Mt 23:13-22
[Jesus said,] 13“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. [14]
15“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.
16“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’ 17Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold sacred? 18And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.’ 19You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it; 21one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; 22one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it.”
If One Swears By The Temple: The temple that Jesus refers to is the Second Temple, built by the returnees from the Babylonian exile under Zerubbabel. Construction began in 537 BC. It was dedicated in 520 BC. It was of the same dimensions as the temple of Solomon, destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC, but much inferior in the richness of its decorations. However, beginning in 19 BC, Herod the Great began a massive reconstruction of this temple; he spared no expense in producing a grand complex. In John, the Pharisees observe that “this temple has been under construction for 46 years” (Jn 2:20). When completely finished in 64 AD, it was a truly impressive sight.
The temple is the seat and symbol of the presence of Yahweh among his people. It is here that the prophet Isaiah had a vision of Yahweh (Is 6:1ff). Ezekiel enhanced the holiness and glory of the temple by his image of the temple as the source of living water (Ez 47:1ff).
The temple and the altar are the basic realities of the religious life of the Jews, therefore “greater” than the gold and the gift offered there. In view of the principle that for an oath to be valid, one should swear by something greater (Heb 6:16ff), oaths taken by the temple and the altar are in themselves binding. But the Pharisees teach that oaths are binding when taken by the gold or the gift. Indeed, the Pharisees are “blind guides,” unable to focus on the “weightier matters of the Law” (Mt 23:23).