Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Matthew 23:1-12, Moses' seat, wide phylacteries, the best seats
Jesus tells the crowds to do what the scribes and Pharisees teach but not what they do, and mocks their wide phylacteries, long tassels, best seats and love of the title rabbi.
Matthew 23:1-12, in every translation this tool compares.
Jesus tells the crowds and his disciples to follow what the scribes and Pharisees teach from Moses, but not to copy how they live. He mocks their show of piety, from oversized prayer boxes and tassels to their love of honored seats and respectful titles. His own followers are to refuse such titles, since God alone is their Father and Christ their only teacher, and the greatest among them must serve. The warning is about status-seeking, aimed as much at the disciples as at their rivals.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/teachers-of-the-law\/","n":"Teachers of the law","s":"Trained experts in the law of Moses, also called scribes, some local and some from Jerusalem, who taught by citing earlier teachers.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/pharisees\/","n":"The Pharisees","s":"A mostly lay movement devoted to careful keeping of the law and of oral tradition, respected by the people and watchful of new teachers.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/synagogue\/","n":"The synagogue","s":"The local gathering place where Jews met on the Sabbath to pray and study Scripture. It was also a community center, run by people of standing.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/following-a-teacher\/","n":"Following a teacher","s":"A disciple walked behind his teacher, lived with him, learned his ways and carried his reputation. Jesus chose his own, which only radical teachers did.","r":""}
Moses' seat may be a real stone seat known from ancient synagogues or a figure for Moses' successors; the cultural backgrounds notes give both views, while Keener takes it figuratively. Wilkins favors a literal chair, from a marble seat in the synagogue on Delos as early as the first century BC to later stone seats at Hammat Tiberias, Chorazin and En Gedi, and the Zondervan archaeology handbook notes the Chorazin seat. Phylacteries were small boxes holding Scripture verses, strapped to the head and arm for prayer, and such boxes have been found (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). The honored seats were probably near the bema, the platform for reading the Law, while many hearers sat on mats on the floor (Keener). Inferiors were expected to greet superiors first, rabbi meant my master, and disciples called their rabbis father (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Two leather phylactery cases were found in Qumran Cave 1 (Wilkins).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 23:1-2, 23:4-5, 23:6, 23:7-8 and 23:9-11
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 23:2, 23:5, 23:6, 23:7-8 and 23:9
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Matthew 23:2
- Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, sidebars The Seat of Moses and Phylacteries at Qumran
- J. Randall Price and H. Wayne House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, Matthew 23:2 The Seat of Moses
