<p>23:27&nbsp;<em>Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites For you are like whitewashed tombs</em>- A month before Passover, the graves were painted white so that the pilgrims coming to keep the feast would not be defiled. This was therefore something fresh in everyone&rsquo;s minds, for the Lord was speaking at Passover time. Earlier the Lord had used the opposite figure about them: &quot;You are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them&quot; (Lk. 11:44). It was as if they had not whitened / cleansed themselves before Passover as was required. And so again we see the idea that they led men into defilement.</p><p><em>Which outwardly appear</em>- S.w. 6:16 &ldquo;That they may&nbsp;<em>appear</em>&nbsp;unto men to be fasting&rdquo;.&nbsp;</p><p><em>But inwardly are full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness-&nbsp;</em>The idea of being inwardly &lsquo;full&rsquo; of unclean thinking is found likewise in :25: &ldquo;<em>Full</em>&nbsp;of extortion and excess&rdquo;. Only from God&rsquo;s perspective is this apparent. We tend to perceive elements of spirituality and also of unspirituality co-existing within a person. But ultimately, in God&rsquo;s judgment, the inner heart is either fully for Him or against Him, dead or alive in spiritual terms. They are full of &ldquo;<em>all</em> uncleanness&rdquo;. The language is in absolute, total terms.&nbsp;<br /><em>Bones</em>- Perhaps a reference to the spiritually dead house of Israel being likened to dead bones in Ez. 37:1-11, awaiting the coming of the spirit of the new covenant.</p>