526
The Desire of Ages
others of perhaps less consequence as unpardonable. For a money
consideration they excused persons from their vows. And for large
sums of money they sometimes passed over aggravated crimes. At
the same time these priests and rulers would in other cases pronounce
severe judgment for trivial offenses.
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay
tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier
matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have
done, and not to leave the other undone.” In these words Christ again
condemns the abuse of sacred obligation. The obligation itself He
does not set aside. The tithing system was ordained by God, and
it had been observed from the earliest times. Abraham, the father
of the faithful, paid tithes of all that he possessed. The Jewish rulers
recognized the obligation of tithing, and this was right; but they did not
leave the people to carry out their own convictions of duty. Arbitrary
[617]
rules were laid down for every case. The requirements had become so
complicated that it was impossible for them to be fulfilled. None knew
when their obligations were met. As God gave it, the system was just
and reasonable; but the priests and rabbis had made it a wearisome
burden.
All that God commands is of consequence. Christ recognized
the payment of tithes as a duty; but He showed that this could not
excuse the neglect of other duties. The Pharisees were very exact
in tithing garden herbs, such as mint, anise, and rue; this cost them
little, and it gave them a reputation for exactness and sanctity. At the
same time their useless restrictions oppressed the people and destroyed
respect for the sacred system of God’s own appointing. They occupied
men’s minds with trifling distinctions, and turned their attention from
essential truths. The weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and
truth, were neglected. “These,” Christ said, “ought ye to have done,
and not to leave the other undone.”
Other laws had been perverted by the rabbis in like manner. In the
directions given through Moses it was forbidden to eat any unclean
thing. The use of swine’s flesh, and the flesh of certain other animals,
was prohibited, as likely to fill the blood with impurities, and to shorten
life. But the Pharisees did not leave these restrictions as God had given
them. They went to unwarranted extremes. Among other things the
people were required to strain all the water used, lest it should contain