Matthew 23:1

CHAPTER XXIII.

The character of the scribes and Pharisees, and directions to

the people and the disciples to receive the law from them, but

not to follow their bad example, 1-7.

The disciples exhorted to humility, 8-12.

Different woes pronounced against the scribes and Pharisees

for their intolerance, 13;

rapacity, 14;

false zeal, 15;

superstition in oaths and tithes, 16-23;

hypocrisy, 24-28.

Their cruelty, 29-32.

Their persecution of the apostles, c. Their destruction

foretold, 33-36.

Christ's lamentation over Jerusalem, 37-39.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII.

Verse Matthew 23:2. The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat] εκαθισαν. - They sat there formerly by Divine appointment: they sit there now by Divine permission. What our Lord says here refers to their expounding the Scriptures, for it was the custom of the Jewish doctors to sit while they expounded the law and prophets, (Matthew 5:1 Luke 4:20,) and to stand up when they read them.

By the seat of Moses, we are to understand authority to teach the law. Moses was the great teacher of the Jewish people; and the scribes, c., are here represented as his successors.