Jesus Calling Pharisees Whitewashed Tombs in Matthew
In Matthew 23:27, Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees, calling them "whitewashed tombs" that appear beautiful externally but are "full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness" within [1]. This vivid metaphor highlights their hypocrisy, suggesting a stark contrast between their outward religious observance and their inner corruption [3, 5].
The practice of whitewashing tombs was a Jewish custom, performed annually, possibly to make them noticeable and prevent people from inadvertently touching them and becoming ceremonially unclean [3, 5]. The tombs were often coated with a mixture of marble and lime to give them a more pleasing appearance and fill porous surfaces [5]. Jesus's comparison is not a criticism of adorning tombs, but rather an indictment of the Pharisees' spiritual state: they maintained an outward show of piety and righteousness, while inwardly they were full of impurity and moral decay [3, 5].
Other Gospel accounts offer similar, though distinct, condemnations. In Luke 11:44, Jesus compares the Pharisees to "graves which appear not," meaning hidden tombs that were not marked or elevated above the ground [2, 4]. This implies that people could unknowingly walk over them and become defiled without realizing the corruption beneath [2, 4]. Adam Clarke notes that while Matthew emphasizes the outward beauty concealing inner corruption, Luke's account suggests a hidden defilement that contaminates others unknowingly [2]. John Gill also points out that these hidden graves were not "whited or covered with lime," unlike those that were made visible to be avoided [4].
This accusation of hypocrisy is a recurring theme in Jesus's criticisms of the Pharisees. He frequently denounced their focus on external rituals and traditions over genuine mercy and spiritual substance [6, 8]. Their "pastoral negligence" and "hard-hearted rejection of God" left the crowds "like sheep without a shepherd" [7]. The image of the whitewashed tomb powerfully encapsulates Jesus's message that their religious facade concealed a profound spiritual emptiness [3, 5].
Sources
- Matthew ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. -- Matthew 23:27”
- Luke (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Luke 11:44: Ye are as graves which appear not - In Mat 23:27, our Lord tells them that they exactly resembled white-washed tombs: they had no fairness but on the outside: (see the note there) but here he says they are like hidden tombs, graves which were not distinguished by any outward decorations, and were not elevated above the ground, so that those who walked over them did not consider what corruption was within; so they, under the veil of hypocrisy, covered their iniquities, so that those who had any intercourse or connection with them did not perceive what accomplished kna”
- Matthew (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Matthew 23:27: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like whited sepulchres--or, whitewashed sepulchres. (Compare Act 23:3). The process of whitewashing the sepulchres, as LIGHTFOOT says, was performed on a certain day every year, not for ceremonial cleansing, but., as the following words seem rather to imply, to beautify them. which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness--What a powerful way of conveying the charge, that with all their fair show their hearts were full of corruption! ”
- Luke (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Luke 11:42: Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,.... As they are all along called by Matthew; though only here by Luke. The Vulgate Latin only reads, "woe unto you", leaving out all the rest: but the whole is retained in all the Oriental versions; for ye are as graves which appear not; being covered with grass; "or which were not marked", as the Ethiopic version renders it; that is, were not whited or covered with lime, as some were, that they might be seen at a distance, and be known what they were; that so men might avoid going near them, and prevent their being def”
- Matthew (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Matthew 23:27: 23:27-28 It was a Jewish custom to coat limestone tombs (perhaps funerary urns or ossuaries) with a mixture of marble and lime to fill their porous surfaces, giving them a more pleasing appearance and helping visitors to Jerusalem to notice the graves and avoid touching them so as not to contaminate themselves. Jesus is not criticizing the adorning of tombs; rather, he points to the similarity between these whitewashed tombs and the teachers of religious law and Pharisees. Both may have looked good on the outside, but both were contaminated and impure within.”
- Matthew (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Matthew 9:13: But go ye and learn what that meaneth-- (Hos 6:6), I will have mercy, and not sacrifice--that is, the one rather than the other. "Sacrifice," the chief part of the ceremonial law, is here put for a religion of literal adherence to mere rules; while "mercy" expresses such compassion for the fallen as seeks to lift them up. The duty of keeping aloof from the polluted, in the sense of "having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness," is obvious enough; but to understand this as prohibiting such intercourse with them as is necessary to their”
- Matthew (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Matthew 9:36: 9:36 like sheep without a shepherd: Jesus lamented the Pharisees’ pastoral negligence (see 12:11-12; 18:12). Their attacks against Jesus were a clear indication of their hard-hearted rejection of God. The crowds languished due to pastoral neglect and mistreatment (10:5-6; 15:12-14; 23:4; Zech 11:16).”
- Matthew (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Matthew 23:24: Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,.... Our Lord cannot be thought to bear too hard upon these men, nor does he continue this character of them, and denunciations of woe against them, without a reason: for ye make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. The allusion is to their traditions about washing their cups and pots, and brazen vessels; see Mar 7:4 which they strictly observed. In their oral law is a whole tract, called "Mikvaot", which gives rules about the places where they washed, the things ”