They were
learned in the law; had a religious and priestly character themselves;
interpreted the Mosaic law with a view to its application to the various
facts and issues which arose; and were in addition the teachers of law.
It was to them that the rabbinical injunction was made "to make the
knowledge of the law neither a crown wherewith to make a show, nor a
spade wherewith to dig." And again it was said, "He who uses the crown
of the law for external aims fades away."
In describing the principles of non-remuneration to the Scribes, the
learned German Professor Schurer says: "In Christ's censures of the
Scribes and Pharisees, their covetousness is a special object of
reproof. Hence, even if their instruction was given gratuitously, they
certainly knew how to compensate themselves in some other way." And it
is because of this evasion of this rule that we find those passages in
the eleventh chapter of Luke, the 46th and 52d verses, which read:
Verse 46. "And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade
men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not
the burdens with one of your fingers.
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