Matthew 23:23 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin. — The language of Deuteronomy 12:17 seems to recognise only corn, wine, and oil, among the produce of the earth, as subject to the law of tithes. The Pharisee, in his minute scrupulosity (based, it may be, on the more general language of Leviticus 27:30), made a point of gathering the tenth sprig of every garden herb, and presenting it to the priest. So far as this was done at the bidding of an imperfectly illumined conscience our Lord does not blame it. It was not, like the teaching as to oaths and the Corban, a direct perversion of the Law. What He did censure was the substitution of the lower for the higher. With the three examples of the “infinitely little” He contrasts the three ethical obligations that were infinitely great, “judgment, mercy, and faith.” The word translated “mint” means literally the “sweet-smelling,” the “fragrant.”