Rabbi Sha’ul on Scripture

“Yeshua said to do whatever the Pharisees taught, but not what they did.”

Did he? That is what is in our English translations of Matthew, but it seems to fly right in the face of His conversations with (or rather His stern rebuke of) the Pharisees as recorded in Matthew 15…

[1] Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, [2] “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” [3] He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? [4] “For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ [5] “But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God, [6] “‘he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. [7] “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: [8] ‘”This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; [9] “‘in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'” [10] And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: [11] “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” [12] Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” [13] He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. [14] “Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” – Mat 15:1-14 ESV

And again in Matthew 23 – read the whole chapter, He really rips into them. This passage is particularly interesting though (and is the one you referred to);

“[2] “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, [3] “so practice and observe whatever they tell you–but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.” – Mat 23:2-3 ESV

“Moses’ Seat” was a physical seat in every synagogue where the Scribes and Pharisees would sit to teach each Shabbat. So they literally “sit in Moses’ Seat” and in doing so purport to speak with the authority of Moses. The problem is, they didn’t teach Moses – they taught the Rabbinic codes which they had placed as a “fence around the Torah” to “protect people from breaking the Torah”; you couldn’t possibly get close enough to break the Torah because there were so many other rules and regulations that they had put in please (over 1500 just about Shabbat observance alone).

In the various Hebrew manuscripts of Matthew, the verse reads slightly differently though – there is one key pronoun that is different. It reads, “The scribes and pharisees sit in Moses’ seat, therefore whatever HE tells you diligently do, but do not do as they do, because they say but do not do“. In other words, they don’t practice what they preach.

The Pharisees didn’t even have any real scriptural authority – they were not the Levitical priesthood ordained by God for the role of teaching, instruction and service in the temple, rather they were a “ruling class” that did a deal with the Roman government pledging to keep the peace in return for government-sanctioned positions of leadership and privelege.

Yeshua opposed them at every turn, starting at the wedding in Cana right through to His mock trial. No wonder they wanted to kill Him. He threatened their authority, their status with Rome and with the people. He preached and lived the Torah the way it was designed to be from the beginning, stripping away their man-made rules, regulations and doctrines and rubbing their face in it at every opportunity. There was even some humour and irony involved at times, although because we don’t understand the Jewish culture of the day and their humour, we miss out on that too).

BTW, He didn’t give the Saducees (who were, in fact, the Levitical order in charge of the temple service) a free ride, either. Although they did not believe in, approve of or follow the Pharisaic code, they still had a few issues that Yeshua corrected them on (e.g. their denial of the resurrection). BTW, John the Baptist (Yochanan the Immerser) was a Levite Priest; he was the one, in fact, who declared Yeshua to be an acceptable sacrifice (“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”). That had to be done by a Levitical priest or the sacrifice was not considered acceptable. Just another little detail that we often miss.