Luke 11:42

But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(42) Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint.—See Note on Matthew 23:23. Here, again, we note minor variations—“rue and all manner of herbs,” for St. Matthew’s “anise and cummin;” “judgment and the love of God,” for “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith”—sufficient to show independence.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:37-54 We should all look to our hearts, that they may be cleansed and new-created; and while we attend to the great things of the law and of the gospel, we must not neglect the smallest matter God has appointed. When any wait to catch something out of our mouths, that they may insnare us, O Lord, give us thy prudence and thy patience, and disappoint their evil purposes. Furnish us with such meekness and patience that we may glory in reproaches, for Christ's sake, and that thy Holy Spirit may rest upon us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See Matthew 23:23.

Rue - This is a small garden plant, and is used as a medicine. It has a rosy flower, a bitter, penetrating taste, and a strong smell.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

42. mint … rue, &c.—rounding on Le 27:30, which they interpreted rigidly. Our Lord purposely names the most trifling products of the earth, as examples of what they punctiliously exacted the tenth of.

judgment and the love of God—in Mt 23:25, "judgment, mercy, and faith." The reference is to Mic 6:6-8, whose third element of all acceptable religion, "walking humbly with God," comprehends both "love" and "faith." (See on [1642]Mr 12:29; [1643]Mr 12:32, 33). The same tendency to merge greater duties in less besets us still, but it is the characteristic of hypocrites.

these ought ye, &c.—There is no need for one set of duties to jostle out another; but of the greater, our Lord says, "Ye ought to have done" them; of the lesser, only "ye ought not to leave them undone."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Matthew 23:23". There are two great notes of hypocrites:

1. To be more exact, in and zealous for the observation of rituals and the traditions of men, than in and for the observation of the moral law of God.

2. In matters of morality, to be more exact and strict in and for little things, than for things more grave and weighty.

There is no commandment of God so little as we may neglect, or despise, or disobey it; but yet there is a difference in duties, and we ought to have more regard to the greater than to the lesser.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But woe unto you Pharisees,.... Though these words, with several other passages in this chapter, are much alike with those in Matthew 23 yet it is clear that they were spoken at different times, these in the house of a Pharisee, and they in the temple at Jerusalem:

for ye tithe mint and rue; See Gill on Matthew 23:23 the Persic version here reads, "mint and anise", as there; and the Ethiopic version only "hyssop":

and all manner of herbs; or "every herb"; that is, all sorts of herbs that grow in the garden, and were not common to all;

and pass over judgment, and the love of God: by "judgment" may be meant justice, or doing that which is right between man and man, both publicly and privately, which was greatly neglected by these extortioners and unjust men: and by "the love of God" may be intended, both love to God, which shows itself in the observance of the first table of the law, and love to the neighbour, which God requires, and regards the second table:

these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone; See Gill on Matthew 23:23.

Geneva Study Bible

{11} But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye {g} tithe mint and rue and {h} all manner of herbs, and pass over {i} judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

(11) It is the characteristic of hypocrites to stand firmly for little trifles and to let greater matters pass.

(g) You decide by God's law that the tenth part is due to be paid.

(h) Of all types of herbs, some as Augustine expounds it in his Enchiridion to Laurence, chap. 99, where he shows in like manner how that place of Paul,

(God will have all men to be saved), 1Ti 2:4, is to be expounded after the same manner.

(i) That is to say, that which is right and reasonable to do, for this word judgment contains the commandments of the second table, and the other words, the love of God, contain the commandments of the first.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 11:42-43. See on Matthew 23:23; Matthew 23:6 f. But woe unto you, ye have quite different maxims!

παρέρχεσθε] ye leave out of consideration, as at Luke 15:29, and frequently in Greek writers, Jdt 11:10.

ἀγαπᾶτε] ye place a high value thereupon. Comp. John 12:43.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 11:42-44. To this criticism of the externalism of the Pharisees, the only thing strictly relevant to the situation as described, are appended three of Mt.’s “woes” directed against their will-worship in tithing (Matthew 23:23), their love of prominence (Matthew 23:6, not formally put as a “woe”), and their hypocrisy (Matthew 23:27).—πήγανον, rue, instead of Mt.’s ἄνηθον, anise, here only in N.T.—πᾶν λάχανον, every herb, general statement, instead of Mt.’s third sample, κύμινον.—τὴν ἀγάπην τ. Θ., the love of God, instead of Mt.’s mercy and faith.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

42. ye tithe mint and rue] Deuteronomy 14:22. In the Talmud there are elaborate discussions whether in tithing the seeds of potherbs one ought also to tithe the stalk, &c.

pass over judgment and the love of God] Because the love of God is best shewn by love to men, and the Pharisees were filled with immoral contempt for those whom they regarded as less learned or less attentive to scrupulosities than themselves. The Pharisees still exist as a party among Eastern Jews, and are called Perushim. So bad is their character that the bitterest term of reproach in Jerusalem is ‘You are a Porish!’ How little they have changed from their character, as Christ depicted it, may be seen from the testimony of a Jewish writer. “They proudly separate themselves from the rest of their co-religionists Fanatical, bigoted, intolerant, quarrelsome, and in truth irreligious, with them the outward observance of the ceremonial law is everything; the moral law little binding, morality itself of no importance” (See Frankl., Jews in the East, ii. 27).

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 11:42. Ἀλλʼ οὐαὶ) Ἀλλὰ, a particle of transition; 2 Corinthians 7:11.—τὴν κρὶσιν, judgment) which is in the understanding. True judgment dictates the assertion, that the love of God is the greatest of the commandments. [Comp. ch. Luke 12:57.]—τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ Θεοῦ, the love of God) which is in the will. [He saith, the love of GOD, and that of our neighbour for the sake of GOD.—V. g.] It is he who loves God, and he alone, that is endowed with a true judgment. See 1 Corinthians 8:3; 1 Corinthians 8:2. In Matthew [Luke 23:23, there is added to, “Ye have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment”], mercy and faith. In fact, along with ‘love,’ is conjoined and implied that faith, of which Matthew makes mention. See 1 Timothy 1:5. Mercy [in the form of giving alms] is recommended in Luke 11:41.—[ταῦτα—κᾀκεῖνα, these things—and those things) The former of less consequence—the latter of more importance.—V. g.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 42. - But woe unto you, Pharisees: for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Probably the primitive Law of Moses, which directed that a tenth of every income in Israel should be given up to the service of the invisible King alone, referred to such important products as corn, and wine, and oil, and the like; but the present elaboration of the Law and the Pharisee schools had extended the primitive obligation to the smallest garden herbs, such as mint and rue. The Talmud even condescends to discuss whether, in tithing the seeds of these garden herbs, the very stalk too ought not to be tithed! The Master, ever tender and considerate, does not blame this exaggerated scrupulosity, if it were done to satisfy even a warped and distorted conscience; what he does find fault with, though, and in the bitterest terms language can formulate, is the substitution of and the clear preference for these infinitely lower duties for the higher. Luke 11:42

Vincent's Word Studies

Ye tithe (ἀποδεκατοῦτε)

Tithe is tenth. See on Matthew 23:23.

Rue (τήγανον)

Probably from πήγνυμι, to make fast; because of its thick, fleshy leaves. Matthew has anise. See on Matthew 23:23.

Herb (λάχανον)

See on Mark 4:32. Wyc. has wort, originally the general term for a plant. Hence colewort, liverwort, and similar words. Compare the German wurz, root or herb.