Luke 5:30

their scribes and Pharisees Some MSS. read - the Pharisees and their scribes," i. e. those who were the authorised teachers of the company present. The scribes (Sopherîmfrom Sepher-a book") were a body which had sprung up after the exile, whose function it was to copy and explain the Law. The -words of the scribes" were the nucleus of the body of tradition known as -the oral law." The word was a generalterm, for technically the Sopherîmwere succeeded by the Tanaîmor -repeaters" from b. c. 300 to a. d. 220, who drew up the Halachôthor -precedents;" and they by the Amoraim. The tyranny of pseudo-orthodoxy which they had established, and the insolent terrorism with which it was enforced, were denounced by our Lord (Luke 11:37-54) in terms of which the burning force can best be understood by seeing from the Talmud how crushing were the -secular chains" in which they had striven to bind the free conscience of the people chains which it became His compassion to burst (see Gfrörer, Jahrh. d. Heils, i. 140).

murmured against his disciples They had not yet learnt to break the spell of awe which surrounded the Master, and so they attacked the -unlearned and ignorant" Apostles. The murmurs must have reached the ears of Jesus after the feast, unless we imagine that some of these dignified teachers, who of course could not sit down at the meal, came and looked on out of curiosity. The house of an Oriental is perfectly open, and any one who likes may enter it.

with publicans and sinners Rather, "with the publicans and sinners". The article is found in nearly all the uncials.