Matthew 23:31

"and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’"

Key Reflection

This passage highlights a common defense among religious leaders who sought to distance themselves from their forefathers' sins. By claiming they would not have participated in the murders of the prophets, these leaders attempted to justify their own failures and avoid responsibility for their actions, reflecting a tendency to blame the past rather than addressing present wrongdoings.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 31. Ye be witnesses unto yourselves. The emphasis, here, lies in the words "unto yourselves." It was an appeal to their conscience. It was not by their building the tombs that they were witnesses that they were the children of those who slew the prophets; but in spite of all this pretence to piety--under cloak of all this profession--they knew in their consciences, and were witnesses to themselves, that it was mere hypocrisy, and that they really approved the conduct of those who slew the prophets. Children of them, etc. Resembling them; approving their conduct; inheriting their feelings.

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