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Mat_23:2. The phrase: “to sit in Moses’ seat” (in the seat which Moses had occupied as lawgiver), is borrowed not from Exo_18:13, but refers to the later practice of having chairs for teachers (comp. Act_22:3), and is intended as a figurative mode of describing the functions of one who “acts as a public teacher of the Mosaic law,” in discharging which functions the teacher may be regarded as the representative and successor of Moses. Accordingly, in Rabbinical writers, one who succeeds a Rabbi as the representative of his school is described as éåÉùÑÅá òÇìÎëÄñÀàåÉ . See Vitringa, Synag. p. 165 f.
ἐκάθισαν ] have seated themselves, have assumed to themselves the duties of this office. In the whole of this phraseology one cannot fail to detect an allusion to the pretensions and self-seeking character of the Pharisees. Comp. 2Th_2:4.