Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 23:23-24

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!" — Matthew 23:23-24 (ASV)

In this fifth “woe,” our Lord called the scribes and Pharisees both “hypocrites” and “blind guides.” They were “hypocrites” regarding their own character and conduct and “blind guides” as the religious leaders of the nation. Jesus first spoke of their scrupulous attention to certain minor matters: Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin. Some of them were so punctilious about paying tithes that they even gave to the temple service the tenth of the herbs they bought in the market, as well as of those they grew in their gardens.

Although they were so particular about things that were of secondary importance, they omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment (or, justice), mercy, and faith. Their hearts were not right in the sight of God; therefore, their minds were unbalanced. They counted the lesser requirements of the Law as of the first importance, while they omitted the weightier matters altogether. Our Lord did not blame them for paying the tithes, but He showed that they ought first to have exercised justice, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. No commandment of God is non-essential, but that which relates to the condition of the heart and the life in the sight of the Lord Jehovah must receive our first and best attention.

Jesus used a very expressive simile to set forth the inconsistency of the scribes and Pharisees: Ye blind guides, which strain at (or, out) a gnat, and swallow a camel. They treated trifles as if they were of first importance and so, as it were, strained out gnats from their wine, so they would not be choked, but they committed great sins without any compunctions of conscience and thus, in effect, swallowed a camel, an unclean animal, equal in size to an almost innumerable quantity of gnats. There are gnat-strainers among us still, who apparently have no difficulty in swallowing a camel, “hump and all.”