Woe unto you, scribes, &c.— The scribes were called, in the Hebrew language, sopherim,—writers, and are often mentioned in the sacred history as persons of great authority in the Jewish commonwealth. They were generally secretaries in the church, thestate, the army, revenue, &c. to which offices those were intitled who could write, because anciently that art was practised but by few. When Ezra made the reformation, which has rendered him so famous among the Jewish doctors, he was assisted by the scribes in revising the canon of Scripture, and ordering matters so, that thenceforth a sufficient number of them should always be employed in multiplying the copies of it. This class of men, therefore, being much conversant in the sacred writings, acquired a singular knowledge of them, and in process of time expounded them to the common people with such reputation, that at length they obtained the title of doctors or teachers, and were consulted upon all difficult points of faith. See Matthew 7:29. Luke 2:46. Matthew 2:4. Hence they are said by our Lord to sit in Moses's chair, and to determine what doctrines are contained in Scripture; and hence an able minister of the New Testament is called a scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. See Matthew 23:2-3.Mark 12:35. But as the Jews were divided into several religious sects, it is natural to imagine, that each sect gave such interpretations of Scripture as best agreed with their peculiar tenets. Wherefore it cannot be doubted, that the doctors studied and expounded the sacred writings with a view to authorize the several opinions of the party they espoused. Accordingly, in Acts 23:9 mention is made of the scribes that were of the sect of the Pharisees:— οι γραμματεις του μερους των φαρισαιων, which plainly implies that some of the scribes were of the other sects. It is true, the scribes are distinguished from the Pharisees in the woes which our Lord now pronounced, and in several other passages, particularly Matthew 5:20; Matthew 23:2 but from the latter of these passages it seems evident, that by the scribes and Pharisees, are commonly meant the Pharisaic scribes, according to the idiom of the Hebrew language: for as the name Pharisees denoted a sect, and not an office, it could by no means be said of the whole sect that they sat in Moses's chair. A character of this sort was applicable only to the doctors, or scribes of the sect. In other instances, where the scribes are distinguished from the Pharisees, the Sadducean doctors may be intended. The badge of a Pharisee was his placing the tradition of the elders on an equality with Scripture; whereas the Sadducees rejected all the pretended oral traditions, and adhered so closely to the text, that they acknowledged nothing as a matter of faith, which was not expressly contained in the sacred books. And in this they were followed by the Karaites, or Scripturists, a sect which subsists among the Jews to this day. It is generally supposed indeed, that the Sadducees acknowledged the authority of none of the sacred books, except the writings of Moses; nevertheless, there is reason to believe that they received all these books: for had they denied the authority of any of them, it is not probable that our Lord, who so sharply reproved their other corruptions, would have let this pass uncensured. Nay, Josephus himself, who was no friend to the Sadducees, does not, in the whole compass of his writings, charge them with rejecting any of the sacred books. He says, they rejected the traditions of the elders, so much cried up by the Pharisees; affirming, that nothing ought to be held as an institution or rule, but what was written. Perhaps of all the sacred writings, the Sadducees preferred the books of Moses; all the Jews did so, and do still; but whether in this point the Sadducees outstripped the rest of the sects, is hard to say. In the mean time, considering the veneration which the Jews had for the books of the law, it is reasonable to suppose, that some of the doctors of each sect would apply themselves more especially to the study of these books in private, and to the explication of them in public; and that such as did, might obtain the appellation of lawyers. Accordingly, the same person is called a Pharisee and a lawyer, Matthew 22:35 whom St. Mark calls a scribe. Farther, it is not improbable that the Pharisean lawyers, fond of their own particular study, might exalt the law, not only above the rest of the sacred writings, but above the traditions of the elders; in which respect, they were distinguished from the rest of their sect, paying only a secondary sort of regard to these traditions. It was on this account, that one of them was now so displeased, when he heard Jesus join the whole body of the scribes indiscriminately, and consequently the lawyers with the Pharisees, in the woes which he now denounced against them, for the hypocritical shew of piety by their zeal in giving tithes of mint, anise and cummin, according to the precepts of the divine law, while they omitted judgment and the love of God, expressly enjoined by that law. It seems he thought the rebuke undeserved on the part of the lawyers, even of the Pharisean sect; because they did not pay that superlative regard to tradition, for which the rest were so remarkable.
For ye are as graves, &c.— In the repetition of the woes, Matthew 23:27 this is differently expressed: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Persons of fortune among the Jews, often raised fine stone structures over their deceased relations, especially when they buried them in the fields; and these they whitened from time to time, to make them look beautiful. Dr. Shaw (Travels, p. 219.) gives us the following account of those sepulchres: "If we except a few persons, who are buried within the precincts of the sanctuaries of the Marabutts,—or tutelar saints of the country,—the rest are carried out at a small distance from their cities and villages, where a great extent of ground is allotted for the purpose. Each family has a particular part of it walled in, like a garden, where the bones of their ancestors have remained for many generations; for in these inclosures the graves are all distinct and separated, each of them having a stone placed upright at the head and feet, inscribed with the name or title of the deceased, (2 Kings 23:17.) while the intermediate space is either planted with flowers, bordered round with stones, or paved with tiles. The graves of the principal citizensarefarther distinguished by having cupolas or vaulted clambers, of three, four, or more square yards, built over them; and as these very frequently lie open, and occasionally shelter us from the inclemency of the weather, the demoniac, Mark 5:5 might with propriety enough have had his dwelling among the tombs; as others are said, Isaiah 65:4 to remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments (mountains). And as all these different sorts of tombs and sepulchres, with the very walls likewise of their respective cupolas and inclosures, are constantly kept clean, white-washed, and beautified, they continue to illustrate those expressions of our Saviour, where he mentions the garnishing of sepulchres, and compares the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites to whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness."—But though the sepulchres of the rich were thus beautified, the graves of the poor were oftentimes so neglected, that if the stones by which they were marked, happened to fall, they were not set up again: by which means the graves themselves did not appear; they were αδηλα, as they are called in the text, so that men might tread upon them inadvertently. By the law, Numbers 19:16 graves of all sorts polluted the persons who touched them, as well those sepulchres which were kept perfectly neat and beautiful, as those which were neglected. Hence, to shew the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, our Lord, in the one woe, likened them to graves which did not appear,—had no mark to know them by,—and which being covered with grass, men were polluted by going over them ere they were aware: in the other woe, he likened them to whited sepulchres, which, though they looked fair and beautiful outward, were full of uncleanness. The scribes and Pharisees, however holy they might appear by their exactness in the externals of religion, were polluted with the grossest vices; insomuch, that by the contagion of their example they defiled all who were much in their company.