Both Mark and Luke offer us but a summary of what occurred next. Matthew’s account of the event is much longer and more damning. After it was apparent that his enemies couldn’t or wouldn’t reply to his question about the identity of the Messiah (Mark 12:35-37), Jesus turned to his disciples and that part of the multitude that was listening to him, and he told them to: “Beware of the scribes…” Although Matthew’s account has Jesus addressing the scribes and Pharisees by pronouncing eight ‘woes’ upon them, all the Synoptics have Jesus beginning his monologue by addressing his disciples and the people with them (Mark 12:38; cp. Matthew 23:1-12; Luke 20:45-47).
While the whole address is meant to be a teaching lecture, most of it was undoubtedly delivered to the scribes and Pharisees, eyeball to eyeball. Nevertheless, they endured it all in silence, because they hoped to catch Jesus in his words (Mark 12:13). However, nothing he said could be effectively denied, because the public already knew what they were in the habit of doing. Thus, they had to restrain themselves, because they feared the people, who heard Jesus gladly (Mark 12:37), and they couldn’t do that and disagree with what he said!
Jesus began his searing critique of the Jewish authorities by describing how they dressed. They were clothed in long robes – stolais (G4749). We get our English stole from this Greek word. Jesus was, in fact, referring to the tallith, which is actually a shawl or scarf with tassels on its ends. It is worn over one’s head or around one’s shoulders, when one prayed. The scribes loved to magnify their office, and in doing so magnifying themselves, by appearing in public as a kind of dignitary. So, they wore long talliths in an effort to appear important. Indeed, the Talmud taught that, if one saw a rabbi approaching and was seated, that one must stand in the presence of the teacher, just as one would honor an elderly man (Leviticus 19:32).[1] So, they were, thus, greeted in the marketplace (Mark 12:38).
Jesus went on to describe how they loved the chief seats in the synagogue and the uppermost rooms at the feasts (Mark 12:39), which took place after the synagogue service. While it is clear what Mark tells us what Jesus said, it isn’t so clear to understand what Jesus meant. Of course, those in the first century AD didn’t have a problem understanding Jesus’ point, but we in the 21st century AD need a little help. The chief seats in a first century synagogue were those that faced the assembly. In other words, the very seats in which they sat put them before the public eye, where they loved to be. Thus, implying they were more important and more honorable than their brethren.
As for the uppermost rooms (G4411) at the feasts (G1173), Jesus wasn’t describing a room higher than other rooms, but, rather the chief seats or places around the table during a meal.[2] If we were to consider the seating arrangement of the dinner during the first century AD, consider, for example, the seating arrangement in what we call the Last Supper. Jesus would have been the honored guest of the householder, and would have been seated in one of the most honorable places at the table, and that was determined by where the host reclined. During the first century AD, Jews reclined at a low table to eat, leaning on their left forearm and probably on a cushioned pad (cp. Amos 6:4). The honored guest sat to the right of the host, so that, if the honored guest wished to speak with his host privately, he would turn in such a manner that his head lay upon his hosts breast or heart (cp. John 13:25; only in a reclining position does this make sense). The other positions of honor at the table were in declining order from the left and right of the host and his honored guest. In this context we are able to understand what Jesus meant by the scribes vying for the most honored places at the dinner table (cp. Luke 14:7-11).
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[1] See Babylonians Talmud, Kiddushin 33a.
[2] See Thayer’s Greek Lexicon
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