Pharisees: Ugly inside good outside
Curses Against the Pharisees (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees , hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” ( Matthew23:27 ) “Beauty is only skin deep” seems to be the modern secular equivalent of this “woe” in Matthew 23 . The corresponding Old Testament statement is probably this: “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” ( Proverbs 11:22 ). This principle has lasted for millennia simply because it is easily observed in all cultures. Our Lord ’s application to the scribes and Pharisees was particularly pointed: “Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” ( Matthew 23:28 ). God is not interested in the “pretty outside” but in what’s on the inside. “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his s