Luke 20:43-47
Luke 20:43 (KJB)
Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
When Jesus went back to Heaven there is a period between His first and second
coming where all the forces and minions of Satan will be finally subdued and
destroyed. Not having the Holy Spirit would trip the leaders up on this
understanding. What Jesus did was to combine two Scriptures:
(Psa 110:1 KJV) A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
(Dan 7:13 KJV) I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man
came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they
brought him near before him.
Luke 20:44 (KJB)
David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?
Then Jesus asks the question above which caused the leaders to become confused
because how could David refer to the Messiah as Lord and in the same breath
refer to Him as his son? What the leaders had failed to realize was that God the
Father had intervened in history and made His Son the Messiah and Son of David.
So not only was Jesus the son of David but He was also the Son of God.
Luke 20:45 (KJB)
Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples,
The clash with the Jewish leaders is now at an end and they saw that there was
no way they could trap Jesus with any type of words which would be
self-indicting. Now Jesus speaks to the multitude that has heard the previous
debate.
Luke 20:46 (KJB)
Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in
the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at
feasts;
Then after Jesus had attacked their innate hypocrisy, He then goes on to expose
their desire for honor. The Pharisees were more desirous to gain honor for
themselves than to honor God through their lives. They had desired to have the
best seats in any feast which they attended. They desired to have the most
prestigious place on the couches which surrounded the banquet table. In the
synagogues, the elders would occupy the elevated seats in front which faced the
congregation. The back of the seats faced the Holy of Holies. This set up caused
the elders to be in full view of the people. The majority of churches are set up
this way placing the pastor and maybe an elder or two in full view of the
congregation.
Then they loved to hear people greet them in the marketplace by their official
title or their academic title. Public greetings and acknowledgement was
something else that they craved because it brought another moment of notoriety.
They also loved to be called “Rabbi” which interpreted means “my great one” or
“my master.” It is an Aramaic title of respect given to teachers. It would
basically be equal to the honorary Doctorate given to preachers today. One such
degree would be Doctor of Divinity. They had desired for people to submit to
their human authority or academic achievement instead of searching the
Scriptures. This is a problem in today’s churches where many Christians will
believe that whatever their pastor says is true and they never check a thing out
in Scripture.
Luke 20:47 (KJB)
Which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall
receive greater damnation.
In the Talmud it was written that a man could appoint a scribe to be the
executor of his will and to take care of his property and his widow. This was
normally a paid function but sometimes the scribes would impose excessive fees
on them for everything and eventually they would dwindle away all the substance
that the widow had left and of course, it all went into the pockets of the
scribe. Eventually the widow could not pay the bills and then the house was sold
and the scribe would take his large cut and the widow would probably be left to
beg while the scribe stole all her goods. (Exo 22:22 KJV) Ye shall not
afflict any widow, or fatherless child. They neglected that the law
provided protection for widows but the greed driven scribes did not care. This
is why Jesus called them hypocrites because they taught one thing and did
another.
The religious leaders would make long prayers just for appearance sake. It was
supposed to show everyone in the community how pious and religious they were.
However, their prayers were nothing and meant nothing to God because they were
done out of a theatrical heart and not a real heart. It was done before men for
approbation. (Prov 28:9 KJV) He that turneth away his ear from hearing the
law, even his prayer shall be abomination. In the book of Proverbs, God
calls that type of praying an abomination. On one hand they destroy the houses
of the widows and then pray long prayers to give an air of piety. Hypocrisy of
this sort will receive the greater condemnation. (James 3:1 KJV) My
brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater
condemnation. Even James tells us that those who are false teachers and
hypocrites will receive the greater condemnation.