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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 2
The people whom Christ addressed well knew that the apparel worn
by John was the opposite of that worn in royal palaces. Christ virtually
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asked; What motive induced you to flock to the wilderness to hear the
preaching of John? The wilderness is not the place to find those who
live delicately, and who clothe themselves in rich, soft apparel. Christ
wished them to observe the contrast between the clothing of John and
that of the Jewish priests. The prophet wore a plain, rough garment,
possessing no beauty, but answering the purpose for which clothing
was first designed. In marked contrast to the garments of John, was
the gorgeous apparel of the Jewish priests and elders.
These officials, thinking that they would be reverenced in accor-
dance with their external appearance, adopted great splendor of dress,
making a rich display of costly robes and dazzling breastplates. They
were more anxious to win the admiration of men than to obtain spotless
purity of character and holiness of life, that would gain the approval
of God.
Christ admonished his disciples, and also the multitude, to follow
that which was good in the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees, but
not to imitate their wrong examples, nor be deceived by their ambitious
pretensions.
He says, “All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that
observe and do; but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do
not. For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay
them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them
with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen of men;
they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments, and love the uppermost rooms of feasts, and the chief seats
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in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of
men, Rabbi, Rabbi.”
John saw that these proud Jews were exalting and glorifying them-
selves by parading their ostentatious piety before the public. They
bound portions of the law upon their foreheads and about their wrists,
that all might recognize and pay deference to their assumed sanctity.
True, God had commanded the children of Israel to place a ribbon of
blue in the border of their garments, upon which the ten command-
ments, in brief, should be embroidered. This was to continually remind
them of their duty to love God supremely, and their neighbor as them-
selves. But the farther they had departed from their primitive purity