I feel that I should start this post by addressing worries concerning the integrity of the Bible, because it may seem to be called into question here. I believe that, in its original form, the Bible which is YHVH’s communication to us is infallible and without contradiction. However, we do not have the Holy Scriptures in their original form. We have the Old Testament which was faithfully handed down in Hebrew, and the New Testament which was handed down in Greek. The New Testament is different from the Old Testament in that it is put together from copies of copies of Greek manuscripts. Both the Old and New Testaments have then been translated for those of us who do not read Hebrew or Greek. Nonetheless, read in context and by referring to the more faithful scriptures we have access to the invaluable transmission of information from YHVH. Any apparent contradictions and errors can be reconciled by allowing the Bible in its entirety to act as its own translator.
The translation of Matthew 23 contains a contradiction that must be reconciled. In this chapter Jesus is warning the people against the Scribes and the Pharisees:
…The scribes and the Pharisees sat down on Moses’ seat. Then all things, whatever they tell you to keep, keep and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do. (Matthew 23:2-33 [LITV])
Jesus is telling the people that the scribes and Pharisees do not practise what they preach, but this statement also seems to implicitly command that what they preach, their teachings, should be followed. This understanding of Jesus’ words is not consistent with what he did and said, and is in fact contradicted in the same chapter a few verses later.
What the Scribes and Pharisees teach is today embodied in the “Talmud” which at that time consisted of oral teachings. The oral teachings compiled by the Scribes and Pharisees is used as a “revealing” or expansion of the Torah: YHVH’s Law as given to Moses which is summarised by the Ten commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and given in detail in the rest of the book of Exodus, and also in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The original motives for the additions made by the Scribes and Pharisees may well have been the benign wish to promote adherence to the Torah, but ultimately they produced tenants which confounded the Torah, making a burden for the people (Luke 11:46, Matthew 11:29-30, Jeremiah 6:16).
Jesus is not shy in severely condemning the Scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 23:4-15). Still speaking in Matthew 23 he explains two direct examples of the errors of their teachings:
Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the Holy Place, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Holy Place is a debtor. Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the Holy Place that sanctifies the gold?
(Matthew 23:16-17 [LITV])
And you say , Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift on it, he is a debtor. Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Then the one swearing by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it. And the one swearing by the Holy Place swears by it, and by the One dwelling in it. And the one swearing by Heaven swears by the throne of God, and by the One sitting on it. (Matthew 23:18-22 [LITV])
Jesus makes reference to other errant aspects of the behaviour of the Scribes and the Pharisees at other times, but in these two statements he describes in detail two of their teachings which are wrong, these teachings are:
- It is more important to swear by the gold of the Holy Place, than the Holy Place;
- It is more important to swear by the gift on the altar than by the altar.
It is here that we have the point of contradiction, because how can Jesus start the chapter by commanding that the teachings of the Scribes and the Pharisees should be followed (Matthew 23:3), but then later say that their teachings are wrong? Surely, if this was the case, then Jesus would be telling us to follow error!
Jesus also rebukes the Scribes and the Pharisees for creating rules that allow people to directly disobey YHVH’s law:
And He said to them, Do you do well to set aside the commandment of God so that you may keep your tradition? For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother;” Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16 and, “The one speaking evil of father or mother, let him expire by death.” Ex. 21:17 But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, Corban, (which is, A gift!) whatever you may profit by me. And you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or mother, making the Word of God of no effect by your tradition which you delivered. And many such like things you do.
(Mark 7:9-13 [LITV])
It is important to note here that the Scribes and Pharisees in the these teachings highlighted have disobeyed YHVH in two distinct ways. YHVH, expressly commanded that nothing be added to nor taken away from His Law (Deut. 4:2, 12:32). By creating the oral teachings, the Talmud, and requiring people to follow them, the Pharisees have done both these things. If Jesus really said that we should follow the teachings of the Scribes and the Pharisees, he would be commanding us to follow those that have disobeyed YHVH, and by so doing disobeying YHVH himself. This he never did, or he could not be our sinless saviour.
We can see, therefore, that the idea that Jesus is telling us to follow the Talmud, the teachings of the Pharisees, could not be further from the truth. What then was Jesus saying in Matthew 23:3? How can we properly interpret his words? By linking Matthew 23:3 with the immediate context provided by the preceding verse we can better interpret what Jesus was saying in a way that does not contradict the rest of the chapter, and Jesus’ general attitude towards the Pharisees and their oral teachings:
…The scribes and the Pharisees sat down on Moses’ seat. Then, all things whatever they tell you to keep, keep and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do.
(Matthew 23:2-3 [LITV – revised])
Note carefully that the phrase, “Then all things, whatever…” has had the punctuation changed. This changes the emphasis of the verse (Matthew 23:3) without requiring any words to be changed. This change is valid, as the original Greek text did not have any punctuation; the punctuation has been added by translators. The phrase, “sat on Moses’ seat” means that the scribes and Pharisees take Moses’ teachings, as their authority. The emphasis change introduced by moving the comma allows the following interpretation of this passage: When the scribes and Pharisees teach Moses’ law, follow it, but do not follow their teachings because they depart from Moses’ law. Simply by re-positioning a comma Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:3 are reconciled with the rest of Matthew 23 and the rest of Jesus’ teachings regarding the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus never followed the Talmud and he expressly told us that neither should we.