Moses’ Seat

SEAT, MOSES’ (Μωυσέως καθέδρας). The name given to a special chair of honor in the synagogue where the authoritative teacher of the law sat. The teacher in practice exercised the authority of Moses, in whom the written and the main lines of the oral law were regarded as originating. Not many of the Pharisees were actually scribes, among whose number there were also Sadducees. The scribes were looked upon as being the recognized exegetes of the law of Moses (Matt 23:2).

Bibliography E. L. Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece (1934), 57-61; M. Avi-Yonah, Views of the Biblical World, Vol. V (1961), 63.