Scribes and Pharisees

'The Woe Chapter' would be a good place to start:

Mt 23:

1 Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples,
2 saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat:
3 all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.
4 Yea, they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men`s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
5 But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6 and love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 and the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called of men, Rabbi.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows` houses, even while for a pretence ye make long prayers: therefore ye shall receive greater condemnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves.
16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.
17 Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold?
18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is a debtor.
19 Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And he that sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that sweareth by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men`s bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous,
30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?
34 Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:
35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

(I never even met one and I already don't like them)

 

The idea of the Pharisee, in my opinion, was great! As I understand, their main intent was to understand the scriptures more and to adhere to it as best they could.
I think we would do well to follow some of their teachings... Jesus said somewhere that we should do as they say but not as they do.
Basically they were pay too much attention to the law and not looking at the big picture of God's love and His sacrifice upon the cross.

That's just my understanding, I haven't studied the matter in full!

 

What about this warning?:

6 And Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
12 Then understood they that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Mt 16

That's only because they had authority over them (they sat in Moses seat, see prior post). It's not addressed to 'we', it was addressed to 'them', the Jews in Palestine in that day.

 

Thanks kyredneck, I do admit that I hadn't extensively studied the issue, so I found your arguments very interesting, and intend to study further on the topic.
thanks again!

 

If anything, the scribes and Pharisees turned down the "microscope" so far on Scripture that they missed the "telescope" view of God's mission.

They went so far as to totally miss the fact that Messiah walked among them -- a huge issue!

They replaced a god-driven faith with a man-centered legalism, thinking (mistakenly) that outward deeds would make the inward man. Christ came and corrected them, but they would have none of His teaching, that is, until after the resurrection when many actually came to faith and repented.

22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: This Jesus the Nazarene was a man pointed out to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through Him, just as you yourselves know. 23 Though He was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail Him to a cross and kill Him. 24 God raised Him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. Acts 2:22-24 (HCSB)

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah!”

Forgiveness through the Messiah
37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what must we do?”

38 “Repent,” Peter said to them, “and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 And with many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”

41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.
Acts 2:36-42 (HCSB)

7 So the preaching about God flourished, the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith. Acts 6:7 (HCSB)

Of course, not all were convicted and convinced. The persecution of the Church by zealous Jews existed until God blew up Jerusalem in AD 70 when they no longer had the means to carry out a widespread campaign against the followers of The Way.

For what it is worth, we have a ton of modern-day Pharisees in action all over the world. They do the same things as the Jewish Pharisees of the 1st century -- pick apart the actions of Christ followers, mandating that all follow their legalisms, and turn down the "microscope" missing God's big picture. Though sad to see, they have no more impact on the overall missio Dei today than they did in AD 33.

 

Your welcome brother. Here's a little more concerning "the leaven of the Pharisees":

Concerning the scribes and Pharisees Christ had this to say in another place:

7 Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Mt 15

Isaiah had actually foretold of them some 750 years earlier. These Pharisees were guilty of “Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.” This is born out in other places in the scriptures. I heard an excellent Bible lecturer make the statement many years ago that by the time of Christ, the Jews had expanded the 613 commandments of the law into 400 volumes as thick as 'Gone With The Wind' (is the way he put it). One example of the absurdity of these 'precepts of men': If you spit on the Sabbath and your spittle rolled in the dust and made a furrow, you had just broken the Sabbath by plowing.

Edersheim refers to “Christianity in it's origin, as the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and Traditionalism (Talmudism), as the externalized development of it's letter”. Christ loved Israel but despised the traditionalism that was being taught by the scribes and Pharisees.