Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
What does the verse mean? Who is speaking to whom? Backing up to the beginning of the chapter we read some helpful context.
Mt 23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.
Mt 23:3 (ESV) so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
The problem that many people see is that this seems to contradict other plain statements of Jesus. In fact, beginning in verse 13 of this same chapter, Jesus scolds the scribes and Pharisees in what is known as the seven (or eight*) woes, saying to them over and over again "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!"
Between The Ears BLOG INDEX, with titles and summaries.
Jesus' own example in Matthew 15 also appears to contradict the saying "Whatsoever They Bid You". Jesus did not teach his disciples to "observe and do". In this case, the disciples did not wash their hands according to tradition.
Mt 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?
This hand washing was not about physical cleanliness, it was a ritual.
There are various customs regarding how the water should be poured, but a common practice is to pour twice on the right hand followed by twice on the left. ... The tradition is unrelated to personal hygiene, and a person is still required to perform this ritual even if his or her hands are clean. MyJewishLearning [1]
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| Handwashing Tradition |
Would this teaching even apply today? The scribes and Pharisees are long gone, right? Well, not really. Pharisaism of old became Judaism of today.
Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism. ... Rabbinic Judaism eventually emerged as normative Judaism, and in fact, many today refer to Rabbinic Judaism simply as "Judaism." Wiki(Pharisees) [2]
Another problem with "observing and doing" what the Pharisees of old said is that different factions of the Pharisees didn't agree with each other. We have no instruction on which sect of Pharisaism to obey. One thing that they agreed on was that they didn't (and still don't) believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus did not tell us to obey rabbis that don't believe Him. OneForIsrael [3]
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| Moses' chair, Chorazin, 2nd Century AD COJS.org [4] |
What about Moses' chair? I used to think that Moses' chair referred to the priesthood that operated in the Temple. I learned that it actually refers to a physical chair in each synagogue. When Scripture was read, it was always done from this chair, known as chair of Moses or the seat of Moses.
When Yeshua told the people of Israel to listen to the scribes and Pharisees when they read from Moses’ seat, He meant it in a literal way. [3]
History, Language, Context
In reading the Bible, and especially when trying to understand a difficult scripture, it is valuable to look at history, language, and context. So far, we have seen that the "obvious" meaning of Mt 23:3 to observe and do what the Pharisees say doesn't really square with history and context. What about language? Are there any clues that shed light on the meaning?
The Textus Receptus Greek [5] manuscript says "observe everything that they tell you". But manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew exist, 28 such manuscripts discovered so far, and scholars have determined that these are NOT direct translations from the Greek. Some argue that Matthew first wrote his gospel in Hebrew, then in Greek, claimed by the author Papias in about 100AD - Wiki(Matthew) [6]. One important difference between the Hebrew and Greek language of Mt 23 helps clarify the meaning of Jesus' words. Here is the English translation of the Hebrew Matthew 23:3.
The Pharisees and sages sit upon the seat of Moses. Therefore, all that he says to you, diligently do, but according to their reforms and their precedents do not do, because they talk but they do not do.
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| Original "Shem Tov" Manuscript |
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| In A More Familiar Script |
To emphasize the important part, the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew says
all that HE says to you, diligently do
Where the Greek says
all that THEY say to you, diligently do
The singular "he" doesn't refer to the scribes and Pharisees, it refers to Moses. When the Torah is read from the chair of Moses, do what MOSES says, not as the Pharisees say. In Hebrew, the difference between "he says" and "they say" is just one letter. To be fair, some people translate the Hebrew as "all that (they) say to you" - Van Rensburg [7]
Some articles on the Internet come to this understanding of "do what Moses said" based on history and context alone, like the quote above from oneisrael.com [3]. Having the Hebrew Matthew harmonizes history, language, and context in a clearer way.
*Some manuscripts have an eighth woe, in the form of an extra verse. Verse 14 reads "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation." The Cambridge Commentary [10] adds this detail, "The Vatican and Sinaitic MSS. omit this verse".
References
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