The Scribes and the Pharisees

One of the first things Jesus says in The Bible is that the righteousness of His followers should exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. But, who were the scribes and Pharisees. What were their behaviors, their beliefs, their teachings? The scribes were the Lawyers. They were the teachers who interpreted the Law of Moses for the ordinary people of Israel. So, the scribes were the experts on the Law and the teachers of the Law. But, why did Jesus disparage them?

The scribes originated soon after the Law of Moses was given by God. They were the "Xerox" copiers of the manuscripts which were distributed to the synogogues and they became the teachers of the law because, as copiers, they knew the law better than anyone else. They were responsible for writing down the law exactly as it was written in the original manuscripts, so they were very well versed in what the Law said. Because of that knowledge, the scribes were the obvious choice to be the ones to teach the Law to the masses. They were given respect and honor by the Jews because of their knowledge of the Law. Because of human nature, the scribes began to be proud of their position and the honor and respect given them by the people, and they began to demand that honor and respect and acted like they were better than the general population because of their status as scribes, lawyers and teachers.

The Pharisees were a religious party made up of merchants and artisans, laymen in the synogogues, but powerful because of their strict adherance to the Law. Somewhere along the way, however, they began to apply oral traditions that expanded on how one was to observe and obey the Law. They influenced the rabbinic teachings with their oral traditions. And they felt they were set apart from the ordinary men of Israel, hence the name Pharisee, which literally means separation. The Pharisees demanded that everyone keep the Sabbath, maintain the purity rituals and conformity to the Law by outward appearance, yet they lacked inner righteousness. They did not walk the talk. The outside looked clean, while inside sin reigned.

When Jesus told us that our righteousness must be greater or better than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, He was telling us that the inside of our cup needs to be clean, not just the outside. The heart is more important than the appearance. Jesus was telling us that we have to walk the talk, not just speak the teachings of Jesus, but live them, as well. Others should be able to see by our actions, our behaviors that we are His children, not just us telling people we are His children.