Symposium, N. x

I never can be born, nor see the day

Till through my parent’ s womb I eat my wa

Her I have slain; like her must yield my breath

For that which gave me life, shall cause my deat

Every person must see with what propriety this was applied to the Jews, who were about to murder the very person who gave them their being and all their blessings.

Calvin: Mat 23:33 - Offspring of vipers

33.Offspring of vipers After having demonstrated that the scribes are not only base enemies of sound doctrine, and wicked corrupters of the worship of God, but likewise deadly plagues of the Church, Christ, being about to close his discourse, kindles into more vehement indignation against them; as it is necessary to shake off by violence the flatteries in which hypocrites indulge, and to drag them, as it were, to the judgment seat of God, that they may be filled with alarm. And yet Christ did not keep them alone in his eye, but intended to strike terror into the whole people, that all might guard against a similar destruction. How harsh and intolerable this roughness of language must have been to these reverend instructors may easily be inferred from the long period during which they had held a peaceful dominion, so that no one dared to mutter against them. And there can be no doubt that many were displeased with the great freedom and sharpness which Christ used, and, above all, that he was looked upon as immoderate and outrageous in venturing to apply such reproachful epithets to the order of the scribes; as many fastidious persons of the present day cannot endure any harsh word to be spoken against the Popish clergy. But as Christ had to deal with the worst of hypocrites, who not only were swelled with proud contempt of God, and intoxicated with careless security, but had captivated the multitude by their enchantments, he found it necessary to exclaim against them with vehemence. He calls them serpents both in nature and in habits, and then threatens them with a punishment, which it will be in vain for them to attempt to escape, if they do not speedily repent.

TSK: Mat 23:33 - serpents // how

serpents : Mat 3:7, Mat 12:34, Mat 21:34, Mat 21:35; Gen 3:15; Psa 58:3-5; Isa 57:3, Isa 57:4; Luk 3:7; Joh 8:44; 2Co 11:3; Rev 12:9

how : Mat 23:14; Heb 2:3, Heb 10:29, Heb 12:25

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Mat 23:31-33

Ver. 31-33. You (saith our Lord) confess that you are lineally descended from those who killed the prophets: you have not only their blood communicated to you, but their spirit; your behaviours and carriages towards me and my disciples have witnessed, and will yet further testify, that you are the children of those who killed the prophets in a moral as well as a natural sense; you inherit the same spirit, and are full of the same malice and rancour. They killed them, and you bury them: seeing there is no reclaiming you, go you on, fill up the measure of your fathers’ sins. There is something more to be added to make the iniquity of this nation full. You are a company of serpents, vipers, that cannot escape the damnation of hell.

Lightfoot: Mat 23:33 - The damnation of hell

Ye serpents, ye of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?   

[The damnation of hell.] The judgment of Gehenna. See the Chaldee paraphrast on Rth 2:12; Baal Turim on Gen 1:1; and Midras Tillin.

Gill: Mat 23:33 - Ye servants, ye generation of vipers // how can ye escape the damnation of hell

Ye servants, ye generation of vipers,.... The latter of these names, John the Baptist calls the Sadducees and Pharisees by, in Mat 3:7 and Christ, in Mat 12:34 both express their craft and subtlety, their inward poison, and venomous nature; their fair outside, and specious pretences; their hypocrisy, malice, and wickedness; in which they were like to the old serpent, their father the devil, and to their ancestors, that murdered the prophets; nor could any good thing be expected, from such a viperous generation:

how can ye escape the damnation of hell? signifying, that it was impossible that they should; nor could they surely expect it themselves, who must be conscious to themselves of their wickedness, malice, and deceit. The Persic version reads it, "where can ye escape?" &c. and so Beza says it was read, in one ancient copy of his; and the sense is, whither can ye flee? to whom, or what can you have recourse to, to screen you from the wrath to come? Rocks and mountains, caves and dens, will be of no service. The phrase,

דינה של גיהנם, "the judgment, or damnation of hell", is a phrase often used in the Talmud ^p, and Midrashes ^q of the Jews; and intends future torment, and the everlasting vengeance and wrath of God, the unquenchable fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and which impenitent unbelieving sinners cannot escape,