Contents | Index

The Eighth Woe (Woe to You Scribes and Pharisees)

The eighth and final woe dealt with their unpredictability and the deception of the Jewish people when they professed to be distressed at the murdering of the ancient prophets, saying, they would not have slain the prophets as their fathers did. In their great zeal for the honor of the deceased prophets, they built for them monumental tombs. There are four monuments, called the Tombs of the Prophets, at the base of the Mount of Olives today. Jesus might have had in mind the tomb of Zachariah: He reminds them that they were themselves bearing witness to the murder stains in their own blood, and adds further that they were sons to their fathers in their very spirit. "Go on and fill to the full the measure of your fathers," He spoke with such an irony. F.F. Bruce puts it this way, "Crown their misdeeds, with killing the Prophet God has sent you! Do at last what has long been in your hearts! The hour has come!"