<p>11:42 <i>But woe to you Pharisees For you tithe- </i>The Greek can equally mean to both take or receive tithes. They demanded and perhaps paid themselves tithes on absolutely everything.&nbsp;</p><p><i>Mint, rue and every herb- </i>These plants grew on windowsills, and a tenth of their 'crop' would've been very light in weight. The lightness of the 'crop' is contrasted with the 'heavier' things which were required of believers. Again, the Lord could've deployed convincing Biblical arguments that the tithe was to be paid from harvested crops, and given to the Levites / priests- not the Pharisees. For they were not the same as the priests. There is no hint in the Mosaic legislation that a tenth of such things was to be given to support the livelihood of the priests. But the Lord goes along with their position- and doesn't say they should not do this. Rather He lifts the issue to a higher and 'heavier' level. In engagement with those who wilfully misunderstand Scripture, it's easy to present a strictly Biblical case which demolishes their position. And the Lord could so easily have done this in the matter of tithing kitchen herbs. But He doesn't. He simply raises weightier issues and principles.&nbsp;</p><p><i>And neglect justice and the love of God; but these you should have done-</i> In line with the teaching in :41, it seems they thought that by such alms giving and tithing, they were excused from being spiritually minded within. &quot;The inward part&quot; of :40,41 is therefore a mind focused upon &quot;justice and the love of God&quot;. To think justly of and for others is far more than making a material donation.</p><p><i>And not to leave the other undone</i>- The Greek&nbsp;<i>aphiemi</i>&nbsp;occurs again in Mt. 23:38; 24:2: &quot;Your house is left <i>aphiemi</i> unto you desolate&quot;, and there would therefore not be left <i>aphiemi</i> one stone upon another in that temple / house; not one part of the masonry would be omitted or overlooked, every stone would be thrown down. They had omitted the weightier matters of justice etc., thinking they were justified in this because they did not omit to tithe kitchen herbs. But the Lord is saying that effectively they&nbsp;<i>had</i>&nbsp;omitted &quot;the other&quot;, the tithing of kitchen herbs. So although they did tithe them, effectively they had not done so. Because they had omitted the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith. So they tithed, but they did not tithe. Just as we can pray, but not pray; think we believe, when we do not; forgive, when we do not really; read God's word, when we do not really do so as the Lord often pointed out to them in saying &quot;Have you never read...?&quot;, when clearly on one level they had read. Omitting justice, mercy and faith meant that their tithing of the small stuff was also omitted, in God's final view of them. The spiritual life is intended to be all encompassing, it's not a case of a series of specific obediences to a long list of specific commandments, whereby our omission of the heavier issues is compensated for by our commission of the lighter issues. And this again is a challenge to us all; for surveying God's expectations of us, we can so easily cut ourselves slack in some areas because we feel we are being obedient in others. Thus the failure of the Pharisees in this becomes not something to merely shake our heads at, but a challenge to our deepest internal reasonings in our own walk before God.&nbsp;</p>