Week 35 Matthew
When I start reading a new book I figure there’ll be new stuff to learn.
A good example is in chapter two where King Herod calls in: all the chief priests and scribes of the people. Scribes? I check another version and instead of chief priests and scribes it says: the leading priests and teachers of religious law. So…scribes are teachers of religious law.
I check a word book and see this is the first time in the NT that scribes are mentioned (but they’re not a brand new species that suddenly emerged in Matthew – scribes are mentioned in Kings & Chronicles and in Ezra & Nehemiah. Ezra actually was a scribe).
So anyway that explains why Herod called them in – they were religious specialists. They were bible readers-and-studiers and they knew the answer to Herod’s question. I’ve still got the word book open on my lap and see that Matthew referred to scribes 21 times. I take four minutes to scan those verses. It looks to me like Matthew only says either value-neutral or else negative things about scribes (even a positive-sounding thing turns sour when the Lord says: the teachers of religious law…are the official interpreters of the Scriptures. So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don’t follow their example).
Scribes were OT-readers, a professional society of religious & legal specialists & bible teachers. But they were still on the outside-looking-in.
Note: quotes from Matthew 2:4 (NASB & NLT) & 23:2-3 (NLT)