Matthew 23:1-3 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

“THERE,” many say, “is the final word on the calendar! The scripture to end all controversy! We will keep the calendar however the Orthodox Jews say it is to be kept, and anyone who doesn’t is rejecting clear scripture and the direct command of Jesus Himself!”

Ok. I’ll play ball. LET’S read only that scripture, and do EXACTLY what it says! But if we’re going to read this scripture at face value, let’s ACTUALLY TAKE IT AT FACE VALUE! Let’s look at EXACTLY what it says:

“ALL therefore WHATSOEVER they bid you observe, that observe and do”

Weymouth translates it similarly, but more poignantly:

“Therefore do and observe EVERYTHING that they command you;”

Did you catch that? It doesn’t say OBEY them as they count the calendar! It doesn’t say to obey them as they obey scripture! It doesn’t say to follow them as they follow Christ! It doesn’t say to pick and choose and obey what you want to obey! It says OBEY EVERYTHING, EVERY SINGLE WORD THEY SAY!

READ THE BIBLE PEOPLE! LOOK at the “proofs” people use before blindly accepting them! This scripture says to obey EVERYTHING they command! EVERYTHING! So IF you’re going to do this, and base your entire doctrine around this SINGLE scripture, then DO it! THAT I can respect!

Go out – right this second, don’t waste another minute! You mustn’t delay to start obeying the CLEAR command of God to OBEY the Jews! So go out and buy a beanie cap! Mount a mezzuzza (a box with Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 inside) by your door! Pray facing the temple! Read the Mishnah instead of the New Testament! Keep the Sedar ceremony instead of passover! While you’re at it, go whole hog and obey them totally LIKE YOU SAY JESUS COMMANDED and REJECT JESUS CHRIST AND SAY HE WAS NOT THE MESSIAH!

I say it again: READ THIS SCRIPTURE! DO WHAT IT SAYS!

If you are going to obey this scripture and claim that it commands you to follow the modern-day Orthodox Jews, FINE! Do it! But don’t pick and choose and follow only the calendar, or only parts of the calendar! Don’t use this scripture to prove your point in some areas, by saying “The Jews do this, so it must be right”… and then reject it when they tell you to put on a prayer shawl!

But… is that even what that scripture says at all? Let’s consider the assumptions that idea makes:

• That we should obey the seat of Moses
• That Christ never said another word about the Pharisees in His entire life.
• That you can serve two masters

If those three assumptions are correct, then yes! We should do whatever the Jews say, period! Throw out Jesus, call him an illegitimate son of a Roman as they did, and be done with it! Fortunately for our salvation, those assumptions are just that – assumptions. Bad ones, at that, which I’ll handle in reverse order.

1. CAN YOU SERVE TWO MASTERS?

Obviously, you can’t. Duh.

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Logically, there are only three possible categories you can fall into on this issue; you either follow the
Pharisees INSTEAD of Christ. You do not follow the Pharisees at all. Or you try to follow both. There are no other options. Well, you could follow neither, but then you wouldn’t be reading this article at all.

If you follow the Pharisees INSTEAD of Christ, then you’re not even a Christian since the Pharisees hated Christ. So following them INSTEAD of Christ will only lead you away from Him and towards their false concept of God.

If you don’t follow the Pharisees at all, then this article is not for you – you follow the Bible alone, and never reference or use them as proof of any kind. Well done.

But most people want to “follow the Pharisees as they follow Christ”. Which is really funny when you think about it, since they killed Christ and hated everything He said. But all that notwithstanding, let’s say you want to follow them as they follow the Bible.

Ok, WHY?? If they are following the Bible, just FOLLOW IT and take them out of the loop! If you don’t NEED them to prove your point, then DON’T PREACH THAT WE SHOULD FOLLOW THEM!

Oh wait… you DO need them to prove your point! Ok then – when they disagree with scripture – which anyone has to admit happens – you don’t follow them? Alright then. But what happens if they just INFLUENCE scripture? What if they just subtly manipulate certain sections – make up a bit here and there as they go, which isn’t in CLEAR contradiction to scripture? Whom will you serve, them or the Bible? Will you allow them to “make clear” – I.E., “interpret” – sections of scripture for you? Or will you demand that the Bible interpret itself without help of any kind?

You must choose one or the other. To FOLLOW the Pharisees means to TRUST them to LEAD you through obscure parts of the Bible! Otherwise, you have NOTHING to follow and don’t need them! So to follow them you TRUST them, perhaps not to disagree with the Bible, but you DO trust them to add to it!

And you DO trust them to interpret it THEIR way! To interpret controversial phrases like “between the two evenings” for you! To say things like “the first even was at noon”. Granted, with enough twisting – and quoting Jewish sources – you can make the Bible sort of say that. But you cannot possibly prove it without their help! And you would have no reason to try without their traditions! And yet we KNOW from dozens of scriptures that those traditions were corrupt, EVEN 2000 YEARS AGO! (Titus 1:14, Mark 7:7, etc).

If you believe that we must obey the Pharisees, then you have already chosen which master to serve, and you have chosen the Pharisees. You cannot obey two masters, or follow two leaders. You chose the Pharisees, and I choose the Bible, and ONLY allow it to interpret itself. Say what you you like, but you allow the Pharisees to interpret it for you.

