The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:2-12
The moral character of the scribes and Pharisees, and warning to Christ ' s disciples. read more
マタイの福音書 23:2-3 Jcb
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:2-33
Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees first appear under this name in Jewish history about the year B.C. 160. There had been Separatists, or Puritans, as far back as the Captivity, but it was alter the return to Palestine that events gave an impulse to the Separatist idea so strong as to consolidate what might otherwise have remained a tendency. The Jews had learned the value of commerce, and it was found impossible, in dealing with foreign merchants, to observe the minute regulations... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:3
All therefore. It is because of their official authority as appointed teachers and expositors of the Law that Christ gives the following injunction. That observe and do. Many manuscripts and versions invert the order of the verbs, reading, do and observe. The received text seems most logical. Observe ; τηρεῖτε , present imperative, continue to observe as a rule of conduct. Do ; ποιη ì σατε , aorist, do immediately, whenever the occasion arises. All that they taught or... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:3
The sin of inconsistency. "For they say, and do not." To our Lord the supreme offence was contradiction between saying and doing, appearance and fact, outside and inside, show and reality. A man who is himself consciously sincere is always keen to detect, quick to revolt against, insincerity in others. But if inconsistency is mischievous in any man, it is doubly mischievous in religious teachers, and in persons occupying prominent positions of influence. Probably the reference of our Lord to... read more
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Matthew 23:2
Scribes and Pharisees - See the notes at Matthew 3:7.Moses’ seat - Moses was the great legislator of the Jews. By him the Law was given. The office of explaining that Law among the Jews devolved on the scribes and Pharisees. In the synagogues they sat while expounding the Law, and rose when they read it. By “sitting in the seat of Moses” we are to understand authority to teach the Law; or, as he taught the nation by giving the Law, so they taught it by explaining it. read more
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Matthew 23:3
All, therefore, whatsoever ... - That is, all that they teach that is consistent with the Law of Moses - all the commands of Moses which they read to you and properly explain. The word “all” could not be taken without such a restriction, for Christ himself accuses them of teaching many things contrary to that law, and of making it void by their traditions, Matthew 15:1-6.They say, and do not - The interpretation which they give to the law is in the main correct, but their lives do not... read more
Joseph Benson
Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Matthew 23:1-3
Matthew 23:1-3. Then spake Jesus to the multitude Leaving all converse with his adversaries; whom he now gave up to the hardness of their hearts. The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’s seat Or, chair That is, read and expound the law of Moses, and are the appointed teachers of the people. The Jewish doctors, as is well known, always taught sitting. The name Pharisees being the appellation of a sect, it cannot be supposed that our Lord meant to say of all the party that they sat in... read more
Donald C. Fleming
Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Matthew 23:1-39
129. More about scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-39; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47)Instead of teaching only the law of Moses, the scribes and Pharisees added countless laws of their own. Instead of making the people’s load lighter, they made it heavier. People could profit from listening to the scribes’ teaching of Moses’ law, but they were not to copy the scribes’ behaviour (Matthew 23:1-4).Jesus gave two specific reasons for his condemnation of the scribes. First, they wanted to make a... read more
E.W. Bullinger
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Matthew 23:2
Pharisees. See App-120 . The Sadducees had their own "leaven" (Matthew 16:6 ) but not this. sit = have taken [their] seat. in = upon. Greek. epi. Moses'. See note on Matthew 8:4 . read more
Subscribe
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
Most Searched
Group of Brands
© 2025 Bibleportal.com All rights reserved.
The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:2
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses'seat. In the seat of the great judge and lawgiver. This is stated as an undoubted fact ( ἐκα ì θισαν ) , with no idea of blame attached. Literally, sat on the seat of Moses from time immemorial. These (meaning not individuals, but the collective body) are the authorized expounders and teachers of the Law; their position is assured; they are not to be displaced. The scribes were the party chiefly denoted; they were of the Pharisaical sect;... read more