Matthäus 23:2

2 Die Schriftgelehrten und die Pharisäer haben sich auf Moses' Stuhl gesetzt.

Matthäus 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 ) .

Matthäus 23:2 In-Context

1 Dann redete Jesus zu den Volksmengen und zu seinen Jüngern und sprach:
2 Die Schriftgelehrten und die Pharisäer haben sich auf Moses' Stuhl gesetzt.
3 Alles nun, was irgend sie euch sagen, tut und haltet; aber tut nicht nach ihren Werken, denn sie sagen es und tun's nicht.
4 Sie binden aber schwere und schwer zu tragende Lasten und legen sie auf die Schultern der Menschen, aber sie wollen sie nicht mit ihrem Finger bewegen
5 Alle ihre Werke aber tun sie, um sich vor den Menschen sehen zu lassen; denn sie machen ihre Denkzettel breit und die Quasten groß.
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