Matthew 23:2

2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat," he said.

Matthew 23:2 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 23:2

Saying, the Scribes and Pharisees
The Persic version adds, the priests: but Christ does not here speak of the sanhedrim, or grand council of the nation, and of their legislative power; but of those that were the teachers of the people, and the interpreters of the law; and of those, who, though they corrupted the word with their glosses and traditions, yet retained some truth, and at least came nearer truth, than the Sadducees; who therefore are omitted, and only Scribes and Pharisees mentioned, who gave the literal and traditional sense of the Scriptures; of whom he says, they

sit in Moses's seat:
not that they were his successors in his office as a legislator and mediator; though the Persic version reads it, "sit in the place and chair of Moses"; but they read his law, and explained it to the people: this post and place, as yet, they kept in the office they were, and were to continue; and the people were to regard them so far as they spoke consistent with the law, until it had its full accomplishment in Christ. The allusion is not to the chairs in which the sanhedrim sat in trying and determining causes, but to those in which the doctors sat when they expounded the law; for though they stood up when they read the law, or the prophets, they sat down when they preached out of them: this custom of the synagogue was observed by our Lord; see ( Luke 4:16 Luke 4:20 ) .

Matthew 23:2 In-Context

1 Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples.

2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat," he said.

3 "So you must obey them. Do everything they tell you. But don't do what they do. They don't practice what they preach.

4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on other people's shoulders. But they themselves aren't willing to lift a finger to move them

5 "Everything they do is done for others to see. On their foreheads and arms they wear little boxes that hold Scripture verses. They make the boxes very wide. And they make the tassels on their coats very long.