2. WHAT ELSE DID CHRIST SAY?

Was Christ mute? Did He ever say anything besides that one passage in Matthew 23:1-4 that had a bearing on whether or not we should obey the Pharisees?

Matthew 16:6, 12 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees…. Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, BUT OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE PHARISEES and of the Sadducees.

Jesus was so worried that His disciples were going to be sucked into the doctrine of the Pharisees that He went out of his way to warn them NOT to trust their doctrine! Does that sound like someone who, not seven chapters later, would say “OBEY ALL THAT THE PHARISEES COMMAND” ?? I mean, THINK people! He just said you can’t TRUST them, then He’s going to say to obey them in EVERYTHING? And then, in the same chapter where He supposedly told us to obey them, He said that anyone who followed them was a child of hell!

Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

A proselyte is someone who follows a given leader or faith! And those who followed the Pharisees were twofold more the child of hell than the Pharisees were! Is that what YOU are so desperate to be?? Because if you follow the Pharisees, I can solemnly promise you that the gates of the Kingdom of God will be locked in front of you!

Matthew 23:13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye THEM THAT ARE ENTERING TO GO IN.

The Pharisees were BLOCKING the gates of the Kingdom of God against people who might otherwise go in! Jesus told us how when He said “BEWARE THEIR DOCTRINE!” By getting people to believe their lies, and placing themselves, the Pharisees, on a par with the Bible, they PREVENTED people from entering the Kingdom of God! Jesus did NOT tell us to follow them! He absolutely COULD not have said so, unless every other word He said was a lie!

3. WHERE IS MOSES’ SEAT TODAY?

Jesus told us, in Matthew 23, that we must obey the Pharisees because they sat in Moses’ seat. Ok, fine. Where is Moses’ seat now? And what was it in the first place?

Exodus 18:13 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses SAT TO JUDGE THE PEOPLE: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.

When Moses sat, it was to judge the people. A position which the Pharisees filled at the time of Christ, albeit quite corruptly.

Acts 23:2-3 And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for SITTEST THOU TO JUDGE ME after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?

So clearly they were doing the same job as Moses, and sitting in his seat – to judge people “after the law”. So who sets to judge YOU after the law?? Do I? Does Moses? Do the Orthodox Jews? I really, REALLY hope you know enough about your Bible to answer this one on your own. But just in case…

Romans 14:10 … for we shall all stand before the judgment SEAT of Christ.

CHRIST is our judge! And WHERE is He? He is SETTING. On a JUDGEMENT SEAT. JUST LIKE MOSES, the OTHER mediator, set to judge. In fact, Jesus KICKED Moses off that seat and sat down in his place! MOSES WAS FIRED! Moses IS NOT NOW OUR JUDGE!

“…The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All THEREFORE…”

Whatever authority the Pharisees may have had, was because THEY SAT ON MOSES’ SEAT! Moses SEAT still exists – but the resurrected Jesus Christ sets on it, not a physical group of men! Any authority the Pharisees derived from Moses NO LONGER EXISTS!The Pharisees held authority ONLY BECAUSE THEY SAT IN MOSES’ SEAT, AND THEY HAVE NO AUTHORITY TODAY!

Hebrews 7:12 For the priesthood BEING CHANGED, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

MOSES IS DEAD! AARON IS DEAD! BUT OUR JUDGE IS ALIVE! And He FIRED the Pharisees over 1900 years ago, and became High Priest and Judge in place of all of them!

Matthew 21:40-45 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably DESTROY those WICKED MEN, and will let out his vineyard unto OTHER HUSBANDMEN, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. … Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be TAKEN FROM YOU, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. … And when the chief priests and PHARISEES had heard his parables, THEY PERCEIVED THAT HE SPAKE OF THEM.

They HAD the seat of Moses! They HAD the oracles of God (Romans 3:2)! But they persecuted and killed the prophets! They killed Jesus! John called them a generation of Vipers and refused to baptize them, they were so carnal (John 3:7)!! They actively suppressed truth and set aside the commandments of God so that their own traditions could be obeyed (Mark 7, Matthew 15, etc)!

Luke 7:29-30 And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. BUT THE PHARISEES AND LAWYERS REJECTED THE COUNSEL OF GOD against themselves, being not baptized of him.

So God TOOK THE SEAT FROM from the Pharisees, whom He calls WICKED MEN, and now sets upon it Himself, forever supplanting them and DESTROYING THEIR POWER!

So let’s face it – the Bible CANNOT possibly be preaching that we must go to the Jews and have them figure the Calendar for us! It cannot POSSIBLY be saying that we must reason from how THEY keep passover and force the scriptures to fit that! It cannot POSSIBLY be saying that, or anything like that, for JESUS CHRIST SAID, HIMSELF, that anyone who followed the Pharisees was BLIND!

Matthew 15:12-13 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the PHARISEES were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

They were to be rooted up because HIS FATHER HADN’T PLANTED THEM, and DIDN’T WANT YOU TO FOLLOW THEM!

Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: THEY BE blind LEADERS OF THE BLIND. And if the blind lead the blind, BOTH SHALL FALL INTO THE DITCH.

Jesus did indeed “root up” the Pharisees, just a few short years later, and replaced them on the seat of Moses! And He promises YOU that if you follow the Pharisees, YOU WILL FALL INTO THE DITCH with the rest of the BLIND FOOLS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED JEWISH FABLES TO THEIR SPIRITUAL DOOM!