Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 11:21

"Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." — Matthew 11:21 (ASV)

The word translated “woe” (GK 4026) can mean doom or pity (“alas”); both are mingled here. Warnings have been given before; now woes are pronounced. Korazin may probably be identified with Kirbet Keraze, about two miles northwest of Capernaum. The Bethsaida in question was probably the home of Andrew, Peter, and Philip (12:21) on the west side of Galilee. Tyre and Sidon were large Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean, not far away, and often denounced by OT prophets for their Baal worship (Isaiah 23; Ezekiel 26–28; et al.). “Sackcloth” is a rough fabric made from the short hairs of camels and usually worn next to the skin to express grief or sorrow (2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; et al.).

Three theological propositions are presupposed by Jesus’ insistence that on the Day of Judgment, things will go worse for the cities that have received so muchmore light than for the pagan cities. (1) The Judge has contingent knowledge; he knows what Tyre and Sidon would have done under such-andsuch circumstances. (2) God does not owe revelation to anyone. (3) Punishment on the Day of Judgment takes into account opportunity. There are degrees of felicity in paradise and degrees of torment in hell (12:41; 23:13; cf. Lk 12:47-48), a point Paul well understood (Romans 1:2–20:16).