PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES' SEAT......
"THEN SPAOKE JESUS TO THE MULTITUDE, AND TO HIS DISCIPLES, SAYING, THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES' SEAT. ALL THEREFORE WHAT THEY BID YOU OBSERVE, THAT OBSERVE AND DO; BUT DO NOT AFTER THEIR WORKS, FOR THEY SAY AND DO NOT" (Matt. 23:1-3).
THE VERY FIRST THING IS OBVIOUS; JESUS WAS SAYING THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WERE REIGIOUS HYPOCRITES! SAYING THINGS THAT MAY WELL HAVE BEEN CORRECT, AS TO HOW TO LIVE, BUT NOT DOING THEM THEMSELVES.
SECOND: THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT FEW VERSES THAT TEACH A VERY IMPORTANT LESSON OF CORRECT BIBLE READING AND UNDERSTANDING.
IF YOU ISOLATE THESE VERSES [AND SOME DO THAT VERY THING] YOU GET A VERY FALSE UNDERSTANDING. NO BIBLE VERSE SHOULD BE TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT; NOT FROM THE IMMEDIATE CONTEX, NOR THE CONTEXT OF THE BOOK IT IS IN; NOR THE CONTEXT OF THE WHOLE BIBLE. DOING SUCH, WILL INDEED MEAN AS MANY ATHEISTS SAY, "YOU CAN PROVE ANYTHING BY THE BIBLE."
SO THE QUESTION TO ASK IS: IS JESUS SAYING HERE THAT THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WERE "INFALLIBLE" FROM ERROR?
AND WHAT DOES "SITTING IN MOSES SEAT" MEAN?
"SITTING IN MOSES SEAT" FIRST.
YOU WILL READ THAT WHEN MOSES WAS TAKING ISRAEL OUT FROM UNDER THE EGYPTIANS, HE GOT WAY STRESSED OUT BY ONLY HE ANSWERING AND HELPING THE ISRAELITES IN THEIR DAYLY LIVES. SO WITH GOD'S HELP OTHERS WERE CHOSEN TO HELP MOSES; THEY ALSO WERE GUIDED BY GOD'S SPIRIT. SO THIS WAS A KIND OF SHARING IN MOSES' SEAT OF LEADING WISELY THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. IN OTHER WORDS THERE BECAME AN OFFICE OF LEADERSHIP WITH, AND UNDER MOSES. THIS CONTINUED PER SE AS ISRAEL KEPT FAITH WITH GOD, OR WAS RESTORED AFTER PUNISHMENT AND CAPTIVITY. I. E. AFTER SOME FROM THE HOUSE OF JUDAH RETURNED TO JERUSALEM AFTER 70 YEARS IN BABYLON CAPTIVITY.
SO INDEED THE RELIGIOUS ELDERS OF JUDEA HAD A RIGHT TO HAVE "RELIGIOUS ELDERS" - CARRYING ON WHAT WAS ESTABLISHED UNDER MOSES. THE RELIGIOUS ELDERS OF JUDEA WERE THE SCRIBES, PHARISEES, AND TO A LESSER DEGREE, THE SADDUCEES [THEY WERE MAINLY THE PRIESTS OF THE TEMPLE SERVICE].
NOW SECOND, WERE SUCH LEADERS "INFALLIBLE"? WAS JESUS TEACHING THAT ALL PEOPLE SHOULD JUST FOLLOW AND OBEY WHATEVER CAME OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THESE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES?
THIS IS WHERE READING THE WHOLE GOSPELS COMES IN, BEING ABLE TO REMEMBER KEY VERSES, THAT THROW MORE LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT. WE HAVE ALREAD READ SOME KEY VERSES. BACK WE GO TO MATT. 16:6-12. JESUS HAD ALREADY WARNED THEM, TO TAKE HEED TO THE "DOCTRINES OF THE PHARISEES AND THE SADDUCEES."
SO YES, THE ONES SITTING IN MOSES' SEAT WERE NOT INFALLIBLE AT ALL! YOU WOULD HAVE TO TEST THEIR TEACHING AGAINST THE BIBLE, TO SEE IF IT WAS CORRECT.
WE CERTAINLY KNOW BY THE GOSPELS, JESUS DID NOT AGREE ON A NUMBER OF TOPICS WITH THE PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES!
NOW, PUTTING THIS UNDERSTANDING WITH THE WORDS OF JESUS IN MATT. 23, WE MUST READ IT THIS WAY: "THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES' SEAT. ALL THEREFORE WHATEVER THEY BID YOU OBSERVE [THAT IS CORRECT], THAT OBSERVE AND DO......" AND JESUS WENT ON TO SAY DO NOT BE HYPOCRITES LIKE THEY ARE, SAYING ONE THING AND DOING ANOTHER.
JESUS WENT ON TO NOT MINZE WORDS, HE DID NOT HOLD BACK, HE PUT THE CARDS ON THE TABLE IN OPEN VIEW, TO TELL EVERYONE JUST HOW SELF-RIGHTEOUS AND HYPOCRITES THEY WERE. THEY HAD VAULTED VANITY AND FLOWING OVER PRIDE AND SELF IMPORTANCE, UNDER A CLOAK OF SITTING IN MOSES' SEAT!
THIS TEACHING OF JESUS ALSO GIVES THE RIGHT TO HIS DISCIPLES, TO "CALL OUT" THE FALSE MINISTERS OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION, AT TIMES, AND WHEN NEEDED.
JESUS HERE SPENT SOME LENGTHY TIME WHICH TAKES UP A WHOLE CHAPTER IN THE BIBLE, TO CALL OUT FALSE HYPOCRITES IN MANY WAYS, WHO CLAIM THEY REPRESENT GOD.
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