Q. In Matthew 23.1-2 it says that the Scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses and we should do what they tell us. Does that

A. Yeshua is talking to the people about the scribes and Pharisees and says that they have been making rulings about how to obey the commandments in the 1st century. Their rulings did not apply to everyone especially if you were not following them in the first place. However, they made up much of the ruling councils and the Sanhedrin so it was not a good position to be in if you came before them for an infraction. The Orthodox rabbis today are the spiritual descendants of these 1st century rabbis and follow many of the same teachings today and many believers today blindly follow their teachings thinking they have authority over messianic believers in Yeshua. The truth is they don’t and let’s look at what Yeshua said about them and this will answer your question. There several fatal mistakes the rabbis have made that we need to go over first. They believe there are 2 Torahs, one written and one oral. The oral tradition is where many of these rulings can be found. Of course there are not 2 Torah’s, the written Torah is a believer’s only authority. Secondly, the rabbis teach that their authority is to be obeyed even if it goes against the Torah. Third, they make irrational interpretations that are almost hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic. Then there are the traditions they add and lastly there are the man-made laws called “takafot” and these are just a few of the mistakes in their premise to begin with. Yeshua had much to say about the teachings of the rabbis. He said their teachings were like plants that will be uprooted (Matt 15.13) and planted by the enemy (Matt 13.37-39). He said their teachings affect the outer man but do nothing for the inward man (Matt 23.25-28). He added that their teachings were leaven and left unchallenged would leaven everything (Matt 16. 6-12). Yeshua himself disagreed with many of their teachings (Mk 7.1-8). In Deut 17 it says that judges and others were there to make rulings and you had to obey them or suffer the consequences. But, when this law was given they had a priest with the Urim and Thummim and prophets who could communicate directly with the Lord about a matter and when you did not obey the ruling it was because you went directly against the Lord. The rabbis of the 1st century and the rabbis today do not have that communication anymore and their rulings are rulings of men and men make mistakes. So, we are not bound by these rabbinical rulings especially if they go against the written scripture. But Judaism isn’t the only place you find this. Christianity and other belief systems today have done the same thing. Every one of the things mentioned above applies to Christian theology and if one is going to scrutinize the rabbis you need to use the same logic on what is being taught today. There is nothing new under the sun. Some denominations claim direct authority to the apostles. Some claim to hear God speak to them and then teach things that are against written scripture. Some tell stories about visions and dreams to try and give weight to their words. They claim signs and wonders so that people will think they are from God. People needed to be on guard against false prophets in every age, but this one in particular because they are everywhere. They are on TV, radio and printed media, and in our towns and able to travel from one place to another faster than ever. We have more access to false teaching then the 1st century people did and that is to be expected if we are in the last days.