Daily Devotion

 

Two charges are leveled against the scribes. (1^st) they were the experts in the law; they laid upon people the thousand-and-one burdens of the ceremonial law, but they did not keep them themselves because they were experts in evasion. Here are some of their evasions. The limit of the Sabbath day's journey was 2,000 cubits (1,000 yards) from a man's residence. But if a rope was tied across the end of the street, the end of the street became his residence, and he could go 1,000 yards beyond that!

 

One of the forbidden works on the Sabbath Day was the tying of a knot. This included sailors' or camel drivers' knots and knots in ropes. But a woman might tie the knot of her girdle. Therefore, if a bucket of water had to be raised from a well, a rope could not be knotted to it, but a woman's knotted girdle could be used for that purpose. To carry a burden was forbidden, but as it was written down, "He who carries anything, whether it be in his right hand, his left hand, in his bosom, or on his shoulder, is guilty; but he who carries anything on the back of his hand, with his foot, or with his mouth, in his shirt etc. he is guiltless because he does not carry it in the usual way.

 

It is incredible that men should ever have thought that God could lay down laws like that. This was scribal religion. Little wonder Jesus turned on the scribes and the scribes regarded Him as a heretic.

 

(2^nd) the scribes shut the people off from scripture. Their interpretation of scripture was so fantastic that it was impossible for the ordinary person to understand it. In their hands, scripture became a book of riddles. There are still those whose religion is nothing other than legalism.

Life Application: Do man-made, legalistic religious rules guide you through life, or do you read the Bible in its simple way and let God guide you?

 

Praise/Prayer: Dear Father, I am so thankful that the Bible is our guide for life and eternity. I know that there are laws/rules for community living, and we must obey them if we are really being Bible believers. Thank You for the only 'Rule Book'for living that I need to follow. Amen!