The preliminary judgments issued by Jesus on the Jerusalem elite in Matthew 21–22 lead into a more extended section of judgment in Matthew 23–25, with chapter 23 focused on prophetic judgments leveled against teachers of the law and Pharisees specifically. Yet the story audience of these woes is the crowds and Jesus’s disciples (23:1) rather than the teachers and Pharisees themselves. Matthew intends this chapter to shape the discipleship and leadership of the Christian community, focusing on themes of avoiding hypocrisy and right teaching of and adherence to the law.

Jesus begins by calling the crowds and disciples to respect the teaching role of these leaders (see the description of the Pharisees in the commentary on 12:1–14) but warns against following them in their actions since “the…