greater emphasis to the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.1 Others read 35 oixaioffuvq vpuv.2 That righteousness is intended, of which specimens are given in ver. 19, 22, 23. This language does not make void the righteousness of faith ; but the language of Jesus Christ before His ascension, keeps, as it were, the mean between Moses and the apostles. more than the Scribes, etc.) i.e. qrXf3trr$f$ x.r.X., more than the righteousness of the Scribes, etc. — fAvrsuv, of the Scribes} Our Lord does not command the righte ousness of His followers to be greater than the righteousness of Moses, as if the law of Moses had been imperfect, which promised life to those who performed it, and was (see Rom. vii. 12, 14) just, holy, good, and spiritual ; but greater than the righteous ness (which wrord, however, is elegantly omitted) of the Scribes and Pharisees, who observed ceremonial and legal, but neglected moral righteousness. The Pharisees urged traditions ; the Scribes, or Karaei,3 the letter, which was written, and constantly read out. It seemed to be especially the part of the Scribes to teach ; of the Pharisees to do. Our Lord does not name Moses ; but He says impersonally, It has been said. — ov w g/'oiX^T-g, ye shall not enter) See ch. xviii. 3 ; John iii. 5 ; 1 Cor. xv. 50.
1 Which was esteemed in those days as superlatively good. — Vers. Germ.
2 Lachm. and Tischend., with the oldest MSS. Vulg., etc., read jj lix-otioavvyi i/pav. For the order vpav jj lix.. there are of good, though later authorities, only L A. — ED.
3 Bengel's words are, " scribes sive karaei, literam, quse erat scripta et lecti- tabatur ;" where "scripta erat" (was written) refers to "scribce" (scrihes), derived from the Latin verb scribo, to write : and lectitabatur (was constantly read out) refers to " karcei" derived from the Hebrew verb s^p, of which Gesenius says, " (4) to recite, to read aloud (from the signification of crying out, — see No. 1) anything, with an ace., Exod. xxiv. 7; Josh. viii. 34, 35; 2 Kings xxiii. 2 ; also *®oa s^p , to read what is written in a book. . . . Neh. viii. 8, 18, ix. 3 ; Isa. xxxvii. 14. seqq. . . . Hence generically to read, Deut. xvii. 19 ; 2 Kings v. 7, xix. 14."
The Karaites, a sect which existed before the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, have been called the Protestants of Judaism. Their name is de rived from the Hebrew s=^p, which signifies, according to Calmet, " people perfected in the study of Scripture ; people attached to the text, and to the letter of Scripture." They are, of course, diametrically opposed to the Rabbinists, who zealously maintain the Rabbinical traditions. For an account of their history and tenets, see Milman's History of the Jews, and Calmet in voc. — (I. B.)