THE RISE OF THE BLIND GUIDES
Pop culture has been fascinated with the iconic film series, "The Planet of the Apes", for over forty years now. The concept of the apes evolving into higher forms of intelligence until they eventually become the master, and humans became their pets and slaves has captured the imagination, and has produced numerous sequels, remakes, and even a television series. One crucial aspect of the plot involves the occurrence of a set of unique circumstances that diminishes the human race as we know it, and allows for the rise of the apes to a place of preeminence in the world. Now let me make it perfectly clear that I do not agree with nor do I support the theory of evolution in any sense, but it does make for a captivating story, and in a strange way, it is somewhat reminiscent of the rise of the legalistic Scribes and self-righteous Pharisees that dogged the steps of Jesus when He walked this earth, who He described as ‘Blind Guides”. (NKJV, Matt 23:16)
Stay with me on this, and just to be clear, the Scribes and Pharisees didn’t evolve into apes or from apes. However, the occurrence of a set of very unique circumstances did take place in the life of the post-exilic Jews, that diminished the Hebrew faith, as they knew it, and this allowed for the rise of a self-righteous, legalistic, Jewish cult to replace it, who worshiped the temple in Jerusalem and the Laws of Moses. By the time of Jesus’ ministry, “…the priests were more concerned about political and economic issues… [and] …a professional class of scribes or “lawyers” had usurped the priestly role as spiritual leaders of the people.” (Hill & Walton 343) The priests had evolved into politicians and the scribes into, “…scholars who devoted themselves to copying, preserving, publishing, and interpreting the Law of Moses…” (Hill & Walton 341)
This was a monstrous perversion of God’s intentions for Israel, but hundreds of years earlier it all began with some much needed reforms that were enacted by a man named, “Ezra, a priest and scribe who was skilled in the Law of Moses.” (Hill & Walton 330) Ezra was the prototype for a new kind of priesthood that would successfully lead the nation out of the second exodus. The circumstances which allowed all of this to happen were of course the events that led to and followed the Babylonian exile. Prior to the exile, the priesthood and the nation were engaged in full blown rebellion and apostasy against Yahweh, which is the reason they were sent into 70 years of captivity in Babylon. In order to recover from this devastating blow to their national identity, “Two primary concerns shaped the reform of the restoration community. The first was the prevention of another Hebrew exile… The second was the preservation of the ethnic identity of the Israelites…” (Hill & Walton 341)
With these concerns in mind, they began the reform process with a grass-roots effort to really get back to the basics of their faith. They conducted a covenant renewal ceremony; they rehabilitated the priesthood, reinstituting temple ritual and Sabbath observance, and they introduced the Law of Moses as a rule of community life. This was an excellent approach to take, but unfortunately, their hearts were not in the right place. As the prophet Zechariah had observed some sixty years earlier, they had returned to the land but their hearts had not returned to God, for he said, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Return to Me," says the LORD of hosts, "and I will return to you.” (Zech 1:3) The results of moral reform without heart reform are always devastating and, “The long-term ramifications of this restructuring of Hebrew society emerged in the attitudes and teachings of later Judaism… the zealous but misguided appeal to Mosaic law for community rule eventually led to a pharisaical legalism that tithed “pepper seeds” with ruthless calculation but ignored the very essence of Torah- faith, justice, and mercy…” (Hill & Walton 342-343)
Just like the false teachers that Peter warns us about, the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day had evolved into, “…natural brute beasts…” (2 Peter 2:12) which is a condition all too common in the church today as well. For whenever we attempt to reform ourselves on the outside, without dealing with the issues on the inside, through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we create the unique circumstances that allow for the rise of a Pharisee, a blind guide. Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, “…I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” (Rev 2:4) Christians are called to proclaim the truth, but truth without love and law without grace is a recipe for disaster! Everything that we do as Christians should be done with the motivation of love toward Christ for what He has done for us, anything less is pharisaical.
Works Cited
New King James Version. Holy Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2000. Print.
Hill, Andrew and John Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010.
