The Pulpit Commentary on Matthew 23:2

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses'seat. In the seat of the great judge and lawgiver. This is stated as an undoubted fact ( ἐκα ìθισαν), with no idea of blame attached. Literally, sat on the seat of Moses from time immemorial.

These (meaning not individuals, but the collective body) are the authorized expounders and teachers of the Law; their position is assured; they are not to be displaced. The scribes were the party chiefly denoted; they were of the Pharisaical sect; hence the addition, "and the Pharisees," by which is intimated, not that these latter, qua Pharisees, had any teaching office, but that the former shared their religious opinions.

The Sadducees seem to have had no popular influence, and were never recognized as leaders. The Levitical priests never appear in the Gospels as teachers or expositors of the Mosaic system; this function of theirs had devolved upon scribes and lawyers.

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